Before We Fractured: Books 1-3

by Bradon Nave

  “Well I’m sorry for all of that, but I’m not your leverage.”

  “I know. That was the plan. I reckon it’s time for a new one.”

  “How far away are we? How long do we have to formulate this damn plan? And dammit! Turn on the damn heater.”

  “The trailer ain’t but two miles up ahead.”

  “Well that doesn’t give us much time you idiot.”

  “I’m going to beg. I’ll just beg. Surely there’s a part of him that will relate to my plea. Doyle is my all; he’s everything to me. Avery always told us…there’s a bit of good in each bad person and a bit of bad in each good. I hope to God there’s enough good in that sick head of his to let my poor Doyle go. He’s my entire life.”

  Watching Patty I couldn’t help but feel for her. Allowing her to beg for a ghost was cruel and possibly unnecessary. Telling her, however, could possibly light a fuse that was incapable of extinguishing. I was not them. I had to tell her.

  “Patty…I need to tell you something.”

  “Sshhh. We’re about there.”

  “I saw them, Patty.” My gaze fell solemnly on her face as the car began to crawl slower.

  “What?”

  “I…I saw them. I saw them from the trees.”

  As our gaze met, I felt there was no need to continue explaining. Her face told me she knew what I had seen.

  “He…he took my Doyle…he took my Doyle!”

  “Yes”

  “No! Oh sweet Jesus…no!”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what he would do—”

  “You just watched! You couldn’t help?”

  “No.”

  As Patty’s face turned from me I regretted telling her. I had no idea of she would do now and my primary concern was my boyfriend, not this woman who had once attempted to hold me hostage.

  “Was he gentle? Did he go peacefully?”

  I instantly envisioned the blood and scene of chaos I’d witnessed—it was anything but gentle—it was brutality in every sense.

  “No.”

  Gripping the steering and breathing heavily, Patty brought her body forward, staring out over the dashboard. Within seconds we were flying down the dirt road.

  “Patty! What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’ll kill him!”

  “No! We have to be smart about—”

  The back of her hand met my lips with a thud, a sting and instantly I was tasting blood. The vehicle turned down Avery’s driveway so quickly I thought we might roll it. Patty was crazed with grief and anger as we tour down the drive toward the trailer house.

  Ducking into the floorboard, my head was slammed into the glovebox as Patty hit the brakes, sending the car sliding. Within seconds the woman was bouncing from the car.

  “You sonofabitch! Get out here!”

  My nerves had my blood pulsating through me. On some euphoric overdrive, I knew for certain it was now or never.

  Peeking out the passenger window, I saw no one but Patty. I leapt from the vehicle and scurried along the backside of the trailer house to the back door—finding it locked.

  Patty’s screams diverted my attention. Her agony had me pasted to the tin of the mobile home. I couldn’t move.

  “Please!”

  I had to try. Peeling myself from the home, I crept along the back and peeked around the corner. Much to my horror, Patty was being all but drug by her hair by a crazed Avery to the barn.

  “I warned you, Patty Sue! I done warned you!”

  “You killed him! You killed my Doyle!”

  Patty’s shrieks had me completely catatonic. I was incapable of assisting her.

  “It’s time to burn, Patty Sue!” Avery threw Patty to the ground, wailing by the door of the barn as he entered through the door.

  I wanted to scream to her to run. She only stared toward the ground, crying. There was no helping her—and then Avery reappeared holding a large red gasoline can.

  “Oh my god…” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I couldn’t allow this. Beg Patty Sue! Beg him!

  Pouring the gasoline about the fallen woman, Avery shook his head in a disappointed fashion.

  “Avery…please…not like this. Please not like this. Anything but this.”

  “What choice have you given me, Patty Sue?”

  Looking toward her executioner from the ground, Patty placed her hand atop his foot. “Please, Avery. Don’t set me on fire. I’ve been loyal. Please just snap my neck or…ain’t I at least worth a bullet?”

