“Here we are,” the man announced as they pulled into the familiar driveway.” Jaelyn, take Lily and put her in her room, I’m going to have a chat with or newest family member.”
Jaelyn frowned, clearly not a fan of being told what to do with her property. My jaw clenched at the memory of her use of the word. She couldn’t wait to wipe that smug smile right off her face.
“Calla, please follow me,” he said, having no doubt I would follow as he walked around to the back of the house.
“I thought the police searched here,” I said. “Why didn’t they find anything?”
Dr. Foley laughed. “The police told you they searched our property, and they did. However, this house is under my wife’s name. There is no record which associates me or my children with this house.”
I froze, mouth open. “You’re married?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Was married, yes. My wife passed away a few months ago,” he answered so nonchalantly that threw me. Who talked about the death of their wife as if they were talking about the weather? I didn’t have time to say anything though because he’d just opened the door to a shed that had been completely remodeled on the inside to look like my bedroom.
“What is this?” I asked.
He smiled. “This is your new room. What do you think?”
Swallowing, I back away from the building. “What about my room in the basement? I thought I would be staying with Lily.”
“Unfortunately, after what happened last time, we thought it would be best to keep the two of you separated for now. After you left, Lily got it into her head to start acting out,” he sighed, shaking his head. “Really, I thought we’d made it rebellion phase already.”
“You did something to her,” I accused, remembering the look of pure terror on her face. “That’s why she asked me to come back, because she was afraid of what you might do to her if she didn’t.”
He laughed. “If you’re that upset by it, you should blame yourself. You’re the reason she had to be reprimanded in the first place. She was given much more freedom and privileges before you showed up and completely disrupted our way of life,” he said.
“I didn’t just show up here. I was forced to come here, at gun point I might add. Your children are the reason I’m here, and they are the reason Lily wanted to leave so badly. If you want someone to blame, then you should look in the mirror,” I spat.
Before I had a chance to comprehend what was happening, the man reared back, and my head snapped to the right, cheek stinging. The shock and the hit to my pride hurt worse than the actual slap itself.
He stood tall, straightening his back. “Maybe next time you’ll learn to hold your tongue. If you’re going to be a part of this family, you need to learn who’s in charge. Let me give you one piece of advice, it’s not you.”
The door slammed shut behind him, padlock clanking shut as he stormed out of my new home. With no clue how long I was going to be here, I focused on keeping my breathing shallow and my heart rate calm. It wouldn’t do me any good to panic now.
Sweat ran down my face and back as the day grew hotter. The night felt good since the sun’s rays weren’t barreling down and seeping in through the cracks of my new makeshift bedroom. The lack of attention to detail and comfort made me miss Jordan and his creepy obsession. At least he would have thought to put in air conditioning, or a fan.
Sighing, I stripped down as much as I could without giving any possible cameras or intruders a show. There was no doubt in my mind someone watched my every move, and I refused to just give them what they wanted.
A knock on the wooden door made me sit up, and I ended up moving too fast in the heat. Ignoring the wave of dizziness, I stood, preparing to defend myself against whoever it may be. I froze when Lily walked in. Her dark hair was now pink and filled with frilly bows and ribbons. She wore a dress clearly not made for humans, and makeup caked her face.
I opened my mouth to ask how she was and noticed what she held in her hands. Without hesitation, I gratefully accepted the jug of water, not bothering to pour it into the glass she brought with it. Draining the water in one sitting, I immediately regretted it when my stomach bloated, replacing the dehydrated dizziness with nausea.
Lily took the empty jug and turned to leave without saying a word. I called her name, but she only looked back at me with tears in her eyes.
“Lily, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything? Lily!”
I ran after her, but she was already through the door and slipped the lock into place. The door groaned under my weight as I slammed against it, throwing my entire body at it, but it wouldn’t budge. I banged my fists into the wood, the shiny finish preventing it from fraying and putting splinters in my hands.
“Lily!”
I yelled and screamed, calling her name until she was well out of earshot, and didn’t stop until my throat protested and my voice grew hoarse.
Slumping to my knees, I gasped, drawing breath into my starving lungs as sweat pouring from my aching body.
“Please,” I murmured. “Somebody.”
“I’m sorry,” a voice whispered on the other side of the door, so quiet I wasn’t sure if I heard it. Heart pounding in my chest, I held my breath and listened, hoping to hear it again.
“Lily?” I asked. “Are you there?”
“You shouldn’t have come back,” she whispered. “There’s nothing you can do now. There’s no way to escape.”
“I did it once, I can-”
“No, you didn’t.”
I frowned, swallowing around my dry throat. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“You got out of the house, but you didn’t escape. You can never escape,” she said, voice growing softer with each word. “He’s everywhere.” She paused. “You shouldn’t have come back.”
The sound of retreating footsteps signaled her leaving, but I didn’t have the energy to call after her. Her words echoed in my head, and I clenched my eyes shut against them, pushing them away. I couldn’t let myself drown in the doubt of escape. If I did, what would I have left to live for?
