Emerald Summer

Chapter 37

The next morning I wake up in bed. He must've put me up here. Todd's not in bed, but Jade's beside me. I stand up and start looking for him. The whole house is decorated and smells of food. I go downstairs and find him sitting in the kitchen, he's got three or four beer bottles around him on the table. What the fuck? "Morning," I say sleepily.  He doesn't turn around or say anything. "Um," I say walking toward him.

"What?" He snaps turning around. 

"Never mind, I'm sorry," I whimper. He groans and turns back around. 

"Well look, you two get to stay in the basement tonight while I have this stupid party. Get Jade and bring her down here right now," he growls. I turn around and storm up the stairs. I go into the bedroom.

"You'd better fucking stop that, wait until you get back down here," he yells at me.

"Jade wake up," I say. We hurry downstairs. 

"Get over here now," Todd hisses at me. I walk over to him. He smashes his beer bottle over my head. I cry out fall to the ground. My head hits the floor and I groan. I cradle my head,  unfortunately I'm bleeding. "I'm not going to deal with any bull from either one of you today," he stands over me, "now get up." I stand up slowly. My head spins.

"I'm sorry," I say, he's drunk try to make it better, he doesn't need to get mad at you even more, "I should really watch my temper. You've been good to me, I don't need to be so disrespectful. Please forgive me." I quickly smash my lips against his in apology, I can taste the alcohol on his lips.

"That's better," he smiles and pulls me close. His hand trails down my back as I kiss his neck. He lifts my chin and kisses me violently. Suddenly, he stops dead. A harsh breath escapes his lips. His eyes narrow in anger, they seem paler. His hands grip my throat, but not very tightly, "you..fucking..bitches-"

"Jade stab him again," I yell. Todd falls to the ground with a thud. That can't be it, I think looking at his limp body bleeding on the floor. It's way too simple. I look up at Jade, my mouth hanging open. It's not Jade, it's Mikael holding a bloody kitchen knife. Jade's crumpled over in the floor. "Oh my God," I whisper, " no, no, no, no, no." I repeat over and over. 

"Shut up," he barks at me. He walks over to Jade and looms over her. This can't be happening, not Jade. "Poor doll," he says to her, "too bad you were too stupid to listen to me or my brothers. You have to die too, you're too uncontrollable." I glance at the broken bottle in front of my feet. Mikael's back is turned to me. I slowly crouch down and quietly pick up the broken bottle. I run up behind him and stab him in the back of his neck. He yells in pain. I stab him over and over. I can't stop. He falls to the ground as well, he's still alive, but he's barely moving or breathing. 

"Jade," I drop to my knees beside her. She turns her head to look at me, her eyes are barely open, she's bleeding from her stomach. A closer look reveals it's gashed open and there are stab wounds. "Jade, come on, stay with me. We're free now. We're okay," I say, tears fill my eyes. A whine escapes her lips. "Man, I don't know what to do. Just hold it shut as best you can, I'm calling the cops, we'll be fine," I whisper. She nods and smiles weakly. Wait, where the fuck is a phone? There isn't a phone here. What the hell am I gonna do?  One of them has to have a cell phone on them. I crawl over to Mikael and search his pockets. Oh my God, come on. I can't lose Jade, I can't. I crawl over to Todd. Luckily, he has one. I dial 911. 

"911 what's your emergency," the operator asks. I almost cry from hearing another person's voice who's not Todd.

"It's a long story, but long story short I was kidnapped and so was my best friend. We've been here for eight months and I don't know the address but it's somewhere outside of Cedar Rapids, we need an ambulance right now. My friend has been stabbed by one of the kidnappers. She's dying, please hurry, I can't lose her too," I choke out in between tears.

"Okay don't hang up we're tracking your location, where's your kidnappers?" She asks.

"Two of them are lying dead in the kitchen floor. One killed the other then stabbed my friend and then I killed the one that was still alive when he had his back turned. I don't know where the third one is so please hurry. He's the worst one too. I really don't know how long my friend has, please, her stomach's been cut wide open she's really losing blood and she's not very responsive. I'm trying to keep her awake but it's not really working...please," I beg. I crawl over to Jade. I shake her. "Talk to me Jade, do something, keep yourself awake, please, don't leave me," I plead, "here squeeze my hand, hit me, something." She weakly takes me by the wrist.

"I..promise," she chokes out, "I'm not..gon-na die on you." She lays her head back and squeezes my wrist ever so often.

"Are you still there?" the lady asks.

"Yes," I say.

"Okay good. Stay with me, we have ambulances and cops on their way. What's your name?" she asks.

"Sheri," I reply.

"What's your friend's name?" she asks.

"Jade," I say. 

"How were you kidnapped?" she asks. I hesitate before answering.

"Well it started with my aunt getting a new boyfriend. I lived with her, but she was on drugs and drank and ignored me. She brought him over. My aunt and I got into a fight, she stormed out and left me alone with this guy named Todd. Not wanting to get in a fight with my aunt when she got back, I let him stay. He raped me and my aunt refused to take me to the hospital because she was drunk and she took him instead because Jade happened to come over and smashed his head with a lamp. Well the next morning, we were supposed to leave on a trip to see my other friend in Minnesota. Some stuff happened and Jade ended up having to drive us. After a series of unfortunate events, Jade ended up in jail because my aunt slashed our car tires and stole the only money we had for beer and drugs and Jade beat her up. Well somehow Todd ended up in our hotel room while Jade was in jail, which my aunt had a seperate room. Jade had always been there for me and always got me out of trouble all the time. Todd was going to rape me again so he offered me a deal. If I came to his house and let him have me whenever he wanted me for a week,  he'd get Jade out of jail and get us to my friends house in Minnesota. Stupid me agreed. Then he took Jade and kept both of us, he's done unspeakable things. Somehow he even got ahold of my friend in Minnsota, brought her here, and killed her in front of us. Are they close? She's getting very weak," I explain.

"They're five minutes away," she says. Jade's grip keeps getting more and more weak. 

"Okay, thank you so much," I say, "I just..I was just trying to help, to repay her, and I ended up putting her through even worse things. She's like my sister. She's always been there for me and I dragged her into this mess."

"It's okay, I'm sure she understands. You were just trying to help," she says.

"I was," I whisper. Sirens approach, I can see the lights through the kitchen window. Jade's grip disappears and her hand falls to the kitchen floor. "Jade," I scream, "Jade no! You said you weren't going to die on me! Don't die on me! They're here Jade, They're here. We're safe."

The front door busts open. "Police! Anyone in here?" The cops yell.

"In here." I scream, "please help us. Please. My friend isn't responsive anymore. Please help her."