To Kill The Messenger

Chapter 4 (The Parents)

"How scared is she?"

The phone rings. Josette sighs when she hears the phone. She looks at it's screen to see an unsaved number on it. "Who's that?" she asked, giving her husband a suspicious look. "And I thought you were going to turn that thing off, just for tonight."

"I don't know who this is..." Dwight said, staring at the number, trying to make out who that phone number belonged to. He stared at it as if the numbers would eventually turn into a name.

"Well, are you just going to stare, or are you going to answer it?" Josette asked, jokingly. "And I want that phone off when you're done. This is our night."

Dwight nodded, and answered the phone. "Hello?" The confused look stayed on his face until he heard the worried voice on the other end of the phone.

"I bet you it's nothing important." Josette said, rolling her eyes with a playful smile on her face. Her demeanor changed when her husband's face scrunched up.

"What?" Dwight said in a slight panic. "Whitney, what-?"

"What did she do now?" Josette asked. "Did those girls break something-?"

"Hello? Whitney?" Dwight almost yelled his daughter's name in the restaurant, but the call ended. Dwight jumped out of his chair. "We have to go now, Josie. Whitney's in trouble." He used his phone to dial another number as he rushed out, his wife confused behind him. "Hello, I just got a call that my daughter's in trouble. Can you please send the police to 1031 Orchard Lane Road? Quickly!" without waiting for a response, Dwight ended the call.

"What happened?" Josette said.

"Whitney said there's some guy outside the house. He could be trying to break in." Dwight said, rounding his car and hopping in the driver's seat. Josette sat in the passenger's seat and buckled her seatbelt. "I just called the police. They should be on their way. I'll tell you one thing though..." Dwight revved the engine while buckling his seatbelt as fast as he could. "The police better get there before I do, or whoever that bastard is will be dead."

The car sped down the street. Usually Dwight was a very careful driver, but today was the exception. He even tried to run a red light, but his car detected the red light and stopped automatically. His breathing was uncontrollable, and he kept readjusting his grip on the steering wheel. His heart pounded through his button up T-shirt. "Keep calling her phone, Make sure she's okay."

"The police should be there by now." Josette said while scrolling her phone for her stepdaughter's contact. She found it and called Whitney.

"Will this fucking light ever change?" Dwight said, gripping the steering wheel tighter with his sweaty palms. The light finally changed, and the car sped again.

"Hello, Whit-?"

Josette couldn't hear Whitney's voice, all she heard was the sound of breathing... heavy breathing. "Whitney, are you alright?"

"Who's this?" a man's voice answered the phone.

"Who is this?" Josette's heart dropped after hearing the stranger's voice. "Look, Mister. I'm not sure what you want, but please don't hurt her. Please don't hurt anyone. I'll give you whatever you want, just please leave my baby and her friends alone."

"No! They should've left me alone!" The man screamed into the phone so loud that Dwight heard him loud and clear. The phone hung up shortly after the man got his sentence out. Josette erupted into tears. Tears started swelling up in Dwight's eyes too. At this moment, he felt powerless. When his first and only daughter was born, Dwight was handed one very important job. That job was to make sure his daughter was safe always. She was in danger right now, and he couldn't do anything about it. Questions surfaced in his mind from a very dark place. What if Whitney is killed? What's happening to her right now? How scared is she? It would break Dwight's heart to even imagine how scared his daughter was at that moment.

When they finally arrived at Orchard Lane Road, the place was flooded with police cars, and the police men that came with them. Someone was being stretchered out as grouchy, tired, worried, and nosy neighbors all looked either out their windows, or they came outside to watch the fiasco. Dwight jumped out of the car when it came to a complete stop. He couldn't park in the driveway because a couple of police cars occupied it at the moment. "Whitney!" he called out over the commotion.

"Whit!" Josette screeched, tears flying down her face even more. The front window was shattered, and someone was being stretchered out of the house.

"Back away, Sir and Ma'am." A police woman showed them her palm, signaling them to stop.

"I live here. This is my house!"

"Sir, we're still going to need you to stay-"

"My fucking daughter and her friends are in there!" Dwight bellowed, tears flying from his eyes. "Who is that?" he was more so asking himself when he saw the person being stretchered into the ambulance.

"I don't think that was her." Josette said, wiping her eyes. She grabbed Dwight's hand.

"Is my daughter safe?"

A couple of policemen were soon escorting the girls out of the house. These girls looked like they've all went through a great deal of pain. Taylor was limping, Whitney was covering her left cheek, and Naomi had this thunderstruck look on her face. Lunette... Lunette wasn't with them.

Dwight and Josette rushed towards the three girls when the police allowed them to pass through the yellow tape. The second ambulance was where the three girls were getting treatment. Whitney had a giant red bruise on her left cheek, and several scratches along her arm. Her satiny brown skin was close to burgundy when they tried to wipe the blood away. Taylor had to get her leg wrapped in order to stop the bleeding. From what Dwight and Josette could see, that was the only physical injury she had. Naomi didn't speak. She simply cried when she saw Dwight and Josette.

"I'm here, baby girl." Dwight grabbed Whitney into his arms and held her tight. "I'm sorry I let this happen."

"You didn't- Ow." Whitney mumbled. It hurt her to speak. Her cheek was swollen, and the bruise had started changing to a darker tone. Josette hugged and kiss Taylor on the forehead, and then did the same to Naomi, she looked around for Lunette and then remembered the person being stretchered into the ambulance that drove away...