“Calla, get up. It’s time to eat!” Jaelyn’s voice shouted through the wooden slat in the door as she shoved a tray full of food inside. If it hadn’t already been on the ground, the force she used would have sent all the food toppling to the dirt floor. “Eat up before it gets cold,” she said with a chuckle as she walked away.
Pushing myself up from my prone position took every ounce of strength I could muster, but when I saw the large jug sitting on the floor next to the door, renewed energy and thirst pressed me forward.
I didn’t care about the food; it had been so long since I’d eaten anything that I was pretty sure my stomach had shrunk to the size of a pea by now. Dehydration was another story entirely. It came with much more annoying side effects than even hunger did.
Dizziness, nausea, rapid heartbeat, the feeling of never being able to catch my breath, and the constant sleeping, on the surface it appeared a mild thing, but sleeping was accompanied with dreams, and I didn’t have a good history with those.
Having learned my lesson from last time, I drank the water more slowly, fighting the desire chug the entire thing until nothing remained. Ignoring the tray of food, I laid back on the ground, conserving what little energy I had left and hugged the jug to my chest.
I closed my eyes, the strength it took to keep them open seeming too much, and once again, I was dozing. In and out of consciousness, I could no longer tell what was real life and what was a dream, and for some reason, I couldn’t muster up the energy to care.
“Calla, what are you doing? I thought you wanted to save your sister? Isn’t that why you came back here in the first place?”
My eyes shot open, and I pushed myself up from the ground. This was obviously a dream, it had to be, but at that moment, I didn’t care. The most beautiful, most wonderful sight stood in front of me, and I never wanted to leave.
“Mom?”
Viol
et Carmichael smiled. Her perfectly white teeth seemed to sparkle in the bright sunlight shining through the slats in the roof of the building. She looked just the way I remembered her from the last time I saw her… lying in a casket. My heart dropped.
“Am I dead?” She laughed, and my jaw dropped that my mother would laugh at her own daughter’s death. “I don’t think it’s that funny.”
She rolled her eyes. “You always were the dramatic one, weren’t you? Everyone thought it was your sister, but you were the one who always jumped to conclusions or was willing to fight someone to protect your friends,” she said, and sighed.
“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?” I asked as my legs began shaking with the effort to remain on my feet. “If I’m dead, why do I still feel like… death?”
“You’re not dead, Calla.”
I frowned. “If I’m not dead then-”
“I think you can figure it out. You are a smart girl, after all.”
I gasped, spinning on my heel to see Jordan standing in the door behind me, and suddenly we were back in that room in the basement. The sun disappeared, and a cool breeze filtered in through the air vents.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “You’re supposed to be in jail.”
Jordan grinned as he rolled up his sleeved and walked into the kitchen as he’d done so many times before. Those hands that stabbed a man to death in the middle of a crowded bar, that cooked the most delicious meals I’d ever tasted, set to work gathering ingredients from the cabinets. When he pulled a live fish out from under the sink, I frowned.
“I’m dreaming,” I said.
“Of course you are dear,” my mother said, placing her hands on my shoulders. “Why else would I be here?”
“So I’m not dead?”
Jordan shrugged as he started skinning the fish as it wriggled in his hands, and my stomach recoiled. “Not yet anyway.”
“Calla.”
My brow furrowed as another voice, this one much farther away, sounded in the room. Turning to see where it came from, Jordan and the room disappeared, and I stood in my bedroom - my real bedroom - with my mother beside me.
“Calla,” the voice said again, so soft I wasn’t sure it was real.
“Did you hear that?” I asked my mother, and she smiled.
“Calla, will you do me a favor?” I nodded. “Protect your sister for me, okay. Lily seems like she is strong and can handle herself, but she wears her heart on her sleeve. She will do whatever it takes to save you without thinking about the cost to herself.”
Her expression saddened, and I wanted so badly for her to throw her arms around me like she used to when we were kids, and squeeze me so tight I couldn’t breathe like she never wanted to let go. Then, she did. The warmth from her body seeped into my skin, and tears sprang to my eyes.
“I love you mom,” I said.
“I know sweetie.”
“I miss you so much.” A sob tore from my throat as the tears streamed down my cheeks.
“I miss you too,” she said, releasing me from her hold and backing away.
“Mom?”
She smiled. “Remember what I said.”
“Wait, mom!” I chased after her, but my feet sunk into the wet mud with every step. My legs grew tired, and she moved further and further away. “Mom!”
“Remember what I said.”
“Calla.”
The voice, louder this time, echoed in the field as if it came from up above me and bounced off the surrounding trees.
“Calla, wake up.”
The sun grew brighter until I was forced to squeeze my eyes shut to block out its blinding rays. Heat consumed me, but I was no longer sweating, the dehydration had taken care of that issue altogether.
“Calla, come on. We don’t have much time.”
Familiarity had me forcing my eyes open, and I winced against the light as a sharp, stabbing pain formed behind them.
