Secrets of Redemption Box Set

by Michele Pariza Wacek

  “CB,” I gasped when I could catch my breath. “What are you doing? Stop it! Let me go.” My voice was rising to a scream.

  A scream no one would hear.

  “Stop fighting me,” he ordered, forcing more of the punch down my throat. “You’re just making it worse for yourself.”

  I gagged. “No. I don’t want it. Stop,” I choked out.

  “It’s not going to hurt you,” he said, as he kept pouring. Some of the sticky sweetness was dripping down my neck, soaking my chest. “It’s just going to help you forget.”

  I kept fighting him but he was stronger and had me pinned to his side as he continued forcing me to drink. I was starting to feel nauseous. Everything was swimming before my eyes. I couldn’t breathe. I was choking on the sticky, sweet drink, but he didn’t stop. “How can you do this to me?”

  “You’re the one making it so difficult,” he said. “Just drink it, and then we can put this unpleasantness behind us.”

  Unpleasantness? He was forcing me to drink something against my will.

  With one final burst of strength, I twisted myself away from him, both of us falling. I was lying on the path, coughing and struggling to catch my breath. The woods spun around me.

  I heard a groan. CB was splayed out on the other side of a log. I could see one foot, clad in a black sneaker with bright white laces, sticking straight up in the air.

  I had to get out of here.

  I lurched to my feet, the entire forest tipping to one side. All the alcohol sloshed sickly around in my stomach. I knew I had to throw up but first I had to get back to the house. I wasn’t safe here.

  And the sooner I got out, the sooner I could help Jessica.

  The trees whirled around me as I ran. I had no idea where I was going or even if I was heading in a straight line. Was CB chasing me? I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t hear anything above the harsh sound of my own breathing and the pounding of my heart. But the feeling of his hot breath on my neck, his hands reaching out to grab me, kept me moving fast.

  The alcohol was rising up in my throat, hot, bitter and still disgustingly sweet. I was going to have to stop, even though I didn’t want to. But then, just like that, I suddenly burst through the woods and into my backyard. It happened so quickly I couldn’t control my momentum and I fell to my knees, darkness pressing against the edges of my vision.

  Everyone was there. I saw Daniel and Mia and Daphne and Barry. Oh my God. I was so happy to see them. I had to speak. I had to tell them about Jessica and CB.

  I opened my mouth but the only thing that came out was the alcohol. I couldn’t breathe as the darkness pressed up against me and swallowed me whole.

  Chapter 34

  The first thing I became aware of was the laughing.

  Who was laughing? Was it me?

  I blinked a few times, my vision slowly coming into focus, the horrific images of that night clear in my mind. Jessica, lying there helpless in the woods, helpless because of me, because I had struggled with her rather than just letting her go ... and CB, my cousin, my blood, who had been raised with me, who had attacked me when I tried to help Jessica ...

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Don’t think. Don’t think.

  A faint whiff of urine and sour milk penetrated my nostrils, and cautiously, I opened one eye. I was sitting on the asphalt, my legs stretched out, my head hanging heavy. Where was I? And who was laughing?

  I blinked a few times and slowly raised my head. I was in the back alley of the grocery store, the dumpster next to me and Maude in front of me, watching me from her stained mattress.

  She was the one laughing. Cackling, really. She was sitting in a pool of crumbs and empty bags. An apple core rested on the ground next to the dumpster. While I was reliving a nightmare, she had been eating breakfast.

  That seemed fitting in a strange, absurd way.

  “The devil,” she seemed to be saying in between cackles. “Now you know. Now you know.”

  “Yes,” I said, my voice hoarse and my throat sore. “I know.”

  Her laughter abruptly stopped. She stared at me, her eyes narrowing. She still had a piece of egg stuck to her chin. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

  What was I going to do about it? I had no idea. I could barely get my head around all the memories swirling around inside me, much less figure out my next steps ...

