Enigma Black Read Online Free PDF Page A

proclaimed. “Really, Celaine, we’ve been worried sick.”
    “I’m sorry, Mom, I just completely lost track of time and, well, there was a long line to get into the bathroom and.…”
    “To what? Check out your new earrings? Young lady, I’m not as gullible as you make me out to be. If there’s one gene of mine that I know for sure I passed on to you, it’s an aversion to public restrooms.”
    Damn . “I’m sorry, Mom. It won’t happen again.”
    “Let’s get going,” George said. “It’s really starting to snow out there.”
    Dejected, I followed my family out of the mall to the parking ramp with Jake snickering beside me the entire time. The weather had taken a turn for the worse; that much was evident even in the cement sanctity of the parking ramp. Snow flurries whipped through rows of automobiles ricocheting off their plastic bodies and inevitably embedding themselves in my flesh. I shuddered, trying not to think about the fact that I’d completely neglected to wear any other means of protection from the elements other than my hooded sweatshirt.
    After taking a couple of wrong turns and attempting to break into a vehicle that happened to be the identical twin to ours, we finally made it back to our car.
    “Celaine, could you give me a hand with this, please?” Carol asked me.
    “Sure thing.”
    I grabbed the packages out of my mother’s hands and located room for them in the corner of the trunk.
    “Bag lady,” Jake sneered.
    “Is that the best you got, little man?” I asked.
    “Enough,” George quipped.
    George started the car as I strapped myself in with my iPod to prepare for the hour journey back home in our winter wonderland. With my mind now at ease, I began sensing that there was something not quite right. Something was missing; something whose identity presented itself just as we were about to pull out of the third floor parking ramp.
    “Do you have any gum by chance?” Carol asked me, leaning back from the front seat.
    “Yeah, let me get my p…”
    “Your what?”
    “My…uh…purse.”
    “Okay. So, where is it?”
    “Do you really want to know the answer to that question?”
    “Oh, Celaine,” the usually calm and collected George said, clearly aggravated.
    “It’s in the restroom, isn’t it?” Carol asked.
    “I do vaguely remember setting it down there.”
    In the rear view mirror, I could see the vein in George’s neck beginning to bulge, his face turning a bright shade of red.
    “How could you be so careless?” Carol asked, digging in some more.
    At this point, Jake was giggling like a school girl. Christmas had come early for him.
    “I will drive you to the entrance of the third floor, and we’ll wait for you there,” George said. “No side trips, young lady. You will go straight to that bathroom and come back to the car. Do you hear me?”
    “Dad, I made a simple mistake. No need to brand me with a scarlet letter just yet.”
    George parked just outside the doorway to the third floor mall entrance, motioning for me to get out with a big sigh. Giving him an apologetic smile, I shut the door and entered back into the mall.
    Had I had any inclination that this would be the last time I’d ever see them, I would have stolen another glance in their direction. I would have done anything I could muster to save them, to capture the very essence of their faces, to engrave them in my mind forever. Of course, there was no way I could have known that final imperfect moment was going to be the last time I’d ever see them.
    With speed that would make even an Olympian proud, I ran through the mall. The crowds had thinned out somewhat, but not enough to make my journey to the restroom a walk in the park. There was the usual monotony of screaming children, people stopped haphazardly in paths clearly made for travel and others gathered around in idle chatter about their holiday plans. It was almost as if the mall itself were conspiring against me. As the minutes ticked