Page 25 of Phoenix
I watch him close his eyes, sigh, and then nod his head as though I just stuck a knife through his heart. I feel for him, a fraction, but the guy messed up and he needs to know that if he’s going to stick around with me, he can’t act like a brainless puppy.
“What are you going to tell her?” he asks in barely more than a whisper.
“Shit, I don’t know,” I huff, as I throw myself inside of the booth opposite Javier. “Where is Robert, Jake?”
“I-I don’t know,” he admits. “I didn’t go to Europe this month just gone, I went back to the town near to where he kept us all those years ago. I went to go and see if he was still there.”
“And…?”
“I couldn’t face going back to the site itself, but apparently, the houses are no longer there, it’s just overgrown woodland now,” he says with a defeated shrug. “I tried to ask around, do some research, but there was nothing to say if he got out or died down there. All I know is I beat him up pretty bad and left him on the floor while Jess and I ran.”
“Were there any windows down there?” I ask.
“There were a couple of tiny ones at the top of the room, much too small for him to climb through.”
“The door?”
“Solid wood, double-locked,” he answers.
“Neighbors?”
“No one for miles. No visitors either. Robert had the mail kept at a post office in the town.”
“Then,” I sigh, not completely sure of my decision, “we tell her nothing, for the moment. We can’t risk her running back to her parents and being under threat. Agreed?”
“Yeah, agreed,” Jake says, still looking like the little chastised puppy he is.
When I turn to face Javier, he simply shows me his hands, telling me he has my back on this one.
“Can you do some digging, Javier?” He nods, so I then turn back to my cousin. “Great. Jake, you need to give every detail you remember about Robert to Javier. And Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t try and have any more ‘good’ ideas!” I point at him until he nods in agreement, looking beyond pathetic, just as he should after what he pulled.
“Where are you going?” Jake asks when I get up and begin to walk out back.
“To double check your sister hasn’t overheard any of your plans to hire a hitman to take her out, just so she can hook up with him, you giant idiot!” I huff moodily before closing the door on the both of them, trying to shake it off.
Chapter 10
Jessie
I don’t dream about the man who stole my childhood every night; sometimes I can go weeks without a nightmare, but at least once or twice a month, he’ll appear. I’m always climbing that rainy hill, walking alone, and looking for Stanley. When my dragon eventually arrives, the back of my mind puts out a warning I never fully pay attention to, like it knows that if the fantastical symbol of my innocence arrives, this can’t be real. And if it isn’t real, this is yet another dream that’s going to turn into a nightmare that will have me screaming into the darkness. However, it’s not enough to fully convince me that what is about to happen isn’t real, that I don’t have to be scared.
“Hi, Stanley,” I smile at the timid looking beast as we hold hands for a while. I talk about my day while he remains silent, listening intently as I ramble on about nothing in particular. When I laugh, he laughs with me, when I shiver, he brings up his wing to shelter me, and when I sigh, he cuddles me against his soft belly. He’s comforting, caring, and something I want to hold onto forever. But I know I can’t.
Once at the top of the hill, we turn around to see my mother sitting in the window, reading her book or talking to someone on the phone. It’s warm in there because I can see the fire crackling through the window; the lamps are already switched on in the living room. She’s wearing one of her big fluffy jumpers while I stand out here in the rain, wearing only my gym uniform, getting wetter by the second. After long moments of staring at her, willing her to look at me, the grey sky above rumbles with thunder, and that’s when Stanley yelps with fear and flies away.
“Stanley!” I shout, feeling terrified of being by myself, but unable to move from the spot I’m standing in. “Mom!” I then shout, even louder than I did for Stanley, but she doesn’t even flinch; she can’t hear me. “Mom, please?!”
“Hey, Sweety!” His voice says to me from behind, making me freeze on the spot I’m now stuck on. “Come with Daddy and I’ll make you feel safe again.”
I try to call out for my mother one more time, but this time, I don’t even have a voice with which to shout. I watch her with tears streaming down my face as she continues to laugh and smile with someone on the phone. Meanwhile, ‘Daddy’ is walking up along the gravel behind, humming nursery rhymes to try and entice me.
“I’ve got chocolate in my car; you know how much you love chocolate, Sweety!” he says in such a sinister voice, I feel sick. “I’ll look after you, Sweety, not like your mommy who lets you walk all the way home in the rain. Look, she doesn’t even look at you when you call for her. Come home with me, Sweety, I will love you like a parent should.”
I manage to shake my head, but he pays no attention, and just as I take in a breath to shout out for her a final time, his arms wrap around my body and rip me away from the spot. He drags me back toward his car with the scented leather seats and hot air blowing through the vents. My breath feels like it’s being cut off just before I use the last of it to finally scream.