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Avery Holmes
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"Good." Jake breathed, standing behind me and holding me in a headlock, the barrel of his gun pressed firmly against my forehead. "Now let's see if your friends will come to your rescue, eh?"
I chose to ignore him. His sweaty body stuck to mine and he smelled so awful that it made me feel like I was going to gag. I breathed out of my mouth instead of through my nose because I knew that if I bent over to puke from his scent he would shoot me. His specific instruction were to 'scream for your friends and don't move' and I wasn't about to push my luck.
Kate was across from us in the small clearing, a grim smirk on her face and a gun in her hands. She had already cocked it and, much like a hunter going after a deer, waited for the prey to come into the trap. It disgusted me and there wasn't anything that I could do about it.
"Scream again." Jake said.
"I think I'm losing my voice." I lied, trying to sound like it actually was.
"Really? How about now?" He asked, pressing the gun closer to my skull. The cool metal was intimating and terrifying, but if I tried to take the gun from him Kate would just shoot me. I was racking my brain with different possibilities to get me out of this situation.
I let out a shrill scream once more, hoping that everyone hiding out in the woods wouldn't try to follow it. I would be willing to sacrifice myself to Jake and Kate if it meant that my friends, boyfriend, and daughter would stay safe.
I wonder what Aimee is thinking right now.
I prayed that she wasn't scared. I hoped that Niall was taking good care of her and keeping her safe, because at the end of the day it was her safety over mine. It might sound like an incredibly selfless thing, but all mothers would think the same. Once you first hold your child, you know that you would do anything to keep them safe, including giving your own life up.
"What do you want?" I demanded. "You have me!"
"Shut up." Jake grunted. "Kate, how long has it been? Why aren't they here?"
"Don't ask me." She said. "Remember, I get the boy. I don't care what happens with her, but I will be the one killing him." My heart dropped into my stomach and I struggled under Jake's grip. For a drunk that did nothing but go out late at night, he was strong. Stronger than me, at least.
"And as for the others, who cares." Kate continued. "They're just in the way. If you need to shoot them, go ahead." The way she talked about people I cared so dearly about made me want to scream. My face was red with fury knowing that I couldn't do anything to save them.
"Oh yeah, and what about the little girl?" Kate asked. My heart stopped for a moment and I shook my head, my jaw dropped down to the ground.
"No." I gasped. I promised myself that I wasn't going to show any weakness in front of them, but if they kept this up I was surely going to burst into tears, there was no doubt about it.
"Just let that one go." Jake said. I could hear the uneasiness in his voice and realized something- Jake still cared. I'm sure it was only a small amount of him that cared, but there was still at least a fiber of sense in his being.
"You care." I blurted.
"I wasn't speaking to you." Jake said.
"But you care." I pointed out again. "Please, Jake, think rationally about-"
"I said I wasn't speaking to you!" Jake screamed, his words echoing through the forest. I heard a flock of birds fly away in fright and wished that I was one of them. "Kate, fire that gun in the air. Then they'll surely come."
I bit my lip and watched as Kate aimed her gun in the air and set it off. Once sound when off she reloaded the gun and got back into the ready position. Meanwhile, I stood there like a helpless bystander that couldn't do anything but wait.
"I swear, if you do anything, I will make sure to kill every last one of them. Don't think about pulling any stunts." Jake warned me. I wasn't sure if this was a real threat or something he was using to make him sound tough, but I wasn't about to push my luck.
We sat still for a few more moments. The whole time I just kept praying that people wouldn't come looking for me and stay put, but I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. I just hoped that Sam got the cops in time before any one of us got killed by the psychotic people in front of me.
The only thing that I could hear was my accelerating heartbeat pounding in my chest. A stray tear slipped down my cheek and all the way down to my chin as I hung my head. All of this was because of me. I was the bait that they were using to lure Niall in and I knew it. And if Niall died today, I would surely never, ever forgive myself. That was a definite.
"Shh, listen." Kate whispered.
"I don't hear anything." Jake said, spitting in the grass beside us. I looked down and saw that it was brown, which meant that he had went back to chewing again.
