Chapter 2:
I look around the safe house and realize all the faces are those of teenagers, many of which I recognize from school. Their faces are thinner than I remember and seem to have aged by what looks like five years. I stand surrounded by them, waiting for something to happen. Someone steps forward, someone I recongize as one of my ex boyfriends.
Ryan Morris is somewhere near 6'5 with the build of a pro-football player. He wears a grim look and vicious eyes. As he steps into the light his face immidiatley changes and I know I've been recognized. I look at him with pleading eyes as I beg him not to say anything. He looks down at the ground and back up and just shakes his head with dissapointment. He slowly steps back into the group of faces.
Carson speaks up, "I found her, well actually we found eacother. I brought her back here-". He was caught off by one of the faces. "How do we know she's not helping them?". More of the faces broke out with voices and yelled in agreement. "Shut it!" exclaimed a voice, obviously this came from the person in authority because everyone shut up at once. The voice came from a man, older than the rest but still young. He walked into the dim light and became visible. He had come from the back of the room and I see why.
His once handsome face was covered in scars. His short-sleeved shirt revealed more scars running down his arms. He spoke again this time in a more calm voice, "Look at her, Does this little girl really look like she could kill someone? Her with no muscle and the build of a child. Ha!". I become angry.
Who was he to insult me? He doesn't know me or what I've been through. I grab his arm and twist it behind his back while putting him in a head lock and slighly squeeze, putting pressure on his trachea. I hear gasps from everyone in the room, including him.
"Tell me, does it look like I am a child now?" I whisper in is ear. He is still too shocked to answer. I whip him around to face me and give him to good punch to the stomach to let him know who is in charge. A girl rushes forward to help him and curses at me under her breath. Carson is four feet away from me looking at me with an intense stare. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I turn around to leave but Carson rushes forward and grabs my arm and pulls me close, "Wait," he whispers softly. His voice makes me stay.
He walks over to where the man is standing. I see Carson say something to the man, I try to make out the words but I don't have any luck. The man looks like he has a bitter taste in his mouth and walks over to me and doesn't look happy about it. "Look," he says, "you are one of the best fighters I've seen since we've been in this mess and I think we could really use your skill,".
I stand with my mouth wide open. I wasn't expecting that. "Close your damn mouth," he says stubbornly. "This is my one and only offer. If it weren't for Carson I would've already thrown you out for them to kill," the look in his eyes says he isn't kidding. Carson looks at me with kind eyes and I can tell he wants me to stay. I let out a sigh and respond, "If I stay you won't try to kill me in my sleep or anything right?". He chuckles,"Ah, if only. If only," he pauses, "I'm Andrew by the way. Andrew Mulligan,". He holds out his hand obviously waiting for me to introduce myself and shake his hand. I think about telling the truth but then I see Jason and I know when I escape it will only make it harder on him. I hold out my hand and shake his firmly.
"I'm Abby,". I lie. Hearing my sisters name puts me close to tears. It was the first name that came to my mind and I instantly regretted letting it slip out. Now I will have to bare the pain as people call me Abby and that will remind me of the fatefull night many months ago when all of this began.
FLASHBACK
"Hey Lottie! Lottie! Will you help me with my shoes?" my 5 year old sister, Abby, called to me. I smiled, I usually didn't like being called that but when it was her I didn't care. My younger sister was too cute for her own good with her big blue innocent eyes and curly brown that fell in ringlets around her face and a cute little button nose while her cheeks held a rosey color to them. I kneeled down in front of her to help her with her sneakers. I was going to take her out for Ice Cream while our parents were out on a date. As I finished with her sneakers, I stood up and held my hand out for her pulling her onto her feet. We walked over to the door and just as I was reaching to grab it, it started to turn.'That's weird', I thought to myself, 'Our parents weren't supposed to be home for another 2 hours'. Just as I finished the thought there were kicks being delivered to the door in attempt to kick in down. I bit down on my lip to prevent myself from screaming and scooped my sister up in my arms and booked it down the stairs to my basements where I would escape through my walk-out basement. I reached the door and began unlocking it as a group of men sprung out from behind the small shed located near the house. I screamed and began running to the neighbors house. My sister's weight was preventing me from being able to run the speed I knew I could. Her crying into my shoulder and asking if we were going to die made me determined to reach my neighbors house.
