by Lechna Baram
“Call the freaking cops!” Alena exclaimed. She was shaking. The only ones calm right now were my brother and Rose.
“He said he'll hurt Athena if we did.” Rose reminded.
“He did all that for Athena. He won't hurt her,” Alena said as she picked up the phone.
“Call the police and give them Jace’s address. I'll get there in time.”
“I'm coming with you,” Dean said. I nodded. I'd most probably need back up. My heart ached when I thought of my love locked up with that bastard. I hope he didn't touch her again.
“I'm coming too,” Rose told us. Dean turned and shook his head.
“No, you're not,” he said.
“I know his house. You don't. I can help.”
She was right. I nodded curtly and quickly walked to the car. Dean and Rose got in as well. I drove quickly, so quickly that Dean was gripping his seat.
In a few minutes, we reached his house. I parked the car a few meters away so he wouldn't notice the car. Rose checked on her watch and then at the house.
“He's supposed to go to work in a few minutes,” she told us.
“What if he doesn't?” Dean asked.
“Why wouldn't he?” Rose asked.
“Because he freaking kidnapped someone?” Dean said as if Rose was stupid.
“Let's wait for a few minutes, okay?” Rose said.
I knew Rose was worried for Athena and for Jace as well. She looked worried. She was in love with the psycho. I sighed and rested my head against the steering wheel. I hope Athena was fine. If I find my love hurt in any way, I'm going to kill that fucker.
“He's leaving!” Dean exclaimed from next to me.
We turned to see Jace getting in his car and driving away. I clenched my jaw, trying to calm myself. He seemed to be so calm. We waited a few more minutes, waiting until his car was out of sight. Once it was, we got out of the car. All three of us ran to the door. I hope Athena was good. I hope our baby was good. The moment I was standing in front of the door, my heart raced.
Athena was everything to me. I never knew that I'd given so much importance to someone in my life. And that woman walked in with her sexy self and dazzling personality. I was deeply, madly in love with her. I couldn't bring myself to say it though. All I hoped was that I'd find her safe and sound.
“The door is locked” Dean said with clenched jaw. This broke my trail of thought. I pushed him slightly and tried to open the door. “It doesn't seem like we can break it down,” my brother said as he inspected the door. I punched the door. It didn't budge one bit. I pulled away from the door. I inspected the house. All the windows seemed to be closed. It was all set up to seem like no one was in.
“There is a back door!” Rose suddenly exclaimed.
Without waiting another second, she started running towards a small path. Dean and I quickly followed her. She reached a door and quickly turned the door knob. I clenched my jaw when I realized that this door too was locked. Dean sighed in exasperation.
“Wait.” Rose simply ordered as she looked around. Her eyes were fixed on the floor. “He always hides his keys under a rock.”
Dean and I started turning over the rocks.
“Got it,” Dean said as he took a key. He quickly opened the door. Not wasting time, I rushed into the house. I didn't even know where to go.
“We need to look in the basement,” Rose said quickly.
She walked quickly. She seemed to know where to go. So Dean and I quickly followed her. She opened a door. Yeah, that was the door through which we got out.
“Dean, you stay here. Tell us if you see someone coming,” I told him, then Rose and I walked down the stairs. I looked around the room. The basement was still the same. But no Athena.
Where the hell was she? I tried to examine the table for any sign of blood. No blood. I sighed in relief. But fear washed over me again. Where was she?
“Where do you think she might be?” I asked Rose who seemed to be already thinking about it. We walked up the stairs. Dean sighed in disappointment.
“What if she's no longer here?” Dean asked. My head snapped in his direction.
“There's a room, which Jace would never open when I'd come over,” Rose mumbled to herself. Without thinking more, she ran up the stairs. Dean and I both followed. Just as we reached the first floor, we heard banging on a door. I ran towards it.
“Jace! Get me out of here.” I heard Athena cry.
“That's the room,” Rose said, joining my side.
“Rose?” Athena asked in disbelief. “Damian?!” she shouted. I could hear relief in her voice.
“We're going to get you out of here,” I said and tried to open the door. It was locked.
“Damian. We have a problem,” Dean said. I turned to look at him. He was peeking at the window in the hallway.
Chapter 68
Break In
“No! No! No,” Rose mumbled quickly to herself as she stared through the window.
I walked towards them and peeked as well.
Fuck No.
“Why the hell did he come back?” I asked with clenched jaw as I watched Jace walking up his alley. We need to think and fast.
“Guys! What's the problem?” Athena asked. I knew she was panicking. Who wouldn't?
“Sweetheart, listen to me,” I said softly so she wouldn't panic more. “Jace is coming back, so keep quiet,” I said.
“Jace has a drawer in his room where he keeps his keys!” Rose whispered yelled and ran towards a room at the end of the corridor.
“He’s talking on the phone,” Dean said, continuing to peek through the window. “What are we going to do if he gets in?” he asked.
I clenched my jaw and rested my head against the door of the room where my Athena was.
“Guys, go away,” Athena whispered loud enough for us to hear.
