AN: WOW
I'm really happy with the reviews I've been getting!
I didn't know that you all liked Zak that much.
I know, I'm sad he's gone too :(
But… his death has meaning, I promise.
Also, I'm sorry for the late upload. I had company over til about 11:30 and as soon as they left I got right to work on this!
Thanks for your consideration and enjoy!
Kara didn't even bother driving to Zoe's to get her phone.
She was too much of a disaster.
Instead, she drove back to her house, taking back ways and roads not many people go down.
If somebody saw her in her car covered with blood, they would probably call the police.
When Kara pulled into her driveway, she was too scared to get out.
What was she going to say? How would she explain this?
Kara felt more tears rush down her face and she didn't try to fight them.
Crying felt like the healthiest thing to do right now.
With a shaky breath, Kara opened the car door. When she tried to get out, she had to rip herself from the seat.
She looked down at it. It was covered in dry blood. Kara then looked at her butt. It was also covered in dry blood.
Kara's whole body was covered in dry blood.
She pinched her eyes closed and tried not to think about it, but the itchiness and dryness of the blood kept irritating her skin and it was refusing to let Kara forget.
She opened her eyes in defeat and started to walk up to the front door. All the while not looking down at her bloody self.
She opened the front door and slowly opened it.
She stepped in and didn't see anybody around.
"Mom?" She called out in a weak voice.
"Kara? Is that you?" She heard her mother call out from not that far away.
"Mom!" Kara called back. She wasn't sure what to say and she was petrified. She couldn't move.
She heard her mother's footsteps quickly heading towards where Kara was.
When she got in the room, her eye's widened.
"Mom." Kara said, her voice low, shaky, and depressing.
Hanna kept her ground. "What happened?" She said in a shocked voice.
Kara shook her head as tears rolled down her face. She didn't know how to say it. She didn't want to say it.
Her dad then entered the room. He looked shocked as he looked at Kara up and down. "Kara?" was all he said.
Kara then looked at her dad.
"Dad." She mumbled.
Both parents looked at her with a questioning look.
All Kara wanted was for them to comfort her and tell her it was okay until she could stop crying.
Kara continued to shake her head violently.
"A." Was all she could get out.
Then her parent's eyes opened even wider.
"A?" Her father said in a loud, angry tone.
"Oh my god, did A do something to you?" Hanna said in a concerned tone.
Kara nodded as a sob escaped her throat.
Now her parents rushed to her. Hanna began to inspect her, looking closely at the blood stains. She probably thought the blood was Kara's.
Caleb was asking Kara thousands of questions as he kneeled down and looked Kara in the eye as he held onto her shoulders.
"Are you okay?" He began.
Kara wasn't sure what he meant by that. Did he mean mentally or physically?
Physically: yes, mentally: no.
He probably meant physically, so Kara shook her head.
"Did A phyically hurt you?" He asked next.
She shook her head again.
"Did A, do…" He trailed off. "Did he touch you in any way?"
"No." Kara said. She knew what he meant.
Caleb then looked confused. "Then what did they do?"
"Why are you all bloody?" Hanna added.
"A killed…" Kara began but her throat swelled up. At first she thought it was just another sob, but then it was something else.
She turned away from her parents and tried to head for the toilet, but she didn't get in there in time, so she grabbed a potted plant and threw up in that.
Hanna came to her side and held her hair up and rubbed her back.
"A killed someone?" Caleb asked as Kara threw up. You could hear his voice shake a little. Even he was scared.
As Kara threw up, she saw the image of Zak's body again.
She saw the bullet hit him, and then she saw the blood bleed through his shirt. She saw his body fall and she saw his eye's go dead.
Then she thought of Rose.
How was Rose going to handle this? Kara rarely even spoke to Zak, but Rose…
Rose loved him.
Rose relied on Zak, she could count on him. Zak helped her get through her roughest time.
If Kara was acting like such a mess, how was Rose going to feel?
"Rose…" Kara murmured under her breath. She was the first thing on her mind.
"Rose?" Hanna said in confusion.
Kara turned back around and wiped her mouth. When she saw her mom, there was horror in her eyes.
"A killed Rose?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
"A killed Rose!" Caleb said from across the room.
A sob then escaped Hanna's mouth.
"No!" She said under her breath.
Kara shook her head. They misheard her.
She reached out for her mom's hand. She grabbed it and squeezed.
"No, mom." She said.
Hanna then looked at her.
"Rose is fine. It's just…" Kara trialed off.
"Zak." She finished. Saying his name felt like a thousand bee stings to the heart. Saying his name brought more tears.
Hanna noticed this. "Zak is dead?"
Kara nodded. "A killed him right in front of me, and I watched him die."
She took a deep breath. "I didn't know how to stop it." Another sob escaped her lips.
Her parents were silent from shock.
"He was trying to warn me about something and then… boom." Kara whispered.
