by B. T Hoax
Though a week had passed since she last saw Jon, the feelings of heartbreak and guilt and sadness were as fresh as ever. She curled herself up after assaulting the window and came to a depressed rest.
He father walked in shortly after and sat down next to her.
“Hanging in there?” he asked as he squeezed one of her bare feet.
Kenna hadn’t done her make-up or dressed nicely in some time. Nor had she spoke much to her father or anyone for that matter. In short, she was a wreck.
She shrugged her shoulders, but as she did, she heard a very familiar sound. Kenna glanced up to see that her father was staring out the window.
“Why would that piece of shit be here?” she heard him say under his breath.
Kenna sat up immediately to see Jon getting out of his truck and heading for their doorway.
Her father stood up swiftly. “I’ll take care of this,” he said as he signaled that Kenna should stay where she was.
Kenna, however, stood up to follow him to the entry where all three met simultaneously.
Jon spoke first. “I need to see Kenna,” he said, out of breath from his jog up to the door. Kenna stood a few yards behind her father, afraid of how things might play out.
“You have ten seconds to get off my property before I call the police,” the man insisted with a glare.
“Kenna?” Before anyone could say anything else, Jon pushed past her father and scooped the girl up in a tight and loving hug.
“I’m calling the police,” her father hollered as he pulled out his cell phone. Jon turned back to the man and stared at the phone. It immediately went ice cold. Her father dropped the device, and it turned off, unable to take the icy temperature.
Kenna could see that a battle was about to start, so she quickly got between them.
“Five minutes,” she begged. “Please, Dad, five minutes.” Her father was staring at Jon, his nostrils flaring, his temper heating.
“Five minutes.” This time, it was Jon’s voice. He was calm. “Five minutes,” he repeated to the man. “Then I’m gone.”
Kenna could see her father becoming composed again. His breathing slowed, but his scowl remained. “I will stand here and time you. Five minutes.”
With the agreement in place, Kenna whipped herself back around to the Colewell whose hug lifted her once again off her feet.
“I had to see you just one more time,” he whispered as he held her there tightly.
Kenna shook her head lightly. “I still don’t want you to go,” she admitted as the tears came once more. For as much as she’d cried, Kenna didn’t think she could possibly produce more of the little droplets.
“I’m just happy to see you,” Jon said as he set her back on her feet and kissed her forehead.
Kenna wiped away the tears and forced herself to smile. “Me too,” she sniffled as she looked up at the tall, handsome Colewell. She could still see discoloration on his face where he’d been burned. “How are you feeling?” she managed to ask, seeing that he looked almost completely healthy.
“Much better,” he breathed. “I hardly notice it.”
“Four minutes.”
Her father hadn’t left the porch and stood only feet from the pair.
Jon nodded at the man to acknowledge that the agreement was still in place.
After that, the Colewell wiped away some of the frazzled hair that had settled on Kenna’s face. He took her by the hands and kissed her lovingly on the lips. Just as in the past, both of them felt a spark shoot off within them and a chill spread throughout them, giving them both goosebumps.
“Three minutes.”
Her father was clearly angered by such affection and began to speed the time. His foot was tapping on the ground, and his arms were crossed firmly across his chest.
“Do you remember what I said the other day?” Jon asked as the pair looked deeply into each other’s eyes.
“Which part?” Kenna inquired, though she remembered every word.
“The part about birds,” Jon clarified, still holding her hands. “I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. Promise me that you’ll be happy here. That you’ll move on and forget that I exist.”
Kenna shook her head. “How could you ask that of me?”
“Two minutes.”
“Kenna, I love you,” Jon went on. “And I can’t just be there and imagine how horrible your life is here. I need you to promise me that you’ll move on.”
Kenna could feel her face forming a confused expression. “Do you plan on dating other girls? Do you plan on moving on?” she asked quickly.
“No, I love you. I’ll get better for you,” he explained, not entirely sure what the point of her question was.
“Then don’t ask me to move on either. Let me wait if I want to. Let me hold on to the thought of you coming back and us being happy again,” Kenna argued. “And promise me that I will see you again. Even if it’s years from now.”
She could see tears begin to form in her eyes as he let go of her hands and kissed her again.
“I promise. But I still won’t expect you to wait, and I understand if you don’t,” he added as he glanced at Kenna’s father.
“One minute.” The man’s warning was right on cue.
“Well, I won’t be happy if I ever find out about you fraternizing with some ice bender chicks or whatever,” Kenna said as she wiped away a few more tears that had trickled down her face.
Jon smiled. “There is no one else like you,” he said as he kissed her a final time.
Kenna smiled and threw herself at him for another hug.
“I love you,” she whispered, though she didn’t care if her father heard or not.
“I love you, too,” Jon replied as he held her there tightly for the few seconds they had left.
“Time’s up.”
With that, Jon released the girl and made his way out the door, a door that slammed tightly behind him.
