by L. A. Casey
Philip cackled to himself, “Little hellcat.”
I glared at him.
“Okay, little miss pushy,” Philip chuckled. “Your man is the best enforcer I’ve ever come across. It’s like he was created to work for Marco, just like his brothers. Alec has a knack for making people come, Dominic has a knack for knocking people out, Ryder has a knack for moving very fucking large shipments of product undetected, and Kane? That boy has a knack for making people scream in a very terrifying way.”
My stomach contents rolled around my stomach.
“You see,” Philip smirked, “Kane is very aggressive when he is mad. He has a tendency for blacking out during a fight. He turns into an animal without being aware of it, and I like to take credit for it.”
“How can you take credit for somethin’ like that?”
“Well,” he began, “it was my idea to try shock treatment after the whippings became ineffective.”
Whippings? Shock treatment?
“I-I don’t understand.”
Philip clicked his tongue at me. “Sure you do, you’re a smart woman. Think about it for a second.”
I did just that.
Kane received whippings and shock treatments from Philip... but why? The more I thought about it, the more the answer became clear to me.
“Y-you tortured him into becomin’ a weapon for you?” I asked, my voice so low I didn’t know if Big Phil heard me.
“Yes and no,” he replied.
I looked at him. “What does that mean?”
“At first when Kane received a whipping, it was punishment, not torture.”
I snarled at him. “Punishment for what?”
I didn’t want to ask that question, but I had to know.
“Kane was the man to go in and hurt someone who fucked me or Marco over. Let’s say a man owed some money for product, but he didn’t have any money to pay for it. Kane wouldn’t hurt him, he would hurt his loved ones until payment was received. He only ever hurt the person in question, sometimes killed them, if nothing would come for simply hurting them.”
I felt tears well up in my eyes.
“If he did all that, then why would he be punished?”
Philip smirked. “He didn’t like hurting the kids and woman of the scumbags he had to extract payment from. For every refusal, he received a whipping.”
“But he has hundreds of scars!” I bellowed.
Philip chuckled, “Why do you think I said we switched to shock treatment when whipping him became ineffective?”
I wanted to vomit.
“He looks like a monster, but inside, he is actually a nice guy, which sucks for him because no one will stay with him longer than a few hours. He is pretty fucked up, you know?”
I spat in Philip’s direction. “I’m with him. I love him.”
“And he loves you,” he replied rubbing his shoe against my side table to wipe my spit off, “and that is exactly why killing you will break him.”
I stopped breathing.
“You... you’re goin’ to kill me?”
Philip smiled at me. “Yes, I am.”
“Why?” I whispered.
“Kane let my son burn to death, so I’m returning the favour.”
I widened my eyes to the point of pain.
Philip’s son was the person Kane locked in a room that was on fire?
I shook my head clear and focused on the main point of what he said. “What do you mean burn?” I screamed.
Philip stood up and retrieved a plastic bottle from his coat pocket—I guessed it to be a seven hundred and fifty millilitre bottle. He uncapped the bottle and began to squirt the liquid around the room.
I gripped my knee as Philip moved over to my storage press. He opened the door and pulled out numerous books and boxes of blank paper. He kicked the lids off the boxes of paper, picked up handfuls and threw them around the room. He then squirted more of the strong smelling liquid on the paper.
My insides churned and panic set in when he reached into his pocket and took out a silver lighter. He swiped it against his thigh and stared at the flame he created.
“He killed my kid,” Philip said as he stared at the dancing flame then flicked his eyes to me, “so I’m killing his and his girl. He’ll know what it feels like times two. I’m not going to kill him, but I’m going to cause him so much hurt that he wishes he was dead.”
He threw the lighter on the desk closest to mine and the desk instantly went up in flames thanks to whatever liquid he poured on it. The flames spread around the room. Wherever the liquid was squirted, a flame was there.
I looked around my room and screamed. I couldn’t see a thing through the flames and the growing thick black smoke.
