Chasin' You

by K. R. Reese

  All these questions go through my head as I type a quick message to Levi.

  Maci: Meeting Mitch at Rick’s house to get our stuff. I won’t be in class today.

  I put my phone on silent as the Uber pulls in behind a U-Haul parked on the street.

  The uneasy feeling I had moments ago increases when I see Rick’s car parked out front. Did he come home early? Instead of questioning the decision to come here with Mitch, I climb the stairs to the porch and open the door.

  I can hear something playing low on the TV, but the house is eerily silent otherwise. I step out of my shoes and continue down the hall.

  “Mitch? I’m skipping class to meet you. You could have told me this was your plan today so I could have…” My voice trails off when I round the corner and find Rick sprawled on the couch, a huge grin splitting his face.

  “Ah, sweet, naïve Maci. It was so easy to lure you back here. Mitch has always been your weakness, and you his.”

  Rick sits up on the couch, arms spread wide as if he would embrace me in a hug.

  “Wh-Where’s Mitch?” My voice stutters, and I quickly scan my surroundings, searching for any sign that my brother’s nearby.

  “Don’t you see, Maci? Your brother isn’t here. I haven’t seen him in weeks. I thought he would come knocking once you ran out of here, but he never showed.”

  I back toward the hallway, eyes focused on my torturer. I couldn’t tell him that Mitch hadn’t come because we’ve been fighting; that would show a weakness that was already too great when it came to my brother. If I try to run, though, he’ll catch me. I can only hope Levi got my message. Before I can get out of the room, Rick’s off the couch, remote in hand.

  “Come on, Maci, don’t you want to stay for the show?” He gestures wildly and I flicker my gaze to the TV in the corner of the room. When I see what’s paused on the screen, my lungs squeeze tight. “It wasn’t a hardship to take you guys in. I knew there would be bonuses of having you here. And the good thing is, it wasn’t hard to set Mitch up to become addicted just like dear old dad. His erratic behavior made it easy. It kept him out of the way.”

  I’m trembling as Rick reaches me, a glint in his eyes that I’m all too familiar with.

  “It’s time to play, my sweet girl,” he whispers harshly against my neck before he puts his hand over my mouth and begins to drag me toward the stairs.

  Chapter 14

  Levi

  My first class of the day ends, and I pull my phone from my pocket as I head out the doors toward the pavilion. I expect to find Maci scribbling in her notebook, but instead Mitch is there with his head slumped on the table.

  I know he didn’t come back to the house until well after two in the morning, so he’s probably dragging through today. They’ve been staying with me since the incident with Maci. But since she got into the argument with him over his drug use, Mitch has kept his distance.

  I kick his foot and his head jerks up. His eyes are bloodshot and there’s a good amount of stubble on his face like he hasn’t shaved in a while.

  “You look like shit, man,” I sit across from him and unlock my phone.

  “Where’s Maci? I thought she would follow you out here after class.” Mitch looks around the courtyard like she may have chosen a different spot to sit.

  “I haven’t seen her today,” I mumble as I open my unread messages.

  Maci: Meeting Mitch at Rick’s house to get our stuff. I won’t be in class today.

  I reread the message three times, my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest. “Mitch, were you supposed to be somewhere?”

  He glances back at me, a frown on his face. When he shakes his head, I feel like I can’t breathe.

  “What’s that look for? Was there something planned I didn’t know about?”

  “Your sister seems to think there was.” I slide my phone across to him and he stares down at Maci’s message still displayed on the screen. My phone flies back across the table and Mitch is on his feet, pulling his own phone from his pocket. “I’ll drive, let’s go.”

  We practically run to my car, everyone staring at us. I don’t care as long as we get to Maci.

  “Fuck, she’s not answering her phone. When was that message sent?” I toss my phone to him, my eyes on the road as I speed to the other side of the city. “Almost an hour ago. Fuck! A lot can happen in that time. I’m calling the police.”

