Chapter 18
Cody's POV
The house was still with a few lights breaking through the darkness of the night. I breathed out slowly, the chilly night air sending shivers down my back. What would I say, I hadn't seen her for almost three years. Would she even recognize me? I sighed and rung the doorbell. Laughter echoed out of the hallways as the footsteps came closer. A faint click sounded as the door was unlocked and pulled open by a cheery teen girl. She looked up at me, her smiled disappearing into a look of concern. She hesitated for a moment as if looking for the right words. "Hey," She finally said, half smiling awkwardly. "Hey Brynne." I nodded, shoving my hands into my pockets. "Long time no see, huh?" She laughed, brushing her straight brown hair behind her ear. I chuckled and nodded. We stood in silence for a moment. I pulled my jacket closer. "um, hey, come on in, we were just about to have a late dinner, why don't you join us?" I nodded and thanked her.
I walked past her into the large house, the warm air enveloping me. She politely took my coat and hung it up on the rack. "Brynne who was at the door?" A lower voice called from the kitchen down the hallway. "Cody's here." She replied casually walking toward the voice, as I followed closely behind. "Cody?!" He exclaimed. A chair screeched on a tile floor and a buff man appeared in the hall. The man had scraggly light brown hair and a chiseled jaw. He was well built with biceps easily seen through his loose t-shirt. He was about twice my size. Last time I'd seen him he was just a shady teen. It's been a long time.
"Cody!" He ran towards me, hugging me tightly, almost picking me up off the floor. "Hey Thomas!" I hugged back, ignoring the crushing pain in my ribs. "What brings you to our humble home?" He asked, leading me to the kitchen, his arm draped over my shoulders nonchalantly. "well, my dad got arrested," Thomas cut me off "Really!?" He grinned and Punched my shoulder lightly. "That's great Cody!" I smiled and took a step away from the friendly older male.
"Well, I was kind of hoping that I could stay here until I get some things sorted out..." Thomas' smile widened. "Of course you can Buddy! It'll give us a chance to catch up." He let go of me and went back into the kitchen. "I hope you like the taste of ashes..." He grinned as I walked in behind him. He held up a pot and showed me what I think used to be spaggetti. "Brynne hasn't gotten any better at cooking I see." I laughed looking behind me at her. She smirked. "Actually, Thomas made that all by himself." She crossed her arms and took a seat at the table. "Guilty as charged." Thomas said surrendering. I walked over to Brynne and took the chair next to her. "I'll fix up some soup for us..." He walked over to the cupboard and started digging around for a can.
This reminded me of back then. Four years ago, the three of us were inseparable. We spent everyday after school messing around and having fun. Thomas was Brynne's older brother by five years, but he practically raised both of us. My dad was never around because of his job, and their parents had died a few years before, so I spent most of my time at their house. But then my dad got into the black market business and started buying girls. I didn't know about it until about a year after he started. That was when Brynne disappeared. Everyone looked for a her for about a week before giving up. Two days later I heard someone crying in the basement and found my dad's secret dungeon. Brynne was inside, starved and terrified for her life. She was barely recognizable. I got her out, and we were about to go to the police with Thomas when my dad showed up. He said that if they ever told anybody that he would kill me and then them. They kept to their promise and didn't tell anybody, they just told everybody that she had gotten lost in the woods a few miles away. After that, Thomas took her away from that neighborhood and we just stopped talking.
"So, what have you been up to?" Brynne asked, interrupting my thoughts. "The usual."I said shrugging. She cringed at the words. "what about you?" I asked, trying to get the conversation away from me.
"Uh, I started at University. I'm gonna be a psychologist." I nodded "What happened to you're dream of being a dancer?" I asked jokingly. "Things changed." I nodded. "Cody..." She paused, thinking. I stared at her. Her eyes were watering a little. "I'm glad you're okay." she smiled weakly. The memories flooded back to me of finding her broken on the floor in the dirty hole in the ground. I smiled back pushing the images out of my head.
"Alright, I found some soup!" Thomas beamed coming up from behind us.
"Sounds great!" Brynne said, the tears now gone from her eyes. A guilty feeling settled in my stomach. She was always so good at acting.
