Voodoo Doll // cth

twelve

Do not blame me for what I'm about to tell you, please. I was only seventeen, I didn't know what I was getting us into.

I didn't know that I was signing a death wish.

I just wanted answers, and in a town filled with people that hated me, my options were limited. I had no other choice. I understand now, that I should've told someone where we were. I should've gone to that place alone. I never should've brought him into it, but I didn't know what I was doing.

"We're here." I mumble, opening the door before Calum even gets the chance to stop the car. He puts the car in park as I double check the address before turning off my location.

I turned it off in case my mom was going to try to look for me. I know now that it was the stupidest decision I've ever made.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" He asks, locking his car and approaching me. "Something about this place is making me uneasy."

We should've gotten back into the car and left when he said that. We should've known. We didn't though.

We were two hopeless teenagers with the idea that a man neither of us knew would help us. We thought he would give us the answers we needed, but all he did was give us more questions.

"It's the address he gave me." I shrug, showing him the proof of the address my biological dad sent me. "How bad can this be?"

I was so gullible. I should've known. That's the thing, I didn't. Everyone expects so much from me because of who my mother was, but no one told me what I should and shouldn't have been doing.

He looks around at the area, taking it all in with his eyes before speaking. "I just think it's weird that he sent us to a warehouse in the middle of nowhere instead of a hotel or something. Don't you think it's weird?"

"Maybe he has weird jobs, I don't know." I shrug, walking towards the building. "We just have to get in here and ask him a few questions before leaving. It's not a big deal, okay? Trust me on this one."

"How much do you know about him, Adeline?" His question causes me to turn around and stop walking. "I'm serious; how much can you tell me about him?"

I suck in a deep breath, the cold air nipping at my throat. "He was framed for murder when he was our age, but that doesn't mean he's not a changed man."

"Are you kidding me?!" He furrows his eyebrows. "You're asking a potential murderer for tips to deal with another potential murderer?! You're going to get us killed."

The irony in that statement will forever make my stomach hurt. I should've just listened to him and turned around.

"I just need to make sure we have weighed out all of our options before going to the police, or something irrational." I whisper, starting to feel as if I'm being watched. "I don't fully trust him, but I need to see if I can get anything out of him before he disappears again."

He stares at me, the gears turning in his head before he sighs. "One chance. The moment he puts you in danger, we're leaving."

I wasn't the one he had to worry about.

As soon as I open my mouth to respond, I hear the large metal door open behind me. While I try to turn around to see who it is, Calum pulls me behind him in one swift movement.

"Hey, kid. Who is this?" My biological dad steps out of the warehouse, the dim light from inside illuminating his silhouette.

"Dad, this is Calum. He's a re- he's my boyfriend." I clear my throat after saying the last part, grabbing Calum's hand. The contact sends a sense of warmth through my arm and into my heart, catching me off guard and distracting me for a moment.

The way he held my hand makes me wonder. Maybe he knew that we wouldn't make it out of there together. He held onto my hand as if my touch was the only thing supplying him with the air he needed to breathe.

In reality, I wasn't doing anything except adding fuel the the fire.

"You play any sports, boy? You look like you play sports." Dad steps towards us and Calum grips my hand a bit tighter.

I don't know why, but something about our small interaction makes me feel like there's something he hasn't told me.

"Dad, we didn't come here to talk about extra curricular activities." I mumble, looking at him from behind Calum. "We need to know if you can help us with something."

Dad stops moving, and I notice his mouth slightly twitching as if he's about to smile. Maybe even laugh.

He was a psychopath.

He looks up at the sky and squints before looking back down at me. "You guys should come in, it might start raining."

Calum and I both simultaneously look up, allowing me to realize that there's no signs of potential rain. I don't want to push my dad away, or scare him off when he could potentially help us, so I let go of Calum's hand. Calum rips his eyes from the sky and looks at me as if I'm sacrificing myself, causing me to give him a look of reassurance.

I wish I had done something. I wish I had taken his evident fear into consideration. Calum deserved to survive that night. I should be the one that died.

I wish I could apologize to him, or hug him, or kiss him, or even tell him what was about to come. He had no idea. He didn't know what he was doing by trusting me.

He looks between my dad and I before nodding and walking in front of me. He enters the building, and dad doesn't waste any time before closing the door.

I notice that it smells like bleach before noticing anything else, the smell making me crinkle my nose.

He was cleaning up the previous crime scene when we got there. We didn't even know what we were walking into.

Calum steps towards me, not allowing me to be more than half an inch away from him as if I'm in danger.

"Sorry for the mess, this isn't my place." Dad mumbles, walking past us. "You can sit down, I don't bite."

I give Calum's arm a squeeze and step towards the two chairs that are next to each other. I check my phone to see that I don't have any service.

I shrug it off, assuming that we won't be here long. I sit down, looking around and noticing a jacket on the ground a few feet away from us. I gently nudge Calum and gesture towards the jacket, recognizing it, but not knowing who it could belong to.

I was a bit further away from the jacket than Calum, so I expected him to be able to identify it. I didn't think he was going to give me the information I needed to know the mistake I was making by sitting across from the man I called my father.

We weren't alone in that warehouse, and we were about to find that out.

Calum pulls out his phone after looking at the jacket and types a few things when Dad speaks up. "You won't get any service in here, kid. You would have a better chance a few miles down the road."

The sentence feels like more of a threat than an informative statement. I look around as Calum hands me his phone. I look down at it, clearly confused.

"It's your phone, you already have mine, remember?" He smiles, almost looking like he's being held hostage. "You gave it to me in the car on the way here because your time was messing up. I fixed it, look."

He was a genius, to say the least. He deserved to have more credit than anyone gave him. He almost got us out of there. Almost.

I take the phone hesitantly, looking at him as my heart begins to race. I turn my eyes to the phone screen, the words on it nearly making me vomit.

Almost.

//

A/N: short chapter, but this is about to get ~real~