Hidden(52)
The house is unlocked. I push the door open and visions of my last moment in this house flood my memory. I can see my mother’s face as she came at me with a handful of her pills. I can hear the pills bouncing on the tiles. I can hear my screams for help. I’m shaking and breathing heavy as I try to shake the memories. I scan the room and notice the yellow tape from the police’s investigation discarded in the corner. An empty can of soup still sits on the countertop. Her pills are gone. I’m assuming the police confiscated them. Her things are still scattered around the house. Shoes, a sweater, a book. I can’t stay here. I run to my room lifting the mattress on the floor. It’s all still here. I slide my notebook, Pride and Prejudice and the picture from the perfume ad from underneath the mattress and then glance around at the rest of the room. There’s nothing. I have nothing here. Eighteen years and I have nothing. Just painful memories.
A noise startles me. I hear a faint ringing sound. I follow the noise until I realize it’s my phone. It is inside the bag I packed earlier and it is lying on the kitchen floor where I dropped it. I dig through my bag and pull out my phone. Laney’s smiling face lights up on the surface and for a second, I want to smile back at her, but then I realize, she lives in the world that I don’t belong in, just like Dillon. The phone stops ringing and her happy face disappears. I stare at the blank screen, then turn my head quickly towards the squeak coming from the front door.
His tall, thin frame, covered in a pressed black suit enters the doorway, casting a dark shadow across the kitchen wall. My eyes travel from his black, steel-toed boots up to his face. His face. My heart immediately plummets into my stomach. I try to swallow but my throat is too tight. I discretely slide my phone into my back pocket, as he closes the door and stalks towards me, his boots tapping across the floor. I stare at the face of the man that has been faceless for so long in my nightmares. When he steps out of the dark shadows, I see his eyes and my blood runs cold.
He’s my father.
CHAPTER 22
Dillon
“Where’s Amy?”
“I don’t know.” Candice shrugs.
I can read Candice like a book. I can tell just by the look on her face and the shrug of her shoulders that she talked to Amy and something happened. I know it’s not good.
“Candice, what did you say to her?”
“I didn’t say anything to her,” she snaps back.
“Listen, we can bicker all morning. Amy will tell me what happened, but I’m asking you. What happened?”
“Fine. She overheard us this morning. When I came out of your room she was standing there like a creep listening. Again.”
“Fuck.” I try to remember what was said and then remember what Candice was wearing. “She thinks we slept together last night, doesn’t she?”
Candice shrugs again.
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know Dillon. I went down to get coffee and your client pulled up, so I went out to tell him you’d be right down.”
“He’s here?”
“He was. He asked me if Amy was around and when I said no, that I wasn’t sure where she was and that you would be down shortly, he kind of took off. He was weird.”
“What the fuck did he look like?” I yell.
“God Dillon. Calm down. I don’t know. He was a skinny guy. He didn’t look like a guy who belonged on a ranch, that’s for sure.”
“Fuck!” I’m freaking the fuck out. I pace in a circle rubbing my hands through my hair when I hear my phone ring. I pull it out of my pocket to see Amy’s number flashing. Thank God.
“Amy?”
Nothing.
“Amy?”
Nothing.
I run towards the barn and rev up the ATV, leaving a thick cloud of dust behind me as I blaze a trail towards the fence. My mind is racing. That guy that abused her mother is here looking for her. I’m praying I’m going to the right place. I’m praying he doesn’t hurt her.
I skid to a stop, spitting dirt out from the tires of the ATV when I come to the break in the fence. I crawl through and look around the elm, but she’s not here. Finally, I notice a small trail through the trees, leading into the property. I follow it as quickly as I can until I see the small house.
Darkness shrouds the house from the tall trees blocking out all of the light. Thunder booms and lightning flickers in the distance as sheets of rain begin to fall through the trees. I’m soaked within seconds. I approach the house cautiously. Once I turn the corner to see the front of the house, I notice the truck in the driveway. I know it’s his. I have to cross in front of a huge window to get to the front door, but I duck down as low as I can. I don’t hear anything coming from inside the house. My heart is beating out of control. I get to the front door and test the knob. My hand is shaking. I turn it slowly. It’s unlocked. I slowly push the door and it opens with a loud screech. Amy is standing in the kitchen with tears flowing down her face. Her eyes are red and puffy. She stares at me with a look of warning, but before I can discern what she’s trying to tell me, the door slams shut and I’m thrown to the floor.