Lucas paused, glancing over at me with confusion. I mouthed the word Logan and gestured over the cliff with my eyes. Grief flashed across his face.
Ryan, taking advantage of this distraction, lifted his arms and began choking Lucas. What Ryan didn’t realize was how strong Lucas was. It wasn’t difficult to pull Ryan’s hands from his neck.
Luke let go of Ryan, and the psycho punched him. Lucas fell back.
Ryan got up and took off running, but Lucas was right behind him. He grabbed Ryan by the back of his coat, yanking him to the ground.
Lucas got in a few blows until Ryan kicked up with his knee, shoving Lucas onto his back, on the wet grass. Ryan started punching Lucas, but it didn’t last long. Lucas was stronger and he had no trouble getting Ryan off of him.
They tumbled around on the wet, dirty grass, each one fighting for control. Ryan seemed to be getting tired, his movements slowing, and it wasn’t hard for Lucas to finally pin his arms and legs so he couldn’t move.
“So this is Tony? Do you know him?” Lucas asked me, panting.
“Yeah, I know him. This is my friend Ryan, from Hadley Academy.”
“Some friend,” he said, with pure hatred in his voice.
“Tell me about it. But if you don’t mind, can we talk about this later? I’m kind of tied up here, and Logan is hurt, hopefully not dead.”
Ryan looked at me, confused. “Who’s Logan?”
“Oh, he’s the one you pushed off the edge, his twin brother.” I nodded at Lucas. Man, I enjoyed the look of rage that crossed Ryan’s face.
“So Lucas, would you knock him out already, so you can untie me?”
“Anything for you, babe,” he said as he pounded Ryan as hard as he could, which thankfully did the trick. Ryan’s features smoothed, he almost looked innocent in his unconsciousness.
When Lucas untied me, I glanced down at my wrists and noticed there were cuts all over my skin where the ropes had been, and they were starting to swell. I was going to have some nasty bruises.
I rushed down around the hill that led to the bottom where Logan was.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Home
Logan was lying on the ground, and his leg looked unnaturally twisted. I shook him, digging my fingers into his warm coat. His eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving. I lay my head against his chest…he was breathing. “I knew you were using my brother to get to me,” I heard him say weakly.
“Oh, thank God you’re all right.” I sighed with relief, sitting up onto the damp ground.
“Well, I’m not sure you’d call me all right, but I’m not dead.” His voice was soft and shaky.
Lucas came down the hill, rushing toward us. “I called Detective Franklin and Mom and Dad, they’re on the way with an ambulance.” He stood between me and Logan.
“Oh good, because I think my leg is broken, and there are other things I can’t move. And by the way, who the hell pushed me off the cliff?” Logan's eyes had opened now, and he was able to lift his head.
We both laughed with relief; he was going to be fine. Logan was his old sarcastic self, cracking jokes; even a slight smile appeared on his dirt-covered face.
“That would be the guy who attacked Sarah. His name is Ryan, her friend.”
“I went to private school with him a long time ago. I haven’t seen him since.” I felt the need to defend myself.
“That explains why you thought Tony looked familiar, but couldn’t place him. He looks a lot like the guy from the newspaper article,” Lucas said, leaning over Logan to make sure he wasn’t hurt worse than we thought.
Logan swatted him away weakly. “Sarah, you should really be choosier when you pick your friends,” he said, grinning at me.
I scowled. “Be quiet, or I’ll sit on your leg.”
He winced at the thought.
“Lucas, do you want to go make sure Ryan doesn’t wake up? I’ll stay with Logan.” Even though I didn’t want to be apart from Lucas for even a second, I was worried Ryan would get away.
“You’re right; my parents should be here soon. I’ll send them down when they arrive,” he said, starting up the hill again.
“Can you sit up?” I asked Logan when Lucas walked away.
“I think so; I could probably stand if you want to give me a hand.”
I leaned down, wrapping my arms around his waist, and pulled.
