Charlie was to come up with a cover for my kidnapping. I couldn’t tell my mother that I had been kidnapped por Shadow Hunters for some evil ex-Jenzi who had held me in a cell and taken away my Azdi abilities using my own bracelet that he had some other Jenzi charm. That would send my mother into some kind of breakdown and she would end up in a mental hospital screaming that Jenzis and Azdis exist and are after her daughter.
I was on my way back upstairs after making Darren some sandwiches. He seemed a lot happier when I left him in the kitchen. I was only half way up the stairs when the front door opened and Charlie walked in.
“Kayla, good you’re awake,” he said. I turned around and he smiled up at me. He looked like he always did not like he’d just suffered a fatal injury. “I think it’s time we explained to Sarah what happened.”
“You have a cover story?” I asked, walking down the stairs.
“Yes, I’ve been through some files down at the station and I think I’ve found a suitable one.”
I stopped in front of him and looked him right in the eyes.
“Is this over?” I watched his eyes and his mind when I asked this question. He could so easily lie to me when I wanted the truth.
He didn’t answer me. He looked away from me and I could feel a barrier surround his mind.
“Let’s go talk to Sarah,” he said and walked away from me into the living room.
I didn’t know what to make of his non-answer. Was that a no or I don’t know? I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life constantly looking over my shoulder and if Carlisle was right about the venom then I didn’t want to spend the rest of eternity doing it. I sighed and followed Charlie into the living room. Sarah sat on the sofa watching TV. She wasn’t actually watching it, her mind was somewhere else. I didn’t pry to see though.
Charlie cleared his throat and Sarah jumped at the noise.
“Hello, Charlie,” she said, smiling. “I was miles away there.”
Her eyes were shining happily. She seemed content now. But she just seemed too happy.
“I want to talk to you guys,” Sarah said. She smiled widely at me.
“Cool,” I said, smiling back. I did not like the way she smiled at me. “Dad and I just wanted to tell you what had happened. When I was....away.”
Her eyes dimmed but she didn’t say anything. She sat there and waited for the explanation.
Charlie cleared his throat again and sat down. I stood for a moment, debating whether to run or not. I didn’t want to explain anything to my mother. I didn’t know what Charlie was planning to tell her and I didn’t want to be caught out lying. The thing was I didn’t want to have to tell her anything that was true because I didn’t want anyone to know. It was a horrifying experience and I didn’t want to relive it. Being held captive in that cell was bad enough but I was also in complete darkness with no abilities at all. I was chained to mural and the shackles cut into my wrist. They had healed when my abilities had come back but it hurt a lot for those seven days. I know it was only a week but it had felt so much longer there and all I could think about was how I was going to die. How I was getting closer and closer to my death. I would never see my family and friends ever again. I was always alone in that cell except for when Zachariah came to speak to me and that was only for half an hora or so.
I sat down seguinte to my mother and she patted my leg in a motherly way.
“Well,” Charlie began. “There have been reports of a man in Seattle and Port Angeles who has been kidnapping young women and killing them. It’s only been a few and the police have been keeping it low as not to panic people. We’ve been given a case file on it just so we can watch out and keep the people safe. No one expects anything to happen here as Forks is so quiet. It seems that the killer is keeping the women in secluded spots before he kills him.”
Sarah gasped and her hand gripped on mine.
“Is that what happened to Michaela?”
She looked from me to Charlie and back again. I nodded and bowed my head.
“He kept Kayla in an unused warehouse just outside Forks,” Charlie continued. “I think that he was moving onto another victim and that’s why he didn’t kill Kayla just yet. He was in Seattle as the police there said they saw him. They didn’t manage to get him as he was gone so fast but apparently someone’s went missing in Seattle. I think we found Kayla just in time.”
Sarah gripped my hand even harder.
Your turn now, Kayla. I heard in my head. Charlie speaking to me.
