FORCE | topper thornton

ELEVEN

"Topper, how am I supposed to cover this?" I scolded as I got dressed, it was the next morning, and I had thankfully thought ahead and had a spare outfit here, "you're creative, you'll figure it out." He smirked, kissing just above the mark he left on my neck. "Jerk." I laughed making him smile against my skin, "I gotta go." I turned towards him, giving him a quick kiss on the lips before backing away. "I love you." I sang as I walked out of his room, yelping in surprise when I saw his mother standing out in the hallway. "I love you too-oh." Topper froze when he looked to see why I made that odd noise, "hi mom." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, I tried to subtly pull my hair around my neck, but she wasn't an idiot, she knew what we did. "Kenzie, you should get going." She muttered, giving me a soft smile, this is awkward. "Right, yeah I'll leave." I whispered practically running out of the house, my face no doubt being as bright as a tomato. "Kenzie?" Rafe laughed when I kept walking past him, "yeah?" I turned towards him. "You got a little." He pointed to his neck, I gave him a glare. "Shut up." I rolled my eyes, continuing my way down the driveway, I rode with Topper last night so I guess I'm walking home, I'm only a couple houses down, it's fine. "Want a ride?" Rafe offered, but he came here on his bike, I shook my head, "it's fine, I don't mind walking." I assured him, he shrugged it off and walked into the house as I turned down onto the road.

"I'm home!" I called into the seemingly empty house,  my parents cars were outside but I didn't hear any response, I shrugged it off, maybe they were in the yard, I began walking through the home, searching for anyone. "Don't fucking move." A gruff voice spoke behind me, I felt the cold metal of a gun get pressed into my back, "okay." I whispered, "this way." He snapped, placing a hand on my shoulder, walking me towards the den, the room with the least amount of windows. A tear finally fell from my eyes when I saw my parents already tied down in there, their backs were to each other, duck tape covering their mouths. My dad tried shouting through the tape, struggling against the zip ties, who the fuck is doing this. "Please, take whatever you want." I assured him as he slammed me down into a chair, zip tying my arms and legs to the chair. "Are you almost done!?" He shouted stepping out into the hall way, I looked to my parents he didn't cover my mouth with tape. I heard another set of footsteps upstairs, I felt sick to my stomach as the guy walked back in, he had pantyhose over his face, I couldn't tell any features on his face, aside from some dark facial hair. He was tall, fit, but I couldn't tell an age range. "Please, let us go-" "Shut up, McKenzie!" He snapped, my eyes went wide, how does he know who I am? I know we're one of the biggest families on Figure Eight, but to know me like that with no hesitation, it was frightening. "Who are you?" I yelled, hearing the other person running towards us, the guy that brought me in here, came up to me, covering my eyes with a cloth tie, I felt his hands remove themselves from me. "You didn't cover their fucking eyes!" Whoever was upstairs shouted, their was something familiar in his tone, I've heard it before. "Why isn't your mask on?!" I was trying to follow their conversations, but it was hard their voices were starting to mix together. I heard my mom struggling, trying to scream, "shut up!" He shouted, he was getting angry, I didn't dare to make a noise, not wanting to piss them off even more. "Forget it, let's just go!" One of them shouted, "they've seen my face, I can't leave them like this!" Two shots rang out, and I swear my heart stopped, "what the fuck did you do!?" One of them shouted, my ears were ringing, "we need to go." Sirens could be heard in the distance, I heard them running out, not giving a second thought to me.

Before I knew it, the door was being banged down, "Kildare county Sheriff!" I recognized the voice as Sheriff Peterkin, "help!" I screamed, hitting an octave I didn't know was in me. I heard footsteps, they froze, "Kenzie, it's Peterkin. I'm going to take the blindfold off, I want you to look at me only." She explained, I could feel her undoing the knot, I nodded, "okay." I whispered. The light of the room started shining in my eyes, I kept them focused on Peterkin's face. In my peripheral vision I could see paramedics running in. Tears sprung to my eyes, everything hitting me at once, "are you hurt? Can you walk?" She questioned, cutting the zip ties off of me. I rubbed my wrists, "I think I'm fine." I muttered, forcing myself not to look to my left, not wanting to see the sight. "We've got two gsw's to the chests, two victims, send backup." Shoupe spoke, Peterkin's face fell, he hadn't seen me behind her, my eyes finally broke from hers, looking to see my parents, laid out on the floor, all sorts of medical equipment around them. "No." I whispered, "no!" A scream tore from my chest, Peterkin caught me as I fell to my knees. "They're not gone-" "lost her pulse!" Rang out through the room, they started moving faster, I watched, tears running down my face, no end in sight. I was breathing heavily, my hands clutching to Peterkin's shirt, "I need to go. I need to go with him!" I shouted as they wheeled my dad out on a stretcher, he moved his hand, which in my eyes was a good sign. "I'll take you, he's to critical to have anyone ride in the ambulance." They had already left with my mom, yelling a bunch of medical terms that I didn't understand.

***

I sat in the hospital surgery waiting room, bouncing my leg up and down nervously, my dad was in surgery, my mom. Oh my poor mama, she didn't make it, the doctors words rang through my head, we did everything we could. But to me it didn't feel like enough. I didn't think I had any tears left to cry until I saw Topper and my friends walk in, then it was like someone opened the flood gates again. I stood up and Topper practically ran to me, there was only one other person in here, I had a conversation with her, she was an older lady, her husband was having a hip replacement. She moved to the other side of the room, giving us plenty of space to be together. "Kenzie, baby I'm so sorry, so sorry." Topper muttered in my hair, kissing the top of my head over and over as I cried into his chest, much like Logan's funeral I got enveloped in a group hug. "Why did this happen to them, to me?!" I whisper shouted into Toppers chest. I heard him sigh, "I don't know." Was all he could say, what else do you say to the seventeen year old who's mom and brother died a month apart and her fathers having emergency surgery?

"Miss Holmes?" The doctor walked into the waiting room, I shot up, "yes?" He motioned for me to follow him, I gave everyone a hesitant look, but followed the doctor, he brought me into an empty room right off of the waiting room. "The surgery went good, he's got a long recovery ahead of him, but I see no reason why he won't make a full recovery." He explained, I sighed in relief, "thank you." He went over a few more things, he said my dad should be here for a couple of weeks, due to where the bullet hit, they want to keep him longer.

I walked back into the waiting room where everyone was, this time Topper shot up, "what did he say?" He rushes his words, anxiously awaiting my answer. A smile came upon my face, everyone let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding in. "He said he should make a full recovery." Is all I could spit out, that's all I was worried about right now, is him making a full recovery. "Oh thank goodness." Kie muttered, pushing her curly hair away from her face, a sigh falling past her lips in the process. I leaned into Topper's embrace, allowing him to sit down, bringing me down beside him. I now had to wait until I was allowed to go see him, I've been in the same clothes for what felt like forever but it's really only been a few hours, I felt filthy, I hate being in hospitals.