by Ryan Casey
With Arya by his side.
Calvin.
He was still there. Still there, waiting for the life to finally drift from Mike’s body once and for all. And Mike knew he’d wait here until he was absolutely certain he was dead. He knew he’d wait here and watch and wait. He had all the time in the world.
And eventually, he’d find Kelsie. He’d find the others.
He’d kill the others, and he’d spare Kelsie’s life.
Except… that wasn’t totally how it was playing out right now.
That wasn’t totally how it was looking.
Because he had someone with him.
Kelsie.
She was sitting on his lap.
And she was looking over at Mike with a wide-eyed sense of confusion.
Beside them both… a man. A military-looking man.
He was dead.
“What a shame,” Calvin said. “I mean… I really wanted this to work out. I really wanted my plan to come together. But unfortunately, Kelsie over here just ended up wandering into my path. Right into my path, with her little friend here. Which… changes things, a little.”
Mike shuffled over. He dug his fingers into the dirty ground. Started to drag himself over towards Calvin, towards Kelsie. He was bleeding from his torso. He had no idea how long he’d been out, how long he’d been unconscious. Only that this wasn’t some kind of twisted dream. Or nightmare, rather.
This was real life. And it was happening right now.
Calvin had a knife in his hand. The knife he’d used to stab Mike. And even though it was unlikely, Mike couldn’t help picturing it being the same knife he’d used to kill Holly all those weeks ago.
The same knife that had murdered his daughter.
He was moving it around in his palm. Moving it, Kelsie awkwardly and uncomfortable sitting on his knee. Arya by their side, her tension and panting and confusion growing.
“I don’t see a future for us anymore,” Calvin said. “That’s the honest truth. I mean… maybe. Maybe I could’ve made this work out. Maybe I could’ve convinced Kelsie here that you weren’t all you’re cracked up to be. And it could’ve probably worked. I could probably have got her on board. Got her to believe me. But…”
He moved the knife up the length of her body.
Mike dragged himself further and further towards Calvin, Kelsie. “Kelsie,” he said. “It’s—it’s okay. It’s okay.”
“But it’s not okay, is it, Mike? You’re lying. You’re lying because it’s not okay at all. You’re doing this intelligent young girl here a disservice by even suggesting otherwise. It’s not okay for you. It’s not okay for her. It’s not okay for any of you.”
Mike wanted to argue. He wanted to fight. There were so many things he wanted to do.
But then… he couldn’t argue. He couldn’t fight. He couldn’t do a thing.
Because deep down, he knew Calvin was right.
Deep down, he knew Calvin had the upper ground here.
“So, what’s it going to be?” Calvin asked.
Mike frowned. “What—what—”
“What? What?” Calvin said, impersonating him. “I gave you a choice a while back. I’m going to give you another choice right here. Only this time… there’ll be no tricks. This time, there’ll be no other ways about it. I want you to choose.”
Mike didn’t understand what Calvin was asking him. Not at first.
Not until he saw Kelsie and Arya in his field of vision.
Mike swallowed a lump in his throat. Felt a crushing feeling, right through his body. “No.”
“No two ways about it,” Calvin said, moving the knife from Kelsie to Arya and then back again. “You have to choose, Mike. Choose who you lose. Then you die knowing you were responsible.”
Mike felt tears building. Tears because he could see the way Kelsie was looking over at him, too. Not with fear for herself. But with desperation.
Desperation because she feared which way Mike was going to go.
Bless her.
Because she was right.
Mike looked at Arya. He looked at her tilting head. He looked at the way those big blue eyes started into his. He thought of everything they’d been through together. Everything they’d encountered. The times he’d lost her. The times he’d thought she was gone for good.
All the times she’d stayed by her side, so loyal, so trusting.
And now she was going to fall, all because he’d been stupid enough to believe in the future Calvin was promising.
“Please don’t do this,” Mike said.
Calvin moved the knife from Kelsie to Arya, then back again. And all Mike could do was look at Arya. All he could do was look at those beautiful big blue eyes, tears building in his, lump swelling in his throat.
Because he knew his answer already.
He knew it, and it pained him so much.
“What’s it going to be, Mikey?” Calvin asked. “Is it going to be the girl? Is it going to be the pooch? Or is it going to be both of them? Because if you don’t answer fast…”
He sniffed. Sniffed because he heard a whine. A whine from Arya. Like she understood. Like she knew what was coming.
He looked right into those big, beautiful eyes, and he said the only words he could.
“There has to be another way,” Mike said.
Calvin smiled. “Maybe it could’ve worked out. Maybe we could’ve found another way around this. But I want an answer, Mike. And I want it right now. Who’s it going to be?”
Mike wiped the tears and the dirt from his eyes. He looked at Arya as she sat there, panting, slight look of worry on her face.
And then he said the only words he could.
“I’m sorry, Arya.”
Calvin’s eyes widened. “Whoa,” he said. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did I just hear that right? Did you just make a decision?”