“No, no. I think I’ll sit,” he said with a wince. I could tell by his face that he was suffering more than he let on. I really hoped the ambulance would get here fast. I helped him move toward a maple tree so he could lean against it.
The sounds of scuffling above us brought our attention upward. Lucas was struggling with Ryan again. He must have woken up while we were down here and taken Lucas by surprise. He had Lucas up against a tree, choking him with the large branch he was going to hit me with.
I rushed over to the bottom of the large rock hill. “Stop it, Ryan!” I yelled.
He glanced down at me, giving Lucas an opening to punch him. He fell to the ground right on the edge of the cliff. Lucas pounced on him, giving him more blows to the head. Ryan shoved him off hard, and Lucas slipped. They both flew over the edge.
“Lucas!” Logan and I screamed together. He was hanging from the ledge. Ryan was holding onto Lucas’ feet. There was no way Lucas could hold on much longer.
“Hold on, Lucas, I’m coming,” I yelled, running up the hill as fast as I could. Once I got to the top, I saw that he was grasping a rock that jutted out of the edge of the cliff.
I found the discarded rope, quickly wrapped it around the nearest tree, and brought it over to Lucas. He grabbed hold of it, but still couldn’t pull himself up.
I held onto his hand. “Try to climb,” I pleaded, desperate to help. I just didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t just stand here and watch him die, but what was I supposed to do?
“I can’t, Ryan’s holding on to my feet.” His voice was strained, sweat forming on his brow.
I glanced down, and there he was, clinging to Lucas for dear life. I grabbed onto Lucas’ arms and yanked with everything in me, but it was no use; he wouldn’t budge. Panic bubbled up inside me. “I can’t pull you up,” I sobbed, tears filling my eyes, obstructing my view of his gorgeous face. I just hoped it wasn’t the last time I saw it.
“It’s okay, Sarah. If I fall, I’ll just break something, like Logan.” He smiled, trying to cheer me. He was so amazing. Here he was hanging from a cliff about to fall to his death, and he was trying to comfort me. But I wasn’t a fool; I looked down at the ground below them. They were hanging about ten feet from where Logan had fallen. He fell on grass, but below where they were hanging were about six or seven large boulders. “You’ll die if you fall on those.”
His eyes were full of agony. “I love you,” was all he said. His hands started to slip from the rock. I grabbed them, holding on with all my strength, but it was no use, his hands started to slip again. My heart leaped to my throat as fear ripped through me.
“AHHH!”
We both glanced down at the sound of a scream. The shriek was cut off abruptly as Ryan landed on the boulders. With Ryan no longer hanging from Lucas’ feet, I pulled with all my strength, now that he was able to climb. Once he was standing, he grabbed hold of me tightly. We clung to each other, never wanting to let go. Tears flowed down my cheeks with relief at the feel of his warm body in my arms.
“Lucas! Are you all right?” we heard Logan holler from below.
“I’m fine, Sarah saved me,” Lucas yelled as he gazed into my eyes. He wiped my tears away with his finger, and kissed the side of my head.
I remembered Ryan, and glanced down at him. “Is he dead?” I asked. I had mixed feelings about the answer. I really liked him when we were friends. He made my time at Hadley Academy bearable, but if he were dead, it would finally be over.
“I think so.”
We pulled apart, Lucas dropped the rope he was still holding, and we headed back down to Logan.
“So what happened?” Logan asked me when we were sitting on the grass beside him.
I told him the story from the beginning, starting from the part where I was followed. When I finished, I asked why he came out here.
“I heard you yelling. I was out in the backyard getting something out of the shed when I heard someone shouting. I was pretty sure it was you, but I couldn’t imagine what you were doing back here. As I got closer, I realized you were yelling at someone. Then when I saw that you were tied up, I tried to help. And that’s all I remember.”
We turned at the sound of heavy footsteps and saw his parents rushing toward us. “Logan, honey, are you all right?” Karen asked, clearly shaken. She knelt down on the grass, hugging him tightly.
