by Casey, Ryan
“Realise what?” Aoife asked. Tearful.
“For making me realise there was more left to live for.”
He lifted his rifle.
He pointed at the window.
And he pulled the trigger.
The glass smashed.
And Aoife and Rex had a chance.
“Push Rex through. Then get out of there.”
“But—”
“Before it’s too late.”
Aoife stood there, paralysed. Shaking her head. And Max saw himself in her.
“Don’t see it as leaving me behind,” he said. “You’ve saved me in ways you don’t even realise. But you have to get out of here. And you have to get Rex out of here. Now.”
She opened her mouth. Tried to speak.
And then she shook her head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.”
“For everything. I’m—”
“Don’t be sorry.”
She looked back at him.
And through the smoke, through the flames, through Max’s burning tears, he swore he saw a young Kathryn in her eyes.
“Go. Now. Now!”
She turned around.
Dragged Rex towards the window, lifting his slight weight and pushing him through.
“Thank God you’re underweight right now,” she spluttered.
Then she climbed the side of the cabin wall.
Turned around, one last time.
She looked at him. Looked right into his eyes as the heat grew more intense, as the smoke grew thicker.
“I’m sorry.”
And Max just smiled, and he nodded.
“I’m sorry too.”
And then Aoife turned around and climbed out of the window.
Max stood in the flames.
He stood in the smoke.
He stood in this burning cabin as the whole thing swallowed him up, engulfed him.
And then he closed his eyes and let it all take him.
Because he was ready now.
He was ready for Kathryn.
He was ready for David.
He was...
Chapter Fifty
Max was in that room again.
He was in front of the doors. The two doors, both of them with the light shining from them.
Only one of the doors was open now.
The one on the right.
The one where he could see Kathryn.
And where he could see David.
He staggered forward through the clouds beneath his feet. Staggered closer as tears of happiness and joy streamed down his face. Because he was here now. He was here. He’d made it. All this time, and he’d made it, finally.
He’d done what he had to do.
He’d gone back, and he’d stood his ground, and he’d saved Aoife.
Saved Rex.
Shot that glass in and helped them escape.
He got closer and closer to the room with Kathryn and David in. He could hear David’s cheeky little laugh as his mother tickled him, played with him. He could see them both giggling, playing, and he wanted that. He wanted to be with them. He wanted to be with them so much.
“I’m coming,” he said. “I’m ready now. I’m…”
And that’s when the door on the left opened up.
Suddenly. As if a gust of wind had bashed against it.
And inside, beyond, as much as he didn’t want to turn to it, as much as he didn’t want to look, he saw something that made him stand still.
Made the hairs on his arms stand on end.
Aoife and Seth.
Rex lying dead with his tongue out by their side.
Blood trickling from his body.
Fur ruffled and matted.
And then Seth with Aoife on her knees before him.
Knife to her throat.
Aoife staring back at Max through the door.
And then, the next minute, Seth cut her throat.
Blood everywhere.
And Max froze. Because seeing that, like this, right before him, it scared him.
Because it wasn’t how it would happen.
Aoife was strong.
Rex was strong.
They could get away from Seth.
They could defeat him.
Right?
He heard David’s laughter again. Saw Kathryn, only she was looking out of the door now. Looking beyond the threshold. Looking at him.
“I’m ready now,” Max said. Although there was something else there inside him now, too. An uncertainty. A sense of unease.
Because the images through the other door.
The glimpses he’d got through there.
The glimpses of death.
Of chaos.
Aoife and Rex.
And Seth still standing there, smirking, alive.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Kathryn asked.
And it was torturous, hearing those words. Especially with David being so close. Especially with him being within touching distance.
He’d wanted nothing more than to be reunited with them both for so, so long.
And yet, he knew deep down he couldn’t answer Kathryn’s question in the way he wanted to.
“Are you sure you’re ready?” she repeated.
“I’m not sure I have a choice.”
“But you do have a choice,” Kathryn said. “You have a choice to fight. You have a choice to make it out of here. You always have a choice.”
He stood there, stared into her eyes, and he shook his head.
“But I choose you. I choose David.”
“And if you do, can you live with yourself? Or will your choice haunt you?”
He opened his mouth. He wanted to say it was the right choice. He wanted to say he knew what he was doing. He wanted to say it was his only option.
But then he closed his mouth.
He closed his mouth, looked into Kathryn’s eyes, and he smiled.
“I’ll make it back to you. In time. But I… I know what I need to do now.”
Kathryn smiled back at him.
David smiled back at him.
“Then go do it,” Kathryn said.
He had one final pull. One final urge yanking him towards going in there. Towards giving up and joining them.
And he resisted that force.
