I looked around, pondering on how exactly we’d get out of this mess.
“There’s a secret tunnel right over there,” the creepy-yet-helpful little girl said, pointing over beside her bed.
“There is? You have got to be kidding?” I was shocked, not believing it was going to be that easy.
“Yes, there is. I’m not lying.” With that, she took us over to her bed, telling Zach to move the wooden bed a bit; and that’s just what he did.
After the bed was moved, I saw the tunnel the young girl was talking about. “Where does it lead to?” Zach asked, looking at the dark tunnel that leads to only God knows where. “Outside the warehouse. I think the parking lot,” she replied.
“Well then let’s go before someone comes down here,” he said going first into the tunnel. I we second and the little girl went last. We had to go on our hands and knees to fit through the narrow space but we managed. It’s a bit wet and it didn’t smell the best, but I just kept telling myself it could be worse.
As we’re crawling, I heard Zach joyfully say, “I see a light.” I smiled waiting the moment when I finally get home and out of this hellhole. Zach crawled out first, landing onto the grass wet from the dew. Then I crawled out, standing to my feet and giving Zach a hand up as well.
“Finally. We’re out!” he said breathing in the fresh outdoors.
I turned my attention to the little girl as she just sat with her feet dangling off the edge of the tunnel exit. “Come on, we got to go.” I said, holding my hand out for her to grab.
She looked up at me with hopeful green eyes. “You really don’t know who I am, do you?”
I shook my head knowing I didn’t.
“I’m Lily,” she simply said.
I had heard the name before. Well actually I heard Hunter telling me about his sister and that she died and her name is Lily. Lily is Hunter’s dead sister.
Chapter 33
I stood there in shock at what Lily had just said. She can’t be. Can she? I mean there was always that little voice at the back of my head telling me something was up with this little girl, but really? Hunter’s dead sister? Wait. She can’t be dead, or I wouldn’t be able to see her or talk to her. I snapped out of my shocked state as her voice speaks.
“Are you alright?” she asked, tilting her head to the side and cocking an eyebrow at me.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” I blurted out.
Zach seemed to zone back in at my words. He was leaning in towards me to hear our conversation more clearly.
“I am,” she simply replied.
I stood frozen yet again at the young girl’s words.
“I died in a fire on May 7, 2004,” she spoke.
I stayed there in shock at her words. My birthday is May 7 and she died during it.
“I would have been turning eighteen this year if it weren’t for that fire.”
“Wait, so you’re seventeen? That’s why you act so much older.”
She smiled at me saying, “You’re very smart. But have you figured out why Hunter took you yet?”
I thought about her question for a moment, thinking of the endless possibilities. “I don’t have a clue,” I answered so she would just tell me.
“I was all Hunter had left when I died in that fire. It tore him to pieces. He just couldn’t let me go.”
I listened nodding my head for her to continue.
“My body still lies in the hospital a few miles from here, wasting away in a bed with a machine that’s making me breath. It’s been ten years. I’m ready to go home. I’m ready to die fully, Cassandra. You have to help me,” she begged, tears streaming down her face.
I felt so bad for her. Even though I didn’t completely understand, I understood enough to know that she was ready to go. “I will, but how does this have anything to do with me?” I asked, hopeful.
She took in a deep breath. “After a year, I think Hunter realized that I wasn’t coming back so he went off and started searching for another me, someone to call his own. Someone that he could control yet still love at the same time. He had thrown multiple girls down in that dungeon, leaving them there to wonder what they had done to deserve that treatment. But of course he would never tell them why he had put them down there. After leaving them with me for weeks, he would then give them off to the men in this hellhole, letting them do whatever they wanted with them,” she finished, looking right at me.
Zach’s mouth had hit the ground from pure shock. “What the heck is going on?” I heard him say to himself. Then he just walked away to only God knows where.
“Cassandra, Hunter is using you as a personal Lily. As me.”
“But I don’t even look like you at all,” I said, frustrated with this whole thing.
“I’m sorry but it’s true,” she sadly said. “But you still must help me, then run as far away from Hunter as you can.”
I nodded, willing to do anything for her now. “What can I do?” I asked, hoping it would be something easy so I could hurry and get out of this town.
“I need you to kill me.”
Her words felt like knife stabbing my heart. I couldn’t just kill her like it was nothing then go on with my daily life.
“I-I can’t,” I stuttered.
“You must though.”
“Set me free, let me go home.”
I nodded, agreeing to the horrible deal.
After she gave me directions to the hospital and what room she was in, we were saying our goodbyes.
“I’ll miss you even if I hardly got to know you,” she mumbles on my shoulder.
“I’ll miss you too,” I whispered back, pulling away from the embrace.
“Thank you again. But remember after the job is done, don’t look back. Forget about Hunter. Go home, find your brother, and live a happy life.” She smiled, getting back in the tunnel.
“I will, but I sadly know that my brother is no longer in this world,” I spoke back, letting a tear stream down my cheek.