“Yes, I’m okay, Mom, but I might have a broken rib from the fall, and now you’re breaking another one.”
“Oh, sorry” she said, pulling away. She glanced at Lucas and me. “What happened?”
I let Lucas tell the story as I wandered over to check on Ryan.
I was no professional, but judging from the position of his body and the way his head hit the rock, no one could have survived a fall like that. I watched his lifeless remains, wondering what could have happened that made a person change so drastically. So he had a few dreams. I couldn’t imagine that would make him become a psychopath.
I was relieved that this was over, in this life anyway. The thought of this happening again entered my mind, and I felt panicked all over again. What if Tony constantly appeared in every life we had, bent on ruining our happiness? I couldn’t allow that to happen.
I remembered the article about the ritual to keep souls from returning. I glanced around to see if anyone was looking. Then I carefully reached into his pocket, trying not to think about how gross it was to be touching a dead body. I felt something and pulled it out. It was a picture of the two of us at the beach. Emma had taken it. We had spent the day sailing on Ryan's parents’ boat and we were relaxing by a fire on the sand. I needed something personal of his to burn for the ritual, and this was a personal item. I tucked it into the front pocket of my jeans.
“Hey, did I just see you steal from a dead body?” Lucas asked, stepping up behind me. His left eye was starting to swell, his neck was raw and red, his lip was cut, and his knuckles were bleeding. But of course it could have been much worse.
“I’ll tell you later.” I really didn’t want to explain my crazy idea with everyone around.
“The ambulance and police are here. And your parents just pulled up. Detective Franklin called them.”
Great, my parents were going to freak.
Detectives Franklin and Markus walked over to us. “Hello, Sarah, how are you doing?” Detective Franklin asked me.
“I’m holding up so far.”
“You should have a paramedic look at your hands, they look nasty. And Lucas, they’re going to want to look at your face.” He glanced from Lucas to me. “I’d like you to tell me what happened from the time he took you from the theater. Zack is fine, by the way. Someone heard him about a half an hour after he was put in the trunk. He called the station and told us that you were taken. We’ve been looking for you ever since.”
I nodded and told him my story.
Everything became confusing and chaotic after that. My mother wouldn’t stop crying and hugging me. My dad’s continuous handshakes to Lucas and his appreciation for protecting me were getting a little embarrassing.
The ambulance came, and the attendants carried Logan up. They insisted on looking at my head where Ryan had hit me to knock me out, and my wrists. Of course, they eventually told me that I would be fine, like I knew I was. I was more worried about Lucas. My parents were to check on me every six hours while I slept, to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. They told me to keep the bandages on my wrists for a couple of days.
The coroner came and finally took Ryan away.
When I was told I could leave, my parents whisked me away, telling me that they were not letting me out of their sight ever again. I waved to Lucas, who was getting his eye checked out by the paramedics; we hadn’t really spoken since the detectives arrived.
My parents doted on me for the rest of the evening, bringing my dinner to the couch in the living room while I watched TV. Even Alex was nice to me. It was a little unnerving.
For the next two days, I was watched like a hawk. They were afraid that once the shock wore off, I would freak out. And I wasn’t exactly sure I wouldn’t. I was still ticked off at myself for not remembering that Tony looked just like Ryan. I had a feeling Lucas blamed me too. In the confusion, he said that it was too bad I hadn’t figured it out earlier. He probably blamed me for Logan’s injuries. I know I did. I hoped he could forgive me. But since today was Sunday and I hadn’t heard from him since I left the waterfall with my parents, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen.
Despite their threat at the waterfall, my parents had finally left me alone, but only for an hour. We were running out of food, so they had to go grocery shopping. Alex was at his friend Noah’s. I stayed home from work yesterday, not by choice. I wanted to go, just to get out of the house, but my mom made me stay home. She said she was making sure my head wouldn’t suddenly bother me, and I’d faint or something. But I’m sure she was worried that the stress of it all would come back. I was a bit jumpy, and any noise startled me.
