Her father is dead. Her Step-father and mother abuse her. Her brother is about to leave the state for college, and now Krystal Nightingale finds herself alone with more questions than she ever had before after finding papers linking her step-father...
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Running.
That's the next thing that I can remember. The weather had drastically changed and it was now pouring rain, thundering every now and again with lightning bolts coming down in the distance. My hair was now as drenched as my clothes but I refused to stop running until I was far enough from that house so I knew I was safe. Everything had finally sunk in as I ran, cold rain water mixing with hot tears and my burning lungs had me wanting to scream out just to get some of the pain and anger out of my system. I wasn't even sure how far I had run or where I was; not that I even cared at this point. Once the burning in my lungs had become unbearable, I sat down on the sidewalk and looked around, seeing that I had made it to the park almost across town. Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my phone and called the only person I could think of.
The phone rang twice before they had finally answered. "Hey, Krystal, what's up?" he asked.
"I really hate to ask but could you come and pick me up? Something happened and I need to get as far from here as possible."
"Sure! Tell me where you are and I'll be right there."
"I'm at Stone Lake Garden; that park across town."
"Damn, it must be bad if you walked all that way from your place."
"It's a really long story and I'd rather tell it to you face to face if that's alright."
"Of course, Kris, just stay where you are and I'll be there in like five minute, ten at the most."
Once we hung up I did my best to control my breathing, focusing on the sound of the rain and letting the water cool my skin with the millions of thoughts flooding my mind; the biggest thought being why Axel and the other person were stupid enough to send the things they did over an email and why Axel had kept the ones about Dad's murder at the top of the pile. The more I thought about, my stomach turned and I felt like I was going to be sick then and there. Everything Mom had told me about Dad's murder was a lie, Axel was a cold blooded killer with who knows how many other victims out there; maybe some that were and aren't in the emails. How many other children had cried at night after their loved ones were killed by his hand? How many others were out there like me? Did they all run away? Or did they meet their end like I was supposed to meet mine...?
As the thoughts rolled through my head, a car pulled up next to me and stopped. I looked up half expecting to see Mom or Axel, but relaxed when I saw Drew looking down at me holding out his hand.
"Are you alright, Kris?" he asked as he helped me up.
I shook my head. "I don't even know what to do anymore, Drew. Things are completely falling apart. Axel had everything to do with Dad being murdered and Mom was helping him. They had plans to kill me!"
Drew's eyes grew wider. "We need to get you out of here then. I'll make a call when we're in the car to some friends and you can stay with them for a while until we can get this figured out."
