I Unintentionally Became Her Kitten

Chapter 62: When the Dam Breaks

Alisha didn’t say anything, even as I slowly realized I was driving blindly in some direction away from the track, but she had yet to utter a direction. After another thirty miles or so, and a few more intersections and potential turns, I realized she wasn’t talking at all. 

“Alisha?” I asked.

Her hand remained still on top of mine and there was no response.

I swallowed. Was she in shock? Or just emotional shutdown?

I dared a glance at her, finding her staring out the side window. In that quick glance, I didn’t see her makeup running or anything, so she wasn’t crying again.

“Are you doing okay?” I asked softly.

There was a hump in the road, and the Mercai lurched gently over it, leaving my stomach to sort itself out after. I blinked as I realized I was speeding way over the limit and slowed.

“I’m fine.” Alisha’s voice was perfectly neutral. Perfectly… unbothered.

It wasn’t natural.

She reached over to turn the radio on, turning the volume down low and flicking through the channels. First the pop, then the oldies and the throwbacks, an alt station, even a couple different college radio stations that were playing completely unknown songs to me.

She needed time, I realized. She needed somewhere to process things, separate from her life, separate from ties to the mob and her family. Somewhere those things wouldn’t follow her, even if it was just an association in her mind.

So home was definitely not going to be it. But a restaurant? She wouldn’t be hungry. Or thirsty, so bars and cafes were out of the question. I didn’t think she’d want to be thinking about shopping choices either so all of the places we had been to together were just not viable options.

What did she like? I wondered. Where did she feel at peace? Her house was in the middle of the woods… that was where she ended up after arguing with her father. Maybe somewhere with a natural beauty. The driving might help her on its own. The day was beautiful. The sun was warm, the sky blue, clouds fluffy and white… but everything about this day probably felt wrong for her. I remembered the brown foam that Tye had pushed away from the garage. It had been bloody cleaner water, I knew. I wasn’t that stupid to not make the connection. But Tye and Matteo had been clean. Alisha was the one in the bloody dress.

So she had to do it again. Get rid of a parent in the interest of safety and stability. I wished she’d had Tye do it. Or Matteo. The emotional impact wouldn’t be so great for them…

But she felt the need to put the task on herself.

I was gradually becoming aware the area around us was returning to some suburban pockets of houses and small businesses.

We passed a sign with the town name and I recognized it. I knew where we were, kind of. There was a nature park nearby. It would be as good as anything else I decided and reached over to the center console, discovering Alisha’s phone had connected to it and I had access to GPS navigation.

I typed the name in and let the directions take over my thoughts.

I was aware of the car’s sound and the way the pedestrians tended to turn their heads a little as it slid in and out of their peripheral view. 

There were also the other drivers as I came to a stop at a light, looking at me and Alisha with interest. This car was flashier than I thought. I expected some head turns here and there from car enthusiasts but even young teens were looking, and older women with platinum blonde hair and knockoff Dewey Chiffóns. 

This area, while built up to look nice, was not the inner city areas and this car was a significantly higher level of luxury as even the occasional Nicola’s and another Lynx that wasn’t that different from Angela’s car. I’d have to do an internet search for this damn car so I knew how many thousands of dollars I was steering about with unpracticed coordination. I spun the tires more than once starting from a stoplight or sign. 

We got to the edge of the town, where the riverfront was and I drove along it for a while. People were in some smaller boats in the river, having fun. Off a small pier, a father was teaching his son to fish. There were so many restaurants with bars, advertising clams and shrimp and lobster rolls. Main street cropped up, and the riverfront changed from natural rusticism to the tourist trap this town was.

I pulled into a parking lot, more heads turned as the Mercai gently slid into a space, I parked far away from anyone else for the sake of security. Alisha blinked, still having that blank expression.

“How about we take a walk?” I suggested.

She nodded and undid her seatbelt. “Where are we?” she asked.

“The dam,” I informed her and pointed toward the landscape where the river was crossed by a large crest of concrete and steel. Torrents of water cascaded down, making a cacophony of sound that was somehow both quiet and loud.

Between the parking lot and there was a large field of grass, lined by a stone fence.

I led her toward the fence, so she would be able to see the water better. When I glanced back I realized my parking mistake. The Mercai stood out all on its own, and it only drew more attention. Alisha didn’t need the attention of strangers right now. She needed quiet and peace… why did I bring her here?

There were families with young children playing around; yelling, laughing, screaming, crying and squealing in all manner of emotions.

But she did follow me as I walked to the fence and she leaned against it next to me, staring at the water rushing down the wall of stone. The sound was low, and again almost felt quiet until one tried to speak or think, when it became apparent just how loud the pressure was.

A little girl was on her father’s shoulders just a little ways away from us, staring in wonder at the feat of engineering.

I took Alisha’s hand. “This was where I had my First Communion celebration,” I told her. “We brought cake and I had a tie my mom made from my father’s wedding suit.” I didn’t know why I thought this might help. “And my grandmother gave me a blessed rosary of real silver and blue beads… I had fun that day. We were a family, you know. And some of my church friends were there too and we played on the playground over there.” I gestured to the shiny new thing that was not the same playground I had used. 

Alisha nodded, slowly.  “You were a family,” she agreed.

“Sometimes I wish it could’ve stayed like that,” I told her. “But I gave up hoping my parents would change who they are.”

“Parents are miserable brats,” she agreed. She leaned a little further over the wall and stared straight down at the drop off into the bottom of the cascades. I could see the thoughts in her mind now. Her eyes observed the water, the way it frothed in a violent sea of turbulence. Part of me worried she had darker thoughts than simply observing. She was leaning over the edge quite a bit.