  I don’t say anything as he relays the information to dispatch. My hands are tightened around the steering wheel, my knuckles white from the force of my grip.

  “Mitch, no matter what we find, you have to stay calm. Maci doesn’t need you going postal and getting thrown in jail.”

  His jaws clenched, eyes straight ahead. He doesn’t acknowledge what I said. I only hope he can keep his cool until the police show up. I’m not against knocking his ass out to save himself.

  “I mean it, man, if you can’t keep it together, you can stay in the car.”

  We pull in and his gaze meets mine. “I’ll wait for the police. I – I can’t find her that way again.”

  The vulnerability in his voice causes bile to rise in my throat. I force it down and nod, running toward the steps of the house. When I find the door unlocked, I hesitate when I step inside and make my way down the hallway. The first room I come to, my breaths do seize. There, on the screen, is a younger Maci, bruised and bloodied, staring blankly at someone behind the camera. My gut wrenches as I remember what Mitch told me all those weeks ago.

  I tilt my head to the side, just listening for any noise in the house. While I know why Mitch didn’t come inside with me, we could have split up and covered more area between the two of us. And he knows the layout of the house.

  “Don’t touch me!” Maci’s voice snaps from somewhere upstairs.

  I make my way back toward the staircase and stay quiet. I don’t want to alert her uncle that I’m here or he could act irrationally and hurt Maci.

  “Fuck you, Rick! You won’t get away with this! Mitch will start looking when I don’t show up after classes.” Maci’s voice is shaking, and I want to rush to her, but I know I can’t. This has to be thought out or I put her at more risk.

  “Oh, little girl, how mistaken you are. Your brother may look, but he can be persuaded to look otherwise. Addicts are only worried about where their next hit is going to come from. He’ll have no concern for you, or what I’m going to do to you.”

  I clench my fists and inhale sharply. Rick’s not wrong, exactly, since most addicts don’t care about anything else. But in this case, Maci’s got two of us looking out for her, and while we may be horrible for her, we’ll always put her first.

  When I don’t hear her reply, thoughts race through my mind of the image downstairs. How much can one person endure in a lifetime? Does Maci have a breaking point quickly approaching? Will this send her over the edge? I can only hope to be there to catch her when she falls.

  Halfway up the stairs I can hear a male voice, one I’m going to guess belongs to Rick. At first, I can’t make out his words. Then he laughs and my blood pumps harder in my veins, my mind screaming for me to move faster.

  “I like when you have a dirty mouth, Maci, haven’t you figured that out?” Another laugh. “Go ahead, scream, no one will hear you. You’re all alone.”

  Maci does just that, letting out a scream of frustration that rings out in the quiet house. it’s quickly cut off by a gasp and a whimper.

  Deciding, fuck it, I dash the rest of the way up the stairs, unable to listen anymore. As I go to throw open the last door in the hall, sirens wail through the house. When I find Maci pinned to the bed by someone twice her size, I see red. In a flurry of limbs, I have him lifted from on top of her and on the floor. The first punch to his jaw, his head snaps to the side, and I pound my fist into his nose.

  I vaguely hear my name being called, but I can’t stop. All I see is the way Maci’s been since living at my house, all the pain and fear she openly carried with her when we
first met. I hit him over and over, my fists covered in blood.

  Footsteps pound up the stairs and I’m yanked off Rick. I stand over him, breathing heavy, when cuffs are slapped on my wrists behind my back. A paramedic is checking over Maci as my gaze connects with hers.

  When they begin to escort me from the room, she starts yelling. “What are you doing!? No! You can’t arrest him! Please! He was protecting me!” I shake my head at her, tears pouring down her face. “I’ll get you out, Levi! I’ll call Mitch!”

