Between Love And Hate

Chapter Seventeen

Ravens

I rushed off to my hiding spot, the moment I heard the rusty old door move. If this man, whoever he was, didn't know I was here, it would be safer for Janelle.

The thought of Janelle being tied up made me cringe inside. I was scared. My fear was much more than it had been when grandma was fighting cancer, much more than when dad had been in that terrible accident.

I squeezed my eyes shut every second he took to slowly walk towards Janelle.

"-I remember the first day I saw you. You were what? Say twelve or so?" I could hear his evil grin without even seeing his face.

"I loved you the minute I saw you. You were young and beautiful and I had to wait this long to finally have you. Don't you think it was bad of you to do that?"
His fist collided with the wall, "don't you think it was rude of you to keep me waiting this long?"

I could hear the silent sniffs and I could tell it came from Janelle. He must have removed the gag he forced into her mouth.
"Please, let me go home. I don't know who you are or why you've brought me here, just let me go."

Her pleas fell on deaf ears. When I peeped through the small opening the cartoons had, he was straddling Janelle in the wrong way. Unbuckling his belt.
"You'll remember, soon. I saw you at a garage with your father, like I said, you were just twelve. Your father noticed my attempts to get with you and had me fired from my job. I was just nineteen. I was fucking nineteen, I had no one!"

This guy must be dumb- I thought. Who tries to get with a girl who's just twelve? Except he's pedophile-
The thought of it being possible danced around my head.
He planned on taking revenge too. He'd already taken off his black sweat shirt. I couldn't, wouldn't let him take advantage of Janelle.

"when you love someone, what do you do?" I shoved my hands inside my jean jacket, shrugging out of habit.
"I don't know, Mum. I really don't." Mum face palmed for the fifth time.
Katie was at the hospital, she was sick and I never grew the courage to go see her. I was scared I would lose her.
"You should go see Katie just once. She needs you. You're not just cousins or sisters, you're bestfriends. Like handcuffs, you're never apart." I stared at mum.

"She needs you, honey. When you love someone, you keep them happy, keep them safe. You go through whatever you have to, just to make sure they stay with you. Someday you'll understand. Cause someday, you'll have someone you really don't want to lose."

The next morning, I was at the hospital, cuddling with my bestfriend. And even though I never understood what mum said, I knew I didn't want to lose Katie anytime soon.

I realized now that I didn't want to lose Janelle. My phone was almost dead and it was already quite late.
I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds again, making a mental plan on how to get me and Janelle out of the warehouse and all this mess we were in.

"I'm gonna get what I want today, I waited so long for this." I watched as he pulled Janelle roughly into a sitting position and hit her across the face.
I jumped up quickly, if I was a time bomb, I would have exploded at this point.

"How Dare You?" I roared. He quickly jumped off her and turned to face me. "What the actual fuck do you think you're doing? You don't go kidnapping someone's child and attempting to get your way with her!"
I was angry now, fuming, blood boiling with anger, my face would definitely look red if I could get a mirror to see my face. But before I could say another word, I was slammed into the cartons standing behind me.
I got up as fast as I could. Running towards him and ramming my head into his ribs, he jerked back in pain. I threw a punch at his face, getting him at a good spot, he moved back again, missing a step. I threw so many punches at his face.

He wasn't out yet, and I was raging, mad with anger. This man, whoever he was had no right to hurt Janelle. If anything, I was the one who had that right.
I found a metal bar after I'd gotten off him, I was going to hit him with it when I heard Janelle's croaky voice. She'd been crying the whole time.

"Please don't. Don't. You've done enough. Just get me out of here. I want to go home."

"Yeah, sure thing." I replied. I got calmed down the moment I heard her voice. It was soothing. I pulled at the ends of the rope he'd used so it would get loose and I could pull it off.

Only if I'd known. Something hit me hard on my back, it hurt like hell. I dodged a second blow, and kicking him in the shin as hard as I could. He fell over, hitting the floor just as hard as he'd hit me with the metal bar.

I pulled off the remaining rope from Janelle's hands.
"Go! I don't want you to look back or come back until you're at a safe spot... "

"No, I can't let you stay here!!" She yelled. "He'll kill you! He's got a gun. Please!"

This could possibly be the last time I'd see her, so, might as well let her know.
"No, I'll be fine. I just need you to be safe." I said, a genuine smile plastered on my face.

"I'm just buying you enough time so you can leave. And in case I don't make it, I want you to know... I want you to know that I love you. Now go." She wasted half a minute kissing me. I shoved my phone into her hands and watched as she left.

I was crying now, my back was sore. I watched as Janelle's obsessed pedophile stalker got up. I got a few punches to my ribs and my face. And he got an equal amount of punches too, his own far worse than mine.

I shoved him off me and he found the metal bar where it was lying. He hit me with it twice, and when he knew I was weak enough, he squeezed my throat. I was fast to react, kicking him between his legs.

"You had no right to touch her. I swear, I'll kill you!"
But, maybe I was the one getting killed today, I thought of Janelle's smile as I watched him pull out a gun. He'd collapse anytime soon and so would I.

He pointed it at me. Aimed straight for me, might have been my head or my heart. He corked it, slowly pulled the trigger and fell down. I stared at my gunshot wound.

Before blacking out, I watched my whole life replay itself like a movie, ending with Janelle.