RACHEL
"So what the hell are we going to do now?" Eden asked me after we returned to my house later that evening. She, Calix, and I were all sitting on the couch, trying to come up with some sort of plan to save the kids. "And who is this she that Josh keeps talking about? Why won't he just tell us who she is?"
Calix looked at me and said, "Maybe I should go get us all some tea. You two obviously have a lot to talk about. I'll be back in a few minutes." He stood up from the couch, stared at us awkwardly for a moment, then sauntered off to the kitchen.
I looked at Eden, who appeared as though her head was going to pop off any second, with her eyes wide and temples enlarged. "I'm not sure," I said. "Do you want me to call him?"
Eden stared at her hands and said, "I don't know. Part of me says you should. We need answers. He can't just keep leading us down a path to nowhere."
"You're right," I said as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cellphone. "I'm calling him right now."
"Wait, wait!" Eden exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air. "I haven't spoken to Josh in twenty years. And neither have you, besides the one and only night he called, and that wasn't a long chat. I'm nervous."
"Nervous enough to stall and risk our kids dying?" I asked. I didn't mean to come across as harsh as I did, but we needed Josh right now. We didn't have time to worry about our reunion. What mattered was that he was willing to help us. What mattered was that our kids were in danger.
Eden sighed. "You're right. Just give him a call. I'll be over here with my stomach doing somersaults in the meantime. He was my best friend before the Fear Games, you know."
"I know," I said. "And maybe we can finally get him to come home. But right now this is more important. I'm calling him now." I put it on speakerphone and waited several moments as it rang. Eden reached over and grabbed my hands, definitely from her nerves. On its sixth ring, we got an automated voice messaging system.
"He didn't answer," I said.
"Why wouldn't he answer?" Eden asked, gently releasing my hands. "He's supposed to be helping us! There's no way that Josh would just let us go to voicemail if he knew there was danger."
"Eden," I said softly, "Josh might not be the same person we knew back when we were kids. It's very possible that he's changed tremendously. I mean, haven't we?"
"Yes, in some ways," Eden said defensively. "But I'd always be there for him! He would always be there for me too."
It was nice that Eden had all these wonderful thoughts about her old friend, but it was important for her to realize that twenty years had gone by. People don't just stay the same they were when they were fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, or even in their early twenties. She needed to understand that Josh might not be here to help us in the way that we originally thought.
Just as I was about to say so, Calix returned with a tray filled with a tea kettle and some teacups. He set it down on the table and said, "Alright, what's the plan? Did we come up with anything yet?"
"We just tried calling Josh," I said. "He didn't answer."
"So where does that leave us?" Calix asked, taking his seat back on the couch next to Eden. "Have you thought about telling Dad?"
I knew my answer right away. "Absolutely not. This would do nothing but make him think I'm unfit to take care of our children. Besides, he wouldn't be able to help. He'd just make it worse."
"What about your husband?" Calix asked Eden. "He knows the kids are missing. Are you going to tell him?"
"Do I have much of a choice?" Eden said. "He's already suspicious. He's been blowing up my phone since I left earlier. How am I supposed to tell him our kids are missing? And he's just going to want to go to the police."
"Easy," I said nonchalantly. "You lie."
Eden's gasp would have been heard all the way in Africa it was so loud. "I can't do that! What if he finds out that I knew our kids were in danger? He might sue for custody."
"This is far more important than suing for custody," I said. "We need to put all our focus into finding them. If we don't, our lives will be over. But we can't drag anyone else into this. It's our battle."
"What about the parents of the other students in the group?" Calix said.
I looked at my son and said, "What about them?"
"Well, if they were all part of the group, it's safe to assume that they got kidnapped too," Calix said. "That means these other parents are going to realize their kids are missing sooner rather than later. Some might even go to the police. If we don't tell their parents what's going on, we might get in trouble if they end up reporting their kids missing."
Shit. That thought hadn't exactly crossed my mind. He had a good point and I wasn't entirely sure what to do about it. This whole thing was such a damn circus, and I didn't know how to get off of it.
"We can worry about that later," I said. "Right now our best bet is to pretend that we don't know anything."
"But Mom—"
"Your mother is right," Eden said, interrupting my son. "If we drag the other parents in this mess, it could turn into a nightmare. The best thing we can do is focus on trying to find our kids as soon as possible."
Just then, my phone buzzed with a notification. I pulled out my phone to read the message.
"Who is it?" Eden asked as she tried to look over my shoulder. "Is it from Josh?"
I nodded. "Yes. It's GPS coordinates."
"To where?" Calix asked.
Chills ran down my spine and I tried to get the words out, but my mouth suddenly felt dry. Why would Josh be sending me this location? When I finally managed to speak, I said, "It's the old St. Paul's hospital location. The hospital that Daisy was admitted to."
"The one where she had those traps set up like the crosses?" Eden said. "The one that blew up with Daisy inside?"
I nodded. "That's the one."
"Why would Josh want you to go there?" Calix asked.
"I have no idea," I said as I stood from the couch. "But we have to go. Maybe he'll be able to tell us what's going on. Maybe for some reason he can't tell us over the phone."
"Mom," Calix said calmly and stood up to meet my gaze. "Are you sure this is the best idea? I don't want anything bad happening to you."
"Nothing bad is going to happen," Eden said as she stood. "Your mother and I will be fine. This is Josh we're talking about. He won't hurt us. He's our friend."
I wanted to believe that as much as possible, but there was only way to find out. "Calix, you're going to have to stay here. In case your father comes by. If he does, just tell him I'm out for drinks with Eden."
"And what do I tell him if he asks where Emerald is?" Calix asked.
"Tell him she's over at my place," Eden said. "Drake and Jacob don't speak, so it's not like Drake will rush over there to see what's going on."
