15. Back to Reality
Chapter fifteen
Back to Reality
DELANE
“Is she leaving so soon?”
Noah tightened his grip on my hand and I flinched from the sudden force.
“She doesn’t have to.”
My eyes flew up to his.
Red. Frightening.
Foreign in color. Like a demon.
He was holding the gun again, but this time, it was pointed at me.
“Well, I suppose we can have some extra fun this time.” Silas chuckled darkly, approaching me.
“Yes, let’s,” Noah sneered.
The escape, the car, seemed to be so far away.
“Why are you doing this, Noah? I thought you were helping me!” I cried, thrashing against his hold.
He pulled me closer, his grip so tight, my arm felt as though it would break at any moment. I wanted to scream but the words stayed stuck in my throat, yelling in my mind but silent to the world around me.
I felt his face close to my ear, and I shuddered, knowing the pain was inevitable. Why in the world would I trust this man? Why had I even stepped into his car?
“Mommy should have told you,” Noah whispered softly. The familiar sound of a zipper going down caused me to stiffen. “Never trust strangers.”
I screamed.
When I opened my eyes, I was sunk into my mattress like a ton of weights pressing down on my chest. Sweat. I was covered in it.
Had everything been a dream?
Or in my case...
...a nightmare?
I remembered the black sedan.
I remembered Silas’s face.
“Delane.”
It seemed as though he knew his very existence frightened me, for my name spewed out of his mouth with venom, fierce and vicious.
And he was right. Standing next to him was like being side by side with the Devil.
I remembered running. For a brief time, I thought that Silas could have been after me as I ran to the car.
However, when I was safe, and looked backwards, they were both in the same spot, unmoving.
Noah had appeared happy that I was going.
He must have been relieved that I was safe.
He came to terms with the fact that sleeping with that monster was his fate, and he did that for me without anything in return.
So why was my brain painting him as the criminal? As the one I should be afraid of?
Stranger. My mind threw back in.
I was drunk, and scared, I considered. Noah saved me, kept me warm and safe.
My conscience wasn’t having it. And you practically jumped in his car, admired his beauty, followed him through darkness, witnessed him with a weapon...
I knew he was afflicted. Something about his family was just...off.
And I stayed.
Like a fool.
But I was safe. Noah was the reason I was okay, and my virtue spared. I felt stubborn and grateful at the same time. What if one thing had gone wrong, and he took you back to his house to have his way with you? What if he was worse than Silas?
But the biggest of all...
Why did he seem afraid for me, but not for himself?
I had too many questions, but was fine with having none of them answered. My half asleep mind was whirling with uncertainty. It wasn’t like I would ever see Noah Hansen again, I thought bitterly. Besides, I had no desire to seek him out knowing that Silas might be close by.
I felt a rough chill go up my spine, the kind that tingled up the neck, bringing forth a jolt of my muscles. I rolled over to face my window. It was as if someone was watching me from behind the glass, their eyes glued to my half-clothed form.
Was this just a side effect of my traumatic experience, or was there really someone outside?
Staring at me?
I rose slowly from my bed and crept to the window. It was shut tightly, I noted mentally, and the sun was edging its way into the sky. What was there to fear?
RING. RING. RING.
I jumped and spun around to see my mom’s home phone lit up in green, ringing louder than it ever had before.
My mom had never really wanted to get rid of the thing, despite having a cell phone, and we rarely used it.
It took me a second to catch my breath and let my heart fall back down to its normal rate.
Unknown Caller, flashed on the tiny screen.
I glanced at the clock and wondered who could be calling at six in the morning.
I decided that whoever the caller was could just leave a message. To call someone this early was ridiculous, and unless it was an emergency, they could just leave a voicemail.
I sighed and started to dress for my early college class, anxiously waiting for the last ‘ring’, wondering if the caller would leave a message or just hang up.
My mom’s same standard professional tone came through the speaker:
“Hello, you’ve reached the Marsh Household. Leave a message after the tone and we will get back to you as soon as possible.” Then my voice followed by laughter, “Or not!”
BEEP.
Silence.
I groaned and walked over to her phone, its light flashing red as it saved nothing. Now I was going to have to delete a useless message. Jerks.
“What a cute little greeting you have there.”
I froze.
Him.
“Don’t worry, I’m not coming after you or anything, sweetheart. The trade has been made for your safety.”
I sucked in a breath. So Noah had...
“And what a trade it was.”
I cringed.
“Just, think of this as...a warning.”
My knees trembled. This wasn’t a warning.
This was a threat.
“Stay away from Noah. He helped you once. You have no need for his company or luxuries any longer. And you will not tell him about this message.”
My whole body was petrified. Should I pick the phone up? How in the world did he have this number? Half the time, I couldn’t remember this house number to save my own skin, so how did he manage to get his hands on this information, and so quickly?
I looked back out the window, my eyes wide. Did he know where I lived as well? The fear of my family’s safety now flashed through me.
“You should thank me, honestly. We wouldn’t want something else to happen to that pretty little face again, would we?”
I shuddered, taking a long look at myself in the mirror. The scratches were beginning to fade, but my eye was still swollen, healing slowly and painfully. I remembered the punch clearly in my mind as I touched the sensitive bruising.
“Heh. How is that eye feeling?”
My skin grew cold and my heart sank into my stomach.
He could see me.
A sudden burst of adrenaline surged through my veins and I tripped over my own feet to get to the window. I ripped the blinds shut. Was he out there? Was that the prickling feeling I felt slither up my spine?
“Are you scared?”
My chest swelled with each breath I took. I searched around once again, the silence screaming at me. I was alone here. There was no one for me to lean on for support. Scared was an understatement.
“A poor, defenseless woman like you? You must be terrified.”
He said he wasn’t coming after me, but there was no way I would ever trust him.
He’s trying to scare you away from Noah, my mind whispered. But why?
“I wonder...are you alone?” A throaty chuckle came from the small speakers.
That’s it.
I grabbed the phone off of its hand set, placing it to my ear.
It was quiet except for the calm breathing on the other end. I knew he was still there. Probably smiling.
“How–” I bit my lip to keep it from trembling. “How did you get this number?”
The line went dead.