Disclaimer: All characters are property of Hasbro and Sony Wonder.

OOC: Due to Eric's rapidly declining sanity and it's ensuing consequences, some parts of this chapter are somewhat graphic and therefore, potentially R rated and/ or offensive. If explicit violence or implied sexual violence are disturbing to you, please feel free to catch up with Pizzazz and Kimber's entries, or avoid it altogether. Thanks, hope you enjoy.

- - - -

Eric

It had been a while since I'd sent Techrat away, making a discreet, yet hasty exit out of the Palladium's basement and into my rented black BMW. My excitement began to simmer inside me as I took my time driving here, to the site of the old Starlite Drive-In. Impatient to get on with tonight's glorious entertainment, I had been perched on the edge of this rickety metal folding chair, waiting, wiping my shiny new .38 until it gleamed with an icy shimmer.

"Tonight," I crooned to it as I made lazy circles with a soft cloth, "tonight it is our turn to shine."

The unmistakeable rattling sound of that odious black van just outside the door snapped me back to reality. I kept my eyes on the door, keeping the gun close to me. A series of hard thumps, followed by the crack of the door being kicked in, heralded Zipper and his cronies carrying an unconcious Jerrica inside. I frowned.

"I thought I told you to keep her lucid," I said to him as I slid the weapon back into it's holster, staring down at the lovely blonde specimen. Zipper snorted.

"Yeah, well, we had a helluva time getting her to cooperate, Eric." He panted, wiping a greasy hand across his forehead. I smirked, noticing all of her marks and contusions. "Yes, I imagine that you did. Very nice work, gentlemen."

Digging into my pockets, I retrieved a thick wad of hundred-dollar bills and flipped it in his direction. The wad bounced off of his hard stomach, landing on the floor. Zipper scrambled to apprehend it.

"One million in cash, as promised." I stated, bending to pick Jerrica up by her underarms. As I lugged her weight into the folding chair, Zipper stood where he was, flipping through the stack to confirm every last dollar. Funny, I thought as I pried the edge off of a roll of duct tape, I never even knew he could count.

"All here," He confirmed over his shoulder to the others. My brow creased in irritation.

"Of course it's all there. I've always been a man of my word." I retorted as I struggled to get the tape firmly over Jerrica's mouth. The gaggle of petty thugs still lingered behind, gaping at me with big, stupid eyes. "Well? Are you going to leave or not?" I barked, reaching for my weapon. Zipper's eyes widened.

"All right already, keep your cool, Eric, we're leavin'!" He protested, backing away slowly without turning his back on me. The others took his lead and exited, trying as best they could not to show their fear. I heard Zipper curse once more before the door blessedly slammed shut.

"Finally," I muttered to myself, turning my attentions back to Jerrica's restraints. I forced her limp arms behind the chair, binding her wrists together with most of the duct tape. Using the rest to restrain her torso and ankles, I made absolutely sure there was no room for movement on her part.

Stepping back to admire my handiwork, I felt absolutely superior over this woman, this wench who had turned my entire existence upside down. Once so noble and hard, she now lay soft and yielding, subjective to my every whim, my darkest desires. A cold smile of hatred smeared across my lips. Never before had I felt so alive. At last. At long last, I will have my revenge on Jerrica Benton.

Her eyelids fluttered then, and my pretty captive emitted a sweet moan of pain. Blood surged through my veins, rushing mostly to the place her voice had aroused. I watched with anticipation as she wiggled, slowly straining to awaken. I caught my breath when her blue eyes finally fully opened, instantly darting around in an effort to determine her surroundings, then focused on me.

"Oh, good, you're awake, Jerrica darling!" I sang out, giddy with power. "Now you and I can finally start having some fun." Jerrica blinked rapidly, her chest rising and falling rapidly as her terror undoubtedly consumed her. Enchanted by her response, I laughed out loud. "Don't worry, sweetheart, I'm not going to have my nasty way with you. Although just between you and me, I'm hard enough to quite literally screw the life out of you, so don't hold me to that."

She squirmed deliciously and turned her head away, driving me wild. I grabbed her hard by the chin and yanked her to me. "Don't you dare look away from me when I'm talking to you, do you understand me!" I railed, spittle flying from my lips. Eyes wide with fright, Jerrica grunted a terrified response.

