Playlist :
She wants revenge - Up in Flames.
Alison/Sapphire
A grocery shopping mart size building came in my view making me halt my marathon. The walls were painted in black with red paint splashed on it, in a blood dripping kind of way. I cringed at the sight as it reminded me the haunting image of the deer I saw earlier. A neon twisted lighting was placed on the top, forming the word 'Spook House' with a scary, mechanical clown's face placed beside it that opened and closed its mouth. The clown itself gave me the chills, no wonder the kids were scared the other day.
Suddenly, I realized something. Removing the torn yellow balloon from my pocket I glanced at the drawing of a small cottage with black ink on it and then back at the Spooky House. This two were different. Am I in the right place?
"Of course I am. Do I really expect her to draw the exact structure of the Spooky House? Maybe her plan was this, make her doubt her actions and waste time." I thought to myself while glancing at my wristwatch and noticing the time. It was half-past seven. I shrugged away all the doubts and began walking towards the booth where they give you a band and a map of the house, in case you get lost. I took my band and map before walking towards the entrance where there was a big queue. I stood behind a woman and began waiting impatiently. People grunted in front of me as a loud wailing of a baby filled their ears. Standing on my tiptoes I looked in front and found a woman, around my age, maybe a little younger than me, rocking a baby back and forth in her arms to hush her but the baby continued to cry and struggle in her arms.
Don't this people have humanity in them? Can't they go and help her instead of grunting. What surprised me the most was the reply of a teenage guy standing in front of her, "Take her away and hush her up." He hissed. A girl in front of him added "You are embarrassing us." while looking around. The lady looked around and nodded her head, before breaking the queue and walking away. I just can't take it, so I too break the queue and follow her.
"Excuse me!" I called out when she stopped in a secluded part of the carnival. The blonde lady turned around and looked at me with a confused frown. " Can I help?" I asked and pointed my finger at the struggling baby in her arms. She hesitantly looked at me and then at the baby. Reluctantly she nodded before handing me the baby. An unconscious smile graced my lips when I held the baby in my arms. The moment transported me back to the time when I used to rock Raine and Ryker and lul them to sleep. Humming a lullaby I rocked the baby while pacing around. The baby's cry turned to sniffles and finally into soft snores. I continued rocking the baby for few more moments before handing the baby back to the lady whose face showed nothing but relief an gratitude. She adjusted the baby in her arms and smiled at me gratefully. "Thank you!" She said to which I just smiled at her in reply.
"New to motherhood?" I asked and brushed my hand over the baby's head. The lady nodded in reply. "How do you do it?" She asked after a while of silence. "The key to it is patience. Be patient and loving. That's all a baby needs." I said. The lady nodded. "Do you mind me asking, why was he crying?" I asked. She replied with "When we were driving to the carnival, we saw a house which is rumoured to be haunted. The kids wanted to check it out. So they went in with Adam. Connor told me to stay in the car and that's what I did. Adam was happy while going inside but I don't know what happened inside when they returned Adam was quiet, extremely quiet." She said and looked at the baby, Adam. "They?" I questioned. "My stepchildren." She answered and glanced at the teenagers from earlier who told her to walk away because Adam was crying.
My mouth formed an 'o' shape at that. Suddenly I realized something. "What cottage?" I asked. She turned around and looked at me "The haunted cottage outside the town." She answered with a frown, probably thinking I'm some gone case as she has already said it earlier. I hurriedly removed the balloon from my pocket and showed her the picture. "Did it look like this?" I asked, tucking the annoying strand of hair behind my ear, I looked at her expectantly. She looked at the picture and nodded. All the adrenaline was back making me jump into action. "Which way is it?" I asked impatiently. "That way." She pointed towards the woods. "After you cross the woods the house is in plain view." She said. I glanced at my watch and cursed. Only ten minutes left to eight. "I'm sorry but I gotta go," I said to her in a rush and began running towards the direction of the woods but before I could run far I stopped and turned my head around to look at the lady who was still watching me with a look of pure confusion. "I can see you are trying to be good to your stepchildren so one day they'll see your good side and accept you, but the truth is, they won't accept you as their motherly figure until you don't start acting like one." I gave her a quick smile and resumed my run.