Disgusting.
All of a sudden, I saw the bushes in front of me move. I knew that Kate and Jake saw it, too, because they both froze and turned towards it. I crossed my fingers, hoping that it wasn't Niall. If it was him I knew that they'd surely try killing him.
But fate didn't seem to be on my side. Niall erupted from the bushes, his clothes covered in grass and vines from the forest. I glanced all around him for any sighting of my daughter, but she was nowhere to be found. In that moment I was at least feeling a bit better that she wasn't here.
Niall's eyes snapped up to meet mine for a brief moment before I looked back at the ground.
"Please, Jake." I begged. "You don't have to do this."
I got no answer. Instead, I watched as an angry Niall tightened his fists at his side as Kate approached him. She kept her gun to his head the whole time, but it didn't seem to faze him. The only thing he was focused on was Jake and I.
"You're going to regret that." Niall said finally. "Let go of her now."
"You don't even have a weapon on you." Kate sneered. "If you try anything, we will shoot Avery and then you."
"Like you weren't going to?" Niall challenged. "Let go of my girlfriend before I make you do it."
"Niall, no." I said firmly. I tried to give him a look, because surely talking back wasn't going to get us anywhere. If he kept this up he was going to get us killed for sure. Kate stood somewhat between us, so even if Niall tried to run toward me he would be shot. There was no use.
"I guess we should just get on with it now that the party's all here, huh?" Kate said, raising an eyebrow at Jake. I wasn't sure if he nodded in agreement or not because I was too afraid that if I turned my head it would be blown off my Jake's gun. My whole body was shaking in fear as the gun was pressed closer to my temple.
"Please don't," I begged. "Please, Aimee needs a mom. She needs a family. And Niall, he doesn't deserve this. He hasn't done anything wrong to either of you." I tried negotiating.
"You think we're going to give up all of this time and effort because you expect us to pity you?" Kate asked. The look in her eyes was inhumane- it was like she had this rush from the fact that she was going to commit murder. It was then when I saw the devilish look in her eyes that I knew she was seriously messed up.
"It's not pity, it's the truth." I argued. Jake's grip tightened around my neck and I coughed loudly. If it weren't for the fact that Niall had a gun on him, he would have rushed to my aid and tried fighting Jake off.
"Do you want to know something?" Kate asked teasingly. I stayed silent.
"I don't care." She continued. "And if you're wondering, this isn't the first time I've killed someone. Actually, there has been two people before you and they both asked the same question; why? And the only answer I have for you- a good killer never tells."
"You're insane!" Niall spat, his fists still clenched at his sides.
"Maybe," She shrugged. "But I'm also the one with the gun, so I'd shut up now if I were you." This caused Niall to shrink back a bit in intimidation. Meanwhile, I thought I was either going to have a heart attack or pee my pants. I also wasn't sure which one it was going to be.
"So, any volunteers to go first?" Kate asked us, a menacing gleam in her eyes. "Aw, no takers?"
"Wait." I spoke up. "Before you... do this, I need to say something." I gulped, even though my mouth was feeling completely dried up.
Suddenly my body was pushed into the ground and I put my hands in front of me to break my fall. I turned around to face Jake and saw that the gun was aimed straight at me, but there was a hint of regret in his eyes. I could see it and I knew that this would be my last chance to save Niall and I's lives.
Taking a shaky breath, and with shaky legs I stood up and faced Jake. Niall and Kate probably had no clue what was going on, but that didn't matter. If I could get some sense into Jake, it could be life changing. If not, it would surely be life ending.
"Just let me say one thing." I begged, my voice barely above a whisper.
"S-September 19th." I began, not sure exactly where I was going with my speech. "That was when you first asked me out, to homecoming. Me and my mom went shopping for a dress and got everything perfect, and that night you came to my door wearing your dad's old suit. You had these wilted flowers in your hand and your mom honking the horn of her minivan in the background, but I was so happy.
"For the first few months, everything was perfect. You were such a gentleman- surprising me with things on my doorstep, opening the car door for me... all the other girls were jealous. You'd leave me these dumb notes in my locker but I kept them and loved them. Girls would come up to me and gush about how we were such a perfect couple, and we were.
