The Neighbor

Chapter 29

Elodie's POV

"Elodie?! Fuck! Elodie, are you okay?" 

I opened my eyes as I coughed looking around. I was buckled into my seat as Malcom and I dangled upside down. I coughed again and a few pieces of glass came out of my throat as I turned my head towards Malcom. My ears were ringing as he looked around trying to unbuckle his seatbelt.

"Yeah, I think so" 

I turned my head as I saw a pair of white sneakers approaching us. 

"Oh my gosh are you okay?! Here, put your hands up so I can pull you out," 

I listened to the voice as I looked at Malcom. He nodded his head as I saw blood coming from a cut on his forehead. Thank god someone saw the wreck.

"Here, are you ready?" 

I placed my hands on the roof and pushed as I felt the seatbelt unlatch. I blinked a few times and before I knew it I was staring at the sky. My throat was burning as I coughed and gasped looking around. Everything was blurry as my eyes tried to regain focus as the blood stopped rushing towards my head. The sun had set and the moon was shining bright as the stars lit up the sky. I turned my head looking at the headlights that lit the road up as I looked around for the body of the voice who had saved us. I turned back to the car wreck as I saw a tall shadowy figure pulling Malcom out. The car was totaled. It must've flipped 2 or 3 times and landed upside down. 

"Did you miss me?" 

My head turned back as I gasped. Jolene stood above me as she dropped to her knees staring me down. I began panicking as I shook my head.

"No, please!"

I pleaded as I tried to move away from her but couldn't. My bones were screeching and I feared from the amount of pain in my legs, that both of them had broken. I watched Jolene as I was unable to fight. She climbed on top of me placing her hands around my neck applying pressure.

"You! You took the one thing from me! The one thing that I LOVED! You ungrateful little bitch! He was the ONLY thing that mattered to me!" 

Jolene pressed her hands to my throat tighter as I gasped for air weakly. I wanted to raise my hands to her arms and try to fight but when I attempted to raise my arms, all I felt was pain, so I laid unable to fight back as I looked around for any form of help. Had my arms become broken too from the wreck?

"You took my happiness from me!" 

I tried to gasp as my lungs screamed for air, but it was no use. Tears formed in my eyes as I blinked them away. She let go of me and began reaching into her pocket. 

"You took my baby from me, so now-" 

Jolene paused as she leaned down towards my face leaning into my ear.

"I'm going to take yours,"

Tears filled in my eyes as I began panicking. I was paralyzed, and at Jolene's mercy. I shook my head no as Jolene moved away from my ear, smirking at me. 

"Jolene, please!" 

I choked the words out as I looked for anything. a piece of glass, a stone, anything I could attempt to smack her with. She pulled out a pill bottle and opened it up as she held me down with her body. Jolene was crying as she untwisted the top. Why was she crying? She wiped her eyes quickly as she shook out pills onto the pavement. I needed to think of something, quickly. Fighting wasn't an option, so I needed to resort to something else. She threw the pill bottle down and focused her eyes on mine.

"It's a girl!" 

I blurted the words out as she froze in place. My chest was rising and falling rapidly as I tried to control my breathing. I needed to try and be calm.

"Wha- what?" 

I nodded my head slightly as I saw her face soften, the anger leaving her eyes.

"I got my blood work back this morning. I- I haven't told anyone," 

I coughed the words out as she looked at me, tears reforming and rolling down her cheeks. She pressed her lips into a small smile looking down at the pills now in her hand and then back up at me sighing.

"It's a shame, that you'll never know her," 

My weak smile faded as Jolene grabbed my chin aggressively holding it as she placed her other hand on the pavement grabbing the pills. I managed to weakly grab ahold of her hand as I looked at her shaking my head pleading.

"PLEASE! Please don't take my baby away, p- please" 

Jolene laughed as she tried to pry open my jaw. I pressed my teeth together so tightly that they could've shattered. 

"Open up!" 

Jolene attempted again to shove the pills in my mouth as I jerked my head to the side.

"Fine then!" 

Jolene let go of my jaw and grabbed my throat applying such an immense amount of pressure, squeezing it so hard that I opened my mouth to gasp  as she shoved the pills into my throat. Before I could spit them out she held my mouth closed.

"Now you'll know what it feels like, to have the one thing you love in the world, the only thing you care about, be ripped away from you without a chance to save them!" 

Tears filled my eyes as I pushed the pills into my cheek. Jolene chuckled as she placed her hands around my throat again, cutting my breathing off as I involuntarily gasped, the pills falling down my throat as I choked on them slightly. She let go of my throat, lifting my head up off the pavement. Her face was a few inches away from mine as she looked straight into my soul. 

"If you don't drop this case, I will start hunting down everyone you love, one at a time, killing them. Gary was easy enough, so much for a security guard? A pillow was all it took while he was sleeping to end his life. I should've gone upstairs and ended Malcom's life as well. You two were asleep and didn't hear anything, what a shame. You could've saved Gary," 

Fear filled my body as I was unable to contain my tears.

"You know what I heard? Wyatt just landed back in California yesterday and is heartbroken, wouldn't it be a shame if there was a home invasion? Oh, and how's Clare doing? Have you heard from her recently? Jeez, I do hope Malcom's okay." 

My lips were quivering as I looked at Jolene. 

"Why are you doing this!" 

She laughed slamming my head down onto the cold pavement as the ringing increased, tilting her head to the side smirking. 

"Arden was your one true love. He was meant for you. You were chosen to fix this entire mess but instead you've created something, much, much bigger!" 

I turned my head to the side as I looked at the car wreck, Malcom was nowhere to be seen. 

"Where's, Malcom," 

Jolene laughed as I tried to push her off of me. It was no use. 

"He's probably bleeding out as we speak," 

I looked around for any sign of him. Nothing. I couldn't hear anything over the ringing that echoed in between my ears.

"MALCOM!" 

I weakly yelled out as I turned back towards Jolene. She leaned down into my ear again. 

"This is your warning little girl, you have until Friday at 4pm to drop the case, claim everything was made up and that you were looking for fame, do you-" 

I heard a gunshot and screamed as Jolene reached her hand up to her chest wrenching in pain. She pulled her hand back and it was covered in blood as she looked down at it and then at me. Her body slammed against the pavement next to mine as I felt myself drifting.