Unchained

Chapter Fourty Five

I knew something was wrong when I bashed open the front door.

Correction: I already knew something was wrong way before I even got home. I mean, that's just been my gut ever since I "died". But I knew something was... More wrong when I bashed open the front door. 

My mom was pacing around, her hand running through her strangely neat hair. She wore jeans and a sweater jacket, like she was ready to go out. My dad was at the counter, frowning as he talked to somebody on the phone. It looked like he just got home from work. And they both looked up at me.

"Avaley!" my mother cried and engulfed me in her arms. "We were beginning to think you went to Sean's," she breathed into my hair.

"Sean?" I said.

"Yes - we said you would be staying with him, until he got arrested, of course." my mother said, taking a step back. She looked behind me. "Is David not here?"

"Oh... Uh..." I stammered. What would I say? "Oh, he's buried under a pile of junk I threw at him... And I kind of stabbed him with this blade that is currently hidden beneath the jacket wrapped around my arms, so don't look, all right?" "He's just not here right now. I think he's busy." Well, at least I was sort of correct.

"Avaley, what's that in your hands?" my mom said, looking down at my jacket in my hands. "Don't hold your jacket like that, you'll drag it on the ground. Here." she reached down to take it from my arms but I jumped back.

"No!" I cried. The blade was still in there. I couldn't let her see it. She'd blow her top off. If she hadn't already. My eyes skimmed over the table to see if I could distract her with something. My eyes landed on the day's newspaper and I nearly fainted. 

"What are you looking at?" my mom said, and met my gaze. "Oh, today's paper." she picked it up and handed it to me. Or rather, dropped it on my jacket which I held out. 

Who is this flying person? It read on the headlines, and it looked like someone had taken a picture from an airplane seat, and sure enough, there was a random flying person. 

"Wh-where did you get this?" I stammered.

"It's all over the news, Avaley," my mom said. "But don't worry about that. We have to go to the police station for - "

"The police station? Why?" I demanded, feeling an urgency to get away. I had to find Kevin. Pronto.

"Pack your bags," my dad declared, ending his phone conversation. "Take only the essentials for about three days. Officers say they're going to send us to a safe house."

"Safe house?" I repeated. "Why?"

"Didn't you hear, Avaley?" my mom said to me. "Sean escaped."

Thud. "W-what." I said.

"Stupid boy. How could he escape his holding cell? He's not magic," my dad muttered as he rifled through drawers for things. "I'm bringing our gun. You never now."

"Gun?" my mom asked. "Since when do we have a gun?"

"Wait!" I said, and they both looked at me. "I don't get it. Sean escaped? What's going to happen to us now?"

"The police wants us under protection so he won't do anything, sweetie," my mom said to me. "We'll be fine, Avaley."

No we wouldn't. Obviously if Sean escaped there was a problem. A big one. I wasn't sure if he had powers or anything, but after what he tried to do to me...

"I'm gonna go to my room..." I said, and turned and headed for the stairs. I wanted to get away from all of this - and just find Kevin, since he was the person I needed to see now. But my mind was tangled up in the mess of everything that had happened. Mr. Hauge encounter, David's betrayal, Tamara, that beautiful woman... I just wanted answers...