Together Forever

Chapter 8

After he had finally fled back to Arith, the main concern of not if he came back but a matter of when. All of this was a temporary relief which don't not help with our peace of mind.

Anya was still fussing over the whole situation and I could do nothing but try to calm her down. Usually it's my job to fuss but with how things were going, it does not surprise me that she had taken the reigns on that job. She was always pacing up and down the halls, in her bedroom, even in the kitchen. My mom was a bit concerned about how worried Anya was but there was nothing neither one of us could do to make her stop. Honestly, she needed to because she was starting to wear treads into the carpet from her pacing.

"Anya please stop," I pleaded for her the tenth time today. "All of this pacing isn't going to help anyone, and you need to sleep. When was the last time you tried to sleep?" She had also stopped sleeping because she kept having nightmares.

"Two days. I can't sleep he'll try to get me." She had also become convinced that if she slept somehow Peter would come into her dreams and kidnap her.

"Anya, dear, you need to try and sleep. You're not going to be doing anyone any good by not taking care of yourself," my mom says to her in a motherly tone.

"But what if he-"

"Anya if it makes you feel better then I'll stay with you and wake you up if you have any nightmares. You don't have to be scared while I'm around, I'll always be there to take care of you. I promise," I say as I gently take her hands in mine and try to make eye contact with her. She was so tired and anxious that she could barely make eye contact with me.

"Promise not to leave me?" she asked in a quiet whisper.

"I promise, I will not leave your side at all...except to go to the bathroom." That little comment caused her to smile a bit and nod her head in agreement to trying to sleep.

"Thank you, Jack," she says as she finally starts to relax and nod off.

"You're welcome Anya." She fell asleep within seconds but sadly I had a feeling that it was going to be along night.

Anya had been asleep for about four hours before my mom came into the room to check up on us. I could tell from the moment that I saw her that she was extremely worried and only had bad news to tell me.

"How far is he?"

"Close enough. We need to start preparing. Either we move her to another location or we stay here and try to fight him off. I think that we should get her out of here and earn some more time."

"He'll find us, no matter what we do or where we try to hide, he will find us. You know as well as I do that he won't rest until he has Anya."

"I understand that, but we should at least try and give her a chance to get out of this situation." I felt Anya stir a bit in her sleep as my mother's voice began to raise.

"Mom," I hiss, "lower your voice or you'll wake her up." The last thing I wanted was for her to wake up when she was finally getting the sleep that she needed.

"I'm sorry Jack but I'm trying to do what's best for the both of you. You have to understand that I'm trying to be there for both of you." I knew exactly what she meant, since Anya's mom was killed my own mother was trying to do what Zira would have done.

"If we do leave, then where will we go?"

"I don't know yet. We're not safe here or the apartment."

"What about Dad's?" If looks could kill, I would definitely be six feet under by now. My mother absolutely despised my father and I don't blame her, but we don't have any other options right now. "Mom please. You know I wouldn't suggest that unless we were in dire need, and it's the only thing we have right now."

"I know that! But you know how I feel about your father," she said while refusing to make eye contact with me.

"Mom," I said as I stood up and hugged her. "We don't have any other options and Peter would not suspect us to go to Dad's."

"I guess. Can you be the one to call him though? I don't think I can talk to him without getting upset."

"Of course. Can you stay with her while I go call him?" I asked while glancing at Anya.

"Yes and thank you for doing this." I give her a small nod in response before leaving the room to call my father.

"Well isn't this a surprise!" I heard my father's deep voice say as he answered the phone on the first ring. "What can I do for you Jackson?" he asked sarcastically.

"Peter is after her," I spat out. The line was quiet for what felt like an eternity and I was starting to think he had hung up on me. "Anthony?"

"I'm still here," he said quietly. "What do you need?"

"We need a place to stay for a while. The house and apartment aren't safe and those are the first places he would look."

"Well you're more than welcome here. Is it just you and Anya?"

"No," I paused, already knowing how this would go. "Mom too."

"Oh...Does she not have anywhere else to go?"

"No, Peter and Felix already tried to kill us."

"It'll be good to see Blake again then," he said suddenly.

"What?" I asked, completely surprised by his response.

"Between you and me Jack," he sighed, "I honestly miss your mother. I made a terrible mistake and I'm hoping I can try to redeem myself."

"It's going to take more than an apology," I gritted out. "You walked out on us! You hurt my mother more than you know and we will never forgive you for that."

"I don't expect you to Jack! I realize now that I messed up and I want to make things better. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"You've got a long way to go before we forgive you," I hissed at him. "We'll be headed your way tomorrow. Anya needs to rest because she hasn't slept in days."

"I'll get the spare beds ready." Once he said that I immediately hung up the phone and went back to Anya's room.

My mother was still right where I left her, sitting in the chair beside the bed. It seemed that Anya hadn't woken up at all which was good, she needed all of the sleep that she could get. I could feel the dread eating away at me as I thought more and more about tomorrow and what is in store for us.

"What did he say?" Mom asked, breaking me out of my trance. I looked up at her and saw that she was staring at the floor. Her hands were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white and she was digging her nails in so hard that she was starting to draw a little blood.

"We leave tomorrow," I said with a neutral tone. She nodded her head before standing and leaving the room. I never meant to hurt my mom with this, but Dad left me with no other choice. Going to my fathers was the last thing I wanted to do but we were out of options. All that mattered to me now was keeping both my mom and Anya safe from Peter.