Hostage

11: News

Aubrey's POV

"Aubrey, I have news about your mom . . . ."

By the look on his face, I can tell that it isn't good news. Did she find out what happened to me? Does she think I'm dead? Did she figure out who my captors are? Did she contact them?

"What — what's the news?" I ask, my legs starting to slightly shake. I'm nervous at this point. Finneas takes a deep breath, looks me straight in the eye, and says something that I never expected to happen for a very long time.

"Your mom is — your mom's dead, Aubrey."

I stop breathing, my eyes growing watery. I shake my head, denying the fact that she's dead. I can't live without her! My mom's my everything! And now Finneas is saying that she's dead? It's impossible.

"No," I say. "She's not dead! You're lying!"

"She got in a wreck this morning while looking for you. The airbag didn't open, and she hit her head on the dashboard. The EMTs said that her skull cracked in half. Your dad's alive, but just barely. He fell into a deep coma and is hospitalized right now. There's a high chance that he's not going to make it. I'm really sorry, Aubrey."

I hear the sound of sirens and rush down the stairs and to the front door. I stop when I see an ambulance speeding just past me down the street. The nearest hospital is about twenty minutes away. Although I know neither of my parents are in that ambulance, it feels like they are. I collapse onto the ground, feeling a mix of emotions at that very moment. 

Regret. Anger. Fear. Sorrow. Confusion.

Billie comes beside me and bends down, gently rubbing my back.

"It's okay, Aubrey. It's okay."

"They're dead — and it's all my fault!"

"No, it's not your fault. It's ours. We could have skipped your house, but we chose to do yours. If we skipped it, you would still be with your parents. I'm — I'm sorry, Aubrey."

She pulls me into her lap. I cry into her chest, still having a minuscule feeling of doubt in my heart. Why? Why my mom? Why a part of my family died? It's something I'll never know.

Then something strikes me: a thought that I overlooked.

I clamber out of Billie's lap, who looks at me in confusion. I rush up the stairs and upstairs where I find Finneas.

"How did you — how did you know exactly what happened to them?"

"Because — we're the ones that hit them."