Stood his ground and resisted.
And then he turned around.
He turned to the other door.
To the light.
And then he stepped through it.
His eyes opened.
He saw the flames.
He smelled the smoke.
He felt his body aching everywhere.
And he saw the window, right across the flames, right at the other side of the house.
He knew what he had to do.
Chapter Fifty-One
Aoife looked back at the burning cabin and wished there were more she could do.
She stood there. Rex by her side. And she saw it just like she’d seen it with Harry when she was forced to leave him behind in that burning bus. And when the girl died when she was fleeing the plane crash.
She saw the cabin burning, and as much as Max told her to go away, to get to his cabin, something just didn’t feel right.
Because she wasn’t going to just accept that.
She wasn’t going to just give up on him.
“No,” she said.
She ran back to the cabin. Looked through the window. The flames looked bad, but not as thick as they were before, somehow.
Maybe she could get back in there.
Maybe she could help him out.
She looked around at the door. There was a metal crowbar across it, which was clearly blocking it. Seth must’ve put it there.
She grabbed it. Tried to pull it.
But it was wedged across there.
She gritted her teeth. Tightened her palms around it and pulled it again.
And the more she pulled it, as it got hotter and hotter
, the more she told herself that this wasn’t over.
There was still a chance.
“Come on,” she muttered.
She pulled at that crowbar even more. Somewhere behind, she heard Rex growl. And it made the hairs on her arms stand on end.
Because suddenly it dawned on her that Seth was nowhere in sight.
She looked back. Looked at the woods. She swore she saw movement between the trees. Swore she heard laughter. Footsteps. Branches snapping.
She swore she heard all these things, and she knew there was only one solution now.
The house.
Max’s house.
He said there were things there that could help her. Supplies there.
Maybe if she got back there in time, she could get back down and save him.
Maybe it wasn’t too late.
She turned around and ran back, back up the slope, back towards Max’s cabin.
Rex ran alongside her.
She just had to keep going.
She had to get there.
She couldn’t give up.
No matter what happened, she was done with giving up on people.
She was done with losing people.
She was going to get Max out of this, and she was going to save him if it was the last thing she did.
She ran further up the slope when she heard a branch snap right behind her.
She stopped. Froze.
Turned around.
Nobody there.
Just a bird, flying past.
The wind blowing against the trees.
A bitter taste filled her mouth. She gritted her teeth. Just her mind. Just her mind playing tricks on her; that’s all it was.
She turned back around, and she saw him right away.
Seth stood there.
Machete in his hand.
He looked at her and smiled.
“I don’t think so, sis,” he said.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Aoife saw her brother standing before her, machete in hand, and as strong as she was, as assured of her own strength as she may be, she couldn’t deny she felt afraid right now.
The winter sun beamed down from above. Aoife’s body shook with adrenaline. She could taste blood in the back of her throat and feel a pain on her head where Seth hit her earlier.
But as she stood there, Rex growling by her side, all her focus was on her brother.
His eyes were wide and bloodshot. He looked lost. Lost in that same trance he used to get into so many times when they were younger.
The trance he’d get into when he wanted to torment her.
To punish her.
To make her suffer.
And seeing this look in his eyes as he stood there with this machete, Aoife realised that she’d always been afraid of her brother. That he was the great unknown in her life, even when she’d moved away from him and formed her own life.
She enjoyed the distance. But the fear he was just going to creep up and destroy her life again always haunted her.
Just as he had three years ago when he’d murdered Max’s family, and she’d called the police on him.
When the guilt over not reporting him sooner forced her to quit her job in law and pursue something entirely different.
And now again, just as hers and seemingly everyone else’s worlds had changed dramatically overnight, here he was.
Machete in hand.
Only this time, she thought he might just be serious.
He might just be for real.
He might just be braced to deliver the most potent form of torture of all.
“Surprised to see you,” Seth said. “I locked that cabin door pretty good.”
“It’s over, Seth.”
Seth frowned. “What?”
“It’s over. All of it. Whatever fun you’re having… it stops. Now. The power’s out. And to me it doesn’t look like it’s going to come back any time soon. So you… you have a chance. A chance to go your own way. A chance to get the hell out of here. A chance you don’t deserve. But a chance I’ll give you. Because I’m your sister. And despite everything… despite you being a psychopathic nut job. Despite the horrible, horrible things you’ve done… I won’t stand in your way. As long as you get the hell away from here and stay far, far away from me. And far, far away from Max, too. You’ve caused him enough hurt already. You’ve caused both of us enough hurt already.”
Seth’s face turned, just for a moment. She could see his eyes twitching as they darted side to side, really studying her face.
