What Came After

by Nord, K. C.

  "Ok, thanks," I replied and started for the door when Mabel caught me by the arm.

  "You can't take off like that without some breakfast. It's cold outside this morning; at least take one of my cinnamon rolls and a cup of coffee to warm you up."

  "That sounds good," I replied.

  Angela disappeared back into the living room while Mabel went to get my food. I wondered what she had started to say before her grandmother had interrupted. In the short time that I'd been here, I'd noticed right away that the relationship between the two of them had seemed a little strained. And it didn't take a genius to see that Angela was more than a bit unhappy in fact, the only time that I'd seen her look even remotely happy was at dinner last night when Ethan had shown her a little attention.

  I shrugged, and I ran back upstairs to get my stuff. I couldn't help but feel bad for Angela, I thought and reached out to pick up my bag at the foot of the bed. I was just slipping it over my arm when a floorboard behind me creaked, and everything went black as I started to turn.

  TWO DAYS LATER:

  I don't know what woke me up first, the hard, uncomfortable bed, the pounding of my head, or the thirst. I rolled over and tried to sit up, only to fall over sideways as I realized that my hands were tied in front of me, and I definitely wasn't in my bed. My eyes flew open in alarm, and I rolled over into a sitting position.

  Looking around, I realized that I was in the barn with Norah lying motionless in the straw a few feet away. I reached out and nudged her with my foot, but she didn't stir. My heart started pounding, and I began to panic, thinking that she was dead, only taking a sigh of relief when I saw the rise and fall of her chest and realized that she was still breathing.

  Shakily I tried to get to my feet but didn't quite make it and ended up falling over on my side in the straw as the room spun dizzily around. My heavy eyes closed again, and I must have slept for a while, only waking when rough hands pulled me into a sitting position.

  Sleepily I opened my eyes to see Mabel standing in front of me while an older man with gray hair grasped my shoulders, holding me up.

  "Hello, Dear, it's time to wake up and take your medicine," she said and slapped me roughly across the face when my eyes started to close again.

  My head snapped back, and I fell back on the floor, only to be roughly jerked back into a sitting position.

  "Stop it," I mumbled and tried to pull away.

  "Take your medicine like a good little girl," she ordered and tried to put something into my mouth.

  Weakly I tried to turn my head, but she yanked on my hair, bringing tears to my eyes. I tried to block her, but she impatiently pushed my hands away and roughly shoved a couple of pills into my mouth. I immediately started choking and managed to spit one of the pills out but unfortunately did swallow one when Mabel began pouring water down my throat.

  "Why are you doing this?" I mumbled as I fell back onto the floor.

  "Because," Mabel said with a happy smile. "It's what I do."

  "What?"

  "You look a little confused, so let me explain it to you," she said in a conversational tone and grabbed a chair from the corner of the room. "George, help me get her into this chair."

  The older man standing beside me made a sound of disapproval, "are you sure that you want to do this?"

  "Well, of course, I do, George," she replied with an annoyed tone as she roughly pulled me up from my seated position on the floor. "You can't just kill someone without least telling them why. Now, be a dear and get me a whiskey. This is going to take a while, and I am mighty parched."

  George grunted in disapproval and stomped out of the room as I struggled to keep my eyes open.

  "That's a girl," Mabel said with a sweet smile. "You try and keep those eyes open until I finish my story."

  "Are you crazy?" I asked in disbelief.

  "No, not crazy at all. I just don't have the problems that hold most people back in life. You know, things like empathy and a conscious."

  "That's pretty obvious," I muttered darkly.

  "It's very freeing, you know, to not have those things," she said complacently.

  "I wouldn't know about that."

  "And that is why you now find yourself in this situation,' Mabel said with a laugh. "But enough of that. You're probably wondering why you're here today, it's a long story, but I'll try and condense it a little. Things were rough after my husband and daughter died, and I had to find a safe place away from the city for Angela and myself."

  Her voice just kept droning on, and despite my efforts to keep them open, I felt my eyes starting to close as I drifted asleep when the drug that Mabel had given me began to take hold. Seconds later, I gasped in pain when Mable roughly grabbed my hair and yanked my head back before slapping me across the face. I felt my lip split and a trickle of blood ran down my chin, but even this wasn't enough to keep me awake as I drifted off to the sound of their voices in the background.

  THE NEXT TIME I CAME to, I was still in the chair, but they had tied me to it this time. I was leaning forward with my hair hanging down over my face. Mabel and George were still in the room with me, or maybe they had come back. Not knowing how long I had been under the medication, it was hard to tell. Not wanting them to know that I was awake, I slowly opened one eye and peered through my veil of hair hanging over my face.

  "You shouldn't have drugged the girl if you wanted to have a conversation with her."

  "Well, now you tell me," Mabel said sourly. "It's been six hours; when is she going to wake the hell up?"

  "Why don't you just kill the two of them and get this over with?" George complained.

  Losing her patience, Mabel turned around and snapped, "I've already gone over this with you. why don't you go and make yourself useful by doing something."

  "Ok, ok, have it your way," he said in a placating tone and quietly closed the door on his way out.