Dry leaves crunched under my boots as I ran through the weald, dodging branches from my way. My lungs started closing up due to insufficient oxygen supply but I didn't stop, I can't stop. My daughter is waiting for me, I need to get to her as soon as possible. Pointed branches scrapped my exposed skin while I ran as fast as I could. Finally, the cottage came in my view, I increased my pace and stopped in front of a small rusty gate. The wooden cottage in front of me was old, judging by the dry flowers in the lawn with brown grass on the ground. The cottage had few holes in the walls giving a clear view of the inside but currently, it was dark. The windows were replaced with two planks of wood crossed over another.
My racing heart was back to normal by the time I reached the front porch. With a shaky breath, I stepped on the worn out wooden step. It protested under my weight making me freeze. What if it breaks if I add more pressure to it? My train of thoughts was broken when I heard a young feminine shriek from inside. "Raine!" I yelled in alarm and ran towards the door, not caring about breaking the porch anymore. Throwing the door open I entered the dark house.
"Raine!" I yelled again, but instead of an expected reply, a loud thud answered me. I wiped my head around to find the door closed shut turning the entire room dark. The only source of light was the moonlight peeking inside through the holes in the wall and the gaps from the wooden plank over the windows.
I froze when I felt someone behind me. My heartbeat quickened but I refused to let her scare me. I turned around in a defensive stance but gasped in surprise when I saw a dummy of a zombie staring at me with a torch clasped in its hands which was flashing on his face. Once I got used to his presence I looked at him up and down, a note peeked through his chest pocket came under my gaze. I quickly pulled it out along with the torch from his hands before flashing it towards the open page and began reading it.
I must say, I'm truly impressed by your brain. My bet was that you will go in the spook house without a doubt but luck was on your side and you met that lady but still if it wasn't for your brain you wouldn't be here.
"Oh right! Now the kidnapper of my baby is praising me." I mumbled sarcastically.
Alas! You are a minute late though!
My eyes widened at that statement. I quickly pointed the torch at my wristwatch and indeed the time showed five past eight. My mind raced back to the shriek I heard before I entered. Was that...?
"No! No no no no!" I shook my head in denial. Suddenly my heart weighed more than my entire body, a ball of thorns suddenly appeared in my throat, no matter how much I swallowed it didn't disappear. My eyes began to water and my body trembled in fear.
One minute.
Being one minute late can't cost me, my daughter. No! I refuse to believe that.
With shaky hands, I lifted up the paper to read the rest. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand so I can at least read it.
Don't worry, I didn't kill your daughter yet.
Relief flooded over me, I didn't realize this one sentence could give me so much relief.
By now you must have realized how much I love games, more like how much I love making you play games. So let's play another game. I don't know where Raine is, nor do you but she is somewhere in here. After few minutes a horn will go off. That will be our cue to start searching Raine. If you find her before me, she'll go home but if I find her before you, she'll go to heaven. So have a sit and wait. Good luck!
I yelled in frustration and crumbled the piece of paper in my hands. My knees gave out making me fall on the floor, the torch rolled out of my hands and settled next to the leg of the zombie, while I sat on the floor and pulled my knees to my chest. I buried my head between them and rocked myself while I waited, I waited for the game to start. The game in which I will win, for my Raine.
*
After what felt like hours I heard a deafening sound of the horn going off. My head lifted up immediately. I grabbed the torch and lifted my body up. I moved the torch around the area and stopped when I saw a door to my right. The wood creaked under me as I ran towards the door and opened it only to start coughing when the dust fell on me. "Raine?" I called with a raspy voice and moved the torch around. A bed with a worn out mattress sat in the corner of the room with a huge closet placed on the other. A painting of some horses running on a field hung on the wall in front of me. The old furniture was accompanied by dust and cobwebs.
