CHAPTER 10 - Enemy
I stopped dead still, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Jeff and Jacinta looked at me startled.

“Those guys in that car up there” I whispered it even though there was no way they could hear me “they were asking about Jacinta this afternoon……in Dave’s shop”

Just then both of them climbed out of the car looking at us, trying to make out our features in the gloom one smaller guy, one huge.

We turned around walking away from them as quickly as we dared but I heard a car engine start and the smooth noise of it slowly moving toward us.

Jacinta’s eyes were panicked; I could see she was scared out of her mind. She was also in no fit condition to simply run away. We needed to find a place to hide.

“This way” whispered Jeff “in here”

We ducked into someone’s driveway and behind a big fibreglass boat with a huge motor attached to it. Behind that was a garage that had a narrow gap between it and a fence that separated it from the neighbours.

Sidling down it, Jeff helped Jacinta over the wooden palings then watched as I pulled myself over. I felt his strong hands around my waist steadying me as I swung over the top. He disappeared for a second then quickly followed as we found ourselves in the back yard of another home. As he thumped down on the grass we heard running footsteps and knew they weren’t far behind us. Somewhere in the distance a dog barked as we crouched by the fence. We laboured to control our breathing fearful that we were making too much noise and would be heard.

“Whatever we do we mustn’t lead them back home” Jeff said in a hoarse whisper “there is no way we can let them know where we live”

Jacinta and I nodded, understanding exactly what Jeff was saying.

“We need to stick together Jeff; Jacinta is weak and isn’t going to be able to outrun those guys”

“Yeah, we have to find a place to hide somewhere they won’t find us”

“I could always give myself up” said Jacinta a resigned look in her eyes “it’s me they want or actually it’s what I stole from them that’s important”

“Stole from them” said Jeff a look of surprise written across his face and which I’m sure my face also mirrored.

“What do you mean?”

The clatter of a metal dustbin against the garage, one that Jeff had just put there, interrupted us and we scurried across the wet grass slick with evening dew. Dim light filtered across the lawn from a distant street lamp while the flickering of a television screen behind a curtain lit up our faces in garish colors. We crept around a corner into the darkness. Adrenalin was coursing through my body and I felt myself shaking but not from the cold air. Jeff was the same as he put a comforting arm around Jacinta’s shoulders, the veins standing out in his arm. Creeping to the front, sticking as much as we could to the shadows and as quietly as possible we saw the silhouette of the black car parked across the road. The thinner of the two gangsters was in the driver’s seat and we knew that it was the bigger guy behind us.

“What are we going to do?” Jacinta asked.

“Go back” said Jeff “we’ll climb the side fence into that next house then make our way parallel to the road. If we do that we can head our way down to the beach and hide in the dunes.”

I calculated the distance in my head and how fragile Jacinta was.

“We’ll never make it Jeff, it’s too far. What if he head across to the park and hide out there?”

“Maybe Jade, but we’ll be in the open across all those houses and yards before we get to safety. Think we can do it?”

Jeff looked worried; Jacinta looked drawn and pale in the cold light.

“If we stick to the shadows along the edges, go as fast as we can, I think it’s our best chance.”

We heard a thump as the big guy made his way down the gap between the fence and garage. I wondered that nobody came out to check on the noise but then remembered this was America, people were more interested in their television programs.

It was now or never and we headed deeper into the shadows to cross the side fence. Jeff literally threw me over and I sprawled in a heap on the concrete on the other side. It brought home how much smaller my girly body was. I weighed so much less now and I rubbed a skinned knee as I jumped back up ready to help Jacinta over.
We could hear the big gangster getting closer to us and the fear spurred me on.

Jacinta came over slowly and I whispered under my breath almost crying with frustration “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry” as Jeff helped her.

Jeff leaped across and we leaned against the fence catching our breath for all of a full second then picked ourselves up and skittered from one house to another. Ultimately however we had no choice and had to emerge onto the road. I looked around the corner and saw the car hadn’t shifted but it was facing toward us and for a few seconds we were going to be in full view before we could disappear into the park. We would then have to run blindly into the shadows behind some trees then into an area of mangroves and mud. If we could make it into there we had a chance but what were the odds, Jacinta was tiring quickly and I knew there was no way we would even contemplate going without her.

