Chapter 5 FIVE- BAD OMEN

**Nora**

I kept staring at my phone screen throughout the day as I waited for another message to pop in from the unknown number.

And I was even more careful when I got to my flat, my eyes sweeping over everything in my apartment as I searched under the centre table, turning over the sofa and looking in between every corner in search of a bomb or an explosive device.

Are you really sure you want to do this, Nightshade? Don't make me do this the hard way.

I could hear the threat behind the tone of the message. Someone who knew me 5 years ago was stalking me. Someone who knew that I didn't die that night on that bridge like they had all assumed was stalking me and now, the wanted me to kill Alexander Creed, the Father to Kai Creed who I was just starting to like.

Like what the heck?

To think I only just started to get my life back. And I was hopeful that things were looking more on the bright side for me.

"Out with the old, in with the new."

And then a bullet whizzed past, hitting me in directly in the chest and then another just above my earlobe, missing my meningeal artery by only a few inches.

Just thinking about it gave me a throbbing headache and caused a sudden onset of hand tremors now.

My living room was directly opposite the kitchen so I went in, placing the grocery bags on the table as I turned on the oven and began opening cupboards in search of ingredients for tonight's dinner.

Meatloaf. Mira's favourite.

I brought out the minced meat and sliced some leeks along with bell peppers and some fresh onions and tomatoes, my mind wandering back to what happened that night on the bridge.

I was shot. I fell into the cold River, the water sinking me deep into the dark as the light faded from view.

I was drowning. Dying. Blood clouding my vision.

And then all of a sudden, I was out of the water, gasping for air as I woke up on a hospital bed with a Nurse smiling over me and calling me by my new name.

"Miss Kincaid, you're awake."

And suddenly, I was no longer Smoke but now Nora Kincaid.

And it was all because someone saved me. Someone from the dark went in and-

"Ow!" I said as I dropped the knife on the floor with a clang, blood dripping from my fingers. I had cut myself while chopping the last piece of tomato, my blood was on the chopping block as well as on the floor.

I quickly turned on the tap, washing my hands underneath the flowing water as my blood washed down the drain.

I shouldn't have thought about that night while chopping veggies.

My phone began to ring on the fridge and my heart lurched in fear until I saw it was Mira calling.

"Hey Babe." She chirped excitedly. I sucked on my finger, walking out of my kitchen and following straight to my room where the firstaid kit was situated close to my armoire.

"Hello, are you there?" She asked.

"Yeah, I am." I put it on speaker,placing it on my bed while I took out the methylated spirit and a ball of cotton wool to clean my wound.

Something I never did before.

My. I'm becoming too soft.

"Are you alright? You seem to be eating something? Don't tell me you've started devouring the meat loaf without me." She said suspiciously. I shook my head, sticking on plaster as I shut the box close.

"Mira, I cut myself while chopping veggies."

She gasped. "Oh my God, Nora. That's a bad omen."

Here we go again. Mira and her ridiculous beliefs.

"Oh, you don't say?" I crossed my left leg over the other, leaning on the headboard. It was almost 8pm and I hadn't even put the meatloaf in the oven.

"No, I'm serious Nora. You need to take me more seriously." She chided. I heard a door slam shut from her end.

"I'm going to get us some wine from the store up ahead while saying hi to Rudy." Her voice went a notch higher at the mention of Rudy and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah whatever, just don't show up with him to dinner, okay?"

"Okay Love. Bye." She said and hung up on me. Hi to Rudy.

I shook my head again, as I went to the kitchen. Rudy was a guy she had been crushing on for the past 6 months who apparently worked at the store she was going to get wine from.

I baked the meat and veggies into a loaf as I took a cab to Mira's flat, the light to her apartment turned on.

Taking the stairs, I walked straight to Flat 15b where her flowerpot stood beside her door. I was going to ring her doorbell when I noticed that the door was slightly open, the light from her television, flickering on the passageway.

Okay...

Pushing the door open, I walked in, my eyes scanning her living room. Nothing looked out of place but something was absolutely wrong.

I dropped the bag I held in my arm on her side stool and walked straight to her kitchen, a sense of dread creeping up my spine.

That's when I heard a spluttering sound, coming from behind her fridge. And when I did look, it was Mira lying in a pool of her own blood, her hands holding her neck.

"Christ! Mira!"

I yelled feeling very flustered, rushing quickly to her side, kneeling as I lifted up her head slowly in my hands, placing them on my lap.

Her neck had been slashed with a knife that lay by her side, covered in blood. She was trying to speak now, as she made a gurgling sound, her blood coming out through the gash by the effort.

"Shh. Shh. The ambulance is coming."

I quickly took out my phone and dialed 911, reporting the incident to them as I waited for them to show up, counting 1-100 in my head.

Ding.

My phone beeped and I stared at the screen, my heart pounding fiercely as I read the message.

Now, do I have your attention Shade?

Mira was right afterall.

It really was a bad omen.