FicWad

The bitter taste of dirt invaded my mouth and I turned over, only to have the overbearing intensity of the sun blinding my just waking eyes. Where the hell was I? I made a move to sit up but in that moment a sharp pain stopped me. My hand dropped to my stomach and I gently ran a finger over the area that hurt since it was wet. As I pulled the finger away I could clearly see that the liquid was red; I was bleeding.

“You’ll live.” Damien said offhandedly. “You sleep more than any other girl I know.”

“I’m sorry to have bored you so.” I snapped, bringing myself to a sitting position despite the pain. As I turned I could see Damien sitting at a picnic table. We were behind a barn, sheltered from the roads view and now I knew where we were. We were approximately twenty minutes out of town, at the old barn that no one ever came to anymore. It had stupid stories of being haunted but even those stories had died, losing all of the town’s interest, even the teens that used to come out and drink had lost interest. “I’ve never been stabbed before but I’m assuming that had something to do with me sleeping for awhile.”

Damien rolled his eyes, standing up. “I barely touched you.”

“Why are we here?” It took me a few minutes to even try to stand up and still I didn’t, my stomach hurt quite a bit.

“I wanted to wait for you to heal a little before we moved on.” The emotion Damien lacked even in his tone was frightening.

“Moved on?”

“Well, we certainly can’t stay in town.” Damien gestured towards the town; “There is already a search party and posters with our faces on them all around town.”

“Then they are sure to search this barn.” I felt a flutter in my chest at the thought of being found. People were searching… that was a good sign; it let me hold on to a small portion of hope.

Damien laughed, “Thanks for the tip sweetheart but I’m already on top of it. They already searched here, chances are they won’t come back looking but I’ve been keeping watch.”

That piece of hope inside of me quivered before breaking under the pressure of Damien’s unflinching resolve. He seemed so sure of our situation, leaving me completely unsure. “So, what’s with the change of plan? Surely my father didn’t want us to romantically run away.” I threw the words out bitterly, with underlying meaning. I was sure Damien already knew I wasn’t so naïve to want to be with him but there was no point in clearly stating so, he was obviously mentally unbalanced for what mentally healthy man stabs someone and then kidnaps them?

Damien grinned, taking the words at face value. “I just couldn’t kill you. You’re worth far more than the ground I’d be burying you under.”

That was sickly sweet in a way that I didn’t want to think about. “What’d he do, pay you? Just how much did it take for you to agree to murder someone?”

“Not much.” Damien shrugged. “5500.”

“How did my dad come up with that money?” The question was one I hadn’t really meant to ask out loud, not that it mattered. I was simply curious. He wasn’t all that financially stable.

Damien laughed, finding this question quite pleasant evidently. “Oh, it wasn’t his money to spend.” He watched me, waiting for me to further question him. I didn’t. I didn’t really care to hear further talk of my father and his ways. He was worse than I ever could have known. He was sick. There had to be something wrong with him, or something so terribly wrong with me for him to feel this strongly… for him to need to end my life in order to find peace in his own.

Damien continued after realizing I would not further question him. “It’s the money your mother left you. Your father just never told you about it.” Well, that was surprising.

“My mother?” It was like being stabbed all over again.

“Yeah.” Damien stepped closer to me, extending his hand. “Let me help you.”

“What did he tell you about her?” I asked, trying to hide the urge to have more answers. My mother was always a ‘hush, hush’ topic, it was something I didn’t know much of.

Damien kept his hand extended. “I’ve got a letter from her if you’d like to read it. It came with the money, your dad said I could let you read it but… you’re going to have to do something for me first.”

“What?” I breathed the word out, wondering if he could even hear it.

“Let me help you. I’m not the fucking enemy here Kade. So far I’ve done nothing other than save you from the fate your dad had set up.”

The words slowly sunk in, minor notes of truth clinging to each word. I placed my hand in his and he leaned down, gently helping me up. It hurt a little less but the pain wasn’t nonexistent with just a little help, I still had to heal.

Once standing Damien let go of me and made his next, less appealing command. “Kiss me.”

I thought of refusing to but really there was no point. I just wanted to know whatever it was my mother had to say to me, whatever had been preserved in that letter I’d never gotten to read. I quickly pressed my lips against his, making the kiss fairly sloppy. He still seemed in to it however and he kissed back until I finally pulled away, just waiting.

Finally after staring at me for several seconds he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “I set up a bed in the barn and there’s a lantern by the door. You can read it with privacy if you’d like.”

I nodded and walked towards the barn door, heart racing through my chest.



**





“She looks just like her mother.” Kade’s father whispered the words. He was sitting in a jail cell, where he knew he belonged. The alcohol had yet to wear off and an alcoholic stench encompassed his body. Spencer sat on the other side of the bars, listening intently. There was nothing he could really do. Brendon, Jon and Ryan were all out, taking part in the search party. He couldn’t.

Spencer knew he wouldn’t just stumble upon her. He knew that Kade’s dad was the best bet to finding out where Kade was. With each word Spencer found himself hating the man a little more than he had before.

“She has all of the same mannerisms, even after being away from her for so long. It’s like parts of her mother became embedded in to her.” The words came out intelligent, despite being slurred from the alcohol. “The alcohol drove away my feelings, but only for awhile. Things got worse. Instead of … violating her I hurt her, again and again. I hit that girl a million times but each time she just bounced right back. She was so strong, just like her mother. I thought maybe hurting her would make me hate her, or see something else in her that wouldn’t remind me of her mother. I even tried drugs, they weren’t as helpful as alcohol but even alcohol has its limits.”

“You abused her for something she had no control over.” Spencer murmured, unable to directly look at Kade’s dad.

He laughed dryly, “You find it so easy to judge. You try losing someone you’re in love with.”

Spencer made fists, trying to hold back. He couldn’t though. This was the hardest thing he’d ever been through. “That’s what’s happening right now.” Spencer finally spit out. Kade’s dad looked up at him in confusion, words unable to describe the horrified look on his face. “I don’t have to know anything else about Kade to know that I love her. She’s strong. She’s perfect. She’s everything I could ever want. I don’t have to know everything about her to know what kind of person she is and that’s what I’m in love with. I’m in love with her, not her decisions, or what she likes. It’s beyond that. I’m in love with her and you’re taking her from me.” Spencer stood up. “You signed her death certificate before she was even able to live.”

Neither of them spoke but the silence soon became unbearable and Spencer found himself quickly leaving the room, the bitter taste of life stuck in his mouth.

He couldn’t always have it his way and he couldn’t ensure Kade’s safety.

That realization was just sinking in and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to live without her, now that he knew just how he felt about her.