Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Dove
My right eye feels swollen as I try to come out of this foggy haze I’m under. Both of them feel sticky and wet. It stings as the wind blows on it.
“Fuck,” I mumble.
Slowly, I manage to open one eye followed by the other. I’m freezing as a rush of cold fills the air.
The first snowfall has arrived.
“Fuck,” I whisper again as the draft coming through makes me uncontrollably shiver.
As I finally come to, I realize that I’m not home.
There are broken floorboards and loose paneling lining this building. It’s clear that no one has been here for a while. I’m not even sure where here is exactly.
Trying to figure out what’s happening as I’m under this fog, I can tell I’m still out on Lamb Creek Mountain despite not processing what’s going on.
I try to rub my eyes when I realize that my hands are bound together in my lap. I’m tied up. Panic sets in, and I start to try and get undone.
“Help!” I scream.
It echoes through the room.
“Help!” I scream again.
It echoes through the room once more.
“Holy fuck,” I whimper as I try and get the ropes off from around my wrists.
Looking around the room, I see a rusty old tool that should do the job.
I try to stand and immediately fall down.
My legs feel the burn from falling against the rough wood I’m sitting on. I hadn’t realized it, but my feet are bound together too.
Tears well in my eyes, and I’ve never felt this hopeless.
“What am I going to do?” I whisper.
I shake my tied-up hands and feel helpless as I sink onto the ground.
I have to try to get out of here.
I get on my knees and start to crawl to the old tool.
My legs burn as they get scraped up on this endeavor. What the hell is happening to me?
I finally reach it and see it’s some type of old saw. I pick it up with one of my hands and sit down with my legs widened at the hips. I try to get my feet untied first.
All of my muscles are screaming in pain as I go back and forth to get them apart.
Repeatedly, I try to get them untied but make little progress. It feels like I’ll never get them undone.
The wind rips through the air, and it distracts me from the task at hand. The snow is falling harder than it was only a few minutes ago.
All I have to do is get my feet untied, and then I can run. I know this mountain like the back of my hand. If I can run, I can hide from whoever did this to me.
“Fuck.”
Someone did this to me.
My mind is blurry from the events leading up to this, but that doesn’t matter right now; all that matters is I get out of here alive. Whoever it was isn’t here, so this means I have a real chance.
My nose starts dripping as I continue to try and get the binding off. Spots of blood are trickling onto the ground, and I don’t know if that’s from my nose or cuts. My whole body feels on fire as it takes everything in me to keep pushing forward.
Finally, I see the binding start to thin.
Keep going, just a little bit further.
I continue to saw when I hear a loud pounding and a set of boards falling somewhere in the distance.
I have to be faster.
Back and forth, back and forth.
Snap.
Relief floods me as my feet finally come apart.
I get up on my knees, and they feel like they are about to break. I stand up wobbly and look around the room.
That’s when I spot it.
A door.
My feet go as fast as they can, but there’s glass everywhere. As I try to run to the door, shards of glass keep getting stuck in my feet.
“Fuck,” I whisper. I can’t scream and draw attention to myself in case the person is nearby.
I stumble to the door and have to catch my breath against the wall.
“Keep going. You have to get out of here,” I remind myself.
I dart through the door and feel nothing but pain everywhere. My stomach is in knots, and the searing pain going through every inch of me just reminds me I’m still alive.
I hit the patchy snow and welcome its burning sensation.
Looking all around me, I realize where I am.
I’ve photographed this barn before, but there’s no one directly around it. This is the west end of the mountain. Whoever has me out here did this on purpose. They know that there are rarely people out this way because of the terrain.
My bare feet start to walk with purpose, trying to get to the woods.
Thank God it’s not snowing hard yet. My feet wouldn’t make it like this; they barely already are.
“I don’t think so,” a sinister voice sneers.
I keep moving forward, albeit slowly.
“ Dove .”
I shake my head as tears fall down my cheeks.
As I continue to walk through the pain as fast as I can, I know I’ll be taken again soon enough.
That’s when I remember everything.
Tom .
My neighbor Tom came to my house. As soon as I opened the door, he barged through, but that’s not the end of the nightmare.
