Chapter 15 Aria
ARIA
Igaze at Frankie, taking in her frantic movements as she paces the length of the cabin.
Her brows are furrowed as she scans the place again.
She’s already put out the fire, but she seems stuck in a loop, searching for something I’m not privy to.
The soles of her shoes plod across the wood as her head swoops while she murmurs to herself.
It doesn’t matter what she’s looking for, because this moment is perfect. She’s no longer paying attention to me, which means now is my chance to try and loosen the knot around my hands. I did it once before. I can do it again.
Keeping my eyes ahead, I watch her as she scurries around the vicinity in yet another lap, and I work my wrists against the rope, twisting carefully until I manage to get the tiniest bit of slack. Perfect.
She crouches near the worn leather couch.
Then a sharp exhale lets me know she’s found what she’s looking for as she comes back up with a duffle bag in her grasp.
As she’s unzipping it, she takes hurried steps back to the table crammed in the corner, and raises a knee to balance the bag on as she uses the crook of her arm to shuffle the rest of the water bottles and food packets inside.
As I continued to rotate my wrists in slow, measured movements, Frankie finishes up loading the bag, then turns to look at me. My hands freeze.
“Come on, I think he’s here,” she says from across the room.
Then I hear it, the sound of tires screeching across gravel, and my heart soars to such an extreme that it’s all I hear for a minute.
Seconds later, a single honk jolts us both into action, her rushing to the door with the duffle bag strapped across her chest, and me as I quickly twist the ropes taut so they won’t bring attention to themselves.
Her eyes flick back to me, eyebrows arched like she can’t believe I didn’t hear her the first time. “Hurry up, we don’t have all day.”
The static in my ears amplifies. She shoots me another look that in any other circumstance would irk me, but I decide to swing my legs off the mattress when she takes a half-step toward me, quickly deciding I don’t want her to get a close-up view of the ropes.
My legs shake under my weight, but I push myself forward, taking small, reluctant steps until I reach the doorway. She swings it open and motions for me to go first. A rush of panic hits me, stealing my breath. It takes everything in me not to bolt past her, knowing it won’t end well.
Outrunning his car is impossible. My options are limited. If he comes after me, I’ll lose the one advantage I have.
I glance at my hands for just a beat, then lift my gaze to step outside for the first time in what feels like forever, my hands snaking as far between my legs as I can get them, searching for warmth in the harsh winter weather.
The cold wind whips around, stirring my loose strands into an even bigger bird’s nest over my shoulders. But that’s nothing compared to the feel of my bare feet touching the frosted pebbles as we walk across the gap between the cabin and the car.
She wrenches the back door open, and I hesitate a second too long before her hands press into my back.
I duck my head and climb inside, slowly and reluctantly.
My throat is uncomfortably tight as I sneak a look over to the driver’s seat.
He doesn’t meet my eyes, head dipped low, fingers digging into the steering wheel.
Frankie slides in after me, then jerks the door shut. The lock flicks up and the engine revs, sending prickles of unease across my body. He’s alone. The passenger seat’s empty. He backs out in a hurry, the force swinging my head back into the headrest.
Where are we going?
Frankie drums her fingers over her knees, her eyes on her brother as he plunges us deeper into the forest trees on a downhill slope.
“So, what now?” she asks with a tremor.
Swallowing against the roughness in my throat, I lean closer to the chilled window at my side, my pulse thumping steadily in my ears as I listen. Maybe if I’m still enough, they’ll forget I’m here.
“Not now, Frankie,” he clips.
She blows out a frustrated breath, but I avoid turning my head to look at her. Instead, I keep myself flush to the side door, my arms tucked at an angle, out of sight.
She continues to press him for answers. “But we’re going to go back for Tanner, right?”
“Not with you two I’m not,” he says.
“Well, where the hell are you taking us, then?” she snaps back, her voice edged with a bite only a sibling would have.
I keep myself curled up small as we break out of the trees, the heavy shadows falling away into open sunlight as the tires ease onto smooth asphalt.
The cabin’s a distant memory now.
A shudder jerks down my back, twitchy and sudden, like a fish flailing out of water. It’s gone before anyone notices.