“Can you make it” Jeff asked her and she nodded her head, “I’ll try I promise”

We waited as long as we dared letting Jacinta gather her strength for the effort. We were bruised and bloodied from climbing over fences and crawling on all fours. Jeff had run straight into a concrete post and his nose was bleeding profusely while I nursed my bloodied knee and my bruised ribs ached from where Morgan had kicked me. I could only imagine how Jacinta felt after the withdrawal she had been going through.

We took a breath and reached deep into the last of our reserves. Sprinting onto the road we ran as hard as we could toward the darkness. It felt like running through treacle and each second felt like an hour. The lights of the car came on and the motor screamed as it became a race between us reaching the park and the car reaching us. I ran as fast as I could while Jeff grabbed Jacinta and practically dragged her along. We reached the edge of the park as the black car screamed to within a few feet of us skidding to a halt. I made for a line of trees and their relative safety, falling behind one. The lights of the car highlighted Jeff and Jacinta as I looked back and I could see she was tiring too fast. My brother was a big guy, his shoulders broad with powerful legs honed by his hours on a surfboard.

For years he had been my hero, the big brother every little kid aspired to be like. I watched as he turned and simply picked Jacinta up into his arms and ran with her for the safety of the trees. The car door opened and it was like slow motion as Jeff ran and the thin man got out, a pistol in his hand. I held my breath as the distance between Jeff and the tree grew smaller and the gun came up as the thin guy took aim. I could tell Jeff wasn’t going to make it by a fraction of a second.

Scrabbling around I felt a rock under one of my hands and without thinking stood up and threw it. Pure desperation was all that drove me and I swear I threw it with my eyes closed. My sore ribs shrieked but it hit the driver’s side window shattering the glass causing the shards to fly up into the gangsters face. He fired high and the crash of the gun was so loud I screamed. The thin man clutched at his eyes as we all ran straight into the mud and fell, pulling ourselves along and through it with our arms. Jacinta held on to Jeff’s neck as he pushed with his legs and pulled hard, wildly, into the darkness. As we did so we heard the man screaming Jacinta’s name.

“You bitch, we’ll find you, he won’t give up, and you know that! He wants his money back Jacinta, hear me, he wants it back you fucking bitch” His voice rose an octave as he held his bleeding face.

“Give it back and we might let your friends live girl, understand, you’ve got two days or we will hunt you down. I’ll make you watch as I cut your boyfriend up and you know what we’ll do to the girl.”

We lay there listening and I felt chilled to the bone hearing his threats and what could happen to us. We were covered from head to toe in mud and our breath came in huge ragged gasps.

“Lay still Jade” said Jeff his hand on mine trying to both comfort and calm me. We lay still in the darkness covered in slimy, sticky, smelly, all concealing, beautiful mud.

Eventually we heard the car drive off, stop, heard a door slam then speed into the darkness.
We waited for at least 15 minutes listening hard for the thugs to return. I began to shiver from the cold and Jeff put his arm around me pulling me close.

“Let’s go” he said and we worked our way through the mud and out onto the park edge. Carefully we made our way home using the most circuitous route we could. Jacinta was spent and Jeff carried her the whole way in his arms. He didn’t stumble or falter nor did he say one word as he held her. I led the way and we stumbled through the kitchen door an hour and a half after we left.

We must have been a sight covered in blood and dirt as we fell inside, both Tim and Mom leaping up as we came in the worried look on their faces changing into one of real concern.

Tim took Jacinta from Jeff seating her gently on a kitchen chair while I fell into Mom’s arms sobbing. She held me close cradling me and looked at Jeff.

“What happened?” she asked as Jeff slumped tiredly into a chair next to Jacinta.

“Lots to talk about” he said “the cartel that owns Jacinta just found us. Jade saved our lives; if she hadn’t been there I don’t think we’d have made it”

I stood there being held by my mother. The feel of her breasts against mine, the fact that I was filthy and she didn’t care even though her clothes were now covered in mud. My lank wet hair dripping dirty water on to her shiny floor meant nothing. At this moment all that mattered was I was in her arms and I was safe.