I reached the front porch throwing open their door and going in without knocking. I turned around and bolted the door shut and put my sister down so I could catch my breath. My breathing was hagged and heavy. I felt like i was going to pass out on the spot. I took a few more deep breaths before calling out to my neighbors. It was unlikely they heard us come in as they are very old and half deaf. "Mrs. Peters! Mr. Peters! Please help! Please!" my voice broke on the last please from attempting and failing so badly to keep back the tears. "Are we gonna be okay Lottie?" Abby asked looking very frightened with teary eyes and a runny noise. I went over to her and kneeled down to be on her level. "Listen to me Abby, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. We're gonna be fine. We're going to have Mr. and Mrs. Peters give us a ride down to the police station and from there we are gonna go see mommy and daddy." I held her shoulders as I said this but as soon as I was done I pulled her into a tight embrace. "I promise everything is going to be okay. I promise I won't let anything happen to you. I love you Abby" I choked out hugging my baby sister even tighter. Her grip tightened on me as well. But what she said next is what caught me by surprise.
"Lottie there is a man watching us from the window. What's h-" she was cut short by a loud piercing noise. Green smoke... That's all I saw. My sister who was once in my arms was ripped from them. I let out an agonizing scream in vain. I wanted to kill them. I didn't know who 'them' was but anyone who lays a hand on her is basically saying "Kill me, I deserve it". And I completely agree that they did. I rushed forward and collided with someone. "You bastards! What have you done with her! Where's my sister?!" I screamed while wailing on them with my fists using all my might. I heard a low groan. I smiled in triumph but continued hitting them, hard. "Charlotte dear, would you please stop hitting me I'm not sure how much this old body can take," a old man croaked. I gasped dropping my fists. "I'm so sorry Mr. Peters! They took her! They took her! I was just so upset! I'm so sorry!". "It's okay dear I-" his sentence was cut short as an axe was swung into his back and blood dripped down the front of his chest. As he opened his mouth to speak again the only thing that came out was blood. Lots and lots of it. I cried out. I turned to run but a hand grabbed my shoulder jerking me back, forcing me to stay in place. "Wouldn't want to do that would you sweetheart? What about that darling sister of yours? What is her name again? Abby? Ahh yes, Abby. Cute little thing." A deep hoarse voice said to me. "Don't you touch her! Don't you fucking touch her! I will kill you before you even have the chance! So help me god I will-", he stopped me "You will what? Scream again? The only thing that will do is destory my ear drums with that high pitch squeak." he said letting out a cruel laugh. I felt my face burn with anger. This rarely happens. I am not an angery person. Ask anyone, I am one of the least violent person you wil meet. But violence was sounding like a pretty good idea right about now. I swung my fist hopping to connect with the man's jaw since I still couldn't see from the green smoke. My fist connected with something but it sure as hell wasn't his jaw. It was hard and whatever it was, was hard enough to make it feel like I broke my knuckles. The man let out a throaty chuckle, "Nice try sweetheart,". These were his last words to me before his first came colliding with them side of my head causing me to black-out.
END FLASHBACK
I heard someone snapping their fingers infront of my face as I was brought back to reality. "Welcome back," Carson chuckled slightly amused. He had a smirk on his face, that was until it was wiped off when he saw the tears streaming down my face. "Hey, hey," he said while grabbing my shoulders with both hands and making me face him. My head was still face down so he used one hand to cup my cheek and lift it up to make me look at him. "What's wrong?" he whispered so only I could hear. I looked at his face and only saw one thing in his eyes: pity. Stupid, stupid pity. I hated getting that look from people. I ripped my shoulder from his hand and slapped his hand away from my cheek. "Don't touch me," I hissed at him with narrowed eyes. However I couldn't deny how his touch made me feel. It didn't make me feel as hollow as I usually do. I felt like I had more life in me when he touched me. But that was all gone as I pushed his hands away. And truthfully, I was glad I did because I was afraid he would make me start feeling again. And having feelings wasn't something I've had in a long time and I didn't want them back. They only tied me down and made things hard to let ago even when it was time to.
