Even though it was my idea, I begrudgingly got out of the car and walked up the path to Chelsea’s front door. She lived in a small townhouse complex about a ten minutes’ walk from my house; it was a small three bedroom, two bathroom home, but it was big enough for Chelsea and her mum.
They used to live in a much bigger house next door to mine. But after her father passed away, her mother couldn’t cope with living in such a big place and all the constant reminders it gave her of her husband. He had died almost two years ago in a horrific car accident with another woman in the passenger seat. It turned out that he had been having an affair with the woman for just over six months, so I completely understood why she needed to move.
It was hard enough for her when all she knew was that she’d lost her husband forever. But when the police investigation revealed that the woman sitting in the passenger seat was not just a work colleague that he was giving a lift home, but his mistress, it almost destroyed her.
She quickly put her house on the market and sold on the first offer, accepting a bid for less than what the house was really worth. She didn’t care. She just wanted out of the house and all the memories it held. I hoped I would never have to go through what she had been through.
Aiden squeezed my hand. “I have a feeling you’ll never have to worry about that.”
I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what I was about to do, then pressed the doorbell and waited for Marie to answer.
The door opened to reveal a fragile woman, one that I had not seen since Chelsea’s father’s death. She wore a pink, fluffy bathrobe that was looking a little worse for wear. Her normally blonde, wavy hair was an oil slicked, matted mess she had pulled back off her face in a loose bun.
Her eyes were swollen red and had dark circles surrounding them. It looked like she had not stopped crying since Chelsea disappeared.
When she realised who was at the door, she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around me and sobbing into my shoulder.
I tried pulling back, but she wasn’t letting go. She held on so tightly that I thought I was going to be stuck like that for the next hour. I immediately felt bad for thinking that. The poor woman. I could only imagine what it would feel like to be in her position. The thought brought tears to my eyes.
Marie eventually let go of me and invited us inside.
The house was a mess. There were empty tissue boxes and dirty tissues littering the floor. Empty coffee cups and empty bottles of water filled the coffee table. And piles of clothing, which I wasn’t sure if they were clean or not, were thrown all over the sofa. It didn’t look like she had cleaned anything since Chelsea went missing.
Aiden and I sat down on the three-seater sofa, carefully trying to avoid the rubbish that had started to accumulate there, and Marie sat in the adjacent armchair.
She dabbed at her tearing eyes with a tissue she had grabbed from the box sitting on top of the lamp table beside her armchair. The table was covered in the evidence of her swollen eyes. There were tear-soaked tissues everywhere. It took all my willpower to ignore the mess surrounding me. All I wanted to do was grab a trash bag and clean up. But I didn’t want her feeling like I was judging her.
We sat in uncomfortable silence. I didn’t know what to say. I needed to find a way to get up into Chelsea’s room and away from her mum, who looked like she was about to crack up again.
As soon as I thought it, it started. “They have to find her,” she wailed. “I don’t know what I will do if… if….”
I interrupted her when I saw that she was struggling to speak. “They will find her before anything happens to her,” I tried to assure her, but I wasn’t really sure if I believed it myself.
What if they finally tracked down this psycho after he had already mutilated Chelsea’s body? If that happened, it would probably kill Marie, too.
She dabbed at her eyes again, nodding.
“We just have to keep positive, for Chelsea’s sake,” I said, knowing nothing I could say would make her pain go away, except the four words she was aching to hear—they found her alive. They were the only words that would end her misery. They were the only words that kept her holding on. They were the only words I wanted to hear, too.
After that she had calmed down a bit, I made my move to get out of there. “Um, Marie?”
She stopped dabbing her eyes. “Yeah?”
“Do you mind if I go upstairs? I left something of mine in Chels’s room.”
“Of course.” She wiped her nose with a snotted-up tissue.
Before she could say anything else, I jumped up off the sofa and headed straight for the stairs.
“Aren’t you coming?” I asked Aiden silently, when I realised he was still sitting with Marie.
Without looking at me, he replied, “No, you go ahead. I’m gonna stay down here.”
I hurried up the stairs alone, wondering why Aiden would rather stay downstairs with an emotional basket case. I couldn’t get away from there quick enough. I didn’t know what it was, but I really couldn’t handle being around people who were so emotional.
Holding my breath, I opened the door to Chelsea’s room. I didn’t know what I was expecting to happen when I entered, but I certainly hoped I would feel something. Instead, I felt nothing. I looked around her room; nothing was out of place. Clean and dirty clothes covered the floor, bed, and every other piece of furniture in the room.
Hoping that something might come to me if I touched her things, I ran my fingers along her dusty white dressing table, which still had two dirty glasses on top from the last time I was there. Nothing.
I ran my fingers over the jewellery that was hanging off the top corner of her mirror. Nothing. I made my way around her room, touching everything I could, but I felt nothing.
I flopped down on her fluffy pink comforter and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what the hell we were going to do next. How were we supposed to find her if I hadn’t a clue where to start looking?
My previous visions didn’t hold any clues. Yeah, I had seen the guy who took her, but his face was covered by a balaclava. His van looked like a million other vans that flooded the streets around here. Without a license plate, there was no hope of tracing it.
