Her Eighth Step

Chapter Twenty: Kidnapping Macey

“Wake her.”

            There’s a light kick in my side. My eyes are so heavy, but I turn my head to see a figure standing over me. “Get up,” she says. It’s Tate. I roll back over, turning away from her.

            “No,” I say, my voice muffled in a blanket wrapped around me.

            “So, wait, where are we going again?” Dan says. He sounds lost, like he has no idea what’s going on. What’s he even talking about?

            I hear Tate get on her knees. “Come on, Dawn, we have to go. Now.”

            “Go?” I say, looking up in frustration. “Go where?” I sneak a glance at the clock. “It’s three A.M!” It’s too dark, but the moonlight shines in from the windows. There’s a breeze that washes into the house and I realize that the front door is open. I sit up. “What the hell is going on?”

            “Are you guys ready?”

            His voice makes me feel paralyzed. Ryder stands at the front door with a bag in his hand – my duffel bag. Gunner and Caleb are not here, and Dan is standing beside Tate and Danielle, looking at me with weary eyes. He seems concerned. 

            “What-” I start, but Tate is already hoisting me up.

            “No time to explain,” Tate says. “Wash your face. I have your clothes here.” She hands me my sweater and jeans folded up. “Put them on and some shoes and come quick. We have to go.”

            “Go? Go where?” I say, but I’m interrupted again. I avoid Ryder’s eyes as I slip into the restroom. Tate and Danielle are standing at the door, guarding it silently. I have no idea what’s going on and it’s making me feel really stupid.

            When I’m done changing, Tate takes the clothes I have in my hands and tosses them on the floor.

            “No, fold them and hide them,” Danielle tells her. “Just in case her parents come home. We don’t want them to think they were kidnapped.”

            “Okay, so if you’re not kidnapping me, what’s happening?” I ask.

            Again, I get no answer. Tate folds the clothing like Danielle said and places them neatly on a chair. She looks up into my face and gives me a faint smile, her eyes glowing with excitement. “Let’s go.”

            Danielle takes my hand and guides me out of the house. “Don’t worry,” she says. “We’ll explain everything in the car.”

            A van sits in front of my house. As we get closer, I see that Ryder is sitting in the front seat with Gunner, Caleb is in the back with Dan, and I am pushed in the middle, sitting in between Tate and Danielle. I look around my quiet neighborhood and wonder if anyone is watching now, what they must be thinking.

            Tate violently closes the van door and says, “We’re good, Gunner. Start it up.”

            I sit silently with my hands clasped between my legs. Ryder is staring out the window and I wait to see if he’ll look at me. When he doesn’t, I turn to Danielle. “Do you want to explain now?”

            Danielle watches as the van starts to move. Then she looks over at Tate and they nod to each other. “We’re kidnapping you,” she says.

            “Great,” I say, glancing back at my brother who gives me a shrug. “Now tell me what’s really happening.”

            “There’s a camp that Gavin used to go to in the summer,” Tate explains.

            “He used to invite everyone there and it was a ball,” Caleb says from the back.

            “Yeah,” Tate says. “And with Chase looking for us, Gavin decided it would be best to get everyone there again, somewhere safe where we could all be together.”

            “Somewhere him and Macy could be together,” Caleb whispers.

            I give them all a glance. “I doubt my sister will agree to any of this.”

            In the front, Gunner smiles mischievously, flashing his eyes at me through the rearview mirror. “She won’t.”

            We drive for about ten minutes in complete silence. During that time, I get a couple calls from my mother and a text saying: We had to leave – emergency with grandma. Please take care of your brother. She says nothing of Macey. I start to wonder how she feels about her children, if she even cares. My parents are caring parents, but they never really have spent time and energy with us before. Even on family trips, they would seclude themselves.

            We used to go to Myrtle Beach every summer. It’s where I learned how effective and attractive my body could be. I would sit on a beach chair and watch Macey confidently walk with her head high. She was like a puppet, moving from one boy to another, talking and laughing. And even when she wasn’t funny, she captivated men like a light bulb to mosquitos. I guess I just caught on.

            One day, I tried it myself with the lifeguard. I smiled at him and let the handle of my swim suit slip off and I asked him a question with the most flirtatious voice. It was like acting in a play, like stepping into a mold, becoming someone I wasn’t. And it suddenly became the easiest thing in my life, a hobby, almost a talent. I took more pride in it than I should have.

            “You have to pull over quickly,” Ryder says to Gunner quietly, looking down at his phone. “Gavin doesn’t know if one of Chase’s guys followed them or not.” I want to ask him why he’s okay with his brother now, but I don’t. I’m sure if Gavin was my brother, I’d warm up to him immediately.

            Gunner replies with a nod, speeding up and taking a sharp right. His driving skills are truly awful because I feel car sick and I haven’t eaten anything, so basically I’ll be throwing up air.

            “I don’t get it,” I whisper. Both Tate and Danielle look over at me.

            “Don’t get what?” Tate asks.

            “I don’t get…” I lower my voice. “I don’t get why they-” I motion towards Gunner and Ryder, “-come back for us, for me. I mean, did you guys beg them to protect us or something?”

            Danielle and Tate lock smiling eyes, and they look at me as if I’m naïve. “You still don’t get it,” Tate says to me in a sweet voice. “Danielle and I didn’t ask them for anything. Gavin and Ryder took charge because that’s what they do, Dawn. They take care of their crew. They care.”

            No wonder people rave about Gavin and Ryder. It isn’t their stunts or their humor or even how good-looking they are. It’s that they care. And perhaps this is why Macey fell for Gavin and I fell for Ryder. There’s something special in the way they look at everyone – especially the people they love – as if they are a gem.

            Gunner suddenly comes to a stop and the force of the car sends us all flying forward. I grab onto Ryder’s seat, accidently clipping his shoulder with my fingers. He finally looks back at me and gives me a faint smile. Then he turns around and gets out of the car.

            “Alright, everyone,” he says, opening the side door closest to Tate. “Make some room back there,” he calls to Dan and Caleb. What’s going on?

            When I start to hear shrieking, I wonder if all my friends have gone insane. But then I see who the source of the shrieking is and I can’t believe my friends thought all this up. They’ve decided to do the impossible – kidnap Macey.

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