  I don’t tell Maci that her brother is right outside. I let the police lead me to a cruiser and nod at Mitch as I pass. There’s blood dripping down my hands, but I don’t think about that as we head toward the station. Oddly enough, it’s not fear of going to jail that weighs heavily on my mind. It’s the fact that Maci may never recover from this attack. She had been getting better, comfortable. Even Mitch could see it.

  When I’m placed inside a holding room, another fear creeps into my mind. The person in that room, the monster hidden just underneath the surface. Maci just witnessed a side of me I never wanted her to see.

  Chapter 15

  Levi

  It feels like days have passed by the time I hear footsteps enter the hallway. I had refused my one phone call, not too excited to call my mother to bail me out of jail for assault. Even if it was for a good cause.

  The officer opens the door and Mitch steps through. Despite looking tired, there’s still concern in his eyes when he offers me his hand to shake.

  “Today has been…intense. But I have to thank you. For what you did.”

  “It’s not necessary. I would have done it to protect anyone.” I pass it off as noble, but it’s really to hide what I feel for his sister. He doesn’t need to be sitting in a cell beside me for decking me in the face. “Anyway, what did they say?” I ask and lean my head toward the door.

  “You’re free to go. Rick didn’t press charges. And even if he had, there was enough evidence against him that your charges never would have held in court. Once they told him the charges against him, he sang like a canary, told them where everything was in the house.” Mitchell rubs a hand over his face before he stares at the wall behind my head. “He kept journals of everything he did.” Then his expression falls, and he loses all color in his face. “But after you left the house, Maci panicked. I’ve never…never seen her like that. She fainted and they took her to the hospital for fear of the trauma to her head.”

  Something in my chest tightens, almost like I’ve taken a bullet from Mitch’s words. My eyes drop to the floor and I close them.

  “I don’t fucking understand,” I growl, shaking my head. “If I had kept my phone on during class – “

  “Listen, Levi, I’ve blamed myself for years. It doesn’t help. It festers until you do stupid shit and lose control.” Mitch sighs. “We need to get to the hospital. They have my number, but I’d rather be there to talk to the doctor.”

  I snap my mouth shut and follow him, retrieving my belongings before Mitch tosses my keys to me.

  ***

  “Why haven’t we heard anything?” I pace the floor, not expecting an answer. It’s been two hours since Mitch picked me up from the station, and no one has given us an update on Maci.

  “They’ll update us when they know something,” Mitch mumbles, half asleep in the stiff emergency room chair.

  A flare of anger coils inside my gut, wondering how he can sleep at a time like this before I kick myself for being a dick. Mitch is upset, too, and he has every right to be. When they had escorted me from the room in handcuffs, I was in a haze of shock and rage. I didn’t notice the injuries Maci might have had; I was too focused on the sight of Rick on top of her.

  After Mitch told me as much as he knew on the ride over here, a crippling wave of fear struck me. Then the realization that I was falling in love with Maci, and there may not be one goddamned thing I can do for her now. All our time together, every time I told myself I could just be her friend. And I went and fell in love with her.

  An older woman wearing scrubs comes through the electric doors and pulls me from my racing thoughts.

  “Mitchell Sutton?” she asks in a bored, tired tone.

  My eyes quickly dart over to Mitch as he gets to his feet. I have no idea if he had any substances before everything earlier, or in between the house and the station. I can only hope he can communicate now. “Right here.”

  Gesturing with her hand, she tells him, “Come with me, please.”

  Mitch and I haven’t always got along, but I’d like to think we’ve come a long way since they’ve lived with me. When he stops in his tracks and glances at me, I don’t expect what he says next.

  “He’s our brother, too, he should know what’s going on.”

  The woman’s face transforms into a disapproving frown. “You’re the only one listed on her paperwork.”

  “He was out of the country for a while,” Mitch blurts. Christ, he may be digging my grave with this charade.

  It’s clear she doesn’t believe a word he says and gives us both a skeptical look before she sighs. “Alright, this way then.”

