The Trench

Chapter 54 - Unexpected Help

A figure came up behind Mae as I was tugged to the right, arms jerked down onto hers knocking the gun from her unsuspecting grip. A gunshot sounded in the air, muffled by the storm raging around us.

I follow the figure pulling me back towards the tree line numbly, it's taking a while for my mind to catch up on the events and I hear a struggle behind us as I look back. When I do, the figure stops in front of me and I slam into their back hard. Our near sprint ending abruptly as they turn back around to face me, and I let out a yelp.

"Kane?! What the..." My question ebbed off as I hear more yelling behind us, Kane's eyesight fixed on the quarrel underneath the lighthouse and I whip back around.

I'm gonna get whiplash trying to determine which way I should look first. I think sarcastically. I give myself a mental slap, now is not the time for jokes.

I'm staring through the rain at the two silhouettes wresting on the ground. The fog has moved towards the sea with the wind, giving us a slight better visual. I feel the rain let up a tad and I pray it stops soon.

I can now see who Mae is wrestling with, the man is about my age with sandy blonde hair that's plastered to his head. She's kicking and slapping like she did with me, but he's much stronger and seems to subdue her fairly more quickly than I did. With her face down in the mud he has both of her arms wretched behind her back, one hand holding her wrists tightly and one knee pressed into the middle of her back. Pinning her to the ground, he kicks the pistol away from them and towards us, out of her reach even if an arm did come loose.

I feel Kane relax a little bit beside me, however the protective grip he has on my wrist did not. Guilt and appreciation equally take over me, I feel guilty for accusing him although I still don't one hundred percent know he wasn't involved in some way. Appreciation because even though I wasn't the reason he came all the way out here, he still got me out of the way safety.

"Thank you." I whisper and he gives a curt nod, suddenly remembering his grip on my arm he lets go quickly and I take a few steps forward to grab the gun. I recognize it as mine and I try to wipe it off before putting it safely back in my holster.

"Let go of me!" Mae screeches from her position in the mud, she wiggles and squirms under the mans weight. Obviously not giving up just yet.

"Zip ties?" The man looks at Kane and he nods, swinging a backpack off his shoulders that I hadn't noticed he reaches inside and pulls out two white ties. He walks over to the man and together they secure Mae's hands behind her back in a homemade pair of handcuffs.

All the while Mae is screaming obscene words and just, well, screaming. Threatening, name calling, maybe some sort of witchcraft; I don't even know at this point.

The two guys each grab an arm and pull her up into a sitting position, Kane tries to subdue her kicking legs as the mystery guy ties her feet together as well. I arch an eyebrow at the duo, it seems they have this down to a science.

Which should have worried me, but it didn't. They weren't the ones who shot my friend, locked me in a basement, and tried to turn me into someone else. I shudder at the thought.

That's when Mae finally got a good look at my two saviors, her body went ridged as she stared into the face of the man kneeling in front of her. The same one who attacked her. At that moment I realized it had stopped raining, because I had a clear unobstructed view of her face twisting in pain and hatred.

Before anyone could move or speak, Mae shot forward and spit in his face giving him a demonic smile afterwards. Heat began to rise up my neck, just watching that made me mad but somehow he was cool and collected. He wiped his face with his soaked jacket sleeve before looking at her again.

"It's nice to see you too, Mae." Although judging by his tone I knew he didn't mean it by a long shot, I couldn't see his face but I could hear the derision in his voice.

Kane left his position behind her to stand beside the kneeling man, Mae looked up at him and her face softened.

"Why?" His voice was no more than a whisper yet we all heard him. Tension hung thick in the air as everyone waiting for some kind of an explanation.

Mae turned to the man again, her face sad as she stared into his eyes. "It's all his fault."

I moved a few feet closer to where they were, since the danger was no longer present. I could feel Mae watching me from the corner of her vision, like daggers thrown in my direction.

"You say it's his fault, who is he?" I'm surprised to hear my voice is calm, considering what I've been through in the past few hours.

Her eyes never left his, her nose scrunched up in disapproval.

"This is Randy."

My mouth seemed to go dry as is dropped open, I glance at his face which I can now see from my new vantage point.

"Uhhhh..." Was all my mind could come up with. My brows furrowed in confusion and I crossed my arms, un-crossed them, then rubbed the back of my neck with one hand awkwardly.

"This is the man that killed my best friend." Mae's voice is dripping venom, loathing etched in her face as she watched him scoff loudly at her.

"I LOVED Emily." He says sternly, pointing a finger into his chest. "Whatever delusions you have about me you can toss them over that damn cliff before I toss you over."

Mae started in, yelling at him and him yelling back. One person blaming the other, I see Kane rubbing his face with both hands as he paces back and forth, obviously anxious at the situation.

"Both of you shut up, NOW!" I holler harshly getting the attention of all three of them. "If someone doesn't tell me what the fuck is going on I'm gonna start shooting." I open one side of my red jacket to reveal my Glock, Mae squints her eyes at me suspiciously. Randy, however, looks at me trivially; obviously un-phased at my threats but I see a corner of his mouth raise just slightly.

"How much do you know about Emily already?" Kane asks me levelly, his arms crossed.

"I know what Aimee told me. She said her, Mae, and Emily were all friends in high school. Mae had some kind of impression that Randy was being abusive..."

I heard a low growl come from him as his eyes squint at Mae.

"So one night at a pre-grad party there was an argument between Randy and Emily, Mae took it upon herself to confront him and slap him in front of everyone and he got pissed. He left with Emily, she texted Aimee that she was fine so Aimee went home after she couldn't find Mae. She found out the next day that someone murdered Emily at her home that night. Mae had called and told Aimee about it the next morning. She also said Randy had just left and that's why she thinks Randy murdered her, and Kane showed up also because he loved her or something."

I glanced down at Randy again, his hard face was expressionless but his eyes seemed glazed over. Being thrown back into the past he's remembering that night, and he looks so lost. I suddenly feel empathy towards the guy.

"Aimee said all three of you were questioned but no one was convicted, because of lack of evidence. Mae wouldn't believe it and was later institutionalized." I cleared my throat before continuing.

"Those are the basics, I believe."

At that moment Randy stood up straight, boring his eyes into Mae curiously.

"That's not exactly how things went down, was it Mae?"