“I’ll be glad when I can drive again,” I said to Alex, leaning my head back against my uncomfortable plastic chair. We were sitting against the wall of her office.
“You think you have it bad, at least you have your license and a car. I can’t wait until July when I turn sixteen and I can drive myself.” He spread his lanky arms up behind his head, his sandy hair curling over his shirt, and crossed his feet against the white tiled floor. His long legs were stretched in front of him, taking up most of the aisle in front of us.
I understood his impatience. I’d only been relying on people for about a month, and I was going crazy.
My mom finally came out of her office, her arms loaded with files, and we took Alex to his friend’s. A few minutes later she pulled up in front of the multiplex, telling me that she would be back to pick me up in about ten minutes after she dropped off some dry cleaning.
Fifteen minutes later, I sat on a bench along the front doors of the theater, waiting.
One of the clear glass doors opened, and in walked Zack. “Are you here to pick up your check?” he asked me, and I nodded. “Me too, see you later,” he said as he continued to the office.
While I was waiting, my phone rang. “Hello,” I answered.
“Oh Sarah, can you wait a little longer? I have to run back to the school, I forgot some important papers.” My mom’s voice sounded rushed.
I really didn’t want to. I’d been waiting long enough, but what was I supposed to say? This was what happened when you had to rely on others to get around. “Sure, Mom, no problem.”
“Thank you, honey, I’ll be as fast as I can.”
When Zack came back with his check, he stopped in front of me. “Is your mom running late?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I can wait with you, if you want.”
“No, that’s okay. You shouldn’t be here any more than you have to be. Why should both of us suffer?”
He smiled and continued to the doors. Before he pushed them open, he turned to ask if I wanted a ride home.
I jumped at the chance; I was tired of waiting. “Thank you, I’ll just text my mom and tell her.”
After I sent the message, I walked out the doors with Zack. I let him walk along the edge of the sidewalk as a shield. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be alone, and I wasn’t, not really. Zack just didn’t know he was guarding me.
“Thanks again, Zack,” I said as we walked together into the parking lot.
“No problem,” he said, opening the passenger door of his car for me. I was about to step in when I heard a noise behind me, but before I could turn around to see what it was, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and then…nothing.
My world went black.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Taken
I was suddenly in a red and white room, sitting on a wooden chair with my hands and feet tied. Something tugged at my hair, and I looked behind me to see Stephanie Brown lift up her scissors, about to cut a big chunk.
“Don’t do it, Stephanie,” a deep voice commanded from the corner of the room. I glanced over and saw Ryan standing in the shadows, staring at her.
“If I can’t have you, no one can,” she hissed, snipping a piece of my hair off.
She disappeared into vapor right before my eyes. I blinked, and in her place stood Ryan. He held the scissors in his hands and glared at me. “If I can’t have you, no one can.” The scissors changed to a black-handled butcher knife, and he raised it up over his head.
I awoke from the dream into a nightmare. The back of my head throbbed, and when I tried to move, I realized that just like in the dream, my hands and feet were tied. It all came back to me; stepping into Zack’s car and the sharp pain on the back of my head. Someone had taken me and tied me up. After the dream I just had, I knew exactly who that was.
I opened my eyes. I was sitting on the cold ground, leaning against a tree in front of the waterfall. My coat was on, but I had forgotten my mittens in my mom’s car, not realizing I’d need them. It was a frosty December day, and I was freezing. It didn’t help that I was so close to the waterfall. The wind was blowing the chill from the water towards me; my hands were turning red from the cold. I started to shiver.
There was a figure standing near the cliff with his back to me. He was wearing a heavy black coat, but underneath was a gray hoodie.
“Hello, Ryan.”
He spun around, yanking the hood down. The wind whipped through his dark blond hair. “How did you know it was me?”
“I dreamed of you, and I remembered you looked just like him.”
His smile told me that he was happy that I had finally figured it out. Like all of this was some kind of game. “I’m sorry I had to knock you out, but it was necessary to get you away from him.”
