What the hell is going on? Why does he think I’m Carly? What the hell did he mean by saying she looked like she was asleep? Then it hits me. The night she died. I thought she was asleep. Did he see her that night? He was on campus when Carly died.
I wrap my arms around Grace and pray that someone finds us. All I can picture is Jake coming home and us not being there. Please save me. I need your help, Jake.
I can hear Camden in what I assume is the kitchen. The rustling of dishes clues me in that he may be making something to eat. I know in the state I’m in that if we tried to run he would catch us no problem. I need to buy us some time.
He walks back into the room with some sandwiches on plates. When he places them on the coffee table, neither Grace nor I make a move to eat one.
“Don’t be like that, Carly. He wasn’t good for you. You and Cindy belong here with me. I’m so happy you didn’t hurt her like I thought you did.” I can’t make any sense of what he is saying.
“What do you mean ‘hurt her’?” Carly and I never even knew any girls named Cindy.
“You know what I mean, Carly, don’t play dumb. It makes me angry.” His brows furrow and I decide not to pry into what he is saying. As much as I want to know, I need to keep him calm. “Now you two need to eat your lunch.” I have no intention of touching that shit. What if he drugged it? I nod at him before he gets up.
Grace goes to reach for the food, but I grab her hand. “We aren’t going to eat these okay. They might make us sick.” I grab both sandwiches and put them under the couch, leaving just the empty plates.
“I’m hungry, Nina.” Her voice is weak.
“I know, baby.” I pull her close to me. “I’m going to get us out of here, okay?”
She nods against my chest, my shirt begins to feel wet, and I realize that she is crying. “Do you want to lie down?”
She nods once more.
“Camden?” I call his name feeling sick as he walks into the room. “Can Gr…Cindy and I go lie down?”
“Yes, but not too long. I have to catch up on lost time with my girls. The bedroom is right there.” He points to a door at the other end of the cabin. I nod before holding Grace’s hand and having her stand up. When it’s my turn to stand it takes a while. My head feels so heavy like it might topple and bring the rest of me down. My stomach is turning with each agonizing step that I take. I make it to the bedroom by holding onto the wall.
Grace and I climb onto the bed, and I hold her close to me. I slowly stroke her hair, trying to calm her down. She eventually falls asleep. I didn’t come in here to sleep, but more to get her away from him and to try to work through all of this in my head.
No matter how much I try to work it out, none of this makes sense. I can feel my eyes trying to close, but I will them to stay open. I need to come up with a plan. I need to figure out what is going on.
I’m at our old high school. Carly is standing by her locker. “Hey, sis.” I greet her, but she doesn’t even look at me. “Car?”
“Yeah?” Her voice is a whisper.
“What’s wrong? It’s senior year! Homecoming is tomorrow! Put a smile on your face, this is the time of your life.” I nudge her shoulder trying to make her snap out of this. “I’m heading to get shoes after school today, want to come?”
“I can’t. I have a doctor’s appointment.”
“We just went at the beginning of the year together. You sick?” She just shakes her head. “What’s up then?”
“Nothing, Nina. Don’t worry about me. Just go have fun with your friends. I’ll be okay. Everything will be okay after today.” Her voice is so low it’s almost hard to understand what she is saying. She closes her locker, and I see a tear run down her face.
What is going on with her? She’s been really out of it for the last two months.
“I’ll see you later.”
She walks away from me. I want to call out to her. To tell her I’ll go with her. I don’t though; I hear people call my name from the other direction. Chelsea and Leah are waiting for me to go to the shoe store. I shrug my shoulders and tell myself I’ll talk to her tomorrow.
I jolt awake. I hate that damn dream. I haven’t had it for the longest time. That was the last time I saw Carly alive. I would find her later that night.
What has always bothered me is that she had said everything would be better after that day. What doctor was she going to see? She wasn’t sick. The month before she had been really sick and throwing up all the time. That’s when it hits me like a train.
How sick she was.
The unexplained doctor’s appointment.
Camden thinking Grace is his daughter.
Carly was pregnant.
Chapter Twenty Six
Nina
Carly and Camden were sleeping together?
There is no way. She was more of a goody two shoes than I was. If they were sleeping together, and she got pregnant, would she have killed herself over it? I mean the family would have flipped, but we would have still been there for her. Was that what made her so depressed? Did she think that being pregnant meant we would shun her? Or that her life was over?
I try to go over in my head what information Camden has given me. He said that Carly fooled him and ran away with Cindy. Is Cindy the baby she was pregnant with? There is no way they would have known the sex. How did she fool him? He said she looked like she was sleeping. If he was there that night why wouldn’t he have called 911?
Oh my God.
Did he do it?
Did he kill Carly?
Why would he kill her if she was pregnant with the kid that he obviously wanted?
Unless Carly didn’t want the baby.
My head is spinning with questions and possibilities. Grace starts to wake up beside me, and I know one thing for sure, I need to get us the hell out of here.
I start to look around the room for anything I can use as a weapon or an escape route. There is a window. I get up trying to open it quietly. It’s old and even with my slow motion it’s creaking. I’m praying he doesn’t hear the noise and check on us. I get it about halfway open and decide I can’t chance opening it anymore
“Grace, come here,” I whisper to her. “We are going to get out of here, but we have to be quiet okay?” She nods. Thank God there is only one floor to this cabin. It should be easy to climb out. “You are going to climb out first and then wait right there for me.” She looks between me and the window. I can tell by the look in her eyes that she is scared. “It will be okay, I promise.”
I help her up, and she is able to get out. When it comes to my turn, I try to be mindful of my head. It’s still hurting, but my nap helped me some. At least I have my mobility back.
I climb out of the window, and once my feet hit the ground I grab Grace’s hand and we run. I can only go so fast because I’m not at one hundred percent.
“Nina, my feet hurt.” I look down, and she has no shoes on. There is no way I can pick her up, though. I’m not stable enough for that.
“I know, baby, we just have to keep going okay. We have to get home.” She takes a deep breath and nods. We continue then I hear it.
“Carly!” Shit. It’s him. He will definitely catch us. I look around, and that’s when I see it. The tree from my dream. The one Carly and I hid in. I run to it
“Grace, climb in there.” I follow her in. Space is tight, and Grace has to sit on my lap, but we are in it. If Camden looks he’ll see my shoes, but since they are brown I hope they blend in. I think this is why Carly showed me this tree. She wanted to show me an escape option.