AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She lied to me.” He half turned back to me, before swinging away. His back was almost to the room. “She left you on that sidewalk and told me that we were going to get ice cream. But we kept driving, and driving, and driving. We drove for so long." His voice thinned, sounding like a little boy, one that was scared. Confused. “I don’t remember when I realized she lied to me, but it hurt. I didn’t understand what was going on. Then she told me to get excited.” He paused again, frowning slightly. “She was crying, but she was smiling. She said we were going to see the Mississippi. She told me I’d never see a river so big, so grand. I was excited.” The last was breathed out, as if he was reliving it. That he felt something wondrous was happening.
He stopped again. His shoulders slouched so far down.
“We just kept going. The car went off the road, and Mom, she—” His voice was thick, so sad. “—she turned around as we were going down and told me to 'close your eyes, little angel, because we’re flying.'”
Close your eyes, little angel, so we can fly.
I heard her, clear as day.
A tear trickled down my face.
He still wasn’t looking at me, and his voice grew harder, more bitter, “I missed you, but I was excited for ice cream. Then I was confused and I wanted you. I kept asking to go back to you. She told me we were letting you go. She said the time had come when we could all be free. She told me we were letting you go live with another family.”
He turned my way, the soulless eyes had returned.
I shifted back, readying.
"I never agreed to that." His eyebrows furrowed together, and an ugly resentment gleaned from underneath them. Joining that cold mean glint that’d been there in the beginning. It was back. A belated thought skipped in the back of my mind, if this was the last thing his victims saw before he killed them?
“That was her gift. Not mine, Sister. I did nothing wrong. I was a victim, just like you.” His lip lifted, showing his white teeth in a snarl. “Except are you? Actually a victim?”
I went cold again and took a step back.
He began to follow me. “She died on impact. Her neck snapped when we hit the water. It happened in front of me.”
Mom knew what he was going to become. This was what she tried to stop. She knew before anyone else.
“What do you want, Brother?”
He ignored my question, a fleeting smile on his face, and held up that knife again. He turned it over to show me the jagged edge. “It’s a hunting knife,” Ben informed me. “I use it mostly for big game. Elk. Bear. Special occasions. I thought about using it on you. I learned how to use this from the people who raised me.” Suddenly, he dropped his hand and he stared at me, hard. “I was going to kill you, Sister. I came here to do that, but I admit,” his eyes skimmed over me, a softness appearing. “seeing you now, in front of me—I forgot what it was like.”
“What was what like?”
He ignored that too.
Vicky was rolling around, trying to get my attention. He had moved forward enough, toward me as I had edged backwards so she did this behind his back. Her eyes went to the window, and back to me. To the window, back to me. Howard was doing the same until he couldn’t keep looking. The movement was too much for him. He only stared out the window.
Their message was obvious, but if I ran, I needed a plan. I had no weapons on me. None close to me. I couldn’t run from him. He’d come back to them.
That would not happen. If I ran, I’d stop him. That was the only option.
Ben was talking, and he got my attention again, “…saw you on the screen and you’re a star. It’s why mom chose you in the end, because she saw it too. You’re a star. I thought so when we were little, but this was different. These people already love you.” He motioned toward Vicky and Howard, starting to turn.
I opened my mouth, needing to say something, do something. I had to distract him.
He didn’t turn all the way, his gaze quickly averting to me again. He sneered as he said, “Your new family. But you still went into the shadows with them. I watched you so I know what made everything change. He changed everything. When he came into the picture, you stopped hiding. You no longer went into the shadows. I couldn’t have that. Too many would start loving you. I won't share anymore. You're my family. You're my sister." He leaned forward, his face eerily calm. Peaceful. An unnatural possessive look shone from him.
I edged back a step another step.
I never closed the door. I'd let it go in my haste to find Vicky and Howard.
I could make a run for it, draw him away from them.
I glanced down, saw both Vicky and Howard watching me. Pain-filled eyes wide, the terror so evident, but there was more. A plea.
Vicky gave me the slightest nod. She was telling me to go.
Travis said the killer had real fighting experience. Brett had added, “… how to maneuver like that if he’s gotten hit a hundred or more times.”
