by C. M. Allen
It hit me hard just how much I never really knew him and knew the psychopath he truly was. “Jared, please. Please don't kill me. We can just run away together. I choose you. I want you.” I tried convincing him. “Archer has broken my heart too many times and I just can't forgive him this time. He’ll never come between us again, I promise. Please, can you ever forgive me Jared, and stay with me?”
Brushing the hair back from my face, he leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Oh baby, I know he’ll never come between us again, I've made sure of that. See, you and I will forever be together in the afterlife. I could never take your life without taking my own to always be with you. This is going to be my final work of art.” Kissing my forehead again, he walked over to the corner of the room, where I now saw a camera located. “See, I know he’ll find us eventually, he's much too smart not to. But when he does, all he's going to find is our bodies and my last film showing him how I took from him what he tried to take from me. He's going to watch as I take your life and then my own. Doesn't that just sound so beautiful, Sloane? We will forever be bound together, and he’ll never be able to break us apart ever again. He’ll have to live with the fact that I won. But don't worry, baby,” he said, making his way back over to me and picking up a bloody knife I hadn't noticed beside me. “It won't hurt, I promise. You're just going to drift off to sleep.”
Panic started to race up my spine, and I couldn't hold the tears back from the fear I felt consuming me. “Please, Jared. Please don't do this. Let's just run away somewhere together. Why die when we can live? Live with me Jared. Live! Please!” I begged him on a sob.
Shaking his head, he set the knife down, and I started to think that I was getting through to him. I prayed that I did. “Archer will always search for you, Sloane. He will never let us live our lives in peace, and then there's the chance that he’ll try to turn you against me again, take you from me. I can’t have that.”
“No! I promise he...”
“No! You can't promise me that! You already broke your promise to me once! What makes you think I would ever trust in one of your promises again. No, this is the way it has to be if we want to be together forever. We have to go to a place he can’t follow us to.”
All that went through my mind was a constant prayer that somehow Archer found me before Jared could follow through with his insane plans.
Hope was all I had to grasp a hold of right now.
Turning to look at him, I watched him pick up a syringe and walk over to me. “Are you ready to fly with me one last time, Sloane? You're going to like this, it's going to make you feel so good and you won't even feel what I'm going to do to your body before it takes its last breath.”
Struggling against the restraints, I tried to move my arm away before he could stick the needle in it. But I knew I had failed when I felt the prick of the needle on my skin moments before my body began to feel as if it was floating over the rainbows that now colored the room around me. “They're beautiful,” I said, looking around at all the beautiful colors of light that had suddenly appeared, bringing me a euphoric feeling.
“Isn't it beautiful, baby?” Jared said, drawing my attention back to him as he removed the syringe from his own arm. “Everything is going to always be beautiful for us now, you’ll see.”
Though his words registered as troubling in my mind, my body felt nothing but happiness and peace. All the fear I had only moments ago had somehow just faded away. “I love you,” I said to no one in particular. Hearing him move around the room, I look to where he stood, and it was as if my vision skipped over the room, not really registering anything, until my eyes landed on the bloody knife in Jared's hand again. Leaning over me, he grabbed a hold of my right wrist. “I promise this won't hurt, baby. Just close your eyes and enjoy the ride we're going to take together.” I watched as he made a small slice on my wrist, then reached for the other one and I felt the same stinging sensation again before feeling as though the life was draining right out of me. I noticed my hands were wet, and when I looked down at them, I only saw the bright color of red all over them. Staring up at Jared, I noticed that his hands, too, now were brushed with the same bright color. “Shh, just rest now, baby,” he whispered, stroking my head as sleep began to overtake my body. “I'll always be with you, Sloane.” Feeling my wrists being released, I opened my eyes in time to see Jared join me on the cot and lay his body next to mine. Then there was nothing but silence and peace.
CHAPTER
37
Archer
“We’ve searched every house out here. There are no more.” Riker said, walking up with Slade as they met up with Dalton and myself.
