Epiphany

Chapter 31 Part 2~Back

Without another moment’s pause, we started sprinting towards the house. My knees were about to give out as I thought it was all over for us. But when I looked to the side, the van was gone. It moved to the other side of the house, out of sight.

We came to a halt in front of the back door. Chase turned the knob, and the amber light from inside welcomed us in. I never imagined I’d be relieved to have arrived safely at this house.

“Take off your hoodie!” he said, shutting the door behind him.

I froze for a second, not understanding anything.

I then saw him pull his sweatshirt over his head, revealing a white baggy shirt beneath it, and he threw the damp thing under a small wooden table in the corner, splattering the area with water.

His eyes flicked at me. “What are you still doing?! They’ll walk right through the front door at any second now!”

The realization struck me that we were soaked from head to toe and that I was wearing only a salopette and a blouse.

“I uh…” I stammered.

“You what?!”

“I don’t have any warm clothes—”

He didn’t hide the groan that said he’d had enough of me.

“We’re in big trouble,” he said the one thing that I hoped I wouldn’t hear.

“What should we do?!” I looked around for anything that might suck the dampness away from my clothes.

I heard him sigh and run his hand through his wet dark strands, plastering them backwards.

“And what about our hair?”

God… we'd already dug our graves a long time ago.

He sighed again—much harsher this time.

“I’ll figure something out. Come on.” He walked away, leaving me flabbergasted.

We were dead.

I followed him to the living room and slouched on the couch—in my usual spot—while he lolled on the other one.

Chase grabbed the blanket that was sprawled next to him and rubbed his hair furiously with it. He threw it away. Hair now appeared frizzier than ever, but he slicked it back again with both hands.

“Should I do the same?” I touched my hair and felt the wetness of my short strands.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Was his carefree behavior implying that he had given up?

They still hadn’t made their presence inside the house, so I took the time to rub my hair with my sleeve dry. It didn’t matter. We were caught red-handed, regardless of whether I dried it or not.

“Alyssa…” Chase began, leaning backwards. “Remember when I told you that you’ll never make it out of here?”

I scoffed. That was a few minutes ago.

“Of course, you do,” he replied to himself. “Anyways, I just told you what I know. Because you can’t grow false hope, or else you’ll get badly crushed at the end. Like a mere bug.”

When I heard distant voices, my gaze was drawn to the front door.

“I’m just telling you what’s true…”

“How do you know?” I hissed, not eyeing him. “It’s not like you’ve been here long enough to know such a thing.”

“I’ve seen it.”

I frowned. Saw what?

“Someone I know tried to escape this place. His home. And things didn’t go too well for him.” The louder the voices outside grew, the lower his voice became.

“But this isn’t my home. I have no business in this place. Someone pulled me into this.” My eyes were now pinned on Chase.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is or not. You’re here now. Stuck.”

“Stop saying that!” I shrunk for a second, glimpsing at the unopened door. I then whispered, “Don’t say that. I’ll get out of here as soon as they know that all of this was a misunderstanding.”

Deep inside of me, I knew it wouldn’t be this easy.

They already knew that I was the wrong person, yet they were still keeping me as their prisoner.

I just needed to figure out who this person is—who pulled me into this sh!t—and resolve the misinterpretation between me and their boss. Tell them that it was him all along. Who tricked them into thinking that I did something to them.

Or… I’d choose the easier option. I would escape as soon as Julia was up on her feet again. I couldn’t tell him that though.

He cocked his head in question. “Misunderstanding?”

“Yes, this person tricked you dumb folks into catching me instead!” I fumed, keeping my voice as low as I could. I’d learned from my previous mistakes that I should keep my voice down when I was raging, or else a specific person would come to taunt me. “I don’t know who this person is, but he dragged me into this too.”

“It could always be someone from your family.”

I’m sorry… what?!

I curled my lips at how he casually said this. My family?! Was he insane?!

He continued, anyways, even after seeing my disgusted countenance. “It could always be your own parents. Your mother?”

Something triggered within me, and my arms went stiffer than the trees outside. “How could you even think such a thing! Why the hell would you think that my mother would pull a trick on them to catch me instead. That’s dumb as hell!”

He shrugged before throwing his head backwards and staring at the ceiling. “Family could always betray you, you know?”

“What kind of bullsh!t is that?!” When I caught my voice rising again, I began breathing slowly to calm my agitated heart.

Both organs, my lungs and heart, changed to their normal pacing, but my brain didn't.

How could he say that about my mother or my family?

And no, family would never betray their own family. This was absolute bullsh!t. They wouldn’t ever decide to sell their only daughter off like that! Unless they hate their daughter and want to get rid of her… which didn't apply to me.

These thoughts diminished when the wooden door opened, causing my breath to get stuck in my wind pipe.

I clenched my teeth and didn’t notice the pair of concerned sea-green eyes on me.

“Everything is possible.”

I didn't have time to register what the boy next to me said because I was distracted by the amber eyes that met mine.

+ + +

Why'd you think Chase said that?

And a forewarning! Get ready for the next chapter! It's about to go downhill.