Since Friday, I had been dreaming of the incident on the cliff. I would run over and grab Lucas’ hand, but I didn’t have the strength to hold him. His hand slipped out of mine. I watched his face as he fell; he stared at me in anger for letting him slip away. I looked down and saw his deformed body lying on the rocks.
I heard laughter behind me. I spun around to see Ryan leaning against the tree; he stopped laughing and said, “You belong to me!”
I would wake up screaming. The dream always left me with an eerie feeling, and it clung to me throughout the day. So when everyone insisted on watching me, I didn’t object.
I was deep in thought, staring at the TV, when the doorbell rang. I jumped, suddenly terrified. I had just been thinking about Ryan. Even though I knew he was gone, I couldn’t help but feel anxious since it happened. I was frozen with fear and was afraid to answer the door. Maybe the coroner made a mistake, and he wasn’t really dead, but wouldn’t the police tell me?
The doorbell rang again. I covered my face in my hands, hoping whoever it was would go away. After a few minutes, I breathed a sigh of relief; they must have given up.
Bang bang bang.
I jumped at the sound of pounding on the door, and I looked over when I heard a slight squeak. The doorknob turned. I held my breath, afraid to make a sound. It was Ryan, I was sure of it.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
David & Katie
“Sarah, are you home?” called Lucas. The tension flew out of me at the sound of his voice.
I ran to the door, swinging it open, and felt better instantly. His very presence relaxed me. He wore a black V-neck sweater, jeans, and a black leather jacket. His eye seemed worse, almost swollen shut, and the skin was puckered and pink. His lip was healing, with only a slight cut remaining. The same with his knuckles; just a few red spots were visible. Despite all of his injuries, he looked gorgeous. He smiled as he handed me a bunch of multicolored gerbera daisies, deep red, vibrant yellow, and burnt orange.
“Thank you, they’re beautiful.” I shut the door as he stepped inside.
He followed me into the kitchen and was silent while I took a vase out of the cupboard.
“Good choice,” I said, filling the vase with water and placing the flowers inside.
He laughed softly. “I figured roses were ruined for us.”
I didn’t say anything, trying not to think of the significance of roses. After I finished with the flowers, we stepped into the living room. There was an awkward feeling looming around us. I was pretty sure he felt it as well.
I sat on my dad’s favorite recliner while he sat on
the couch. He watched me as I made my choice. It seemed to confirm something for him, and he nodded. “So, you still haven’t forgiven me for leaving you?”
I was startled by his question. After everything we’d been through, how could he think that? He was the one who was angry. I was just happy he was alive, and here sitting in my living room. His sweet and spicy scent drifted in the air, swirling around me, and I basked in the comfort of it. I only wished we could get through the awkwardness so I could feel his arms around me. But that wasn’t possible, knowing he was upset with me. “Why would you think that?”
He gestured to the chair I was sitting in. “You obviously don’t want to sit near me,” he said.
A laugh slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why is that funny?”
“Why would I want to sit beside you, when you’re angry with me?”
A look of shock crossed his face. “I’m not angry with you.”
“Yes, you are. You blame me for not remembering that Ryan looked like Tony. If I had, Logan wouldn’t have been hurt. That was the last thing you said to me. You haven’t called or come by to see me in two days. What am I suppose to think?”
He shook his head and sighed. “I’m not mad at you, I never was. I was angry at Ryan and the whole situation. And I didn’t come to see you because your mother called and asked me to stay away until today, so you could clear your head.” He leaned forward in his seat. “I was going crazy not being able to talk to you. I was so excited when she finally called today.”
“Is that why they left me alone?” I asked, realizing now why they were acting so strange before they left. I had asked if I could come with them so I didn’t have to be alone, but they made up lame excuses for me to stay here, even though I hadn’t had a minute to myself since Friday.
“Yes, she called and told me that you were doing better and they would leave so we could have some privacy.”
Fated Dreams (Book One In The Affinity series) Page 31