Key To My Heart [Chase Davenport]

Chapter Thirty Five

There's something . . . off with Carla today. She looks more worse for the wear, with her skin a lighter shade of brown and her eyelids drooping. Her back is hunched and her shoulders are lower than normal, which is weird. She's also struggling to breathe, sucking in the oxygen from her machine. Hopefully, today is a bad day and not one of her last days on this Earth. I'm not done with the prototype that could save her life. And I'm definitely not ready for her to die, no matter what she has done to me and my family and my friends.

Even though she still has us kidnapped, I'd do anything to save Carla. She helped my mom out when I was younger and continued helping me as I grew up. It is so hard being an African American kid with a white mother who knew nothing about my culture, and Carla stepped in to help her and me. Carla's done so much for me, and it's my turn to repay her. Right?

I'm a little conflicted. What she is doing right now isn't right, but other people have done worse when it comes to getting what they want. Carla could have asked me prior to my vacation and I would have done it for her. She didn't have to have her husband and brother-in-law kidnap my mother and Tasha and then me just so I can work on the prototype. But . . . she's my friend and I do want to help her. I've always been a little iffy about cases like this. Whenever I saw someone doing nearly the exact same thing in the news, I was conflicted, just like I am now. Medicine is very expensive, and there are people out there that may need it but cannot get it because they can't afford it. It's a hard situation, and unfortunately, I'm stuck in the middle of it all.

My hands hover over the prototype, a deep sense of failure settling in my bones. I thought I was the smartest girl in the world, but I can't be if I don't know how to fix my lung prototype. A conversation I had with Chase comes back to me. He told me that we're all good at something, not everything, and that's alright. Maybe I'm pushing myself too hard with this prototype. I got it this far, and now it's time to get help from people who actually know what they're doing. I'm just a teenage girl; I have time to learn more and more about this issue. And it's okay if I can't learn everything because I'm only human.

A smile appears on my face at my realization. It has taken this long to figure that out, but I'm glad I did so. It's so much easier to not put that pressure on me. I'm . . . freer now, and it's a nice feeling.

A creak echoes around me, and I stand up. "Carla, is that you?" I ask after I another creak, telling me that the front door slowly swung open. No one answers me, so I stand up from my workstation, a frown replacing the smile on my face. Earlier, she said that she would occasionally check up on me, but not leave the house. "Carla?"

Opening the door to my room, I stick my head out and look down the hallway. No one is there, so I stop by my room first. Rabbit is in there, asleep on my bed. I don't want to disturb him, so I shut the door and turn back around. My footsteps are light on the wooden floor because I don't want to alert anyone that I'm out and about.

I step into the kitchen. No one is in there, so I open the trap door to the basement and glance down the stairs. The light isn't one, which means that Guy and Buddy aren't down there. Weird. I shut the door to the basement and head into the living room. Mom is in there, just watching the door.

"Mom, what's going on?" I ask her. Her head whips over to look at me, a worried look on her face. "Where's Carla, Guy, and Buddy?"

"They went outside because they heard a noise." Mom is going to say something else when a loud boom sounds outside the house. My heart thuds against my chest as I rush over to Mom. "Well, there's another noise."

I can hear fighting behind the house, the sounds of punching and kicking and grunting making me frown. Maybe the police found us. That's a good thing because I desperately want to go home and sleep for days. But then the front door opens ever so slightly, a robot rolling into the room. That's when I realize that the police didn't find us. Adam, Bree, Chase, and Leo did with the help of Josh, our robot.

"Emmie, Zoe, don't worry," a voice says, coming from the robot. "We're here to save you."

"I couldn't tell," I say drily.

"How did I know you'd say that?"

"Because you're Leo?" I'm guessing on that because the voice is a little warped, but I think I got it right because the person sighs.

Apparently there is a back door on the house because I hear another set of hinges squeal open. Mom and I are still standing in the living room with Josh, but I really don't want to move away from our spot. I can't see the fighting because they are fighting my friends and I don't know how to feel about it. Mom moves forward a little to see who's coming down the hallway, and I can tell that she's worried about Carla, who went out to the back to work on a garden out there.

"Emmie!" Adam's voice rings out in the silent house. I don't even see him until he's pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. "I can't believe you left without saying anything to us."

"I wasn't about to have you three follow me," I say, laughing slightly. I wrap my arms around his back, squeezing him back. My head rests against his strong chest and I feel strange emotions coursing through my body. "Thanks for finding us."

"It's no problem, kid," he says, pulling away from the hug. He grins down at me and then messes up my hair. "Hey, now you look like Chase!"

I push him away from me, shaking my head. Adam is a funny guy, and I am so glad that he's my friend. I can't imagine my life without him now, which is a funny thing. I never thought I would become best friends with Adam, Bree, Chase, and even Leo during my vacation, but I'm glad I did.

I can hear Bree's footsteps as she zooms over to me, pulling me into another hug. At least I like these people. Otherwise, I would have tried to get away from all their hugging. "You scared me so bad, Emmie!" she says, digging her hands into my back. "Why did you run away?"

"Because I had to find my mom. Why did you run after me?"

"Because I had to find you." She pulls away from the hug, giving me a look. "Don't ever run away like that again."

"Yes, ma'am."

Her stoic face finally breaks into a grin. "Good," she says to me. She pulls me into another hug, and I smile softly. This is what I missed while being kidnapped. I missed my best friend. "If you were hurt . . ."

"I wasn't hurt, Bree."

"If you were, I would have killed you again for leaving us."

"Understood."

Bree finally lets go of me, moving over toward Zoe and Adam. There's a person standing in the doorway, staring wistfully at me. It's Chase. We don't move an inch; we just stare at each other, my heart thudding against my chest. It's so quiet in the room that I hear Leo talking outside to Carla, Guy, and Buddy. I can't make out what he's saying, but still, it's that quiet in the house.

And then my legs move on their own. It feels like I'm drawn to him, and I can't back out of running. Launching myself at him, I wrap my arms around his neck, crashing my lips against his. Chase stumbles backward slightly, but he wraps his arms around my waist, kissing me back.

"I see you missed me," he whispers after we break apart. I rest my forehead against his and let out a contented sigh. "But I don't understand why you would miss me since you're the one who ran away."

"You would do it, too."

"Yeah, I would." His arms are strong around me, but they get even tighter as he stares into my eyes. He looks so fierce right now that I nearly burst out laughing. "If you ever do that again, I will hurt you, Emmie. Don't -"

"I already got this lecture from Bree," I tell him with a laugh.

"I'm being serious."

"I know."

"It's not just you anymore," he continues. "You have people who would move mountains for you, Emmie. You don't have to do things by yourself anymore."

"I know."

"Good." He nods once and then cracks a grin. "I thought you wouldn't kiss me if I wouldn't rinse with mouthwash."

I roll my eyes, backing away from him. I know for sure that Mom is staring at me; I can feel the confusion and skepticism rolling off of her in waves. We'll talk another time, and I hope she knows that. "You're one crazy kid," I say, shaking my head. Taking his hand in mine, I grin. "Let's go home."