Away: A Prequel

Chapter 16

It was a couple of days later, when Dex needed to go out and he wanted me to keep Cass company, while he went out to do what he needed. I agreed, though I wasn't sure why he was going out. It was quite early, so when he asked this of me, she was still asleep in the guest room. He gave a couple of suggestions to what the two of us could get up to, while he was away. One of them being to go to the shopping centre nearby, so we did that, once she was awake.

"So, where's my brother dearest gone off to this morning?" Cass turned to me, as we glanced at items in a small card shop.

I picked up a small plush platypus, looking at the price; it seemed pricey, so I put it back; I answered, "I dunno. He just told me he needed to go out this morning... He did get a phone call last night, once you had gone to bed... Might be something to do with that?"

"Could have been." She shrugged, also picking up an item, and then putting it back down; she picked up a smelly candle - I believe it was supposed to smell tropical - and nodded, so she put it into the basket, "Do you know how long he's gonna be?"

"No idea. He said he'd give me a call when he was done."

"Well, at least we can get to know each other, while he's off doing that." She smiled; we paid for our items and went to the next shop.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." I smiled in return; we passed the cinema as we strolled around, and I suggested, "Wanna go see a movie?"

"Sure!" She grinned.

We strolled into the cinema, seeing what movies were on at the time; we agreed on a horror, as she told me she hadn't seen many and wanted to start watching more. We got the tickets, snacks and drinks, and then went in to find our seats. We got some pretty good ones, considering it wasn't that packed. We actually had a good time, and enjoyed the movie even with the little jump scares every now and then. By the time it finished, it was around 14:00, so I checked my phone, seeing a missed call and a bunch of texts from Dex.

"I got a missed call." I announced to her as we exited the screening; I looked over my phone, noticing there wasn't a voicemail, something Dex normally left when he called and couldn't get through. His texts were also a bit weird, "'They're coming'? 'We pick you up, stay there.'"

"That's weird." Cass raised an eyebrow.

"It is for Dex; for one, he leaves a voicemail if he can't reach me." I attempted to call him, only getting to his voicemail, "Dex, it's Kay. Where are you? What was with those texts? Love you, hurry up. We're waiting on you."

"I hope he gets the message." She looked slightly concerned, and frankly so was I.

"So do I." I kept glancing back at my phone as we walked, a little slower now than before.

We had gotten a few shops away, when I felt like we were either being watched or followed. It caused me to glance back a lot, only to see no one there that looked suspicious to me. I think after the 5th or 6th time of me doing that, Cass started to notice, only bringing it up when I looked for the 10th time.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I... I dunno... I feel watched..." I glanced around again, before looking back at her, "Don't you?"

"I guess a little..." She admitted; she now looked just as worried as I did, "What do we do?"

"Keep walking." I focused now, heading straight for the exit; I got a text from Dex that he was outside, "Dex is outside. We get to the car, and we should be good."

"Okay..."

As soon as we exited, we saw Dex's Focus in a parking spot, but it didn't look like anyone was in it. I raised an eyebrow at this, nearing the car, but telling Cass to stay near the entrance. She did, making sure she was near a CCTV camera.

"Dex?" I called, nearing the car; I peered in, seeing no one was there. I glanced back at Cass, only to see she wasn't there. "What?"

She was gone. I jogged over to where I last saw her standing, only to find just her shopping. I picked it up, putting it in the same hand my own shopping was in. I kept glancing around, trying to see if I could find her. When I wasn't able to, I went to find security, seeing as she wouldn't just drop her shopping like that. I eventually found one guy; he was a muscular type guy sitting by the back entrance. I approached.

"S'cuse me, you haven't seen a blonde girl with grey eyes go passed here? She's quite tall, wearing a large red sweater, with jeans." I asked.

He glanced up at me, then back at the phone he had been playing on, before he glanced back at me with a more shocked expression; he quickly stood up, "Idiots, you got the wrong one!"

"O-kay, then; I guess I'll go look for her on my own..." I attempted to walk away, but he was quick to grab my arm; luckily I was prepared with peppermint spray, so used that on him and ran off.

I was able to ditch him, quickly surprisingly, and hid amongst a small crowd near the entrance coffee shop. I stood by the group for a moment, when I suddenly felt light headed. Seeing a bench nearby, I aimed to go sit on it. But, someone reached out, putting their hand over my mouth. That was when I felt my body go more limp, and they held onto me.

"Oh, she's collapsed; I'll give her some fresh air." I heard someone say as they and another person attempted to take me out of the shopping centre; they headed toward Dex's car, opening it, making me wonder if they had taken him or stolen the car. They shoved me into the back, making sure no one was watching as they did. That was when I heard the security guard's voice, and felt someone next to me.

"At least you got the right one this time." He sounded like he was outside the car.

"Kayla?" A small voice said beside me; I tried to glance up to see it was Cass and she looked terrified, "Oh, you're okay. Good."

"It'll be okay.." I tried to give a reassuring smile, not feeling it was as comforting as I hoped it would be.

"Don't be so sure." The guard spoke to me this time, peering his head into the back; he now sat in the front seat. Someone was seated in the driver's seat beside him, but I wasn't able to see who it was.

"What's your problem, then? What you taking us for?" I sneered at him; when he looked back at me again, I continued with a smirk, "Not getting enough action at home? I'm not surprised... She probably thinks you're not man enough anyway."

"Shut up!" He sneered right back, seeming more angry now, "Your boyfriend is the issue here."

"Dex?" Cass spoke up, "Why would you want us for him?"

"To get him to talk. He's lied to us, and we want to get the truth out of him, so we gathered getting you two would help with that."

"Oh, you want us to talk to him, and ask what you want to know?" Cass was so naive; it was sort of sad, but adorable. She had no clue what her brother was truly up to.

To me, it was clear what they were after; they were rivals to Dex's drug business, and it seemed they wanted to know who his supplier was. He must've lied about that, which I can understand because that guy looked out for us when we've been unable to pay rent or someone was after Dex. He was loyal to us, and now Dex was showing his loyalty to him.

"No, you stupid cow. I want to use you two. Hurt you, so it hurts him in turn." His shouting caused Cass to whimper, and shy away.

"Oi, ya knobhead!" I yelled, "She was just asking a question!"

He raised an eyebrow; then he smiled. It was a disgusting kind of smile, "You got a mouth on you. I like it. I might use that later."

"Fucking pig." I leaned back, a disgusted look on my face; the rest of the journey was him telling me what he was going to do to us, and all in front of Dex, while he did it.

The journey was a pretty long one, but we ended up outside an apartment building; it was huge, but looked old. They dragged us in, once parking the car out the front of this building.