“Get back here,” a different man shouts.
How am I in this nightmare?
I hear both of their steps quicken as they try to catch up to me. I know they’ll be able to at any moment.
“I shouldn’t have left. Look at this mess you’re making,” Tom says.
“Help!” I scream repeatedly.
Tom laughs maniacally behind me.
“There’s no one to hear your screams. You’re here with us,” he says.
His steps are quicker than mine, and suddenly, he has my hair in his grasp and is pulling me down to the ground.
I fall back, and all of the broken trees around me dig into my skin.
“Get up.”
“Why?” I cry.
He just laughs as he pulls my limp body up. My hands still being bound together isn’t doing me any favors.
“Why? What a question,” he says.
As he pulls me into his arms, he tosses me over his shoulder. I kick and scream while trying to pound on his back.
“I’ll kill you if you keep this up.”
I freeze in place.
“That’s it. Now you want to know why? That murderer can’t have you.”
The second man laughs as if Tom just told the most hilarious joke.
I struggle to get my head up but finally do just as we pass the other man, and he starts to walk with us back to the barn.
Nick .
Nick Livingston is kidnapping me with Tom.
Blood rushes to my head, and I feel lightheaded and as if I’m about to pass out while I’m processing what this means. It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Nick has barely talked to me in years outside of a few interactions. Why would he want to hurt me?
I stay still in hopes they’ll continue talking so I can learn more.
“I know your new boyfriend has been around these parts for some time. I didn’t quite figure it out until recently. He deserves to die for what he’s done.”
“He hasn’t done anything,” I retort weakly.
“He’s ruined this mountain. Sending the police on a wild goose chase, messing it all up. Then there’s you. You don’t belong to a man like that.”
“Tom,” Nick scolds.
“Don’t start that now. I told you we’d figure out who she belongs to with time. We had to get her away from Reid first.”
“Help!” I scream into the abyss.
Tom laughs wildly, and I realize I truly am alone. Nick stays silent as we continue the walk. There’s no way Reid will be able to find me out here. It’s impractical to think that anyone would come here.
Except, well… except for the fact that Reid did at one point too. When he buried Simon’s body, it wasn’t too far from where I am now. All I have is a hope that maybe Reid will think to check out here for me. Maybe he’ll think I came back to Simon’s grave because I’m having second thoughts.
Please let him think I’m having doubts so he’ll find me.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“We’re leaving town.”
“Why bring me here then?”
“I didn’t realize lover boy was going to leave you alone like that, so we had to act quickly. That’s when I thought I’d bring you to my special place. Nick was close by, so he diverted to us.”
The old barn.
I go limp against his back, and darkness starts to flood my eyes. I’m going under once again, and I can’t help it this time either.
“You told me she would be mine. What the fuck do you mean you want her for yourself?” Nick screams.
My eyes try to open, but I don’t have that kind of energy.
Tom’s laugh sounds sinister as I hear bags being loaded in a car parked inside the barn.
“Such a stupid boy. You really want to throw your life away for that piece of trash?”
“Trash? She’s such trash that you’re willing to give up your thirty-year marriage to Aunt Abigail?”
Nick is Tom’s nephew? I never knew.
“Don’t get smart with me now. We have to stick to the plan and then can deal with this little tantrum you’re throwing.”
“You’re a sick fuck. You know that, though, don’t you?” Nick shouts.
“Watch your tongue,” Tom scolds.
“Fuck this bullshit. You’re sick and disgusting. I thought you were trying to help me get the girl, but you’re just an asshole with a hard-on for your neighbor. I’m out of here.”
Looking through a sliver of what I can see, Nick’s feet are storming away and toward an open part of the barn. I don’t think it’s the same doorway.
“Get back here!” Tom screams.
Nick’s feet stop.
“Fuck you,” he spits out.
A loud gunshot booms, and I wince. The stinging from shutting my eyes is unbearable.
Trying to see what’s happening, I manage to open them slightly once again. That’s when I have to hold back from throwing up. Nick’s body is on the ground, and blood is flooding everywhere around it.
Feeling off-balance, I let my old friend darkness take over.
