Chapter 2 – Six Years Ago - Almost 15 #3
Out of pure desperation, I ended up calling my friend Brenda, knowing I couldn’t call Raph just in case his father was there and he mentioned my name.
She was my best friend and the only other person I could trust. She told me to find a ride to a house she owns in the middle of nowhere, not too far from where I was.
It was left to her in her grandparents’ will, but she already lived with her husband, so it was empty after the last tenant moved out.
It was a peaceful two weeks there, but when there was a knock on the door, I just knew. They’d found me.
So I grabbed my go bag off the table and ran out barefoot from the back door. But as soon as I made it into the woods behind the house, he was following me. I don’t even know what he looks like, except that he wants me and he won’t stop until he has what he wants.
I’m breathless, tightly grasping the handle of the small duffle bag slung around my shoulder while I keep running. My calves ache, the soles of my feet throbbing with agonizing pain. I’d imagine they’re bleeding from all of the branches and rocks that have cut into them.
But I have to make it out of here, no matter what condition I’m in when I do. Eventually the woods have to end. Right? Someone has to be on the other side of them.
After running for what feels like a mile, I pause when I see a small flicker of light through the clearing. I don’t even know if it’s real. My eyes grow wide and hope springs to life, and I dash toward it. My pulse fills my ears with renewed fervor. It’s my only chance at survival.
And with every step, the light source gets closer. It teases me, flickering in between the sliver of trees. If I can just get there and beg for help, maybe I can get a message out to Raph and have him come get me.
I can no longer hear the man or his footsteps. Maybe I lost him. But when I take another step, sharp pain registers at the back of my head like something hard and heavy hit me.
I tumble, my eyelids fluttering and my vision growing blurry. I slam to the ground, feeling his weight on top of me. Through the slits in my eyes, I find a shadow looming above me.
Is this how it ends? Dead in the woods all alone? I’ve barely lived. I’ve never finished college, never saw the world, never been loved. Never felt his hands on me, never felt him inside me. I’d do anything to hear him tell me he loves me just once before I die.
Raph…
The only man who meant anything and everything. Now I’ll never get to tell him how I truly feel. How I felt when he stopped being my friend.
And in this moment, a heaviness settles over my heart.
Because in this instant, all I can see is him.
Those near-obsidian eyes haunt me as though they’re staring right back at me, his smile warm, that thin stubble around his perfectly sculpted jaw I want to feel beneath my fingertips. It’s like he’s right here.
I surrender to the vision, my soul carried away to a time and place where we’ll laugh together freely and completely.
My heart swells when I recall him telling me to keep my head up when I felt invisible around my family.
Because he understood how it felt. His father was cruel to him.
We were the same that way. He never had a good memory between the two of them, and it made me sad for him.
Because Raph was the best man I ever knew.
How could two people with so much love to give feel so unloved?
I’ll miss him with my entire heart. Foolishly, I once thought I stood a chance with him.
What a na?ve girl I was, creating a future that’d never exist. Even in death, he was hers.
He’d never be mine. I sometimes regret not telling him about all her lies, but I couldn’t hurt him. He didn’t deserve that.
But he didn’t deserve to marry a liar either.
“Finally,” the monster above me whisper-shouts.
His hand snaps to my neck, squeezing it until I lose all ability to breathe. I gasp for air that never comes, clawing at his arm. The burning in my chest spreads until life slowly starts to wither away.
But that gets my adrenaline pumping and my body fighting. I kick up my foot, connecting my knee to his groin. It causes him to drop his clasp off me and gives me the chance to slowly get to my feet. And when I glance toward the light, I realize it’s not there anymore.
Damn it. Did I imagine it? Is my mind playing tricks on me?
I start to back away, trying to make a run for it.
“You little bitch!” he roars, whipping out a gun.
When I snap my eyes to him, I finally see what he looks like: black hair slicked back and brown eyes, I think. It’s still too dark to make that out. He’s huge, though. Tall. Built like a linebacker.
I don’t stand a chance.
“Please!” I beg, fresh tears welling in my eyes. “Please don’t kill me. I won’t say a word. Tell him…” I pant. “Tell him I won’t say a word to anyone.”
His mouth bends into a horror-filled sneer. “I don’t make negotiations.” He raises his gun until it’s level to my head. “I’ll make it quick only ’cause I like you.”
My lower lip quivers on the spot, tears sloping down my cheeks. And that’s when I accept it.
The fight…it leaves me. I’m so tired. How long can I run? It’s time to accept that even in death, my sister found a way to ruin my life.
Slowly, my eyelids flutter to a tight close, and with a deep inhale, I prepare to die.
One. Two. Three. I count until I get to six, and that’s when I hear the sound…
Pop.
A bullet rips through the air, and my left shoulder instantly erupts in the most agonizing pain. I let out a scream as I stumble back, and when my eyes fly toward the hit man, I see someone else there.
A man. Someone I’ve never seen before. Is he here to hurt me too? He’s just as tall as the other one, but his build is leaner. There’s something cold in his dark eyes as he stares at me while choking my killer to death. His forearm clutches the man around his throat while the man thrashes.
The stranger keeps his gaze glued to mine and doesn’t even blink. Goose bumps scatter down my entire body.
I have someone else to fear now. Maybe Giancarlo sent two men, and this one actually can get the job done faster.
Liquid trickles down my arm, but I don’t have time to figure out whether it’s blood. I have to get out of here. My heartbeats pump like a stampede.
I step back, once, twice, my chest rising and falling as I do.
But I don’t get far. My foot hits something hard, and I fall backward until darkness swallows me whole.
And this time, I think I’m done for.