Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
After the meeting, the team cleaned up in separate stalls for the guys and girls. Jessie let out a short sigh “I wish we have showers so we can wash up.”
“Done!” Mia exclaimed “I’ll let our anonymous donator know.”
“What if he says no?” Erin asked.
Mia flicked a brow upward “He wouldn’t dare.” She emphasized.
“Man, I do feel sorry for your boyfriend.” Erin laughed when Mia gave her an evil glare.
“Fiance.” Mia corrected. The girls were changed and walked outside to see Joe waiting for them.
He smiled at the girls “Erin and Mia, can you two follow me? Jessie you may go home.” She nodded unexpectedly while giving the other two girls a shrug. He walked them back into the conference room where Brad and Darren sat waiting “I’m afraid I have some bad news…at least I think it’s bad.”
Mia widened her eyes “You’re dying aren’t you? I knew it!! Your complexion was getting more pale by the day, I didn’t want to say anything but then I’ve noticed it for days…oh my gosh…” She covered her mouth as if she was about to sob “I’m going to miss you.” She whispered.
Joe crossed his arms at her “Thanks for planning my funeral, but no…it’s not that. I’m quite healthy according to the doctors.” Mia quickly stifled a smile “Actually, it’s Reina. They found her dead body at the foot of the stairs. I guess she was trying to run from the fire. Most of her body and face are burned, but they want people to come in and identify them. I know she tried to kill us all…but unfortunately, we are her closest contact. Since you four know her the longest, why don’t you guys go to the mortuary. Here’s the address.” He handed to them a note that he scribbled down.
It looked like they hand no choice but to go. When they got there, the attendant took them into the cold room where the bodies were lied out. Mia was gripping onto Erin’s arm while she followed her from behind. When Erin couldn’t feel the circulation in her arm, she turned to Mia “Please, this is my favorite arm.” Mia loosened her grip while Erin let out a sigh “Why don’t you grab onto Darren. I’m sure he doesn’t mind.”
Mia lowered her eyes and whispered to Erin “I feel safer with you.” Her comment made Erin laugh as she turned to Darren and gave another laugh. He only looked at her strangely. When they reached the correct table, the worker pulled it out and then unzipped it. The person’s body was burned to a crisped, most parts were just black crust.
Erin furrowed her brows while Mia continued to grip her arm “I can’t recognize her, can you-” she turned to Mia who had her eyes closed shut “Mia…” Erin began.
“I can’t tell either.” Mia said, still her eyes were closed “Let’s go…”
Brad shook his head “Open your eyes Mia.”
She peeked through one eye and then opened the other one. Surely enough, the face had deteriorated and no features were recognized. Suddenly, her eyes caught on a silver chain. Mia dared to pick it up from the dead person’s neck “It is her.” She whispered softly.
Darren frowned “How do you know?”
“I gave this to her for her birthday.” She picked up the charm and flipped over the silver heart pendant “Her initials are on it.”
Erin nodded “That is Reina’s. I remember because, I went with Mia to pick it out.”
“What a horrible way to die.” Mia sighed sadly.
*************
The four drove back to Darren’s home so he could change before they go out to dinner. When he got to the front door, he found a yellow envelope packaged address to him. Darren looked at the sender’s name and smiled. He was about to open it when Mia stopped him “Wait! What if it’s a bomb?”
Erin shook her head “Then we would all be blown in pieces by now.”
Darren turned to Erin with a smile “Don’t ever say I was not nice to you.”
Mia smiled nosily “What is it? Is it a book for Brad on how to be romantic?”
“Hey…I resent that.” Brad said in his own defense “There’s no such book anyways.”
Mia giggled “Actually there is. It’s called ‘Romance for Dummies’. I saw it at the bookstore and almost bought it for you.”
Erin cleared her throat “Back to the adult conversation…” she shook her head at Mia and then turned to Darren as he looked over the folder full of paper “What is it?”
Darren was grinning from ear to ear as he read on “Come on.” He grabbed Erin’s hand unexpectedly and took her upstairs into the library. Mia and Brad looked on strangely while Darren turned to them “We’ll be right out.”
When they were behind closed doors, Erin crossed her arms with a teasing grin “You’re not going to confess your love to me or anything right?”
He shook his head with a laugh “No…if I did, I’d take you to Italy or something.” He took out the papers and waved it at her “Do you know what this is?”
“My adoption papers?” Erin shrugged carelessly.
Darren’s face dropped “How did you know?”
Erin raised her brows in surprise “Really? I was only guessing. What did you find out?”
His smile reappeared as he walked closer to her and handed her the papers “It appears, you have a younger sister.”
Erin looked at the papers blankly and then turned her head up “That’s impossible, my parents died in a fire, I was the only child.”
“How old were you? Two right?” Darren pressed and Erin nodded “How would you possibly remember if you had any other siblings? When you were moved into St. Mary’s Orphanage, you were only four. By then you wouldn’t remember anything from the fire, heck you didn’t even know until we told you.”
“Well, how do you know she’s not dead? And how would you know she’s really my sister and not some misunderstanding.” Erin was confused not to mention appalled by the fact that she had a missing sister all this time and had no idea.