Something really bad is happening.
All I know is, I don’t want to stick around long enough to see what goes down.
“Sit tight and you’ll find out,” he grits out, his voice all gravel.
She keeps quiet, slumping back in her seat. Her huff is drowned out by the first splatter of raindrops, and within seconds, it racks up to a heavy downpour, battering the roof with relentless force.
My head grows heavy as it rests against the window’s deep vibrations, my pulse syncing with the steady beat of the rain. Praying that I’ll somehow make it out of this before it’s too late.
Something crinkles beside me. The noise repeats again until I’ve fully stirred myself back to consciousness. I shift in my seat where I’ve slumped over, unsure of how long ago I drifted off. My neck is stiff from the awkward angle it hung in.
It’s gotten dark. And quiet.
Then that same crinkle comes back around.
Bleary-eyed, I turn to follow it, my gaze landing on the brown paper bag on Frankie’s lap. She doesn’t notice me staring, her head tilted the other way to watch out the window, her leg sporadically bouncing.
Besides the bag, everything is still. Too still.
It stopped raining sometime while I was out. Water still streaks the windows as I peer over her shoulder, then catch a faint glow of a supermarket on the far side of the lot. My heart thuds. I shoot a quick glance to the front and find the driver’s seat empty.
This is it.
This is the moment I’ve been hoping for.
I almost can’t believe it, except when I glance out the window again, scanning, I don’t see him. It’s too dark. Most of what I make out is the glistening sheen coating the concrete from the flickering street lights nearby.
The market’s not even a hundred feet away.
This is my chance. I need to move before it’s gone.
Jerking my head back to my thighs, I don’t waste another second twisting my wrists into a spiral motion until I can get my hands through the ropes.
The friction leaves a harsh imprint, but it’s worth it once I’ve gotten myself free.
I must have hissed at the burn during the process because Frankie snaps her head back in a startle. Her eyes narrow on my hands.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
I don’t answer.
Her next string of words drifts away, replaced by the blood thundering in my ears, the adrenaline spiking through me as I toss the ropes aside.
I’m too close to screw this up again.
I can taste it in the sweat lining the corners of my lips as I go to wet them, feel it in the way my heartbeat slams against my ribs, and see it in the soft blue light ahead. Freedom. Just a few feet away.
I hold my breath, trapping the air in my lungs, then sling my ropes aside and jam the lock open. The car horn blares, the sharp noise propelling me to action as I wrench the door open and run.
My heart jackhammers in my chest, lungs burning from the freezing air as I sprint across the waterlogged pavement.
My feet pound against the wet ground. Wet puddles splash against my shins, but I don’t let it slow me down. But then the horn cuts off. The sudden quiet is almost more unnerving than the loud noise.
Stupidly, and without thinking it through, I glance over my shoulder, my eyes bouncing around in the dark until they land on him. He’s close.
I feel a wave of sickness hit me, and then before I know it, I trip, skittering close to the ground but somehow catching the fall at the last second.
Shooting pain breaks out in my knee, but I quickly pick my pace back up, wincing through the rest of the distance.
I’m not going to make it into the shop in time.
Unable to accept defeat, I frantically search for help around me. Only a handful of cars are within reach, sparsely spread out, but only one has its taillights on. It’s not too far. I can make it.
Resisting the urge to look back again, I force my way through the breeze blasting against me until I’m an arm’s length from the bumper.
I instantly collapse against the trunk, wheezing as I wrap an arm around my ribcage. God, it hurts.
“Help,” I gasp, my voice small. I’m too breathless to make it louder than a whisper. Using what’s left of my strength, I bang against the smooth metal, then drag myself around to the front.
There’s a sudden click before the window winds down halfway. “Are you okay?” the guy behind the wheel asks. His tawny mop of curls and lanky frame make him look young, maybe teenaged.
His brows knit together as his gaze trails down my body, deepening his frown once he reaches my bare feet. My toes curl inward, stinging as they go numb.
My chest heaves, struggling to catch my breath, a hand still pressed to my ribcage. “Please…I need…”
Help.
I’m wheezing, the word lodged in my throat.
His eyes shift away from me, his pupils dilating, and I know what’s behind me. I didn’t need to look.
