I can't stop crying. I can't stop shaking. One moment I'm filled with rage and the next I'm overwhelmed with sadness.
"Some tea." Avery whispers as she sits behind me. She rubs my back but nothing anyone is doing is helping.
I stare out the window as I drink the hot tea. The burning sensation hurting the back of my throat, but I don't care.
"Repeat to me what happened." I hear Sawyers voice. He's angry, but he's keeping his cool. He's been on phone calls all morning and he's gone out with Evan trying to find a lead on anything but they all come to an end.
"When you left, I had him in my arms." Avery starts, her voice is shaky and I know it's because she's scared of Sawyer. If Sawyer could have his way he would have her head by now. Everyone's head. "I took him downstairs. He fell asleep in my arms. Drew took him for a bit then gave him back to me. I asked Nancy if she could keep and eye on him while I pee. She agreed. I placed him down in the living room crib. Nancy was only a few feet away. When I came out of the bathroom he was gone." She's crying by the end of the story.
"Stop making her repeat it." I shout to Sawyer. He looks at me and slowly turns back to Avery.
"I need details." He shakes her. "Rein-act it all out." He tells her and she sighs out. She's gone through this at least ten times. "How long were you in the bathroom?" He spews.
"Five minutes." She cries out. "He was right there. Right there." She weeps on the floor and I go and console her.
"All video footage of that time is wiped. This was very well planned." Evan comes out from his office.
I watch as Sawyer paces back and fourth, thinking of every scenario.
I sneak into Sawyers office. He slept in here, the watch has to be in here.
I take it and jump forward into time.
There are blue flashing lights everywhere. It's a facility. I'm in a facility.
I slowly make my way through the building, trying corners randomly. I bump into someone.
"I'm so sorry." I don't look them in the eye and continue walking.
"How are you out of your room?" She questions. She's dressed in a white coat. The bells and lights go off again and we both are startled.
"What do you mean out?" I question.
"Going after your son?" Whits voice makes my body twitch. I turn around to see him, he's holding a cane and leaning more on one leg. I don't say anything but kick at his leg. He falls to the floor and that's when I make a run for it.
I start running and pull the doctor with me.
"Take me to my son. Where is he?" I scream into her ear. She leads me to where he is and I kick the door open. He's in a large room with a bunch of other doctors.
He's connected to wires and bruised.
"Unplug him now!" I shout, and grab a knife from a nearby table.
The doctors put their hands up and one slowly unhooks my son.
I rush to his side.
"Ezra." I whisper into his ear. I hear him groan but he doesn't wake up. He's older. He has to be three or four years old. "My poor baby. What have they done to you?" I whisper, brushing his matted hair.
As soon as they unhook the last wire, I scoop his tiny frail body into my arms. I make a run for it.
"Lock down. All doors will remain shut. Lock down." A robotic voice sounds through a system and I try exiting out different doors, but all of them are locked.
I come to a dead end and I feel Ezra stir in my arms.
"Momma?" His voice is tiny and hoarse.
"Shh. I'm here. I'm right here." I whisper.
"Opal." I hear his bitterness and I slowly turn to Whit.
"Open the door, Whit." I shout.
"You sure?" Whit says.
"Open the damn door." I shout louder. I hold on to Ezra tighter, the louder I shout.
"Listen to me Opal. I'm trying to save your life and the world. You won't be able to last a day out there." He warns. "It's dangerous out there Opal. The stories of zombies is real. You have to believe me."
"I don't believe you."
"I only ever wanted what was best for you."
"Let me guess. Killing my parents and kidnapping my son was all part of what's best for me?" I breathe out angry.
"If you think you're getting out through that door." He smiles.
"Lock down deactivated." I hear the intercom come through and the door swings open.
Whit is still far from me and I just make a run for it.
When I step out. We're surrounded by forrest. I run into the tree line.
Guards catch up to us easily and I fall to the ground. Ezra flies from my hand as he rolls away from me.