I heard a door slam so I looked back to where Big Phil was stood seconds ago, but he wasn’t there. Through the flames I saw my classroom door was closed so I screamed as loud as I could for him to come back for me, but he didn’t.
He left me to burn.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I stood up off my chair and tried to walk towards my classroom door. When I put weight on my injured leg, I instantly fell to the ground, hitting the floor hard. I screamed so loud as the blinding pain took control of my leg. I began to cough then, and that snapped me back to reality.
I was going to burn to death.
The thought alone spurred me on. I used my good leg to push against the floor while I used my hands to pull myself. I felt around for my bag with every inch I gained, and I eventually grabbed the strap of it.
I coughed as I dug through it and fumbled with my phone as I gripped onto it with shaking hands. I couldn’t see the screen because my eyes stung so bad and blurred with the mixture of my tears and smoke that filled them.
I focused and used the swipe motion to unlock my phone. I saw the light grow bright, and I could make out the light-green phone app that brought me to my call list. I pressed it and then hit the last person who called me.
“Miss Collins?” I heard a shout from outside the door.
I screamed, “Help me, please!”
“Miss Collins!” a familiar young male’s voice shouted. “Are you in there? I see smoke.”
Caleb.
“Caleb!” I screamed. “Help me.”
“Miss Collins!” his voice hollered. “I’m goin’ to get you out of there!”
I heard banging on the door and I whimpered. He was trying his very best to kick it in.
“Aideen?” I heard a voice shout.
I didn’t know who it was, my ears were starting to ring. I cried out as my mind refocused on the pain in my leg.
“Help me!” I cried and spluttered.
“Aideen!”
I blinked my eyes and looked down to my phone.
Someone answered my call.
“I’m at the school,” I screamed. “He is goin’ to kill me. He set everythin’ on fire-” I cut myself off when a fit of coughing hit me.
“Aideen!” I heard his voice, screaming.
Kane?
I whimpered, “Kane. It’s Big Phil. He’s tryin’ to-”
I coughed again and dropped my phone in the process. I couldn’t see a thing so I tried to feel around for it, but I couldn’t find it.
I screamed, “No!”
I searched for my phone as a table next to me collapsed and the burning timber fell against me and burned my arm. I bellowed in pain and kicked myself away from the fire.
“Miss Collins!” Caleb’s voice screamed. “I’m goin’ to pull the fire alarm- Hey! Let go of me!”
I looked up as my classroom door opened and a body was thrust into the room. The door slammed closed once more and this time laughter followed.
“There, you have a little brat to keep you company.”
“You bastard!” I bellowed.
Philip laughed, “Give my regards to Marco, Miss Collins.”
I was about to reply when I suddenly felt hands on my arms. I screamed with fright because I couldn’t see anybody in front o
f me. The room was growing thick with smoke, and laying low on the floor seemed to be the only option.
“It’s me,” a voice said then coughed, “Caleb.”
Caleb.
Oh, God.
“Caleb,” I spluttered. “Get out of here right now.”
“And leave you?” he asked, coughing. “No. Come on.”
I cried, “Me leg, I think it’s broken.”
“Fuck,” Caleb growled then hooked his arm around my waist and pulled. He grunted as he hoisted me up to my feet.
I instantly began to wheeze when I stood upright. The smoke was thicker, the flames were higher, and my throat felt like it was on fire.
“The window,” I coughed.
I cried in pain as Caleb pulled me along with him. He rested me against a desk that wasn’t ablaze and tried to open the window closest to us, but it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s locked!” he shouted and covered his mouth and nose with his hands.
I did the same thing.
“Try smashin’ it,” I said, coughing into my hands.
My throat started to feel like a razor blade was wedged in it, and the more I talked and breathed, the more lodged it became.
“Cover your face!” I heard Celeb shout.