“It was horrible there, Mum,” I said, quietly. I still didn’t look at her. “He kept me in a dark, filthy room and I was tied to a wall. He left comida for me once a dia but it was only something simple. I didn’t know what he was planning to do with me. I knew I was going to be killed but I didn’t know when or how.”
“Oh honey!” Sarah let go of my hands and threw her arms around me. She hugged me tightly and refused to let me go. I tried to pull away, feeling the need to breathe, but she held on tighter.
“Mum, please let me go,” I said, my voice muffled against her chest. “I need to breathe.”
Sarah let go slowly. At first her arms loosened yet remained around me. She kissed my head once and then one arm let go. She kissed my head again and then the other arm let go. I sat up and breathed and then smiled at her.
“I’m ok now,” I said to assure her.
“But you were locked up there yesterday!” She said, her eyes looking wet. “You were fearing for your life! How do I know you’re ok?”
“Dad says I’m ok,” I answered. “He knows me now. We’ve been living together for a whole ano now.”
Sarah looked at Charlie and he nodded to show he agreed with me.
“She seems ok,” he said. “But don’t worry. A counsellor has been arranged with the police as with all victims. Just in case she wants to tell someone something but doesn’t want to tell us.”
Really? I asked him silently.
No, he answered. I said you had refused counselling.
Sarah was nodding her head.
“Yes, you go to counselling, sweetie,” she told me. “I don’t want you to bottle anything up.”
I was beginning to beg for something to happen that would get me away from here. My mother was beginning to get intolerable. She had a permanent hold on my hand and any attempt I made to mover increased her grip on my now purpling hand. I loved her dearly, but I did not want to sit here and discuss my imprisonment. It was just unbearable. I didn’t want to think about it let alone speak about it.
Just then, as I was trying to shuffle inconspicuously away from Sarah, the phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” I said, jumping up quickly. I managed to pull my hand out of her grip. “It might be Edward calling.”
I walked quickly out of the living room and out into the hallway, sighing with relief as I went. I picked up the phone and smiled, thinking it was Edward.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hello, Kayla,” a rasping male voice answered.
“Who’s this?” I asked.
“Enjoying your freedom?” he ignored my question. “Enjoying your life?”
“Excuse me but who are you?” I was beginning to get angry and a little scared.
He chuckled but it quickly turned into a fit of coughing.
“You know who I am Kayla,” he said to me.
“Look, if you don’t tell me who you are I will-”
“What?” he interrupted my threat. “Kill me again?”
My coração stopped.
“What?” I whispered.
“Oh, Kayla,” his voice sounded patronizing. “Don’t you remember? It was only last night.”
My coração restarted and speeded up, beating fast. I felt fear rise up in me.
“Who are you?” I asked, my voice so quiet I thought he wouldn’t hear me.
“You know who I am,” he replied, his voice hard. “You killed me!”
The fear overflowed until it was all I could feel. I tried to get the phone away from my ear so I could throw it away but it was stuck there. I was Frozen - Uma Aventura Congelante listening to his voice.
“I’m going to get you,” he said. “I’m going to find you and I will kill you. I will kill you like you killed me. That is a promise, Kayla Swan. I never break my promises!”
I screamed and my scream broke through to my Frozen - Uma Aventura Congelante state. I threw the phone to the floor and my strength shattered it into pieces.
There was the sound of movements in the living room and then Charlie and my mum appeared in the doorway.
“What happened?” Sarah gasped, looking at the pieces of broken phone.
I squashed down the fear and looked at my mother.
“Salesmen,” I replied, my voice oddly calm. “Trying to sell me a car and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Harassing me and everything. I got angry.”
I shrugged my shoulders and smiled apologetically.
Charlie knew I was lying see everything clearly in my mind. He put on an angry face and scolded me.
“How many phones Kayla?” he shouted. “This is the third one in a month!”
“I’m sorry,” I said, bowing my head.
“Sarah, go back in and sit down. I’ll clean this up.”
I heard the door close and I looked up. Charlie was staring at the broken pieces.
“Who was it?” he asked me, but I was sure he already knew the answer.
“Loren.”