The Boy Who Couldn't Save Me

Chapter 5: Out of Time

he fell so deep into the rabbit hole that when he got lost in the dark, he realised he'd just been falling to the bottom of a bottle, and another one...
this couldn't happen, i'd seen this too many times with my dad that i wasn't going through it again...
the truth didn't set him free; if anything, it led him further into that rat trap and he was glad that he was caught...
glad that was finally able to rest...

I never forgot it. As much as I tried to push it to the back of my mind, I couldn't possibly forget those words or the sinister look in Zack's eyes when he said them.
He was drunk at the time he said them, which makes it all the worse because he doesn't remember. But, I do. And if there's one thing I've learned from a person's drunk words is that they are their sober thoughts.
Cody came back today and we all gathered in the living room to hear him out. Dina was apologetic towards him for her outburst the last time they spoke but he agreed with her wholeheartedly that there was more they should be doing.
"I wasn't sure what my lead was with Sadie and what might have caused her to disappear," he began, looking around at everyone as he spoke. "I wasn't aware that she dated Hunter for a while."
"They dated for two weeks," Zack told him. "I wouldn't exactly call that a while.
"Regardless, it's come to my attention that they weren't exactly happy together."
"Well, not exactly," Dina explained. She was always crazy about him, always, even when they were little. If he so much as looked at her, she felt like her feet left the ground."
"So, what happened?"
"Well, when they got together, she was happier than ever but then she quickly lost that happiness. She became sadder but this didn't really happen until after they broke up."
"Well, I went over to the Prescott's and he told me that they broke up because Sadie didn't want to come in the way of Hunter's friendship with Zack."
I looked at Zack and he frowned his eyebrows and made a face.
"Oh, so he forgot to leave out the part where he hurt her?"
"No, he actually told me about that himself. He said that he got carried away during intercourse and that he never meant to hurt her."
"Oh, that's fucking rich," I scoffed. "Who would have thought Hunter had the ability to paint himself out to be an angel?"
"Bailie, you knew him better than anybody. What's he really like?"
I thought about it for a minute and wondered what the truth actually was. Yes, he was a troubled child all his life and yes, he was a victim of emotional and physical abuse but could it be possible that he was born a monster and that everything about him was always a lie?
"I grew up thinking I knew exactly who Hunter was and at one point, I probably did. As he got older, he began to slowly drift away from that version of himself and become an exact replica of my father. But, a lot of the time, he seemed to be trying to fight becoming that. He would have emotional breakdowns over the smallest things and he had this darkness about him that caused him to act on his intrusive thoughts but under all of that, he's always been that scared little boy who uses the version of my father in himself as a shield."
Everyone listened into these words and for a moment, I believe they probably understood him.
"Do you think part of him was just scared when your dad attacked you and that's why he didn't help?"
His face came into my mind again. His blank, emotionless stare that turned his eyes black in that moment and put him into some kind of hypotonic state. A stare that would haunt me forever.
"No," I quietly said. "Fear definitely created whatever version of Hunter exists now but he's no longer scared of anything. He gets some sort of pleasure out of watching people suffer, whether that be emotionally or physically. So no, he didn't do nothing because he was scared, he did nothing because he didn't want to."
Shame and remorse slunk itself onto Zack's face and it was now consuming him.
"Right," Cody said as he looked to the floor before clearing his throat. "Well, Hunter claims to have nothing to do with Sadie's disappearance and he states that him being at the restaurant on that same night was just a coincidence."
"Just a coincidence that she disappeared only moments later?" Nathan asked.
"He's not on the surveillance footage so I can't hold him to that. I will however, be questioning further into just what happened while they were together."
"Hunter is a master manipulator," I shook my head. "He knows how to play you, he's gonna have you eating out of the palm of his hand."
Cody looked at me again.
"Do you believe that he had anything to do with this?"
"Absolutely," I looked him dead in the eyes so he would know how serious I was. I absolutely believed that.
Once Cody left, Zack gave me a look that told me everything I said was eating him up from the inside and then he went out back for a smoke. Frankie didn't follow him though. Instead, he came over to me and his golden eyes looked into mine.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I breathed out, brushing my hair back out of my face. "I just feel like Hunter is never truly gonna disappear from my life. He's always gonna find some way to keep me thinking about him."
"Hunter is definitely crazy but he's just trying to get to you."
"Well, he's succeeded," I said. "It's like he's looking for any possible way to ruin my life."
Frankie stared at me for a few seconds before answering me.
"They're gonna find something on him," he told me.
"How? He shot himself and he still somehow managed to squirm his way out of that one. I just- I can't do this anymore."
It was then that Frankie threw his arms around me.
"Look, he's never gonna hurt you again," he promised. "I'll never let him hurt you. Never again."
"I'll hold you to that," I said and he laughed.
"Pinky swear?" He asked, holding up his pinky finger and I shook my head before linking mine in his.
"Pinky swear," I repeated and sealed the deal.
Zack then walked back into the house after finishing his smoke. He gave me that look again and then walked past us.
"I'm going out for a while," he muttered, as he grabbed his coat.
"Where to?"
"Just out, don't wait up for me," he then left the house before I could say another word and I looked back at Frankie who gave me the same look as I gave him.