  Wait a minute. Brittany! Oh no. I fumbled for my phone, my fingers suddenly numb.

  Maude nodded to herself. “I told them. Yes, I did. I told them about the devil. They should have listened to Maude. Maude knows things. Yes, she does. She knows lots and lots of things. If only they would listen.”

  Ignoring her, I scrolled through my contacts until I found Daniel’s number and called him.

  He picked up on the second ring. “Yes?”

  “I know who it is. Who took Brittany.”

  “You do? Who?”

  My hand was shaking so hard, I had to press it against my cheek to steady it. “It’s CB.”

  “What?”

  I closed my eyes. “I’m not sure where he is though. I just know it’s him. He took Brittany.”

  “Hold on a second. Slow down. Why do you think he took her?”

  I looked over at Maude, who was rocking back and forth, talking to herself. “Maude,” I said.

  “Becca, I’m having trouble hearing you. I thought you said ‘Maude.’”

  “I did. She saw CB take Brittany.” Maude caught my eye and grinned, showing me a mouth full of rotting teeth.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because she told me.”

  Daniel paused. “Where are you now?”

  “I’m with her.”

  “Where?”

  “Behind the grocery store.”

  Daniel took the phone away from his mouth to say something to someone before coming back to me. “We’re sending someone there now to talk to her. But, I’m curious. What made you go to her?”

  I tried to answer, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs to talk. Pain was crackling up my neck and into my temples. I paused, tried again. “I remember,” I managed, my voice so low, I wondered if he could even hear me.

  He was silent for a moment. “Jessica?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, CB ...?” He didn’t finish his sentence.

  I closed my eyes, feeling the tears gathering behind my eyelids. Tears of grief. Tears of rage. “He was there. In the woods. He followed us. Me and Jessica. He ...” my voice dropped. I couldn’t say it. “He wanted to ... hurt Jessica.”

  “You saw him hurt Jessica?”

  The unbuttoned shorts. The gleam of sweat on his upper lip. Twitchy with excitement, stinking of it, thick and choking. “Not exactly.”

  “I don’t understand. What did you see?”

  “He was following us because he wanted her. He was obsessed with Jessica,” I said.

  It was all clear now. My patchy memory was finally filling in the pieces, forming a vivid, crystal-clear picture. CB constantly pushing Jessica to come to New York. Always hanging around her. Always showing up where she would be. I always had to chase him out of the house when Jessica and Mia would come over. If it was just Daphne, he never bothered us.

  At the time, I found it annoying, sure … but I never thought about it much beyond that.

  But, now ...

  “When he first saw Brittany,” I continued. “I thought he was just surprised. Like I was. But, it was more than that. He was shocked. Utterly shocked.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Daniel muttered. He spoke again to someone else, more urgently than before, before coming back to me. “Do you know where he is right now?”

  “No. Like I said before, I don’t.”

  “What about his cell? Does he have his phone with him?”


  “Yes!” Oh, thank God. “Yes, I just talked to him—I think it was yesterday.” Was it just yesterday? It felt like years ago. I rattled off his number.

  “Got it. That helps. I have to go. But I’ll come over later, okay?”

  I nodded tightly. “Yes. And Daniel?”

  “What?”

  “Find her.”

  He paused. “I’ll be over later. You did good.” And he rang off.

  I sat there, holding the dead phone. I did good? I didn’t think so. If I had remembered even a couple of weeks ago, this would all be different.

  How many more are going to die before you finally remember?

  Oh, please God, hopefully no more. Please let Daniel find Brittany in time. I couldn’t stand the thought of a teenager paying for my refusal to see the truth with her life.

  I violently scrubbed at my eyes, the jolt of pain at my temples growing shaper, brighter. A headache. I hadn’t had one of those in weeks. Now, the pain was so hot and fierce, I thought my head might split open. I massaged my temples, desperately trying to push the pain away. I needed to think.

