Текст книги "Pretty Little Things"

Автор книги: Teresa Mummert

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 10 страниц)

Chapter 20 – Jacob

I dipped my spoon in my mac and cheese as my dad buttoned up his black work shirt. He grabbed his gun from the counter and slid it into the holster on his hip before pulling his cap on his head, his eyes on me questioningly.

“You think I could stay home? I could clean up this shithole.” I was willing to say anything to get out of having to go to class, but we both knew I wouldn’t follow through.

“You have school today, Jake.”

“It’s one day, and it’s not like I’m going to miss anything. These fucking idiots know less than I do about history. It’s a fucking travesty is what it is. You should call our congressman, or at the very least write a strongly worded letter. Who’s that news anchor with the nice tits?” I ran my fingers through my chestnut hair in an attempt to tame it. I was overdue for a haircut, but I hadn’t had any complaints from the girls at school.

My dad sighed and shook his head. “If your mother was alive…”

“Forget it.” I cut him off as I pushed back my chair to stand. “I’ll go to school and become another mindless fucking drone.” I grabbed my bowl and tossed it into the sink, causing it to clatter loudly against the mountain of unwashed dishes, another sign of my mother’s absence. As I retreated back to the hallway, I heard the front door creak open and then close, and I knew I was finally alone.

My mother had died nearly a year ago, but I still didn’t believe she was really gone. Things between my father and me were strained at best. I used to look up to him, couldn’t wait to be him. Now I couldn’t wait to get away from him. He didn’t care like I did. My mother deserved better.

I pulled on my sneakers and glanced out the bedroom window. I stood frozen, lost in thought and still half-baked from my morning high as I watched the large yellow school bus pull up at the curb down the dirt road that led to our house. My gaze flicked to movement in the wheat field as the bus pulled off without me on it. I narrowed my eyes at what at first glance looked like an animal, and then I realized it was a person. I turned and hurried from the room and down the stairs, nearly falling a few steps from the bottom. The screen door slammed loudly behind me as I took off across the field toward Annie. Her long blond hair swirled around her as a breeze picked up.

“Hey,” I called out as I got closer. She was walking through the honey-colored wheat, and her face snapped up to meet my gaze, but she didn’t say anything. I slowed to a walk, eyeing her cautiously as I approached. She looked out of it like she was in some sort of drug-induced trance. “Annie?” I called again, and she stopped walking but didn’t turn to face me. Her hair looked unbrushed and wasn’t meticulously curled like it usually was. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I tucked her hair behind her ear to reveal dark circles under eyes that were hooded from exhaustion.

“It’s been a long week.”

“Yeah, I get that. You haven’t answered any of my calls. I came to your house, and your dad blew me off.”

“My brother left.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” I chuckled, but my smile fell when she glared at me. “Did something happen?”

She shook her head as she glanced out over the field and my phone vibrated and chirped in my pocket. I pulled it out and glanced at the screen, cringing when I saw Nat’s name. I shoved it back in my jeans quickly.

“Annie, some people at school have been talking. There’s a rumor.” I ran my hand through my hair, wishing I didn’t have to say the words out loud.

“What rumor?” Her eyes searched mine, and I felt like I was pouring salt in a wound.

“Some people are saying he…uh…he attacked you.” My phone chirped again, and I bit out a curse.

“What? That’s insane. He would never.”

“I just thought you should know.” I pulled her into my arms. I wanted to believe her, but her brother had never seemed right when it came to her.

“I’m glad you told me, but it’s just his ex-girlfriend. They broke up right before he took off,” she explained as we walked toward my house. I pulled out the bowl, and we each took a few hits before going inside to watch television and space out. My phone went off three more times before we settled in on the couch.

“Just answer the damn phone already,” Annie groaned as she relaxed back. I reluctantly pulled out my phone and opened the messages. Nat was wondering why I had skipped school. I replied to her quickly saying I didn’t feel well.

