When willwriteforhearts last left off, Alice, Annie, and Eric decided to look for evidence of Alice's ghost dad, and Nick had a scary run-in with his mother's dangerous new boyfriend.What will happen next?—Sparkitors
Annie whips out a flashlight like a pistol, walking ahead of me and asking, “Did you ever see him around here?”
I think back to the orchard and I shrug. “Yeah.”
“Well?”
Details, right. I recount the whole “drumstick incident” and Annie looks a little disconcerted, glancing at Eric when I finish. She closes the house door behind me before saying anything.
“We were there?” Cautious.
I nod.
“Weird…” I try to find disbelief in her expression but she keeps her face carefully averted, walking after Eric.
“Maybe we should start in the orchard, then?” He looks at her expectantly and waits for her consent. “What do you think, Ms. Ghost-hunter?”
“Who’s that?” Annie ignores Eric, looking over at my driveway across the road.
Thomas’s car is parked in the driveway… I thought Mom wasn’t home? And who comes to visit their girlfriend in the middle of the night, anyways?
“I think it’s my mom’s boyfriend.” I walk down the sidewalk, away from my house, gesturing for them to follow. “Maybe we should look somewhere else.”
A door slams in response. My house’s door. I realize Annie and Eric haven’t moved and I turn around, noticing a figure in the shadow of my house. For once, I actually wish it was Dad, hallucination or ghost, but it’s not. It’s Thomas. He’s looking at us.
A held breath releases and I feel a little foolish for being so relieved. I guess I’m just being paranoid again; Thomas is getting inside his car.
“Is he leaving?” Eric smiles hopefully. “Maybe we can go to your backyard after all?”
“Sure.”
Thomas backs up and turns onto the street. I start to make my way after Eric and Annie, across the street, but the car suddenly stops in the middle. Two doors open at once: the car door and my own house’s front door.
“Alice!”
Nick?
I spot him at the door of our house. His face is whiter then usual.
The three of us wave at him. “Everything okay?” I say, following Annie and Eric. “We’re just going—“
“Get away from him!”
“What?”
Annie glances over at me, confident expression changing to terror in the space of a second. “Alice, he—“
Someone grabs my arm and I’m spun around, finding myself face to face with—who else? Thomas.
“Hey there, Alice.”
He reeks of alcohol and my face scrunches up involuntarily. I try to act normal. “Do you want a ride home or something, Thomas? Nick could probably…“
The grip on my arm tightens and I cringe, whimpering mid-sentence. Weak.
“Wanna go for a ride?” He says, smile looking fake and carved. Instinct tells me to look in his eyes and I force myself to do so, barely making out what looks like pebbles in the shadow that hides his features.
“Leave her alone!” Nick is descending from the house porch, coming towards us furiously.
Thomas is momentarily distracted and I take this as my chance to escape, yanking back sharply. His hand doesn’t move. “I told you I wanted to have a little talk with her.” Thomas says, voice twisted and strained. He drags me along with him to his car and glares, daring me to contradict him. “Won’t we have a little talk?”
Nick catches up to us and tries to pull him off me; Thomas responds quickly, easily, turning and shoving Nick off from his wheelchair in one decisive movement. He laughs, dragging me with him towards his car again. “That was cute.” He’s looking at Nick. Away from me.
I wrench myself away from him in a spurt of adrenaline-infused courage, ending up sprawled across the pavement. I scramble like a spider in an attempt to get up and I swat Thomas’s hand away when he tries to grab me again, compulsively—
Something crashes into my side and I hear something crack. I fall down again, numb and thoughtless. What just happened? He hit me? He hit me…
Vision’s getting blurry.
Thomas isn’t laughing anymore.
I try not to cry, I really try, but it’s hard and it only takes me a second to realize that he broke one of my ribs. A whimper escapes me and I feel like a fly with the swatter hovering overhead.
Something crashes into Thomas from the side in a flash of blue and black, screaming. “Get away from her!”
My mind is slow and I can’t even conjure the willpower to thank Annie before I turn around on my heel and try to run down the street, grabbing my side with one arm in a vain attempt to reduce the pain.
I’m starting to get dizzy… stumbling…
Someone’s hands grab me and I hear a car door open and slam shut, leaving me in the dark.
****
“Stop him!” I’m scrambling to Wheelchair, helped up by Tim, who looks too scared to do anything but sit and blink. The neighbor girl with the blue hairstreaks is up in half a second—Thomas had thrown her off him—but his car is already driving away. With Alice.
“We have to follow them! We have to find them! We have to get Alice! We have to—“
“Stop.” Tim is crouched down in front of me, his eyes on mine. “We need to think, okay?”
I nod. How the hell is he keeping himself together? If I could, I’d be beating the ground and crying like a tantrum ridden six year old. Thankfully, I don’t have time for that. Focus. Yes, Nick, formulate a plan. We can’t go “willy nilly” into this, now can we?
“Willy nilly?” When did Wheelchair start talking like a grandpa?
“Excuse me?” Tim looks thrown off.
“Oh, um, I mean we should probably make a plan.”
My cell phone rings and I go to turn it off, stopping myself only a second before when I see the caller ID. “Sam?”
“Nick, I have to tell you—“
“Sam, this isn’t a good time.” Keep it together, Nick.
Tim frowns, walking over to the neighbor kids after mouthing something like “hurry.” I nod in response, not too enthusiastic about the idea of sticking around here while Alice is being kidnapped either.
Sam is quiet for a second. “What’s wrong?”
Don’t cry, Nick. Only girls cry! What’s she gonna think if you start?
Isn’t that a little sexist—
“Alice was just kidnapped.” My voice tightens and I swallow the growing rock in my throat. “We’re gonna call the police and go after her.”
More silence.
“I’ll be over in a minute.” The phone clicks as she hangs up.
I stare at the caller screen for a few seconds before turning my phone off and stuffing it into my pocket. “Tim?”
The neighbor girl answers first, crossing her arms. “Whatever you two idiots are doing, we’re coming. Someone has to make sure she comes home okay.”
“I’ve t-tried t-telling them to go home!” Tim is starting to lose it a little himself, stutter recurring. “T-they won’t listen!”
“She’s our friend too.” Neighbor Girl glares with those obscenely dark eyes of hers, smirking. “We are not going home.”
Somehow, even with her confident front, she sounds scared. But isn’t everyone?
Neighbor Boy’s eyes widen. “We?”
She rolls her eyes. “We.”
Collective gulping.
Keep watch on them, Nick, as there doesn’t seem to be a non-violent way of convincing them to go home.
“Thanks.” I mutter, annoyed. “I knew that.”
Of course you do. For once, he doesn’t sound sarcastic. Weird…
Swallowing, I speak a little louder. “Here’s what we’re gonna do.”
Everyone’s heads snap up, relieved to having someone give the orders, though I’m starting to wish the “someone” didn’t have to be me.
Shizz is getting REAL up in here! A kidnapping?! Broken ribs?! What's next? We can't wait to find out!
Related post: Holding On: Chapters 1-16
Tags: fiction, sparkler series, sparkler fiction, holding on
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