Finding Tristan ✓

20: The Chase

"The roses have wilted, the violets are dead, the demons run circles, round and round inside my head."

Kylie

"Run!" Tristan shouted and quickly brought his pocket knife out for desperate measures. I heard a malicious growl escape his lips and didn't dare to look back. A crash was heard and everything was happening in slow motion. My heart was pounding erratically in my chest; my constricted lungs depriving me of oxygen from the amount of fear that was radiating off of my other friends.

Everyone made a mad dash towards the front door as my stalker approached the bottom of the stairs. I swooped up Anna in my arms while Luke's twin roughly shook Ashley from unconsciousness. Lynn and Ace were already out the door. Ashley woke up in a panick and followed after me. The five of us fully sprinted across the small neighborhood and made way towards Marshal Creek, where the majority of plant life existed.

"Keep running until we reach the lake! Don't look back!" Ace yelled over the cold wind and the tree branches that slapped us across our faces. With all of my might and kept my legs pumping. Lynn was pale and looked like she was going to pass out.

She tripped on a tree's root and fell forward, landing face first in a pile of wet mud and dead leaves. The frightened brunette with cobalt orbs pushed herself up and continued to run beside Ace. My body started to feel heavier as the weight of a confused Anna gave me strain on my arms more than ever before. But I didn't dare to drop her and make her run. She was way younger than the rest of us, and her life depended entirely on me.

About forty meters up ahead, we saw the lake and came to an abrupt stop. Ashley crashed into my back, causing me to almost fall forward before Ace caught me by my shoulders. Black crows rushed past us in which it seemed like they were leading back into our neighborhood. I put Anna down while she still held on to the brown teddy bear my stalker had given her as a friendly gift. I turned to face Luke's twin, my knees slightly trembling.

"Who are you? Why didn't you tell us about Luke's murder?" I interrogated angrily. I placed my arms against his chest and shoved him back against a tree. Tears welled up in the boy's eyes and he gave me the most horrific snarl ever. He over stomped towards me and we were glaring at each other eye to eye.

"I'm Max, the long lost twin who went missing five years ago, and the one who everybody had forgotten! Your psychopath of a stalker set me up with a mission to spy on you and Tristan so that I could get my brother back and to capture Tristan! But now Luke's dead because of you!" Max snapped back at me and I let out a shocked gasp.

"What did I do wrong? I wasn't the one who was hiding out of my own selfishness and fear!" I pointed a finger at Max's chest. He roughly grabbed my wrist and held it down by my side.

"Even if I told you all who I was, Luke would have died anyway! He died because you and Tristan failed to follow by the plan I set up for all of us! I kept knocking on your front door that night, and clearly you two didn't give a care in the world and continued doing whatever you were up to!" I was just about to retaliate by telling Max that he was the one who let Luke suffer in that position for so long, but Lynn interrupted me.

"Guys? Where's Tristan?" Dread was laced in her voice. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Did he not follow after us? What if he's still at the house?" I shrieked weakly and pulled at the roots of my messy dark brown hair in panic. Max's eyes softened as he saw how much distress I was in, and he attempted to comfort me by rubbing my shoulders. "He could be dead!" I wailed and sat down on a damp log near a campfire sight.

"Kylie, that man wouldn't have a reason to kill Tristan because that's not who he's truly after. That psychotic man is after you, and he might have kidnapped Tristan to use that against you." Ace made a smart remark and that really got me thinking.

"So what, do I just turn myself in and surrender to his sick games? How do I know that he doesn't plan to kill off Tristan? My stalker can be very unpredictable, Ace." After I spoke, Lynn, Ashley, and the rest of us turned to Max for a possible answer. The air around us stilled, and suddenly it wasn't windy anymore. We were met with a brief moment of sorrow-filled thoughts before Luke's twin spoke.

"You won't know what he will do to Tristan, but you don't have a choice Kylie. You either surrender as soon as possible, or else his patience will run out and he will kill Tristan." I glanced down at my feet before turning around to stare at my little sister, Anna. Even with every inch of confidence I had left within me, I felt tired, and yet I was willing to give up on everything to save him.

I sucked in a shaky breath and replied back in a monotone. "If Tristan dies, then I will die alongside with him. It's as simple as that. I cannot live a happy life knowing that the people I love will soon perish and be tortured to death by the devil of darkness." The moment of silence was stronger than the sound of the salty tears that were streaming down our faces.

"If I go, I will spare you all the trouble and bring you less pain. At least the good memories of my time here will still be remembered. You won't be seeing me until we meet on the other side." Ashley stepped towards me and enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug. Lynn, Ace, and Max did the same with Anna following their actions.

Little did I know, I could still practically feel my stalker watching us at that very moment.