Hanna's hand covered her opened mouth.
Caleb stared down at the floor. "That explains the blood."
Kara held herself. "I didn't know what to do."
Hanna took a few steps forwards and hugged her daughter. "It's okay."
"I didn't know what to do." Kara repeated. "I didn't know what to do."
Caleb joined in hugging Kara.
"I didn't know what to do."
She couldn't stop saying it.
"I didn't know what to do."
She pinched her eyes closed, but when she did that, she saw Zak's body, and Rose's face.
"I'm sorry." She said to the faces. "I didn't know what to do."
And then, Kara's hearing went wonky. Then her legs went limp.
Then she collapsed.
Kara woke up in her bed.
She was clean and in pajamas.
"Kara?"
She looked up. Anna was there.
Everyone was there.
Anna, Zoe… and Rose.
They all looked concerned, but Kara focused mainly on Rose.
She looked just as confused as the other girls.
Did she not know?
Kara stared at Rose. She had the same look as Kara did when she saw Zak dead.
She had the same disturbed look.
So did she know?
"Are you okay?" Rose asked. She probably saw Kara staring.
Kara opened her mouth. It's not like she could say 'I just saw Zak die right in front of me as he was trying to tell me something about A. He was brutally murdered by them too. And the worst part is that I couldn't help him.'
So instead all she said was, "No."
The girls got up from their seats and walked over to Kara's bed.
The laid down next to her and wrapped her up in hugs.
After a few minutes of them laying there with Kara crying into their shoulders, Anna eventually said, "You're parents called us. They said you were going through a tough time and that you needed us. But they didn't really say why."
Kara broke apart from their hugs and stared at them with red puffy eyes.
She really didn't want to tell Rose yet. But they all deserved to know.
Kara looked at Rose.
"Can you go in the downstairs closet and grab me a box of tissues." She asked.
Rose nodded her head. "Yeah, of course." She squeezed Kara's hand before she got up.
Kara waited until Rose left and closed the door to being speaking again.
"You guys can't tell Rose." She started out abruptly.
Zoe and Anna looked at each other and then back to Kara with confused looks.
"What?" Zoe asked.
Kara swallowed hard. "Zak is dead."
Both of their jaws dropped. "He was trying to talk to me about the tracker in my neck and then A shot him. He died right in front of me, and that's why I'm messed up."
"Oh my god." Zoe muttered under her hand that was covering her mouth.
"Poor Rose." Anna said. She was staring into space with droopy eyes.
"You can't tell her." Kara said in a serious tone.
They nodded their head.
"Of course." Zoe said.
"Sure, no problem." Anna replied. "But you have to do it eventually."
Kara nodded her head in an unenthusiastic way. "I know."
Rose opened the door. She walked back over to the bed.
"Here you go." She said, handing the tissue box to Kara.
She took it. "Thank you." Kara said. She then took a tissue and blew her nose.
Kara then made awkward eye contact with Zoe. She kept shooting her eyes up to Rose.
She then mouthed the words. "Tell her."
Kara sent her an angry look and mouthed "Shut up!"
Then Zoe mouthed "You need to tell her!"
"What are you guys doing?" Rose asked.
Kara then reached out and smacked Zoe's leg.
"Ow! What was that for?" She yelled.
"There was a mosquito." Kara said. "That's what I was trying to tell you."
"But we're inside." Rose pointed out.
"Well, I saw a mosquito." Kara said, crossing her legs.
"Yeah, I thought I saw it too." Anna pitched in to help.
Rose nodded her head awkwardly. "Okay."
Kara then shot a look over to Zoe. Hopefully she never pulled something like that again.
"I think we should go." Anna said.
"Yeah, I think we should." Zoe said, agreeing.
"Already?" Rose said. "We just got here!"
"My parents are probably wondering where I am." Anna said.
"Yeah, and I'm grounded for walking around when I shouldn't be." Zoe said.
Rose nodded. "Well, I'm staying."
Zoe and Anna nodded.
"We'll see you later." Anna said, hugging Kara again. "Good luck." She whispered into Kara's ear. Kara squeezed as a response.
Zoe hugged her too. "Bye."
"Bye, guys." Kara said.
"Bye." Rose replied
They stood up.
"Oh, before I forget." Zoe said, reaching into her back pocket. "You never came to get this." She then held out Kara's phone.
She grabbed it. "Thanks."
Zoe winked. "No problem."
And then she and Anna walked out.
Kara looked at her phone in her lap. She saw that she had one new message.
She opened it and saw it was from A.
You aren't the only one who's seen death. Just ask Rose.
-A
Kara tried her best to show no emotion. Rose was right in front of her. But Rose has "seen death." What was that supposed to mean?
"I know there's something you won't tell me." Rose said when Kara looked up from her phone.
"What do you mean?" Kara said in her calmest voice possible. It wasn't very convincing.
