HUNTED

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 “Hey Liza,”

          Liza’s eyelids fluttered open. Her eyes were faced by fiercely bright lights; immediately she closed them again, pressing her knuckles against her eyes. There was a sharp pressure on the inside of her elbow. There was a heavy feeling on her chest, as if a leprechaun had done the jig on her ribcage.

          “No, no Leprechauns this time. Just a pretty mean panic attack.”

          Realizing for the second time that day that she had spoken her thoughts aloud, Liza sat forward, her mind swinging. She leaned forward, head on her knees for a moment until the nausea washed away. She opened her eyes.

          At the foot of Liza’s bed, feet propped up on the base board was Addison. Her phone was propped on her knee and she scrolled through it lazily with her thumb. Her hair was pulled back, tendrils of red curls escaping in front of her ears. She was wearing the same outfit Liza’d seen her in earlier that day; jeans and a red flannel opened over a white t-shirt. Since returning home, her features had softened, no longer sharp from excessive exhaustion. Still, there were shadows beneath her eyes that Liza suspected had just become part of the other girl’s sleepless life.

          “Where’d everyone else go?” Liza asked, running a hand through her knotted hair.

          “Meeting’s still going on. I offered to stay up here with you. I couldn’t get through another hour of that bullshit without losing my mind. They must be going senile; they must’ve asked you the same questions a hundred times. Nate nearly broke your wrist trying to get you out of that damn shackle before your brother took the key off another guy’s belt. And to interrogate a little girl? How cruel must you be to handcuff an eight year old to a chair?” Addison shook her head as if shaking away her frustration. Her cheeks turned pink and she apologized. “I’m sorry. I’m not used to having a girl to talk to. Usually I’m in charge of sitting and listening to some boy ramble about their problems; they aren’t much for listening.”

          Liza nodded, a bit bewildered by the sudden rampage. One thing Addison had said stuck to her like gorilla glue. “They made Jessie go up there?”

          “Yeah. All she did was say the same thing you did in a smaller way. Pointless and cruel.”

          A flare of anger ignited in Liza’s chest briefly, the image of Jessie shackled to the chair and being spoken to harshly imbued in her mind. Addison was right. That was nothing an eight year old should go through. Not only had the girl grown up fatherless because of this world, but she had been kidnapped and treated like a miniature criminal. The world that had first been imprinted on Liza as magnificent and almighty began to twist, the truth of demented human nature peeking through.

          Liza wiped away the ghost impression the manacle left on her wrist on her jeans and slid to her feet. “Can we go back?”

          “Are you sure? You shouldn’t leave if you aren’t feeling good.” Addison dropped her legs from the foot of the bed, sitting forward, a look of concern on her face.