I did as he asked and covered my face. Seconds later I heard a loud crash as Caleb slammed one of the chairs into the window. I heard the glass shatter then Caleb’s voice.
“Help us!” he roared out the window. “Please, we’re trapped! Help us!”
I heard people’s voices shout in reaction to Caleb’s plea.
“There’s a fire in the school!” a woman screamed. “People are trapped!”
A man shouted, “Call nine-nine-nine! Quickly!”
The school was situated in the middle of a housing estate so all around us were houses.
“Help us!” Caleb screamed again.
I leaned over the desk to rest a little. It was then I realised I couldn’t feel the pain in my leg anymore. I couldn’t feel anything, but the overwhelming tiredness that filled me.
“Miss Collins!” Caleb shouted.
I felt his hands on me then.
“Hey,” he coughed, “wake up!”
I leaned into him and closed my eyes.
“Help me!” Caleb screamed. “I need help! Please!”
It felt like forever since Philip left the room, but for some reason it felt even longer since Caleb had smashed the window. It was like time slowed down and I was experiencing everything from a third person’s viewpoint.
“We’ll get you out of there, son,” I heard a man shout as more glass shattered.
Caleb’s hold tightened on me. “Me miss is with me. She’s pregnant.”
“Fuck!” a man’s voice shouted. “We need to get them out of there.”
I heard multiple voices then.
“The frame of the window won’t break, I tried,” Caleb said then coughed.
I gripped his arm. “You shouldn’t... have come... back.”
Caleb pressed his head on top of mine. “I was waitin’ on me da to pick me up, he wasn’t in the car park. I just said that so you would let me go early.”
I laughed lightly, coughing whilst doing so.
“I heard a scream and was scared you went into labour or somethin’. I wasn’t goin’ to leave you all alone. Who was that man that did this? I didn’t see him come up behind me.”
I cried as I covered my stomach with my hands.
My baby.
“Aideen!”
I blinked my eyes open. “Kane?” I rasped.
“Mate, helped us break the frame.”
“That’s my girlfriend!” he shouted. “Move and we’ll break it.”
Kane.
“Hang on, Ado. We’ll get you out in a second.”
Nico.
I heard loud bangs then.
“Stomp on it, Dominic! Force it.”
Everything happened quickly then. A loud crunching noise sounded and people cheered.
“They can fit out! Quick, climb in and get them!” a woman’s voice hollered.
“No, get her out first!” Caleb coughed.
I felt a few pairs of hands grab me then I was lifted into the air. One second I was inside a boiling hot, smoke-filled classroom, the next I was outside surrounded by cold, clean air.
I greedily sucked it down into my lungs.
“Aideen?”
Gavin? Why was he even here?
“Oh, God!” Gavin’s voice cried. “Aideen!”
“She’ll be okay, man. We have her.”
“Look at her!” Gavin’s voice cried. “She’s not okay. I have to ring me da and brothers.”
I wanted to reach out to my brother, but the best I could do was open my eyes and look up. I saw Kane’s face first, and I instantly began crying.
“I’m so sorry,” I spluttered, “for what I said-”
“Stop it,” he cut me off. “You have nothing to apologise for.”
But I did. What I said was wrong, and I hurt him.
“It was him,” I coughed.
Kane tried to lift me, but I screamed when the pain returned to my leg.
“No!” I cried. “He broke it.”
Kane looked down at my leg and a look of pure anger filled him.
“I’m going to make him sorry for doing this, babydoll. I promise.”
I shook my head. “Don’t leave me.”
Kane took hold of my hand. “Never.”
I began to cough hard. Each cough felt like glass was cutting up my insides. I think I coughed up some blood—whatever it was it came up in little chunks.
“Oh, my God,” my brother whimpered. “She’s goin’ to be okay, isn’t she?”
I wanted to answer him, but my throat felt like it was burning.
“Yes!” Kane instantly replied to my brother and pulled me closer to him, wiping my mouth and chin with his hand. “She’s going to be perfectly fucking fine. Where is the ambulance?”