“I know it hurts, but you have to open your eyes. Here,” the voice said before cool water splashed against my face, running into my gasping mouth and bathing my parched tongue. I tried to swallow the life-saving liquid and coughed as it hit the back of my dry throat.
“Sorry, I must have poured too much. I’ll go a little slower this time,” she said, and the cup pressed against my cracked lips as cool water once again dripped into my mouth. More prepared this time, I managed to swallow some of the water without choking.
“Good,” she said. “I know you’re tired and weak, but we need to hurry. They’ll be back any minute.”
Frowning, I opened my eyes the rest of the way to see Lily kneeling next to me.
TWENTY-ONE
Lily? What are you doing here?” I asked, voice raw and hoarse.
She helped filter more water into my mouth as she said, “Sorry, but I don’t have time to explain right now. We need to hurry before they get back.”
“Hurry? Where are we going?” My mind, delirious from the dehydration and still a little bit fuzzy from having been pulled out of a dream, struggled to comprehend what my sister was saying.
Lily dragged me to my feet, keeping me steady as I stumbled on shaky legs, and pulled me toward the wide open door. How did I miss that?
“We’re leaving, together,” she said, pulling me a little too fast.
One of my weak legs didn’t lift high enough as I stepped, and I tripped over a root sticking up from the ground. Lily, who was supporting most of my weight, grunted as we collapsed in a heap on the dewy grass.
“Sorry-”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said hurrying me back to my feet.
We made it to the back door of the house without another incident, and I panted, pulse racing as she opened the door. The rush of cool air from the house was like a shock to my system, and I had to make myself not just stand there frozen.
The way the property was set up, you couldn’t get from the backyard to the front yard without going through the house itself, so we were forced to inside. It my first breath of cool air in… some amount of days. Time stopped having meaning once I could no longer stay awake for more than a couple hours at a time.
“I shouldn’t have let you come back,” Lily mumbled. “I knew if you did that something like this would happen. I should have fought harder. I should have resisted more.”
“Not your fault,” I panted.
She gave me a sidelong glance as she practically carried me through the kitchen and into the living room. It had been so long since I’d had enough food or water to sustain even a small child.
“I was the reason you came back,” she insisted. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be here.”
I opened my mouth, but couldn’t discount what she was saying, so closed it again. She wasn’t wrong about the reason I came back. It was true that her asking me is the reason I said yes, but I doubted this family wouldn’t have come up with some other plan to get me here if she had refused to help them.
“You didn’t have a choice,” I said, taking a shaky breath.
She didn’t respond for a long time. “Maybe,” she sighed.
When we made it to the living room - a journey that took much longer than it should have thanks to my… incapabilities - Lily leaned me up against the wall as she pulled a key out of her pocket and slid it into the lock on the front door. Putting my arm back over her shoulder, she supported me as we walked to the door. Preparing myself for the possibility that someone stood waiting on the other side, I gave my legs a mental pep talk, urging them to carry me just long enough to get away.
Lily turned the door knob and pulled. It opened about an inch before something on the outside of the door jerked it to a halt. She leaned over, looking through the crack, and groaned.
“It’s a chain. They put a chain lock on the outside of the door. Damn it!” she yelled. Pulling away, I had to balance myself against the wall again as she began pacing the room. “What are we going to do now?”
“Should we hide?” I a
sked, trying to keep her calm. It wouldn’t do either of us any good if she lost it.
“They’ll be back any second,” she said. “And hiding doesn’t help when they have cameras literally everywhere. You don’t know what they’ll do to us if we’re still here when they get back, Calla. Running away while they’re gone was out best chance of escape. If we don’t get out now… we’ll never have the opportunity again.”
“You should listen to your sister, Calla. She always has been a smart girl.”
My breath caught in my throat as the front door swung open, and Dr. Foley walked inside with Jaelyn close behind. Lily froze in her pacing and all the color drained from her face. Gone was the girl who was trying to rescue us to be replaced by the traumatized girl who was terrified of this man and whatever he was capable of doing to her.
“I’m surprised, Lily. I really didn’t think you had something like this left in you,” Jaelyn snickered. “I guess I’ll have to remind you what happens to bad little girls.”
Lily’s body furled in on itself, and I couldn’t stop myself from rearing back and smacking that smug look right off her ugly face. In my weakened state, the slap itself wasn’t that strong, but she was close enough for me to put my entire body behind it.
Jaelyn’s stared straight ahead wide eyed, jaw slack as if she didn’t know what just happened, or she couldn’t believe it. Then she looked at me, and her eyes narrowed, mouth twisted into a gnarled frown.
“You bitch!” she screamed and lunged at me.
I didn’t have the strength to fight her off, so I used her momentum against her and dropped to the ground, propelling her body over mind so she crashed into the wall. Honestly, it was complete luck that it worked out, and it would be a miracle if it did anything but make her angry, but if we were going to spend the rest of our lives in this place in pure agony, then I would gladly do anything that pissed her off.
You Could Have Saved Her Page 18