Tradition Comes Third

The End

Author's Note: So this is the end! This is the final chapter of Kidnapped by Cannibals. There won't be a fourth book because I would rather focus on all the other ideas I have. Once again, I can't thank you all enough for your support. I hope you continue to read my other works. It's been one great ride :)

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Ava rolled her wheelchair into the kitchen. Her hair was wet from her shower, and was tied back in a braid. Leah was sitting at the kitchen island feeding her baby a bottle of formula.

Leah's parents had come down to Georgia after the police told them about their daughter's kidnapping. They said that she and her baby, which she had named Grace, could move in with them in Alaska. She moved in with them. As soon as her plane landed in Anchorage, she was calling Ava. She cried about how alone she felt as everyone questioned her about Jared and Grace.

Once Ava was discharged from the hospital, we did what I promised and moved to California. I had to take classes online before I was able to apply to university because of all the time I missed. I didn't mind it as it allowed for me to work during the day at a science museum. When I was at the job interview, I could feel the six-hundred pound elephant that was sitting in the room, as I could see her restraining herself from asking about my family. I could tell that she offered me the job out of pity, but I was not going to complain. I needed the money to afford Ava and I's apartment.

We had invited Leah to come visit us a month after we moved in. She brought Grace, and after a couple of nights she confessed about how much she hated Alaska . She asked if she could move in with us, and we were happy to let her.

Ava was happy to let her move in. She had trouble finding a job that she was able to do in her wheelchair. Leah struggled to find a job since she had terrible separation anxiety whenever she left Grace. She was haunted by thoughts that somehow Jared was still alive and wanted to kill Grace. It got so bad that she would refuse to sleep, and would stay up all night watching Grace sleep. Ava and I managed to convince her to start attending therapy.

Mom has yet to come home. After the doctors had stitched up her back, Mom didn't say another word. She would sit on the edge of her bed and stare at the wall all day. The cops were frustrated as they thought it was some act she had created to avoid answering their questions. The doctor later told me that she was suffering from catatonia. I told the doctor about how Ava and I wanted to move to California, and he referred us to a long-term mental health facility in California. It was only a twenty minute drive from my apartment, and I tried to visit her at least once a week.

I pulled my blazer over my white dress shirt, and fastened my name tag to my chest. I was going to visit Mom before going to work. Leah stood up, and placed Grace in Ava's arms. She smoothed out her pink dress, and tucked a blonde curl behind her ear.

"You look nice," I said.

"Thank you," she said touching the side of her glasses. Since leaving that house she got a pair of glasses that did fit her face, and was not continuously sliding down her nose. She still continued to touch her glasses, almost like a nervous twitch. "I have a job interview this morning."

"You do?" I asked.

"Yeah, at the cafe down the street," she said. "Ava is going to watch Grace for me."

Ava's lips lifted into a smile as she shifted Grace's weight in her arms. Grace was in a white onesie covered with pictures of teddy bears. She kicked her legs out and sucked on a pacifier. Leah rarely trusted even Ava and I to watch Grace while she was gone. She was making a lot of progress.

Leah reached out and put her hand on Ava's arm.

"You'll text me if anything happens, right?" Leah asked.

"Of course," Ava said. "Good luck with your interview."

"Do you want a ride?" I asked her. "I'm about to head out to go visit my Mom."

Leah nodded her head. "Yes, please."

She went over to the closet and pulled out her jacket and purse. She leaned over Ava and gave Grace a kiss.

"Everything is going to be okay," Leah said to herself.

"Grace and I are going to be catching up on some TV," Ava said with a giggle. "We'll do something to celebrate your interview when you get home."

Leah smiled before walking over to the front door. I picked my keys up off of the counter and shoved them into my pocket. I kissed Ava and said goodbye to her. As I walked to the front door, watercolour paintings Ava created surrounded me. Ava hated being restricted to her wheelchair, and spend the days bored, especially before Leah moved in. She spent all day painting. She let her beautiful artwork stack up on the counter, so I framed them and hung them on the walls throughout the apartment. I tried my best to convince her to start trying to sell some of them.

Leah slipped on her flats, and I tied up my shoes. We walked to my car that was lined with rust. It was one of the cheapest cars I could find when we moved to California. It got me to work and to go visit Mom. Those were the only two places I ever really went. The three of us spent a lot of time together in our apartment.

I clicked in my seatbelt, and I put my keys in the ignition. Leah fastened her seatbelt and looked over her shoulder at the apartment. I pulled away as fast as I could so that she did not back out of the interview and run up to Grace. I drove down the street to the cafe. I wished Leah luck as she got out of the car.

I drove out of the city, and fiddled with the radio until I found a station that wasn't static. I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel along to the music. When I pulled up to the facility, I parked and headed into the building.

Cate, the middle-aged woman sitting behind the front desk, recognized me as I walked in. She passed me over the visitor sign-in sheet, and tried to make meaningless conversation with me. I passed her back the clipboard and she buzzed me in. I took the elevator to the third floor. When the doors opened, I could see the nursing station. A young nurse sat behind the desk. She was often here when I visited, and every other week she seemed to dye her hair a different vibrant colour.

"I'm here to see Juliet Wilcox," I said.

The nurse looked up from the notes she was jotting down, and smiled.

"Hi, Hunter," she said. "Your Mom is having a good morning. We got her up and ready. She's sitting in the activity room."

"She's not in her room?" I asked.

The nurse shook her head. "No, we hoped getting her out with other people would help her."

"Thanks."

I walked around the desk and down the hall. Mom always refused to leave her room. She resisted against me and the nurses as we tried to take her into the hallway. I had only seen the activity room when they gave Ava and I a tour when Mom was first admitted.

The room was large, and the walls here painted a soft yellow. One wall was lined with books and board games that a few people were playing at a table. A few other people were sitting in front of a television. I spotted Mom sitting in a chair in front of the window. I picked up a chair and set it down next to her.

Mom didn't turn her head to look at me. Her eyes were fixed on the forest behind the facility. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She had on a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and a grey hoodie. Her hands were folded on her lap.

I reached over and laced my fingers through hers. She gave my hand a light squeeze.

"Hey, Mom," I said.

She stared straight, and didn't respond.

I leaned back in my chair and stared out the window with her. I told her everything that had happened since the last time I visited.