I walked towards the bed and peeked under it. Nope!
Next, was the closet. Nope!
There was no other hiding place in this room so I left the room. "Raine!" I yelled again, hoping to get any sign but no I didn't. I wondered was the girl was even searching? Me, walking was making so much loud noise and she was searching around silently? I wouldn't be surprised if I come to know that she wasn't even searching.
I entered the room next door and repeated my procedure but no, I didn't find her.
I was about to enter another room but was stopped by a sound of glass shattering. I immediately pointed my torch in the direction from where the noise came and found a staircase. My legs were already in action, climbing the stairs two at a time.
"Raine!" I yelled again when I reached the upper floor. I looked left and right, on my right, there was only one room while on my left there were two rooms on the side and one room on the far end. This house was pretty big for a cottage.
"Rai-" I tried to yell again but was cut off by a loud bang from one of the rooms on my left. I ran towards the room in the far end and threw the door open and gasped at the sight.
Shelves were messily placed around with crockery, metal vases and other antics on it, covered in cobwebs. Boxes were placed around filled with stuff unknown to me while unused furniture was draped in a white cloth. It looked like some kind of a spare room. It's going to be difficult finding Raine in here but I can't give up.
"Raine! Baby are you in here?" I asked in the thin air while flashing the light of the torch around. I lifted the white sheet from the object it was covering to find an empty couch. I looked at the shelves, under the sofa-bed and every possible place where a girl of six-year-old could be hidden. Hell, I even searched behind the paintings kept messily on the ground.
As I was about to grab the cloth covering a tall object in front of me, I froze when I felt someone's presence behind me. Quickly I turned around to find empty space. I prevented myself from asking 'who was there?' because I doubt I'm going to receive an answer.
"I need to be alert." I thought to myself and turned around to grab the cloth but was stopped again when I heard another crash from outside. I left the task at hand and ran towards it to find a glass vase shattered into million pieces in front of the room to the far right.
Running towards it I tried to open the door but it won't. No matter how many times I turned the knob it won't budge. I even tried to apply force to it by my shoulder but no, it just wouldn't open.
"Why is this thing locked?" I yelled in frustration. I need to see inside, I need to open this door. Tucking my hair behind my ears, I looked around for something that can help me break down this stubborn door. Then I remembered, I saw an axe in the spare room earlier so I ran towards the place. I picked up the axe and frowned at something. Glancing one last time at the axe in my hand and then at the thing that made me frown, I ran back towards the door.
I started swinging the axe and hitting the bolt. After several hits finally, there was a hole in between the frame and the bolt making the door swing open. I entered the room and found it completely empty. A groan of frustration left my lips. Waste of time! Waste of energy! But at least I got a sense of satisfaction that Raine is not in here.
I heard a bang this time. Like someone was banging their fists on a wooden object. This time before following it, I thought. What if it's another distraction to waste my time? I can't afford that. It's already 9:46.
The banging continued and I knew I had to go check it. Just to give me some satisfaction. The banging stopped when I reached the closed door of the spare room. With a shake of my head, I threw the door open before I could change my mind. I looked around but can't seem to get the source of the noise until I heard it again. I ran towards the tall object that was covered with white cloth, the place I was about to look but was distracted twice. I didn't think twice before pulling the sheet down and came face to face with an ancient designed closet.
I opened the doors and relief and happiness engulfed my heart. Tears welled up my eyes and I choked on air. "Raine!" I cried and hugged my daughter. She was still dressed in the clothes she wore in the morning, her hair was tied in pigtails but they were a bit disheveled. "Raine!" I called out when I finally noticed she wasn't moving. I pulled away and looked at her unconscious figure. Gently I patted her cheek but she didn't wake up.
I hastily looked at her up and down for any injuries but there were none. I stood up and picked her up in my arms. Struggling a little as my energy was drained and also my daughter wasn't a kid anymore.
