Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
He places them back on his face. “Let’s get back to work, yes? I have a few more boxes in the trunk of my car if you don’t mind.”
I nod and follow him out there, wishing I could change this situation for both of us. The early morning air smells of the coming summer. I breathe deep and try to remember that everything will be OK. But it doesn’t feel like that.
Leaning into his trunk, I’ve just grabbed a box when a cloth is pressed over my nose and mouth. I try to hold my breath. I try not to inhale the sharp, citrus odor but eventually I lose the battle and my world goes dark.
12
CHARLIE
My head is pounding, and my mouth feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton. I force my eyes open and squint in the bright sunlight. It takes my fuzzy mind a moment to remember what happened.
I was talking to the Dean, helping him with the boxes, then someone came up behind me. The bolt of horror has me opening my mouth to cry out but I can’t. A foul-tasting gag is resting against my tongue. Fighting the panic, I try to move. But my hands are behind my back and my ankles are bound together. My cheek is resting against a soft blue rug.
It takes me a moment and some maneuvering, but I manage to turn over onto my back. The position lets me look at my surroundings. I appear to be in some type of cabin. It’s a one-room place and the furnishings are so sparse that I think it might be a hunting cabin. Elliott and I stayed in one once when he took me camping. We got caught in a bad storm and took shelter inside. I wish my brother were here now or even Brody. They’d know what to do with all of their years of experience. Did Kyle get out of jail? Was he the one who came up behind me?
The door to the cabin opens and I turn my head to see Mr. Davis enter the tiny space. He’s got a shovel in one hand and a piece of blue tarp under his arm. A wave of nausea overwhelms me. Was he my stalker all along? Why did Kyle come for me if the Dean was the one who wanted me?
Mr. Davis stops when he sees me and scowls. “You ruined everything. We had the game all plotted out but then you went and changed the rules.”
I make a desperate noise in the back of my throat and hope it communicates how sorry I am. I don’t want to die. I definitely don’t want to die out here in some remote wooded area where they’ll never find me.
Elliott and Brody will never know what happened to me. I’ll never get to see Brody again. I’ll never get to stand in his kitchen and listen as he hums along to the radio. I’ll never get to tell him how much I love him. Is this what death is, a kaleidoscope of my biggest regrets? Is it staring at a man I once thought of like a second father and wishing like hell I’d never trusted him?
If only I’d picked a different college. If only I’d never started that stupid video channel. If only I’d stayed with Brody and let him hold me every day for the rest of our lives. All of those choices and maybe one of them could change this outcome.
“Did you honestly think you’d escape by running to that little Ranger of yours?” He scoffs down at me. I bought him a candle for Christmas. It was really expensive, but it was the kind his wife had always liked. He was so touched when I gave it to him. Was that all an act?
My stomach rolls as I realize he mentioned Brody. He knows about him. Is Brody safe? Please let him be safe.
As if the universe is listening to my desperate pleas, I spot something. The movement by the front window is so slight that I could almost think I imagined it. But I know I didn’t. The bulky frame of my warrior. He’s coming to protect me. Brody has come for me and he’s going to set me free. I just have to survive first.
I shake my head in answer to the Dean’s question. I want to keep him distracted for as long as it takes Brody to put his plan into motion.
He squats beside me, and I spot the gun in his suit coat. The chilling realization that I’ve never really known this man sweeps through me. He seemed so normal. But it was just a façade.
“I’m going to take out the cloth now,” he says. “You can scream but no one is going to hear you and you’ll just annoy me.”