My mind is churning. Thoughts are spinning in my head as the pieces start to fall into place. My grandfather’s words come into my head - that there’s more to the accident than I realised and that I should talk to Izzy. Suddenly I feel sick. I’ve been awful to her! For ten fucking years I blamed her for this, and she was the one who was suffering. She was the victim and I only added to her troubles.
My family was trying to help her, but I didn’t even think of that. I just blamed her for my own suffering without even realising that she was going through something worse.
“She’s a strong woman,” I respond, the emotion choking my voice. Jess looks at me and I can see the clear, intelligent determination in her eyes. They’re Izzy’s eyes. She nods.
“She’s the best person I know. Did you see her? When you went to the apartment? My mom - Vera hit her with a lamp. There was blood -” Her voice catches in her throat and I shake my head.
“I saw the police, they told me she was in the hospital.” Jess’s eyes widen with fear. “She’ll be ok,” I continue, trying to sound confident. “I was on my way to see her when Vera stopped me.”
Jess nods as a solitary tear rolls down her cheek. Suddenly she looks at me.
“Your Grandpa…?” The question hangs in the air between us. I smile sadly and shake my head.
“I’m sorry,” Jess says.
I shake my head. “You know, it’s funny. The last thing he told me was that Izzy loves me.” Jess nods her head and smiles at me. “She does. I could tell right away a few weeks ago she started looking all happy every time she talked about work. I figured there was a boy.”
“You’re pretty mature for an eleven year-old,” I say, grinning at her. She grins back and shrugs her shoulders.
“Alright you two, social hour is over. Time to get moving.” Vera’s scratchy voice grates on my ears. I look over at her, still pointing that goddamn gun at me.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
She snarls. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to make a little movie for my darling daughter Isabelle, and then you’re going to take a trip to the bank.”
Mark waves his smartphone and the two of them laugh. I glance at Jess and see that all the colour has drained from her face. I gulp, feeling my Adam’s apple move up and down my throat. I’m no closer to figuring out how I’m going to get Jess and I out of this one. If I die, it’ll be with the knowledge that I’ve been awful to Izzy for the past decade, and she’s the only person I have left now. I can’t let that happen.
Chapter 45 - Izzy
“Wait here,” I tell the cab driver as I open the door.
“Lady! I can’t wait here all day!” He exclaims with his arms sticking out of the window. I spin around and march back towards him.
“Listen buddy, my little sister was kidnapped earlier and I think she’s here. Pretty soon the cops are going to show up and then you can leave. Until then, I’m not going to be stranded here with no way of getting back. Just sit tight. I’ll pay you double whatever the meter says.”
His eyebrows shoot up and he huffs before nodding grumpily. I turn back around and start jogging lightly towards the woods, then pause and turn around again. The cab driver rolls down the window and looks at me, waiting for me to speak.
“I need your phone.”
“Ha! No. I’m not doing you any more favours.”
I put my hands on my hips and stare at him. “Did you not hear anything I just fucking said? My SISTER is in danger. I need your phone so I can give the cops my location. Look, I’ll give you something as collateral.”
I pat my pockets, well, Gene’s pockets, and find them empty. I have eighty-seven dollars and another man’s clothes. I look down at my hand and see the wedding ring that Dave slipped over my finger. It’s shining in the sunlight and I feel my chest tighten. His mother’s ring, and his grandmother’s ring before that. When it slipped onto my finger it made me feel whole. It feels wrong to take it off my finger, but I take a deep breath and do it anyways. I hand it to the cab driver.
“My wedding ring. Keep it until I come back and I can give you your phone back.”
The cab driver inspects the diamond on the ring and sighs. He nods once and hands me his phone. I watch as my ring disappears into his front pocket and I feel like my heart is being wrenched out of my chest.
“The code to unlock the phone is 1-1-2-2,” he says, resigned. I nod and take a step forward, taking his cell phone from him. I put it on silent and slip it into my pocket. I pause and put a hand on his shoulder, looking him straight in the eyes.