“And good riddance,” Kenna heard her father say, loudly enough for both she and Jon to hear him.
When her father turned back around to face the girl, she wore a very hurt expression. Her face had scrunched up, and it was clear that she was doing everything she could to fight back the tears.
“Why would you say that?” she scolded, though she knew that any facial movement might force her eyes to give way to the tears.
The man looked both sympathetic and unapologetic at the same time.
“I’m not that forgiving,” he said coldly. “I hope we never see that boy again.”
He pushed past her and went back into the house, clearly distraught by the conversation that he’d just seen take place between his daughter and her perceived abuser. In his mind, Kenna was acting incredibly immature and even stupid. Unfortunately, the man realized that he had little control over the matter, and for the time being, there was no need for worry. After all, the Colewell would soon be out of sight. And now, all the father had to do was keep him out of mind, for both himself and for Kenna. But it seemed that at the moment, convincing his child to forget about Jon would be about as realistic as a fictional romance novel.
Indeed, Kenna had no intention of moving on or dismissing her relationship with Jon. Even as she stood there and watched his truck pull away, she couldn’t help but be filled with new hope and new optimism.
Yes, Kenna realized that she hadn’t even been dating the boy for half a year, but that less than half a year had been the most wonderful less than half a year that she could ever remember having. She saw a future with Jon. A happy, real, exciting future, a future that made her want to shout with joy- which was something she’d never had any inkling to do in the past.
Even if there were obvious complications like his temper and their inability to maintain physical contact and the fact that he was a full-blooded ice elementalist, and she was a flame moiety, to them, their love was greater. Their emotional and intellectual relationship trumped all that. Their personalities just clicked like a brand new ink pen. T
hey made each other better. They made each other want to be better. And that spoke volumes.
But apparently her father heard none of that. He could only remember the one night, the one incident that all together caused all the madness to occur.
While she was furious with her father, she couldn’t help but to understand his dilemma. After all, if she and Jon ever had kids and their daughter came home in such a state, surely whoever her perpetrator was would be dead. And so despite her disagreement with the man, she forgave him for his thinking.
Kenna sighed as she marched slowly back into the house.
The rest of the day seemed to drag. There was obvious tension between Kenna and her father, but neither of them cared to address it, at least not at the moment.
And so Kenna went to bed feeling satisfied but also incomplete.
She lay there restless, happy that she got see Jon again, but sad that she was constantly butting heads with the man she’d been closest to for her entire life. Knowing that such thoughts were sure to keep her awake, Kenna tiptoed down the hall and toward her father’s room.
Before she could tap at the door, it flung open, and he stood directly in front of her. Her lips parted as she began to speak, but her father grabbed her and pulled her into a hug before she could get the words out.
“Can we just not worry about it for now?” he asked as he held her. “Can we go back to us for the moment?” Kenna nodded as she squeezed him. “Good, then we both can sleep.”
She smiled as she released him and walked back to her room. When she fell back into bed, she found herself unexpectedly comfortable as she fell into a deep sleep…
But a brief deep sleep.
Kenna’s eyes shot open as she heard what she thought was a loud thud from the floor below her. She still rested there, wondering if the sound had come from her dream or if she’d actually heard something.
Her hair began to stand on end, and an anxious feeling began to build in her gut as she waited.
But nothing.
Though it was quiet, she couldn’t help but feel very nervous and even afraid. Her eyes wouldn’t close, and no matter how many times she told herself she was fine, she couldn’t help but feel that she wasn’t. Finally, using all her will power, Kenna closed her eyes.
Just when she thought she might have been relaxing, the girl heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
It’s just your dad, she told herself as she controlled her urge to get up and investigate.
Despite her fear, Kenna called out, “Dad?”
When there was no answer as the footsteps quickened, she felt her stomach tighten, and skin begin to swarm with goosebumps.
It wasn’t her dad.
She shot out of her bed and sprinted silently across the room and behind her door.
The footsteps got closer.
And closer.
All of a sudden, her door began to creak open. As an instinct, Kenna snatched one of the figurines off her dresser and held it tightly. It was the only weapon she had.
A large man began to appear from behind the door. Though his back was to the girl, Kenna knew he was looking intently at her bed… looking for her.
The girl held her breath as she wielded the make-shift armament and took half a baby step toward the man. Then, as quickly and strongly as possible, she swung the figurine over the man’s head. But apparently, the move wasn’t strong enough to make the man react much more than a slight flinch.
He swung himself around to face her. She was staring into dark, evil, glinting eyes that clearly had no good intentions.
She dropped her weapon in shock, and her jaw went slack when she realized who he was.
Just as she began to scream, the man reached out an arm and a damp cloth covered her face.
Kenna was only able to fight the wetness for a moment before her surroundings went black.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Fluttering.
Kenna’s eyes didn’t immediately open. Instead, her eyelids seem to seizure until finally she was able to keep herself steadily awake.
