Obsessive ~ Noah Foster [1]

Chapter Twenty-Eight// "They always come back."

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''And then I showed up, with a gun.''

--Audrey Jensen

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I rushed through the woods, pushing the tree branches out of my way, following after Emma. She still hadn't noticed me. She held her knife high as she ran. I cut through the branches and the leaves that were in my face, when my knife dropped. "Shit!" I hissed, dropping to the ground to find it. I felt around, but it felt like I was blind. It was so dark. "Fuck it." I huffed, standing back up, and rushing after Emma. It felt like the woods went on forever, until finally we reached the dock. So... that's where she was headed. I gasped as I saw Ms. Duval. She was tied to a chair in the middle of the dock. Duct tape over her mouth. I rushed towards them. "Oh, my God! Mom! Are you okay?!" Emma rushed towards her mother. It felt wrong. This was too easy. "Emma!" I called to her. She whipped around quick. "Arielle, did you follow me? You--"

"I had too! I couldn't just let you come out to die!" I pulled the duct tape off of Maggie's mouth. "You two shouldn't have come!" Maggie screamed. "No, we shouldn't have left you! I am so sorry!"

Suddenly, Maggie stopped. Like her movements stopped, as she stared behind me. "He's here." Emma looked up at me and nodded. I felt the tears prick at my eyes as I looked over to see the killer. He held the knife. His signature knife as he neared us. "No, Emma, don't!" Maggie called to her daughter. I went behind Maggie, and began to try to understand the knots. Now would've been a good time to have a knife... "I'm here. Just like you asked. No more games. No more masks." Emma said sternly. I finally un-knotted one of the knots, and Maggie shuffled in her seat, trying to get up. I began to pull on the thick rope when Maggie whispered to me. "I got this." I looked up over Maggie's shoulder to see the killer pulling their hood off. This was happening...

Dark hair, that's the first thing I saw. I stood up and walked in front of Maggie, but behind Emma. "Who--"

They finally pulled off their mask, tantalizingly slow. I gasped once I saw who it was. "Hey, sis. Surprise." Piper said with a teasing voice. "Piper?" Emma breathed. Piper pulled the cape off of her head and smiled. "I seriously wish that you could see your face right now. Hashtag, mind blown!" Piper laughed, nearing us with her knife pointing at us now. "You can't--you can't be." Emma breathed deeply. "I can." Piper told her. "So when we were bonding about your dad being murdered, you were talking about Brandon James." Emma scoffed. "Yes. And you were so easily convinced that it had to be his son that was swinging the knife. But it's 2015, Emma. Sexist much?" I was officially scared. And I vowed to myself that if we got out of this alive I was gonna gloat about this to everybody. I could see myself now. "TOLD YOU IT WAS A GIRL!" God... I was not good in these kind of situations. I tried to think of us getting out... Piper was only one person. We... we could take her. Maybe. Emma had a knife, I... used to have a knife. "You pretended to help me, you pretended to be my friend!" Emma cried. "And it stings when somebody breaks your trust. Right, Mom?!" Piper looked past Emma at Maggie, who just watched her. "My dad trusted you and look how that turned out. Dad got shot, I got tossed, and Emma got the perfect life." Piper chuckled. "Piper, I swear to you, I never meant for Brandon to get hurt. I was trying to protect him--"

"You were trying to protect yourself!" Piper shouted. "For twenty years, you have let everyone think that my dad was a monster, but you were the monster!" I gulped as her she got a little closer. "You're right. But they were my mistakes, not Emma's. If you wanna hurt someone, hurt me!" Maggie pleaded. "I plan on it. But I've put a lot of thought and time into this, so I'd like to savor the moment before I slice you open, okay?" Piper said in a loud voice. "Okay! I get it, I get it! You hate us, but why did you kill my friends? Why did you stalk Arielle? They had nothing to do with this." Emma shouted. "The friends... I wanted to watch you suffer, Emma. And Arielle..." Piper chuckled lowly, looking at me. I made eye-contact with her and instantly regretted it. She was insane. "You were just a little fun." I blanched. "Fun? Fun is going to a damn waterpark, not trying to kill me every chance you get!" I screamed, pushing past Emma. Piper glared at me. "The fun part was watching you struggle with that fact that your whole life is a lie. That your mother is a liar. Or... should I say... your aunt?" I frowned at her words. "M--my aunt?" I stuttered. "That's right, wittle Arielle. Didn't you see my gift in the mail?"

"I don't understand." I whispered, as Emma slightly pushed me behind her. "What don't you understand?" Piper rolled her eyes. "You dumb little girl! Here, let me lay it out for you. You know your mommy? Not really your mommy." Piper revealed. I felt my heart beat speed up. "Wha--what are you talking about? You're insane."

