FIRST

As the days flew by...

Chapter 14

As the days flew by, the ache in my chest had worsened. of course only lessened when Maximus was near me but the familiar pulse of pain in my heart wouldn't go away. no amount of painkillers or bugs could relieve me. Maximus had begun to worry for me. everything else was fine and wonderful. the sun rose as it did, during the day nothing out of the ordinary happened and then the sunset and the day ended. for weeks this patterned continued, the constant vibration of my phone had become such a nuisance that i drowned it in the sink in the middle of the night. today however, something was different. the pain was the same but then i heard something. a heartbeat, a soft heartbeat that stuttered so slow that i almost thought i imagined it. i raced from my spot in our bedroom into maximus's office down stairs in two seconds.
"Max!!" I nearly screamed, he in a second but out of his chair and in front of me, hands wondering over my body checking for wounds and making sure i was okay
"What happened? why are you screaming?" he asked
"are you hurt? did the pain worsen? please tell me something!" the more questions he asked the more his heart beat. i rushes to assure him that i was fine but it was what i heard.
"you heard a heartbeat? but there's only us. you probably heard mine"
"No. Maximus i know your heartbeat, it's strong and i can feel it in my bones. i would know your heartbeat if i was in a room filled with a million people" his eyes softened at my confession but i continued
"this was different, it reminded me of how a child's heart would beat, soft and sl-" thump thump
THERE IT WAS AGAIN!
"Did you here that!" if he didn't hear that then i was for sure going stir crazy from being locked up in this house for almost 2 months.
his eyes snapped to mine and i knew- he did hear it!
"what in the..." he whispered before there was a loud cry from the yard. a child's cry. before i knew what came over me, my legs worked faster then my brain as i sprinted to the back door of the house and out onto the back patio, maximus was right behind me, he crashed into my back when i skidded to a stop suddenly, his arms wrapped around my middle so we didn't topple to the ground. the sight in front of me had me frozen. There at the edge of the tree line was a man, a scruffy bald man who looked like he climbed right out of a horry movie. his naked chest was marked with symbols shaped out of blood, the simple brown shorts he wore were his only clothing as his bare feet were covered in mud and there laying at his feet in a heap of long brown hair was a little girl, crying and trying to scream as he stepped on her throat, cutting off her oxygen. the longer i stared, trying to formulate a plan of action, the longer my eyes were trained on the little girl and she became more and more recognizable, the ringlets of dark matter hair, the brown skin so much similar to my own and the way her blood hummed to my own in such a familiar way. Red took over my vision as i suddenly rushed forward, letting out a scream of agony as that horrid man held my sister down. thick arms bound around me and dragged me back onto the patio as i kicked and screamed, fighting with everything i had to get to her
"Let go of my sister you sick fuck!!!" i screamed
The man did nothing, he just stared at me and by the tiniest bit, applied more pressure to her windpipes. Evangeline could no longer scream but only choke.
"Maximus let me go!! that's my sister! please let me go to her! maximus PLEASE!" i struggled and fought with every breathe i had in my body. My crying had turned into a wail as his iron grip only tightened once i started to slip.
"please just calm down my love" he whispered in my ear but i couldn't hear it. the need to save my sister was all i could comprehend. and before my eyes the man, once again, blankly applied just repeated the action of pressing on her neck.
"i will do whatever you want PLEASE STOP!!" my body collapsed in Maximus's embrace as the energy drained in my body as i saw her wide eyes finally find me out of her peripheral. all i could do was shake violently in his hold. i watched the enemy sharply from across the land. It was almost as if a switch had flipped in his head and his foot lifted from evangeline's throat completely. the little girl quickly breathed in deep, her chest heaving up and down as she sobbed and sobbed. even from here you would see the red angry foot mark on her neck. the angry rose in me at the sight, the second before i moved maximus whispered in my ear "just wait". i did as he said and waited. The man stared at me and he simply spoke words that lead to an icy chill to run down my back
"My master has seen enough to know you understand. When the time comes you will surrender your life to save those you care about most."
"and who is your master" Maximus bit out viciously behind me.
"all will be known soon. there is no escape, if it comes to light that either of you have tried to outsmart this plan. we will begin to kill"
did that mean that they didn't have just Evangeline but my whole family?
Just as quickly as he spoke the words. They vanished and everything around us was as peaceful as it had before not 10 minutes before. But i knew, the pain in my heart. it was because my family had been in danger and in pain. but i had done nothing but laid in the safety of my mates arms as they were taken from our home.
without even thinking about it, i broke from maximus's arms and strided into his office, going straight for the large computer sitting in the corner of his desk.
"what the hell are you doing?" Maximus followed me inside the room. He swiftly grabbed my wrist to stop me but i yanked my arm from his grip before twisting around.
"You will leave me!" I screamed.
i twirled back around before sitting myself in his desk chair, opening his browser up and typing in: 'Missing people, Reagan New york' Hundreds of websites came up but i only focused on the first and most recent one. The article was from our town news channel, the very one i had interned at in high school.
"In alarming news, earlier this week a missing persons report had been filed for one Madeleine McCabe-" they had my photo listed, my appearance, age, the last place i was seen, and who i was last with also listed. "-Her family had waited the appropriate 24 hours period before contacting town officials and gave the reassurance that Madeleine would have most definitely contacted them by now and a search party needed to be started immediately. although officials had handed the case over the NYD office because of her residency in the city. Her apartment was discovered to be broken into, no one was found but significant evidence pointed to kidnapping. The case has now been dropped by the NYP due too low priority and ruled as a kidnapping-possible homicide-possible sex trafficking-possible ransom (although unlikely due to her families middle class status)-possible staged scene." by this point i wanted to throw up- possible staged scene? who in their right mind would stage something so horrible? I pulled my eyes back to the screen, scrolling father down until i got to the most updated part. it was updated 3 days ago.
"BREAKING NEWS: in addition to the case on missing persons Madeleine McCabe. Her entire family has now been reported missing. This was reported by Grandparents, James and Rose mcCabe-" skip skip skip, cmon i need more information. my hands flexed as i opened and closed them in anger "-The entire family which consisted of, mother and father Vanessa and Sebastian, Bret, Neville, Jenna, and Evangeline McCabe. All are now missing and held on high priority by Reagan town officials. If you see or hear from any of these people please contact us via website, or phone."