The Ghost Whisperer

Part 21

"Where are the kids?" I ask him.

Theo stands there calmly, holding onto a torch in one hand. I keep shining the light on him like a criminal under interrogation.

"They're safe. He locked them in the kitchen's freezer room. What happened to you?" I hear Alex say with worry as he walks towards me. I glance at him and then back to Theo.

"I hid them. They're all ok. Where are the others?" He asks as he steps forward too. For some reason, I feel anxious with every step he takes towards me.

"I hid them too. I heard gunshots. Was it..you?" I ask as I point towards her blood-stained shirt.

"It was him. He killed them. The strange thing was he did it without any hesitation." Alex says as he comes over to me and stands by my side. I could hear him breathing heavily. Did he touch something again? Is that why he seems tired?

"Yeah. I had to. To protect them. I heard gunshots too, I'm pretty sure you were in the same predicament." He says and points at my shirt.

Looking at it, I just realise that there are tiny stains of blood on it. Must be Martin's.

"Lisa, listen to me. We were right about him. He IS dangerous. He lied to us." Alex declares and I feel a chill in my spine.

What do I do!? The men will be here soon.

"One of the men told everyone our location. We need to move out" I say to Theo and he suddenly stops as he looks shocked.

"Then we need to get out of here quickly! Where are the kids? I'll get them, you keep a lookout" he says and then walks closer to me. My body automatically starts backing away from him to which he gets confused.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"Don't tell him. The men he killed called him a monster. Apparently, He wasn't one of the Kidnapped kids, he was one of them." Alex says.

What...? This is going to be a problem right now. He's already holding a gun. It's going to be hard to do anything.

"Let's leave the kids and distract the men away from the building. We'll keep running." As soon as I say that, I regret it as a confused and frustrated expression forms on his face.

"Are you sure they won't see that the kids aren't with us?" He says and runs a hand through his blond hair. He's frustrated.

"They're already hidden. Let's go, Theo" I say to him. I need to get him away from the kids. It's a good thing I left Valerie in charge of them which calms me down a bit.

"Ok fine, but at least tell me where they are?" He insists.

"Forget it. I'll tell you later" As I walk past him towards the entrance door, he suddenly grabs my right arm firmly, stopping me in my tracks. The light is now facing away from him which makes him look like a dark figure.

"Why are you so reluctant to tell me?" He asks suspiciously as his grip gets tighter. I spot Alex trying to push him away but his hands keep passing through him and he fails.

"It's not-" I begin but he cuts me off.

"How did you know?" He asks curiously.

"What?" I say as I try to get away from his grip.

"I can tell from your behaviour. It's like you know what happened in the other building. As if...you were there." He says as he tries to make sense of it.

As quickly as I can, switching the phone to my other hand I slam it across his face which makes him let me go and touch his face.

Without my light, I'm surrounded by darkness. Now free from his grip, I hurriedly back up and reach for the gun tucked in my jacket.

But he is surprisingly quick on his feet and in a matter of seconds, lands a punch on my stomach.

The hard impact makes me gag and lose my balance. Trying to stand only increases the pain in my foot which makes me fall to the ground.

He snatches the gun from my hand and throws it away.

My whole body is in pain. I look at him, towering over me, like a creature of the night in the darkness around him. I try to get up but he pushes me down with his foot. His torchlight starts flickering near a wall in a distance.

"LISA!" Yells Alex and tries hard to push or do anything to Theo. But he keeps failing miserably much to his disappointment. He looks so frustrated.

"You know, I was planning on killing you way sooner," he says as he stands on top of me with his legs on either side of my waist. He points his gun right at my face. He won't let me get up.

"But because they started following us I couldn't. I wanted those kids all to myself" he says as he lifts up his foot and steps on my injured foot.

The excruciating pain makes me want to scream. I punch the floor as I try to resist it. I raise my right arm across my mouth and bite onto it. If I scream, the kids will try to come down. Even if Valerie does manage to stop them, one of the men will hear from outside. He's doing it exactly because I won't shout.

"I'm pretty sure you understand by now that I lied. Let me tell you the truth now. I'm actually the boss's son." He exerts more pressure on my foot. My eyes shut tightly as my teeth dig into my skin. I'm sweating profoundly and my muffled cries can be heard all across the lobby.

"I love playing with kids. In the torture sense, I mean. Since I kept doing that to the merchandise my dad wanted me to stop coming here. But ya know, I threatened to expose him and he locked me up. I did keep getting one kid from time to time though. But that wasn't enough." He then sits on top of my stomach, kneeling and pulls my arm away from my mouth which is now covered with red teeth marks. He then throws aside his gun too and his hands grab onto my thin neck.

"I'm glad you came. Now, I'm free to do whatever I want to whoever I want" he starts to choke me. I gag and squirm under him as I try to pull his arms away from my neck.

Glancing aside, I notice Alex trying desperately to hold onto a gun with slight tears in his eyes.

I can't breathe! My throat and lungs are on fire as I scratch roughly on his hands to make him stop. He presses my neck more firmly and I feel like my eyes are about to pop out. Feet kicking beneath him, hands struggling to make him let go, I start to feel my consciousness slowly slip away. My vision gets blurry and my whole body begins to go numb.

Suddenly I hear a gunshot.

As soon as his hands loosen on my neck, I push him away with the little strength left in my arms and cough, desperately gasping for air. I keep laying down trying to breathe normally through the pain in my throat.

Two more shots are fired and I feel something wet land on my arm and face. As my vision starts to get better, I look at what's happening in front of me.

In the darkness, I see Alex standing a step away from me holding a gun. I hear sniffing which tells me he's crying. Next to me, lays a motionless body of Theo.

"S-sorry for the wait," He says apologetically as he wipes his tears.

I smile at him, knowing he can't exactly see it.

"Nah...you were just in time" I answer in a now raspy voice as my throat hurts with every word.