Chapter 19
Piper
Present Day
There’s a long pause as Josh stares at me. He seems to be searching for the right thing to say. Meanwhile, I’m lost in my painful memories.
Three years of being away from the nightmarish town of Astley had helped me to get back to that cheerful, sunshiny Piper of my childhood.
Eleven year old Piper who welcomed bullies with a grin.
Eleven year old Piper who naively believed everything was okay, as long as her silent protector was around.
Leaving for college was a breath of fresh air. Memories of Quill never left me, but the more recent ones faded, allowing me to enjoy the old ones.
I actually made friends. Two girls who didn’t seem to care that I was poor or wore thick round glasses.
I went out and partied, and studied, and got good grades.
I was going to get away from Astley permanently.
I was majoring in English, and even though my new friends told me that was a bullshit degree, I had big dreams of being an author, and teaching on the side.
Now, all of that’s in the past tense. Because my parents are dead, I’m stuck in Astley once more, and my bully is back in my life.
That bully is also a rapist and a murderer, and he killed my parents. I just fucking know he did.
He’s capable of anything. He told them to rape me, after all. Didn’t he?
Bitter tears blind my eyes. I once believed it was impossible to forget that night. But I guess nothing’s impossible, since it had all but disappeared from my mind.
It’s crazy how powerful minds are.
When the rape happened, it happened to Pissed-off Piper. I watched from a far-off place before thankfully passing out. It didn’t happen to me. It happened to her.
And I left her in Astley when I went to college. When I thought about that night, I thought about it as you might think about some bad thing happening to an acquaintance. It didn’t touch me. I didn’t let it.
Maybe that’s why I dreaded coming back so much. Maybe some part of me knew that the memory of that night would come rushing back the minute I stepped foot in Astley.
Only it didn’t. I guess that’s what murders do to you.
You lock eyes with the dead, unseeing ones of your father, and suddenly, nothing else exists.
Nothing but the need to know answers, because if I’m not hunting for them, then Dad’s corpse begins, slowly but surely, to turn from a vague nightmare to a horrible reality in my mind.
Yes, the mind really is a powerful organ. It feels like it’s been doing somersaults to prevent me from dealing with all the things I can’t stand to deal with.
It thinks it’s protecting me, but it’s drowning me instead.
Because the second I laid eyes on Dane and Liam again, I realized I wasn’t ready.
I wasn’t ready for the memories to come flooding back.
Now, I sit on the ground, my head leaning against the chair, my skin coated with sweat, and I can’t even fucking get a word out. It’s all I can do to remember how to breathe.
“Come on,” says Josh suddenly. “We have to get out of here.”
My mind is blank as he grabs my hand and yanks me up. He clicks on the elevator button and scans the visitor’s badge, and I follow him numbly inside. Then we leave the building hurriedly, ignoring the receptionist’s voice.
“Hey! Can I have your badges back, please?”
I vaguely think how weird it is that no one stops us. So much for Devil security. We’re walking straight out of the building with badges that would allow us to return to the restricted areas. As long as we manage to walk past the entrance that’s being guarded by a single receptionist.
Hubris. Pure, fucking hubris. Devil has gotten so used to being invincible that it’s not even taking basic precautions anymore. It would be so easy to bring down the entire organization.
My mind somehow latches onto that last thought as I grow less foggy.
It would be so easy to destroy Devil. Maybe I can do it. Maybe I can be the one to burn it to the ground.
I just know Devil is to blame for everything. Quill was training to be a Devil soldier when I greeted him one day of freshman year with my most cheerful grin, only to be nearly drowned in the filthy toilet of the even filthier first-floor bathroom.
He was training to be a Devil soldier when, after a rainy day, he pushed me down into the mud outside the high school, coating my entire body with wet, brown dirt as the other kids cheered, ruining the new clothes I’d just gotten for the new school year.
I’d been so proud of those new clothes.
And he was already a fully fledged Devil soldier when he ordered Dane to hold me down while Liam raped me.
Now, Devil has ordered him to kill my parents. I know what Devil soldiers do. They train to kill. My parents are dead, and it was a Devil job.
I don’t have proof, but I’m going to get some.
I’m going to go straight back to Officer Jones’ office and demand to see my parents’ file. And I’ll find the fucking proof, and I’ll force him to put Quill Nelson in jail.