"Good." I purred, backing away. "You always were a clever girl, although one can't help but question your intelligence given the situation, can one?" I cocked my head inquisitively. "I mean, really. Playing an elaborate, technologically advanced game of dress up in your Mommy's closet. Hiding your true self from your fans, your business associates, even from the supposed love of your life. What on Earth could you possibly have been thinking?"

Stalking her personal space like a hawk hovers close to it's prey, I watched her every twitch, every nuance of a movement as I chastised her. Laughing, I reached out to caress her face as she tried oh so hard not to flinch. My fingers brushed against a sharp point of her little red earring.

"How utterly tragic, hmm? You were stupid enough to bring all this drama upon yourself." I taunted, fondling the spiky plastic star. She froze. "Oh, and just so we're absolutely clear, everyone saw what happened tonight." My captive emitted a high pitched, extremely arousing whimper, and I reveled in my domination.

"That's right! Everyone knows that you...are...JEM." I enunciated rudely, a grin of achievement spreading across my unshaven face. "I bet even your beloved Rio has found out, hasn't he?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer was. Jerrica withered into her seat, all the energy seeping out of her. I struck her hard in the head with the gun, enjoying her resulting cry.

"Hasn't he?" I repeated, towering over her. She cowered and nodded miserably, not able to hide her tears anymore. I grinned. "Of course he has. And do you know what?"

Jerrica frantically shook her head. Slithering up behind her, I whispered in her ear, "I made it all possible."

Patiently I waited as the realization slowly sunk in to her aching head. "How I did it, well, that's really none of your concern at this point, now is it?" She made a negative sound through the barrier of tape, writhing in her seat. My fingers tightened on the earring.

"Do you know, Jerrica darling, just why I brought you here?" I murmured in a sinister tone. She recoiled and made a mewling sound, that iron grip on her earring probably making her extremely uneasy, I noted with extreme pleasure.

"I've brought you back here," I said slowly, letting her ingest every venomous syllable, "to this place where your backstabbing daddy built the machine that would hand you, on a silver fucking platter, the position that I sweat blood for years to achieve. Back to this place where you first found out how to ruin me, to finish what we started.

"You remember, don't you?" I cooed. "All those years ago, when you turned those wily charms on me, only to make me a pawn in your twisted little love games? Oh, Jerrica darling, I know that you do! And you also know that there's no way in hell I'm going to let you get away with it."

I watched her face twist with horror, imagining all the things that had driven me to this point, this wonderfully high point in my storied career. My loins surged as she cowered in what I thought to be shame, whimpering submissively.

"Yes, Jerrica, this dirty little secret of yours is going to cost you big. You always were so fucking coy, so naive. The world has always bent to little Jerrica's whims." My eyes shone as I glared at her hatefully.

"You stole my company. You stole my rightful fortune. Worst of all, you stole my heart. You took my very dignity!"

Without warning the earring was cruelly torn away. Jerrica screamed, thrashing wildly against her binds.

I peered at the gruesome specimen with an almost childlike fascination, twisting it between my fingers before flinging it to the ground and crushing it with my heel. My attentions returned to Jerrica, who was still writhing in a delicious state of mental and physical agony. "Hey. Hey! Remember what we talked about before? Disobedience will get you nowhere!" Her screams continued unabated and as tolerant as I was, I was definitely beginning to lose my patience.

The cold steel of the gun pressed against her temple forced the screams back down her throat. "See that wall over there?" I stated, nodding in it's direction. She stared at it, shaking like a leaf, undoubtedly picturing macabre scenes of her own bloody end. "Picture it splattered all over with your brains. That's what'll happen to you if you keep being a problem." The gun did not move from her temple.

"Now, as I was saying. This dirty little secret of yours, that I figured out first, by the way, leaves you with only one obvious choice." Jerrica looked back up at me, her graceful neck stained with blood and her gaze projecting white-hot hatred.

"You are now my possession." I sneered at her, my voice an icy slither. "Make no mistake, you belong to me now. And I will possess you, Jerrica darling."

The bullet chamber clicked into place ominously, as loud as thunder. "I will take all of you."

- - - Pizzazz

Long after most of the partygoers had filtered out into the night, us Misfits stayed behind. I was really feeling the effects of that vodka, not to mention the odd number of strawberry margaritas and glasses of champagne I'd washed it down with. Stormer's brother had wandered over during the festivities, and I detachedly watched the pair chatting in hushed tones a few feet away from the bar. Jetta, Roxy, and Clash remained by my side, as well they should.

