Chapter 7

The midmorning sun was high in the sky, casting it's warm rays across Crawley. The warmth of the sun was accompanied by the slight breeze making the weather rather pleasant. But one household was not enjoying the warm weather. The mood in the Frye household was tense, it was almost possible to cut the tension with a knife. One member of the house had moved into the garden to escape the atmosphere. Jacob strolled across the front garden and climbed up onto the outhouse which sat right next to the stone fence which defined what landed belonged to the house. Once settled on top he just gazed out across the town. He was struggling to decide what to do, it was only a few hours since he'd seen Robert being dragged off by Curtis and his gang. Jacob still did not know where he was and was unable to go out to find him. His father was watching his every move, but if he was clever then perhaps he might be able to slip away. A sudden, familiar voice snapped out of his thoughts.

"Jacob? What are you doing?"

Looking down he gazed up his twin, who was looking at him with a concern expression. For the most part she was alright. The only really injuries she had was the deep cut to her hand, which has been bandaged, and the cut to the side of her head. Apart from those injuries she'd escaped her ordeal with just a few bruises. Jacob took in her appearance, he could see that she'd not been awake long, she not even bothered to tie her hair back.

"You should be inside Evie." He said, "You need to recover from last night."

Evie groaned and gave him a look, "I'm fine Jacob."

He could see by that look that she was being serious but that statement, although being her twin brother he knew for a fact that she was not 'fine'. It was apparent by the look in her eye, he could see that she was distressed by what had happened but she was refusing to admit that. Evie approached the outhouse and climbed, which provided difficult as she could not use her right hand. Reaching down Jacob grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her up. He was still watching her, he was determined to find out the cause of her distress but waited until she was settled before asking.

"Evie, I'm your brother, I know that you are not ok. You haven't told anyone what those guys wanted. Why did they come after you?"

"Look, it's fine. I'm fine, so can we just drop it?" Evie snapped, glaring at her brother.

Silence fell between them for a moment. Jacob was looking at her trying to read what see was thinking whereas Evie had looked away. Her gazed had locked on the church spire in the distance. She regretted saying that, but she did not what to relive the events of the previous night. Just thinking about what those men had wanted to do made her skin crawl. After a few long minutes, Evie spoke again.

"I'm sorry." She said, quietly, "I just don't want to talk about it. I'd rather forget the whole thing."

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I started all this, if I had never gone to the fight club those thugs would never had found you and I'd know where Robert was." Jacob said, looking down at his hands. "We were running away from Curtis last night when George found me. We'd split up to get away from them but when George found me I saw that Robert had been captured by Curtis and his gang. I have to find him Evie, he's my best friend."

Evie observed the look on her twin's face, she knew that Robert was his best friend. She also knew that Jacob would never forgive himself if he did not find out where Robert was. There was no way that their Father would let either of them out of the house, but perhaps she could give Jacob time to sneak out.

"I can distract Father if you want to go find him." Evie said, when Jacob met her gaze she continued, "I can't say exactly how long but I will do my best."

"But how?"

Evie simply pointed at her injured hand and he could guess what she meant.

"No. No Evie, you can't hurt yourself further just to help me."

"She won't need to." A new voice said. "I don't need your help."

Jacob snapped his attention to the newcomer, recognising the voice. A metre or so from the outhouse stood Robert. He was covered in blood from various cuts located all over his body. There were a few deep cuts to his face, the deepest seemed to be located over his left eye. Jacob leapt down from the outhouse and stepped towards Robert, who took a step back.

"Robert, what happened?"

"What does it look like?" Robert spat, "Curtis used me as a knife sharpener, something he was planning to do to you when you came to get me. But you didn't, did you? Obviously, your sister was more important." Robert shot Evie a dark look.

"I was going to come and get you, my father stopped me." Jacob said, stepping towards Robert.