  Throwing the can to the ground, Avery turned his back to Patty Sue, resting his hands behind his head. I watched as Patty eyed Avery cautiously, slowly making her way to her feet.

  “I done sent Doyle to his maker, Patty. You both failed me something awful. I don’t know just what to do about it. Good Book says to forgive…should I forgive you? Can I forgive you?”

  As Avery asked his questions, Patty Sue made her dash toward the tree line as quickly as her legs could carry her.

  “You deceiver!” Avery’s rage put a chill over me as he raced after her into the trees. I took the opportunity to make my way to the front door. Flinging it open, I hauled ass down the house to the bedroom.

  Opening the door, my heart sank. Jessie wasn’t awake, yet he wasn’t asleep either. He looked to me with a completely subdued gaze. His cheek bones even sharper looking than I’d remembered. He was dying; he looked like he was dying.

  “Jessie!” I rushed to his side, grabbing his face. Cold and clammy, he had severe difficulty focusing on me.

  “This f’real?” His cracked lips were barely capable of making out the words.

  “I’m here, Jess. I’m getting you out of here.”

  “Run…run, Kace…run Kacey.”

  “We will. I have to try to carry you to the car outside.”

  Flinging the blankets from him, I heard two gun shots ring out in the distance outside.

  “Jessie can you walk?”

  “He makes me. He makes me…”

  “I know Jessie but we have to walk.”

  “He makes me drink it or he says he’ll kill you. Is this…is this really happening?”

  “Jessie, I’m here! We have to go!”

  Placing my hand behind his back, I pulled him forward as he grimaced.

  “I’m gonna be sick—” and then vomit was all over the both of us. “I’m so…I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. We’re okay, Jess. You’ve got to stand up.”

  My heart sank as the sound of the front door swinging open and heavy boots hitting the kitchen floor were heard.

  Stomping down the hallway, I knew this was it. Avery was coming. This was either the end or the beginning.

  Releasing Jessie, I reached for the knife as I stood and waited for the bastard to enter the room.

  “You little snake! You will burn long before you enter the gates of Hell!” His fist met my face with a force so hard I saw nothing but black. Falling backwards, the back of my head hit the dresser. Before I had time to process, I was being lifted from the floor by my hair—thankfully I felt the knife still within my grasp.

  “I showed mercy to that big bitch, Patty, but you will burn up in my fire right on my front lawn! You will scream—”

  His hand was quick to release me as the knife was plunged into his side.

  “You…you snake.”

  “Let us go, Avery! Please! Jessie is going to die—”

  With this I was the target of a full-on assault. Avery’s fists came at me with a fury I’d only seen in the movies. Within seconds I lost count of how many times the man punched and open-hand hit me.

  “Avery!”

  “It’s burning time!”

  His hands in my hair, dragging me down the hall, I screamed and kicked as I attempted to claw the thin walls all the way down the hallway.

  “Oh, you snake! I think you might had nicked an innard!”

  Kicking the front door open, I was flung by the hair from the door of the home and onto
the yard by the massive and belligerent man.

  Without even a moment’s reprieve from his violence, I found myself kicked in the side, nearly flipping me on my back, and then his hands were in my hair again—dragging me.

  It was at this point that something selfish awakened. I realized that I wanted to live. My life was more important to me than I’d originally thought.

  Prying my eyes open, I visualized the gaping knife wound. Without thinking, my right index and middle finger delved into it, forcing my immediate release as Avery screamed in pain.

  Battered and bloodied, I sprang to my feet with all I had left and ran toward the trees. I wasn’t Patty, overweight and non-maneuverable. I entered the tree line like a fish flopping from the hands of a fisherman back to the water of a stream. I understood leaving Jessie there wasn’t the plan, but neither was burning to death at the hands of a madman.

  “Kacey! Get back here! Let’s talk this out!”

