Murders Of The Past

THIRTY

THE RED LIGHT blinks at me as I stare at it, my head spinning along with the blade. My stomach is flipping with anxiety and my heart is pounding with fear. He has my baby, and my husband. The only way for them to escape is... the lake.

I take out my phone, glimpsing away from the red light for a quick second to find his number before pressing on it. It isn't long until he answers and I hear a whirl of wind from his end, along with a deep voice yelling and a baby crying.

"Owen, land the helicopter right now!" I demand into the phone, my voice furious and shaky. "Or else!"

"Or else what? You can't reach me from down there!" He laughs. I glare at the red light, clenching my fists and feeling my nails digging into my palms.

"Owen, I swear to god. Let them go!"

"If you insist-- "

"Owen!" I roar. I run my shaky hand through my hair.

"What the hell."

"What?"

"You called the police? Wow. Sadie Bane, asking for help from the police."

"What are you..." I look over my shoulder to watch blue and red lights speeding towards me. The driver slams on the breaks right before they hit me and two doors open, Wesley and Dylan get out.

"Caroline, what is going on-- " I shoot my hand out and snatch the cold object from his belt before spinning around and pulling the trigger. I hear the gun go off, and a second later the loud cling of something hitting metal. It doesn't occur to me that I missed drastically until the helicopter shakes a little, then stays in the air for a long time, then, slowly it seems, the machine begins to fall.

I scream out, now realizing what I've done and sprinting towards the water, dropping the gun and my phone as I watch the red light grow closer to the water. Tears are already gushing from my eyes and I know exactly what's going to happen but I don't care, I keep running. Then it finally reaches the water. Gallons and gallons of grimy water splash out and slap me hard, sending me back on the ground, but I don't stay there for long. The moment I can open my eyes again I jump to my feet and leap through the muddy grass, not wasting any time before diving head first into the water. I kick my legs and push my arms through the water that seems to get stronger as I get weaker, my eyes burning but I don't close them because I need to keep them on the red light. The red light. I need to reach the red light and I'll have them.

But I can't breath. My lungs begin screaming for air and I have no choice but to resurface. Cold air hits my face and I gasp, panting, crying, still swimming towards the red light. At this point my thighs and shoulders burn and my stomach aches but I can't stop swimming. I have to get to the red light.

"Caroline!" I hear somewhere beneath the splashing of the water and pounding of my heart. "Caroline, come back! We have your baby!" That was what stopped me.

I stop swimming and turn around, squinting my eyes to see through the dark, and there, in the beams of headlights, is a woman standing with a baby in her arms. My baby. I let out a breath before swimming towards her, and soon enough I'm back in the grass, running to the woman.

"Thana!" I cry out, taking the baby from her arms and holding her tightly to my chest, not daring to let go. "Thana." For the first time in my life, I'm glad to hear her crying. "It's okay, it's-- " Not okay. Carlos. I spin around and peer into the lake.

"Carlos!" I scream, starting to shuffle towards the lake again. "Carlos!" I scream out again, picking up my pace until I'm running. I only stop when I reach the edge of the grass, reminding myself I have Thana in my arms and can't bring her in the water with me. I can't let her go either. "Carlos!" I scream at the top of my lungs, looking around frantically but all I see is firemen searching the water and Wesley, Vivian, and Dylan watching me. "Carlos!"

"Caroline!"

"Carlos," I whisper, my stomach twisting into knots as my legs weaken and I fall to my knees. "Carlos," I murmur, quietly sobbing into Thana's hair. I suddenly feel cold, empty. I fall forward, coughing and weeping.

I guess you don't realize how much you really love someone, until they're gone.