“Thank you.”
He nods and waves me away. I turn around and start jogging towards the forest. Memories flood back to me - memories I’d forgotten, of a happy childhood with a real family, before things got bad. I remember these woods - running through these trails with Hannah, finding bugs and climbing trees. My feet pound the hard earth as I jog forward.
My head is splitting. I close my eyes for an instant and suddenly I’m hurling forward through space. I hit the ground with a thud and the pain shoots through my forehead and down my spine. I groan, looking back at my feet to see a tree root in the centre of the path. I grimace and pick myself up slowly. I stand up, gingerly taking a few steps forward. When the dizziness subsides I keep going at a slightly slower pace.
It’s hard to see straight, and it’s hard to walk, but all I can think about is Jess. Jess is here somewhere, I can feel it. I let my feet guide me to the old campsite we used to pitch our tents at. It’s off the beaten path, not monitored by any park rangers. It’s a small clearing right near the ocean. Our two families used to watch the sun rise over the water together.
I stumble through the forest. I don’t really know where the clearing is, I’m drawing on memories that are ten, fifteen, twenty years old. I come to a fork in the path and smile. I remember this. We used to go down the left fork - the one that looks disused and overgrown. I step confidently to the left and keep going.
It’s cool and fresh under the trees, deceptively peaceful. I can hear some birds singing above me and I wonder what they have to sing about. My heart is pounding and all I can think of is Jess.
Suddenly I hear voices. I stop and crane my neck, closing my eyes to focus on the sound. It’s definitely voices. I step forward slowly, hating the way the pine needles crunch underfoot. The voices get louder and I know I need to get off the path. I glance around and choose the thickest part of the underbrush, creeping forward slowly.
I can hear a woman’s voice - is it Vera’s? It has to be. Then a man’s voice. Is that… no. I shake my head. It couldn’t be Dave. I’m imagining things, wishing he was here with me. I take a few steps and listen closely, trying to hear the high-pitched musical lilt of Jess’s voice.
In a few more steps, the trees thin and I can just make out the clearing. The voices are coming from the far side. I can’t get any closer without being spotted, so I make a wide arc around the clearing. The voices are loud now. I crouch behind a thick bush and peer through the branches.
My breath catches in my throat. There she is. Jess is there, she’s alive! I resist the urge to run ahead and grab her, peering through the bushes to see what else is going on. There’s a tent, and Vera. She’s holding something - a gun, I realise with horror. She’s pointing it at someone, it’s not Jess. There’s a thick patch of trees in the way and I can’t see who she’s talking to. I strain my ears to listen.
“You’re going to transfer every single penny that you’ve got over to me. No funny business, no questions. Everything. You understand?” She turns her head and barks. “Mark, are you almost ready over there? What the fuck is taking so long?”
I watch as she makes a disgusting sound and then spits on the ground. I shudder. I pull out the taxi driver’s phone and quickly send my GPS location to Detective Jenkins. Slipping the phone back in my pocket I look back towards the clearling.
I step slowly through the brush, ma
king sure to place my feet over dirt or moss and avoiding the crunchy leaves on the ground, I step around a bush and take cover behind a tree. I peer around the trunk of the tree and feel my eyes widen. My heart rises to my throat and my stomach drops. I feel like the world starts spinning a little bit faster as I watch him staring at my mother with his icy, piercing gaze.
David Langley.
My husband, the only man I’ve ever cared about, the only man I’ve ever loved. He’s got a gun pointed straight at his chest, and the person holding the gun is my mother.
I feel a wave of fury come over me. She took away my best friend, took away my chance at a better life. She caused me unimaginable trauma and suffering for all of my life, inflicting wounds visible and invisible that I’m still recovering from. And now, she’s kidnapped my sister and is pointing a gun at the man I love.
Chapter 46 - Dave
“It’ll never work, you know,” I say patiently. Vera spins around and snarls at me.