  I still had so many questions. What happened to Jessica after I ran off? Was it possible that she really was just passed out, sleeping off the alcohol like CB was trying to tell me? Did she wake up, hours later, sick and hung over, and leave on her own?

  I thought of the crack her head made against the log and how limp and unresponsive her body had been, and I knew. Deep in my gut, I knew.

  She didn’t leave the woods alive.

  More than likely, she was dying as I knelt beside her, trying to prop up her loose limbs.

  I should have just let her do what she wanted that night. If I had just let her go, none of this would have happened.

  But even as I thought it, I knew it wasn’t true. There was something else out there in the woods. Something else other than CB. Something dark and ancient and ...

  The evil that was done.

  Despite the heat, I shivered. I could practically feel the cold touch of whatever was in the woods that night reaching out to me again, all these years later, caressing me ...

  No. I had to stop. I needed to understand. There were still so many unknowns … like if Jessica had died in those woods, what happened to her? Why wasn’t her body found?

  And what about CB? Had he followed me back to the house? I couldn’t remember. My last memory was collapsing in the backyard, but I seemed to recall Daphne or Mia or someone saying CB was there. He must have circled around the backyard and come in through the front of the house, pretending he had been there all along.

  Suddenly, I began retching. I pushed myself to my feet, knocking my coffee over so it stained the asphalt in a brown smear, and stumbled to the side of the dumpster. I started heaving, and my stomach emptied itself of its contents.

  Gasping, I stood there, one hand on the side of the dumpster, the smell of vomit, sour milk, and urine in my nose, my head on fire.

  Behind me, I heard the rattle of the shopping cart with the broken wheel as Maude began pushing it. “The devil is a bitch, ain’t he?” she called out as she went around the corner.

  I couldn’t agree more.

  ***

  “Where have you ... oh my God. What happened, Becca?” Mia met me at the door and almost immediately covered her nose and mouth. “Where the hell were you? Is that vomit I smell?”

  Chrissy poked her head in from the kitchen and quickly covered her nose. “God, you stink. Where were you? In a dumpster?”

  I slumped over. “Believe it or not, yes. That’s exactly where I was.”

  “Why in God’s name were you in a dumpster?” Mia asked.

  “Talking to Maude,” I said. I was so exhausted I could barely stay on my feet, and my head was pounding.

  Mia opened her mouth, presumably to ask more questions, but she must have seen something in my face because she took my arm to lead me to the kitchen. “You need to sit down.”

  “I probably need a shower.”

  “You definitely need a shower but right now you need to sit down.”

  She led me to a chair and I gratefully sat. My legs felt weak and hollow, reminding me of Jessica that night.

  Jessica. Oh God. Where was I going to find the strength to tell Mia what I remembered? How could I relive it all again now, so soon after it all came back?

  “I’m going to make some tea,” Chrissy announced to no one in particular and headed to the stove. I slumped over onto the table, resting my head in my hands.

  Mia sat down across from me. “You look like hell.”

  I tried to smile. “Yeah, well, I feel like hell.”

  “Are you ready to tell me why you were talking to Maude?”

  I sighed and scrubbed at my temples. As much as I wanted to take something for my head, my stomach was still so queasy and twisted in knots, I was afraid I’d throw up again. “It worked,” I said.

  Mia looked confused. “What worked?”

  “The candles.”

  Mia stared at me for a moment, still perplexed, until realization dawned. She leaned forward. “Oh my God. You remember?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, tell me!”

  “I’m going to. But, do you think we should get Daphne here?”

  Mia looked at me horrified. “You’re not ... you can’t do that to me. You’re really going to make me wait?”

  I tried to smile again but my face felt like it was cracking. “Mia, you waited fifteen years. You can wait ten more minutes.”

  Grumbling, she went to find her phone.

  A cup of tea appeared in front of me. “Drink,” Chrissy said. “I made one for you too, Mia.”