Rose pulled out her phone and pulled up her text messages. "I got this right before I came." She then held her phone out to Kara.
It was an A text. It was almost identical to Kara's.
You aren't the only one who's seen death. Just ask Kara.
-A
Kara looked at it and then back up to Rose.
"Who…" She trailed off.
"Noah." Rose said, putting her phone back into her pocket. "He was missing for a while and then next thing you know, his rotting corpse was in my closet."
Kara's mouth hung open. "Oh my god, Rose." She said.
Rose shook her head. "It's fine. It was bad at the moment. Seeing his dead body is what messed me up, but I got over it."
"You weren't sad that he died?" Kara asked. She couldn't believe what Rose was saying.
"I didn't know him for that long, and he did almost shoot a gun into my face. But to really get over it, I had to pretend like it didn't faze me."
Rose looked at Kara with a questioning look. "How about you?"
Kara looked at Rose with a blank stare. She wasn't prepared.
Would Rose be mad at her? Would she somehow blame Kara for Zak's death?
"Kara!" She said, snapping her back into reality. "What happened?"
She took a deep breath and looked at Rose right in the eye.
"Zak is dead."
Rose stared at Kara, unable to process what she had just said.
She didn't know how to react. Was this for real?
"Rose?" Kara said in a gentle voice. "Did you hear me?"
Rose nodded. "Yeah, I heard you." She said in a quiet voice.
"Are you okay?"
Rose shook her head. She ran her hands through her hair as she said, "I don't know."
Kara gave Rose a sympathetic look. She reached her arm out to comfort Rose, but the pulled it away.
Rose pinched her eyes closed as she imagined Zak.
Zak. The man who tricked her, the man who loved her, the man who helped her, then man who was now gone.
"How did he…" Rose trailed off. She felt her voice flatten and if she said another word it would come out with tears. But Kara seemed confused.
She took a deep breath and steadied her voice. "How did he die?" She said nice and slowly.
Kara looked at Rose with a sad look. Tears formed in Kara's eyes as she spoke.
"I was going back to the cabin to see if A's body was still there and he followed me." She began.
Rose wanted to scold Kara for going back to the cabin where they all could have easily been killed, but that was for another time.
"A wasn't there, but when I was going to leave, Zak showed up. He said he was looking for me."
Rose bit her nails. She was actually scared of what Kara was going to say. She didn't think she could handle this for much longer.
"What did he want?" Rose asked as her voice shook.
"He wanted to know if I was the only one with the thing in my neck. And I said I was."
Rose was about to say that she had it to, but she just really wanted to get this over with.
"He told me that it was a tracker, and that I had to make sure nobody else got it in their necks."
Rose then bit down hard on her thumb. She looked down and saw that she had bit her nail down to the nub. So, she moved on to the next finger.
"A tracker?" Rose asked, her eyes wet and wide.
"Yeah, and I'm guessing that's how A found us." Kara said, her voice flat.
"He was telling me about his A attacks and we found out that there are two A's again. Then he moved on to tell me that A had… bad intentions." Kara said. Tears were starting to form in her eyes to.
"What are A's bad intentions?" Rose questioned. Her voice was shaking even worse than before.
"I don't know." Kara said as the first tear fell from her eyes. "He was going to tell me and then the shot rang out."
Rose stared at Kara with her mouth open slightly. Staring at Kara's crying face, plus what Rose had just heard is was caused her to crack.
A sob escaped her mouth, and she put her hands up to cover her mouth. She felt tears roll down her face and onto Kara's bed.
It took her all the courage in her small body to ask, "And then what happened?"
Kara wiped away her few tears and took a deep breath. "He was falling so I caught him and lowered him down to the ground. He was gone before I even caught him. I refused to believe he was gone and I stayed with him until A started to shoot at me."
Rose felt her whole body shake. She removed her hands from her mouth and wasn't shocked to see them shaking as if someone had struck her with lightning.
"You saw him die?" She said barley audible.
Kara nodded her head gently.
Rose put her head into her hands. Her whole body was shaking up and down with her sobs.
Zak, her Zak was really gone.
And the last thing Zak had said to her was, "Don't worry. I'll never leave you." And Rose would like to believe that was still true.
She said those words over and over in her head as she cried more.
As she was sobbing, she felt Kara's hands rub her back. She leaned into Kara and let her body rest in Kara's lap.
Kara began to get all the hair out of Rose's face, gently stroking her skin in a calming way.
"It was fast, Rose. He didn't feel anything." Kara said in a gentle tone.
"You think so?" Rose replied. She was trying her best to calm down.
"I'm positive. When he fell, he looked up to the sky with no sign of pain and when I closed his eyes, it looked like he was sleeping peacefully. The only indicator of death was the blood."
Rose felt a small weight lift off her shoulders. Not the full weight that was permanently there now that Rose didn't have Zak, but knowing that he went fast was a relief.
