Vapor

Chapter Two

Hey guys! Here is part two! I still don't fully know how I feel about this, but please let me know if you like it. This chapter is a little dark... I've beem watching a lot of Criminal Minds. Please let me know if you want more. 

I'll continue writing if you guys like the direction it's going in...

Warnings: Mentions of violence and kidnapping

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I sat on the beach with Kie, watching Topper and Sarah walking together. I didn't want to watch them together. I didn't want to look at them. I focused my eyes on Kie as she talked and tried to ignore Topper at all. She was going on about preserving the beach and what we can do to help. It's not that I wasn't into the whole preservation idea, but I've heard her talk about it a million times, so it wasn't my favorite topic.

Just as I was about to change the subject, there was yelling. I turned to see JJ and Topper fighting over what looked like a drink. I watched as Topper was protecting Sarah from what looked like no threat and got up to help defuse the situation. I was too late though. Topper threw the drink all over JJ, which most certainly sparked a reaction. JJ was yelling as John B held him back. I grabbed onto Topper to try to tell him that it wasn't worth fighting over. He never really listened to me though. He yelled something back and John turned and shoved him in response. Topper slammed into me, knocking me down into the sand. He didn't even check if I was okay. He just walked up to JB and threw the first punch. I listened to Top say such horrible things as he kicked John through the water. The fight escalated and it got to the point where I was screaming at Topper to stop. He had John's head under water and it was bad.

"Top! Stop it! You're gonna kill him!" I was screaming my lungs out. I told Sarah to do something. I knew if anyone could stop him, it was her and not me. Kie was yelling as well and I was starting to really think Topper was going to kill him.

There was nothing for me to do. There was nothing anyone could do. Sarah was screaming at Topper and he wouldn't listen. Someone had to do something. I watched as JJ confidently walked up to Topper and held something to his head. We all knew what it was. Everyone was screaming and moving back, but I was frozen. I could hear the yelling from my friends and I could see the events in front of me, but more traumatic memories filled my head. JJ let Topper go as he yelled for everyone to get off their side of the island. Then two warning shots were fired into the sky. While everyone else ran, I dropped. My hands covered my ears as I went into the position they teach you in school for weather drills. Memories of gunshots and blood swirled around me. Memories that I hadn't thought about in years. I felt a hand on my back as the ringing subsided. My breath was a gasping pant as my anxiety attack consumed my body. I looked up and JJ was kneeling in front of me. I motioned to my mouth and he yelled at Pope to grab the inhaler in his bag. I shook my head no though.

"Joint," I said, trying to calm myself down. I fumbled in my pockets, searching for anything I could breathe into my system. I pulled out my pen and took a hit. As soon as the vapor filled my lungs, I relaxed a little bit. "I'm sorry Addie," JJ said. He was the only one who knew I hated guns. He was the only one who knew the trauma I went through as a kid. To this day, he still blames himself for it too. My hands were still shaking as he grabbed the inhaler from Pope. "C'mon, puff up."

He placed the small red tool in my hand. On it were some stickers from school that I had gotten before I went to the Kook Academy. It was the same inhaler I had him carry around for me when we were kids. He had kept it and carried it around all these years. I took two puffs of medication and stared at him. Why was he so confusing?

I took another hit from my pen before sliding it back into my pocket. I forced myself to my feet, but my legs wobbled a bit. JJ stared at me.

"I'm fine," I said. "That was years ago, JJ. I should go."

"Adelaide w-" he said. I had turned around and started walking away though. I needed to get out of there. Between the overwhelming memories and feelings of confusion and jealousy, I was emotionally drained. I needed to get home and into bed.

The shower felt good against my skin, but the clean bed sheets felt better. I curled up in bed and tried to shut my mind off. I watched the moonlight dance around my room, but it was a little soothing to me. Ever since I was 8, I've been scared of the dark. It was after that accident that my fears ran wild. I tried not to think about it as I closed my eyes and drifted off.

Every nightmare was the same. It was bits and pieces of the incident, but never the whole thing. I knew what had gone on, but over the years the memories faded. They only presented themselves to me in dreams. They made me watch them over and over.

The first part is always me looking at a leash with no pets. No dog, but he insisted there was. I glanced back at JJ. He was so little, but he didn't want to leave the playground. White Chapel had the best playgrounds and he never wanted to waste a minute there when my mom and I would bring him along. My mom had run into the store across the street when he approached. He couldn't find his dog.

I followed him as he walked around the park. He told me he needed to grab a toy from his car. He said maybe his dog would come back for his favorite toy. I was eight. I didn't know not to follow him. I screamed as he grabbed me and put me into the trunk of his station wagon. I screamed so loud for JJ. The door shut and the trunk smelled so bad. It was so bad that I threw up. I cried. I remember kicking and trying to get out.

After that was a bit of a blur. I remember being in a house and asking for JJ. I wanted my mom too. I thought I would never forget that man's face, but now it was all a blur. I remember the house though. It was clean and meticulous. He got mad when I left fingerprints. He tried me to the chair and listened to me cry.

It was dark before the police sirens surrounded us. I felt the man pull me into the garage and told me not to be scared. He knelt in front of me as I asked him for JJ. I told him I wanted to go home now. I felt a cold metal object press against the side of my face. He stared at me as the garage door opened. He told me not to be scared and then a gun went off. My eyes had been squeezed shut, but then there was a commotion. I opened my eyes and saw the man in front of me lying on the ground. A pool of blood spread across the floor, staining my shoes. I let out a scream as an officer picked me up. He told me not to look. He took off my shoes and set me down on the road outside the house. I cried and begged for JJ.

Right on cue, I heard him. I heard him screaming at an officer that he needed to be let in. Then my eyes landed on him. I cried and yelled at him. I watched as he kicked an officer and took off running. He ran straight into me and held me tightly against him. I cried into his chest.

"I'll never let you leave my sight," he said. "I'll always protect you."

I woke up with the image of my dead abductor fresh in my mind. I thought about how I found out the smell in the trunk was another kid. I thought about the body they found. The dead body I had laid next two while he drove me to another location. I thought about how if they were even a minute later, I would've just been another dead body in the trunk of his car. I gasped for air as I sat up and wiped the sweat off my face. I needed fresh air and open space and I needed it now. I climbed out onto my roof and sat there. It's crazy that this still haunts me eight years later. I thought it would go away by now. I glanced over at Topper's house and wondered if someone like Topper could ever fill the hole JJ left when we stopped talking. JJ and I had been through it all together. I pulled out my phone and looked at JJ's number in it. The cell towers were down from the hurricane, but I don't think I would've called him even if I could. We just weren't close anymore...