  Mabel sighed and crossed the room to stand over me, "all right, girl, this has gone on long enough. I know that you're awake, and if you keep playing games with me, it's only going to be all the worse for you in the long run."

  I sat up and coldly stared her in the face, "You're already planning to kill me, so just how much worse can it get?"

  "Keep it up, and you just might find out,"

  "What have you done to Norah!" I demanded, looking across the room to where she was still lying motionless in the straw.

  "She's drugged but still alive for the moment."

  "Why are you doing this? What did we ever do to you?"

  "I'll get to that in just a bit," Mabel said with a smile and sat down in a chair a few feet away before continuing her story. "Well, Dear, as I said before, times were hard after the death of my husband and daughter, so I took Angela, and we left the city. But along the way, my car broke down. And I'm not going to lie; things were looking bad for us out here in the desert with very little food or water. Luckily a lovely older couple found us and took us in. And the rest is pretty much history; eventually, I killed the couple and buried them out back of the barn.

  I looked at her in disbelief," why would you kill them?"

  "Oh, it was nothing personal; it seemed easier that way."

  "Easier!" My voice rose in anger. "You found it easier to kill someone and steal their home than to find one of your own?"

  Mabel shrugged and said simply, "I wanted this house."

  "You're a psychopath!" I breathed.

  "Well, if you want to label me, I guess that word is just as good as any other."

  "But what do you want with me?"

  "Nothing really, and if you'd kept your nose out of my business, you would have been allowed to leave safely."

  "What does that even mean?"

  Mabel snorted in disbelief, "if it weren't for you, my granddaughter would still be here."

  "I don't know what you're talking about," I shouted.

  "Don't' raise your voice with me, little missy," Mabel said as she advanced on me. " l heard you enco
uraging Angela to leave. And when I saw that she was planning to leave with you, I had to do something. Not that it did any good since she went ahead and ran off with that boy Ethan."

  "Good for her," I sneered, hoping that she would come just a little closer. "I'm glad she finally got enough sense to escape you. You're a horrible grandmother, keeping her trapped here all these years. Angela deserves a life of her own, and I'm glad that she finally got it."

  My last comment caused her to forget all caution, and she came just close enough for me to reach her as she drew back her hand to slap me. I braced myself against the chair, and moving swiftly; I lashed out with both legs targeting Mabel's knee's

  "George, help me!" she shouted just as her knees hit the floor.

  I lashed out again, this time connecting with her chin almost as soon as the words left her mouth. Her head snapped back, and she fell limply back into the straw. At this point, I didn't know or even care if she was dead or alive. Working fast, I started untying myself from the chair. Unfortunately, George showed up before I'd finished.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The instant George stepped through the doorway, I headbutted him, knocking him back through the door before he had a chance to draw his weapon. Unfortunately, I was still tied to the chair and was thrown off balance as the force of my momentum carried me through the doorway behind him.

  I hit the floor awkwardly, and so hard that I was momentarily stunned as the old wooden chair I was tied to broke into several pieces. I hurriedly pushed away the straps binding me to the chair and started to sit up. Only to freeze when I felt the cold metal of a gun against my forehead. I looked up to meet George's cold blue eyes, and he looked angry enough to shoot me on the spot.

  The hand holding the gun against my forehead jerked in response when an authoritative voice rang out from the doorway behind us.

  " Lay down your weapon and step slowly away from the girl."

  My heart skipped a beat, it was Nick Monroe, and he couldn't have picked a better moment to find me. Judging from the stony look on his face, he was also very pissed off and in no mood to put up with anyone or anything.

  George was starting to sweat, and I watched as a large drop rolled down his face to land with a plop on the stone floor. His hand had a slight tremor as it held the gun against my head, and I held my breath, hoping that the weapon didn't accidently discharge. I could tell that he was feeling nervous and desperate; there is nothing more dangerous than a desperate man as he is likely to take chances that he usually wouldn't even consider.

  "It's all over with George; just put the gun down," I whispered, hoping that he would listen to reason.

  Ignoring me, George shook his head at Nick, "drop your weapon and back up against the wall or the girl gets it."

  "This is your final warning; I don't negotiate, " Nick replied coldly.

  I could tell that he was deadly serious, but unfortunately for George, he didn't take him seriously. Instead, he started dragging me towards the door with the gun still to my head and his other arm tightly around my throat. Unable to breathe, I gasped and choked, clawing at his arm in panic.

  Seconds later, it was all over as I dropped gasping for breath to the floor, and George was little more than a blood-splattered mess splattered on the cement. I jumped up and flung myself in Nick's arms, and for just a minute, he hugged me back; before he held me at arm's length and looked me over for signs of injury. At first, he seemed visibly relieved to see that I was ok before his arms dropped to his sides, and I saw his jaw tighten in anger.

  "What in the hell were you and Norah thinking?"He ground out.

  "Norah," my eyes widened in shock, and I turned to run into the other room when Nick reached out to grab my hand.

  "Where are you going?"

  "Norah's in there, and she needs help," I said and pulled him across the room behind me.

  "What happened to her?" he demanded, crossing the room in three long strides to sink down in the hay by her side.

  "Mabel was drugging us, but I think that she must have given Norah more than me," I explained.

