Reyna Smith
The cold kitchen floor against her bare feet made Reyna's body shiver. Morning sun streamed through the broken blinds and shone onto piles of takeout boxes from Nicky's restaurant. She had been giving them leftovers for the past couple months, but ever since Olivia died, Reyna felt it was too selfish to go and beg for food when they needed time alone. Reyna's mother might've thought otherwise, if she wasn't so doped up. That was the best and worst thing about Katelyn. Reyna didn't have to spare her much food, but she was strikingly thin, enough so to turn heads. The girl ate what little was left and dressed, tiptoeing past her mother's room. She was always cranky after a night of shooting up.
Reyna locked the door to the apartment, taking the creaking elevator down to the first floor and stepping into the summer sun. Good day to cause trouble, she thought to herself. As she walked downtown, she passed the TV store with the news on blast, talking about Olivia. Part of her ached, knowing she's done next to nothing to help Nicky with her daughter's death. How the fuck could a 14 year old help solve a murder? It was a bad idea to be out anyway, even in broad daylight. Maybe if her mother cared, she would be confined to her room, under house arrest. So little people were out, only one guy seemed to be really lingering. He laid across a skateboard, hair tucked into a bun and vape in one hand. Trouble maker, she thought to herself. "Ain't it a bit dangerous to be out here with the Alligator lurkin' about?" She teased the young man as she drifted by him. She stopped to stand above him, blocking his view of the sun.
Magdalena Weissburg
Mags strolled through the woods, letting the sounds of the birds and the insects chirping soak into her heart. She enjoyed the peace, letting herself forget everything wrong with life: her mamaw, the Alligator, her controlling father. The moment was ruined when her phone began vibrating in her pocket. She frowned, pulling it out and staring at the screen, contemplating ignoring it.
Papa, it read with a picture of her father and her when she was a kid. She sighed, knowing he would freak if she didn't answer.
"Hey," she murmured as she answered the call.
"Magdalena, wo bist du?" Erik's voice came from the other side. She rolled her eyes. He always slipped into German when he was worried.
"Ich bin okay, Papa. Just strollin' through the woods like I always do," she reassured him.
"You know that's a bad idea with that murderer still in town," he switched to English.
"He totally could've left town already, Papa, and he would've been smart to do so. I promise I'm perfectly safe out here."
Her dad sighed at the other end of the line, meaning he was juggling her fate in his head right now. "Fine. But, I would rather you stayed where other people can see you, or at least be with a friend."
"Alright, Papa. I'll go downtown or hangout with somebody," Mags concluded. "Ich liebe dich," she said before hanging up. She pulled up the contact of Bailey in her phone.
Hey, you doing anything today? she pressed send and started trekking outside the woods.