BAREFACED

Chapter 63

Everyone looks towards the phone ringing in the corner of the room. Eli rushes over towards the phone and answers it, placing the phone down and pressing a button on it.

"Hello?" A voice says from the phone.

"I KNOW WHAT YOU DID! YOU SICK BASTARD!" Eli shouts into the phone.

"What? Eli? What are you talking about?" His father replies.

"YOU KIDNAPPED MY MOTHER!" Eli screams, tears streaming down his cheeks. There's nothing but silence on the other end of the phone.

"Who told you this?" His father whispers into the phone.

"Why does it matter who told me... All I know is that you're a sick fuck- who likes to prey on children!" Eli huffs into the phone. 

"Yuki told you this... didn't she? Heheh- I told that little bitch to not stick her nose in places that she doesn't need to be sticking it. But she doesn't listen does she-"

"Right... that's why you tried to kill her." Eli scoffs. The phone goes silent again.

"I didn't want to do this- but your mother gave me no choice..."

"Gave you no choice? You took her against her will!" Eli huffs. 

"See- I wanted to do this the easy way- A way where all my children get to live- But you won't keep your mouth shut." He grumbles into the phone. Your eyes widen after he says that.

"The hell are you talking about?" Eli seethes.

"... I will see you in a bit-" The phone hangs up. 

"WHY WOULD YOU TELL HIM YOU KNOW!" Emi shouts at Eli. Eli glares at Emi.

"I was going to say the same thing... You shouldn't have told him anything. Obviously he knows what he's doing is illegal. If you know- then what makes you believe he will let you get away alive?" Chifuyu huffs.

"I see-" You say.

"You see what?" Eli questions.

"Why your mother must of ran away..." You answer.

"What? What do you mean?" Eli asks, turning towards you and glaring at you.

"I'm pretty sure your mother knew your father was going to- kill the baby... That's why she ran away with her." Emi's eyes widen you say that.

"That's probably why mom left-" Emi softly says. "She knew- She must of known that... father wouldn't hurt the baby if we had her... cause we didn't know what he did..." She looks down with a defeated look in her face.

"Shit man... what did we get ourselves into..." Chifuyu sighs and sits down on a couch in the corner of the room. "It's just one problem after another..."

"We can't just wait here for your father to come..." You state. Chifuyu slowly nods and rubs his eyes. 

"I agree... Who knows what your father meant exactly... but it wasn't anything good- Staying here isn't a good idea-" Chifuyu adds. Eli walks towards the door, grabbing hold of the doorknob and sighing. 

"The door is locked." He says, letting go of the door. You look around the room trying to find another possible exit. 

"What about there?" You say pointing towards a vent in the wall above the couch Chifuyu is sitting on. Chifuyu furrows his eyebrows and looks above him.

"Good idea Yuki." Eli says walking over towards the couch. He stands on the arm on the couch and tries to pull on the vent. He huffs and looks down at Chifuyu. "Look around the room- see if you can find anything I can use to pull this open." He motions Chifuyu to look around. Chifuyu stands up and shoves his hand into his pocket, pulling out a blade. Emi squints her eyes as she stares at Chifuyu's hand.

"What happened to your hand?" She says pointing towards it. You look at Chifuyu's hand thats covered in dried up blood. Chifuyu looks at Emi and then at you. He looks away and pulls his sleeve down, handing the blade to Eli. You quickly walk up to Chifuyu and grab his hand, pulling the sleeve up. He has a deep cut on the back of his hand. 

"This can get infected..." You say as you examine his hand.

"It probably already is." Eli says, looking down at the two of you.

"It's not- don't worry about it..." Chifuyu sighs. Eli furrows his eyebrows and then turns towards the vent, unscrewing the nails off the vent. Chifuyu gently pulls his hand away from your grasp and pulls his sleeve back down.

After unscrewing the vent, Eli pulls it off completely and looks into it. 

"Okay... Let's go." Eli says pulling himself up.

"I can't go with you three..." Emi says in a sad tone. You look at Emi confused.

"Why not?" Chifuyu asks.

"The baby- I can't leave the baby behind... and I won't be able to bring her with... I don't want to risk hurting her..." She softly replies. Eli looks at Emi and then furrows his eyebrows. 

"Okay- Then I'm staying. I will stay here with the baby and you, Chifuyu and Yuki can escape..." Eli says motioning for Emi to give him the baby.

"No- I won't let you do that either..." Emi huffs moving away from Eli.

"What? Why not? You're the injured one- and my sister... I would prefer you to go." Eli replies.

"And I'm your big sister... I can't leave you behind." She sighs. You stare at the two of them and then at the vent. Chifuyu furrows his eyebrows.

"Fine... but I'm staying here with you." Eli implies.

"But- If you both stay... wouldn't that mean you both-" You start.

"It's okay Yuki." Eli interrupts. "You shouldn't have to be involved in any of this... You don't deserve to be here... You both should leave."

"But I'm already involved." You imply.

"Come on Yuki." Chifuyu says grabbing your hand.

"But-"

"We can get help if we leave..." Chifuyu whispers into your ear. You furrow your eyebrows and then nod, sighing a bit.

"Fine." You sadly say. You turn your head towards Emi and Eli. "You two stay safe, okay?" Eli and Emi slowly nod. You take a deep breath and climb the couch. Chifuyu helps you up into the vent and then climbs in, following behind.

Climbing through the vent is making you hyperventilate. The thought of getting stuck in it and not being able to get out terrifies you. You stop crawling through the vent. There was a left and a right. You can't figure out which way to go.

"Why did you stop?" Chifuyu asks.

"There's two ways..." You answer.

"What does each way look like?"

"On the left it looks like it goes down and on the right it looks like it goes up."

"Then go left..." He says. You turn left and continue down the left. You both continue through the vent, stopping again. "Why did you stop?" He asks.

"The vent ends here..." You answer. Chifuyu peeks his head from beside you. You can't see clearly through the vent grill. There's a light coming from it though.

"Here... move over a bit." Chifuyu says pushing you to the side. He squeezes past you. You back away, giving him room. He lays down on his back and holds onto the sides of the vent. He smashes his foot into the vent grill, breaking it open. He slides himself out the vent and onto the ground. You follow behind him. You both are in another room. You dust yourself off and so does Chifuyu.

"Do you think this room is locked too?" You softly ask. Chifuyu looks at you and then at the door, slowly approaching it. He grabs the doorknob, preparing to open it.

"Who are you?" A soft child's voice says from behind you. Both you and Chifuyu turn towards the voice to see a small little boy staring at the two of you.

"Uh-"