When Rose felt her tears lessen, and she felt her throat stop shaking, Rose said, "I'm sorry Kara."
"Sorry for what?" She asked, confused.
Rose looked up at Kara's face. "Sorry that you had to go through that and tell me."
Kara smiled a genuinely warm smile. "Yeah, it sucked. But Zak's courage made me stronger. We know a lot more about A and I think we are even closer to defeating this asshole."
Rose chuckled, jerking her body in to processes.
And she didn't know how she did it, but she managed to fall asleep.
Rose woke up in her grandparent's main room couch.
She jumped up and looked around her. Nobody else was in the room.
She stood up from the couch and took a few steps with wobbly knees.
Rose began to walk for the stairs but her grandfather appeared out of nowhere.
"You should be sleeping, kiddo." He said from behind her.
Rose turned around to see her grandfather leaning against the wall.
"I was just sleeping." Rose said, gesturing to the couch.
"You've had a hard past couple of days and the best way to get through it is by sleeping."
Rose looked down at her wobbly knees. She was starving.
"But I'm hungry." She said, sitting back down on the couch. She was scared that her knees were going to give out.
"I'll make you something." Byron said with his famous smile. "How does a grilled cheese sound?"
Rose smiled a fake smile. "A grilled cheese sounds perfect."
He nodded and headed for the kitchen.
Not long after he left, he came back. He handed Rose a paper plate with a gooey grilled cheese on it.
"Thanks." She said.
Even though she was starving, Rose really didn't have an appetite. She took a small bite, only because her grandfather was watching.
"Where are my parents?" Rose asked, setting the food down.
Rose saw Byron's eyes flicker back and forth. "Out."
Byron has never been good at keeping secrets, but Rose let this one go. She would just ask her parents when they came home.
As if on cue, the front door opened and her parents came trudging in.
"Did you close it?" Aria whispered.
"Yes." Ezra snapped back as he closed the door.
"Are you positive? I mean what if somebody-"
"I closed it, Aria." He snapped back.
"Hey guys!" Byron shouted from across the room.
Aria and Ezra looked up and saw Byron and Rose. Their eyes widened.
"Hi, dad." Aria said with her fake smile. She then looked down at Rose's half eaten grilled cheese. "Did your grandpa make you that?" She said in a high pitched voice.
It was obvious that Aria was trying to brush over what happened. As if Rose hadn't heard what the two were talking about.
God, how many mysteries could Rose take without going mad?
Ezra plopped down on the couch next to Rose and grabbed her hand. "How are you, Miss. Rose?" He asked in a gentle voice.
"I'm fine." Rose said, setting the grilled cheese aside.
Aria soon plopped down next to Rose too. "We heard what about happened to Zak." She said in a gentle and cautious tone.
"Yeah." Rose said, scratching her arm. "It really sucks."
She really didn't want to talk much about it. Her eyes were raw and she couldn't afford more tears.
"Your mom and I are here if you need us." Ezra said, squeezing Rose's hand and then letting it go.
Rose nodded her head. "I know."
"Is there anything you want?" Aria asked.
"To be honest, the only thing I want right now is to be alone in my bed right now." Rose said, looking down at the ground. She would go do that, but she remembered Noah. She still had no idea what happened with his body. All Rose knew was that A had slaughtered him.
"You can go in there." Ezra said as if it was an obvious fact.
Rose looked at him. "What about Noah?"
Ezra looked over Rose's at shoulder, probably to looking at his wife. He stared for a few seconds and then he looked back at Rose.
"It's taken care of." He said in a sketchy voice.
Rose ignored it because she really just wanted to lie in her bed.
She stood up and walked towards the stairs. Before she climbed up, she looked at her parents.
They sent her an encouraging smile. Rose smiled a fake smile back when she really felt like she was dying inside.
Really, not just her heart hurt, but her insides felt rotten also.
She walked up the stairs with difficulty, but when she got to her room, she felt strong again.
She was drawn to the closet. Last time she was drawn to the closet, there was a dead body.
What if it was Zak in there this time?
Rose took a deep breath to see if she smelled the same rotten smell as she did for Noah, but she didn't smell it.
She began to slowly walk towards the closet. Her hands shook as she put her hands on the closet doorknobs.
She was almost positive that there wasn't a body in there, but after all that's happened, who knows. Anything's possible.
She cracked her knuckles and then ripped the doors open.
Instead of a cold body, she was greeted with a warm shiver down her spine and an unexpected surprise.
It was a good surprise.
Smack dab in the middle of the closet, was Zak's Steelers sweatshirt that he had given her the first time they met.
This was weird because when Rose was putting the little clothes the firemen managed to spare from the fire in her closet, she didn't remember putting the sweatshirt in there.
She would have remembered.
What was even stranger was that wrapped around the hanger, was Rose's rose necklace, no longer with a broken chain.
