Page 39 of Broken

Yara looked as if I'd stung her, and she finally said something that set my blood on fire. "I may be a brat, Nova, but at least I don't steal for a living."

"Whoa that was out of pocket!" Des said and I turned to find him standing there.

"Give me the goddamn phone, Yara." I wrestled it from her hands.

She eventually gave it up, stumbling back a little bit. She threw her hands up as if she'd given up. "I hate you."

"Go to your room," I said shaking my head, completely tired.

"I'm outta here," she said and moved to go towards the door.

Des, usually a protector of his sister, made no moves to follow or say anything further. We both just watched her go. The door slammed behind her and instantly I regretted how things had just went down.

"You okay, Nova?" Des asked.

"No, I'm not," I admitted. "I'm really not."

"What happened?"

"Do you know who this ‘C’person is that Yara's been talking too?"

"No, but she's always on the phone when you're not around."

I sat the phone on the counter and stared at it and then looked at Des. He was leaning against the counter along with me. We both had no idea what to do next.

"Yara's gonna come back in a bit...it's cold as hell outside and she just left in a t shirt." He shrugged a little bit.

"I'm pretty sure she's already regretting storming out," I looked back to the phone.

I picked up the phone and stabbed at it, but the lock code wouldn't let me in. I grumbled as Des said he didn’t' know the code either.

"I hate technology," I mumbled.

"I'm gonna head out and look for her," Des said. "You wanna come with me?"

I stared at the phone for a moment longer before I was able to reply. Making up my mind that I should go and get my little sister, I pushed away from the counter. My short black leather jacket was laying across the back of the couch. I dropped it onto my shoulders and waited for Des to grab his coat from the hallway closet.

We locked the apartment up and headed out into the chilly air. The sun was just starting to set, and I had no idea which way to go.

"Any ideas on where she might have gone, damn its cold out tonight." I pulled the coat closer.

"Let's try the park down the block," he suggested.

"Okay, if she's not there, we'll come back and get the car," I replied.

We headed out of the apartment on foot. Shadows were already dancing out from every angle on the sidewalk and playing with my vision. We were almost there when I heard someone beginning to scream. It caused both Des and I stop in our tracks and look at each other.

"That definitely sounded like Yara," he spoke.

I nodded, and we broke out into a sprint. Sticks had fallen from a tree onto the sidewalk and I busted my ass as I tripped over one. Pain swam up my ankle like a raging wild fire; I waved Des on and got to my feet in time to see him round the corner into the park.

The pain worked its way up from my foot and into my kneecap but I shook it off. Yara needed me. Something was off and my gut was churning. Pushing the pain aside, I got into the park in time to see Des had jumped on somebody's back and Yara was screaming her head off from the ground. Her shirt torn.

"GET OFF MY BROTHER! GET OFF MY BROTHER!" she cried out over and over.

Rushing over, I slammed my shoulder into the hooded figure. Instantly, I tasted copper as my breath rushed from my lungs. I had to have bitten the inside of my cheek. The world seemed to spin beneath my feet as I clutched on grass, still winded.

I heard the slide on a gun being cocked when I finally looked up. Yara was still screaming bloody murder as I looked up and came face to face with a man wearing a ski mask.