I felt the saltiness of my tears on my tongue and looking into my mother’s eyes I saw tears there also, streaking her cheeks and mixing with the mud I had inadvertently rubbed onto her.

She took charge “Jeff take Jacinta and get her in the shower to clean up then you do the same. Clean up the blood then I want her in bed before she has a cardiac arrest on us. Tim can you find them some fresh towels please”

She looked at me tenderly, gently brushing the hair from my eyes “I’m going to look after my daughter”

She led me to her bathroom and carefully removed my clothes. I stood naked shivering on the cold floor as the shower warmed up. Mom did the same and stripped off her dirty clothes.
Looking at my mother standing there naked I should have been embarrassed, as a boy it would have been creepy but now it just seemed……natural. We were just two women, mother and daughter.

Despite the fine lines in her face and the difficult past years she still had a beautiful body and I thought if I looked like that when I got to her age I’d be doing pretty well. Her breasts were larger than mine but still shapely, beautiful mounds on her chest with large areolas and nipples. Since we shared the same genes I guessed I still had a bit of growing to do in that department. My smooth long legs and womanly hips matched hers; the downy fuzz formed at the V between our legs was the same color. The only real difference between us was my younger skin and perfect 14 year old complexion.

“My god you have the sexiest backside” she commented and I blushed, high praise from my Mom.

She hummed as she soaped down my body and I recognised it as a lullaby she used to sing to me when I was about five years old. I was too exhausted to even help her as she carefully scrubbed me over trying not to hurt me too much when she came to my bruised ribs although I grimaced when she got to the grazes on my knee. She gently washed shampoo and conditioner through my hair, using her fingers to knead it through, taking her time making sure it was done properly. As she did this she suddenly stopped, looking at my leg as a streak of blood diluted with water dribbled down it.

“Well honey, I wondered when this was going to happen ever since you became my daughter. Welcome to truly being a woman.”

I looked at her uncomprehendingly for a second then looked down at my leg and the blood.

It originated from me or more specifically from my vagina and instantly I knew what was happening. My body was once again confirming my femininity, the fact that I was completely and fully woman. I shook as I was flooded with emotion, with the realization that I wasn’t a boy child any more but rather a young woman, one who could bear a child of her own now, one who someday could become a mother herself just like my own who had borne me.

Mom held me as we both cried together, both bonded by blood and the love that only a mother and daughter can share.

I didn’t care that we were naked or that it was late at night, all I cared about was being there, close to her. For the first time since the Hyperplasia I felt comfortable in my skin, comfortable with who I was. In the most visceral, primal way I identified with being female, with the ability to create life and nurture it within me. It was every woman’s birth right and now although I hadn’t been born a girl it was my gift too. I felt like every girl who had gone before me and would come after. This period, this unyielding cycle of womanhood had started in me, only ever broken if I became pregnant.

Mom hopped out of the shower leading me by the hand. Throwing a towel at me she went to a drawer and pulled out a pad. Expertly placing it inside my panties she gave them to me and I put them on after towelling myself dry.

“You’ll need to wear a pad for the next few days Hun although the first couple of periods for a girl are often spotty and irregular. We’ll leave the whole tampon thing till later” she smiled.

Not for the first time I appreciated my Mom the nurse.

I yawned as I pulled one of my old boy t-shirts over my head, they were really coming in handy as nighties and looked cute on me and then she was all business again.
Combing out my hair as we sat on the bed legs folded up underneath me in only the way a girl can she then tucked me in securely and ran her fingers through my hair, leaning over me.
“I’m proud of you my darling precious Jade, you’re not just my gorgeous girl on the outside but the fiercest most exquisite on the inside too. I’m not sure if you’re ready to hear this yet but I’m so, so glad you’re a girl, my girl, and I love you.”

I squeezed her hand

“You know what Mom, I’m glad I’m your girl too. I love you so much”

The darkness of sleep overtook me but it was filled with dreams of running and men with guns.

In the morning Jacinta was gone.