SASHA

Chapter 3

Jonathan's POV

As soon as Hannah hears the urgency in my voice she immediately begins to climb inside the vacant house through the window. I hold onto her, guiding her inside so that she doesn't fall. When she is finally inside, she looks around speechless with her lips slightly parted. I wait for the words to escape her parted lips but they never come. As Hannah's eyes scan the room searching for the horrific scene that I had just described to her. She instantly gasps when her eyes focus on the trail of blood leading down the hallway and into what I think is a bedroom.
   "Hannah, Are you alright?"  I ask her. I am scared too but I don't want her to know it.
    "I wonder what happened here Jonathan?" Hannah asks in a voice barely above a whisper, concern showing on her face.
     I observe a plastic yellow police marker labeled 1 in the hallway where the blood trail starts. I carefully walk down the hallway making sure not to disturb the crime scene. Hannah doesn't move. She is still standing in the same exact spot as if she's frozen in time. I cautiously look inside the bedroom afraid of what I might see. The door is already open. A large pentagram with perfectly straight lines are drawn in the middle of the floor in blood. Five candles are at each point of the pentagram. A plastic yellow marker with the number 2 was placed by the pentagram.
" Hannah you've got to see this." I motion with my hands for her to come to the doorway in disbelief. She slowly begins to walk towards me and looks into the room.
" It looks demonic to me." Hannah says as she grabs my hand. "I think we should go right now" she says with urgency in her voice.
We begin walking quickly back towards the window to leave the house. I look out of the window before climbing out to make sure no one is in sight. I leave first and then I help Hannah out. I gently close the window back down but it's stuck and won't shut all the way. I fumble with it for a bit and then it finally shuts. I let out a deep sigh of relief and we run back towards Hannah's house as fast as we can. We finally reach our destination, which in actuality was only about 3 minutes, but seemed much longer. Hannah's hands were shaking so bad she barely got the door to her house open. Once we were safe inside the house with the door locked Hannah walked towards me without speaking and laid  her head against my chest.
     "Something bad happened in that house. "I'm so scared for Sasha." Hannah expresses.
     I wrap my arms around Hannah without saying a word. It feels so good to hold her close. Even if it is because she is afraid. I inhale the sweet scent of coconut penetrating my nose. Without thinking, my hand reaches down to caress her hair. She looks up at me with fear in her eyes, still visibly shaken by what we just saw. Our eyes lock and we are emotionally connected at that moment. I caress the length of her face and wait for her to pull away but she doesn't. Her cell phone rings loudly snapping us both back into reality. Hannah takes a step back away from me breaking our gaze with a confused expression on her face.
"Hey mom" she answers the phone while sitting on the arm of the sofa. Is everything ok? She questions with concern in her voice."
Hannah pauses before speaking again. "Why did they cancel your assignment without telling you? Ok mom, see you when you get home."
There is an awkward silence in the room as Hannah's eyes meet mine.
    "Well, I guess I will see you later." I decide to break the awkward silence first.
    "Ok" she answers in a small shy voice.
    I walk out of the front door closing it behind me slowly. I feel like a complete idiot. I really felt like she wanted more but now I am just confused. I guess we should strictly focus on Sasha for now. I tried to call Sasha's cell phone before I went to Hannah's house, but it went straight to voicemail. I call Sasha's cell phone again and again it goes to voicemail. Maybe I should just stop by her house.

Hannah's POV

I can't believe Jonathan was going to kiss me, I think. I know I hugged him first but it was because I was so scared about what we saw in that house. When he put his arms around me, I can't deny how good it felt to be close to him. I thought I would melt when he began caressing my face. I know he would have kissed me if that phone wouldn't have rang. My mom knows when to call, I think to myself laughing.  I have always had a small crush on Jonathan but I never made a big deal about it because he could have his choice of any girl when we were in high school and I wasn't gonna compete for his attention. We also both will be going off to college in a few months so why act on it. I try to convince myself.
    My mind is racing with a million thoughts all at once. I can't get the horrible images at the house out of my head.I also can't stop thinking about the almost kiss from Jonathan. I decide to make me a snack and wait for my mom to make it home from work. We will probably order a pizza and watch tv for a while. I know she will be tired and fall asleep like she always does during the movie. I turn on the TV and try to find a good movie. I settle on a movie that I have seen at least 10 times and wrap up in my pink cozy blanket. As soon as I get comfortable, my eyes become heavy from the events of the day. I decide to take a short nap. When I awaken from what turned out to be a long nap, it is after 6pm. I guess my mom just decided not to wake me up when she came in. I emerge from my blanketed cocoon and begin searching the house for my mother. I check in her bedroom thinking she may be asleep but she's not there. I go back downstairs and look outside for her black bmw SUV but it's not in the driveway. I immediately try to call her cell phone, but it goes to voicemail. Maybe her phone died and she's stuck in traffic I think to myself. I restart the two hour movie and fix myself some dinner. After the movie ends, it is after 8pm and I am getting worried. I call her phone once more and it goes straight to voicemail again. I call Jonathan with no answer and hopes he is not mad about today. I really need him right now. My phone rings and Jonathan's name flashes across the screen.
     "Jonathan", I say his name frantically into the phone. "My mom is not home yet. She should have been home 4 hours ago!" I blurt out not giving him a chance to speak. "I know something is wrong. She would have called if she was gonna be late."
     "I'll be right over" Jonathan says quickly without hesitation before hanging up the phone. I wait impatiently for Jonathan and my mom to show up. After what seems like an eternity, the doorbell rings. I guess Jonathan made it here first because my mom has a key so she wouldn't need to ring the doorbell. I am relieved that I don't have to wait for my mom alone with my mind making up all kinds of disasters. I rush from the sofa and open the door. Thank you—-the rest of the words stop abruptly when I see two policeman at my door.
    "Ma'am do you know a Carmen Young?" A tall police officer with fair skin and kind eyes asks.
    "Yes, she's my mom" I answer with tears threatening to spill from my eyes.
     "How old are you ma'am?" The police officer asks looking at me sadly.
     "Eighteen sir" I reply with tears streaming down my face.
    "Ma'am I am so very sorry to inform you that your mom died in a car accident."
    I feel my knees start to get weak and everything goes black for a second. I see Jonathan running up the driveway towards me.  He is at my side in a split second holding me up.
    I can hear Jonathan talking to the police officers about the accident, but it feels like I am watching a movie. The police officers leave and Jonathan carries me to the sofa in the living room. I begin to sob uncontrollably. How could my mother, my best friend be gone, and the only parent that I have be gone?

Thank you so much for reading this chapter. It means so much to me. Please vote or comment. As always, I will update every week.😉