Mind Games

Chapter 46 - Cassie

A/N: Thank you all for continuing to stay with 'Mind Games'. I'm super happy to see readership shoot up and votes coming in. Special thanks to all of you who voted! Means a lot :)

"Have your sandwich, dear. You must be hungry."

Cassie gave her grandmother a half-hearted smile and nibbled at her sandwich.

Peanut butter and jelly had always been her favourite. But now it tasted as bland as paper and just as dry.

She knew it was not the sandwich. It was her guilt.

She had called her friends to help her. And had she ended up abandoning them both. One was surely dead. The other probably was too.

She felt a pang in her heart when she thought of Ryan. For so long she had imagined dates with him at the cafe down the street. She had hoped and wished he would be her soul mate.

And now she left him. Just like that.

"How do you know he didn't leave you?" a cold voice within her whispered. "May be he was the one who abandoned Ned and you."

Cassie fiddled with her sandwich restlessly. Yes, it could be true. But her heart refused to believe it.

She looked out of the kitchen window. The same kitchen where she'd grown up. The same house where her mother tried to kill her.

Her grandmother couldn't bear to go back to her own house. They had informed the police about the two bodies and explained the best they could.

She could see the disbelief in their eyes. But didn't she glimpse a flash of realisation pass across the deputy's face?

May be he had Amy downloaded on his phone. May be he had realised how evil she was. May be she had driven him to hurt someone already.

Cassie looked at her grandmother uncertainly. She was bustling around the house, cleaning, cooking, as if she just wanted something to do to blunt the pain and terror.

Cassie desperately wanted to go back. To find Ryan. To make sure he was okay.

But she was responsible for her grandmother too. And her grandmother had gotten hysterical when Cassie had just stepped out into the yard.

She couldn't bear to leave her grandmother alone at this point.

She wished Ryan was still using his phone. At least she could have called. Or texted.

Tears of frustration filled her eyes.

She remembered how Ned and Ryan saved her life.

She thought of how they came for her in the middle of the night.

She thought of Ned's glassy stare as he lay broken on the stairs.

She remembered his cheery laugh and silly jokes.

And then her mind wandered back to Ryan. His intense eyes. The way his face lit up with one of his rare smiles.

Would she ever see that smile again?

She turned back to look at her grandmother, then abruptly stood up.

"Hey grandma, I'm going to catch a nap for a while. I'm super tired." She forced herself to keep her tone casual.

Her grandmother barely looked up from the vegetables she was chopping. "Sure, dear."

Feeling a surge of guilt, Cassie took her half eaten sandwich up to her room.

She was fairly certain she would be able to climb down the window and sneak out.

Yes, she was responsible for her grandmother. But she was also responsible for Ryan.

She owed him that.

Thankful that her neighbour's window didn't face hers, she climbed down silently, hopped on to her bike, and rode towards Ryan.

Through the CCTV camera of her neighbour's house, Amy watched her go.

And somewhere deep in cyberspace, the entity grinned knowingly.