"Am I? Because I believe that there were two babies in that sonogram. Little Nina.... and little Arielle." Piper hummed. Tears fell down my cheeks. "You're lying to her." Emma said. "I'm really not." Piper sighed. "You're trying to say that Nina is my sister?" I scoffed. "Guess there wasn't only one stone-cold bitch." Piper chuckled. I shook my head at her and wiped my tears. "See? Fun." Piper said. "They're gonna find out you did this." Emma told her. "No, they won't. Because the bad guy did it. And I have him back there, tied up in my trunk." Piper used her knife to point behind her. "You framed Mr. Branson." I whispered. "Do you know one benefit of stripping off masks is finding the perfect fall guy. Do you want to know how his story ends? Branson slits Emma's throat in front of Mom, then he does the same to innocent, little Arielle, who was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and then he spills Mom's guts." Piper made a soup lip at me, before continuing. "But not before Emma gets a good stab in with the knife that she has hidden behind her back." I looked down at the butcher knife behind Emma's back. She pulled it out, because now she had nothing to hide. "Yeah. Fingerprints, sis. Rookie move. So then, I'm gonna stumble out of the bloodbath, and I'm gonna broadcast to the world that the Lakewood Slasher is dead." Piper laughed slightly. "You're right." Emma whispered, before raising her knife. "She will be!" She brought the knife down, but not fast enough, as Piper slashed her across the stomach. Emma flew backwards, gripping her stomach. "Ugh, you're so predictable!" Piper groaned. "So, now, Mommy dearest, you're gonna get to watch her die, along with her friend." She pointed her knife at me. I gulped, and moved against the rails of the dock. "But I just want to let you know, sis, that I'm gonna let Mommy bleed out all alone the way that she left me..." Piper raised her knife, nearing me. "AH!" A rush of adrenaline coursed through me as I jumped at Piper, throwing her to the ground. I felt a stinging pain in my abdomen immediately. I felt like my blood was draining from my face. I was thrown off of Piper, beside her. I looked down at the knife in my stomach. "Arielle!" Emma cried. Piper stood up and grabbed the knife from my stomach, making me wince, and then before I could do anything, Piper kicked my side and pushed me into the lake. It was freezing, and I could barely keep myself up. My air supply was running low as I kicked, trying to reach the surface. My stomach wound throbbed as I held it with one arm and used my other to try to lift myself up. Swim, Arielle, swim. Oh, this was ironic. I thought to myself. I felt myself getting woozy and I thought about it. Yeah, if this was the last thing I saw before I died... I'd be okay with that. It's dark water. Not the best sight. I tried hard to get up, but it was like my body was forbidding me. I needed to get up to help Emma. But Emma wasn't on my mind. Noah was. I was gonna die, and I was thinking of Noah. Maybe I was the insane person. I was thinking about Noah when I should've been thinking about the fact that Nina might've been my sister and my aunt Tracy might be my mom. I had to know. I used all my energy to kick and use my one arm to swim to the surface. Once I did, I took a deep breath, and grabbed on to the dock. I saw Piper on top of Emma, holding the knife to her throat. "So, I have one more surprise for you before I open you up. And you'll never see it coming--" BOOM! Piper's voice was cut off when she was shot in the stomach. I screamed slightly, as Piper fell over, right next to me. "Audrey!" Emma breathed, sitting up to look. I looked up to see Audrey holding the gun tightly. "Oh, my God! Audrey, thank you!" Emma cried, as Audrey rushed to her aid. "Bitch talks too much."

"Mom!" Emma shouted. "Mom, are you okay?!" I watched as Maggie nodded slightly. "Can someone please get me out of this water!" I cried, gripping my stomach. "Oh, yeah!" Audrey reached for me, grabbing my wrists, and pulling me up. I felt something touch me, but I ignored it as Audrey pulled me up. I cried as Audrey wrapped her arms around me, hugging me. "Are you okay?" She asked. "I--" A hand grabbed the wood on the dock, and up came Piper from the water. I screamed loudly, but it was short-lived as Emma grabbed the gun and shot Piper right in the forehead. Piper fell back down into the water, and we all sighed in relief. "Nice shot." Audrey told her, rubbing my shoulder. "They always come back." Emma said. "Mom!" Emma cried, remembering that her mother was injured. She crawled towards her mom, and lifted her up to hug her. "You're okay." Audrey whispered to me. "Audrey, I don't feel well." I whispered back. "You're gonna be okay, I promise." Audrey told me. "Is Noah still back at the house...?"

"Yeah, he's fine."

"That's good." I murmured, feeling my start begin to close. "I'm tired."

"No, no, no. You're gonna be fine. Okay, we're gonna get help." Audrey assured me. I nodded slightly, but my eyes closed. "Arielle, Arielle, stay with me--"

Audrey's voice was cut off when I slowly drifted to sleep.