“How did you know about this place?” I asked, stuffing my hands under my jacket.
“I know everything about you.”
“How could you do this? We were friends,” I said, really disappointed that it was him. If I had to choose, I would almost prefer it be Zack.
“Friends,” he said, shaking his head with a low chuckle. “I liked you, but I knew you wouldn’t want to date me, so I never told you about my feelings.” He had a far-off look on his face. “Soon after I moved to New York, I started dreaming of you. I thought it was because I missed you, but it was odd, your face was in my mind almost every time I went to sleep.” His face darkened. “Then one night I had a dream of you and him. I knew I was dreaming of the past because I had never met the guy you were with, but in the dream, I seemed to know him. I dreamed of times that I would follow the two of you. You would walk hand in hand, smiling at each other.
“The whole time, I thought of ways to hurt him, so you would be with me. I would wake up each morning hating some guy I had never even met.” He stood at the edge of the waterfall, staring out at something I couldn’t see. The ropes were so tight, I could see him, but nothing beyond that.
“I don’t understand. Why you? You’re not related to Tony. You look just like him, but you weren’t on the list.”
He laughed darkly, gazing out at the breathtaking view. “My dad’s grandfather changed his last name to Crenshaw when he was looking for a job. Turns out it’s hard to find work when you’re related to a murderer.” That explained why we couldn’t find the fourteenth family.
“Ryan, how could you do this?”
He turned abruptly, his attention on me again. “I’ve changed since you knew me. Back then I could let you go, just because I was afraid to ask you out. But now, I know that you are mine. I found you first this time. You didn’t even know Lucas existed when we were friends. We were meant to be together, and I won’t let you be with anyone else. I will kill to make that happen.” His face was distorted with rage, his dark blue eyes wide with madness, just like in my dreams.
The sweet boy that I liked so much three and a half years ago had turned into Tony, a person that killed two people just because he didn’t get his own way.
“Ryan, don’t let Tony do this to you. You were one of the nicest people I knew. You could never hurt anybody. Ryan, please don’t do this. Be better than him,” I begged him with all my heart. It hurt me to see such a great guy turn into a psychopath.
He stalked purposely over to me, his scuffed boots nearly touching my now wet sneakers. “Be better than him?” he snarled. “I am him. He didn’t get the girl he wanted, but that ends here. She will finally be his.”
“I’m not Katie!” I yelled. He only grinned at my outburst. I lowered my voice. “I may look like her, but I’m not.”
He smirked at me. “You have her soul; I know you figured it out. I heard you and your boyfriend talking about it. How do you think I knew about this place?” He raised his arms, gesturing to the waterfall. “Except for the part that you are soul mates. That’s a joke, she was meant to be with Tony. And you are meant to be with me.” He started pacing on the wet grass in front of me.
“Talk
about a joke. If she wanted to be with him she would have. And I never felt that way about you, even when we went to school together. If we were soul mates, don’t you think I’d be attracted to you? I don’t love you, I love Lucas.” I started to yell again. I was upset for so many reasons. For one, I was tied up, and the ropes were painfully cutting into my skin. Two, he was talking about hurting Lucas to get me, and I couldn’t handle that. Three, I felt like I’d lost a good friend. Even though he was doing this to me, I liked him so much. Back when I was a scared fourteen-year-old, he was my lifeline in a sea of unfriendly, snobby kids.
His face turned dark with anger. He pulled his hand back and slapped me across the face. The slap was so strong my head swung back. My cheek stung where his hand hit me. I was shocked. All my sadness over the loss of a friend disappeared instantly. He wasn’t the Ryan I knew. I didn’t know the person standing in front of me. This person tried to kill me three times, followed me, terrorized me, and most of all, he was responsible for my broken heart, my misery for the past month. He was trying to keep me from the man I loved, and for all of this…I hated him. I no longer felt bad for the loss of my friend. He didn’t have to succumb to Tony’s darkness. It was wrong to hurt people, and if he didn’t see that, he was no friend of mine.
