VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 96

This street happened to be lit, which made her a bit uneasy considering her theory. Sadie clung along the rows of houses, avoiding being directly under any light source she could, nearly having a heart attack when one house had a pair of motion sensor lights cast down upon her, prompting the girl to take off faster than she'd ever run before, or at least in recent memory.

Eventually she could finally see Rian's house. His dad's house, really, but who the hell referred to their friend's house by that friend's parent's name?

Slinking her way along the shadows, Sadie finally came to a stop at the house adjacent from her destination. Being this close now, she could see a light on inside. No warm orange glows from ceiling lights or lamps, but the electric blue of a television. Hoping beyond hope that it was Rian's dad watching football or something, Sadie quickly sprinted her way across the street, doing what she could to remain as invisible as before, and finally arrived at the front door.

Glancing behind her, she saw that nothing was following her or chasing her down. Yet. Quickly, her knuckles rapped against the door. After five knocks, she paused, listening. Not a sound. Biting her lower lip in anticipation, she rapped her knuckles against the door again, longer this time.

Again, she paused. Maybe he was asleep. Yeah, that was probably it. Yet as she reached for the door handle, it turned before she could touch it, and the door swung open. The first thing she saw was the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun pointed directly at her nose. Sadie's eyes widened as she raised her arms, trying to find words such as 'wait' and 'don't shoot' but all she could do was stammer stupidly at the barrel, before it pulled back. The wielder of the weapon was Jerry, Rian's dad. She felt relief wash over her as he beckoned her in, a cigarette in his mouth.

Jerry was looking worse for wear, though she shouldn't be all that surprised. Everyone probably was. He usually wore a letterman jacket over his white t-shirts, his beer belly popping out somewhat, a toupee wig to cover his growing bald spot, and was often clean-shaven, wearing cargo jeans. Right now, however, his letterman was draped over a nearby armchair in the kitchen which doubled as a dining room and connected with the living room, the stairs between the two of them leading up to the second floor.

His toupee was missing, his white shirt was stained with beer and what she could only deem as blood, and he had a massive bandage covering one side of his face, which was also stained with blood.

"I was worried about you," Jerry breathed, setting the shotgun aside and embracing her in a tight hug. Normally, she would have been happy to hug him back, but he was looking as though he might fall apart at any moment. His grip proved otherwise. He also reeked.

Jerry was like a father to her, and one she'd always needed, as she'd never known her own. She went so far as to call him dad sometimes, though usually when she was asking nicely for something. Jerry had no qualms with it.

"Yeah, me too. About you," Sadie grunted out through his tight squeeze of a hug, before he let her go and she recaptured her breath. "What happened to you? Looks like you fought a lion or something."

Jerry chuckled lightly at this, wiping away a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Some idjits attacked me, one of 'em was a kid. Barely got away with Ri."

"He's here??" Sadie asked, her pitch raising slightly at the question. She'd been hoping beyond hope . . . Jerry's nod confirmed it.

"Yep. He texted me about what happened, and I went to the school to get him. That's when I got attacked, but we made it out."

Sadie let out a sigh of relief she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Rian was alive. She looked into the living room to find the television was playing Obaseki's message still, the screen appearing to have been assaulted with bits of food and drink, also sporting a few new cracks, likely Jerry's way of "sticking it to the man". "Where is he?" Sadie asked.