"Save it Jacob. You are no friend of mine. A real friend would have saved his friend. From what I hear your sister had two people coming to save her and I had no one. I had to escape on my own, after having to endure hours of torment."

"What are you saying?"

Robert limped over to Jacob, glaring at him, "I'm saying that you are dead to me. You have shown me that you are not friend of mine. In short Jacob you are dead to me, you better hope that you do not cross paths with me again as I will kill you. And, I hope your sister does not cross me either as I will kill her too. Although I very much hope she dies from her wounds." Robert paused, glaring at the younger Frye twin, "I hope you rot."

Without another word Robert turned and limped away. Jacob was about to walk after him but stopped himself. There was little point in perusing Robert now, it was possible that he might be serious in his threats. Perhaps if he gave Robert time to cool off then they'd be able to put this behind them. Letting out a sigh Jacob rubbed his face, this was all such a mess. He really did not know what to do. A hand rested on his shoulder, he glanced over to see Evie standing there.

"I'm sorry Jacob this is my fault."

Jacob shook his head, "No this is not your fault. It's mine. All of this was my fault."

It was Evie's turn to shake her head. She made to say something but Jacob stopped her.

"There's nothing you can say Evie, I know that you are trying to help. I just… think I need to be alone."

Shoving his hands in his pockets Jacob turned and walked away, leaving his twin gazing after him with a very concerned expression. She took a deep breath and walked back towards the house. She did not know what was going to happen now. What if Robert came back and acted on this word? Only time would tell.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months and months became years. Never once in the years that past did Jacob ever come back into contact with Robert. He seemed to have vanished from Crawley and where his current location was nobody knew. That seemed to suit both parties, as on reflection Jacob knew that Robert had been deadly serious on his word. Although Jacob had never pursued Robert he did feel a rather odd feeling, Robert had been his best friend. But that was the past it was time to look to the future.


Jacob walked along a darkened street, lost in thought. He was not really aware of where his feet were taking him. He just allowed them to take him to wherever his destination was. As he went further along the street he realised that he was being followed. A dark figure was a fair way behind him but there was something about that man which did not seem right. With a subtle glance over his shoulder he was able to work out for sure whether the figure was following him. Being as he was never one to back away from a fight. Jacob turned and faced the figure heading towards him. Turning Jacob found that the figure, which turned out to be a man, had stopped.

"I've seen you following me." Jacob called, "Now, what kind of a coward would tail someone rather than confronting him."

"An old friend." The man replied, moving closer to Jacob.

As the man got closer Jacob recognised the familiar feature of a man he had not seen for years. Robert stepped towards Jacob.

"Robert?" Jacob asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Fulfilling that promise I made years ago." Robert raised his gun and aimed it at Jacob's chest, "I told you if I ever crossed paths with you again I would kill you."

"I find that you are the one who crossed my path."

Robert's finger tensed on the trigger. He glared at Jacob while the latter just simply looked back, with perhaps a slight smirk on his face. He could not hold back any longer, he had wanted to do this for years and now it was finally time. As Jacob opened his mouth to speak he pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang as the bullet burst from the end of the pistol. The bullet buried itself into Jacob's chest before he could do anything. Time seemed to slow right down and in slow motion he fell. Jacob fell to the floor as a startled gasp escaped his lips. Blood poured from his chest and his left hand moved to attempt to stop the flow of blood. But judging by how rapidly the blood was escaped he knew there was no hope for him. Footsteps approached, standing above him was Robert who was wearing a smirk on his face.

"One down. One to go." Robert sneered.

Robert walked away leaving Jacob bleeding on the floor. He tried his best to sit up or even move but his body did not respond. The darkness was tugging at him, trying desperately to pull him under but he had to prevent it. Evie, he had to get to her. He had to warn her. But he was powerless to do anything. The darkness was becoming too strong. Jacob's eyelids began to flutter and he used all his strength to keep his eyes open. Was this his end? No it could not be. This was not how his life would end. Or was it?