“Where the fuck could they have taken her?” I asked with panic running its way through my veins.
“Excuse me?” All of us turned to see an old man walking a dog. “I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, you're looking for someone?”
“Yes. A woman was kidnapped by two men and another woman. Have you seen anyone like that around here?” Dalton asked.
Rubbing his chin as he thought about it for a moment, then his eyes suddenly grew big. “As a matter of fact, I did see two couples going into the old Stevenson place over on the back side of the lake when I was out for my walk yesterday. The two men were big guys and one woman had red hair.”
I charged forward. “Yes! Yes, that's them! Did you see a woman with brown hair and blonde highlights with them?”
“Yes. One of the men said something about his woman having too much to drink, so he had to carry her back to the house.”
“Where? Where is this house?” After the old man told us where to find it, we all hopped back in the SUV and took off.
Pulling onto the street, that the house was located on, we parked down the way just a bit after we spotted a car in the driveway. “She's got to be okay,” I prayed out loud, trying to reassure myself.
“Okay, let's have two in the front, two on the sides to the back. Archer, you, and Slade take the sides and back. Riker and I will crash the front door; hopefully sending them back your way. Check your weapons, be careful everyone, and stay alive.” Dalton instructed as we all got out of the vehicle and took our positions around the house. Hearing Dalton and Riker bust into the front side of the house, both Slade and I stayed on the sides of the house with our heads around the corner, watching for any runners. After a few seconds had passed, we saw no one. Making our way to the backdoor, we were just about to break it in when I heard Dalton and Riker yell all clear before Riker opened the backdoor. “No one seems to be here.” Dalton said.
Hearing what sounded like a clanging noise come from below us, we all went back on high alert. “I beg to differ,” I said in a low voice as we walked around, looking for a door.
Finding no doors to a cellar or basement, Slade said, “I think I saw an entrance on my side of the house when we were approaching. Come on, I'll show you.” We all filed outside and spotted a small box like set of doors under the stairs that led to the front porch. “There it is.”
Opening the door, I headed inside first down the rickety set of stairs, my gun drawn. As I got to the bottom, I spotted a light on and moved towards it. And that's when I saw my worst most darkest nightmare come true. “Oh God, no! No! Sloane! Oh God, please be okay, baby. Someone call 911!” I shouted out as I prayed that she was still alive. “Dalton! Dalton get down here now!” I yelled as I tossed Jared’s body off of hers. “Please God, please let her be okay.” Checking her pulse, it was there, but faint, and that's when I noticed the cuts on both of her wrists.
Hearing a gurgling like sound, my attention was drawn to Jared on the floor as I watched his eyes open and stare at me with a smirk of satisfaction on his face. “Y-you’re too late, she’s mine, n-now and f-forever.”
Moving quicker than I ever knew my body could, I found myself seconds later with my hands firmly gripped around his throat, taking from him what life was left in his eyes, as I watched it fade away. “You will never have her, you hear
me?! She is Mine!” I shouted inches from his face before there was nothing left of him but a corpse.
Running down the stairs Dalton looked at me as I hovered over Jared’s lifeless body, then asked. “What's wrong with her? Does she have a pulse?”
I quickly stood back up. “Yes! But he slit her wrists! He fucking butchered her!” I shouted in a panic as I shifted gears from killer back to savior. “What do we do?” I asked him with a shaky voice.
God, please let her be okay.
“Shit!” Dalton yelled as he took off his belt. “Get your belt off! We need to stop the bleeding!” Slipping his belt around the fold of her elbow, he tightened it. “Do the same thing with your belt on her other arm! We need to stop the bleeding and keep her arms elevated above her heart!” Tightening the belts, we moved her hands over her head as I ripped my shirt off and covered her wrists with it, putting pressure on the wounds. “Riker! Go upstairs and make sure the ambulance doesn't miss us, every second counts right now!”
“On it!”