“And why the hell would I walk away?” he asked.
He stepped forward.
“Why, when everything I want to get my revenge on is right here in front of me, would I just turn my back?”
“You expected me not to call the police three years ago? The way you were talking? And with that look in your eyes?”
“We’re family. Whether you like it or not. We’re family. And family stick together.”
“After what you say you did to Dad? You really expect me to believe that?”
She felt pain inside at echoing what Seth had revealed to her. That he’d killed Dad. Everyone thought it was a heart attack. A heart attack right at the top of the stairs.
And yet, it didn’t really make sense. Dad was healthy. Especially healthy for a man of his age.
What Seth told her shocked and upset her. But in a way, it didn’t surprise her.
Because as unlikely as it seemed, she’d always wondered if there was a possibility.
But no.
She’d never really thought he was capable of that.
Even though she knew everything he was capable of.
And that’s where she’d gone wrong.
Seth walked closer to her. She tightened her shaking fists. Rex barked. Behind, she could smell the smoke from the burning cabin. She thought about Max trapped in there. He’d told her to get back to his house. He hadn’t died for her to just give up. Especially not to the man who murdered his family.
“Dad wasn’t the idol you make him out to be, sis.”
“Dad was a good man.”
“He was a cheat. A liar. Before you were born, he made Mum’s life hell. Sure, you were his little angel. But you were just too ignorant, weren’t you? Too ignorant to see how much he mistreated me. Too ignorant to see the monster he turned into after he’d had a drink. Little Aoife never saw any of that, did she? Because she was his sweet girl. His sweet, sweet girl. And she got the easy ride.”
Aoife shook her head. She didn’t want to hear what Seth was saying. Didn’t want to let his words in or let him get to her.
But the more she stood there, the more she remembered.
The shouting.
The smell of booze on Dad’s breath.
And the fear in Seth’s tearful eyes.
“He wasn’t—he wasn’t—”
“He wasn’t the man you think he was,” Seth barked, clearly angry now. “And I thought you’d wisen up in time. I thought you’d grow the fuck up and see through his toxicity eventually. But you didn’t. You never did. And when I saw you with Max… the man who took everything away from me… I was turning a corner, Aoife. I was turning a corner, and he arrested Sandy, and she took her life in prison. That broke me. You’ve no idea how much that broke me.”
Once again, Aoife found herself looking into her brother’s eyes, and this time, she felt another feeling. She felt sympathy. She actually felt sorry for him.
Because yes, he was a monster.
But she felt guilty. Because he’d been lost as a child.
And he was right about Dad.
It was something she didn’t want to face up to.
Something she didn’t want to accept because he was always so good to her—and was probably the biggest influence on her entire life.
But he wasn’t good with Seth.
For whatever reason, he wasn’t good with him.
But then, in an instant, Seth wiped his tearful eyes.
He took a deep breath.
His nostrils twitched.
“But you wouldn’t understand,” he said. “Because you’re just like him. His sweet little princess.”
He pulled back the machete.
Went to swing it at Aoife.
That’s when she heard the voice.
“Stop.”
Seth froze.
Everything froze.
She looked around, heart racing, and saw the man emerging from the smoke-filled background.
His clothes were tattered.
He was covered in sweat.
He had cuts, bruises, and burns everywhere.
But it was him.
Max.
Max was here.
Max was alive.
“Put down the machete,” he said. Hunting rifle in hand. Pointed right at Seth. “Right this fucking instant.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Max saw Seth in the distance, machete hovering before Aoife, and he felt nothing but a deep, burning anger and rage right inside.
He felt exhausted. His whole body was sore. The bandage he’d wrapped around his side, where he’d been stabbed, had been burned at and come loose. His legs shook. His lungs felt charred from all the smoke inhalation. He wasn’t sure how much energy he had left in his system. How much fuel he had left in the tank.
But he’d made it this far. And for a reason.
He’d made it this far because he’d not gone through that door to Kathryn and to David.
He’d made it this far because he knew, deep down, his work wasn’t done.
He’d made it this far because he couldn’t let Aoife die at the hands of her psychopathic brother, regardless of whether she’d had a chance at stopping his family dying or not, three years ago.
Seth stopped. He lowered his machete. Both he and Aoife stared over at him. Rex sat by Aoife’s side, clearly torn between wanting to protect her and defend her and wagging his tail at seeing Max again.
“Well,” Seth said. “Max. I did not expect you to emerge from the flames. Looking a little worse for wear, though, brother, I must say.”
Max clutched the rifle with his shaking fingers. Pointed right at Seth. He wasn’t here to talk. He wasn’t here for any messing around at all.
He was here to get his revenge against Seth, once and for all.
