Mabel Shot Part 2

“Wanting, everyone wants; but staying, never.” She stands up quickly and smiles at me. “Are you hungry? Christ, I’m starving!”
Sieta leaves the library, changing the subject, chattering about how she can hear her stomach growling. I sit still, staring at her empty seat, feeling like Sieta hasn’t told me everything.
The sound of my phone vibrating in my pocket snaps me out of my thoughts during my break. I reach for my phone and almost have a heart attack when I see Macro's name on the screen.
“Christ, I feel like killing you!” I say loudly as I answer the call, feeling my heart race and relieved at the same time that he’s finally reached out.
“I lost him… I lost him.” My relief is short-lived, fading as soon as I hear his sobbing voice. “They took him from me…”
“Macro, who did you lose?” I ask nervously, hearing his cries getting louder. “What are you talking about, Macro?”
All I hear is his sobs on the other end of the line, mixed with honking and shouting pedestrians.
“Macro, talk to me! Where are you? Tell me where you are, Macro…” I stand up, feeling anxious, with only his crying growing louder. “Macro!”
“I lost my master, Bel. She took him from me, took him away…”
“Who took him, Macro? What are you talking about?” I rub my face and take a deep breath. “Macro, where are you? Just tell me I’ll come to you…”
I hurry out of the café, walking down the hall towards the back doors of the gallery.
“Macro, stop crying, I need you to tell me where you are!”
“She took him, took my master,” Macro keeps repeating through his sobs, making me even more anxious by how shaken he is, gasping.
“Macro, did you two fight? You and the man who’s gone fought? Is he at your apartment?” I take a deep breath and look lost at the street, not knowing which way to go while he doesn’t tell me where he is. “Macro, tell me if he’s at your apartment…”
“No, I can’t go back, she’ll find me. They’ll do to me what they did to my master… Oh, my God, Bel, I lost him!”
“Macro, breathe, please, just take a deep breath, Little Boots!” I close my eyes, doing what I’m telling him to do. “Take a deep breath and calm down. Tell me where you are, and I’ll come to you. I’m sure you can sort it out, it was just a fight…”
“They killed him, Bel. They killed him, cold-blooded…”
I stop in my tracks as I feel my heart race upon hearing Macro’s voice amidst his desperate sobbing.
“She’s going to kill me, she’s going to kill me… But I don’t care, I don’t care, because I know what I did. Forgive me, Bel, forgive me…”
“Macro, where are you, damn it?!” I close my eyes and feel my heart race, just wanting to find him.
The sound of the street vendor shouting on the other end of the line comes through loud. This man stands in the square, at the corner below the gallery; I recognize his voice. I heard this man’s voice every day when I passed through the square on my way to work. I open my eyes and turn, running left toward the street that leads to the square.
“Macro, keep talking to me, who killed your master? Who’s after you?”
“She, she’s always behind me, no matter what I do, she always comes back, demanding more…”
“Debt? Did you get into debt, Macro?” I ask anxiously, keeping him talking to avoid him hanging up while I run, feeling my heart race.
“I did what she asked, I did… But I didn’t want to, I swear. I never wanted to hurt you, forgive me…”
“Macro, it’s okay, just tell me who’s after you!” Even as a driver honks and curses at me, I cross the street, running toward the square, keeping my head up, looking around.
I see a young man sitting on a bench, phone to his ear, wearing a beanie, and I run, cutting across the grass to get to him.
“Macro, talk to me, who’s after you?” I jump over a flowerbed and run closer to the bench.
“She said she’d let me keep him, that she’d let me go, but she never lets me go, never…”
“MACRO!” I reach out and touch the man’s shoulder, but he turns and looks at me seriously. “I’m sorry…” I murmur, pulling away from him as soon as I realize he’s not Macro.
I scan the area, looking everywhere, trying to find the street vendor.
“She won’t touch you, she won’t. We’re going to protect you, Mr. Gregovivk will help protect you…” My heart leaps with desperate beats as I finally spot the redhead across the square.
“Forgive me, forgive me for what I did, Bel…”
I smile, relieved, and run toward him, waving. His face is melancholic, with red, teary eyes.
“I found you, Little Boots!” I murmur, still holding the phone to my ear. I run faster, looking into his eyes, which cry even more when they meet mine. “It’s going to be okay, no matter what’s happening or what you did, it’s going to be okay, Macro.”
“I’m so sorry for bringing you here…” I look at him, lost, and shake my head, running faster to get closer to him. “I’m so sorry for letting her destroy your life…”
“What are you talking about… Who is she?” I let the phone drop from my ear when I’m five steps away from him and stop running.
“Your mother.” Macro’s voice comes out in tears as he looks into my eyes. “Forgive me, Bel.”
“Alekessandra? Are you saying Alekessandra is here, after you?”
“No, Bel, your mother. The woman who brought you into this world…”
I look at him, not understanding if I heard him right, not comprehending why he’s talking about my mother. My mother died of an overdose on some street in New York; Macro knows that. She left me as a newborn at the orphanage to go back to drugs.
“Macro…” I shake my head and take a step forward, reaching out to touch him.
Warm blood splatters on my face as a buzzing flies past me. His wide eyes stare at me, blood trickling between his eyebrows and nose from the hole in his forehead. My body collapses to the ground along with Macro’s, and I thrash, screaming, reaching out for his hand and holding it in my fingers.
“MACROOOOOO…” A cry of pain escapes my mouth as I thrash, a body pinning me to the ground, preventing me from getting to him.
“EVACUATION TEAM, NOW! TARGET IN OPEN FIELD!” I hear a woman’s voice shouting over me, shielding my body with hers as she pulls a gun from her waist.
Everyone in the square runs, the sound of screams rising as I lie on the ground, my eyes locked on Macro’s, holding his fingers in mine, looking into his eyes that were filled with pain and fear, and now are lifeless.
“Do you think they’re happy?” His low voice asks me, staring at the bright lights of the distant buildings.
“I don’t know, maybe.” I lay my face on his shoulder and turn my eyes to the starry sky.
“I’m sure they’re happier than us, that we’re alone, outcasts with no one…”
“I have you,” I say to him, laughing, and lift my face, looking at his. “And you have me, Little Boots. We’re not alone. We have each other…”
“Do you promise?” Macro looks at me, lost, with a sad expression. “Do you promise we’ll be one another’s forever, Bel?”
“I promise. We’ll be one another’s forever!” I smile at him, knowing my only true family is Macro.

“Not... Not, Macro... Macro...” I close my eyes and stomp my foot on the ground as I struggle, holding his fingers and screaming in pain through my tears, letting the hurt tear out of my throat.
I didn’t lose a friend; I lost a brother.