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Chapter 13
Mia
"Georgia! It's Georgia!" I pointed back at the house, out of breath as the dog lapped at my face.
Lump is the sweetest thing but I'm not used to dogs. I've never had any pets. I wasn't allowed as a child. I was told they made too much noise, too many messes, and I wasn't responsible enough to clean up after them. I had to make do without.
I did a lot of that.
I'm not like Aubrey. She had a wonderful mother who loved her with everything she had. I know they didn't have everything but they had each other and that was enough. Aubrey was loved and she knew it. Sometimes that's everything.
Sometimes it's all you want.
Lady joined Lump next to me and the two dogs sat on either side of me as we looked at the house. Another gunshot blasted and I jumped knowing that Georgia was alone in there with that man. Getting to my feet, I looked at the house and worried about the woman.
"She told me to run, she said to take Lady and run," I explained to the three of them.
Beckett looked at Aubrey and Leo. Without a word, the two men went running off for the house, leaving Aubrey and I standing there in the middle of the clearing with the two dogs in the darkness as the storm raged around us.
"We need shelter, come on," Aubrey headed for the green house with the dogs right behind her.
Following them, I wasn't sure this was a good idea. The frame is metal. Lightning is drawn to metal. "Isn't this dangerous?"
"No more than standing out there waiting for Lindsey to finish us off," Aubrey muttered, "stay down, and quiet. If we don't move, she might not notice us."
Wait! Lindsey is here too? I thought it was just the deputy, maybe the sheriff but I didn't think Lindsey was out here. Why would she come back out here? She had gotten away, wouldn't she want to escape from here?
"She left, she got away," I muttered to myself, trying to understand all this. "She was free. Wouldn't she want to be free, she escaped. I would have ran away."
"Mia, she's crazy. She wants revenge. Lindsey isn't sane enough to think logically. Now be quiet," calmly Aubrey pointed out the window and mimicked zipping her mouth shut.
We watched out the window and sure enough, Lindsey came walking around the side of the green house. She doesn't look like the woman I know. She looks like a mad woman. Her hair is wet but dirty, matted with mud and tangled. Her beautiful blonde hair is so dirty and messy. Nothing like the princess she paraded around town as.
Her makeup is a mess. Black circles around her eyes where her mascara had run, red lipstick is smeared on her lips. The perfect model she was isn't the same now. She looks like a wild eyed woman who has been on the street just a little too long.
Her clothes, always so pressed and perfect, are ripped and dirty. A dress she'd worn several times in town, I knew as one of her favorites, is wet and sticky to her legs. Mud is caked over the back side of her and it is torn up one side. There's blood on her hands.
"She looks like she has been in an accident," I whisper, noticing the blood. Aubrey nods seeing it as well.
"Or she's hurt someone," Aubrey makes another point I hadn't thought of.
It's possible that she has hurt someone else. She doesn't look like she is thinking clearly. As the lightning flashes again I see the look on her face and she doesn't look like herself. Something is definitely different. I just can't put my finger on it.
Aubrey keeps low and crawls down the row of plants to get to where she keeps her tools. Reaching into the bin, she pulls out a wicked looking tool that looks a bit medieval. I'm sure what exactly it's for, but it looks like a pretty decent weapon.
"What's that for?" I whisper, not sure what she has in mind.
"Normally, weeds, right now, Lindsey if she gets any dumb ideas about coming after us. Get yourself a weapon, Mia. You need to defend yourself," Aubrey orders, as she points to the bin.
Not sure what I'm supposed to do, I grab a tool that looks a bit terrifying. It has a short handle on it but the blade itself is long and curved almost like a sword. I'm not sure if I picked a good choice.
"That's a scythe, be careful with it. The blade is really sharp and will slice your finger off if you don't watch yourself," Aubrey warns me.
"That's not in the least bit terrifying," muttering to myself, I continue following Aubrey around the green house.
"Stay here, keep down and don't let her see you," Aubrey told me, then she turned to the dog, "stay put Lady, stay with Mia."
She patted her thigh and Lump followed without a word from her. Aubrey seemed to know exactly what she was doing where I would much rather hide from Lindsey than try to fight her off with this lethal looking sword.
Curling up under the counter, the dog and I waited together listening to the storm pound down on the metal roof. I didn't feel safe. I wasn't comfortable, I wasn't safe, and I was alone with a dog to protect me and a really big knife.
I'm so out of my comfort zone it's not even funny.
"Get out and meet new people, Mia. Take some chances in life. You're too boring, too shy, no one is going to show you any interest the way you are. Well, Mama, what do you think about me now?" I asked softly knowing my mama wouldn't recognize her little wallflower now.
The sound of metal grinding against metal had my ear ringing. I hate that sound. Ducking down, I hid further down behind the pots and bags of soil as I heard her laugh echo in the room.
It didn't sound like Lindsey. It sounded like someone who had lost their mind. Someone from one of those horror movies where the lunatic runs loose in the abandoned building chasing the idiots who decided to spend the night there on Halloween.
"Mia..." Lindsey sang out her name so sweetly, I cringed wanting to cry wishing Aubrey hadn't left me here alone. "Mia, I don't want to hurt you. I'm not after you. You are innocent in all of this.... If you tell me where she went you can go home and get back to your boring little life with your flowers."