They all thought that I was pissed off and getting myself drunk because of Kimber's little hissyfit, but the private truth of it was that I was trying to drink away Eric. All the weird stuff that went down tonight had set off bells in my mind and an unsettled feeling in my stomach. I hadn't left him in the best state of mind that day we ditched him, and I knew it the second I slammed his door shut. I knew he and his pansy tech nerd did this to Jem, or whoever the hell she was, but I couldn't prove it. The scary part was, if he was going after her, what was gonna stop him from going after us - and me - too?

The thought made me crave another pleasantly numbing glass of bubbly, but my stomach made itself clear that it wasn't going to take any more tonight. Tired and irritated, I glared at Stormer and Craig across the way, wishing they'd wrap it up so I could go home.

Swaying precariously on the barstool, I watched as Aja strode up to them, looking pale and shaken. She said something to them in earnest, gesturing towards the edge of Sands' property. As Craig embraced her, a phone bleated loudly from behind the bar, making me jump and then glare at the bumbling barkeep, who nearly knocked over all of his glasses trying to answer it. The man looked at me as he spoke softly into the reciever, then handed over the phone.

"Miss Gabor, it's someone who says they're an employee of yours," he said when I looked at him in surprise. Thinking it was probably Matilda having problems with the alarm system or something, I reluctantly took it from him.

"Y'ello?"

"Pizzazz, Raymond has Jerrica Benton, and I think he's going for you next." That raspy, skin crawling hiss of a voice was unmistakable, turning my unsettled feeling into genuine fear, and I shuddered.

- - - Rio

Needless to say, sleep eluded me that night. It didn't help that Anthony had no air conditioning in his apartment, so my skin kept sticking to his black leather couch in the heat. I listened to the sound of the nearby commuter rail, silently noting each time it rattled by to distract my mind.

And God, did I miss her. I ached for Jerrica with each passing minute, consumed with a new desperate longing. She was my world. She's all I ever knew of love.

Blinking back stinging tears, I turned my head slightly to gaze at the blazing neon ad next to the window. It flicked on and off erratically, hypnotizing me with it's rhythmic pulse.

Morning snuck up on me after a few thousand train passings. Anthony emerged from his room to find me lying wide awake, staring at his stucco ceiling. He shook his head.

"Didn't sleep well, huh?" He asked, knowing full well I hadn't. I looked at him with weary, bloodshot eyes, saying nothing. Anthony sighed and gave my arm a friendly slap.

"Come on, I'll make us some breakfast."

Some time later we sat across from each other in his kitchenette, between plates of eggs and toast. He drummed his fingers on the side of his coffee mug, a nervous habit of his that was starting to wear on my nerves. I nursed my coffee slowly, enjoying the sensation of caffeine seeping into my bloodstream.

"How do you feel?" Anthony asked me after a while. I rubbed my hand over my unshaven face and gave him a blank look. "I don't know," I answered honestly. "I guess I don't know how to feel. Would you?"

Anthony thought a moment, sipping his coffee. "No. No, I don't suppose so. Who would?" Our attentions were suddenly drawn to the television, which was starting to blare a special news bulletin.

"This just in; Both pop star Jem of Jem and the Holograms, and Jerrica Benton, CEO of Jem's label, Starlight Music, have officially been reported missing. The two women were last seen around 10 pm yesterday evening at movie mogul Howard Sands' mansion, attending his big VTV Awards show afterparty."

"What!" Anthony exclaimed as I leapt from my seat to turn up the volume. The horrible news echoed throughout the tiny kitchen.

"'Please, we just need her to come home,'" A tearstained, visibly shaken Kimber Benton pleaded from the TV screen, accompanied by a somber looking Aja, Shana, and Raya. My stomach bottomed out at the sight of them, and I slowly sank back into my chair. "'Whoever has her, whatever has happened, we just want her to come home. That's all.'

"The incident is being investigated as an abduction case. Many witnesses who were at the awards report seeing a suspicious black van across the street from the Hollywood Palladium, and still more say they spotted the same van near Mr. Sands' residence.

"Search parties have been launched all over the Malibu area, including Mr. Sands himself and many of Jem's friends in the music business. Pizzazz, lead singer of the Misfits, has alluded that she may know who is behind the alleged kidnapping. Riot, nee Rory Lewellyn, of the Stingers, has volunteered additional information on the co-owner of Stingers Sound and former Misfits manager Eric Raymond, who is considered a prime suspect. Both are now being questioned by the LAPD. This has been a Cool Trash special report, I'm Harriet Horne. We'll keep you posted on all the latest."

