Forgotten memories // Finney Blake

Chapter 15

"I know you're not sleeping." His voice was light and singy songy.

I wasn't surprised he knew we were faking it. I never was good at pretending to be asleep, Robin and I would be laughing around 2 am during sleepovers until my mother would open the door to check on us.

Somehow, she always knew we were pretending.

I open my eyes as we both sit up on the mattress.
"We're starving." Finney said bluntly. I think his hunger has him in a bad mood again. We have to split our meals since The Grabber only gives us one plate.

"Tell me your name." The Grabber demanded while he stood in the doorframe, a dark shadow cast over him as he held the platter in his arms. "Why do you care?" His voice made it obvious he was unamused.

"I usually don't. I find out eventually in the paper. They always print a nice, big photo with all the details I could ever want. All the things you boys lie about." His tone was dark, almost threatening.

I just realized, his past victims are only boys.. so why the hell did he grab me? I clearly don't look like a boy.

I was afraid to question him. I looked at his waist and saw him wearing the belt, just the thought of that belt sent shivers down my spine.

"What's different this time?" I finally broke the silence, I didn't bother to even look him in the eye.

"Oh... oh, it's complicated. It's... too complicated. Everything's different. Nothing's going right." He talks to us like we're his buddies. As if he isn't going to kill us the second we fuck up.

"You could let us go." I bite my lip in hope. "I'm thinking about it." Something feels different about the way he's talking to us, it's as if he genuinely means what he says.

"I promise we won't tell anyone." Finney says as he glances at me while nodding. I nod my head to back up his argument. "You can blindfold us, drop us off on the street. We'll walk home." I offer.

"No, not 'us'. I was talking about letting him go." He replied harshly which makes me choke on my tongue. "Tell me your name." He says shifting his attention back to the boy next to me.

"Taylor.. Taylor Moen." Finney's eyes gleamed a bit of fear as he lied through his teeth. The platter clatters on the floor as he steps into the light revealing a folded newspaper between his armpit.

He pulls it out and throws it harshly on the floor close to us. Finney quickly grabs it and unwraps the paper.

There it was, his picture. Along with his name. "I was really starting to like you, Finney." He snarls his name.

Fuck.

He kicks the platter that was on the floor before turning to shut the door. "I almost let you go." He throws his hands up. He shut the door but the lock didn't click.

I rush up to the door when the phone rings. I turn around and see him look at the phone before walking over to answer it. "Hello? Bruce? Billy- paperboy?" He calls out as we lock eyes from across the room.

His hand dropped to his side still gripping the phone in disappointment right before hanging it back up.

"I'm guessing no one was there?" I say as I walk to him and place my hand on his shoulder. He nods sadly before walking over to the dropped food.

"We should clean this up." He says as he picks up little pieces of egg off the floor and pulls them into a pile before slamming it onto the plate.

I groan as I crouch to help him. Once we finished cleaning it up, we went back to bed.

He held me close since we didn't have a blanket. It was fall, almost winter so it was freezing.

My dream was weird like... I was seeing someone's life playing out in front of me.

There was a blonde boy.

He went to a house and was placing rubber bands on the newspapers. He got back on his bike and rode down some streets while tossing the newspapers that were in his basket. He had a golden retriever.

Billy?

The black van appeared and once the man stepped out of the vehicle, I knew.

It was The Grabber.

He took Billy but his dog stayed beside his bike, barking at nothing.

I felt Finney moving on the mattress as he pulled himself to sit up.

Why am I having these dreams?

My eyes flutter open, I was still laying on my side since I was sleepy but I saw a light being shined.