21. Kennedy
CHAPTER 21
KENNEDY
A fire crackles in the small fireplace, casting the tiny living room of the cabin in a soft orange glow.
Olivia is staring at the window even though the curtains are so thick you can’t see anything through them. Her blonde hair is back in a tight braid, her eyes just as hollow as they were that first night she came back from spring break.
“Yahtzee!” Brietta announces, her short, black hair swaying as she does a little victory dance in her chair. She’s won the last three rounds, and I know she’s trying to keep our morale up, but we’re slowly losing it a bit more each day.
I can still appreciate her attempt, though.
“I was close,” my dad says as he pushes his glasses back up on his nose.
“You were close last time, too,” Mikey replies with a grin.
“I was,” my dad insists then shoulder-bumps me. “Tell him, Dee.”
“He was close,” I say and try to fake a smile of my own. It’s been three weeks trapped in this house. Three weeks of sitting here, unable to do anything or even see the sunshine. My mom’s been in a depression since the start of week two and barely says anything all day.
She just sits in the corner quietly, clutching her Bible to her chest.
“Everyone needs to get to bed,” Vincent announces as he stands. He didn’t play the last round with us, his own mood faltering today. He’s been a bit off since this morning. “It’s late, and tomorrow might be the day we all get to get out of here.”
It’s been the same hopeful statement every single day since we arrived.
Tomorrow might be the day we get out of here. What a joke. No one will even give my parents or me any clear answers as to just what is going on, and Olivia’s certainly not talking about it. She’s barely said anything to me in a month.
“Come on, Dee, let’s get you settled.” My dad stands and wraps his arm around me. I give in to the hug, breathing in the scent of his familiar embrace. Getting to spend more time with my parents has been the only good that has come out of this whole nightmare.
And hopefully, soon, we’ll be able to go back to our normal lives. I haven’t had the chance to tell them that I’ve decided to take a semester off from college so we can be together outside of this place. Maybe we can go to the lake. Spend some time fishing.
“You doing okay?” he asks me as soon as we’ve waved good night to everyone and headed down the hall toward the room I’m sharing with Olivia. We pass the closed door of the room he and my mom are in, and I long to push inside and curl up next to my mother.
“As good as I can be. You?”
“Doing okay. I never thought I’d be ready to get back to work, but here I am.”
I laugh. “That’s how I feel about studying.”
“What a pathetic pair we are,” he replies with a gentle squeeze. “I love you, kiddo. You know that, right?”
“I do. Always.”
“Good.” He leans in and presses a kiss to my forehead. “See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning.”
After changing and brushing my teeth in the bathroom attached to our room, I head into the bedroom to see that Olivia is lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. The room is dark except for the small nightlight near the bedroom door. I pull the covers of the small twin bed back and lie down, clutching them to my chest.
“Do you think things will ever be normal again?” I ask aloud.
“No,” Olivia replies.
Before I can respond and beg her to just tell me what’s going on, someone yells just outside of our room. Olivia jumps up, and I do the same. A gunshot booms through the room, and I cover my mouth on a cry.
Olivia’s expression turns terrified, and she lunges for me.
My mom screams, and my blood turns to ice.
“Mom!” I yell and rush for the door.
Olivia grabs me around the waist and pulls me back. “You can’t help them. Not now.”
“Let me go!” I try to squirm free. I have to do something. Anything.
Heavy boots thud down the hall.
Olivia pushes me into the closet and rips a chain over her neck. She shoves it into my hands. “Do not let them get this. They’re coming for me, okay? Not you. They don’t know this exists, and you have to keep it that way. Wait until you find someone you trust. Someone who can help.”
The door handle shakes.
“Hide, Kennedy. Please. I’m so sorry. I love you. You’re my best friend.” Her eyes fill. “Hide. Stay hidden. Then run as fast as you can.”
I duck down into the closet and slip the USB drive over my neck. I’m too afraid to speak, to do anything but wait for this nightmare to end so I can get to my parents. Please don’t let them be dead. Please.
Olivia shuts the closet door seconds before someone walks into the room.
“You?” she asks.
“Sorry, kid, it’s not personal.”
I jump and choke on a scream when the gun goes off and a loud thud echoes from the floor.
Holding my breath, I remain hidden in the dark until the closet door opens. Vincent looks down at me, his eyes cold. Blood is splattered over his clothes, and he raises his gun toward me. “This isn’t personal, kid,” he says. “But I needed the money.”
I scream as a gunshot rings out. I expect pain but feel none, and when I open my eyes again, it’s to see Vincent falling to the side, Brietta standing behind him. She lowers her gun and falls to her knees, clutching her blood-soaked chest.
“Brietta!” I rush out of the closet and fall to my knees, tears streaming down my face.
“You have to run, kid.”
“I can’t leave my parents, you—” I trail off as I look down at Olivia’s body, her eyes frozen open. It all starts to set in.
She’s dead.
They’re dead.
Bile burns my throat, and I have to force it back down.
“There’s nothing you can do for them now, honey.” She reaches toward me and hands me a Bible. It’s only when I see it up close that I realize it’s my mom’s. Then, she cups my cheek with one hand. “I’m so sorry we let you down. But you must run now. Run and wait until you find someone you can trust.”
“I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what’s going on.” I sob, my shoulders shaking.
“You’re smart. You’ll figure it out. But he’s already called them. They’re coming, and if you’re here when they get here—” Headlights pass through the crack in our curtains. “They’re here.” Brietta stumbles to her feet and locks the door then crosses the room and uses her elbow to break the window since they’ve all been sealed shut.
“I can’t go. I don’t know where I’m going. I have nothing.” Panic sets in as the adrenaline surges once more.
Brietta grips my face with her hands. “Kennedy. Listen to me. You are going to climb out of that window, and you are going to make it. I will buy you time. Okay?”
I nod, even though I’m still not entirely sure what I’m even agreeing to. Everyone I know is gone. Where am I supposed to go? Who am I supposed to trust?
“Good.” She retrieves the firearm she set on the nightstand and stands.
The front door opens. “He did a number on this place,” a man says.
“Go,” Brietta orders as she tugs the curtains farther out of my way.
“Bodies here!” someone calls out. “Looks like the brat’s roommates’ parents.”
I climb up onto the nightstand. My leg is just barely swinging over the jagged edges of what’s left of the window when someone tries the handle.
“I think someone’s still breathing in here.” The man laughs, and the door splinters. Brietta shoves me the rest of the way out of the window, and the glass rips my forearm open. I stifle a cry as I hit the bushes then bounce up and start running as gunshots ring out behind me.