“Piss off,” Mike snivelled.
Calvin smirked. He turned around. Walked over to Arya. And Mike didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to watch. Not as Calvin clambered down by Arya’s side. Not as he heard her growling.
Not as he saw Calvin put the blade to the side of her neck.
“I’ll make it quick,” he said. “Hopefully.”
He pulled the blade back.
Mike closed his eyes.
But not before he saw the knife swing towards Arya’s neck.
Chapter Forty-Four
When Gina opened her eyes, she felt like she’d been asleep a very long time.
It was bright above. Which added up… at least she thought, anyway. She thought it seemed pretty bright when she’d closed her eyes, when she’d last drifted off. But she wasn’t certain. She couldn’t be sure.
There was something she was sure of, though. The binds. The binds around her arms, around her legs, around her body. They definitely weren’t around her before.
And the way she was moving. The way she was being dragged along the muddy ground.
That was new.
She opened her eyes some more, and she realised what was happening.
There were two men dragging her along. Dragging her across some open field. It looked like a playing field, once upon a time.
Leading the group was her mum.
Except…
Shit.
Her mum was dragging Alison along. Alison was also bound up, tied up. She looked like she’d been beaten—badly. And it scared Gina. It scared Gina because she knew what her mum could be like. She knew how serious she could take things when she was really sure about something.
And it seemed like she was really, really sure about this.
“Water,” Gina said.
One of the men looked around. Then his eyes widened, panic clearly in them. “Um, Sonia…”
“Water,” Gina said.
“Sonia!”
It didn’t take long for her mum to be back by her side. For all of them to come to a standstill.
Then her mum, standing over her.
She looked
down at Gina with a smile on her face. With tears in her eyes. “My girl. How are you feeling? Are you feeling more like yourself now?”
“What is this?” Gina asked, throat croaky and dehydrated. “What’re you doing?”
Mum looked around like this wasn’t any kind of big deal. “Oh, this? This is just a way of making sure we get you to where we want you to go. To get you to our home! You were misbehaving, Gina. You were saying… things. Things that weren’t you. You sounded possessed. But you sound better now. You sound… more yourself.”
Gina shook her head. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do to get out of this situation. She just knew that she had to get out of these ties. She had to get out of these ties and only then could she get close to figuring out how to get herself out of this mess.
She remembered something. Something she’d tried to forget back from when she was younger. Playing outside in the garden. Feeling something smack against her head. Looking up at the bedroom window and seeing Mum standing there, tossing things outside, screaming.
Then the ambulance turning up and not seeing Mum for a long time.
She hadn’t thought about it much since that point.
But she should’ve known it, deep down.
Her mum wasn’t stable.
And it looked like she’d snapped.
Only this time, she’d snapped in an irreversible way.
“Are you feeling more yourself, dear? Are you?”
Gina didn’t want to say a thing to comply with her mum. She didn’t want to stand by her in any way.
But in the end, she knew she had to be clever here.
She knew she had to play this right.
Just right.
“I’m feeling a lot better, Mummy.”
Mum’s eyes lit up, then. They lit up in a way that Gina hadn’t seen for a long time.
“Good,” she said. “That’s my girl.”
“I need water, Mum.”
Mum smiled, sympathy to her expression. “Oh, dear. Of course, you do. Come on. Let me get you some.”
She disappeared, just for a second. Then she returned. She put her long, dirty nails on Gina’s lips, opened her mouth. Then she poured some of the water into her mouth. It tasted rancid. Putrid.
But Gina complied.
She drank.
She let Mum mother her.
Because she knew that’s what Mum would want.
She moved away, then. Just for a second. And Gina knew she had to take this moment. She knew she had to take this opportunity.
“Let me out of this, Mum. Please.”
Mum looked concerned. She looked uncertain. Like she wasn’t totally sure whether this was her girl here or whether it was this new person she feared so much taking control.
She rubbed at her arms, looked all around. “I don’t—I don’t know.”
“Please,” Gina cried. “I just want… I just want to walk with you. I just want to be by your side, Mum. Please.”
Mum shook her head then. Like she was growing even more steadfast in her convictions. “No. Your friend. When she’s gone… then you can get out. Then you can be free. She’s a bad influence. Evil. Evil!”
Hearing her speak like this struck Gina. Because it hit her that this was what her mum had always been like. She’d always been an insane control freak.
It was only through spending time away from her—growing independent of her—that she’d really seen just how deep this controlling behaviour actually went.
So she had to try something different.
She had to do something different.
“You’re right,” Gina said.
Mum looked around. “What was that, sweet pea?”
“Alison. My friend. You’re right. I—I was close to her. And she made me how I am. But there’s… there’s only one way I can show to you that she doesn’t control me anymore. There’s only—only one way that I can show I’m all yours again.”
Mum glared at her for a second. Like she didn’t totally get it. Didn’t totally understand.
And then her face turned, and Gina knew she had it.
“Gina, I can’t let you do that.”