She had lost that ages ago when she was in the woods.
She grabbed that and put it around her neck. She then put the sweatshirt on and was greeted with Zak's familiar sent.
She walked over to her mirror and looked at herself.
Rose looked like a mess, but if Zak was here, he would have told her that she as beautiful.
She wrapped her hands around herself and took a deep breath in. Zak's smell was fading away, but it was still there and Rose would cherish it until it was completely gone.
She looked at herself right in the eyes.
"Don't worry." Rose said to herself. "I'll never leave you."
She smiled a faint smile as she heard Zak's voice in her own.
She then walked over to her bed and plopped down. She wrapped herself in her sheets.
She fell asleep with her hand gripped around her rose necklace.
Anna's feet hurt.
She had been walking for a long time.
She didn't take her car to go to Kara's. She was under house arrest so Anna had to sneak out.
Kara and Anna's houses weren't that far from each other's but it was still at least a ten-fifteen minuet walk and Anna was wearing sandals.
She turned a corner and saw a familiar face.
Chelsey.
"Hey!" Anna called after her. "Wait up!"
Chelsey turned around and saw Anna chasing after her. She stopped.
Anna stopped a few feet in front of Chelsey and stopped to catch her breath.
"Hi." Anna said in between breaths.
"Hi." Chelsey said in a not very happy tone.
Anna was taken back by this, but she ignored it.
"How are you and Dylan?" Anna asked. It pained her but she had to do it.
Chelsey scoffed. "Fine."
"Fine?" Anna questioned. "Does that mean that you two are together?" She wanted Chelsey to say no, but she needed her to say yes. Chelsey had to live up to her promise with Anna.
A smirk fell over Chelsey's lips. "Absolutely. He was so upset about you dumping him that he fell right into my arms."
Hearing this made Anna want to stab scissors into her ears but she had to pretend like she was happy.
She faked a smiled. "That's great! So that's means he's happy and safe?"
Chelsey smiled. "Yeah. And speaking of him, I'm heading to his house right now. She said in a petty voice.
"His house?" Anna asked pained. Not even Anna had been invited to his house.
Chelsey nodded. "And you could probably bet what we're going to be doing."
Anna wanted to throw up. But instead, she brushed it off.
"I'm sorry." Chelsey said in a pathetically non-convincing voice. "I know you still love him."
Anna opened her mouth to object, but Chelsey interrupted.
"Oh wait," She started off, "I guess you are over him, since you're not wearing your bracelet."
Anna took a step back. "How do you know about my bracelet?"
Chelsey pointed down to Anna's wrist. "You're not wearing it."
"But how did you know it was connected to Dylan?"
Anna saw a flash of fear glint in Chelsey's eyes, but they soon turned back to their snobby self. "I just figured it was from him. Who else would give you a bracelet?"
Anna rolled her eyes. "I guess you're right." She said in a mad tone. She was done pretending to be nice.
Chelsey smiled a wicked smile.
Anna pointed over her shoulder. "I'm going to head home now."
Chelsey tilted her head. "Alright, have fun."
Anna then turned around and walked off. She was so sick of Chelsey, but she needed to make sure that Dylan was happy and okay.
But it really hurt knowing that he was.
She kept her head down and walked off down the street. She stared at her bare wrist and rubbed it.
She missed her bracelet. She could have gotten it back but it would mean that she would have to get a tracker in her neck.
Now that A had her bracelet, Anna was almost positive that she would never get it back.
Anna looked up right as she ran into another person.
She crashed hard on the ground and scraped up her knee.
"I'm so sorry," Anna said, beginning standing back up. "It was my-" She stopped when she stood up and saw who she bumped into.
"Hi, Anna."
It was Dylan.
"Hi." Anna squeaked out.
Dylan stuck his hand out and offered to help her up. Anna gratefully accepted.
When she was off the ground, Anna stared at Dylan awkwardly. She hasn't seen him since she broke up with him.
"Why aren't you with Chelsey?" She asked.
"Chelsey? Why would I be with her?" He asked. He seemed generally confused.
"Because I was just talking to her and she said she was going to your house."
Dylan still looked confused.
"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Anna asked, rubbing the scratched up patch on her knee.
Dylan nodded. "Yeah, I'm lost."
"So you're not dating Chelsey?" Anna asked.
He laughed. "No."
Anna felt herself lighten up. He was still single!
But… that also meant that Chelsey lied and Dylan was on his own.
"You okay?" Dylan asked. He must have seen the anger on Anna's face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Anna lied as she crossed her arms. "How are you?"
"I'm fine." He said.
There was an awkward silence.
"No, weird messages or attacks?" Anna asked.
"You mean A?" Dylan said. "No. Nothing."
"Good."
"How about you?"
Anna hesitated. "A few things." She said, looking down at her feet.
"Like what?" Dylan pressured.