"Ezra." I scream.
I hear him scream in pain as they take me away. They hurt him. They hurt him. I thrash around.
I see Sawyer running out of the building barefoot. They have him too.
He hears Ezra's cries and he rushes over to him. My screams are muffled and I'm unsure what to do.
I press the watch and I'm engulfed in darkness.
I rush downstairs.
"We have to go. We have to do something." I start getting pushing everyone out of the way and putting my shoes on frantically. "I can't just sit here. We have to go."
"Opal. Hold on. We can't just leave." Sawyer is by my side.
"What are you talking about?" Evan says and everyone seems to chime in, confused and angry.
"What's going on. Just talk to me." Sawyer walks closer and I push him away.
"It's Whit!" I shout at them.
His eyes widen.
"It's still Whit." I push him out of the way and grab the keys I dropped on the floor. "It will always be Whit."
"Opal. What did you see?" Sawyer whispers to me.
I look down breathing hard.
"They took Ezra. They keep him for years. They took you too." I cry into Sawyers chest. "There was blood. So much blood. Scars."
I turn away not able to say anymore.
"What is she talking about?" Avery cuts in.
Sawyer looks at me.
"We have to get him back now." I pull at his shirt but he pulls away from me.
"We can't." He says and I stop in my tracks.
"What do you mean we can't?" I counter, getting angrier by the minute.
"You saw what you saw." He says.
"What do you mean I saw what I saw? I saw and now I know how to save them."
Sawyer is shaking his head.
"That future is set and stone. No matter how hard we try here, we will still end up with that future."
"No. No." I move away from him. Not wanting to hear his words.
"Opal, yes." He says walking closer and I just fall to the floor.
"My baby is all alone out there. Without me." I cry into my knees.
No one seems to understand what I'm going through and it makes me angry.
I suck it up and look at Sawyer.
"We have to try." I grab the keys and get into the car.
"Stop." Sawyer says. "I'll drive." He says. I look at him and get into the passenger side.
We're quiet as we drive and he finally turns to me.
"Where to?" He questions. The thing is I don't know where to.
"It's a big silver building out in the forest somewhere. We have to find that." I tell him.
Sawyer nods and he starts driving.
We finally start seeing mountains and all around us is just forest.
"Does this look familiar?" He asks and I sit up. It does. Everything looks familiar. We've been driving for almost two hours.
"Good." Sawyer says and I keep a look out.
There's a gated entrance and Sawyer drives to it.
"Are you here to camp?" A man on an intercom asks.
Sawyer turns to me and I shrug.
"Sure." Sawyer says and the gate opens.
Sawyer pays the man to let us drive and we don't find the building I saw.
It starts to snow and it's freezing but I don't care. I get out of the car and start walking straight into the woods.
"You're going to get sick." Sawyer warns me. "Get back in the car."
"Fuck your car," I scream back at him. "Fuck you!"
"Fuck me?" His eyebrows crease and his mouth falls open in slight surprise. "Why are you being like this?" He questions.
"Because I can!" I shoot back, giving him the finger.
The building has to be here and I need to let my anger go and I'm directing it toward Sawyer. He knows this too. I feel so helpless.
"Jesus fucking christ." Sawyer growls at me and presses his fingers to his temples. "You're a pain in the ass Opal. Get back in the car." He warns once again.
"Go to hell!"
"So, you're just going to walk home in the snow?" He calls out to me. "Is that it?"
"Yep." Is all I say and continue my tread forward.
"Can I ask why?"
"Because." I tell him, like a child and he chuckles but no humor behind it.
"Because?" He shakes his head, and I know he doesn't know what to do with me. "Because of what? Because Whit? Because you saw a building that probably isn't even a building yet? Because you think you know how to save our son?"
"Don't start, Sawyer, not today."
"What the hell do you want, Opal?"