As Riker, ran up the stairs to flag them down, Dalton turned to me. “We need to get her upstairs and out front, so they can get to her right away. You carry her, and I'll keep her hands elevated.”
“Got it,” I answered in a cracked voice.
If she dies, I will never forgive myself, never!
“These two are gone and so is Jared.” Slade informed us.
“Good. Saves me the job of ending them the same way I did Jared,” I said through gritted teeth.
Picking her up carefully, so we didn’t jostle her around too much, we took the stairs one at a time until we finally reached the outside and heard the ambulance sirens grow closer before we watched it come to a halt in front of us, the doors opening and then slamming shut as the two EMT’s made their way over to us. “Sir, set her down on here!” The first EMT said, pointing to the gurney that they had pulled out of the back. After I set her on it, the second one began to check her pulse, and looked under my shirt at the cuts. “These cuts are deep, and her pulse is very weak. We need to get her to the hospital now or we’re going to lose her.” As they pushed the gurney into the back, they hooked her up to some machine. “Did she do this to herself?” The first EMT asked.
Getting into the back with her, I told him. “No. The guy in the house tried to kill her in a murder suicide attempt.”
“Is he alive?” He asked.
“No.” I answered, knowing I made sure he could never hurt Sloane again. “He and the other two are both dead. We’ve called Detective Hamilton already, he's on his way.” I said with worry screaming through my head that she was going to join them, too.
After he started to shut us in, we heard yelling. “Check her arms and neck!” Slade shouted out, running up, drawing our attention to him. “I think he might have drugged her as well. I found this syringe lying on the ground next to the cot,” he handed the syringe to the EMT.
We both began to look her body over for puncture wounds. “Found it!” He yelled, pointing at her neck. “We’ll take this, that way the doctors will know exactly what they're dealing with. We need to go now! Her BP is dropping fast!” He said, shutting the doors and tapping the window to let the other EMT know to take off.
As we rode along, I held her hand in mine and prayed over and over again for God not to take her from me. “Please don't leave me, baby. I love you so much, you can't leave me yet. We never even got started,” I whispered into her ear, hoping like hell she heard me. The ride went by in a blur and before I knew it, we were at the hospital and the back doors were being ripped open and the EMT was telling the doctors about her condition and about the syringe that was found. Then she was being taken away from me for what I had hoped wouldn’t be forever.
As they rushed her gurney down the hall, I stayed with it as long as I could, her hand in mine.
I can't lose her. I will never survive her loss.
“Sir, you'll have to wait here.” The doctor said as her hand was ripped out of mine and the doors swung closed behind her, taking her away from me. The thought of losing her caused my heart to crumble inside my chest.
As I sat there on a bench nearby, everything that had been keeping me together busted wide open and I let the tears laced with fear and pain pour out of me. “Please God, please let her be okay, please.” I cried into my hands.
“Archer!” I heard a woman's voice yell as the clatter of two sets of shoes made their way over to me. Quickly wiping my face clean, I looked up and saw Brooke, and Reyna. “Where’s Sloane? Is she going to be okay? What the hell happened?” Brooke asked as she and Reyna both crushed me with caring hugs that I really needed right now to stop me from breaking apart any further.
“I don’t know if she's going to be okay. Jared, he... he slit both of her wrists and injected something into her. Slade found the syringe next to the cot and gave it to the EMT so the doctors would know what it is and how to treat it along with her wounds.”
Both of them gasped in horror at the description I'd given them; which could never rival the true horror of what I saw today. That would forever be etched in my mind. “Oh my God.” They both said at the same time as tears welled up in their eyes.
“Why would Jared do something like that to her? He seemed so... well not this crazy.” Reyna said.
“He’s in jail I hope?” Brooke said, wiping her eyes with a tissue.
Even though I wanted to shout out the satisfaction that I took his life with my own two hands, I only said, “He's dead. Killed himself the same way he tried to kill Sloane. Logan and Margo were both found dead also.”
