Reckless

Chapter 18 ; Hide Away

Chapter 18 ;

The door shut suddenly behind me, causing me to jump forwards and collide with the wall. “Ow...” I whispered as I regained my balance and moved through the silent house. The house was furnished but looked like no one had been there in a while. I wandered around the house aimlessly, unsure what to do with myself now that I was here. If I had stayed there maybe I could have helped, I could have at least been by Lacy’s side. Alex, poor Alex, I hope he was okay. I took a seat on the couch; my mind was racing, and the room seemed to spin. “All that blood…” my words were quiet, and it didn’t even sound like my voice. The images from the scene began to pop up in my mind like a slide show. The blood, the fear on peoples faces, all the bodies, Lacy, Alex and Trenton; the image of Trenton was frozen. Why would Lacy’s brother do this?

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard beeping from the keypad on the front door. I launched myself off the couch and hid myself behind the chair. My hand clasped over my mouth in an attempt to hush my sporadic breathing. The door creaked open and then slammed shut. I squeezed my eyes closed silently praying it wasn’t someone that would hurt me. “H-h-ello?” Lacy’s familiar voice called out. My hand fell from my mouth and a soft cry seeped from my mouth. “S-Sammy?” Her voice called out again, I pulled myself up from behind the chair and nearly broke down when I saw her. Her face was pale, and she was covered in Alex’s blood. Like it was programed in my brain, I ran to her, my arms instantly wrapping around her. She did the same as she began to sob, her body shaking in my arms.  After a moment she grabbed my face in her hands, her eyes locked on mine, “Sam, you saved my life.” She whispered, her fingers pressing hard against my skin. “If you hadn’t come in there he would have shot me. You distracted him.” The words poured from her mouth like she had zero control over what she said. Carefully I removed her hands from my face, I had distracted him, but I wouldn’t say I saved her. Liam saved us both. “Liam saved you. I was just causing Liam more trouble per usual.” The look on Lacy’s face didn’t change, “Sam if you hadn’t come in…Liam would have been too late. I’d be dead.” I felt guilty for having to have Liam saved me again, I seemed to always cause problems but maybe this time my disobedience wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. My eyes scanned over Lacy and her disheveled appearance. “Come on.” I whispered as I quietly lead her to the bathroom to help her clean up. “You hope in the shower and I’ll find you something to put on.” Lacy nodded and I quickly turned and headed down the hallway in search of a change of clothes. I entered the first room on the left and headed to the dresser on the back wall. After digging through the drawers, I was able to find her a hoodie, some boxers and a pair of sweat pants to put on. Right now, the only thing keeping me from going into a full-blown panic was the fact that Lacy was in need of a friend. Now was the time to take care of her for once.

I headed back to the bathroom and placed the change of clothes on the sink and searched around for a towel. “Sam…Liam said I needed to burn the clothes in the fireplace and to pour bleach down the drain…do you think that means that Alex isn’t going to make it?” Her voice was barely loud enough to hear over the running shower. “Alex will be fine. I am sure Liam has his reasons. I will go start the fire.”

My heart ached for Lacy, I am not sure how she was able to hold herself together as well as she was. She is the strongest woman I know. Carefully I lit the fire and headed back to the bathroom to grab her clothes. I felt so odd as I tossed the clothes into the fire, watching them his and burn from the flames. Liam was having us wipe all traces of Alex’s DNA from the house which had me worried. The sound of the shower being turned off snapped me out of my thoughts and I headed to the kitchen to find the bleach. Under the sink there were six bottles of bleach along with some other chemicals. My stomach turned slightly as I grabbed a bottle and headed to the bathroom. Lacy was dressed and staring at herself in the mirror over the sink. As quickly as I could I poured the bleach down the drain, I wasn’t sure how much was needed so I emptied the entire bottle. At this point I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Why don’t you go lay down… you’re exhausted and even if you just shut your eyes for a bit it will be better than nothing…” Lacy turned and leaned against my body. “Will you sit with me? I don’t want to be alone or sleep yet.” She whispered. I simply nodded, and we slowly made our way to the living room. “How are you holding up?” It was obvious that I had no idea what to do in a situation like this. If I was going to be honest with myself I had never actually been close enough to some to need to offer them a shoulder during hard times. Lacy gave me a half smile, as she curled up onto the couch. “I’d fall apart without you.” She replied softly as I took a seat beside her. I pulled my legs to my chest and rested my chin against my knees. “What do you think is happening? I mean…we don’t have to talk if you don’t want to…” I felt guilty bringing it all back up. Not only was she torn up over Alex but all of this was caused by her brother.

Lacy was pretty close to her brother. They always stayed in contact with each other and hung out like best friends. I cant imagine what Lacy is feeling right now and the last thing I want to do is make her talk about it if she wasn’t ready.

Lacy shook her head, her eyes were glazed over and unfocused like she was trying to recall something. “Sammy, I don’t know what happened. Why would Trenton do this? He was my blood, my best friend. We told each other everything….or…well… so I thought…” She wiped a stray tear away with her sleeve and took a deep breath. “He wasn’t who I thought he was. The Trenton I knew would never hurt me or the guys but why would he do this?” My heart felt crushed, I reached over and gently rubbed over Lacy’s back. She leaned over, resting her body against mine. “And the things he said Sammy…” Her voice trailed off as she shook her head.

The things that he said? She thought as she tried her best to recall the event. Everything seemed to blur together as she tried to piece everything back together. She could remember he had said something but none of it was coming back to her. “What did he say Lace?” I whispered, hugging her tightly. She sniffled softly, her body shaking as she tried to control her breathing. “When he first came in he had the gun at his side. He looked emotionless and like…like…blank. He started rambling about honor and about a king.” She changed the tone of her voice as if she were trying to sound more like him, “The king always gets what he wants. Karma is served.” She paused as her eyes closed tightly. “Then something about Karmas a bitch.” My heart seemed to freeze in my chest as I heard those words. Karma. What kind of karma would get us all killed? Why would Trenton ever want to kill his best friends and his own flesh and blood.

Lacy and I curled up together, tugging a blanket from the back of the couch over our bodies. Even though there was a fire burning in the same room there was still a chill that seemed to seep into my bones. After awhile Lacy finally closed her eyes and welcomed sleep. As tired as my body was I couldn’t get my brain to shut off. I kept checking my phone every few minutes but there were no messages and no calls. By 3:00am I had dozed off with my phone still clutched tightly in my hand.