Problems of an Invisible Girl

Chapter 36

As Caroline's sobs slowly subsided, they could hear the door slowly opening.
They both tensed up thinking that the kidnappers were already back to check on them, or worse, but when the door opened they couldn't see anything.
Both of them sighed in relief because they both knew what that meant, help.

"Sorry, we are late, my dear," Jack said from the doorway.
"We had to wait for just the perfect moment to come in, while the guys are distracted. Are you two okay?" Jack asked with obvious concern in his voice.
"We are fine. Do you have the key for her chain?" Caroline asked.
"Yes, the guys aren't very smart they are all on the same key chain," Jack said.
While he was saying that the chain unlocked as if by magic and Rina was finally free.

The moment she got up she could feel invisible hands wrap around her in a loving embrace, and she knew that it was her sister who came to her rescue with their parents.
"I was worried sick," Serena said as she held on tightly.

"Girls, there will be enough time for that later. We have to go now." Jack said firmly.
Rina couldn't help but wonder if he even cared that she was okay, from his behavior it was difficult to tell.
Maybe never having seen him was making it even more difficult to fully trust him.
However, he had a point, and she helped her mother up as they all headed for the door.

"You should both turn invisible," Serena said.
"I can't. I tried to do it before to freak them out a bit but I couldn't. It's impossible for me to focus under these circumstances.

"That's okay honey. You and I will sneak out like this." Caroline said.
She gently stroked her daughters face in encouragement.
"No mom, you turn invisible, it's much safer for you that way," Rina said.
"Nonsense, we are in this together," Caroline said.
She said it in a voice used by mother's that said that her word was final and that there was no arguing about it.

"We'll go first and give you a sign if there is any danger," Jack said.
Caroline and Rina slowly followed the path that Caroline remembered clearly and without making any noise they reached the front door of the house.
They could feel the supporting hands of their family members as they all went out.

Once outside, they hurried away from the house without ever looking back, just wanting to put some distance between them and the house and that was the biggest mistake they had ever made.

Nat warned them not to get too comfortable if they see that a part of the plan was working smoothly, but they were too focused on escaping to remember the words of caution uttered by the one, who among them all had the most experience with those situations.
To be fair, that experience was mostly from movies and TV shows but a valuable asset nonetheless.

As they moved swiftly to the other side of the road, they heard a loud noise behind them so Caroline and Rina turned just in time to see two men running out of the house, guns at the ready.

They noticed that the keys were no longer at the table at exactly the wrong moment and their response was instant, stop them with any means necessary.
"Stop!" One of the men shouted as Rina and her mother tried to run away.
Before anyone had a chance to do anything, a loud bang was heard that startled the birds away and made the blood run cold in Caroline's veins.
She was sure that her dear daughter was hit since the others were invisible, and she was okay.

The man's boss ran out of the house yelling: "Don't shoot you, idiots! Hold your fire! Get them alive! Catch them!"
Their distraction and scrambling around scared of their boss gave the others a few precious moments that made a huge difference.

In the meantime, Caroline was shocked to see blood pouring out of thin air just in front of Rina.
It took her scared brain a moment to process what was happening and her heart skipped a beat.
"Jack!" She screamed as she ran toward the bloody hole that was bleeding profusely.
Before her eyes could register what was happening there in front of her was her visible husband bleeding profusely, and she could barely breathe properly let alone think of something to do.

As he was slowly falling down Rina managed to catch him and soon enough she was joined by the invisible Serena as they started dragging their father away from the men who hurt him.
On his part, Jack did manage to help out although he was hurt because fear for his daughters and his wife managed to override the excruciating pain for the time being.
Snapping out of her daze, panicked Caroline joined them in their efforts even though she thought it was in vain, that they had nowhere to go.

Suddenly a car sped towards them, and they saw Nat in the driver's seat looking more sure and steady than all of them together.
"Get in!" He yelled.

With Herculean efforts, they managed to drag Jack a few steps to the car standing near the curb, and they all piled into the back seat as Nat sped away.
There was frenzy on the back seat as they tried to gauge Jack's wounds in the cramped space that became the back seat since they were all crowded there, all of them visible.
They managed to put pressure on the wound and stop the bleeding for the time being, but they all knew that they would need to do more, as soon as possible.

"Dad! Why did you do that?!" Rina screamed at her father in desperation.
Her shirt was soaked in her father's blood and looking in the eyes of her father for the first time, she couldn't help but feel a strong protective vibe coming off of him.
He smiled broadly upon hearing her call him 'dad', it meant the world to him after being deprived of his paternal role for all of their lives.

"I have failed to protect you so many times before. I had to protect you now." He said.

Tears started streaming down her face as Rina realized how wrong she was about Jack, he cared. He cared more than she could have imagined. He just had to be closed off for such a long time that he forgot how to open up his heart to his daughters again.

"Get us somewhere safe!" Caroline yelled at Nat as she watched the exchange with the terrible mixture of fear and joy.

Nat started driving even faster hoping that he wouldn't be stopped by the police since he would be the only one in trouble if everyone else turned invisible.
Although he knew that the situation was very serious, and he was worried about Jack, and what losing him would do to Serena and Rina, he did his best to stay composed.
He was the one who needed to get them out of that mess because they had already done so much and been through hell and back.
The area seemed empty and desolate, but he remembered that while he had followed their signal from a distance, he did pass a motel, and he was fairly certain it was the closest sign of civilization they would find.

Speeding down the road he hoped his memory served him right, and he didn't cause Serena's father to bleed out.
Upon seeing the motel sign he let out a breath of relief and went on to park at the furthest part from the office he could get.

Since he was the most presentable of them all, he went and booked two rooms for them without any trouble. Soon enough, after checking if anyone was watching, they managed to carry Jack inside and lie him on one of the beds.

The room wasn't very clean, but at least they had the possibility to carefully check his wounds.
After seeing that the bullet had made a deep gash but was out, they used the first aid kit from the car to clean the wound and bandage the wound.
It was all they could do and Rina hoped with all her heart that it was enough.
She didn't want her father to die for just being there, protecting her when she needed protection the most.

It was difficult for her to understand his willingness to sacrifice his own life for her since she knew that neither her adoptive mother nor her brothers would have done the same.
Her adoptive father might have done the same, but she lost him such a long time ago that she couldn't clearly remember what he was like.

As Jack was settled down with some painkillers they found and looked as if he would be okay, for the time being, Rina went to the bathroom to try to wash the blood, her father's blood, away.
She kept scrubbing and scrubbing but it was nearly impossible to get rid of the blood.
That was when she finally started crying.
Everything that had happened caught up to her, and she was sobbing uncontrollably thinking that if her father had died it would have been her fault.