  “Thanks,” Mia said, barely acknowledging her as she focused on her phone.

  I swallowed and picked up my tea. I didn’t know if I could keep it down, but I felt like I should try.

  “She’s on her way,” Mia announced. “But I don’t understand. Why were you with Maude? What does she have to do with that night?”

  “I know what happened to Brittany too.”

  “You do? Does Daniel know?”

  I managed a sip. The hot tea soothed my stomach. I cautiously drank a little more. “Yes, Daniel knows.”

  “Is Brittany okay?” Chrissy asked. She pulled a chair close to me, her expression eager. “What happened to her?”

  “I’m not sure. Daniel is ...”

  “I’m here,” Daphne called from the living room, accompanied by the closing of the front door.

  Mia sat back impatiently. “Oh, thank God. It worked, Daphne. Becca knows what happened to Jessica. And Brittany.”

  Daphne appeared in the kitchen, her face red and perspiring, her red hair falling out of her ponytail. Clearly, she had run the entire way over. When she had first appeared, her eyes were as bright and excited as Mia’s, but once she took in my appearance, her expression quickly sobered.

  “Becca, what happened?” she asked.

  Mia waved her away. “She can talk about that later. Right now, she has to tell us what she remembers.”

  Daphne looked between me and Mia, biting her lip, like she was trying to decide on a course of action. She took one last hard look at me, then pulled a chair out to sit next to Mia. “Is there sugar in that tea?”

  “No,” I said. “Yuck.”

  “Would you like a cup?” Chrissy asked, getting up.

  “Yes please,” she said. “And bring the sugar.”

  “Sugar,” Mia scoffed. “What the hell are you talking about it? This is it! The answers to all of our questions.”

  Chrissy deposited the sugar in the middle of the table along with a mug of tea for Daphne, who began heaping teaspoons into all our cups, starting with mine. “Sugar is good for shock,” she said neutrally. “Becca, I know you don’t normally drink sweet tea,
but drink this. You need it. You, too, Mia,” she said, spooning sugar into Mia’s tea above her protests. “Mia,” she said, putting her hand on Mia’s. “You must be able to see ... this isn’t good news.”

  “Yes, but ...” Mia started to interrupt, then paused, as if what Daphne said finally penetrated. She turned to me and just stared for a moment. “Jessica is dead,” she said flatly.

  It wasn’t a question.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  Mia’s face reflected a dozen expressions as she processed my words. Daphne turned to me. “Drink,” she said.

  I sipped the tea, wincing at the sweetness. Daphne nodded for me to keep going. I choked as much of it down as I could.

  “I knew it,” Mia breathed. “I always knew she wouldn’t have just left.”

  “You were right,” I said simply.

  “So, what happened?” Mia asked.

  I paused and took another sip of tea. “There are still some questions,” I said. “I don’t know everything. CB was ...” I paused again, seeing his shorts unbuttoned in my head.

  Mia’s eyes went round and even Daphne looked horrified. “CB?” they both said at the same time.

  I held up my hand. “Not exactly. CB was ... obsessed with Jessica. He’s the one who took Brittany. I’m sure of it. Maude saw him as well. But ...” I paused again. It was more difficult to confess than I had imagined. “I think I was the one who killed her.”

  I didn’t think it was possible but they both looked even more horrified. “What? That can’t be,” Mia exclaimed.

  “Becca, are you sure?” Daphne asked.

  Even Chrissy looked stunned.

  I sighed and rubbed my temples, wishing my headache would, at the very least, ease up. “Quite honestly, I’m not sure of anything anymore.”

  “Maybe you should start at the beginning,” Daphne said.

  “Yes, I want to hear everything,” Mia said.

  I took one last sip of tea and started talking.

  I told them everything. No one interrupted me—they all three just sat there watching me as I relived that awful time in the woods fifteen years ago.

  By the time I was finished we were all crying, tears streaming unchecked down our faces. Even Chrissy.