  His screams were far enough behind me to know that I was gaining ground. My battered body was still capable of bounding over downed branches and slick leaves. I was leaving him behind me…I was leaving Jessie behind me.

  There was nothing more I could do for him at this point. The idea of rushing in and toting him off over my shoulder had been a foolish one. What the hell was an eighteen-year-old girl next to a madman on a rampage?

  All I could do at this point was run. I had to run as fast as I could. I couldn’t rescue him, perhaps someone else could.

  Without a clue where I was or where I was going, I raced through the woodlands—too afraid to look back and completely unsure of where the hell I was going. I was almost certain that the wound I’d inflicted on Avery would keep him from staying up with me.

  My mind was a blur of images and emotions. The idea that this was actually happening, that this would forever be a part of my history, was impossible to take in. Even while running, while I thought about it—actually thought about it—I smiled. I didn’t smile because I was happy or because I found any piece of the situation funny, I smiled because it was truly shocking. Like when an officer comes to the door in the middle of the night to give indigestible information about my father being killed by a drunk driver. Shocked smiles aren’t real smiles. They’re just evidence of shock.

  The vision of Jessie’s pale and odd-tinted face was also bouncing about in my mind. So weak and frail. It was as if it was too late—like there was nothing left to do. Even if I found help now, it might be too late to save him. I had failed him. I had not only failed him—he wouldn’t even be in this situation had it not been for me. And now I was abandoning him. I truly was a horrible person.

  My body ached, I could feel my face swelling in the cool air as the clouds above me began to roll in menacing and angrily in the sky.

  “Dammit!”

  It was only a matter of time before I was completely drenched in the massive downpour, I could feel it on the wind.

  Putting all I had into my escape effort, I raced through the woods, and then a felt the first drop of rain hit the top of my head, fat and heavy. It was quickly followed by another and then another. Within seconds the sky was darkened and the rain was pelting me. It hurt. It wasn’t soft and gentle, it was hard and stinging. I was completely drenched in matter of minutes.

  “No!”

  This was it. There was nothing left. I had nothing left. The wind was frigid, I was being pursued by psychopath, and I would no doubt succumb to hypothermia shortly. This was it.

  There would never be convincing me that this was for the best—there was no one to send help for Jessie once I was gone. However, maybe this was what was supposed to happen. Maybe we were too fractured—too damaged to recover. Perhaps it would be easier for our parents to read about us falling victim to a merciless madman than to have to deal with our unfixable issues the remainder of our lives.

  Thunderous claps shook my brain from above as the rain came down as if it had something personal against me. Still running the best I could, I found it impossible to see even a few feet in front of my face.

  Falling over a downed branch, I literally felt my spirits completely crash—they shattered beneath me. If the option of fading into the woodland floor were available at this point, I honestly might have taken it—I was depleted. As selfish as that sounds, I was depleted.

  “Kacey! Bitch! Where are you?” His voice was barely audible through the winds and rains, yet I knew he more than likely wasn’t too far from me. I had to rise—fading wasn’t an option.

  Standing to my feet, it was clear I was completely discombobulated. I had no idea which way to run—I only knew I needed to be running. One foot in front of the other, I prayed I didn’t run into him. It was impossible to make out anything obstructing my path as the rains were blinding.

  Head tucked, I jogged through the witch’s fingers as quickly as possible, hoping to escape whatever pain Avery was hoping to offer. Even if this was indeed my end, I didn’t want to die by his hands. I was certain that all of my sins combined didn’t equal anything sinister enough to deserve whatever punishment Avery had waiting for me. He wanted to assure my last moments were agony.

  And then they were gone, and I was stumbling. The branches were gone, they were no longer scratching at my face, but the clearing was the ditch—the road. It had me tripping and falling once more.

  Rising to my feet quickly, I had no clue which way to run. One direction led to Avery’s house, and the other to somewhere else…all I knew is that Avery claimed that the only people to use the road were those coming to his house.

