“Carly, get out here. I will not lose you and Cindy again!” His voice echoes around us. And Grace trembles. I hold her tight, shushing her. If she makes any noise, he will find us.
“Nina!” Jake! He’s here! His voice is panicked.
Do they know about Camden? I don’t know where anyone is so I can’t just go running out there.
“Grace!” Mason’s voice screams.
I cover her mouth muffling her answer. Shaking my head, I whisper to her, “We don’t know where the bad man is, Grace, we can’t go out there.”
I put my finger in front of my mouth letting her know to keep quiet. If they get closer, then I will call out. Their voices are too far away right now. A pair of feet stomps in front of our hiding spot. It’s him. I know.
“You can’t hide from me.”
“Freeze!” I hear a voice I don’t recognize right away.
“Where are Nina and Grace?” Jake yells.
I can hear Camden laughing. “I have no idea. Why would I want Nina? I’m looking for Carly and Cindy.”
Please figure out that he means us. The voices are all around us, but I can’t pinpoint who is closest to us.
“Put the gun down, Camden!” It’s Ryan. Thank God.
“Why? Are you going to put yours down? I need to find Carly before she gets away again.”
“Who the fuck is Carly? Where is my daughter, you crazy motherfucker?” It’s Mason again. His voice sounds strained.
“Camden, Carly died years ago. Now where are Nina and Grace?” Jake is close to me I think. It’s so hard to tell.
“Carly didn’t die. Neither did my daughter. They were just with me. Carly, you get out here, or one of them will die!” No!
“Nina, stay where you are, babe.” Jake is pleading. I can hear the worry in his voice.
“Carly you have five seconds!” Grace is shaking.
“Five”
What do I do?
“Four”
He is crazy enough to shoot one of them.
“3Three”
I can’t let him hurt Jake.
“Two”
Carly, please protect me.
I move Grace to the side, signaling for her to stay put then I crawl out of the tree. I’m in the middle of them. Camden on one side, Jake, Ryan, and Mason on the other.
“Nina! Come to me!” I take one step toward Jake.
I hear Camden cocking the gun, and I freeze.
“Don’t you fucking move!” I look behind me and Camden looks completely unglued. His eyes are wild, and he is running his hands through his hair. “Where is my daughter, you bitch?”
“Camden, you are sick. I’m not Carly; I’m Nina.” My voice is calm. I’m trying to convince him of this fact. To make him remember that we lost Carly.
“I want my daughter!” He waves the gun toward me. “Show me where the fuck she is, or you die.”
“Camden, we will find your daughter. Just put the gun down.” Ryan is trying to talk him down.
“You will not touch my daughter ever again, you goddamn psycho!” Mason yells, his voice surrounding us.
“Daddy!” Grace runs out of the tree.
No! She runs straight for Mason as a loud bang sounds. I scream as I see Mason fall to the ground right before Grace gets to him. I make a run to get her when I hear one more bang. Camden falls to my right. I look over to where Jake and Ryan are. They are okay, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Both of them run to where I am holding Grace back from an unmoving Mason.
I scream as another bang sounds, and I look up to see Jake falling backward. Jake’s mouth opens in an O as a moan escapes his mouth. In the next second, he completely disappears from my sight.
“No!” I run to where he was. He fell down a hill. I slide down and land next to him. “Jake!”
He looks up at me. Blood is pooling around him. “I love you.”
“No, don’t you do this to me. Don’t you dare leave me. I love you so much. I’ve wanted to tell you for the longest time. I was just scared. You can’t leave me. You have to stay here.” I’m pleading with him now. Tears falling freely, marking small drops on his shirt.
He looks up at me. “You’ll be okay, Sparky.”
His eyes close and a gut wrenching scream rips through me. “Ryan!” He climbs down the hill, but he is alone. “Where is Grace?”
“The EMTs just got here. She’s with them.” I see medics coming down the hill.
“You have to save him!” I’m pleading with them. “Please! Please! Help him!”
Ryan’s arms wrap around me. “Nina, move away. You have to let them work.” I struggle against him I need to be with him. The medics examine him and begin CPR. Then they stop. They look at one another and shake their head.
“There’s no pulse, Detective.”
“No!” I break free of Ryan and collapse on top of Jake. My hands grip him trying to keep him here with me. He can’t leave me.
I can’t survive this.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Nina
“Hey, babe! Mason is here, you sure you’re okay hanging out with the monster tonight?” I jolt awake, tears streaming down my face. Jake? He is standing in front of me. I jump up and into his arms my hold so tight praying that this isn’t a dream. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
I can’t answer him. I don’t want to find out that this isn’t real. He sits down with me on the couch. My entire body is shaking as I cling to the man I thought I lost.
“Babe, talk to me. You’re scaring me.”
I pull back and look at him. “I love you.” My mouth crushes to his as I still hold onto the hope that this is real.
When he pulls away from me, he looks shocked. “I love you too. I have wanted to tell you for a while. Can you please tell me what’s going on now?”
“You can’t leave. Something is going to happen. You have to stay here. Call Ryan. We are going to need him.” I tell him about my dream, about Camden, about all of my suspicions.
“Babe, you had a nightmare, it’s okay.” He rubs my back to comfort me.
“No. It wasn’t a dream.” He studies me for a minute.
“Okay, listen, I’ll call Ryan and have him be on standby.” There is a knock at the door, and I can hear Grace outside. “I’ll explain to Mason what is going on.”
The entire time he is gone I’m uneasy. Was it really all a dream? It felt so real. It seems like forever until Jake comes back from answering the door. “Okay, listen, Mason and Grace are gone. Ryan is on his way; he is going to park down the block and then wait in here with us. If what you said really happens we are going to get him, okay?” I feel like he is a little reluctant to believe me, like he may just be pacifying me.
I wrap my arms around him still in shock that I didn’t lose him. When the EMTs said he was gone it felt like my heart had been ripped in a million pieces. I couldn’t breathe. I kiss him again needing to convince myself that he is real.
His eyes lock with mine. “Hey, I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
“I need to know what happened to my sister, Jake.” If what I heard from Camden in the dream was true, then there is so much more to the story. I need to know what happened to her. Maybe it's why I’ve never been at peace. Maybe it’s subconsciously why I couldn’t move on. “I’m scared that something will go wrong.”
“I promise you that if that fucker comes in this house he will not touch a hair on your head. I will break his fucking hand if he tries to.” He pulls me closer to him so that I’m flush against his chest.
The front door opens, and Ryan walks in. Even with the skeptical look on his face, Ryan begins to speak. “Okay, Jake, you and I are going to wait on the steps. If he is coming, he will more than likely at least look in a window and make sure she’s alone. Nina put the TV on and do whatever you were doing in your dream.” I nod. I hope he believes me and he doesn’t think I’m psycho. I didn’t hear what Jake told him on the phone. They could both think I’ve had a mental breakdown. They wait on the steps, and I move into the kitchen as I would have. “Nina. You cannot leave this room.”