She turned to me and said, “You are sadly wrong. He is still living.” She grinned at me, making my world light up at the thought of my brother not dead.
But I had to ask. “How do you know?”
“I can feel it,” she yelled back as she disappeared inside the tunnel.
With that, I grabbed Zach and told him the directions to the hospital. We got into his big black SUV and drive down the narrow, graveled drive. I looked back at the warehouse, knowing deep in my heart that I am doing the right thing and that I will never have to worry about Hunter again.
Chapter 34
We were just now getting onto the main road on our way to the hospital where Lily is. I still couldn’t believe I agreed to do this. In a way, I feel like I’m doing the right thing because she has been there for ten years; but then again, I feel like a horrible person because I’m killing an innocent child. I would have never agreed to it if she didn’t personally ask me to.
“Okay, please tell me what the hell is going on?” Zach asked, looking nervous from the driver’s side.
“To be honest, I really don’t know.” I sighed, shifting in my seat to get comfortable.
“Well then, why exactly are we going to a hospital to see a half-dead girl?”
I thought about it for a second, asking myself if I should really tell him or not. “We’re going to set her free,” I told him, knowing he’d understand.
It was silent after that. Only my steady breathing could be heard.
We drove for probably twenty minutes in silence before we pulled up in the hospital. Zach parked the vehicle as close to the building as he could before we got out and headed for the door. The building is white with a tan trim lining the outer edge. The parking lot is surprisingly not full. Only a few cars scattered the lot as we walked through the revolving doors.
The first thing I saw was a big tree with birds painted above the large leaves that covered the wall. It then hit me. This is a children’s hospital.
After admiring the
beautiful art work, I and Zach headed for the front desk where a lady with short curly brown hair sat, typing away on a computer.
“Hello,” I greeted the woman who looked to be in her late fifties.
“Hello, dear. How may I help you?” she asked in a thick British accent.
I had almost forgotten that I was actually in London and no longer in Thaxton, Mississippi anymore
“Um, yes. I’m looking for Lily Styles’ room,” I said, looking into her big brown eyes which were covered by a pair of cat eye glasses.
“Lily Styles?” She repeated my words.
“Yes, Lily Styles. Is there something wrong?” I wondered, raising a brow.
“Oh, no. It’s just no one has visited her in almost nine years. We figured her brother must have died for he used to come and see her almost every day,” she told me, pushing her glasses further up her nose.
“Oh. Well, who is paying her bills?” I asked, seeking for the answer.
“Her brother put down enough money for her to be put on life support for ten years. We thought it was crazy wasting all that money when the doctors clearly told him there was no hope for her. If she didn’t wake up within a month then she never would,” she replied.
“But isn’t ten years almost up?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“In a few months, yes.”
I knew exactly what would happen once her time was up. They wouldn’t let her go on.
“But anyway, you didn’t hear all that from me, alright?” The lady whose name tag reads Martha warned.
“Of course,” I replied.
“And her room number is 312,” she said, pointing towards the elevators. With that, we headed for the lift to take us to the third level where Lily’s body lies wasting away.
Once in the elevator, Zach pushed button 3. We both leaned against the back wall of the lift, relaxing to the soft music that plays in the background. Seconds later, we come to a stop. Then the two silver doors parted, letting us out of the small space.
We turned a corner going down a quite long hallway. The door numbers read 309, 310, 311, and before I knew it I was standing in front of 312. Steps away from Lily. Minutes away from her death and seconds away from seeing her for the first time in her human body.
I looked at Zach nodding at me before I grasped the door knob slowly, opening the heavy hospital door. It made a creaky noise against the silent hall.
Once both of us were in the room and standing before her bed, my mouth wanted to hit the floor on seeing what lies in front of me. A young girl, well I should say lady with brown curls cascading down the front of her sheets, lay peacefully in her bed. She had soft features and a small frame. I almost wanted to walk out and say we had the wrong room, but once my eyes caught the end of the bed where a chart was hanging, I knew for a fact that we’re in the right room.
The chart contained the following information:
Name: Lily Styles
Date of birth: August 12, 1997
Admitted to Saint Mary’s Children’s Hospital: May 7, 2004
Injuries: Third degree burns on face, arms, legs and chest
“Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks she looks a hell lot like you?” Zach’s voice admitted, sounding worried and shocked. I looked at Lily again, knowing good and well that indeed she does look an awful lot like me. “You’re not. I see it too.”
“Cassandra.”
My breathing completely stopped and my heart started to pound as the all too familiar raspy voice that I wish to have never met spoke. Chills run down my spine as I slowly turned around to face the awful man. I looked at him right in the eyes.
“Hunter,” I bit back.
“Oh, not happy to see me, are you?” he asked with a smirk I wished to slap off.
“Not at all,” I replied, taking a step back.
Zach looked pissed, probably remembering the hits he took from him not long ago.
“Little sassy, aren’t we? Been hanging around Zachie a bit too much?” he teased, making Zach clench his fists shut.
“I’ll break your pretty face if you don’t shut the hell up,” Zach threatened in gritted teeth.