“Shut up,” she barks.
I shrug. I’m just trying to distract them, to delay the inevitable. She’s going to drain my accounts and she’ll ransom Jess for all of Izzy’s money. Once she has what she needs I don’t expect I’ll be set free. The way she’s waving that gun around looks like she’s keen on using it.
I glance around the forest one more time. I’ve studied the trees and bushes endlessly since I’ve been sitting here tied up. Jess’s head is on her chest and she’s staring at the ground in front of her listlessly.
I feel a surge of emotion welling up inside me. I won’t give in, not when I see Jess like this in front of me. She’s such a sweet girl and Izzy cares about her so much - hell, I care about her and I’ve only just met her! I won’t let this monster do anything to her.
My mind starts buzzing. First things first I need to free my hands and feet. I spot a sharp looking rock near my right foot. I glance up at Mark and Vera and see them talking to each other in low voices. I slide off the log where I’m sitting and angle myself so that my hands are sandwiched between my back and the log. Slowly, slowly, I start moving them back and forth across the rock.
Vera glances at me and I stop moving, staring straight at her. My heart is in my throat as the seconds tick by. She frowns and then turns back to Mark. I exhale and start moving my wrists again, a little bit more slowly. Jess is staring at me and I can tell she knows what I’m doing. She doesn’t move, only watches as I try to free myself.
I have no plan. I don’t know what I’ll do once my hands are free. This doesn’t feel like the movies, where everything is lining up perfectly for me to make my escape and save the little girl. t’s far too real. It very much looks like the two of us are tied up and we aren’t the ones holding the gun.
Still, I have to try.
I work my hands back and forth and feel a glimmer of hope when I feel the bonds loosen ever so slightly. The ropes rub back and forth on my wrists and I feel them move a fraction of an inch more than they did before. I move my arms a little bit faster and then stop, heart beating and sweat dripping down my forehead.
Vera and Mark start moving towards us and my heart sinks. I shift away from the rock and lean against the log, trying to wring my hands and move my wrists to set them free. It’s no use. The bonds are too tight. The glimmer of hope inside me starts to fade.
The man, Mark, unties my ankles and then grabs me by the armpit and hoists me up so that I’m standing. Vera makes a sound.
“Well, what’s this?” She says with some amusement in her voice. I feel her hand on my arm as she lifts them up and inspects my restraints. “Someone’s been being naughty.”
She walks around to face me and I see a mix of malice and amusement in her eyes. She crosses her arms, her handgun placed conspicuously over her left bicep. She taps it gently on her arm, looking at me with one eyebrow raised.
“Why would you go and do something like that? We’ve been nothing but hospitable ever since you go here.” The two of them laugh, throwing their heads back and baring their teeth for me. All I can see are two hyenas, getting ready to come in and feast on a carcass.
Vera stops laughing and looks at me with those dark, dead eyes of hers. I hold her gaze and just think of Izzy. Her eyes are so light, so playful, so good. I can hardly believe she came from this woman.
Suddenly she’s lifting her arm up, the one with the pistol. She reaches back across her body and brings the butt of the gun straight down on my cheekbone. I hear a crunch as I yelp and stumble sideways. Just as I’m falling, I hear another sound. Another voice, coming from the forest.
“No!” It yells. A gurgling, wordless scream follows. My heart jumps because I know that voice, even though I won’t let myself believe it.
Without the use of my arms I trip over myself and fall down, landing hard onto my side. I try to roll myself over in the direction of the voice. All four of us turn towards the voice just as a flailing body collides with Vera. The gun goes flying out of her hand, glinting in the sunlight as she’s tackled to the ground. Mark jumps towards the two of them and tries to pull the person off Vera.
It’s her. I knew it was as soon as I heard her. My eyes are wide with disbelief. She looks at me with panic and anger and pure animalistic instinct in her eyes before turning back towards Vera and kicking her.