I won’t stop till the monster fucking fries on the electric chair.
And then I’ll set a fire to Devil Tower, with all of them inside. I’ll watch as they burn, screaming out in pain. I’ll listen to Liam and Dane’s cries for mercy, but there will be no mercy. Not for them. Not in this life.
And if there’s a God, I’m sure he’ll make them suffer in the next one, too.
Thoughts of revenge soothe me. I blink a few times behind my glasses, feeling the fog that’s accumulated on my lenses clear.
Or maybe it’s the fog in my eyes that’s gone.
Whatever it is, I look at Josh with sudden resolve.
Only to notice he’s not looking at me anymore. He’s staring at some point behind me.
Without thinking, I’d been following him through the streets bordering Devil Tower, and I suddenly see we’ve reached one of the alleyways behind the tower.
Fuck. I know why he brought us here. He thought we could hide in case the receptionist alerted others to the fact we just stole two visitors’ badges.
If I’d been more alert, I would have realized where we were going, and I would have warned him to stay away. There’s no hiding in these shadows.
This is where the monster hunts.
I don’t even have to turn around to see who’s here. A silhouette in a white, faceless mask. Quill.
Everything suddenly feels like it’s going in slow motion.
I turn to Josh, whose face has grown nearly as white as the mask sheathing the monster’s face, and mouth, “Run.”
Only then do I suddenly become aware that Josh is gripping my hand. I’m only aware because as he turns away from Quill, I feel myself yanked and forced to follow.
I try to wriggle out of his grasp, because I know the monster wants me, not him. He can save himself if he runs. But he won’t make it if he keeps my hand imprisoned in his.
He doesn’t let go of my hand, though. We’ve nearly turned the corner and I suddenly find myself wondering if, after all, we’ve managed to escape when I feel two arms lock around my thighs, making me tumble down.
The force of my fall makes Josh break contact with me, and before even realizing what has happened, he’s gone several feet without me.
Quill is on top of me, nearly crushing me with his weight, his breath hot and heavy on my neck. Josh turns and stares at us uncertainly, then his white face grows, somehow, even whiter as I feel Quill grab something from his back pocket and aim.
Fuck!
He tilts the barrel of his gun so it’s pointing straight at Josh.
I word mouthlessly at Josh to get the fuck away from here, but there’s no need. I guess if my fight-flight-or-freeze response is to freeze, his is to run.
I breathe in relief as he turns and sprints away, then scrunch my eyes in terror as I hear a loud shot.
Quill’s actually pulled the trigger, and I’m already imagining the lifeless body of my friend, his eyes fixed unseeingly on the sky, or maybe his face smashed against the gutter, his last view of the world being the dirty water mingling with the dust of the road.
My friend. It’s crazy how I never knew that’s what he’d suddenly and randomly become, before Quill shot him.
Is it too late? Did I just lose the friend I never knew I had?
Just like I lost Mom before I even got to know her. The real her.
I hate myself for keeping my eyes shut for the few seconds it would have taken to see if he’s really been shot. If he’s really dead.
Because before I’ve even come to my senses, I feel a hand wrap itself around my hair and yank me angrily to my feet, while another hand falls over my face, forcing my eyes to remain closed, and my mouth, too.
His hand is the size of my entire face. He could crush me like an insect, and he’s letting me know.
I don’t have time to think anything else as he drags me to a car and shoves me down into the driver’s seat with him.
It’s like he’s determined not to let go of me for even an instant.
He pushes me off him and forces me over to the passenger’s side while turning on the engine.
Only when he’s driving away does he tear his hand away from me to lock the doors.
By then, there’s no Josh visible in the window.
Did he kill him? Did he shoot him dead, just like he did my parents?
I don’t know why the thought is so devastating. I’ve only known him for two days. Two days, and I’m realizing just how naive and… pure he was. He didn’t deserve it.
“Is he dead?” I choke out.
“Put on your seatbelt.”
The command feels at odds with his deep, raspy voice, still clearly disguised, even though there’s no need for it.
It feels even more at odds with the fact that he just killed my fucking friend. He’s probably about to kill me too, and he wants me to put on my seatbelt?
“What? No.”
He doesn’t even give me a second’s warning before he grabs my hair and yanks me roughly toward him.
“Put on your fucking seatbelt.”