"But you can't leave me alone," Calix said with worry in his voice. "What if someone comes here and...tries to kill me?"
"I think this new villain has enough on their hands right now," I said honestly. "They've just kidnapped an entire group of children. I'm sure that they won't come here after you."
For the first time that night, I saw tears well up in my son's eyes. "Are you positive?"
I couldn't be one-hundred percent, but I was pretty damn positive. I smiled at him and said, "Yes. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to give us a call and we'll come right back, okay?"
Calix nodded but didn't say another word. Instead, he walked off into the kitchen, leaving Eden and me alone.
"You ready to go?" I asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Eden said. "What's the first thing you're going to say to him?"
I didn't even have to think about it. "I'll ask him who the hell has my damn kids. I'll even strangle him if I have to. Enough of the cryptic texts and messages. It's time for answers."
So off we went on a search for our old friend. As we climbed into my car, I made sure to put on some music so that we didn't have to listen to our own silence—a little Taylor Swift, some Halsey, a bit of P!nk. All the old artists that kids didn't listen to these days. It was weird to think of how much music had evolved, but it was amazing to think that some of these artists were even still alive making music.
After a pretty long drive, we finally arrived at the old location of St. Paul's, an old hospital for young adults with psychiatric issues. These days we didn't have many hospitals, and instead had respites where people had a lot more freedom than they used. Originally, many people were worried by giving psych patients more freedoms in these settings that they would be more likely to attempt suicide or hurt themselves. They actually found that treating psych patients like normal people made them feel better and contributed to their healing.
Funny how that works.
Because of that, they never rebuilt St. Paul's, especially because of its bad history with Daisy becoming a serial killer and all. They never even cleaned up the remnants of the hospital. They just left the entirely crumbled down building there for anyone to wander. It was a popular site among teenagers, especially around Halloween. They say that the ghost of Daisy still haunts the place, and that some have even spotted her. Creepy to think about for more than a few seconds. Daisy was pure evil inside. She didn't deserve the hype she got for killing. Yet she's become a bit of lore in Fairview Falls. Especially for "tourists."
When we pulled up to the rubble, Eden said, "What do we do now? Just wait for him?"
"How am I supposed to know?" I asked. "All he gave me were the coordinates. I guess we can get out of the car and go wait over there by the old entrance."
We got out of the vehicle and made our way over to the old entrance. I couldn't imagine how being here made Eden feel. I wasn't here with them when Daisy revealed herself as the killer. Eden probably felt a huge wave of negative emotions right now.
I reached out and touched her arm and said, "Are you okay?"
Eden wiped a tear from her eye and said, "Yes, I'm fine. This place just brings back horrible memories. Things I never thought we'd have to deal with again."
"I know that feeling," I said. The cool air brushed against my skin. It wasn't even fall yet, but tonight was colder than usual. Maybe the chills were from fear. I couldn't tell.
Minutes passed by and neither of us said a word. The wind blew by us and I thought about everything that happened to us as teenagers. Our kids didn't deserve this. I never should have had kids. It wasn't like I didn't love Emerald and Calix. I just should have known that their existence would put them in danger. Dammit, I should have fucking known better than to bring children into this world. My world. Our world.
After about twenty minutes, I finally had enough. I pulled out my phone and spoke into it, creating a text message: "Where the hell are you?"
"I'm right here."
The voice made us both jump. We spun around and saw a dark figure hiding in the shadows. This person was wearing black sweat pants, a black hoodie, and a balaclava. I knew right away that this wasn't who we came to see. This wasn't Josh.
This was our new enemy.
"Who the fuck are you?" I asked. "Where are our kids?"
The figure reached behind them, and before I even realized what was happening, they pulled out a handgun, pointing it directly at us. They laughed. It was definitely a female's voice. "Don't you get it? This is only the beginning, Rachel."
"Put that gun down!" Eden screamed.
"You tricked us, didn't you?" I asked the figure. "Josh hasn't been texting me. It's been you."
"Awww, you are smart," the girl—woman?— said. "This is about much more than your kids. It's about revenge."
"Revenge?" I asked. "Who are you?"
The woman laughed. "It's too early, my dears. Don't worry, all your questions will be answered soon. But I have to go for now." As the figure started to walk off, she stopped and turned back around. "Oh, and I forgot to do this." Before I even realized what was happening, shots rang out from the gun. I was in so much shock, I didn't notice that the bullets had gone right through my chest.
"Oh my God, Rachel!" Eden screamed. "She shot you!"
I looked down at my chest, large amounts of blood pouring down my body. I opened my mouth in surprise, then suddenly fell to the ground. No words could escape my lips. The pain didn't even kick in right then. I already felt myself drifting off.
"Rachel!" Eden cried as she got down on her knees beside me. Tears were streaming down her face and she tried to put her hands over the open wounds, but she couldn't stop the bleeding. "Oh my God, oh my fucking..." Her voice trailed off as she looked down at her blood-covered hands and tried to scream for help. She wiped blood off her hands onto her shirt, then reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. "I'm calling 9-1-1. You're going to be okay, Rachel, I promise. You're not going to die on me."
"I..." The words wanted to come out, but they couldn't. I wanted to tell her to go after the figure, to find out where our kids were. That all that mattered to me was figuring out where Emerald was.
The woman on the other end of the phone said, "9-1-1, what's your emergency?"
"Hi, um, my name is Eden Walker," Eden cried into the phone. "My friend Rachel has been shot."
"Where are you?"
Eden gave the woman the address of the old St. Paul's hospital. Everything around me suddenly started to fade. I felt my eyes closing, my whole world going black.
"She's closing her eyes!" Eden cried. "Send someone quick!"
That was the last thing I remembered before I felt my whole body die and I started to see a beautiful light at the end of the tunnel.