All the animosity drained from me as I stared at the screen in horror. "Shit. Shit." I hissed, panic boiling in my gut. "Do you know what this means? Someone knows, Anthony! Someone already knows who she is and they've gotten to her. And I just left her there at that party, I could have done something!" I lamented, running my hands through my hair. Anthony was up and out of his seat immediately.

"Okay, okay, look, don't panic, Rio. I'm gonna call Shana, see what's going on, and we'll go from there. Hear me?" He put his hand on my shoulder and I nodded miserably. Anthony leapt towards the direction of his bedroom. As he and Shana talked, my spirits sank. I put my head in my hands, dangerously close to shedding tears.

All right, Pacheco, take it easy. You can't help her if you can't calm down, I told myself, practicing deep breaths. My mind began to think a bit more clearly.

Okay. Whatever device Jerrica's been using to conceal her true self, Emmett obviously built. He must have purchased that old drive-in in order to move his work to a more secure location; coincidentally, that was the same place we rescued Jem and the Holograms from Eric the night of the Battle of the Bands.

A little bell went off in my head. If Eric's as crazy as I think he is...

Anthony suddenly emerged from the bedroom, cordless phone in hand. "I told them we're on our way. The police are doing everything they can."

"Anthony, I know where to find Jerrica! Eric Raymond's got her, and I know where he's keeping her." I told him as I stood up. He gave me a rather odd look, much like the ones he was giving me last night.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Look, call the police again. Tell them to go to the old Starlite Drive-In, give them explicit directions. I know this, Anthony. I feel it in my bones."

The dark man nodded. "Do you have a weapon on you?" I asked him, starting to pace thoughtfully around his living room. "Chances are, Eric's armed to the teeth." His eyes widened.

"You want to go after this guy?" Anthony squeaked, staring at me in disbelief.

"Anthony, for all we know, Jerrica could already be dead." I stated with a tremor in my voice. "If there's any chance at all that she's not, and the cops don't get there in time, we could help her. I want to help her."

Anthony pursed his lips, knowing I was right. "Okay. So how do we do this? I don't have anything on me. I don't even have any pepper spray."

I groaned. "We're just gonna have to outsmart him then, use the element of surprise, and hope Eric doesn't blow us - or her - away."

Why does it always end up with me being the hero? I asked myself absently as we raced out the door.

- - -

Kimber

Oh, I recognized this emptiness. I knew it intimately.

It first clawed out my insides when they told us my Mom was dead, when I was nine. The wound seared me again, scarred me in the deepest way that morning I had gone to wake Daddy up, only to find his body unnaturally cold and stiff. My memory is still protectively foggy about that part of my life, but I still have flashbacks of clutching him to me, howling. Jerrica and Rio came running, and next thing I knew, I was being drenched by icy rain, staring at his fresh grave. Wishing I wasn't so empty.

God. This can't be happening again. You can't be taking Jerrica too. Not even you could be this cruel.

I didn't know exactly how long I'd been perched on the edge of the living room couch. Lots of people were milling about, talking in anxious tones or incessantly asking how I was. I peered at them all blankly, unable to comprehend their words. It seemed I couldn't form words, either. Over and over I had given my account of what happened to the LAPD, then to the press, and so on until I couldn't tell the story anymore.

After a while I realized that Sean was sitting next to me. I didn't know how long he'd been there. Grief numbs your senses to the point of stupidity.

"Kimber?" He ventured, softly laying his hand over mine. "Love? Are you all right in there?"

There was that stupid question again. I'm numb, but my agony is so acute, it should be obvious to anyone who looks my way that I am not, in fact, all right in here. I'm dying.

"Please speak to me." Sean entreated, rubbing my back in sympathetic circles. "You haven't made a sound since yesterday. You're starting to scare me." If I didn't know better, I'd say his normally smooth voice was trembling. Odd, I thought to myself, how scared you sound, Sean, yet you've never known my kind of fear.

My eyes flickered in his direction, and his expression relaxed. I nestled my head into the crook of his shoulder, suddenly craving his comfort. He sighed, running his fingertips through my red locks.