  Nick looked up with a frown, "where is Mabel?"

  "She's right over the-" I broke off when I realized that she was no longer lying on the floor where I'd left her. "She must have escaped."

  "We'll worry about her later," he said and scooped the still unconscious Norah up in his arms and striding towards the door. "Right now, Norah is our more immediate concern."

  "Do you think that she'll be ok?" I asked worriedly as I held the door open for him.

  "I don't know," he replied grimly. "It would help if we know what Mabel had given her."

  I started to follow him out when something hit the door so close to my head that tiny pieces of the wood splintered and flew into my hair. Seconds later, the sound of a gunshot reached our ears.

  "Get down!" Nick yelled and pushed me back through the door, where I landed on my knees as the sound of another gunshot rang out.

  As Nick exchanged gunfire through the open door with Mabel, who was hiding behind a shed, I looked around and found George's gun lying on the floor several feet away. I leaned down to pick it up when the pain in my right shoulder registered. I looked down in shock and saw that the front of my shirt was covered in blood. All of the strength left my legs, and I abruptly sat down on the floor.

  "Another gun would help," Nick shouted, and when I didn't answer, he glanced back to see me sitting there covered in blood. "Son-of-a-bitch," he swore and closed the door before crouching down at my side.

  "Everything is going to be all-right. It looks like a clean wound," Nick said and pulled off his shirt to staunch the flow of blood.

  My stomach churned, and my face turned pale upon seeing all of the blood that covered the front of my shirt and dripped onto the floor.

  "Don't faint on me," he ordered. "We're in a bad spot here, and I'm going to need all of the help that I can get."

  "I don't faint!" I said in an indignant voice that brought a grin to his face.

  "That's my girl," he said and handed me the extra gun. "We should be able to get to the house if we use the back door. It's a little longer route, but I doubt that Mabel will try to stop us. But just in case, I'm going to need you to cover me as I carry Norah."

  Besides feeling a little weak and shaky as my adrenalin wore off, the walk back to the house was pretty uneventful. I was still on high alert the whole time, but Mabel never did show up. Any time that I started to slow down, Nick would say something to annoy me. Apparently, anger can be a great motivator; who knew?

  NICK LAID NORAH DOWN on the sofa when I heard a sound from outside. Still holding my gun, I crossed to the window, keeping to the side so as to not make myself a target. Looking through the slats of the blinds, we both watched as Mabel drove off in a rusty old pickup.

  "I can't say that I'm sorry to see the last of her," I commented as we watched her tail lights come on when she reached the end of the driveway.

  "So that was the grandma?" Nick questioned.

  I snorted, "she's not your typical grandmother."

  "No, she wasn't!" someone said from behind us, and I turned to see Angela and Moose come in from the kitchen.

  "Oh good, you found Kaley and Norah," she said, looking shocked when she saw the blood all over the front of my shirt. "Kaley, you're injured. What happened!"

  "Mabel shot me," I replied and leaned against the wall before Moose knocked me over in his excitement.

  "Sit," Nick ordered, and surprisingly enough, Moose immediately sat.

  "Norah's out cold. Do you have any idea what they gave her?" I asked Angela and gratefully took the chair that Nick dragged over for me.

  "It's the same stuff she always uses, but I do have something that will help bring her out of it," Angela said and disappeared back into the kitchen, only to reappear a few moments later with a syringe and a first aid kit in her hand.

  "I'll have to give her an injection," she explained. "It will help to neutralize th
e sedative. Mabel, I will never call her Grandma again; almost overdosed her, so it will take a while for her to come out of it. And then we should probably take a look at your shoulder."

  "I wouldn't mind an explanation on what the hell was going on here," Nick said.

  "Of course, " Angela replied, noticing how pale I looked as she put antiseptic on my wound. "But it's a long story, and I'm afraid that Kaley is going to need stitches."

  That was the last thing that I heard as the edges of my vision started to go black, and I toppled over out of my chair.

  PUZZLED, I OPENED MY eyes and looked around the room. Why would I be sleeping with the lights on? I started to sit up and gasped when a sharp burning pain shot through my shoulder. The pain was so intense it almost took my breath away.

  "Hold on," Nick said and jumped up from the chair he was sitting in just across from my bed. "Just lay still until the pain subsides, and I'll help you sit up just as soon as you get your breath back. Until then, just squeeze my hand and try to breathe through the pain," he advised.

  The pain radiating in pulsating waves of agony out from my shoulder and down my arm, almost to my fingertips, was like nothing I'd ever felt before. But after a while, it started to lessen enough so that I could at least get my breath back.

  "Are you ready to sit up?" He asked, and when I nodded, he gently added some pillows behind my back.

  "I've never felt anything like that before."

  "The first time you're shot is always the worst, but it does get easier," Nick replied.

  I stared at him for a minute, " wait, you've been shot more than once?"

  "Three times," he said with a grin. "The first time was when I was a kid and messing around with my older brother's .22 rifle and shot myself in the foot. I was grounded for almost a year after that, but it was also a wake-up call for my parents to make sure that I learned gun safety."

  "Wow!" I echoed. "So what about the other times?"