"But then things changed. We started going to parties and we grew older, and I realized that we weren't the perfect couple that everyone thought we were. Our image might have been perfect, but the intimate relationship between you and I just clashed. You made some bad decisions that lead us to this, but I think I just need to remind you of something before you go ahead and do this.
"You don't have to do this. You can turn away from this and change your life. You can go back to being the guy that every girl loved and every guy envied. You don't have to be this person, it isn't too late for you. But if you do go through with this, life is only going to get worse for you. The only person with the power to decide how your life goes is you. You only have one life, and by doing this you'll ruin it, I promise you that."
By the time I was done speaking, there were tears in my eyes. I had literally just made that up as I went but I was hoping that he'd take it to heart.
Suddenly, I heard the shrill sound of a police car alarm in the distance. It didn't seem to be that far off, even though I felt like we were surrounded by miles and miles of forest.
Kate gasped and looked over at Jake, who had a panic look in his eyes. He turned back to me and raised the shaky gun in the air, his eyes never leaving mine. It was odd, for the most part, I only felt a strange sense of peace.
Maybe this always happens before you die.
I turned to Niall and mouthed an 'I love you' as Kate struggled to keep him back from standing in front of me. Jake cocked the gun and then closed his one eye, aiming at me like I was a doe and he was the hunter.
"Hurry up, I've still got this one left and the cops will be here soon!" Kate panicked.
"Shut up." Jake growled, turning his attention back to me.
I closed my eyes. I figured that if I tried to keep my mind on something else, something peaceful, that would be the best way to go in this situation. My last earthly thoughts would be of something nice while I was suffering this horrid death.
A gunshot rang out through the forest.
I did not feel any pain. When you get shot in the right place- such as the heart or the head, it's said that you don't feel anything. That was the way that I had hoped to go if it came to this, and I guess I had been right. My whole body felt numb from how much panic I had been in.
It took me a few seconds to realize that I wasn't dead. I could hear things all around me and I opened my eyes. The scene in front of me was similar, although instead of standing in front of me, Jake was now lying on the ground in a pool of dark red blood. I gaped and scrambled to my feet, watching as Kate looked at his body in horror. Her gun was still pointed on Niall, which only meant one thing;
Jake had shot himself.
"No!" Kate screamed, and all at once we were surrounded by men in uniform. My heart was drumming so rapidly in my chest and my thoughts were all a jumbled blur. One of the men I recognized to be Sam, who had a very scared looking Aimee in his arms. I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out or throw up, I hunched over and started to cough, my whole body shaking.
It took the men a few tries, but they wrestled Kate to the ground before she could do any harm to Niall. The gun that was once in her hands was now taken from her and handcuffs were immediately placed on her wrist. Everything seemed to be happening so quickly that I couldn't wrap my head around it.
Someone touched my shoulder, and I spun around to see a man in uniform with a concerned look on his face. He had a moustache. It's funny, that's the one significant thing that stuck out to me about him.
"Are you okay, miss? Let's help you onto a stretcher." He said.
When he reached out for my hand, I shied away from him. My eyes wandered around the crime scene for Niall, but I couldn't see him. My heart was pounding and I felt so dizzy. The man's eyes were filled with concern and he mumbled something into a walkie-talkie that I didn't hear. My only concern was the safety of my friends and family.
"Where's Niall?" I demanded.
"Your boyfriend, child, and friends are all being escorted back to the ambulances. Please, miss, we need to check for any injuries." He offered his hand again. Another officer approached me and held his hand out as well, and so this time I complied, letting them pull me up and lead me back through the woods to the Motel 6.
The last thing that I saw before I turned away from the scene was Jake's dead body lying on the ground.
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a/n:
you guys should be lucky that i didn't turn this into a tragedy. PRAISE THE LAWD JAKE IS DEAD, AMMIRITE?
ps, tweet using the hashtag #heydelilah to tell me your thoughts on this chapter? my twitter is @_delilahmae_
- delilah