"Jesus!" I scream, frustrated with everything. I push my snow drenched hair back from my face. "You don't get it, do you?" I throw my hands up in the air, dramatic as always. No one ever gets it. "You never get me!" I shout, still looking all around me for a tall building. But all I see is trees for miles.
"Get you?" Sawyer says and now I know he's pissed. His patience with me gone. "You think I don't get you?" He demands. I hear him slam the car door shut behind me. "Opal, you're the only thing on this whole fucking planet that I want to get."
"Yeah," I choke out a sob. "Then why are you out here? To help me or to save our son or to make you feel better?" I question. He seems stumped by my question.
"Fuck your stupid questions." He snarls bristling with temper, as he stalks toward me. "I've been busting my bollocks for you my whole damn life, and you still think I don't care about you or Ezra? After all these years, you think I only care about myself? That's how little you think of me."
"Well, don't you?" I counter. Tears mixing with raindrops. "You're always running off doing god knows what _"
"Because I'm doing everything in my power to find Ezra." Sawyer roars, closing the space between us. "I might not show it or say all the right things. I fuck up. I get things wrong. I mess shit up." Sawyer hooks an arm around my waist and pulls me against his chest.
I burry my face in his shoulder as he holds me tight. All that I can think about is that I do need him. I need his arms around me. Need him to hold me and whisper that he'd find a way to find Ezra.
"We have to go back. There's nothing here." He says and I fall limp into him. There's dead ends everywhere.
"We know he's alive. He will be okay. We will find him. No matter how long it takes."
I pull away from him.
"You're not my favorite person today." I tell him. He's supposed to be helping me. Why isn't he breaking down? I can't bare this anymore.
"I'm not your favorite person on any day. Let's go home." He softly laughs and he carries me back to his warm car.
We're silent in the car.
"You have no idea how hard this is." I turn away from him and just start crying. He holds my hand in his.
"Do you regret it?" I finally turn to him after an hour of just tears.
"What?" He questions, a little startled. I sniffle a few times.
"I don't know." My voice shakes. "Everything." I shrug. I'm not sure where I'm going with this.
He stays quiet for a long moment. Heat floods my cheeks. I open my mouth to tell him to forget I ever asked, but he finally opens his mouth.
"Just because we hit a bump in the road it doesn't mean you and Ezra aren't the best things that ever happened to me. Because you are." He says and my stomach sinks.
"Yeah," I say, my eyes glistening. "You, too." I squeeze his hand.
"Do you think if I change time, we can save him." I question.
"There's no coming back form that, Opal. Everything can change." He warns.
"You're right." I whisper and turn away from him. Except he's wrong and we have to try.
Im silent the whole ride home. There are no longer any words to describe the absence of emotion within my heart. I went from arguing to being upset, now feeling nothing at all.
We finally make it home and I go straight upstairs while he talks to everyone.
I grab his watch and my necklace and connect the both of them together. I know the risks and everything I will lose but I need my son back.
I start clicking it to a different time and I hear Sawyer calling out my name.
"Opal, don't do it." He sees me with the watch. He rushes to me but I run away from him. He knew I would do this.
"I have to." I tell him.
"Don't be stupid!" He exasperates but I ignore him.
"I'll find a way back to you. No matter what. I promise." I tell him and I don't give him a chance to say anything. He runs to me, screaming my name. It's too late I'm engulfed in darkness.
I have to believe that you will still exist somewhere. That you still watch me, sometimes. That you will still love me, somehow. I have to believe that life has meaning. That I am useful in this world.
That I will make a small difference somewhere and somehow.
I have to believe.
I need to find a way.
That all this teaches me something. So that I can meet you again somewhere.
Sawyers POV:
I wasn't ready to say goodbye.
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Last chapter! Ahhh! Kinda nervous.
Hope you guys enjoyed! I really hope you like it.
Thank you for following me to the second book and reading! I can't wait for you guys to read the third book.
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Love you guys!