just need to get to her.
I can feel it in the pit of my stomach. He’s hurting her. He has for years, but now it’s personal. I stand there watching Charles shoving the pick into the lock and twist it slightly before I hear a muffled scream.
The blood drains from my face, and ice replaces my blood as Charles’ eyes meet mine.
“Open it,” I mouth the words to him. My hand slowly travels to the cold steel of my gun. My reddened vision becomes focused. Adrenaline is bringing life to the hatred burning inside of me.
The door clicks and slowly opens, and I move in front of Charles. He doesn’t stop me as I move through the house. The floorboards are creaking loudly under my weight. I don’t stop, all I can hear is that scream, her pain. It compels me to go to her, a pull so strong, so violent that nothing can stop me. Nothing will keep me from her or save him from death.
She screams again as I come to a stop in the narrow hallway to a heavy door with an old steel knob. I test it and the knob turns easily, her scream louder as I creak it open.
My heart pounds in my chest as I hear the swish of a whip and the crack of it against her skin. The lights are dim as I move down the stairs, my gun held out in front of me.
Time slows as I see her, hanging there from the chains with him behind her. Pure hatred shines in his eyes as he pulls the heavy whip back over her shoulder, ready to strike her again.
It only takes two shots. Bang! Bang!
He wavers on his feet, staring down at his chest where the small holes in his chest seem to vanish, but quickly blood seeps through the fabric and spreads along the woven threads.
I keep my arm up, the kick of the gun still traveling up my arm as he falls to his knees first, his head tilting back up to me, his forehead pinching and his hands moving to his chest. It's not long before he falls forward, his face slamming against the ground, his body lifeless.
My feet move down the steps, going closer to him. I don’t take my eyes off of him as I empty the gun into his skull. Bang! Bang! Bang!
I keep pulling the trigger even after it’s empty. His dead eyes are open and staring back at me as blood pools around his disfigured face.
It’s only the sound of her whimper that tears me away from him.
“Don’t touch her!” I scream at Charles, making him flinch as he puts both his hands up.
There’s so much blood. Lashes mar her back, her shoulders, her thighs. Everywhere. He tore her flesh open. I don’t hesitate to pick her small body up, relieving the weight that’s pulling her wrists against the metal cuffs.
“Zander,” she says and her voice is so weak as her head droops to the side.
“It’s alright,” I tell her quickly as Charles works on the locks at her wrist. He must’ve found the key somewhere, because they’re off in an instant. Her arms are falling like dead weight and making her face twist in pain.
She cries out as I turn her body, cradling it and feeling the warmth of her blood soaking into my shirt and against my arms.
“Here,” Charles says and passes me a white sheet. I question using it for only a moment before wrapping it around her body, not tightly. Every small movement makes her wince with pain.
“Talk to me, Arianna,” I tell her. Her eyes look as if she’s staring far off into the distance. “Arianna,” my voice cracks as I say her name.
I’m too late.
“We need to get out of here,” Charles says as he looks around the cellar. My shoes have traveled through the blood, tracking footprints wherever I’ve been. “I need to call for clean up.”
My heart races as I realize what’s happened. What I’ve done.
“Hopefully there’s time,” Charles says so softly I’m not sure if I was meant to hear him.
My body shakes as I hold her closer to me, carrying her weak body up the steps and letting Charles lead the way. “I’ve got you,” I whisper, kissing her hair. “It’s alright,” I tell her even though I’m not sure it is. My body is so cold, so numb.
Sirens scream in the background as we walk away from the house.
“We should have gotten