It was all a dream. I started crying as I realized that Jesse was still safe. He was still alive. But he wasn’t here to save me. I was still alone with Ally.
“Change in plans. It looks like I’m not going to be able to play with you as much as I wanted,” she said sadly.
“Why?”
“Because I have a date with Jesse in just a few hours.”
I was still groggy from what she’d done to me, and her words weren’t making sense.
“What are you talking about?”
“I just talked to him on the phone a few minutes ago. He couldn’t be happier that you’re gone, and he wants me back. Oh, Emma, I’m so excited. We need to hurry because the sun will be up soon, and I don’t want anyone to see where I’m taking you.”
“You talked to Jesse?” I asked, unable to believe what she was saying.
“You’re a bit slow, aren’t you? Yes, I talked to Jesse.”
I felt a small ray of hope fill me. If she’d talked to Jesse, maybe she had slipped and told him where she was. Maybe he was on his way over here right now. I knew that he had lied when he said he wanted her back. He had to know that she’d taken me, and he’d simply been playing along, so he could find me.
“You can have him—really. Just let me go, and then you can skip off into the sunset with him.”
“I already told you that I’m not going to let you go. Now, let’s get you untied, so I can get rid of you.”
I sat still as she slowly untied my arms. Once they were free from the arms of the chair, she jerked them behind me and retied them. My legs were next. She untied them from the chair and made me stand. Between the pain coursing through my body and the fact that I couldn’t use my arms, she had to help me up. Once I was standing, she tied my legs together so that I could walk slowly but not run. Every time I moved, I wanted to cry out in pain.
“Walk,” she said as she pushed me forward.
With my legs tied, I could barely walk. It seemed like forever before we reached the stairs. She had to help me as I practically crawled down them. When we reached the front door, she grabbed a roll of duct tape from the table beside it. She ripped a piece off and covered my mouth.
“I can’t have you screaming bloody murder and waking up my neighbors.” Satisfied with her work, she turned and opened the door to look out. “There’s no one around. Hurry up.”
I couldn’t have hurried if I tried. She practically dragged me to a car sitting a few feet away from the front door. She stopped at the back of the car and opened the trunk.
“Get in.”
My eyes widened, and I shook my head. There was no way I was getting in there.
“Fine. I’ll shove you in.”
She grabbed my upper arm right where she’d cut me, and I screamed against the duct tape. Her fingers dug in until I gave in and climbed into the trunk. She smiled sweetly, and then she slammed the trunk down.
I tried to stay calm as darkness surrounded me. The car started a few seconds later, and I could feel us moving. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the pain. I couldn’t believe that I was spending my last few minutes alive stuffed in the trunk of a car.
What did I ever do to deserve this? I loved Jesse.
Despite my situation, I wouldn’t trade a moment of our time together for anything. It saddened me to realize everything I was going to lose. I let my tears flow freely as I gave up. There was no way that I would come out of this alive. She’d won. I only prayed that Jesse would never find comfort in her.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Jesse
“I think we were wrong,” Andy said as he stared at the main road.
“We’ve been here forever, and there’s no sign of them.”
“We’ve been here for forty-five minutes. That isn’t forever.”
“It feels like it. What if this isn’t the place? We could be out searching for Emma instead of hiding behind trees.”
I shook my head. “This has to be it. It just feels right.”
And it did. The same nagging feeling I’d had when I discovered that Emma was missing was back. It told me that this was the right place. We just had to wait. I still couldn’t help but feel a twinge of uncertainty though. If I were wrong, Emma could die because of my mistake. I couldn’t even think about that. I wouldn’t.
“Where the fuck are the police?” Andy asked.
“Probably eating doughnuts.”
It had taken most of the ride over here for Andy to convince the police that he wasn’t trying to pull some kind of prank. The officer had said that he would send someone to check it out. As far as I was concerned, we were on our own. The police were too busy trying to bust minors for drinking than worrying about something that was actually important.
We waited for another fifteen minutes with no sign of Emma or Ally. I was starting to doubt myself. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t where Ally was taking her. She could be miles away right now. I closed my eyes as I tried to block out the images filling my mind—Emma in pain, Emma dead. Those were not things that I wanted to see.
I couldn’t lose her. We’d just barely found each other again. I wasn’t ready to let her go. This wasn’t how life was supposed to happen. We were supposed to live happily ever after until we were old. Then, we’d die together at the exact same moment, so neither of us had to suffer the loss. Anything else was too painful to think about.
“Dude, look,” Andy whispered.
I’d been so caught up in my thoughts that I had missed the car quickly approaching us. It had turned off on the same road we had. This road only led to the old bridge, so I knew that it had to be Ally. At least, I hoped it was.
Andy and I had hidden my car on an old four-wheeler path a few feet off the blacktop road. After we’d made sure that it wasn’t noticeable, we’d hidden next to several large trees. We were camouflaged enough that I wasn’t worried Ally would see us or my car and run for it.
The car passed us and stopped a few feet away from the bridge. I watched silently as Ally opened the driver’s door and stepped out. I’d been right about this being the right place. I sent a silent prayer of thanks toward the sky.
Ally closed her door and walked to the bridge. Andy and I exchanged looks as we watched her walk halfway across it, and then she looked down to the water below.
Where is Emma? I didn’t see her in the car. My stomach dropped. Maybe Ally already killed her. Dear God, I can’t even think about it. I refused to believe that we were too late.
Ally stared down at the water for a few seconds more before she turned and walked back to her car. She walked to the trunk and opened it. I held my breath as I watched her reach inside.
Please don’t let Emma be in there. Please don’t let her be dead, I begged silently.
It was taking every ounce of willpower I had not to jump from my hiding spot and tackle Ally, but I couldn’t. If she didn’t have Emma with her, I didn’t want to tip her off that we were here. Instead, we would follow Ally when she left.
I could hear Ally cursing as she struggled to pull something from the trunk. I nearly lost it when I saw her drag Emma from the back of the car. Emma fell to the ground and didn’t move. She was dead.
“No, no, no, no,” I whispered. She can’t be dead.
“Come on!” Ally shouted as she kicked Emma in the stomach.
I stood from my crouching position and was about to run out to them when Ally finally managed to get Emma to her feet.
“She’s alive,” Andy hissed from beside me.
I couldn’t breathe as I watched Emma struggle against Ally. Emma’s hands were tied, and it looked like her feet were, too. Ally practically carried her toward the bridge. It was now or never. I ran from my hiding spot and headed directly toward them.