I need to take her home immediately and call a doctor. I can't run but walked as fast as my feet could take me. Walking out of the room, I walked downstairs but halted when a piece of paper came flying from up. Gently it landed on the floor, in front of me. Groaning, I crouched down with great difficulty and picked up the piece of paper.
Well done, you beat me again. Don't worry your daughter is fine. She's just sleeping. Don't even bother asking her what happened because she won't remember anything but still you can try your luck. Congratulations on your win.
See you soon.
I tucked the paper into my pocket and got out of the cottage. Padding like a penguin I walked back towards the carnival gate where the car was parked. It took me thirty minutes to reach there. The driver was kind enough to take Raine from my arms as soon as we came in his vision. He settled Raine gently in the backseat and I got in myself. The seat under my butt felt heaven to me. I threw my head back and closed my eyes. A tear escaped from the corner from my eye, I didn't bother to wipe it though.
"Ma'am!" The driver called me. I grudgingly opened my eyes and looked at him. He was offering me a packed bottle of water. I took it from him and drank the entire bottle in one go. "Thank you!" I expressed my gratitude verbally. He looked at me in the rearview mirror and nodded. The rest of the ride was silent. I just looked out of the window with my hand wrapped around Raine's shoulder while her head rested on my chest. I caressed her forehead until the car halted in front of the Cullen house.
The driver offered to carry Raine inside, who was I to deny? There wasn't an ounce of energy left inside me. Luckily everyone was asleep by the time we returned and why not, it was midnight already. I asked the driver to lay Raine on my bed. I thanked him after he did so.
"Please don't tell anyone anything," I said to the driver before he could leave. "I didn't see anything." He replied before leaving. I exhaled heavily and looked at my daughter. I changed her dress and opened her pigtails before taking a hot water bath myself and changing into a nightgown.
I got under the sheets and pulled Raine closer to myself. All the thoughts that I prevented myself from thinking during the ride came rushing back to me.
The entire day flashed in front of my eyes. Never in my life have I experienced so many emotions in a span of 24 hours. The person behind this wants me to leave this house. Maybe I should. I have to protect my two kids no matter what.
Before I could think of anything else the door to my room opened. I looked at the entrance and found a sleepy Ryker walking inside rubbing his eye with his small fist. He climbed on the bed and got under the sheets before wrapping his arm around Raine and falling asleep again.
The door opened again and this time a sleepy Nathan walked in. He repeated Ryker's action but climbed on my other side, he wrapped his arm around my waist and snuggled his head into my neck before falling asleep.
At that moment when I looked at the three kids sleeping on my bed, I decided. I won't leave this house. I don't have two but three kids to protect and I'll do anything and everything I can to do that.
"If she wants a game, I'll give her a game."
******
Hey guys! First off, I'm extremely sorry for the late update but I was busy. I just couldn't write the chapter. I'll try my best to update the next chapter soon.
Secondly, a big THANKYOU! to all my readers for loving this book. Reading your beautiful comments and messages makes me happy. I just can't thank you guys enough. It seems like yesterday I was celebrating 100k+ reads and today the story has crossed 200k reads and ranked #4 in Romance.
Seeing so much love I got nervous while typing this chapter. I typed the whole chapter once and deleted it because I wasn't satisfied with it. Even though I deny it but deep down I thought that you guys won't like it so I deleted the part and re-wrote it. I hope you guys like this chapter, please do comment and tell me if you do so. Last chapter I aimed for 100 votes and got 200+ so let's aim for 250 likes for this chapter. Will you guys do it?
You can follow me on other social media sites where I post your beautiful comments and messages. My username on Instagram and Twitter is the same as my wattpad. We can also have some fun games on Twitter. Let me know if you guys are interested in it.
Also, BTS IS PERFORMING AT AMA's!!! I'm so excited to watch it. All the Indian ARMY's who have no idea where to watch it then you can tune in to VH1 channel on 20th Nov at 7:30 a.m to watch the awards live. Unfortunately, I can't watch the live because I have a job to go to. :(
Have a great day, people!
Toodles!