The Intentions

Chapter 28: The Best of Us

Malakai: December 25, 2014 8:32 a.m.

     Myabelle was just opening the present I had gotten her when my mom's cell phone began to ring.

She snatched it from the couch, sliding her finger across the screen before pressing it to her ear. "Hello? Officer Hernandez?"

I rolled my eyes, looking back at Myabelle as she pulled the foreign toy from its wrapping. She stared at the toy in confusion, giving me a skeptical look.  "Is it?" she mumbled, turning the box in her hand.

"It's a puzzle. But it's not like American puzzles. It's a metal puzzle. You have to put it together so that you can get the key from the middle of the spiral." I informed her.

She looked back at me, curiosity written all over her face. "Is it fun?"

I nodded, grabbing the box from her. "It also comes with paints so you can paint the metal pieces. I'll help you with it later, if you want."

Myabelle beamed up at me, snatching the box from my hands. "I love it because it's from you, Malakai!"

I smiled warmly at her, a sudden hole in my heart as I watched her clean up the discarded wrapping paper.

"What?!" I heard my mom yell into the phone.

I got to my feet, heart already racing as I watched her features. My dad got to his feet as well, covering the distance between my mom and him as he began to rub her back soothingly.

"Yeah....yeah... We'll be there soon. Thank you." she hung up the phone and shoved it into her pocket before racing to the entry way. 

"Mom?" I called after her, following her as she went. 

She reached the foyer and snatched her jacket from the coat hanger, shrugging it on quickly. "We have to get down to the police station.  Something happened and...oh god!" she cried as she frustratingly tried shoving her feet into her winter boots. 

"What happened, Mom? Is Mona ok?" I asked, my dad reaching my side, Myabelle in his arms.

She threw her arms up in confusion. "I don't know! She just kept telling me to get to the station. That something happened."

I nodded, hurrying to the coat hanger to get my own jacket.

I noticed tears running down my mom's cheeks as she finally managed to get her boots on. 

"Not my baby. Not on Christmas." she sobbed to herself quietly.

I watched as my dad placed Myabelle back on the floor and grabbed my mom by her shoulders, turning her to face him.

He mumbled things in her ear as he pressed her against his chest and smoothed down her hair. 

I turned away from the scene, feeling as though I were intruding on a private moment, and grabbed Myabelle. "Let's get you dressed, ok?" I whispered in a playful voice to Myabelle.

She nodded excitedly, running up the stairs to her room to grab her clothes.

This was either going to be the best Christmas in the world, or the worse one yet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aiden: December 25, 2014 10:51 a.m.

There was about another hour before Zoey and I reached town.

She didn't talk to me much after our small argument. She only sat faced away from me, her eyes watching Kaila and her hand gripping her friend's hand as well. She kept mumbling things to Kaila, giggling here and there, though I wasn't able to hear anything she was saying.

Kaila stopped reacting a half hour ago. I would have been more comfortable with silence than the blatant refusal of what was happening on Zoey's part. 

I forced myself to tune her out, mentally incapable of wanting to understand that Zoey was losing it. She was a nice girl, a bitch when she wanted to be, but nice nevertheless. I had no idea what she had been through before I came around. I couldn't comprehend how much Kaila's death was really affecting her. I couldn't understand how much she cared for the other girls; what they all went through. They were all together when Jarek broke them down and they were all together to help pick up the pieces of their shattered souls.

I couldn't help but allow my mind to wander back to the remaining three girls. Mona and Jenna were together; that allowed me to be slightly less worried for them. They could protect one another as they had been doing so for months. But Beth? Beth was alone- last seen fleeing in the direction we came, her long hair whipping behind her asthmatic frame.  I could only pray to god that she had enough sense to change direction and try to find Mona and Jenna. My job had been to get all the girls home, though that task was much easier said than done. No one really counted on dozens of sex traffickers to volunteer for baby sitting five teen girls as their kidnapper was quite literally hunting them like deer and calling it a game. Originally, I was to infiltrate his home and take the girls as he was sleeping. His buddies showing up really threw the entire plan off completely.  At this moment, every second counts. One wrong step, one wrong turn, one minute too late could result in the deaths of all the girls and myself as well as multiple other officers and law enforcement.

In all honesty, the chances of survival for the other three girls was quickly dwindling the farther I drove.

However, Zoey knew this would happen. They would be separated or killed. It was bound to happen. Kidnap never has a good result. Kidnappers never have good intentions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zoey: December 25, 2014 10:02 a.m.

Hopeless. Aiden hadn't given me hope, as I had once thought. If anything, he had made me lose everything that I had in this world.

With pure anger directed towards my "savior," I turned in my seat and faced Kaila. She would be dead any minute now and I wouldn't allow her to pass by herself in the back of a cop car with no comfort.

I finally managed to bring my gaze to her face which immediately knotted my throat with emotion.

Her entire body was a sickly pale and she glistened with sweat from her head to her torso. Dried blood clung to skin at the corners of her mouth and a mixture of blood and vomit stained her shirt. The shirt she had been wearing every day for the past 7 months that I would never recognize her without.

"Hey, Kaila." I whispered so Aiden wouldn't hear. 

Kaila lifted her hand in response, silently begging for me to hold onto her.

I took it without hesitation, finding her skin to be cold and clammy. A sob escaped my throat at the contact and I fought for control over my emotions. "You remember that time I said those awful things about you with Jenna?" I susurrated, drawing in an unsteady breath. "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of it. I don't know why I ever acted like that. You and Beth didn't deserve any of that. And I'm scared Kaila. I'm scared I won't be able to apologize to Beth and Mona."

I felt a small squeeze around my fingers, a gesture meant to be Kaila's way of reassuring me. Knowing Kaila and her overly kind heart, she had already forgiven me twenty times over and was simply unable to voice such apologies. Not that I could blame her.

"You didn't deserve this." I felt the knot in my throat grow again, hot tears burning my eyes before I could control myself. Taking a deep breath, I blinked away the tears and held to Kaila's hand tighter than I already was. "You were the best of us all. Why-why did you have to get hurt? This isn't fair. I wish it was me." I squeezed my eyes shut, pivoting my head away from both her and Aiden's view as the tears fell.

I felt her release my hand and heard a soft shifting on the seat before her fingers gently brushed against my cheek. I opened my eyes, stunned for a reason I didn't understand. Her greying lips moved slowly as her pale eyes washed over my face. "I would do it again." her raspy voice whispered through the silent squad car.  I noticed for the first time that the back seat cage divider from stereotypical cop cars wasn't in place. Then again, Aiden wasn't a normal cop.

As my thoughts drifted, her hand dropped limply in front of me and I felt sick. Was she dead? What did she mean by she'd do it again?

Had Kaila taken a bullet for one of us?