It was tempting to just say what she wanted to know and leave. I'm a lot of things, naive is probably at the top of the list. But I'm not stupid. I know better than to think that Lindsey is just going to let me leave her without a single scratch on me. No, I'm not getting off that easy.
Lady didn't move, neither did I. I didn't say a word. She just wants me to give my hand away. I won't turn on my friends. Georgia stood up for me. She protected me when Kevin tried to grab me, she pulled that trigger and told me to run. I owe her.
"Mia? They aren't going to come for you. You aren't one of them. You aren't a Bradford, you don't run in their circles. They've set you up to take the fall, honey. You're the one who will be blamed for everything," Lindsey tries again to convince me that they will turn on me. "Where's your boyfriend now when you need him?"
That hurt.
"He isn't here is he?" I didn't have to see Lindsey to know she was smiling. "He didn't believe in you back in the preserves. He didn't think you could make it through there without his help. He thinks you're not as smart as he is. He thinks he's better than you. You know that as well as I do. Why do you want to be with someone who doesn't believe in you?"
I can't say she's wrong. The truth is everything she's saying is right. Cole doesn't believe in me. He doesn't think that I can do the things that he does. He does think that he is better than I am. Why do I want to be with someone like that?
She makes a very good, very logical point. And one that after this is over I should think about. But not right now. Right now, I need to get out of here, preferably alive.
"Leave her alone, Lindsey. You want to fight with someone, you fight with me!" Hearing the dare from Aubrey scared me to death. I should have known that Aubrey wouldn't leave me. But she's going to put herself in the line of fire for me and that is the last thing I want to happen.
"Aubrey, no!" I yelled, hoping to keep her away from Lindsey.
I saw a glimpse of Aubrey on the other side of the green house. Lindsey is right in the middle of us. If we come at her from both sides, we might just have a chance. One of us will get the best of her. One of us just needs to keep Lindsey's attention while the other sneaks up behind her. It could work.
I know what I have to do.
"Lindsey! Lindsey! You're right! You're right! Cole doesn't believe in me," I agreed standing up where I was. The dog growled at my feet.
"Why?" She doesn't believe me.
Damn it, I have to convince her. "He kept telling me what I should do, how I should do it. He didn't trust me to do it myself. He didn't think I was good enough, that I was able to be enough for him," and saying those words hurt. It's been true for me too many times to count.
"And what are you going to do about it?" She stayed focused on me. Her attention was on me and Aubrey was forgotten for the moment.
"I don't know. But I'm not going to go back to him. I want someone who believes in me. I need someone who trusts me. I want someone I can trust to love me," that is the honest truth. I want love and trust and truth. I won't settle for less than that.
"I can help you find that. I can help you find your strength, Mia. Join me. I have the power to make you a stronger woman. The Bradford's, those who look down on you, will rue the day they pushed you aside," Lindsey looked down her nose at me as if she were still the homecoming queen.
Aubrey quietly crept up behind her, stealth like she moved down the aisle with her medieval weapon in her hand. Ready to take her swing, she slowly approached Lindsey from behind while I made my way to her front. Closing in, we each were within ten feet of her.
"Lindsey, why would you do this for me? Why would you help me?" I asked, curious about her motives.
"I'm not going to help you. I'm helping myself. You don't mean anything to me, but you are a way for me to get to her," she swung out with a pipe and hit Aubrey in the face. Taking her down to her knees.
Lindsey turned back to me and smirked, "you really believe that I was willing to take some meek little mouse like you under my wing. You aren't worth the dirt I walk on. You're pitiful, Mia! You disgust me! Cole would be better off if you just died! Maybe I'll just do him a favor and take care of that for him."
"I don't think so," I snarled back and with the nasty weapon in my hand, I raised it and took aim.
I wasn't sure if I could follow through with it. I wasn't sure if I would actually hit my target but Lindsey hurt my friend and she was threatening those I care about. I wasn't going to stand by and do nothing any longer.
I swung my scythe and I hit something. I'm not sure what, I closed my eyes when I swung, but I felt the contact and the warmth of sticky wetness on my hands. I hit something.
Opening my eyes just enough, I saw that I hit my mark. The scythe was buried in Lindsey's chest. Blood was pooling from the wound, and my hands were covered. Suddenly I was shaking. I've never hurt anyone.
"Oh my God, what have I done?" I stumbled back and fell on my butt staring at Lindsey as she fell back into the pots.
"Beckett!! Beckett!! Leo!! Leo!!! Beckett!!!" Aubrey began yelling for help. I was in shock. I've never done anything like this before.
All I could do was sit and stare at all the blood on my hands and know that I killed Lindsey. I'm responsible for another person's death. It made me feel sick, grabbing one of the pots, I threw up and held on as the smell of her blood made me sicker. I shivered and wanted to pass out.
Aubrey crawled over to me and held me. She rocked me and held me as Leo and Beckett ran into the greenhouse. Looking down on us and the situation at hand, Leo covered his mouth and turned away.
"Holy shit!" He muttered as turned away.
"Aubrey, what happened? Are you two okay?" Beckett asked, touching his wife's shoulder.
"Mia killed her. It was self defense, Beck. It was her or us," Aubrey told him but I'm not sure.
"What have I done?" I cried, knowing there's no coming back from this.
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