Obsession

Chapter 37

When I wake up, I'm surrounded by a sea of faces looking down at me. I gasp in surprise.

"Hey, sweetheart," dad says, sitting on the bed and taking my hand into his. "How are you feeling?"

I know by the smell of the room I must be in a hospital. My heart starts to race in panic. If I'm here, that means I never made it to her.

"Mom," I croak out, hating how dry my throat feels.

"Shh, just take it easy," dad says, smiling softly. "You've been through a lot."

"No," I cry, shaking my head. "I have to..." I stop and swallow, trying to wet my throat so I can get the words out. Someone has to know where she is. They have to find her.

I look around and see Daryl, Anna and Leo, all standing around my bed watching me with concerned expressions. None of them are concerned for her though, only me.

A tear slips out and rolls down my face. Leo sits down on the other side of me. "She's trying to tell us something."

Yes, thank you! Finally.

He looks around and grabs something off the table next to my bed. A cup of water. He hands it to me and I greedily gulp it down. I feel the cool liquid slide down my throat, relieving the burning sensation the dryness has caused.

"Mom..." I start, sighing in relief when I realize I can talk now. "She's in the park. He said so..."

I start to tremble violently all of a sudden. Leo takes my other hand and looks into my eyes, letting me know that even if no one else in this room understands me, he does.

"Did he tell you where?" he asks.

"The waterfall," I reply.

Dad and Daryl look to him and then at me in confusion. "What are you talking about?" dad asks.

"He said she was at the waterfall," I repeat.

"Who is, sweetie?" Dad asks.

"Mom," I cry. "He said he took her there. I went to find her."

"Who took her there?" Daryl asks.

"Kai..." I cringe saying his name. He put me through complete hell in the past twenty four hours. I had no idea what a a monster he could truly be.

"Did he tell you that?" dad asks.

I nod. "Where is he? Did I...did I kill him?"

Dad looks down and Daryl shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Mara. We looked everywhere for his body. Leo said he saw it before he found you and he thought he was dead. But there's no trace of him, not even a trail of blood."

Numbness sweeps over my body and my heart begins to pound making the machine I'm connected to beep like crazy. A couple of nurses hurry into the room and rush everyone out. They begin checking my vitals and mumbling to each other in medical terms. One of them inject something into the IV I'm connected to and within seconds, I feel my eyes getting heavy.

*FLASHBACK*

"Why are you fighting this so much? You used to want me. You used to beg for me to touch you," Kai says, getting frustrated that I'm putting up a fight.

He sits up and sighs, but keeps a firm grip around my wrists. His eyes look so dark and evil right now. Almost inhuman. How did I never see it before? How did he hide the fact that he's a deranged psycho so well? And the one thing I really can't get over, how in the hell did I ever think I wanted him?

"It's Leo, isn't it?" he finally asks, looking down at me. "Is it because you don't want to be unfaithful to him?"

"No!" I shout, still trying to fight my way out of his grasp. "I wouldn't want you if you were the last person on earth!"