Initially, everything was dark. And the little light that she saw was only blurred shadows. She wondered if she was dreaming or if the events she was beginning to remember had actually taken place. When the girl tried to move, she quickly realized that she was in no dream. She was sitting on a hard wooden chair with her arms and torso tied tightly to it. In an act of resilience, she jerked herself forward. The move was strong enough to knock the chair off balance as she came to a hard fall on a dusty hardwood floor.
Kenna winced as her arm hit the ground. Being jammed between the chair and the floor, she could feel the limb beginning to swell and bruise as it lay helplessly. She tried to jerk herself and the chair toward the light, though she was still a bit dazed and unmethodical in her escape plans.
“Ah, so you are awake then?”
Kenna recognized the voice but couldn’t believe who she was hearing. She glanced up from her sideways position to see a dark figure step into the room from what must have been a doorway.
She blinked her eyes hard, doing everything she could to get them to focus. But before her sharp vision could return, the figure approached her and set her chair back up on its four legs.
Kenna blinked again. Some of the room was beginning to become clearer. Wherever she was, it was damp and warm. The plaster walls were full of large holes that revealed the inner wooden and cement workings of the room. There was no furniture, just her little kitchen chair. There were no frames on the walls, no clocks, and no decorations. If there was a window, she couldn’t see it, and she couldn’t feel or taste and fresh air if it did indeed creep into the moldy room.
“That’s better.” The voice was conceited and strong as its master relinquished his grasps of the lowly chair.
Suddenly, the figure came into view and into perfect focus. Standing before her was a tall, large man. His hair was dark and the blackness of the room made the contours of his face spell out his identity. The built and muscular man wore a devilish grin, and his arms sat relaxed and proud at his sides.
“Uncle Ray?” Kenna heard herself ask. Though, at this point, it was obvious to her that he was her kidnapper, she couldn’t fight off her instincts to play dumb. “Uncle help me! Untie me!”
Kenna jerked around frantically for a moment as her breathing began to quicken and the panic began to set in.
The man just laughed. He laughed loudly at the girl as she made a brief struggle.
Adrenaline was shooting through every cell of Kenna’s body as she fought the ropes and fought her little prison. But with every move, her uncle’s cackles grew louder and more frightening.
“You know,” he started to say. Kenna immediately stopped and found herself staring into the man’s dark, cold eyes. “If you could actually bend, you’d have no problem releasing yourself from those ropes.”
Kenna felt herself glaring as her eyebrows drooped and her chin fell to rest on her chest.
She didn’t know what to do or what to say. Whatever was happening was beyond her knowledge, and she knew it. “I don’t understand,” Kenna choked. Each controlled word being strangled by her not-so-hidden rage.
At this, the man stopped laughing and came to a squat directly in front of his hostage so that his face was only a foot from hers.
Kenna had never felt such a loathing as this before. She was staring straight into a dark, evil abyss, the man’s eyes exactifying his malice and wickedness. His dark brown hair seemed black along with the bits of facial hair that covered his strong chin. Kenna supposed the black suited him better, though she could see that his soul was even darker than a complete absence of light.
The few memories she had of the man were not pleasant. He always seemed annoyed with Kenna and more concerned with her father and his business, a business they had been in together for quite some time. The girl couldn’t help but feel that the man had an unfair spitefulness towards her. And obviously, the current situation made those feelings fe
el completely justified.
“I’m sorry that it has to be you,” he replied with fake sympathy. “It’s all your father’s fault really.”
Kenna wished that looks could indeed kill as she knew her glare surely would have gotten the job done.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said, still maintaining some control. “Just let me go. We can both walk away from this.”
At this, her uncle let out another loud and maniacal laugh.
“Oh, naive little Kenna. There are consequences to fraternizing with putrid ice benders,” he shot back at her after his laughter had faded.
“What are you talking about? I’m not with an ice bender,” Kenna lied quickly, feeling the panic returning. Her gut started to tighten, and every muscle began to clench as she began to worry about where the conversation was headed.
“So you have no ties to the Colewells? Jon Colewell? Then you won’t be too upset after what happens tonight,” he boasted, clearly unconvinced by her lie.
Kenna swallowed hard, yet again at a loss for words. Her hands began to scramble behind her as she prayed that perhaps she might undo the bonds that held her there.
Her uncle immediately noticed as a wide grin came across his face. “Like I said, if you could bend, you’d have been out of there in no time,” he tormented as he stood there as watched her as she began to struggle more. “It really is your father’s fault though,” he repeated.
Kenna stopped and glared at the man once more. “Shut up! You don’t even know my father! Let me out of here now!”
Though she didn’t think it was possible, his smile widened even further at her hollering. “No, Kenna, you don’t know your father. You don’t know what he’s done, you don’t know what he would still be doing if you were an elementalist.”
“What are you talking about?” Kenna breathed angrily.
“I’ll let you figure that out. That’s for your father to tell you… well… if you make it out of this burning building that it,” he said in the same evil tone that he’d been speaking with for the entire night.