"Just some texts, but nothing serious." Anna lied. If she told Dylan about the kidnapping, he would want to get involved again.
"Where's your bracelet?" He asked out of the blue.
Anna looked down at her bare wrist. "I didn't want to lose it so I took it off before I left."
"So you still wear it?" He asked with a small smile on her face.
"Of course I do; it's beautiful." Anna said.
She really missed that damn bracelet.
Anna itched her neck awkwardly. "My parents are expecting me home soon so I should really get going."
Dylan nodded. "So when can I see you again?"
"I don't know." Anna said. "I guess the next time we run into each other on the streets."
Dylan looked upset. "You mean we can't…"
"Just because we talked doesn't mean we are getting back together." Anna said a little harshly. She just needed to get Dylan out of her life right now.
He looked down. "Okay." He said in a depressed tone.
"Bye, Dylan." Anna said in a sympathetic tone.
"Goodbye, Anna."
She sent a small smile to him and walked off.
It pained Anna to see him like this. She wanted more than anything to get back with him, but it seemed that her tactic of keeping Dylan away was working.
He had no attacks from A.
But there was one thing that confused Anna: Chelsey.
She completely lied.
When Anna first brought the idea to Chelsey, she seemed down to it.
But today, she seemed snobby and in a bad mood. And she tried to make Anna sad and jealous by saying all these things about her and Dylan.
From now on, Anna was staying away from her.
Anna stopped thinking about it and looked up. She was in front of her house.
He parents probably knew she was gone, and they couldn't have called her because Anna left her phone at home, so there was no doubt that her parents were probably going to kill her.
Oh well. It would take her mind off this Chelsey thing.
As soon as she opened the door, Anna was greeted with a hug.
She was shocked at first but she calmed down when she realized it was Brendon.
She patted his back a few times and then she pushed away from him and stared at him.
Did he have tears in his eyes?
"You're okay." He said in a stuffy tone.
"Anna Marion Cavanaugh!" She heard her mother yell from across the house.
Uh oh. Her mother used Anna's middle name.
This meant she was definitely going to get killed.
Spencer and Toby stormed through the house and stopped when they saw Anna.
"What were you thinking!" Spencer yelled.
"Did you forget that you were just held captive?" Toby said, a little calmer.
"Trust me, I didn't forget. I still have the constant pain in my ribs to remind me." Anna said, rubbing her ribs. They still ached from when A kicked her.
"Why did you leave? A could be out looking for you!" Spencer said in a stern voice.
"If A is looking for me, then they would have found me by now. And the first place they would look is here so it's better to be on the move." Anna said snottily.
"It doesn't matter." Toby began. "You're safer with us."
"I know, I'm sorry. It's just that Kara really needed me and the others." Anna said in a sad voice. Maybe this would calm her parents down a little bit.
"Why?" Brendon peeped from next to Anna.
"She was with Zak when…" She swallowed. "...when he died."
"Zak's dead?" Brendon said. He sounded hurt.
Anna nodded.
"Zak as in, used to be A, Zak?" Spencer asked.
Anna nodded. "He was trying to tell Kara something when A shot him."
"Oh my god." Brendon mumbled as he started pacing.
Anna watched as he left the room. She turned back to her parents.
"I knew you weren't going to let me go so I snuck out." Anna admitted.
"If you would have told us that we would have let you go." Toby said.
It was silent.
"I'm sorry." Anna said after a while.
"Don't apologize." Spencer said. "Just go see what's wrong with your brother and don't leave without telling us again."
"Deal." Anna said. She then turned and headed for the direction Brendon headed in.
He had turned the corner and went up the stairs. He was most likely in his room.
She walked up there and knocked on his door.
He opened it almost immediately with red puffy eyes.
"Are you okay?" Anna asked. She remembered how she thought he was A, but unless he was acting about being upset and concerned, (and we was not a good actor) Anna was pretty sure he was in the clear.
Plus, there was no way that Brendon attacked Anna. He wouldn't have kicked her that hard.
He opened the door and let Anna in.
"Are you okay?" She asked again.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine. I'm just worried about you."
Brendon took a deep breath.
"I was scared you were dead." He said.
"Why would you think that, I was only gone for a few hours?"
"No, not now. Last night." He said. He then reached for his phone and unlocked it.
"Mom and Dad were starting to get worried because you wouldn't text back but then I got a text, and it wasn't from you." He then showed Anna the phone.
It was a picture of Anna, bloody and passed out.
This must have been after Anna had passed out and A kicked her in the ribs.
Anna did look pretty dead.
"A sent this to me and told me to do something. They said that if I did it, they would let you and the others go. So of course I did it." Brendon said. His voice was shaking.
Anna took a deep breath. "What did you do?" She asked with fear.
"You said Zak was dead?" He asked with tears in his eyes.
"Yeah." Anna said in a worried voice.
"I think that's because of me."
