Missing Pieces

25

Kieran moved in the blink of an eye, several things happening at once.

Darkness flooded into the basement as he turned the light off. I'd just barely registered that action before he grabbed my wrist and yanked me towards him. I didn't fight as he dragged me to the closet.

We were going to hide.

Limp from the terror that had taken ahold of my body, I let him yank me inside the confined space. Since it was so small, I had to curl up on the floor of the closet to give Kieran space. He shut the doors as quietly as he could manage before he knelt on the floor beside me.

For the next few minutes, neither of us spoke. We hardly even breathed as we listened to the wood creak on the floor above us. Since Kieran was pressed right against me, I was sure he could feel the way I was trembling from head to toe, but he didn't pay attention to me. I didn't either as I focused on the footsteps.

At one point, my brows furrowed as I tried to understand what I was hearing. The footsteps were too close together to sound normal and—

I felt Kieran's body stiffen the same moment the realization hit me.

There were multiple pairs of footsteps.

I wrapped my arms around my knees, pressing my face in between my arms as my breathing got worse. Dizziness rushed through me, and despite the darkness surrounding me, I had the sudden feeling that I was about to fall.

My soul seemed to escape my body when Kieran's hand fell on my back. Looking up, I could make out his dark silhouette as he sat utterly still beside me. I closed my eyes again and resumed my earlier stance as I waited.

There was a point in which I allowed myself to feel it—a spark of hope at the prolonged silence that fell upon the house. I felt my heart beating in my throat, the organ on the verge of jumping out of my body as we waited.

I almost let myself believe they had left, until I heard something that turned my hope into ash.

They were coming down here.

The stairs creaked and I curled up further, wishing this floor could swallow me whole. Kieran still remained utterly motionless, his hand contracting on my back. Tears welled in my eyes as I held back a sob of pure terror, a small part me wondering if I should call my brothers. The consequences of them coming here would be devastating, but if these people in this house were dangerous then...

It felt like the better choice, no matter the cost.

I'd just started to reach for my phone with quivering fingers when Kieran's hand snaked forward and wrapped around my wrist.

"Listen," he whispered so quietly I barely caught it.

At first, the voice was muffled since I believed they were still descending the stairs. My head ached as I strained my hearing further, trying to make out what they were saying.

Slowly, their voices began to clear up and soon after that, they became identifiable.

From their heavy footsteps and the deep, husky pitches of their voices, it was clear that they were men.

Paralyzed, I continued to listen, managing to catch snippets of their hushed conversations.

"...know he wouldn't come back here," one of the men grunted out. "It'd be a death wish."

"And he sure as hell wouldn't bring her back here," another man added, his voice smoother than the previous one's.

Silence followed their remarks. Kieran and I both held our breaths as we heard them stalk around the room.