The Kidnapper's Son

Part 3: Family

"To be honest, Evan, I can barely remember home," I said.

We'd quickly forgotten the past day and he spent the day after with me. Yesterday was too weird. Evan and I had been so close. I didn't know if I was beyond uncomfortable or beyond comfortable with nearly doing something with him. If I was comfortable with it, there had to be something wrong with me. Why would I be comfortable with nearly kissing his soft-looking, pink lips?

"Okay, Tell me about siblings, parents? It could come back to you." He sat beside me on the bed again. He was as friendly as normal and could easily make me smile. Evan had just been that kind of guy to me. The perfect-for-me type. Or at least that's how my mind comprehended it. Did that mean something?

"Conner. My annoying little brother." My response was almost immediate. "Conner 'Freaking' Mitchell is his name for me. He just annoys the crap out of me!"

Evan grinned. "Well, he isn't here now."

I shrugged. "He was the cutest kid, though. He was always playful, although he bothered everybody in the house." Evan nodded. "Do you know if my family is okay?" I asked, surprised at how fast my mind moved. What if  "R" had my entire family? What if they were already dead?

"There isn't enough room in this house for more than three people. My dad and I are barely able to live here." Evan's voice was calming and I untensed myself. "What about your parents?"

I smiled at the memory of my parents. "A happy couple. Mora and Killian Mitchell. They are the happiest couple that I've ever seen." I went into a dreaming phase. "When I was little, they told me stories that were like prince and princess things and they turned their story into a fairytale."

I could tell Evan was smiling. "When you have kids, you can tell you and your husband's fairytale."

"If I ever get out of here," I said with a sigh.

"You will." Evan spoke without looking at me. "But I have no idea how."

I shrugged. "How do you know I won't die in here?" I asked him.

"I know you're strong enough to get out of this place alive. You're lucky. You probably will."

"What do you mean?"

Evan sighed. "I'm never allowed to leave this house. My father keeps me locked up in here. I can rarely even go into the backyard," he said. "He doesn't want me running off into the forest behind the house."

"Where did this come from, Evan?" I asked. 

"Ever since my mother left, I guess he just wants to keep me." Evan shrugged. "It's crazy, I know."

"Why wouldn't you run away?"

"He could find me if I tried. Just like he found you," Evan said. He sounded scared. "He could do something to us right now. He has the weapons in this house to do it," he added.

"Evan, before you told me your dad... loved you. What is it?" I asked him, sitting in front of him on the bed. I made him bring his head up to look at me when he didn't respond. "I don't want him to hurt you. I don't want him to hurt either of us." Well, that defiantly told him that he meant something to me.

Evan's eyes made me gasp. They were so dull and different from they were. They normally were glowing and vibrant. Now they seemed not to even show color. Just a dull, scared look crept into what I loved to see most.

"Evan, please." I said. My own eyes began to leak tears and they blurred when I blinked. I curled my hand into his. I noticed he was holding something in his hand and I looked at it. A silver locket shined in his hand. It looked brand new.

He grabbed my hand again. "If I ran away, he could hurt me." He slid the necklace into my hand. "If you take this from me, you'll be safer than I would."

"Evan, keep it."

"It was my mother's. Now I want to give it to you. It shows that you mean as much as my mother meant to my father." Was he trying to say he loved me?

I just stared at him. He squeezed my hand and then let it go. He rose to his feet. He walked to the door and left, leaving me in the eerie silence.

Moonlight peaked through the rooting wood. I got up and looked through one of the cracks. Bushes, grass, a few trees, a broken up shed and what looked like a forest. It must have been the forest that Evan told me about. And at that time of night, that just looked creepy.

I sat back down on the bed and looked at the necklace. It was an oval shape with a heart in the middle, surrounded by an ivy-looking design. It wasn't a locket, but it was a sweet little thing. I smiled slightly.

After all of that drama, I only thought about the fact that I really meant something to Evan. And he fortunately knew he meant something to me. But much more than just something.