“Do you need something?” the driver asks, his chin raised, though his voice cracks at the end.
“Sorry, it’s my sister,” Ledger’s voice vibrates from behind me.
My breath shallows, muscles locking into place.
I should say something. Anything. But the words are too thick for me to form, my throat knotted tight. Then I stiffen, the words completely smothered away at the feel of a sharp point digging into my spine.
“Is she okay?” the guy asks. “Am I being punked or something?” His head twists around like he’s searching for a camera, but there’s nothing there.
The streetlamp buzzes, too loud against the silence.
I jerk when the blade pushes deeper into me, a clear warning, just before a long arm swing over my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. “She’s fine, just gets overwhelmed easily.”
The way he says it makes my skin crawl, his tone holding a subtle mock, directed at my failed attempt to run away. Again.
“She doesn’t look fine to me.”
I hold my breath.
“Look, I didn’t want to say anything, but…” Ledger leans closer to whisper, his voice brushes my ear, the tension sinking like an electric current down my spine. “It’s the drugs.”
What did he just say?
Drugs?
The guy’s mouth rounds into an O, brows arched ridiculously high as the words sink in.
My hands ball into tight fists, my chin quivering as I dip my head out of view—like I have anything to be ashamed of. But the shame runs deeper than simply being humiliated in front of some stranger; it’s rooted in my failure. Again. This time, like a hammer to a nail.
How much of this comes down to fate?
Maybe it was always my cross to carry. I can’t force anyone else’s trajectory, no matter how hard I try. It was never really up to me in the first place.
Maybe escaping the will of the universe is just too grand for anyone, let alone a girl like me. It’s brutal and unfair. But that’s life.
It took long enough, but I’m starting to realize resistance is never going to save me from the path I’ve been given. Fighting it only makes the outcome hurt worse.
Like mother, like daughter. I guess life never really gave us a real chance.
When Ledger speaks above me again, I barely register it. I feel numb. His arms still snaked tight around me. “Well,” he says before breathing through his teeth. “We better get going. Sorry to disturb you.”
The sear in my chest turns to a dull ache as their exchange funnels through my ears unintelligibly. His nod looks a little out of focus in my vision.
“Stay away from drugs, kid,” the driver reprimands.
I recoil deeper into myself. My eyes blur over as I take my final glance inside the car, still holding out for hope that he’ll notice something off and stop us, but he doesn’t. The windows roll back up and I’m being steered further from the white beacon of hope that was the beat up, compact Toyota.
A tear warms my cheek, then quickly followed by another as I look around for anyone that can help. But I’m only met with more suffocating silence.
The white Toyota pulls out of its parking spot, and I watch out of the corner of my eyes as it drives off, taking my fragile hope along with it. I don’t really blame him for not wanting to get involved. Something like this would’ve freaked anyone out, especially at night in an empty parking lot.
It wouldn’t have ended well for either of us. Deep down, I knew that from the moment he caught up to me. You can’t escape the will of the universe, remember?
“That was stupid. Real stupid,” he says over my head, his knife hidden in his sleeve still at my backside.
I bite the inside of my cheek to hold in a sob that’s climbing up my throat, but a few choked whimpers slip through anyway.
We pass his BMW. Confused, I twist my neck to the side and squint through its windows, but nobody is inside. “What’s…Where are we going?”
He steers me toward a grey, paint-chipped Mazda, then yanks it open before forcefully pushing me inside without another word.
The door slams behind me and I break, unable to hold back the steady stream of tears anymore, each ragged breath hitting my body hard. I can’t stop any of it, and I don’t try to anymore.
Frankie cups a hand over her mouth but doesn’t say anything as Ledger shoves a key into the ignition to get the car started.
A car that I have no idea how he broke into or if anyone was hurt in the process of obtaining it.
Nothing good will come out of asking, so I don’t.
He would either respond with silence or something worse.
I turn to face away from Frankie’s scrutiny and glance out the window.
Tremors continuing to tear through me between every shallow breath and gut-wrenching cry.
It’s the only sound that fills the car as we go over a speed bump, as we drift further and further away until the glitching glow of the supermarket sign fades from view.