Motel 6 // n.h

[63] The Forest

  "I said I wasn't speaking to you!" Jake screamed, his words echoing through the forest. I heard a flock of birds fly away in fright and wished that I was one of them. "Kate, fire that gun in the air. Then they'll surely come." 

  I bit my lip and watched as Kate aimed her gun in the air and set it off. Once sound when off she reloaded the gun and got back into the ready position. Meanwhile, I stood there like a helpless bystander that couldn't do anything but wait.

  "I swear, if you do anything, I will make sure to kill every last one of them. Don't think about pulling any stunts." Jake warned me. I wasn't sure if this was a real threat or something he was using to make him sound tough, but I wasn't about to push my luck.

  We sat still for a few more moments. The whole time I just kept praying that people wouldn't come looking for me and stay put, but I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. I just hoped that Sam got the cops in time before any one of us got killed by the psychotic people in front of me.

  The only thing that I could hear was my accelerating heartbeat pounding in my chest. A stray tear slipped down my cheek and all the way down to my chin as I hung my head. All of this was because of me. I was the bait that they were using to lure Niall in and I knew it. And if Niall died today, I would surely never, ever forgive myself. That was a definite.

  "Shh, listen." Kate whispered.

  "I don't hear anything." Jake said, spitting in the grass beside us. I looked down and saw that it was brown, which meant that he had went back to chewing again.

  Disgusting.

  All of a sudden, I saw the bushes in front of me move. I knew that Kate and Jake saw it, too, because they both froze and turned towards it. I crossed my fingers, hoping that it wasn't Niall. If it was him I knew that they'd surely try killing him.

  But fate didn't seem to be on my side. Niall erupted from the bushes, his clothes covered in grass and vines from the forest. I glanced all around him for any sighting of my daughter, but she was nowhere to be found. In that moment I was at least feeling a bit better that she wasn't here. 

  Niall's eyes snapped up to meet mine for a brief moment before I looked back at the ground.

  "Please, Jake." I begged. "You don't have to do this."

  I got no answer. Instead, I watched as an angry Niall tightened his fists at his side as Kate approached him. She kept her gun to his head the whole time, but it didn't seem to faze him. The only thing he was focused on was Jake and I.

  "You're going to regret that." Niall said finally. "Let go of her now."

  "You don't even have a weapon on you." Kate sneered. "If you try anything, we will shoot Avery and then you."

  "Like you weren't going to?" Niall challenged. "Let go of my girlfriend before I make you do it."

  "Niall, no." I said firmly. I tried to give him a look, because surely talking back wasn't going to get us anywhere. If he kept this up he was going to get us killed for sure. Kate stood somewhat between us, so even if Niall tried to run toward me he would be shot. There was no use.

  "I guess we should just get on with it now that the party's all here, huh?" Kate said, raising an eyebrow at Jake. I wasn't sure if he nodded in agreement or not because I was too afraid that if I turned my head it would be blown off my Jake's gun. My whole body was shaking in fear as the gun was pressed closer to my temple.

  "Please don't," I begged. "Please, Aimee needs a mom. She needs a family. And Niall, he doesn't deserve this. He hasn't done anything wrong to either of you." I tried negotiating.