Frances is Not a Talking Fool

I first noticed him standing on the subway, not holding the safety strap. His head turned towards me like he was staring at Debbie and me. He was wearing an odd costume with some strange-looking mask. He was skinny and tall. With his head cocked to the side, he made a frightening figure.

Debbie and I decided to get off with the rest of the late-night crowd at the next stop rather than stay alone with the dark stranger for the following two stations. As we exited the train, the man moved as if to follow. Before he could reach the doors, they closed.

As the train pulled out of the station, the creepy man stood at the doors staring at Debbie and me. I grabbed Debbie’s right arm and quickly led her from the subway station up the stairs. I couldn’t breathe until we reached the sidewalk in the city above.

Debbie laughingly asked, “Adina, what is wrong?”

She should have paid more attention to her surroundings but didn’t. She went everywhere with her head permanently stuck in the clouds. Debbie the Dreamer is what I called her. She needed me to watch out for her. She was the love of my life, and I couldn’t tell her how I truly felt or who I was.

You see, I wasn’t born Adina. That was just the alias I was using here in this city. My name is Frances Delgado. I was born to a whore and Dom DeMarco. The whore straightened up to raise me, but she disappeared and abandoned me to fight for survival on my own at the age of 13. Dom turned me into a drug mule for a few years till I said screw this and killed him. I took money out of his safe on my way out of the building to help me survive between jobs. I’ve saved a baby from a locked car. The great Goldina Matthias taught me about starting over and helped fund more of my bankroll. The Dom’s evil little brother, Greco, was hunting me down to avenge his brother.

And I, Frances Delgado, was madly, deeply in love with an Italian beauty, with curly hair, and stood no taller than five foot tall, by the name of Debbie Rossi. Debbie was the youngest of eight children, born to two full-blooded Italian parents. She was the most gorgeous girl I had ever seen.

Now, I had a bad feeling. Like something or someone was pressing down on me. Like my time of happiness would soon come to an end. I had to get Debbie off the street and to a safe place.

And my gut was saying, “Now, move, move. Get your ass to move.”

I looked around at all the faces, trying to see if there was a familiar one or if maybe one that was stranger than the rest. I motioned for Debbie to move faster.

“Why? What’s wrong, Adina?” Debbie asked again.

All I could do was look around, shake my head, and shrug. Again, I urged her on faster. I wanted to tell her what was wrong, but her understanding of ASL needed strengthening. I didn’t have the time to stop and find a pen with paper to convey what was wrong. I needed her to move faster now.

As we passed the station we usually would have gotten off of, the feeling of doom got stronger. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw the stranger at the bottom of the steps, just looking up at us. I pushed Debbie faster, almost carrying her myself.

“Who-ooo’s that, ‘Dina?” That was when I realized Debbie saw who was putting us on the run.

“It’s okay, Debbie, just keep moving. We’ll be alright.” The entire time, I wanted to scream. Who or what was this creep?

We were getting closer to our building, where most people were still awake and moving outside. Indeed, he’d quit chasing us with people around.

Suddenly, Frannie felt something hit her in the back. As she stumbled forward, she felt Debbie’s hand pulled from hers.

“NOOOO!!” I screamed, turning to fight, but the man was already halfway towards the subways, and I didn’t know if I could catch up.

****************** TO BE CONTINUED ******************

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 5

Episoe 6