The sound of my phone ringing jolted me from my thoughts. I took my phone out of my pocket. It was a blocked number. “Hello?”
“Hi, is this Jade Sommers? This is Detective Brendan O’Neil.” His voice sounded rough.
My heart started racing at the sound of the detective’s voice. “Yes, it is,” I confirmed. I’d had a feeling the phone call was coming, but I was still not ready. The call seemed to make Chelsea’s disappearance that much more real.
“Jade, we would like you to come down to the station to discuss the disappearance of Chelsea Carmichael. You will need to bring your guardian along with you, as you are still a minor. When should we be expecting you?” He spoke in a professional manner.
“Umm… I will have to check with my mum to see when she will be able to get away from work. Do I have to come down there now?” I wanted to delay the interview for as long as possible. After all, what could I possibly tell them?
“No, anytime up until ten p.m. will be fine.” He said good-bye before hanging up.
I got up off Chelsea’s bed and put my phone back in my pocket before leaving her room.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, Aiden stood up. “Can I get you anything before we head off?” he asked Marie.
She shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine.”
Marie got up and walked us back to the front door.
I turned around to Marie to try to give her some sort of comforting words before we left her alone, but I was too taken aback by the amazing change in her composure. What I was seeing was not the same woman I had seen only minutes earlier. She was no longer immersed in sorrow; she was standing tall and confident.
“Don’t worry, Jade, they will find her. You’ll see. She will be fine.” She placed a hand on my arm, trying to assure me.
> “O-kay,” I said, unsure of what had changed her whole attitude in the few minutes that I had been upstairs. It wasn’t like how she would be if Aiden had done his calming thing on her. This was different.
She was smiling. “Now you two go home and get some rest. You look exhausted, Jade.” She rubbed my arm soothingly, which only made me that much more disturbed by her sudden change. “And don’t worry about me. I know the police will find her before anything serious happens to her.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “See ya,” I mumbled as I turned around, completely stunned, and headed back to Aiden’s car.
Marie waved us off. It was like she really believed that Chelsea would be found safe and sound, and that some sadistic, psychopathic killer was not holding her captive.
I hopped into the car, not taking my eyes off Marie, while Aiden made his way around to the driver’s seat.
Aiden started the car and pulled out onto the road while Chelsea’s mum gave another wave from her front door.
As soon as I could no longer see her, I turned to Aiden, wanting to know what the hell happened back there. “You did that, didn’t you?”
“Did what?” He was pretending to be hurt by my accusation.
I slapped him playfully on his arm. “You know what I mean.”
He smiled at my pathetic attempt to get something out of him.
How I loved that smile. No matter how bad I was feeling, my face would light up at the sight of it.
“Okay, okay. I did help her out back there. I couldn’t leave her like that when it was so easy for me to make her feel a little bit better. So I gave her the hope that she needed to get her through until we find Chels.”
Aiden went on to explain. “I have the ability of suggestion, which means I can suggest something to a person without them knowing I’m doing anything. It’s like they think that they came up with the idea on their own.” He pointed to his head. “It’s like how I can hear thoughts, and I can also suggest.”
“It sounds more like mind control,” I said, fascinated by his choice of words.
He cringed at my words. “I don’t like that phrase. It sounds so evil, but it’s not.”
“So have you ever used suggestion on me?” I was slightly panicking that I had done things I hadn’t made the decision to do on my own. I mean, how did I know that I’d even made the decision to date Aiden? For all I knew, he could have made that decision for me.
“I told you before that I have never used any of my abilities against you. Besides, it’s not as if I force people to do things that are bad or that they will regret later. I don’t use it like that.” He sounded truly hurt by my last statement. “I want you to be with me because you want to be with me, not just because I want to be with you.”
“This will be a harder one to accept,” I said, mainly to myself. I knew he was right. How could I ever not want to be with him? Aiden was someone who would always draw attention from other girls and guys wherever we went. The females wished they were me so that they could have him. And the guys wished they could be him so that they could have the same effect on girls that Aiden had. “Okay, I believe you.”
“Good.” He sounded relieved. “And please, try not to think that I have used any other abilities on you as you learn what I can do.”
“I will try.” It would take some effort, but I would try to keep my promise.
“Oh, and you’re wrong about guys wishing they were me so that they could get all the girls. The guys wish they were me so they could have you. Do you really not notice how they look at you? You’re gorgeous!”
“Nope. I only have eyes for you,” I teased. I still thought guys would rather be Aiden so that they would never have to try to get a girl. All they would need to do was walk into a room, and they would have all the girls swooning over them, like bees to honey.
I reached forward and turned the music up, then leant back to rest my head against the seat for the remainder of the trip home.
Before I knew it, we were pulling up in front of my house.
Mum’s car was parked in the garage. The garage door was still open, which meant that she didn’t plan on staying long. I hurried inside, hoping that I would be able to get information out of her. She knew more than what she was telling me. Trying to figure out why Aiden couldn’t pick up on what she was hiding was doing my head in.
