Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Hearing his stomach growl, she reached into her pocket to come out with only two dollars. “It’s okay, honey. We’ll make do. Come on.”
When cash was this low, there was only one place they could go and both eat.
Taco Bell.
You could get a burrito for less than a dollar; it being filled with rice and beans did a good job filling them up for the day so they wouldn’t go too hungry.
Entering the fast food place, he figured his mom planned on halving the burrito since she only ordered one. She probably wanted to save the rest of the two bucks for their next meal, since their luck had been so low lately.
He opened the food up from its packaging, but she stopped him before he could break it in half.
“No, thanks, honey. You eat it. I’m not hungry.”
Sal couldn’t help but notice her scratching her arms and the shivering, despite them finally not being out in the cold. It was hard to stomach the food, considering it was their fifth night eating Taco Bell, yet you always were to finish your food if you weren’t sure where your next meal would come from.
The two stretched the time before they had to go back out into the cold for as long as they could until a worker finally came and told them it was time for them to leave.
His mother never went without a few curses, but Sal managed to get her to leave by pulling her out the door before he got too embarrassed, or worse—they could never return. Truthfully, Sal couldn’t have cared less if he didn’t get to eat at this shithole for the rest of his life, but it was better than starving to death.
As they left the restaurant, he had an eerie feeling about what his mother was going to say before she said it—she always looked like this before she needed her next fix.
“Listen, honey, I need to go take care of a few thi—”
“But it’s a full moon tonight,” he exclaimed in a hurry after looking up at the sky.
“It’s okay, honey. I’ll be fine; don’t worry,” his mother assured him. “I need to go do something to help get our apartment. Take this. Hopefully, it’ll give you a few hours of playtime on the computer, then we’ll meet up at our usual spot in three hours.”
Sal looked at the outstretched change remaining from the money left. He didn’t want to take it, but she forced him to, putting it in his pocket before giving him a big hug.
“I love you, honey.”
“Love you, too, Mom.”
She kissed him on his head. “See you in three hours.”
Though he knew it was wrong to let her go, he did. It was always on a full moon night that Sal worried for his mom’s sake. Usually, he could talk her into staying with him, afraid her stupid family superstition was true. But, for some reason, this night, he didn’t. So, when he went to Terry’s Internet café, he couldn’t concentrate, finding himself looking out the window at the moon. The bad feeling in his stomach only made him sicker the longer the night went on. If he knew where she’d be, he’d go out looking for her, but he was supposed to wait until the clock struck midnight before he left.
Unable to wait any longer, he left five minutes early with dread overtaking his young body. A sigh of relief escaped him when he saw her walking toward him under the streetlamp glow. Little did he know, leaving those five minutes early that night was the only reason he was going to talk to her for the last time.
“Mom!” Sal cried as he ran toward her, closing the distance when she faltered, holding her stomach.
With her falling into his arms, they dropped to the pavement together. Trying to apply pressure where the blood flowed freely, he sobbed as tears streamed down his cheeks.
“Mom …”
A tear slipped out of her own eyes, knowing her fate was sealed. “Oh, look how beautiful.” Reaching out to take her son’s face in her shaky hand, she pointed his tiny chin up so he’d look toward the night sky while her eyes never left him. “Chin up, honey. It’s a full moon tonight.”
THIRTEEN
DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES
Sal woke up from the horrid, haunting memory, sweating profusely.
At ten years old, he had to understand that a drug deal gone bad was the reason he’d watched his mother bleed out on the pavement. He had lain there, holding her in his arms, crying out for help until his voice gave out. Not one person came to help him until the full moon began to disappear.
It was Dante who had found him.
Ever since Dante had seen him in the Internet café, he would drop by from time to time to check in on him. Upon his first look of Sal, he’d known that the child was Lucifer’s son, and it didn’t take him long to realize he was gifted beyond measure.