“You let me do it, Mum. You let me do it, and then we can go forward. We can go forward together.”
“No—”
“Please, Mummy. I need to do this. I need to get rid of her. It—it needs to be me.”
Mum stared at her. Like she wasn’t sure. Wasn’t certain. Like she couldn’t even believe she was hearing. She couldn’t even begin to entertain what her “sweet daughter” was implying.
“Give me a chance, Mum. Let me do it. Let me do what you know I have to do.”
Mum looked around, then. She looked over at Alison. Looked at her people—those of them that were here, anyway.
And then she looked back down at Gina.
Knife in hand.
“If I give you this, I can trust you, can’t I?”
Gina smiled. “Yes. Yes, you can.”
“If I give you this… I know you won’t betray me. I know you won’t do that to your mum. Don’t I?”
Gina smiled. She smiled, and she felt the tears rolling down her cheeks. Because she knew she had a choice now. She knew she had a choice. The past. Her family. Or her now.
“You can trust me, Mummy.”
Mum smiled, then. She smiled and then she cut Gina free. She heard a few protests. Heard a few complaints from the others.
But she kept on cutting.
She kept on going.
She kept on trusting.
And eventually, the ropes snapped away.
Eventually, Gina was free.
She gasped. Gasped as she caught her breath. She hadn’t realised just how compressed her lungs had been, not up until now.
She stood up, then. Took her mum’s hand and came back to her feet.
And then she felt herself being eased forward.
Eased towards the front of the group.
Eased towards Alison.
The reality hit, then. The reality hit as she got closer and closer to Alison, knife in hand.
That bind.
That strong bind to her past. That fear. The fear of needing someone there for her. Someone to look out for her. Someone to care for her.
Then the other voice.
The one telling her she was independent.
The one telling her she had this, no matter what.
The one telling her to do something awful.
She reached Alison. Looked down at her bruised face, into her wide, bloodshot eyes.
And then she felt Mum wrapping her hand further around the knife.
“Do it, dear. Get it done with. Do it.”
Gina lifted the knife.
Heart racing.
“Do it.”
She pulled it back. Tears streaming. Alison’s wide eyes peering up at her.
“Do it.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Mum said. “Don’t be guilty, angel. I’m here for you. I love you. I—”
And then Gina did it.
She swung the knife around.
Right into her mum’s chest.
Right between her ribs.
Right where her heart was.
She saw the pain, at first. The confusion. The panic. And then she felt the panic herself because it dawned on her. It really dawned on her what she’d done. What she’d had to do.
The memories.
The memories of the good times they’d had.
The memories of the times Mum had been there for her.
Played with her.
Gone on holiday with her.
Gone on walks with her.
The memory of all these things… and now this.
“I’m sorry, Mum.”
But Mum’s fear continued. Mum’s confusion spread. She scanned Gina’s face. And it was the most tragic thing of all, as blood pooled out from her lips.
“Not my Gina,” she said. “Not�
�not my Gina.”
And as Gina eased her down to the ground, stroked her hair out of her face, all she could do was hold her mum’s hand. All she could do was cry.
“I’m not your Gina,” she said. “You’re right about that. But I’m much better than you ever believed I could be. I’m much stronger than you ever thought I would turn out. I’m just… I’m sorry you didn’t believe in me, Mummy.”
Mum reached a hand up, then. A weak, shaky hand. Then she touched Gina’s face.
And for a moment, Gina saw it.
For a moment, Gina saw pride.
For a moment, Gina saw acceptance.
For a moment, she saw love.
Pure, unconditional love.
She saw all these things.
And then the light in Mum’s eyes went out.
Mum was gone.
Chapter Forty-Five
Mike watched the blade fly towards Arya’s neck.
He closed his eyes. Because he couldn’t look. He couldn’t watch. He couldn’t see this. Couldn’t witness it.
He just waited to hear it.
Waited to hear the sounds.
Waited to hear those awful, final sounds.
But there was nothing.
He didn’t want to look. Didn’t want to open his eyes. Because he didn’t want to see something he’d regret.
But the silence.
The lack of any kind of struggle or noise.
It didn’t seem… right.
Mike opened his eyes, and then he saw it.
The blade was in Calvin’s hand.
Arya was by his side.
But she was still panting.
Still looking at Mike.
She was okay.
Calvin smiled. He laughed. Shook his head, moving the knife away. “What kind of a psychopath did you take me for, really? I mean, a dog? A gorgeous dog? Really? No way. Not a cat in hell’s chance, as they say. Or a husky in hell. Ha!”
Mike felt his heart pounding. His head aching. His body getting weaker, weaker…
“No, truth be told… I just wanted to see that look in your eyes again. That look of knowing something terrible was coming. That something awful was on the horizon. That look that you were about to lose something all over again. I’ve got that now. I’ve more than got my fix of it. Frigging melt it down and inject it into my veins.”
Mike didn’t have the strength to say anything anymore. He didn’t have the strength to fight back.