“You know I can’t read her mind. I can only hear her thoughts.”
“Sorry.” I threw Aiden an apologetic glance before walking in through the garage door.
I was expecting Mum to say something about us not being at school, but she almost seemed relieved to see me. “Hi, Mum.”
“Hi, honey.” She smiled warmly. “Come and sit down.” She patted the sofa seat beside her. I walked over and sat down next to her.
“Hey, Aiden,” she called as he came in through the garage door. She looked at him a little too intensely before returning her gaze to me.
I scrunched up my face. “Are you okay?” I asked her before Aiden had a chance to respond to her.
She was acting really weird. The last couple of days she had been avoiding me like the plague, and now she was acting overly sweet.
“Of course I am, sweetie.” She brushed my hair behind my ear. She was definitely not okay, but I knew I had to pick my battles. Finding out what she knew about Chelsea was more important than figuring out what was with her strange moods the last few days.
“Listen, I’ve got to get going soon, but I wanted to talk to you about something first,” she said, her tone serious.
“Okay.” What had her so on edge?
She smiled. “Well, I was thinking that you should take the next… however long off from school.” Her tone was less serious this time.
I was too stunned to say anything. Was she seriously saying it was okay for me to ditch school in my final year? She was confusing the crap out of me.
“I mean, I’m sure you’re not concentrating too much at school anyway, what with Chelsea’s disappearance and all. So I don’t really see the point in you going back there until we’ve found her,” she explained.
“Are you serious?” I thought she must be joking around and was about to crack at me for skipping school.
“Yes, I’m serious, silly. You’ve been through too much this last week, and I think it’s best that you take some time out to recover from it all properly. I’ll send an email to the school this afternoon.
“Oh, and I was also thinking that you might want to stay at Aiden’s house for the next few days, as I’m probably not going to be around here much. I would prefer if you had someone watching out for you. And don’t worry about Tyson, I promise I’ll feed him.” She turned to Aiden. “Is that okay if she stays with you?”
“Ahh, yeah, of course.” He sat down on the armrest next to me. His facial expression was just as confused as mine, which didn’t give me much comfort. I mean, he was the one who was supposed to be able to know what people were thinking, yet he didn’t seem to have a clue either.
Before I could say anything more, Mum stood up. “Well, I’ve gotta get going now. I’ll call you soon.” She leant down and kissed the top of my head. “Take care of her for me,” she said to Aiden, walking away and leaving us gobsmacked.
I quickly turned around. “Mum?” I remembered my conversation with the detective.
“Yeah, darl?” She picked up her bag.
“I forgot to tell you. I had a phone call from the police this morning. They want me to come down to the station today for questioning.”
Mum nodded. “I thought you would get a call soon. It’s just routine questioning.” She was trying to ease any concern I might have about the impending interview.
“How about I meet you there at…” she paused to look at her watch, “let’s say three. That should give you enough time to get your things together for your stay at Aiden’s, shouldn’t it?”
“Yep. Three’s good.”
She seemed a little too keen to ge
t me out of the house. “Okay, see you then.” She fumbled with her Bluetooth to answer an incoming call. “Love yas,” she added before answering the call. “Hello, this is Nikki,” was all I heard before she was out the door again.
I snapped my head back to Aiden.
“Before you start asking me what’s with her, the answer is, I have no friggin’ idea,” he said, reading my thoughts. “Her thoughts were still all over the place. And the only thing she stayed with long enough that I could grasp it was that she wants me to stay with you at all times.” Aiden looked just as confused as I felt.
“Do you think she’s worried that whoever this psycho is might take me next?” That seemed like the only logical explanation.
He took a moment to think. “At first I thought that, but now I’m not so sure.” He pulled his eyebrows together as if he was trying to make sense of something. “You see, it’s a little strange that lately her thoughts have been so scattered I can’t hear anything except her wanting me to protect you somehow.” He opened his mouth to say something but decided against it.
“What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head.
“Aiden?” I was starting to worry. Maybe Mum knew more about all of this than she was letting on. Maybe she knew that the kidnapper was coming for me next.
He moved off the armrest and sat down beside me. “Nah, it’s nothing like that,” he reassured me. “I was just thinking that it’s almost like she knows I can hear her thoughts, and she’s scattering them around so that I won’t know what she’s hiding.”
“How could she possibly know that?” It wasn’t as if Aiden went around flaunting his kind of creepy talent. And it wasn’t as if she’d somehow found out from me. She hadn’t even been around me long enough since I found out for her to have overheard us speaking.
“See, I told you it was nothing worth mentioning.” He brushed off his theory like it was completely impossible. Yet something about it still played on my mind.
I didn’t mention anything more on the subject, and neither did Aiden. We had a couple of hours to kill before I had to be at the police station, and I didn’t want to spend that time trying to work out my mother’s strange behaviour.
Snuggling into Aiden’s arms, we settled in to watch some reruns of Seinfeld. The last few days had almost made my mind explode, and I wanted nothing more than to stop thinking and have a few laughs.
Chapter 13
Evolution (Evolution Series Book 1) Page 17