Hunted

Chapter 24: Aftermath

*3rd Person POV*

The last bag zipped silently through the haunted halls. Nothing will ever be the same again in the small little town of Hopesprings.

Silver sat there against the lockers, blood covering her skin. She watched as the body bag was slowly lifted on to the gurney and rolled away. He was gone. All her hopes were carried out with the body disappearing into the sea of people.

She thought back to the horrors of her past. Her beginning...

...Weeks went by. The torture grew more intense as the ones I once called family broke me. After so much pain and hurt, I eventually stopped feeling it. My mind became numb to the pain the moment I no longer cared if my brother killed me and allowed me to die.

It was late in the night when I first heard the movement.

Someone was calling out. There was no anger or sadistic tones in the voice. It was soft and comforting.

"Is anybody down there?" she yelled out.

My voice was barely broke above a hoarse whisper, "Help."

Footsteps sounded on the stairs as she came down. The flashlight shined on my face, blocking the view of the women before.

She bent closer to me and began to undo the leather straps, "It's going to be alright now," she softly spoke to me before turning back to the open staircase, "I've got her. She's down here!"

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice barely auditable over the clatter of more people flooding into my prison.

"My name is Sarah. Can you tell me who you are?" she asked gently, undoing the rest of the straps as cops piled into the room to watch the scene unfold.

I took a second before answering her in my broken voice, "I'm his daughter."

Sarah lifted me off the table, slowly helped to carry me up the stairs.

She paused, a second from exiting my house of horrors, before looking me directly in the eyes, "Not anymore."...

"It's time," she slowly peeled her eyes away to stare at the outstretched hand. She hesitantly reached out and pulled herself up. It was time to face the world.

"Do you remember what I told you when you found me in that basement?" she asked Sarah.

Sarah nodded her head as she guided Silver out of the hallway, "I told you I was his daughter. All the pain he caused me was nothing to what he turned Jason into. He became a monster, my monster. All this was caused because of me."

"It isn't your fault, Silver. You don't choose who your family will be."

"It is my fault," she told her before speaking in a broken tone, "He's my brother."

Sarah pulled back from the doors, looking directly into her eyes, and repeated the words she said so long ago, "Not anymore."

On shaky legs, Silver took a deep breathe, pushing the door.

The sun shined bright on the flashing blue and red lights of the cops crowding spectators behind the red tape. Students sat in the back of the ambulances being patched up from the blast. Horror was on each person's face as the bags were being carried out of the school and loaded into the vans.

News stations crowded around the building, pushing away bystanders as they recorded the event for the public to consume.

"Tragedy has struck on this day in the small town of Hopesprings in Arizona."

"Earlier today armed gun men invaded a school in Arizona."

"A bomb has gone off in the small high school of Hopesprings, Arizona, killing 4 people and injuring countless students."

"A once normal school day has turned to tragedy for these students."

Sarah walked Silver to a waiting car at the edge of the parking lot. She took one last glance at the past she was finally able to abandon.

Her fight was over; now started a whole new one.