"She'll make it through all right." Sean murmured in an intimate tone. "Jerrica's a strong woman, so's Jem."

I made a small, barely audible sound at the sensation of my tortured stomach seizing, my eyes focused on a lone thread in the stitch of his jeans. My tongue felt heavier than any other part of my body, glued firmly to the lid of my mouth. I couldn't force it to move, nor did I care to.

I felt a weight sink down on the side of the couch, and looked up to see Stormer, her eyes watery and pained, cradling a steaming cup of liquid in her hands. She bit her lip nervously when I didn't take it from her.

"Pizzazz and Riot told the police everything about Eric." Stormer offered quietly, meeting my gaze.

"Kimber..." She began, her voice trembling. Finding no words, my old friend plunked the cup on the adjacent coffee table with a sob. "I'm so sorry." Stormer entreated, fat tears rolling down her face. "I'm sorry about everything."

I let myself be pulled from Sean and into Stormer's arms, beginning to feel like the ball in a game of therapeutic hackeysack. She held me, crying, while I tried to conjure up tears of my own. I couldn't. The pain had become me, but all I could do was sit and wait. I just needed Jerrica home and this brutally familiar emptiness gone forever.

- - -

Jerrica

I could hear Synergy calling me. Her voice, so distant and remote, filtered through the blackness of my conciousness. My eyes fluttered, and I saw her hovering over me worriedly. She floated down and touched my shoulder, speaking my name again. I realized with a start that I could literally feel her touch, her hand was solid matter. "Jerrica!" She whispered again as my mind reeled.

..."Jerrica!"

Mom is peering at me curiously, her expression only slightly concerned. "I just wanted to know if you wanted another glass of lemonade."

Feeling utterly numb and out of my element, I slowly nod a response. She beams warmly as she pours herself a glass of lemonade, then hands me one too.

Kneeling down on the wooden, gently splintering floor of our old treehouse, I look out over the lush green expanse of the backyard. The burbling hum of a lawnmower echoes through the neighborhood as my father pushes it across the grass in straight, uniform lines. The air is almost too warm, pleasantly thick with humidity. Blinding, almost white summer sun shines through the boughs of the swaying tree limbs above us.

"Thanks," I tell her as I take the drink, noting how refreshingly cool the wet glass feels in my hand.

"Sure," Mom replies, her gaze lovingly following Dad's every movement. Then her face takes on a serious expression. "I'm very proud of you," She says. "You've done some wonderful things since I left. But you're in a serious situation right now, Jerrica Elise." I listen, sipping my lemonade peacefully.

"You shouldn't be up here yet, honey. You have to fight this battle and put it to rest. Once you face this head on, then you can make peace with yourself and your actions. But you just can't have peace in your life if you're constantly at war with yourself, Jerrica, and now I'm sure you know that."

Mom gestures downwards towards the outskirts of the yard, and I wince at the sight of myself bound to a chair. Her big blue eyes plead with me, filled with earnest. "I've tried to get my message through to you for the longest time." The nightmares, I realize as I look back at my tortured image.

"Jerrica, I won't tell you what to do. I won't tell you how to do it. You already know."

"But I don't want to leave!" I protest. "I miss you both so much." Jacqui enfolds me in her arms, rocking me gently as I sob. "I miss you too, honey. I miss all of you more than you know." She whispers, and it's like a dam has burst inside me. I feel my father embrace me too, and they both hold me close to them as my tears flow, drawing back when they finally subside.

A pure, steady clarity floods through me, filling me with renewed purpose. All the grief I carried like a block of coal in my stomach all these years has finally been released. Gratefully I hug both of them one more time before rising to my feet. "I know," I breathe, "what has to be done."

Emmett and Jacqui look at each other knowingly and smile at me. "We have complete faith in you." Mom says, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder.

My eyes fluttered open at the touch. "Mom?" I asked aloud, trying to sit up.The racking pain throbbing through my head called my attention back to the present. Groggily, I glanced into the far corner of the room, where my disease of a captor was curled into the fetal position around a bottle of his favorite poison and that damnable gun.

"Fight this battle and lay it to rest." Her words still echoed in my ears, and adrenaline started to burn in the pit of my stomach. I've let myself be taken advantage of for the last time.

