Page 129 - Demo

128 JAGGEDEDGE
slightly separated by the running hordes. Jennifer got into the back seat embracing Sienna sobbing.
“Mom,” Sienna muttered.
“Yes, dear,” Jennifer responded while catching her breath. “The guys are dead!”
“What? Oh my God! Not my babies!”
The three of them wept together.
“It’s all my fault.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I picked the guys up from the nursery like you asked. When
we got home, they left their coats and rucksacks in the doorway as usual. I picked their stuff up and took it up to their rooms. But while I was upstairs, a lady knocked at the door. Before I came down, she had come in and killed them both. I rushed down- stairs and fought with her—even when she drew a gun on me. I tried to escape out of the back door, but if it weren’t for Visara, she would have killed me too!”
“We were on the way to save you,” Visara added, “when we found out you were at the mall.”
“That woman you shot came into the office saying she was you,” Sienna continued. “She was trying to kill me too when you saved me.”
“That must be the same woman who asked me to meet her at the mall,” Jennifer concluded. “How stupid of me!”
“Don’t say that!” Visara shouted. “There was no way you could have known.”
Sienna stopped sniffling and took her head from her mother’s breast.
“Mom,” she said, “I have something to tell you. I know there have been a lot of dumb and stupid things I have done against you and. . . .”
“Sienna!” Jennifer interrupted.
“Please, Mom, let me finish. This is not easy, but it must be said. You have always treated me in a loving way just like the guys, even though I am not yours.”