  We get to a small, sterile room with multiple chairs and a vending machine before she continues talking. “I’m Doctor Sullivan. Miss Sutton has suffered several injuries, but most are superficial and will heal with no complications. She did fracture her right arm in two places, but we set it and it should heal on its own.” She takes a breath and I brace myself for what’s to come next. “Our biggest concern is the impact of the forced trauma to her head. It’s caused a significant amount of swelling of the tissue surrounding her brain.”

  As she pauses for all the information to sink in, Mitch falls into a chair and puts his head in his hands. I squeeze his shoulder and nod for her to continue. “Maci is in a medically induced coma to allow the tissue to attempt to heal on its own. We’ll have to run more CTs to determine what’s next in a few days.”

  “Are you saying she may never wake up, doctor?” Mitch bites out.

  I pull in a sharp breath, the possibility never crossing my mind until he asked.

  “Like I said, we’ll continue to monitor the swelling closely, and we’ll let you know if her condition changes.”

  Mitch storms out of the room, and the lump in my throat grows. I thank the doctor before I push out the doors, shuffling behind him.

  We’re a way down the block when I grab his shoulder. He whips around and throws his fist, but I duck, narrowly missing the blow. I know he’s trying to figure out the emotions surging through him, but lashing out at me isn’t going to make him feel any better.

  “Listen, man, I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re feeling. You don’t have to talk. But know that I’m right here when you do. I’m not going anywhere, Mitch, because whether you like it or not, I do care about Maci. But you have to keep your shit together. Maci’s going to need you when she wakes up.”

  “You mean if she wakes up! You heard the doctor, Levi!”

  I grab the back of his neck until he meets my gaze. “Maci is strong, Mitch, and she’ll get through this. We just need to be there when she does.”

  Mitch clenches his jaw together as a tear rolls down his cheek. But he follows with a nod of his head and we head back to the hospital doors.

  Chapter 16

  Levi

  Once we’re back inside, there’s no sign of the doctor. The emergency room is deserted this time of night. We plant ourselves right outside the doors and wait for any news. I thought Mitch would fall asleep at one point, but instead he sits forward and hangs his arms loosely over his knees.

  “When Maci and I were little, we were inseparable. Most of that had to do with our Mom, I think. She made sure we did everything together. By the time we were probably ten or so, our interests were too different. So, we would lie to our mom for each other to go do our own thing. It was that way until our thirteenth birthday.” A small, sad smile appears before he continues. “The day had been great
, the party, our friends. She had gone all out for us being teenagers. But it was the last time we saw our mom alive. Ambulance and police showed up in the middle of the night. We weren’t stupid kids, but we didn’t understand what the doctor said that had killed her when they told our father.”

  We sit in silence while I process what he’s already told me. But I knew it wasn’t the end of the story.

  “Years later we learned that an acute subdural hematoma had killed her. It’s caused by a blow to the head.”

  My whole body tenses at his words. “When the doctor said Maci had suffered trauma to the head…”

  Mitch nods. “It was reliving the death of our mom all again. That night was only the beginning of our hell. You’ve already heard most of what happened until our father was arrested.”

  I nod but have to bite my tongue. The day they started living at the house, Mitch told me things that had happened to both of them. It was shit I wish I could forget. The image on the TV screen briefly flashes through my mind, but I push it down.

  “After our mom’s death, our father stayed home more. I thought it was great, at first, because he had never been around much. Then his friends started coming over. All hours of the day and night. I suspected something was going on, but I didn’t confront him.” He heaves in a sigh and turns to look directly at me. “You have to understand, when our mom passed, we became two entirely different kids. Maci isolated herself to her room except when we were forced to go to school, and she kept to herself there, too. I started partying. A lot. I was too young, but no one cared since I didn’t look my age. One night after a party, I came home and found him in Maci’s room. I freaked out, beat the shit out of him. The neighbors heard and called the police. It hadn’t been the first time, though, and Maci hadn’t told me. He said he’d kill me if she told.”