A loud commotion in the distance stirs me back awake.
As I start to open my eyes, I see flashes of what has to be fighting. My eyelids feel heavy, and the wet, sticky feeling keeping my right one closed seems to have hardened.
My arms and feet are bound together, and I soon realize I’m back in the same spot that I had fled away from, only this time, I’m tied to the pole I had been leaning against.
I don’t think I have any energy in me left to fight.
My eyes start to close again, and all I need is sleep.
“Baby, I’m here. I’m here. I’m here,” I hear being repeated.
My eyes try to flutter open, but I’m too weak to keep them that way.
“Reid,” I mumble.
“Little bird, I’m here. You have to stay with me. I can’t lose you. Please, stay awake. I’m here now, and I’ve got you,” Reid says.
I open my eyes and see the face of the man I thought I’d never see again.
“You found me.”
“In every lifetime, remember?”
I try to smile but start to cough.
“Easy, little bird.”
He starts to untie my bound feet, and I can’t wait to be free of these ropes.
“Reid,” I start.
That’s when I notice Tom is standing nearby.
“Reid! Behind you,” I croak.
Reid looks behind him right as Tom hits his shoulder with a wooden plank.
Tears form once again, and this nightmare feels like it’s never going to end.
“Please, stop. Just stop,” I wail.
I struggle against the restraints and try to help Reid. I see him trying to get up and glance up at Tom.
“Please. Stop.”
Tom has a gun in his hand, places it at the side of his head, then cocks it back and points it at Reid.
“No!” I plead.
Tom laughs maniacally as I try and lunge forward to break free.
“Have a nice sleep, Reid,” he sneers.
Another gunshot booms. A ringing sensation hits my ears, and I’d do anything to be able to cover them. My eyes shut for a moment before reopening because of a loud thud.
Tom is on the ground with blood spilling out of his dead body. His face is in the other direction, and I look around in disbelief to find who did it.
Standing in the doorway is my dear old neighbor.
“Abigail,” I breathe out.
Abigail falls to the ground with choked sobs. The gun in her hand falls to the floor next to her, and that’s when I realize it’s all over with.
“Thank you,” I whisper as I lean back against the pole.
The barn door flies open, and I’d recognize the man anywhere now. Jonas is here.
“Dove?” he calls out.
“Over here. I’m fine, but Reid,” I choke out.
He spots me and comes rushing over.
“Reid. I don’t know what’s wrong with Reid.”
I gesture with the top of my head to where he’s lying on the ground.
“Who killed Tom?”
“Abigail,” I whisper.
Jonas searches for Abigail and finds her still sobbing on the ground.
“Please, go check on Reid.”
He gets up and heads over to where he is. Jonas taps the side of his face and then checks for a pulse.
“The police are on the way,” he says.
“Is that good?”
“Yes, Dove. It’s good.”
“Okay,” I breathe out.
“Reid is going to be okay. I’m going to come untie you.”
Jonas comes over and unties all of the ropes binding me together and to the pole. I know I should rest, but I have to check on Abigail.
Standing upright, a rush of adrenaline keeps me going. I walk over to her and kneel next to her. Slowly, I rub her back.
“Abigail, thank you.”
She finally looks up at me through red-rimmed eyes.
“You’re like a daughter to me. I had no idea. Please believe me, I had no idea.”
“I do.”
She puts her face in her hands once more and starts saying nonsensical things to herself.
“I have to go check on Reid,” I whisper.
She nods, and I get up to go over to where he lies. Following the same pattern, I start to caress Reid’s side.
“Reid. Baby. It’s me. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”
He slowly stretches and falls to his back, and one eye, followed by the other, pops open.
One of his hands finds mine and takes it in his.
“Little bird, you’re alive.”
“Because of you.”
“Not a chance. You’re alive because of you.”
“I love you.”
“And I love you, little bird.”
Sirens in the distance grow louder, and I know he’s going to make it.
I’m lying in my own hospital bed with Jonas next to me. He’s stretched out in a chair that doesn’t fit his long frame. He’s been trying to come across as stoic, but I know he’s stressed out for his friend.
“He’ll be fine,” I offer.
“Of course he will be,” he retorts.
