Chapter 6 - THE ALLEYWAY ESCAPE
Rain poured from the rusted tin eaves of the residential alley, drumming a frantic rhythm on the slick concrete walls.
Linh sprinted through the shadows, her wet grey coat heavy against her shoulders. Twenty yards ahead, the boy—whose name she didn't even know yet—was dragging the barefoot little girl by the hand. The small girl stumbled over a raised sewer drain, letting out a sharp cry as her knee scraped against the stone.
"Stop! Wait!" Linh called out in a fierce whisper, dropping to her knees beside them in the narrow alleyway.
The boy instantly reached into his dirty backpack, pulling out a rusted kitchen knife and brandishing it with trembling hands. "Stay back! I'll cut you!"
"Look at me," Linh said, ignoring the blade completely. She pulled off her heavy grey coat and tossed it into a puddle, leaving her in a plain black sweater. "Look. I threw the coat away. I knocked down the detective. I'm not with them!"
The boy breathed heavily, his chest heaving under his damp shirt, his eyes darting frantically between Linh's face and her bare arm where the matching silver wing bracelet hung.
"Your mother... her name is Mai, isn't it?" Linh asked, her voice cracking with raw emotion. "Mai Thi Nguyen. She has a faint scar on her right eyebrow from a bicycle fall when she was four."
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The little girl's eyes widened. She peeked out from behind the boy, tears mixing with rainwater on her pale cheeks. "She... she does have a scar."
"I am her older sister," Linh whispered, reaching out slowly without touching them. "My name is Linh. I've spent six years looking for her every single day. Please... you have to tell me what happened to her."