And then she looked a little bit down stream, where the water calmed and a bit further more, there were people in boats, enjoying the day.

She leaned her head on her hand, contemplating.

“Funny how people can be so oblivious,” she commented and turned around to lean her back against the wall.

I didn’t understand. 

“The world just kind of keeps going,” she said. “Doesn’t matter if there’s war, and hunger and poverty. As long as it doesn’t affect them, it basically doesn’t exist.” Her gaze tilted back to the sky. “And they walk on bridges built with machines pieced together in sweatshops and fueled by bloody oil. They drink their coffee bought with pennies and sold for eight dollars and stare at the riverfront and say to themselves: what a wonderful place, no fear or death or sadness and it's even free

.”I glanced at the father and daughter still standing not too far away. She was getting pretty mature in front of a child of eight years or so. Then again, even if that child heard us, she wouldn’t understand anyway.

And then Alisha laughed. I had never heard her openly laugh. A giggle or a snicker maybe, but this was chilling to hear. It was far more suited for a mob boss than those girlish sounds she had made before.

“Why do I bother?” she asked.

I didn't understand as I looked at the water, at the dam and at the people further down the way.

“You care,” I said.

She frowned and finally looked down at me. “Huh?” she asked.

“Everything you do,” I explained. “It's never for yourself. You may be in –this profession– but every decision you make isn’t to benefit you.”

“I'm rich,” she said as if it made a difference. “I can get anything I could ever want.”

“And what do you have?” I asked.

“A Mercai. An Escapade. A brand new house on three hundred acres of woodland property.”

“Alisha,” I said, trying to pull her back to the point. “Those are things you needed… you yourself told me it's frivolous to get your clothes tailored but you still do it for what reason?”

“It's necessary to retain a social standing,” she said.

“And when it comes to protecting yourself, you need a bulletproof car and a home to escape to where no one can hide around a corner. You own a Mercai, yes, but you need to get places fast when there's… a situation.”

Her gaze remained on me as I stepped up to her and gently put my hands on either side of her face. Her skin was cool under mine.

“So yes, you are rich and you're powerful –far more powerful than you or any of your associates probably realize– but you use the resources you have available to you todo everything you can to save people from themselves, and that hurts, because people are people and they are incredibly stupid and can’t tell when someone is just trying to help.”

She reached up to hold my hands against her face. There was more thought in her expression, more consideration.

The water roared behind her. This dam was rough and turbulent, but it kept the water at bay so families could row their little boats down the river.

“You care,” I repeated. “Because you're a good person. You can't stop people from being dumb, but you can protect people from the dumbasses of the world. That's your purpose, whether you realized you were doing it or not.”

The father and daughter were starting to drift away now, but I could still hear him talking about the thousands of pounds of pressure throwing itself against that dam every day and every night, tirelessly with no end in sight. ‘What a strong dam,’ the little girl said. ‘What if it ever breaks?’

The father shrugged and told her: ‘Someone will fix it.’

Alisha pulled my hands away then.

I flushed realizing I'd gotten quite sappy there, perhaps a bit melodramatic even.

And then she gave me a tug and I floundered, finding my face planted into her chest and her arms wrapped around me.

“You think I'm a good person, when I just destroyed the woman that brought me into this world?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“But I still loved her,” Alisha said softly.

“I know.” I squeezed her tighter.

She buried her face into my neck and finally broke. It was not pretty. People looked at us as they were passing by and all I could do was hush her, and give these people a reassuring smile that Alisha was not dying. Her heart was just weeping ugly tears.

I took my jacket off and draped it around her shoulders and pulled the hood up to shield her. I brought her face close and gradually guided her to the ground. A passerby left an unopened bottle of water for her, another left a bottle of Electro-lite.

I kept her face from view. The world didn’t need to know Alisha Takeno was leaking water.

She calmed a bit after a while. There were still tears trying to come out but there wasn’t anything left and I reached over to pick up the Electro-lite and thoroughly examined the bottle before cracking the seal and offering it to her.

She stared at it.

“To rehydrate,” I explained.

She nodded and wiped her cheeks on the back of her hand, smearing a good amount of the eye makeup off. “I guess I should finally invest in some waterproof stuff, huh?” she asked jokingly, and then hiccuped mid giggle.

I patted her head, and readjusted the hood of the jacket as she drank some fluids. We had our backs against the stone fence, the damp rock was coarse even through my shirt, but it was also grounding.

And then her phone rang and she fished it out of her purse. I relaxed, seeing it was Tye’s contact info and not someone else.

“H-hello?” Alisha asked him as she answered. Her voice was still recovering, and she cleared her throat.

The roar of the water kept his voice obscured from me but it was pretty obvious he had been trying to text her.

“No, I’m sorry,” Alisha told him gently. “I’m with Kit, I should’ve told you. Uhm.. we’re– where are we again?” she asked me.

“The dam,” I informed her.

“The dam,” she repeated. “I should have let you know… did you deliver the package?... Good. I’ll be back soon.”

She hung up and took a shuddering breath. She stared at the blue drink in her hand. “Thank you, Kitten,” she told me. “I didn’t know I needed this.”

I nodded and stood, offering her a hand up. “I’ll drive you home,” I told her. “... but you need to finally tell me what the address is.”

She smiled, softly. “I suppose I don’t need to be afraid of you sending me a pipe-bomb.”

Note: I am both sick and there has been a death in my family so... I don't know if I'll be posting the next couple days. We will see. The irony has not gone unnoticed by me.