7:23 A.M.

Momo was the first to stand up, she kept looking between me and the child in my arms. A look of regret and sorrow was written all over her face.

"I-I...I lost you." Momo said, I can hear her voice breaking.

Monique got in the picture and stood up next to Mo. She sent me a soft smile, "I'm happy your home." She said.

Taking in her words my eyes drifted to the hospital camera, I heard a soft frequency from it. Oh no, quickly I turned and left. Zain hung on tight and remained calm.

Running down hallways after hallways, I heard my family chasing and calling after me. I ignored them, I shouldn't be here.

Enzo will find me much easier, being out in public is a statement that I want to be found. Reaching the back door of the hospital, I heard Tyrone yelling.

I turned around facing him as he was progressing towards me. "Calm down Nu! We're not gonna hurt you!" He yelled from afar.

Disagreeing with him, I turned and ran out the door. There were dumpsters everywhere and the streets was packed. How am I going to sneak my way to safety?

Taking a deep breath, I ran down the alleyway and into the streets. Cars and more cars zoomed past me causing an immense amount of noise to flow right in my ears.

I winced from the stabbing pain in my ears, the more I remained still the more the pain grew. Staying here is not an option, I have to find somewhere to go.

So I ran to the abandoned apartment building that caught my eye. Going past people they sent me looks of disgust and pity.

My use-to-be short hair had turned into a lion's mane. My used-to-be short manicured nails are now long and dirt. Lastly my cocoa butter smell is now a swampy smell.

I changed to adapt and though those changes aren't pretty, they helped me live throughout these past year.

Finally arriving in the building the first thing i see are homeless people sleeping. They jerked awake upon my arrival, some went back to sleep ignoring my presence.

An old bearded Mexican man with a ripped blue shirt and dirty white pants stood up.

He smiled at me, showing his colorful teeth. "You stay only if you give good time" He said with his thick accent. He rolled his eyes over my body as he grabbed his crotch.

I was disgusted, no way in my life would I be intimate with him. So I kicked his crotch hard enough for him to never use it again.

He fell to the ground with a loud grunt, then he was motionless. Know that he's unconscious or possibly dead, I smiled.

Remembering my situation, I ran past the observing and praising people, mostly women. He must have offered them the same thing, and since these people have no where else to go they had to accept.

Sad

I reached the top floor and got in the last apartment on the floor. Immediately, the smell of something burning met my face.

Zain pipe up giving me a stank face, "Mommy it's stank." He complained. I agreed with him, this place was worse than mines.

There was still ash residue in the air and on the floor, a big whole was in the ceiling and i think someone peed in here.

Pushing my nauseousness aside, I searched for the closet. Finding it in what seems to be the master bedroom, I quickly got in and closed the door.

I sat on the floor with my knees to my chest as Zain hurdled by my side, I held him tight. Five years, five years and I've never been caught. Now here am I exposed to society.

Enzo is coming, I know it.

Zain head was buried in my arm as he remained still and quiet. He broke that silence, "Happy Birthday, Mommy" He whispered into my arm.

A tear slipped my eye as a small smile broke out on my face. He is so innocent, I don't want him to become anything like me. I want him to grow up having to only deal with normal things.

My life is not meant for him, it'll break him and I don't wanna see him broken.

I wiped my tear away and kissed his head, "Thank you, Zain. I love you so much." My voice cracked.

He hugged my arm and faced me, his oval almond face smiled. "I love you too, Mommy."
Our little moment was interrupted when heavy footsteps was coming upstairs.

I knew they were my family and that they just wanted me safe. But what they don't understand is that there is no place safe for me.

The moment Enzo finds me I'll be back in his captivity, and I'm positive that it'll be 10 times worse than last time. I don't wanna go back there.

The heartbeats of my family were all scattered around the building, they got closer and closer to me.

The door of the apartment was busted open causing Zain to jump. He held on tighter to me as I did the same to him.

"She has to be in here." I heard Tyrone said.

They searched the room for me until it came down to the closet. The doors opened and the first person I saw was Nikolas, Momo's husband.

"She's in here!" He yelled to the others. They ran to the room I was in. Smiles was on everyone's face as they looked down at me. 

Momo moved Nikolas aside, she got closer to me making my body instantly go on high alert. "7 feet." I gritted.

She stopped her movements confused as to why I'm asking for space, but then she obliged by my wishes and backed up.

She along with everyone else now had on worried expressions. I don't want their pity.

"Why did you run?" Tyrone asked.

I ignored his question as I heard four more heartbeats coming my way. Three I recognized but the last one was new, someone new.

"That must be the kids" Nikolas said as he left the room going after them.

We waited in silence until he came back with 4 kids tailing him. Jaja, Travis, Unique, and a small boy.

Everyone grown a lot, which brought me a small smile. Unique smiled at me and literally ran to me, she squished Zain as she embraced me.

I remained still not knowing what to do, and the face of everyone else was just as shocked as mines.

Zain groaned as he pushed her, she didn't move until after Zain whined, "Get off of me! Your heavy!"

She looked at Zain in confusion then at me and back at Zain. She then gasped, "Omg! I have another cousin!" She yelled in happiness.

"Can I touch him?" She asked in gleed, she was now on her highest level of happiness. She couldn't even sit still as she waited for my answer.

I nodded and angled Zain to face her, he was shy since he didn't know her. Unique on the other hand grabbed Zain's face and kissed all over it.

"He's so adorable! Look at his fat cheeks." She said in a baby voice, completely forgetting who was watching her.

Monique chuckled and grabbed Unique's arm, "Leave him alone, look at how he's looking at you. He doesn't like it."

Unique finally stopped and looked at Zain, he gave her his famous glare. He obviously didn't like her kissing him.

Zain quickly turned his head away from my family and buried it in my stomach. "Um...I don't know what's happened but i can tell she wants nothing to deal with us." Travis said.

His voice got a little deeper and he's getting taller, he changed the most out of all the kids.

"Or it's her second personality, didn't you say she didn't talk?" Tyrone asked Monique.

Monique disagreed, "No, it can't be. If she was stuck she'd wouldn't have let Unique touch her or ran from us."

True, Jade cares for nothing but Zain. If she were a wanted criminal in the USA, she'd not care about getting caught.

"She's herself, she's just changed. The difference between her running from us in the hospital and her not running from us now is because she's not around people. She likes to be unseen." Momo concluded.

"So then what do we do?" Jaja asked.

Nikolas nodded to himself, probably agreeing with his subconscious. "We take her to someone's house unseen." He said.

Everyone agreed, "This building has a back door. Travis pull my truck in from the alleyway, that'll be where we sneak her out." Tyrone said throwing Travis his keys.

Travis took it and ran out the door. My eyes didn't meet anyone's eyes as i felt them look down on me.

Their questions are burning in their heads, wanting to know where I've been or what happened.

I don't have the guts to tell them, they'll look down on me just as hard as they are doing now.

I heard Monique clear her throat, "Um, Nunu are you coming?" She said. I looked up at her, she looked so concerned.

For so long I've yearned to be with my family, now that they are here my need for them is gone.

So do I really wanna go? No I don't, I just wanna disappear from the face of the earth but I can't.

Going with them is the best option, not just for me but for Zain. Zain needs to know about them, he needs to thrive with them, and he needs to know that he can trust them.

They're family and I wouldn't keep them from Zain. So i nodded and slowly stood up, they watched my every movement.

Nikolas and the children left the room then I picked up Zain and followed after them. I took calculated steps as I followed them, making sure I was not able to be seen from the outside.