Chapter 23
I was tired. After Hayden left, I stayed in the back for five minutes and I was jumpy when the bell rung. I didn't have my back to door after that. Walker stayed in the same room as I was in, but I walked home myself, leaving my satchel at the diner. If Walker knew I was staying in a treehouse in the forest, he might drag me back to his house to stay with him and his wife.
I entered the forest and started my trek back to the treehouse. I was just walking normally... until something covered my face. I struggled, but it was no use. I passed out and when I woke up, I was in an unknown room.
It was a white room with a light brown dresser in the corner. I was laying on a bed that had red sheets. I sat up and the blanket fell down. I looked down and saw that someone had changed me. Before I wore a white shirt and black cargo pants, but now I was wearing a white lace blouse and a pink skirt.
I slipped out of the bed and my feet hit the darkly stain hardwood floor. Sitting next to the bed were a pair of white wedges. I grabbed them, but I didn't put them on, just in case I need to run.
I had no idea where I was and I was going to tread carefully. I looked around, but I didn't see a window in here. I walked to the door and turned the knob gently. It turned, which means it wasn't locked.
I pulled it open and slowly peered into the hallway. From the crack I looked through, I was in the room at the end of a hallway. There were four more rooms (two on each side of the hall) down this hallway and a stairway at the end of the hall.
I pulled the door open and slid out into the hall. I quietly walked down the hallway and looked around the corner and down the stairs. I didn't see any movement and I slowly walked down the stairs. When there was an opening in the stairs and the wall, I looked and saw no-one around.
I looked at the front door and turned the knob. I pulled the door open and saw a man sitting out front. My eyes widened and I slowly closed the door. The guy didn't notice me and I was a-okay with that.
I scrambled away from the front door and the unknown guy. I jogged to the back door and tried to open it, but it was locked from the outside. I tried the windows, but they were locked too.
I heard the front door open and slam shut. I gasped and hid in the cabinet under the sink. I highly doubted the guy would look in here for some girl he kidnapped.
I heard his footsteps walk around the bottom floor. When I heard them start to climb the stairs, I came out of the cabinet and slipped to the front room. I heard the guy opening door upstairs and I walked to the front door and tried the knob, but the door was locked.
I internally cussed and panicked, but slipped back into the kitchen to look for a weapon. I looked all around and only found paper plates, plastic utensils and other things I can't cause any harm to myself, others or things around me.
I wanted to break down and cry, but I didn't. I heard the guy coming back down the stairs. I panicked and grabbed the nearest object to me. It was a plastic fork. It would have to work.
The guy walked into the room and I looked at him. He was a tall guy with long, messy black hair. He had a mustache and sideburns. He wore khakis and a blue button up shirt, along with dress shoes.
"Hello, little one." he said. I studied his deemener and immediately found him to be creepy and not sane.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Jack." he said.
"Where am I?" I asked.
"In my house." Jack said.
"How did I get here?" I asked.
"I brought you here." he said and I was starting to get frustrated.
"Why am I here?" I asked. Jack smiled at me and shivered ran down my spine.
"I want you here." he said.
"Stop it." I snapped. "Just answer my questions fully." Jack laughed and it was the worst sound to ever hear.
"Fine. You are here because I wanted you to be here and I brought you back." Jack said. "It wasn't hard to grab you before you make it to your treehouse." He took a step towards me and I raised the fork and stepped back.
"How do you know that?" I asked. "How long have you been watching me?" Jack smiled again and I felt sick.
"I've been watching you for a long time." he said.
"How long?" I stressed.
"Since you dance in the park with your dance crew." he said and my eyes widened. That long? "You were so seductive and amazing, I knew I wanted you. After that moment, I started watching you everyday."
Fear gripped my heart and he started to walk around the table that was in the center of the room. I matched his movements, not wanting him to get close to me.
"I watched the day you got ice cream and then beat up after that." he said. "I was going to grab you then, but you weren't ready. I watched the day you beat up that one girl and got suspended. I watched you work everyday. I watched you meet with those dirty boys and whore of a girl.
"I watched you go clubbing and sleep with the leader of the dirty, disgusting boy, Hayden. I watched you act like everything was normal and nothing happened. I watched you go into the bathroom with a pregnancy test. I watched you meet up with that disgusting boy, Nash." Jack said.
"Shut up!" I yelled at him, not wanting to hear any more. "I want to leave!"
"No!" he yelled, angry. "I won't let you!" He ran around the table and I tried to run away, but he grabbed me. I used the plastic fork to stab him in the leg. I was so thankful that it didn't break and stuck in his leg.
He screamed and let me go. I ran into the front room and to the window. I used the heel of the wedge against the window. I smacked it twice and the window broke. I climbed through, cutting my body on the glass, but I didn't care.
I ran out and saw I was in a cabin in the forest. The windows were tinted so dark that I couldn't see where I was and I was too scared to see everything when I opened the front door before.
I ran through the forest as fast as I could. My feet were all cut to hell, but I didn't care. I wasn't far out when I heard the door open, but I was deep enough that I didn't have to worry about him seeing me yet.
I heard him screaming my name, but I didn't care. I ran like my life depended on it and as far as I knew, it did. I ran for an hour straight, my adrenaline kept me going. I didn't hear him behind me, but I didn't slow. I saw enough horror movies to know they always show up when you least expect it, so I was going to run until I make it home or see a cop car.
I made it onto the road and I could say a miracle happened. I ran onto the road and a cop car stopped in front of me. I was ready to break down here and now. A tall officer came out and I saw it wasn't the same guy.