  Inhaling deeply, I began running down the side of the road with my head tucked. The thought of one of Avery’s bullets ripping through the branches and sinking into my back was almost comforting—it could all be over. I had failed Jessie regardless, everything else was simply misery and gratuitous.

  My right eye was now all but swollen, yet my gaze remained focused on the saturated dirt road at my feet as I ran.

  I didn’t see the headlights, but the honking horn had me diving and rolling from the road and back to the ditch—the popping noise in my ankle as I fell assured me my escape effort was over. Avery had obviously been cruising up and down the road looking for me—screaming my name, and now he’d found me. It was over—I was over. My eighteen years would end violently and painfully. I failed him…I failed the only thing I truly loved.

  Standing slowly on my good foot to meet my end in the downpour—head down in defeat while in the ditch, I heard instead one of the most beautiful sounds my ears had ever heard.

  “Kacey? Kacey! Holy shit is that you?”

  “Duke? Oh my god!”

  Standing in glow of taillights above me on the road, Duke looked down on me as the rains continued to pelt us.

  “Lily! It’s Kacey!” Rushing to me in the ditch, I threw my arms around his neck, crying hysterically.

  “Kacey! What the hell happened to you?”

  “You found us! How? You found us!”

  In one swoop, Duke had me lifted off the ground as he hauled us up the ditch to his waiting car.

  A stunned Lily was quick to open the backdoor as Duke sat me gently inside. “Kacey! Kacey what the hell happened?”

  “Lily! Oh my god! You found us! How did you find us?”

  “Kacey! Where is Jessie?”

  “He has him, Duke!”

  As Duke jumped in the front seat and turned to me, his mouth fell a gasp. “Oh my god, Kacey who the hell did this to you? I swear to god I freakin’ kill ’em!”

  “Avery! Avery did this!” Clutching my face in my hands I rocked long ways in the back seat. “Is this real. You’re really here? How? How did you find us?”

  “Jessie…he called me on some dude’s phone. He wasn’t making any sense like he was completely wasted. He couldn’t even tell me where the hell he was so I told him to screen shot the map and send it to me. Everyone is looking for you two! We knew it was a long shot but we had to try. We left without telling them�
�”

  “We didn’t kill him? We really didn’t kill my uncle?”

  “Kacey…” Lily’s hand rested on my knee.

  “You don’t understand! The things I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t mean for this to happen. It just—”

  “We know everything, Kacey.”

  “What? What do you mean, everything, Lily?”

  “We know.”

  “Oh my god. You know?”

  “Yes. And it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Lily’s smile and soft touch was comforting, but the thought of rescuing Jessie came over me once more.

  “Oh my god we have to save Jessie! He still has him!”

  “Who?” Duke leaned closer to me, his eyes wide and raging.

  “Avery! The man that tried to kill me. He’s been drugging him! He’s in a shitty house at the end of this dirt road.”

  “I’ll gut him! I swear to god when I find this Avery mutherfu…” Turning around quickly, Duke reached for the glovebox, retrieving a handgun before he put the car in drive.

  “This is really happening…we might really live. You really found us…you actually found us.”

  “Hell yes we did.” Duke looked to me from the rearview mirror. “Let’s go get Jessie.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Lily…I’m really not going to debate this with you any longer, young lady.”

  “No! Seriously, D. Not cool.”

  “But this will make me a legend. Are we not legend material? Am I not legendary?”

  Standing on the staircase beneath the stage of the school leading to the basement, my hands grabbed her waist, pulling her closer. I knew she was seconds from saying yes.

  “I thought you respected me, D?”

  “I do, Lil-pickle. But I need a down-twenty-four-seven type of girl.”

  “Shut up. You’re seriously deranged. Like you really do have mental issues.”

  Breathing heavy and pissed-off acting, Lily walked to the props table. “I hate you right now.”

  “You love me and you know it.”

  Stripping to my boxer-briefs, I walked next to her at the table. “I shaved my happy-trail. That’s gotta count for something.”