Fear Games

11. And the Whole World Stops

EDEN

The ride in the ambulance was absolute hell. As the EMTs tried to keep Rachel alive, I was sitting in there sobbing my eyes out, yelling at them, begging them to save her.

"Ma'am," the young black EMT said, "please try to relax. We're doing everything we can to save your friend."

"Well, try harder!" I sobbed.

The rest of the ride, I cried to remain calm, but it was too difficult. It was as if the entire world around me stopped, like the Earth stopped spinning. Everything was moving in slow-motion and all I could hear anymore were my own cries. All I wanted was for Rachel to be okay. I needed her to survive. I couldn't deal with this alone.

It was at that moment that I realized someone needed to tell Calix what was going on. I pulled out my cellphone, trying to see through my tears if I even had Calix's phone number. Sure enough, I did. I quickly pressed call and held the phone up to my ear.

"Ma'am," the EMT said, "we don't allow phone calls in the ambulance."

"I'm calling her son!" I yelled at him. I knew I could have just as easily texted him, but I figured this was phone-worthy. He answered on the first ring. "Calix, it's Eden."

"Eden?" Calix said. "Why are you calling me? Is that an ambulance I hear in the background? What happened?"

"It's your mother," I said, trying to be as composed as possible. If he heard me crying, he'd assume it was bad—which it was, but he didn't need to know that. "She's been shot."

"Oh my God," Calix said. "Are you going to the hospital in town?"

"Yes," I said. "We're going to be there in a few minutes. You might want to come to the hospital if you can. I think she's going into surgery."

"I'll be there in just a few minutes," Calix said as I heard him turn on his car. "Please keep her safe for me."

"I'll do what I can," I said. When we hung up, I sighed and found that there were no more tears. I couldn't cry any longer. It was time for me to be strong. I had to be for Calix.

When we pulled up to the hospital, they immediately wheeled Rachel inside on the stretcher and I followed closely behind. Calix texted me to say he was there, which was perfect timing. When they tried to wheel Rachel through a set of double doors, I was stopped by the lady at the desk.

"You can't go back there with them," the lady said. She was a heavyset white woman with curly dark blond hair. "They're taking her right into surgery."

"So where should I go?" I asked, feeling slightly annoyed.

"You can wait here in the waiting room," the lady said. "Or you can go outside. You can be anywhere outside those double doors."

Of course. I sighed, then made my way over to an empty chair in the waiting room. I texted Calix telling him to meet me there. While I waited, I thought about everything that happened tonight—our kids going missing, thinking Josh was helping us, getting tricked, and Rachel getting shot. I couldn't be here right now. My kids' lives were on the line. Rachel getting shot was literally the worst possible thing to have happened tonight.

That woman—that killer—said that she was out for revenge. Revenge for what? I tried to go through a list of people in my head that I'd pissed off recently, but none of them seemed to fit the mold. This felt personal, like it was someone related to the original Fear Games. But who?

A hand touched my shoulder and I nearly jumped out of my skin. When I looked up, I saw Calix standing there frowning at me.

"Eden," Calix said softly, "where's my mom?"