“The cops are on their way,” I told her, hoping that would calm her down. I failed to protect her. Disappointment filled my heart. “I'll get you out of here.” I promised. I heard steps, running our way. Rose quickly pushed me away from the door. She started trying different keys.
“He's coming!” Dean said in a hurry. It was the second time, I saw Dean that scared. The first time was when his girlfriend walked on him cheating.
“Please be it.” She begged whenever she'd try a key.
Click.
“Yes,” Rose said in relief and pushed the door open.
She walked in and then I did. My eyes fell on Athena. The first thing I saw was the dark blue spot on her face and her teary eyes. I wrapped my arms around her while she sobbed. Dean walked in the room, looking scared as hell.
Not so manly, little brother?
“Lock the door and keep quiet.” Dean ordered as he closed the door slowly. “Avoid walking and don't make a noise. He must not know we're here.”
He locked the door as I tightened my arms around Athena. We could hear the clacking of the front door, signaling he was back. Dean took out his phone.
“What are you doing?” Rose asked.
“Trying to know where on earth the cops are,” he said through gritted teeth. “Alena,” he said through the phone. “Where the hell are the cops?” he snapped.
He could have simply called the cops. Athena seemed relieved that we were with her.
“They're coming!” Alena said through the phone.
“And so is Jace!” Dean whisper yelled in the phone before ending the call.
We could hear the television playing downstairs. I stared down at Athena and pecked her forehead.
He's not touching her again.
No freaking way.
“What are we going to do?” Athena asked as she lifted her head to look at me. I smiled reassuringly.
“We'll find a way out,” I said.
“What are we going to do if he comes up?” Rose asked.
“He'll definitely come up,” Dean mumbled from the other corner of the room. He was inspecting the room, trying to find a way to get ou
t.
“We'll have to block the door,” Rose whispered. I nodded in agreement and unwrapped my arms from around Athena. I helped Dean lift a drawer and we placed it in front of the door. The television soon turned off.
“He's coming upstairs,” Athena told us. Dean motioned for us to shut up. We did. We heard him walking upstairs.
“Athena?” Jace called slowly as he stood in front of the door.
“Let me out of here, Jace.” Athena begged and faked sobbed so that he wouldn't think we were in there with her.
“I did all that for you, Love.” Jace sighed.
I clenched my jaw.
“Wait, I'll open the door.” With that, he walked away. Rose's eyes widened.
“He's going to notice that the keys are missing,” she whispered. And a few seconds later, Jace walked quickly back to the door. He tried to open the door. He tried several times.
“What's wrong?” Athena asked, faking panic.
“I lost the keys or I left them at work,” Jace said.
Rose and Dean breathed in relief.
“So you're telling me you freaking lost the keys and I'm locked in here?” Athena yelled. Oh darn. She could be a perfect actress.
“I'm so sorry! I'm going to break down the door,” Jace said and tried to push on the door. Suddenly, he stopped. We all knew why.
We could hear the sirens.
“Fuck!” Jace swore as he took a step away from the door.
“What” Athena asked.
“Those fuckers called the cops! I told them not to!” Jace growled and we all flinched when he punched the wall. “Do me a favor,” he then said, sounding calmer. “Be quiet. I'm going to talk to them.”
Athena nodded. Did she know that Jace couldn't see her?
“Did you hear me?” Jace asked with urgency.
“Yes,” Athena whispered loud enough for him to hear.
When we heard his footsteps retreating, we all sighed in relief.
“We need to get out of here before he convinces the cops to go away,” Dean said as he walked to the door. I helped him move the drawer away from the door. Rose quickly ran to it and unlocked it. As if she was deprived of oxygen before, Athena took a deep breath.
“It feels good to have this door open,” she mumbled. We all walked out slowly, looking from left to right.
“We need to get to the window,” Dean whispered, motioning to the window which gave a view of the alley and the road. We nodded and tiptoed to the window.
“Shit,” Rose said as she looked through the window.
“What?” Athena asked in a slightly high tone.
“The policemen are leaving,” Rose said in despair
Chapter 6 9
Window
Athena
“We need to get them to notice us.”
I didn't wait for them to agree with me because I knew they wouldn't. I started hitting the window loud enough to attract the policemen’s attention.
“Help!” I shouted.
My eyes moved to Jace, who was standing on his porch. He looked panicky and angry. The policemen turned to look at me. Then I watched as realization started settling in.
“Shit!” Rose cursed. Jace had closed the door and we could hear his footsteps in the house. The cops were running to the door.
“He doesn't know that you guys are here,” I told them.
Damian put himself in front of me as we watched Jace walk up the stairs. His eyes widened when he saw Damian, Rose, and Dean with me. He most probably thought I was alone. My eyes moved to an object in his hand.
A gun.
“Why?” he asked. He sounded so hurt. It was as if I betrayed him. “Why do you have to complicate everything?” he asked and shook his head in disbelief.
“Just let us go, Jace.” Rose begged from beside me.
The latter scoffed. He brought the gun to his head, making us all take a deep breath. We were all scared. He was tapping the gun against his forehead, as if trying to get an idea.
“I have to think.” He snapped.
“Jace,” Rose started again. But Jace lifted the gun and pointed it at her.
No.