“Oh God! He killed himself? I don't understand why he tried to kill himself and her?” Reyna questioned in disbelief.
“I don't know what the fuck that asshole was thinking. All I know is if that beautiful woman dies today, it's my fault. I'm the reason she was with him in the first fucking place!” I shouted, slamming my fist into my thigh, knowing that shit was going to hurt the next time I needed to walk.
“Please don't blame yourself Archer, I know Sloane wouldn't want you to do that.” Brooke said. “I need to call her parents and let them know what's going on.”
TRYING TO GET THIS hate I felt for myself right now under control, we all just sat in silence after Brooke called Sloane’s parents and told the two most important people in her life the condition she was in, because of me. This was never how I saw meeting them for the first time going down, that's for sure.
Please God spare her, take me if you have-to replace her. She's fighting for her life because of me, I'm the one who deserves to die, not her. Please God, not her.
I said over and over in my head as we waited for any news on her condition.
“Archer!” I heard Dalton call out, bringing me out of my head. “Any news on Sloane yet?”
“No, not yet,” I shook my head. “If she dies man, I'll never forgive myself, never.”
Grabbing my shoulder, he pulled me aside “Look, I know you're feeling guilty here brother, but we found something that told us the whole story. Sloane and Janessa were targets the whole time.”
“Janessa?”
“Is she with you?” Brooke asked, walking up to us.
Getting a solemn look on his face he told us. “No. She was found dead in that basement as well. The sonofabitch’s tied her to a St. Andrew's Cross. Looks like she OD’d on whatever it was they injected her with.
“Shit! Is it the same thing Jared gave Sloane?” I asked in panic, ramming my hand through my hair.
“I don't know yet. They need to do an autopsy on Janessa to find out exactly what killed her.” Taking a deep breath, he kissed Brooke on the forehead and then led me further away from the girls. “We’ll be right back.” He told them before finally coming to a stop a few feet away. “This isn't easy to tell you, but we found a video camera in the basement. It recorded the whole thing. He was really sick in the head, man. He thought if he and Sloane died together that he was taking her away from you.”
&nb
sp; “Where is it? I need to see it right now.” I demanded as flames of anger flooded my veins.
“Calm down. I don't think it's something you need to be seeing right now. Your only concern right now is that woman in there fighting for her life. You can deal with this kind of bullshit later. He's dead brother, you made sure of that. He can't hurt her or you anymore than he already has, so don't let him.”
Knowing that he was right, I let out a shaky breath. “You're right, man.” After Slade, Riker, McKenzie, and Sloane’s parents showed up, we all moved to the closest waiting room and waited and waited for what seemed like for fucking ever before the doctor finally walked in.
All of us gave our attention to the man, who not only held Sloane’s life in his hands, but mine now as well with what he had to say. Standing up, I made my way over to him with Sloane’s parents. “Mr. And Mrs. Peterson, I'm Dr. Sullivan,” he said, shaking their hands and then mine.
“How is she?” I blurted out, unable to breathe until I knew for sure that she was going to be okay.
“Let's all have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the chairs, taking one himself. “I'm not going to lie to you. Sloane was in pretty bad shape when she came in. Not only were we dealing with severe lacerations to the Ulnar and Radial arteries in both wrists, but she was also given a high dose of the drug ecstasy which we found after a blood toxicology screening. She had extremely high levels of the toxins in her system. I was able to repair the damage to the Ulnar and Radial arteries in both of her wrists and we pumped her stomach. I then administered activated charcoal to keep her body from absorbing anymore of the drug into her system and doing any further damage.” By the look on the doctor’s face, I could tell that no matter how bad what we’d just heard was, we hadn't heard the worst of it yet. “She did flatline, and we were able to bring her back. But I’m afraid she's slipped into a coma, which is not surprising after all her body has been put through in the last 24 hours. So right now it's just a matter of waiting I'm afraid. We’ll keep her heavily monitored for any changes. I am optimistic, but it's all up to her right now.”