Evolution (Evolution Series Book 1)

Chapter 20

When we arrived back at my house, it was late afternoon. I wondered where the day had gone. It had been barely lunchtime when the police arrived, and now the sun was starting to set.

Aiden leaned against his car as I made my way up the pathway to my house. Ben had called to see if we had heard about Chelsea being rescued. What Ben didn't know, and what Aiden was filling him in on, was that I had been there, too.

I picked up my pace, trying to distance myself as much as possible from Aiden so I wouldn't have to hear him explaining to Ben what had supposedly happened. I had already explained it too many times, and all I really wanted to do was get inside, flop on the couch, and try to forget about one of the longest, most terrifying days of my entire life.

Grabbing my house keys out of my pocket, I turned around to see if Aiden was still on the phone. He held up his finger and thought, "I'll be just a sec."

Reaching for the door handle, I realised it was already unlocked. Mum must be home. I pushed the door further ajar and threw my keys onto the hallway stand.

"Mum?" I made my way into the living room, but there was no answer. That was when I saw the blood. My heart stopped, and I was gasping for air, but for all my efforts, I couldn't seem to fill my lungs with anything that remotely felt like oxygen.

Her light brown hair had turned a crimson red, and she was staring directly at me—her eyes were lifeless.

My legs could no longer hold my weight, and I buckled, falling to the floor and screaming as my heart was wrenched out of my chest.

Aiden was by my side in a split second. He pulled me into his arms for what I thought would be a comforting embrace, but I was wrong.

His voice ran through my head, but the words had no meaning. They were drowned out by the gut-wrenching numbness that consumed my mind. My vision had blurred as the world swirled around me.

Next thing I knew, I was no longer doubled over on my living room floor. I was standing in the Gold Coast International Airport.

An announcement came over the loud speaker. It was calling for passengers to commence boarding flight V165 to Singapore from Gate 21.

"What are we doing here? Mum needs help. We have to call an ambulance!" I sobbed softly. I knew deep down that calling an ambulance wouldn't do any good. They couldn't help her. They weren't in the business of bringing people back from the dead. But I felt like I needed to be doing something, anything, other than stand in an airport. Why wasn't I with my mother?

Aiden was speaking, but his words were still muted by the numbness that consumed me.

The next thing I knew, the numbness was almost gone. I still remembered that I had just walked in on the scene of my own mother's murder, but the gut-wrenching pain that soared through my entire body was no more than a dull ache. It was as if it had been months or even years since her passing, not just the few minutes since I had walked in and found her lying on the floor.

"What just happened? What did you do to me?" I asked, knowing exactly what he had done, but I wanted to hear his reasoning.

I realised that Aiden had been holding me up, and I quickly broke away from his embrace.

He grabbed my hands, pulling me back to him, trying to avoid a scene. "I know I promised I would never, but I had to. You were a mess."

He must have seen the anger building up in my face. Of course I was a mess. Who wouldn't be a mess in my situation?