“On the way, bro,” Nico’s voice shouted.
I didn’t know where he was, and I didn’t care enough to ask.
“Caleb-” I began.
“Is fine,” Kane cut me off. “Dominic is with him.”
Oh God, that was good.
I wanted to ask if he was okay, but I couldn’t get the words out. My body started to droop as tiredness grabbed hold of me. My chest burned, my throat hurt terribly, my leg was pulsing with pain, and my eyes were starting to close.
I cried out when I felt my baby move.
I was relieved to feel her, but I was very aware that something was wrong with me. I felt wrong, I felt like... it was the end for me.
I was going to die.
“Save the baby!” I cried as the pain struck my chest. I squeezed Kane’s hand as tight as I could. “Promise me th-that you’ll choose her l-life over mine if it c-comes to it.”
My voice didn’t sound like my ow; it sounded like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together.
“Aideen,” Kane spluttered and shook his head as he stared down at me. “You aren’t going anywhere.”
I didn’t believe that. I felt like I wasn’t going to wake up again once I feel asleep. My body didn’t feel right. Everything was heavy, tired, and ready to give up.
“Promise me!” I repeated, tears streaming down my face as I began to cough again.
“Please, don’t make me choose-”
“Promise!” I screamed through my coughs.
Kane wailed, “I promise!”
I tightened my hold on him. “I love you, so m-much. You’re perfect, inside and out...” I paused to cough once more, “you make me so h-happy.”
“Stop it!” Kane bellowed at me. “Stop talking like that. Just stop. Please.”
I slumped, as the weight on my chest grew heavier.
“Do not go to sleep!” Kane shouted and slapped my face with force, but I didn’t feel it. “Keep your eyes open.”
Sleep.
That sounded
so good.
“Aideen!” I heard Gavin’s voice whimper. “Please!”
I wanted to comfort him and Kane, but I couldn’t move.
“Tired,” I rasped.
“Just rest a little, but don’t go to sleep,” Kane said, his voice cracking.
I opened my eyes and gazed into his for a long moment and just in case I didn’t wake up and see his face again, I said, “Bye.”
The force of my words hit him like a train, I saw it.
Goodbye.
“No,” he whispered, “it’s never goodbye. It’s I’ll see you later, remember?”
I slid my eyelids closed when they became too heavy to keep open.
“Don’t you think of leaving me, Aideen Collins. I need you. I love you, babydoll. Please, stay with me. You can do this, I’m right here with you. Me and you?”
Me and you.
I heard loud sirens then a lot of shouting and commotion. I didn’t need to open my eyes to confirm there were now loads of people around me—I could sense their presence.
“Sir, please, save her. I’m begging you. Please.”
Kane.
“She’s almost thirty weeks pregnant, don’t press on her stomach! Don’t let me sister and nephew die. Please save them. Please.”
Gavin.
“Move back. We’ll do everything we can, but you both have to stand back.”
Everything became noise.
“Aideen!” I heard his voice through the cloud of haziness. “Stay awake, babydoll.”
“Aideen!” This was Gavin.
I wanted to reply to them both, I really did, but I just couldn’t stay awake any longer. I let myself fall into darkness, but just before my mind when blank I saw Kane’s smiling face and it put me at peace. I just hoped if I didn’t wake up, he could somehow find peace, too.
Blinding white light.
That’s what I was greeted with when I blinked my eyes open. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light, but even when they did, I still had to blink a lot. They stung pretty bad.
I squeezed my eyes shut and attempted to lift my hand to rub them. I frowned when I found I couldn't. There was some sort of wire on my arm and I had no idea what it was. I forced my eyes open and tried to look down, but something on my face prevented me from seeing.
There was a mask over my nose and mouth.
What the hell?
I closed my eyes again and placed my hand on my bed and felt for Kane, but I just felt mattress then a rail?