“Ms. Dove Barlowe?”
“Hi, yes, that’s me,” I answer the doctor coming into my hospital room.
“Mr. Samuels said you were his fiancée?”
A little stunned, I just smile and nod.
“I wanted to let you know he’s doing okay. He’ll be transferring floors soon, and then a nurse will bring you to visit.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“Two officers would like to speak to you if you’re willing. I can let them know you aren’t ready,” the doctor offers.
I look to Jonas, who gives me an encouraging nod.
“I can do that.”
“I’ll send them back,” the doctor says. He lingers for a moment.
“Is there anything else?”
“You’re very brave for what you just went through.”
I smile sweetly at him.
“Thank you.”
The doctor gives his clipboard a tap of his pen and then leaves. As he does, two officers come walking through the doorway—Officer Bonner being one of them.
“Dove Barlowe?” Officer Bonner asks, as if there is any question.
“Yes.”
“We’d like to get your statement.”
“Of course. First, do you know how Abigail is?”
Officer Bonner looks to the other officer before turning back to me.
“Yes, ma’am, she’s doing as good as can be.”
“Thank you,” I respond.
“We’d just like to get your statement, and then, when you’re up for it, we’ll ask you a few questions later this week.”
“Okay.”
Officer Bonner nods and then looks at his notebook.
“Can you please recall the incident yesterday to the best of your ability? Please take your time.”
I shuffle in my hospital bed to sit more upright. Jonas looks concerned, but I give him a reassuring smile that I’m fine.
Recounting the events as best as I can, I fill in some of the holes as to how Nick Livingston died and everything unraveled.
“Thank you, Ms. Barlowe. We appreciate your statement and wish you a quick recovery.”
“Thank you.”
Both officers start to head out of my hospital room when Office Bonner pauses and looks back around.
“I’m sorry for what you went through, but you got him. The man terrorizing the mountain is dead. You helped do that. Sleep well tonight, knowing that he’s gone.”
My eyebrows furrow together in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
Officer Bonner clears his throat and looks into the hallway.
“I’m not meant to tell you this, but we have strong reason to believe that Tom and Nick have done this before. We believe that one or both of them murdered the victim we found on the mountain.”
“You-you do?”
“Yes, it’s all but confirmed. I’m sure it’ll be a closed case soon.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
Officer Bonner nods and disappears out of my room.
“Ms. Barlowe, are you ready to see Mr. Samuels?” a nurse asks.
I look over to Jonas, who looks relieved that one of us will see him finally.
He gestures for me to go.
“I’ll be right back,” I say to him.
The nurse leads me to the floor where Reid is currently on. As she wheels me past a few rooms, I get nervous to see what kind of condition Reid is in.
Finally, in front of room 405, the nurse tells me I can go through alone. She opens it, and I wheel myself in.
As I do, I come around the corner to see Reid sitting up post-surgery. He smiles when he spots me.
“Reid,” I breathe out.
“Little bird, why are you in a wheelchair? Are you okay?” he asks, concerned.
“I’m fine,” I croak.
I rush to his side, and he leans forward as best he can to scoop my hands into his.
“It’s just because of all of the glass and rocks I walked on. My feet will be bandaged up for some time. How are… How are you?”
“Don’t worry about me, baby.”
“But I was. I was so worried.”
“I was too.”
“The doctor said everything went well with your surgery.”
“You’ve got me a bit longer.”
“Good. I want you forever.”
“I was hoping you would still feel that way.”
I look at him perplexed until he slides out a black velvet ring box.
As he opens it, I gasp when I see the shining diamond.
“What? How?” I ask, confused.
“Don’t underestimate me,” he says with a chuckle.
I wait for what comes next.
“Dove Barlowe, I’ve told you that you’re mine in this lifetime and the next. For as long as you hold the other half of my soul, it’s yours to do with as you please.”
“I promise to never take that for granted.”
A wide smile takes over my expression and Reid’s automatically too.
“Marry me.”
“That wasn’t a question.”
Reid smirks as he takes the diamond out of the box.
“I wasn’t asking.”
He slips it on my ring finger, and I know we’re it for each other, forever.