“Whatever you say, pretty boy.” Hunter smirked, laughing to himself.
I could hear Zach’s heavy breathing from across the room. I knew if I don’t do something soon someone was going to get hurt.
“What are you doing here?” I asked the first thing that comes to mind.
Hunter took his attention off from a fuming Zach and turned to me. “Coming to see my sister. What are you doing?” he asked, taking a few steps closer which made me want to back up against the wall; but I held back from doing so.
“Setting her free,” I replied now having to look up at him from the height difference.
“I don’t think so, baby girl.” His lips turned into a crooked smile.
“And why not? She’s begging to die, she doesn’t want to be here anymore, Hunter,” I told him, glancing over at her.
“Don’t say that,” he said, looking at her with teary eyes.
“It’s true—”
“Don’t!” he yelled, making the room fall silent.
“She’s all I have left... She’s not allowed to die, I forbid it,” Hunter told us, standing before her and brushing her long, curly brown hair.
“Life doesn’t work like that, Hunter... It’s time to let her go,” I slowly started to pull his hands away from her. “Set her free,” I whisper in his ear.
I waved to Zach, telling him to find a plug of one of the machines and unplug it. I didn’t know if it would work but I was hoping it would. I slowly backed away when the loud beeping could be heard. Her heartbeat was slowing down fast till it was a flat line.
“I’m sorry, Lily,” I said as I see her body take one last breath of air before her chest fell still.
“What have you done?” Hunter yelled, shaking his baby sister trying to wake her up; but it’s too late.
“It had to be done—”
“You killed her!” He cried, turning to me with tears streaming down his red face.
“You killed my sister!” he shouted, running towards me and shoving me against the hospital wall, his face now only inches from mine. “You killed her.” He breathed in my face.
I closed my eyes and said, “She was already dead.”
When I reopened my eyes I see Zach pulling Hunter away from me and towards the window, pinning him to it. “Run, Cassandra!” Zach yelled as he had Hunter in a head lock. “Pull the car around back, I’ll meet you there,” he shouted over Hunter’s grunting and cursing.
I turned to run out the door but I was stopped by a voice. “Don’t listen to him, Cassie. He’s crazier than I am.”
When I turned to look at him, his eyes pleaded for me to believe him but my gut told me not to. “I don’t think that’s humanly possible.” With that, I run out of the door hoping not to run into a doctor who had heard the beeping machine. I took the stairs, running down as fast as I possibly could then run out of the lobby without looking back, knowing deep inside me that I was doing the right thing.
Chapter 35
I was just now getting to the parking lot looking in all directions for a black SUV. It seemed that a lot of people had come to the hospital for all the spaces were almost taken.
After spotting the car, I run to it, getting into the driver’s seat. I grabbed the keys from under the seat where Zach had left them. Once they were in my hand, I started the car and backed out with ease. I drove around to the back where Zach had told me to go. All I could think about was Zach. Was Zach alright? Had Hunter beaten Zach up again?
I jumped in my seat when a loud knocking started to sound on my window. I looked up half-expecting it to be Hunter but thank God it’s Zach. I opened my door.
“Are you alright?” I asked after seeing the cuts on his face.
“I’m fine. Now get in the passenger’s seat.”
He did just that, buckling his seatbelt right after.
“Where are we going?"
“Don’t worry about that, we just need to get away from here.”
“Okay,” I simply said.
I got comfortable in my seat, trying to rid my mind of the events that just happened. I closed my eyes, not meaning to fall asleep but somehow I did.
***
My eyes shot open to the sound of my mother’s voice.
“Cassandra.” Her sweet voice spoke my name.
I looked up to see her wearing a long white dress. “Mom?” I asked, knowing it was her just not believing it.
“Yes, dear. It’s me,” she said, smiling at me.
I got up and ran to her to give her a hug, but when my arms touched her they went straight through. I grimaced at what happened.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Why can’t I touch you?” I asked on the verge of tears. All I wanted to do was hold her in my arms. It’s been so long, I just need a mom hug.
“Oh, my sweet baby girl. Don’t you see? We’re all waiting for you,” she happily told me.
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused, looking around the white room.
“I, your father, and Ben. We’re waiting for you, baby.” she spoke, her body slowly fading away.
“No wait! Where are you going?” I yelled, a tear streaming down my face.
The room around me started to turn dark. No. Actually, black. The floor beneath me gave up, sending me freefalling into darkness. I closed my eyes, screaming that my lungs ache, waiting for this fall to end then smash onto the ground and die due to the impact; but somehow it never came.
I opened my eyes, looking down only to still see myself falling. How is this possible?
“It isn’t,” a voice said.
I looked to my right and saw none other than Hunter falling as well.
“H-how did you get here?”
He smirked and said, “I didn’t, Cassandra. You’re only dreaming.”
I looked at him like he’s crazy and said, “What?”
“You better wake up or you will be here for real.”
And that’s when I felt it.
Psycho Sitter: Mystery/Thriller Page 11