"Get in it." Alison said sternly, pointing at the wheelchair.
"Mom!" Zoe groaned. She gestured to her working leg. "I'm fine without it."
"I don't care. The doctor said you need to be in it so you are going to be in it."
Zoe rolled her eyes and started to walk to the chair. She knew that there was no way to win an argument against Alison.
If Jason was here, maybe he would let her walk around.
He was much less strict about everything and he understood what the word "fun" meant.
But he left last night. Once he knew Zoe was safe and at home, he got on a plane and headed back to California.
Zoe took her time walking to the chair. She sat down in it with a loud thunk.
Emily came from the other room and hugged her purse close to her body.
"You ready to go?" She asked.
Zoe nodded. She was going back to therapy with Amanda, but it was a little bit different this time. It was physical therapy instead of mental therapy. Even though she wished it was both.
Emily and Zoe got in the car and took the short five minute awkward drive to the therapy office.
It was the same building as the first time.
Zoe got out of the car and walked to the back to retrieve her wheelchair.
She unhooked it from the back as Emily watched.
"You shouldn't be standing." She said.
"I'm fine." Zoe said, lowering the hair to the ground. "I'm standing perfectly fine and there is no pain."
Emily stared at Zoe with a glint in her eyes, but she didn't say anything.
Zoe opened the chair. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I just don't want you to get hurt." Emily replied.
Zoe tried her best to hold in a laugh. It's a little late for that, she thought.
"I'm pretty tough, mom." Zoe said.
"I know you are." Emily replied, locking the car. "But I just don't want you to get your hopes up. You've been through so much in the past through months and if Amanda says something like you walking damaged your leg even more, I don't want you to be even more heartbroken."
Zoe shook her head as she sat down in the chair. "She won't say anything like that."
"Why so?" Emily asked as she began to push Zoe towards the building.
"Because there is nothing wrong with my leg. If there was, I would have felt it by now."
Emily didn't say anything. She only grabbed Zoe's shoulder and squeezed it a few times.
When the two walked in, Zoe was happy to see Cory sitting in the waiting room.
He smiled and sat up. Zoe smiled too.
"Hi, Zoe." He said. He then looked up at Emily. "Hi, Mrs. DiLafields."
"Hi, Cory." Emily said back in a sweet voice.
"If you don't mind, I can take Zoe up to Amanda." He offered.
Zoe turned her head to look at her mother. She mouthed the word "please" over and over again.
Emily looked down at Zoe and then back up to Cory.
"Sure." Emily said in a cheery tone. She then tapped Zoe on the shoulder. "Just text me when you're done so I can come and get you."
"Okay, I will." Zoe said, not taking her eyes off Cory.
Emily let go of the wheelchair and started to walk out the door.
"Bye, Zoe." She said.
"Bye, mom." Zoe called after her.
She then turned back to Cory with a huge smile on her face.
"It's good to see that you're in a good mood." He said, also with a smile on his face.
"I'm just happy to see you." Zoe said.
She hadn't seen him in a while. In fact, Zoe hasn't even spoken to him about the cabin thing.
She would tell him, but now wasn't the time.
Cory grabbed the back of Zoe's chair and wheeled her over to the elevator. They went up to the second floor, the elevator buzzed and the doors opened.
Zoe was shocked to see Amanda waiting for them outside the door.
"Hey, Zoe." She said in a cheery tone.
"Hi, Amanda!" Zoe said back. She was so happy that she was back with Amanda. Zoe felt comfortable telling her about everything.
"Hi, Cory." She said.
"Hi." He said back.
Amanda turned her attention back to Zoe. "My office is just around the corner." She said. "So if you'll follow me…" She said, walking off down the hallway.
Cory pushed Zoe down the hallway and Amanda held the door open for the two.
Inside the room there were lots of things. Ramps, yoga balls, small weights, and two parallel metal beams. They were probably for practicing to walk.
"Alright." Amanda said, opening up Zoe's file. "It looks like you're finally able to try walking."
Zoe smiled. "Actually…" She started off. "I can walk."
"What?" Cory said from behind her.
"Excuse me?" Amanda asked, obviously confused.
"Something came up and I was forced to stand up and rush over there, so instinct took over and I walked."
Amanda put down Zoe's file and slowly walked over to Zoe. "You walked?"
"And ran and jumped and climbed. I've done it all." Zoe said with excitement, but it seemed like Amanda was extremely confused.
"And have you walked since…since this incident?"
"Yeah." Zoe said. "I walked around this morning."
"Can you do it for me now?" Amanda asked.
Zoe nodded. "Sure." She bent down and re-adjusted the straps on her brace. When she was done, she stood up with ease.
She then looked around the room. "Where should I walk to?"
Cory walked across the room. "Walk to me."
Zoe nodded and took her first step slowly. Sometimes it was difficult taking the first step but she got the hang of it after a while.