Suddenly it’s a flurry of activity all around us. I run head first into Mark’s chest, head butting him with a loud thud. I use my legs to kick him back, giving Izzy some distance to deal with Vera. I catch a glimpse of them grappling on the ground, inching closer to the gun that skidded just out of reach.
The man lunges towards me, snarling so I can see his brown gap-toothed mouth. I set my shoulders and prepare myself to kick him again, but he wraps his arms around me and throws me to the ground. I’m able to kick him off me and I make solid contact with his ribs. I hear him grunt before coming back towards me with a kick of his own.
The pain sears through my side and I think I hear my ribs break. They crack as his boot makes contact with my side, sending a lightening bolt of pain through my entire body. I gasp and kick my legs towards him.
It’s no use. He grabs my ankles and pins them down. With my legs tied behind my back I can’t move or defend myself. He reaches back and punches me in the face right where Vera hit me with the gun. Pain explodes in my face and I’m knocked onto my back.
I can’t fight a man with my hands tied. I look around and see Vera’s hand getting closer and closer to the gun. Izzy’s eyes look hazy and unfocused and she’s breathing heavily. Jess has scooted away towards the edge of the forest, away from the fray. She’s terrified, the whites of her eyes betraying her terror.
We’re losing, and there’s nothing I can do about it. In a few moments we’ll be overpowered and they’ll have all three of us in their clutches instead of just two.
Chapter 47 - Izzy
The fury that I feel is all-consuming. The minute that gun made contact with his face my body left my conscious control. I’m an animal now, kicking and biting and scratching as we roll around on the ground.
This is the woman who traumatised me, who ruined everything I ever cared for. And now she’s back in my life after a decade, aiming to ruin everything I have nurtured and care about since she left. Everyone I love.
Her elbow makes contact with my head and I feel an explosion of agony through it. My vision goes dark for a second before I can see again, only to set eyes on her snarling, evil face. I can hear Dave and the man grunting near my feat and can sense their movement, but the only thing that matters right now is survival.
Survival is about three inches away in the form of a black heavy handgun. I can see her hand inching towards it and I bite down on whatever piece of flesh is near my mouth. She yelps and pulls her hand back long enough to try and hit me.
I know I’m losing. I can feel my head pounding and my limbs starting to feel heavy. I struggle to maintain control over my consciousness, watching as the world g
ets darker around the edges of my vision.
Jess screams my name and I feel a surge of strength pass through me. I heave my body over so that I’m on top of my mother, pinning her down with my body. She bucks and flips me back over, reaching for the gun.
I see her hand a second too late. Her fingers grasp the pistol grip and I lunge towards it, trying to keep her arm down. Suddenly we’re straining with our arms locked together, trying to gain control over the pistol. She’s flailing her arms back and forth and it’s all I can do to hang on and try to keep it pointed away from Jess and Dave. My world is spinning and I’m not even sure where they are.
The blood is pumping through my veins and all I can hear is the roar of my heartbeat in my ears and the heavy panting of my breath. I can taste coppery blood on my tongue as we thrash on the ground.
She’s just a little bit stronger than I am, a little bit faster, a little bit more agile. Her arms swing upwards and I struggle to resist. She has the gun in her hands now, pointed at the sky. I try to push it back down, away from the people I love, away from me. I can see the deadness in her eyes. She wouldn’t hesitate to use it. In this instant I know that we are locked in a struggle of life and death.
I try to push her arms back down but she resist. She pulls the trigger and the sound is almost deafening, sending another wave of pain through my skull. I recoil back as the sound echoes in the woods around us. Birds flap their wings to fly away as I fall backwards. My mother regains her footing and stumbles to her feet, pointing the trembling gun straight at me.
I lay back, breathing heavily, as I stare down the barrel of the gun. She starts grinning and then starts laughing maniacally. Dave is on the ground nearby, arms and legs tied with the man standing over him. The two of them look at each other and then back to us, laughing.
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