With renewed purpose, I inched backwards in the chair, making only a light scuffling sound as I moved. I felt the reassuring coldness of the wall behind me and found a lone nail, pointing just out of the concrete. As discreetly as I could, I rubbed my wrists against it in a quick, staccato rhythm, creating as much friction as possible. All the while, I kept my eyes fixed on Eric, watching for any movement, ready to defend myself at a moment's notice.

Rub, rub, twitch. Rub, rub, twist, twitch, rub, rub. The skin began to chafe and burn, and I smiled. That's a good sign. The more it hurts, the better it's working. I rubbed faster.

No more, I told myself heatedly as I worked. I'm getting out of this alive, and I'm taking my life back. Eric grunted in his sleep from his squallid corner, and I paused.

My nails clawed at the tape, trying to make the smallest incision from which to break through. I watched calmly as Eric stirred, dragging himself slowly up off of the concrete floor.

Come on, I thought brazenly. I'm ready for you, asshole.

"Jerrriiicaaa," he drawled drunkenly, stumbling to his feet. Almost as an afterthought, he fumbled for the gun, and an idea came to me. I rubbed harder, the tape finally beginning to wear away from my raw wrists.

"You've been waiting for me, have you?" Eric slurred, a thin thread of drool dripping onto his dirty suit. I sat motionless as he reached to tear the tape from off of my mouth. Recovering quickly, I smiled at him.

"Of course." I purred, gazing at him with faux adoration. "What else do you expect me to do? After all, I let you down, didn't I? How did you put it? Oh yes, I stole your dignity. Although you used a naughty word that I don't feel a lady should repeat." I supplicated in a sickly sweet tone, mocking him in my own mind but sounding to him like I had given in completely.

He drew closer, his vile intent marked clearly as he brandished the gun unsteadily in his right hand. The other hand swayed with the bottle, back and forth. Behind my back, my restraints finally split open under the strain.

"That's a sweet girl." Eric leered, bending over me with a lascivous grin. "Oh, baby, I've been waiting for this my whole life." As he leaned in for the kiss, I snatched the bottle from his hand and went in for the kill, breaking it with a crack against his skull. Eric's eyes bulged wide as he went down, and I snatched my chair from under me, wasting no time as I broke it over his back with a shout.

"How does it feel, Eric!" I yelled, beating him again with the heavy object. "Where's your dignity NOW!" Dropping the chair with a clang, I leaped to snatch up his fallen gun, holding it to his head before he could so much as groan in pain.

"Turn over!" I barked, wielding the weapon menacingly. He didn't comply, and I kicked him in the side, eliciting a strangled moan. "I said, turn over! Or so help me, I'll put a bullet in your brain, Eric, I swear on both my parent's graves, I'll do it."

Eric did turn over, taking me by surprise by tackling me at the knees. I fell with a yelp, momentarily dropping the gun. He snarled at me as he lunged for it, and I landed a hard chop to his throat. Eric reached the weapon anyway, climbing over me and holding me down at the arms. I struggled against him however I could, but still he held me firmly underneath him.

"You always were a feisty little minx," He panted, placing the gun between my eyes. "Too bad I'll have to shut you up now before I get to see how feisty you really are." I growled at him and kneed him as hard as I could in the groin. Eric's mouth fell open in an expression of shocked agony, the pain undoubtedly spiraling up from his crotch through the pit of his stomach. I took advantage of his vulnerable state, shoving him over onto the floor again.

"You stupid belligerent fucker!" I spat at him as I regained my footing, lodging my heel at the base of his throat. "Did you really think you'd get away with it? Did you?" I screamed, leaning all my weight on his neck. Eric gasped and choked, fighting for air as he tried to pry my leg away. I did not budge.

There was a banging on the door that caught both our attentions. An all too familiar voice shouted my name. Rio, I thought with a leap in my heart.

"You see?" I said to Eric with a grin. "You see, he still cares for me in spite of everything you've done. You can't kill true love, Eric, and you can't break what's already broken."

His face contorted into that familiar hateful sneer. "Bitch," Eric coughed as he summoned the strength to knock me over, grabbing for his gun and pointing it at me again as I lay stunned on the floor, the wind sharply knocked out of me.

He laughed, a harsh, nauseating sound. "Life feeds on life, Jerrica darling." Eric told me, cocking the gun with a loud click. "This is necessary."

There was a deafening bang, and I shrieked, knowing Mom was wrong. I was supposed to be in that treehouse with her after all, and I'm falling, the sound of the gun and Rio echoing into spirals of sound behind my body.

to be continued