She walked across the room easily and stopped in front of Cory. She smiled a seductive smile at him.
"See?" She chirped.
"Wow." Amanda said from behind her.
"Not even a limp." Cory said as he looked at her up and down.
Zoe turned towards Amanda. "Why is this so shocking?"
"Because in your file it said the doctors never thought you would walk again, at least not without help, even with that it would take years of therapy and training. But you came in her and just…" She trailed off. She then gestured to Zoe. "Walked." She finished.
Zoe smiled. "I guess I'm just special."
"Yeah you are." Cory said from behind her.
She turned to look at him. He was smiling at her.
When Zoe looked back at Amanda, she still seemed confused.
"Amanda…" Zoe said. "Isn't it a miracle?"
"It's impossible, that's what it is." She said.
Zoe scrunched up her face. "Impossible?"
"Impossible without tons and tons of steroids."
Zoe's face fell.
"What?" She and Cory said at the same time.
"There is no way that this is possible without it, and it says nowhere in the file that the doctors prescribed you the medications." Amanda said, looking at Zoe suspiciously.
"Zoe…" Cory said, grabbing Zoe's arm. "What does this mean?"
"I'm not doing drugs if that's what you're suggesting." Zoe said with anger in her voice.
"It's not possible without it." Amanda said, crossing her arms.
"Or maybe it's just a miracle and we should all be happy for me." Zoe said, imitating Amanda by crossing her arms.
Amanda didn't say anything.
"Wow." Zoe said to herself. She turned around and glared at Cory. "You believe me right?"
He hesitated but he eventually said. "If you say you aren't doing drugs then you aren't."
"Thank you." Zoe said louder than necessary. She wanted Amanda to hear.
Zoe then grabbed Cory's arm. "We're leaving."
But when Zoe walked, Cory didn't.
"What are you doing?" She whispered.
"Look, I believe you but I have to be here." He said.
"Why?" Zoe scolded.
"Unlike you, not all of us are miracles." He said, shaking his leg that has the limp.
Zoe looked at him. "Okay." She then nodded her head slightly at Amanda. "Just don't trust anything she says about me."
Cory didn't say anything, but he reached out and kissed Zoe on the forehead.
"I'll see you later." He said.
"Bye." Zoe said.
She then stomped out of the room and into the elevator.
It was when the doors closed that Zoe remembered that she forgot her wheelchair.
She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Cory.
Get my wheelchair on the way out.
-Zoe
She then put her phone back in her pocket and walked out of the building.
Zoe wasn't going to call her mom to come pick her up. She wasn't in there long enough for Zoe to tell her mother that she and Amanda had been doing leg exercises and for it to be believable.
So, to kill some time, Zoe figured that she should do something that she hadn't done in a while.
Go for a walk.
A real walk.
She was walking for not even five minutes when she felt her phone buzz.
Thinking it was Cory, Zoe pulled out her phone and looked at the text.
;)
That was it.
Just a wink face.
And it wasn't from Cory. If it was, it would have his contact name above the text.
This could most possibly be A, but A usually signed their texts.
Zoe sighed and put her phone back in her pocket.
She started walking and decided to head home when it started to get dark out.
Zoe was surprised that she hadn't gotten any texts during that whole time.
None from A, her parents, or Cory.
You would think Zoe would have got something.
She pulled out her phone and refreshed her messages.
Nothing.
It was then that Zoe heard a voice.
"Hello, Zoe." The voice said in a long drawn out tone.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She knew exactly who spoke. She heard his voice every night in her nightmares.
"You're supposed to be in jail." Zoe said as she turned around and looked at him.
"Someone gave me the slip." Daniel said in a childish tone.
Zoe looked around her. How is it that she always ended up in lifeless allies?
"I'm not afraid of you." Zoe said. She lied. She totally was, but she felt like she had gained a lot more strength since their last encounter.
"Then how come you're shaking?"
"I'm not." Zoe said. Her confidence failed as her voice shook.
She began to reach in her back pocket for her phone.
"It's pointless reaching for your phone." He said in a happy tone.
It made Zoe want to throw up.
"What do you mean?"
"Have you wondered why nobody has texted you in the past few hours?"
Zoe didn't reply.
"I got someone to cut off your phone line." He said casually.
Zoe felt her body start to shake.
"You're all alone." Daniel said. He then smirked. "Alone with me."
Zoe took a step back, but she ran into something.
No not something. Someone.
She turned to look at the person in a black hoodie.
She gasped as she felt hands around her neck.
She tried to kick A away, but it was useless.
As Zoe began to run out of breath, she felt a pinch in the back of her neck, and then the sound of hideous laughter.
And then all the air left Zoe's body and she collapsed.
AN: Wow.
It seems like A is mad.
Hopefully now you can see the pattern. If you can, then you know what's next.
;)
Alright, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next week!
-Jessica