I slowly turned my head back to look at him. His face was still full of anger, showing no remorse for hitting me. “That’s how you treat someone you’re supposed to love? I think I’ll stick with Lucas, he’s ten times the man you are.” I whipped the words at him, wanting them to sting, but I only angered him more. His face turned to fury as he drew his hand back. He almost hit me again, but instead, he took a few breaths to control himself, stepping away from me.
Something had been nagging me since I opened my eyes, and I suddenly remembered. “Where is Zack?”
His wicked smile reappeared. “He’s fine. He might have a headache, but once somebody finds him, he’ll be okay. I don’t have a problem with Zack. Lucky for him, he’s not your type.” He leaned against a tree, talking to me as if we were speaking of the weather. “He’s in the trunk of his car. I couldn’t have him alerting anyone that you were missing. It would ruin my plan.”
“What plan?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” He chuckled. “How was your trip to my family’s home town? Did you have a fun ride down that hill?”
“Oh, that’s right, your pathetic attempt to hurt Lucas and me. As you can see, it didn’t work. His car even came away without a scratch. I do appreciate the extra time with him though. Thank you.” I beamed at him, knowing that it would tick him off, but at this point, I didn’t give a shit.
The smile vanished as his face hardened. I don’t think he appreciated my humor.
“Don’t worry, I’m not finished yet. Your time with Lucas is over.” He had a piece of rope in his hand, and he played with it as he spoke.
“What are you going to do? Why did you bring me here?”
“We’re waiting for a special guest.”
“Who?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“Well, your boyfriend, of course. You see, Lucas received your text to meet him at your special waterfall. When he gets here, he’ll find you tied up. Of course he’ll try to untie you, but when he leans over, he’ll slip and fall to his death. With him out of the way, you will finally realize we were meant for each other. Lucas dies an accidental death, and we live happily ever after.” His voice was smooth and captivating, as though he was telling a dramatic tale to a small child.
“Accidental?” I felt sick to my stomach.
He pushed himself away from the tree. “Well, I will help out there. I’ll be hiding, and when he bends over to help you, I’ll push him over the edge.”
“Is this because of some stupid dreams? You’re going to kill Lucas over a delusion you created because you were dreaming of me. That’s psychotic. You’re not him, Ryan; you don’t have to follow his fate. Do you want to go to jail for the rest of your life like he did?”
A shadow crossed his face. “Oh, I’m not going to jail. I’m not going to kill anyone. It will be accidental, remember? He just stood too close to the edge, and simply slipped. With him out of the way, we can be together.”
“You’re more delusional than Tony was. At least he knew that Katie would rather die than be with him. She loved David, just like I love Lucas.” The ground was so cold my butt was starting to go numb. I moved side to side to get my circulation going again.
“He dumped you!” he yelled, coming toward me. “I would never do that.”
“He did it to protect me. We would be together right now if it wasn’t for you!” I screamed so loud, my throat hurt. I was so angry I wanted to rip his face off. I realized something. “Wait a minute, I didn’t text Lucas.”
He slipped something out of his pocket and held it up…my cell phone. “Oh, I did that for you, while you were out. He should be here any minute.”
Oh no! He was going to hurt him. I couldn’t allow that. Panic started in the pit of my stomach, rising to my throat. “Ryan, please don’t do this. Just because you were some psycho freak in a past life doesn’t mean you have to be now. You can break the cycle, you can be better than him,” I begged, pulling at the ropes around my wrist.
He laughed. “Psycho freak, is that how you see him? He was driven; he knew what he wanted and went after it. What’s wrong with that?”
Crap. I really didn’t want to do this, but I didn’t see an alternative. “Please, spare Lucas, and I will be with you. You don’t have to kill him!” My voice was shrill as I begged him not to hurt the person I loved the most. I had felt what it was like not to be with him anymore. I couldn’t imagine the pain if he died.