Darren smiled “Because my contact spoke with the woman that raised your sister. She’s been living in Tsim Sa Tsui the whole time. What happened years ago was probably fate, you see your sister was only a few months old and the woman next door babysat her that very day the fire happened which killed your parents. You were outside playing on the grass when the police and firemen came. The neighbor never came clean about your sister’s identity because she was lonely and was selfish so from then on, she raised your sister as her own child.” He shook his head sadly “But in return for her life, you two were separated for so many years.”
She was in complete shock at the news. First she had a family, then she became an orphan and finally after twenty something years, she finds out that she is not the only child and her sister is still alive “What’s her name?”
“Sheila Kam.” Darren answered. He walked over to her and patted her shoulder “Why don’t you go look for her?”
Erin’s eyes moved away “I wouldn’t know what to say.” Suddenly hear head snapped up towards the door where she heard voices speaking on the other side. She smiled at Darren and raised a finger to her lips. She stepped slowly and placed her hand over the knob. With a swift swing, she opened and appeared Mia and Brad looking very caught. Erin tilted her head, crossed her arms and leaned onto the door hinge.
Mia and Brad quickly straightened up “And this is the library. Let me show you the west wing…” Mia began as they raced down the hallway.
Erin shook her head with a smile “Come in, Sherlock…” she called after them. Mia turned with a grin as she walked back to the library and Brad following along “And your trustworthy assistant, Doofus.” Erin concluded when Brad walked into the room.
Darren shook his head at Mia with a sigh of disappointment “What did I tell you about being nosy, Mia?”
She smiled sweetly “That I should do it more often because it was a sign of love?”
“Nice try…I said it will only bring you more trouble.” Darren crossed his arms sternly.
Mia acted as if she just remembered “Right…I remember now.” She waved it off with a smile as she bounced her way over to Erin “Congratulations, you found your sister!”
Erin nodded “You think she’ll freak out when I tell her the truth?”
“You want me to go with you?” Brad offered with a look of concern.
“No, I’ll be fine.” Erin assured him. After that, the four went out to dinner together discussing about their earlier mission. The biggest concern for the P.R.A. was that they would be exposed to the world and they would not be accepted by the other law enforcements.
***********
The next morning Erin got up feeling nervous and the knots in her stomach did not help. She took the bus out to Tsim Sa Tsui, the bus was completely packed as she ended up standing. Her fingers were turning white from the grip she had on the pole. Suddenly the bus came to a halting stop and some person was pushed onto her back.
Erin turned to say a mean comment when the guy apologized “I’m so sorry…” a sudden smile came on her face “Erin?” it was Doug.
“What are you doing here?” Erin asked.
He laughed “Promise me you won’t laugh…” She nodded as he continued “Jessie really likes the fresh made soybean milk at this one shop in Tsim Sa Tsui. I thought I surprise her, it’s not everyday we get a day off.”
Erin nodded with understanding “She’s a lucky girl.”
“How about you? What brings you to this little town?” Doug asked while beaming at her compliment. She hesitated and he quickly added “If it’s personal, you don’t have to tell me.”
She smiled “Thank you for understanding.”
He tilted his head thoughtfully “Are you always this polite? I always imagined that you had a mean streak.”
“If that’s what you call polite.” Erin laughed “I guess if I didn’t like you, I’d punch your face and give you a wedgie.” She looked up and found her stop had passed “Driver, can you stop please? I missed my exit.”
Doug followed her off the bus when the driver pulled over for Erin “How far is it back?”
Erin turned to him questioningly “Why did you get off?”
He smiled “It’s my stop.”
She nodded “I’ll just walk back.” Erin looked up to him and suddenly her eyes caught onto the chase going on yards away from them. A man was holding a purse while a petite girl was chasing after him. She was losing fast. Erin nodded her head behind Doug’s shoulder “See that?”
Doug smiled slyly “Should we let him run?”
Erin shrugged “You feel like running?”
He let out a sigh as he heard the girl’s voice screaming for help getting closer “Not really, I took a jog this morning.” With that he let his leg slip out and the guy was tripped with ease as he came flying to the ground while Erin took a step aside.
She placed her foot at the guy’s neck when he turned “Stealing from a girl in broad daylight, it’s a bit gutsy isn’t it?” she pulled her foot off and bent over to take the purse from his hands. Erin stood up and turned to the girl “I believe this is yours.” She handed it to her.
The girl was completely out of breath “Thanks…” suddenly the thief got up and started running away. She pointed to the guy “He’s…getting away…”
Erin turned to Doug with a smile “Looks like you’re gonna need another jog.”
He laughed and began sprinting after the guy, he caught up with ease and pushed the guy to the ground “You’re not getting away that easy.” He threatened. Doug turned to Erin and the other girl as they walked over to him “Call the police.” He said to Erin.
The girl suddenly felt sorry for the guy “No, wait! It’s okay, I got my purse back…just let him go.”
Doug looked at her in shock “What? You made me chase him down for nothing? No, I’m not letting him go!” he said stubbornly.
The girl grabbed onto Erin’s hand as she shook it “Please, his future is at stake. Just let him go. If you catch him again, you can call the cops. Tell your boyfriend to let him go.”
Erin raised her brows at the girl and then looked at Doug with a snicker. She shook her head with a laugh “He’s not my boyfriend.” She nodded her head at Doug indicating for him to let the guy go and he did with his eyes rolling.