Chapter Fifteen
Chapter
Fifteen
Emily
Ihad no idea how long I had been trapped. After I finished crying, I went back to banging on the stair door, but it didn’t take long for me to realize how fruitless that had been. Nobody could hear because no one ever took the stairs. Why would they?
After banging so long that my hands hurt, I decided to try to pry open the call box, hoping to see if the wires were just disconnected. But after breaking a couple of fingernails without making even the tiniest crack in the box, it finally occurred to me to try to find some tools.
I headed back to the lobby to take a closer look at the construction area.
The lighting was too dim to see anything clearly.
Looking towards the thick dropcloths blocking the sunlight, I rushed over to the windows.
Grabbing the heavy material with both hands, I pulled hard.
The covers came loose from the windows where they’d been taped into place.
A small bit of construction dust billowed up, making my nose itch.
With sunlight pouring into the room, I was able to look around for tools, but other than used paintbrushes that should have been tossed out and a couple of used wooden stir sticks coated in paint, there was nothing.
I couldn’t find a single screwdriver left behind.
I shouted in frustration. I thought about finding a metal paint can opener to pry open the call box, but I even came up empty-handed there, too.
I went back to the stairwell door, but even with the covers off the windows, not much light made it into the back hallway where the door was located.
So I sat there like I had before, my back against the door, my head resting against my arms that were crossed across my knees, and prayed, not to a god, but to Brandon and Brayden.
“Please, come find me. I’m so sorry I didn’t trust you,” I sobbed. “I promise that I will give us a chance. I want what you’re offering me.”
As I sat there in the dim light on the cold floor, surrounded by those empty papers, I thought about Brayden’s wicked words as they played with my body.
I thought of them filling me up. They wanted to give me a baby, to make us a family.
I thought of them giving back to me what I had lost all those years ago.
I couldn’t help but think of that night. It had all started that day, that cold winter day when it had been snowing harder than any other so far that season. My family had been so excited.
“It’s the perfect day to go skiing!” Mom laughed, her pretty brown eyes sparkling with her excitement in the firelight as I sat on the couch with a book in my lap.
I shook my head and tugged the throw blanket further over my lap, and glanced at the fireplace, hoping there were enough logs that I wouldn’t have to go out to the shed to retrieve more. “No way. I didn’t wanna go. It’s too cold. I want to stay home and finish my book where it’s warm and safe.”
My older brother, Todd, reached over the back of the couch and ruffled my curls before flipping a lock of my hair into my face, making me scowl back at him as I attempted to swat him away.
“You’re such a party pooper, Em. You should take a chance every once in a while.
Have some fun! You might find that you actually enjoy yourself. ”
“Leave your sister alone,” my dad said in an amused tone as he walked into the room.
He walked over to where I was trying to smooth back my hair after Todd had messed up my curls, making them wild.
It was his favorite way of torturing me.
“We’d love for you to join us, but it’s okay if you don’t want to,” he said gently.
“I appreciate it, Dad. I really just want to stay here, though,” I promised with a smile.
“Okay, sweetheart.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “We’ll be back later tonight.”
Mom walked over and sat by my hip on the couch.
“There’s leftover chili in the fridge when you get hungry.
” She eyed me. “One day you’re going to find something special,” she began, her words coming out soft, gentle, but they made me stop reading.
I set my book down in my lap and gave her my full attention.
She smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.
“When that something special comes along, I want you to take a chance, honey. It will be the biggest leap of faith you’ve ever taken.
It will be scary, but I promise,” she cupped my cheek, and as I watched, her eyes glistened in the firelight as they filled with tears. “I promise you, it will be worth it.”
I would have said anything to her in that moment just to take that haunted look off her face. I didn’t know why she seemed so sad all of a sudden, but whatever it was, it was important to her. “Okay, Mom. I promise.”
She leaned in and gave me a hug. I squeezed her back, relishing in her embrace. “That’s my girl,” she said. Then she booped me on the nose with her fingertip. “It’s okay, Emily. Life is going to be beautiful,” she whispered.
Then, after she kissed my cheek, she rose from the couch. Not long after that, the three of them left to head up the mountain to go skiing.
I was asleep on the couch, having finished my book a short time before, when the doorbell woke me up.
I had been confused when I noticed red lights flashing against the walls, lighting up the living room through the large window overlooking the front yard.
I hesitantly cracked the door open to see two police officers standing on the doorstep.
I’d learned that my family had hit a patch of black ice on their way back down the mountain after a fun day of skiing. The car slid off the road after losing control. After rolling down a hill, they ended up upside down in the icy river below. My entire family drowned.
What I had to live with was the realization that the only reason I was alive while my whole family was dead was that I didn’t want to spend the day with them. Instead of going out into the cold, I wanted to stay home where it was nice and warm... and safe.
That was how I lived my life for the last few years. I stayed in my safe bubble, not daring to take a chance, knowing that the worst could happen.
Until Brandon and Brayden came into it.
Now, I decided I no longer want to stay in my little bubble, where it was safe but also dreadfully dull and boring.
I never forgot my mother’s last words to me.
“Life is going to be beautiful.” I often couldn’t sleep without replaying that whole last day in my mind at least once.
But it was her words that brought tears to my eyes and hope to my heart.
“When that something special comes along, I want you to take a chance, honey. It will be the biggest leap of faith you’ve ever taken.
It will be scary, but I promise, it will be worth it. ”
I wanted to be loved, and if that meant taking a chance, wouldn’t it be worth it?
“Please find me,” I whispered into the darkness.
I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming as I heard a sound that sounded like the elevator doors opening, since I’d been listening to the sound of the motor running all day.
Each time, the lift went up and down past the floor, but never stopped on it.
As I heard my name being yelled out, my heart began to beat against my rib cage so hard that it was almost painful.
“I’m here!” I croaked out, my voice raspy from the strain I’d put on it after yelling at the stairwell door for hours. “I’m here!” I tried again, as I struggled to my feet. “I’m here! Brandon, Brayden, I’m here!”
“I think I hear her!” I heard Brayden say, his usually whiskey-smooth voice sounding frantic.
“I’m here!” I stumbled, my hand dragging against the wall.
My legs were numb from sitting for so long, and I was having trouble holding my weight.
I wanted to curse at the weakness. Without giving my body time to recover, I tried to run.
Before I could take more than a few stumbling steps, strong arms caught me, and I was wrapped up tight against a hard, warm chest. I pressed my face against the shirt and took a deep inhale, taking the scent of Brandon Lane into my lungs.
A second pair of arms wrapped me from behind, and Brayden’s chest pressed tight against my back. Together, they enveloped me, warming my cold body.
“Sunshine.”
“There’s my sweet girl.”
One nose in my neck behind my ear, the other against my cheek as they both breathed me in as if they couldn’t get enough of me.
“Mr. Lane,” I choked out.
“Shhh, sweetness. We’ve got you.”
“Nothing is ever going to hurt you again.”
Somehow, I believed them.