“Sorry, but for some reason, I don’t believe you. You’d say anything to save your precious Lucas.” He bent down and caressed my cheek with his hand. I cringed at the touch, but tried not to show the revulsion on my face.
There was a rustling in the woods, and the sound of heavy footsteps. Someone was coming. I hoped Ryan didn’t hear it, but he glanced in the direction of the noise, and then back at me. He smiled, patted my cheek, and picked up a roll of duct tape that was sitting on the ground beside him. When I realized what he was about to do, I yelled, “Don’t come!” I was cut off as he slapped a long piece of the thick tape tightly to my mouth.
I screamed at Lucas as loud as I could, to stop him from coming any further, but of course, he couldn’t hear me. The stupid tape was blocking my screams. I struggled with the ropes around my wrists, pulling with all my strength, but they were so tight they wouldn’t budge. The ropes were cutting into my skin. I was sure my wrists were going to be bruised and bleeding. Despite the cold, my brow was starting to sweat from the constant thrashing.
The footsteps were getting louder. My throat felt raw from shrieking, and it wasn’t doing any good. He couldn’t hear me, but I had to warn him somehow. If I could just get these freaking ropes off!
I saw Lucas emerge from the trees and into the clearing. He stopped when he saw me, his face turning from confusion to shock.
When he rushed over to me, I didn’t feel his presence. It was as if he wasn’t standing in front of me. I could see him, but the link between us was gone. It was Logan. “God, Sarah, what the hell?” he exclaimed, ripping the tape off of my mouth, pulling some skin along with it. Ow.
“Look out!” I yelled, just as Ryan pushed him off the cliff.
“NOO!” I screamed. Grief overwhelmed me, I really liked Logan. He was just starting to get his life together and I believed, just like his family, that he was a good person, and could make something of himself. And now because of me he was going to die.
No, I had to believe he was okay. It was only a twenty-foot drop. Lucas had told me once that the fall wouldn’t kill anyone, although you wouldn’t walk away uninjured either. He didn’t want to chance it, so we usually sat farther back.
I stared at Ryan with as much hatred as I felt. “You son of a bit—” He cut me of
f with an evil laugh. He’d be great as a villain in a movie. But of course I planned to hurt him as soon as I got these stupid ropes off, so the acting career was out for him.
“So Sarah, now that Lucas is out of the picture, how about a date?” he asked with the same maniacal laughter in his voice. He was leaning against the tree again, his arms folded in front of him. The fact that he had just pushed someone off a cliff didn’t faze him at all.
I glared at him. “You’d better kill me, because as soon as you take these ropes off, I will kill you!” I said with determination, because I had every intention of trying.
“Well, I guess I won’t untie you then, not for a while anyway.” He smiled. God, I wanted to wipe that sadistic grin off of his face. “So, where do you want to go? How about Renford, New Hampshire, where it all began?” He paused, staring into the water. I glared at him coldly but stayed silent. I was worried about Logan.
“You know, Lucas didn’t have to die. And he wouldn’t have if you had stayed away from him. I would have taken you, and he would have been safe, but too late now.” He laughed again.
“You sick bastard, he did break up with me. We were meeting to figure out who you were, that’s it.”
“Oh well, it doesn’t matter anyway, but we should get going.” He pushed off the tree and started toward me. “I really don’t want to hurt you, but I’m going to have to knock you out again, because I doubt you would cooperate with me.” He bent down to pick up a large piece of a tree branch.
“You’re going to have to knock me out.” I spit the words at him.
He lifted the wood above his head, and I cringed as he prepared to strike me with it.
Lucas rushed out of the trees and lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. Luke leaned over him and punched him a few times. “Wait,” Ryan said, covering his face with his arms. “You fell over the edge, I thought you were dead!”
Fated Dreams (Book One In The Affinity series) Page 30