“If you talk again, I'll shoot you,” Jace spat. He put the gun down, then leaned against the wall. “What the hell am I supposed to do now? Maybe I should kill you all,” he said to himself.
“Sir! Let us in.” I could hear a policeman shout from outside.
“On three, we run to the room,” Dean whispered loud enough for us to hear. We all nodded while Jace clenched and unclenched his jaw. He was shaking. That was the scary side of him. “One,” Dean started. “two, three.” At three, we all ran to the room. Jace stood there, not knowing what to do. Damian closed the door and stood against it.
“Lock it!” Rose shouted, her hands over her heart.
“Help me!” Dean ordered. Rose helped him push the drawer against the door again. Damian moved from there and helped them.
“Athena!” Jace shouted. “I love you,” he said. He sounded so sick. “Please, come with me.”
I screamed when he shot at the door. There was a hole in the door now. Luckily, we were no longer standing in front of it. “I need you by my side.” He continued. “Dead or alive, I need you.”
At his words, goosebumps rose on my skin. He shot again.
“Sit on the floor,” Damian whispered. We all did.
“There’s four of us and only one of him,” Dean said, shaking his head. “Why the hell can't we take him down?”
“First, we're not taking the risk of fighting him. I don't want anyone hurt,” I told him. I was going to open my mouth to point out that Jace had a gun but Rose beat me to it.
“Second, he has a freaking gun. A gun can overpower us,” Rose told him as if he was stupid. Well, he kinda was. But he still came to save me.
Well, try to save me. Because right now, we were all in a messed up situation. We all flinched when Jace shot at the door again.
“He's so stupid. If he keeps shooting, he'll finish all the bullets,” Dean mumbled as if it was a bad thing.
“Is it a bad thing?” Rose asked in disbelief.
“For him, yeah,” Dean said.
“Think about us, dumbass!” I exclaimed, shaking my head.
“What about the windows?” Damian asked suddenly. It seemed like he was the only one trying to get us out of there. I shook my head.
“He blocked them,” I told him.
“With?”
“Wood,” I said. Damian's eyes widened. He slowly let go of me and motioned for me to stay where I was. He motioned Dean to follow him to the window.
“If you break into my freaking house, I'm killing each fucking one of them!” Jace shouted like a maniac to the cops.
Rose was shaking in the corner of the room. I crawled to her. She smiled sympathetically at me. I knew she was faking it. I knew my best friend. I knew she was freaking out.
“We're going to get out of here,” I told her.
She nodded, not believing the words I said.
“Come,” I said, trying to get to the other side of the bed so that we'd be safer and closer to Dean and Damian.
She nodded, then we both crawled slowly. We were scared that Jace would hear us and he'd begin shooting.
“What are they doing?” Rose asked as she stared at Damian taking off the curtains. We leaned against the wall.
“Trying to get out through the window,” I told her.
“But if we jump, we die,” Rose stuttered with wide eyes.
“If we stay here, we die too,” I told her.
I watched as Damian had a difficult time taking off a piece of wood. Dean kept pulling on one, and Damian had to help him.
BOOM!
We all turned to the door. Jace was trying to break in. I don't know what he was using but it seemed to work as the door cracked. The drawer wouldn't protect us for long. With a determined mind, I stood up and walked to the guys. I started pulling on the chunk of wood. Rose came to help too a
nd we all smiled proudly when it came off.
BOOM!
“One more,” Dean said and we all started pulling on the last piece of wood, ignoring the constant cracking of the door.
“Yes!” Damian exclaimed as he threw the last piece on the bed.
“We need to jump,” Dean said.
Damian opened the window and put his head out. He looked around, then whispered yes.
“There's a pipe. Use it,” Damian told Dean. “Once you're down, you go seek the policemen.” Dean quickly nodded.
BOOM!
“Quick!” I urged.
Dean got out through the window. Damian and I quickly ran to the door.
“Rose, as soon as, Dean is outside, you go,” I said as I tried to stop Jace from getting in.
“We need to put the bed too,” Damian said from the other side of the room.
I nodded. Without losing time, I helped Damian push the bed against the drawer.
“I can't get out.” I heard Rose sob. Her eyes were teary. Oh yeah. She hated heights.
“Listen, Dean is down there. He's going to help you.”
“Athena! Let me in!” I heard Jace yell. I turned to Rose and took her hand in mine.
“Rose. Please. We have to do this.” I practically begged.
“We'll help you,” Damian said. We walked closer to the window and breathed in relief when we saw Dean, accompanied by a few policemen.
“We are going to bring a ladder,” one of the policemen said. I turned to look at the door. It was nearly cracked. I could see Jace now. I could see him peeking through the hole.
Shit.
“You are not getting away!” Jace shouted.
“Hide!” I yelled when I saw him pointing the gun through the hole. He was targeting Damian. “Damian!” I called, pulling him to me. I pushed him by the bed and ducked next to him while Rose hid in the other corner of the room.
“We need to block that fucking hole until we get out,” Damian said.
I was feeling guilty. Guilty, because they were all stuck here because of me.
“I'm sorry.” I apologized.
“It's not your fault,” Damian said, pulling me to him.