"Please, help me." I begged.
"What happened?" he asked me, not caring if I may be a suspect. I was covered in blood and running like a scared deer, so he probably guessed I was a victim here.
"Some guy named Jack kidnapped me. He was holding me in a cabin that way." I explained quickly, pointing to the direction of the cabin. He got on his radio and called it in.
"Okay, now that that's done, I need to bring you to the station so we can get your statement." the officer said.
"Okay..." I said.
"Officer Raymond. Daniel Raymond." he said, filling in the blank.
"Okay, Officer Raymond." I said nodding. I walked around and got in the police car. Officer Raymond scanned the tree line and then got in the car.
He drove me to the police station and I learned I was two towns over from my city. They wanted to call my parents, but since I was already eighteen, they didn't. I called Sofia and asked her to pick me up, and not tell anyone.
It was noon by the time she picked me up. She promised she didn't tell anyone and I was hesitant to believe her, but I slowly did. She drove me back to my house and I waved by to her as she pulled away. I looked at the house and saw the graffiti was gone on the outside, but I knew it was still on the inside.
I knew neither of my parents were currently staying in the house due to it being ruined and they were both staying in separate hotels, paid for by my mother. I didn't have to worry about them catching me walking in the forest.
I gripped the switchblade that Sofia let me borrow for the time being. I walked into the forest, looking everywhere so I didn't get jumped again. I walked up to my treehouse and laid down on the boards.
My phone rang and I saw it was Sofia that was calling me. "Yeah?" I answered.
"Hey, just wanted to make sure you were okay and not kidnapped." Sofia said.
"Yeah, I'm fine and not kidnapped." I said, laughing, but it didn't have any humor in it.
"So, I have some bad news." Sofia said and I sat up, curious.
"What?" I asked.
"Well... Nash found out and flipped." Sofia said and my eyes widened.
"What?" I asked. "How?!?"
"He found the blood in my car when I got home and I didn't know how else to explain." she said and I sighed.
"What is he doing?" I asked.
"He's in his room." Sofia said. "I told him you didn't want anyone else to know and didn't want to be bothered. He got mad and went to his room. Before he left, he said you are staying in a treehouse?"
"Yeah, I am." I admitted.
"What happened to the place you were staying at?" she asked.
"This is the place." I said. "I had no other place."
"Do you want to stay there?" she asked.
"It's fine." I said.
"Are you sure? You can come stay here with us if you need to." she said.
"Nah, I'm okay." I said. "I'm sure Hayden doesn't want me around." And I don't really want to be around him either.
"Hayden left." she said and I froze.
"What?" I asked.
"Yeah, earlier, he got mad and he got into an argument with all of us, even Lance was yelling at him. He left after that, saying he doesn't plan on returning." she said. I sighed and looked up at the sky.
I didn't want this. Sure I wanted his life, but I didn't want to break up his family, so I could join. I felt extremely bad and extremely guilty for this and I felt like crying right now. A few tears actually came out. "Lee?"
I sniffed. "Sorry, I... I just didn't want that to happen." I said.
"What to happened?" she asked. "Hayden leaving? Listen, it's not your fault, it's my stupid brothers fault. He decided it for himself and it has nothing to do with you." I gave a laugh without humor.
"Yeah, right. If I never walked into your life, Hayden would still be at home, happy with you guys and nobody would be none the wiser." I said.
"Or what if you never walked into our lives and Hayden still left, what then?" Sofia asked me. "What if Hayden was hit by a car, or got in a fight he couldn't win, or he quit school to become a drug dealer? What I'm saying is there are so many possibilities in life and if you hang onto the 'what ifs' you are going to sink into a big, gaping hole of nothing and you might never drag yourself out.
"Instead of saying 'what if the boys never met me', you should be asking 'what if I'm the greatest thing to happen to them'. You are special and amazing and funny and kind and so many more things, but you need to stop dwelling on the past. It has happened and it's okay to get over it. We love you and you should just love us without caring about everything else." Sofia finished.
I laughed and wiped away my tears. "Thanks, Sofia." I said, smiling. "You know you are my best friend." She laughed.
"I know." she said, proudly.
"Give me another speech on letting go." I said. "I want to see if you can come up with another one." She laughed and I laid back on the floor, closing my eyes and letting her words slid over me.
"Sure." she said. "Listen, think of it like this. The past is like an old teddy bear. It's good to remember it, but you can't hold on too long. The present is a box with a surprise for you. And in that box is your future. That future is bright, but you can only reach it if you let go of the teddy bear you've been dragging around and open the box. The box won't open itself and you can't open it if you carry around the bear. The light in the box will get dimmer and dimmer the longer you wait, until it's gone. The sooner you come to let go of the bear, the sooner you get to see the beautiful light.
"The bear will always be there, watching and never gone, but you need to learn to let go and think of the present in front of you. The bear will always be in your memories, the bear has shaped you, but the bear can only teach you so much. The bear will see everything you do and hold all your memories, but you can't make new ones if your old ones are taking over. Let go and think about what will happened, not what has happened. Life is too short to live in the past. Love yourself NOW, not hold on to who you where and what you had. We all lose something, but you need to move on." she finished.
I smiled. "You are amazing." I said. She laughed.
"I love literature, so I thought this would be easy to relate too." she said.
"It definitely was easy." I said. "I'm going to go to sleep now. Can you help me move in to your place tomorrow?" She laughed again.
"Anytime, bestie. Goodnight." she said.
"Night." I said, hanging up. I let my body relax and I had a dream of a old teddy bear.