“Who’s that?” Annie asked, craning her neck to see the screen. I closed out of the message and shrugged my shoulders.

“Just a friend.” I relaxed next to her, my pulse racing from my high and I was growing paranoid.

“A friend?” She quirked an eyebrow and I could see her questioning gaze from my peripheral vision.

“Just this girl, Nat.” I rubbed my palms over my thighs and cleared my throat, hating how far away the kitchen was. My mouth was growing increasingly dry and it felt like I had swallowed a cotton ball. “She’s just a friend.”

“I’m just a friend,” she countered and I groaned as I tried to focus on the television.

“So why are you giving me the third degree over some messages?” I laughed nervously as she looked out at the screen.

“I’m not. I was just curious.” We fell silent and I hated myself for not finding her earlier in the week. Instead, I took it as a personal insult when she stopped coming around. Nat was there when she wasn’t.

Chapter 21 – Annabel

My entire world seemed to be flipped on its axis. The last few days had changed everything and even Jacob wasn’t immune to the destruction. Part of me wanted to be sad and even jealous of this girl, but I had no right. I had kept him at arm's length, and I had no right expect him to sit by and wait for me to figure all of this out. My heart couldn’t hold any more pain after Colin left, and right now I just needed a friend.

I nudged him with my elbow and his mouth curved up in a smile, but he fought to hide it. I did it again and he glanced over at me, shaking his head as he held up the remote and turned the channel.

“I’m not above tickling you until you pee yourself.”

“Gross.” I leaned away from him but couldn’t hold back the laughter that bubbled up from inside of me. At least for a few minutes, while my judgment was clouded, I could smile and forget about my life outside of this house.

“Yeah. My dad sleeps on this couch,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Shh…turn this up.” I leaned forward, fighting against the drug-induced haze. Jacob laughed as he held the remote away from me, and I had to smack him on the chest to grab it from his hand. He leaned in to kiss me, and I ducked away from him to focus on the television.

The news was flashing a picture of a young blonde with large green eyes who had gone missing, and I gasped.

“She kind of looks like you.” Jacob stated the obvious as he took a drink from his soda.

“Taylor.” I whispered his name like a curse. He was still around, still lurking.

“Who?” Jacob asked, and I shook my head, turning up the volume.

She’d only been missing for twenty-four hours, which gave her a fighting chance of still being all right. My mind went to Colin. Was it possible that he had gone back to Taylor?

“My dad was working a case like this a few weeks ago.” He relaxed back in his seat and put his foot up on the glass coffee table.

“I should get home. It’s getting late.” I stood, swaying as I became lightheaded.

“Already? You said you were going to hang out.”

“Connor will freak out. He’s been extra worried with Colin taking off.”

He reluctantly stood up and stretched, clearly unhappy that I was going. I felt like a jerk for blowing him off, but Colin had once risked everything to save me, and I wouldn’t hesitate to return the favor.

“Are you mad at me or something?”

I sighed as I looked him over, hating that I didn’t care more about who he had been spending his time with. I knew he would be relieved and hurt if I admitted that to him.

“I’ll come over tomorrow. We can skip together.”

“Yeah?” He eyed me, and a grin spread across his face. “It’s a date.”

Jacob walked me to the fence, and as soon as I slipped onto my property, I took off full speed through the trees. I pushed the thought of having to face Taylor from my mind. I knew if I could find Colin, I could get him to come back.

I hurried up the front porch steps, panting as I opened the door and slipped inside. I instinctively glanced to my left, hoping he would be in the formal living room, lurking in the shadows and waiting to tell me he was worried about me. But the room sat as empty as my heart. The house was dark, and I slipped off my shoes and crept upstairs. Colin’s bedroom was straightened; no evidence of his destructive explosion remained. I had spent many nights curled up in his bed, calmed by the fading scent of his No. 1 cologne. I’d run my fingers over anything he might have touched in hopes of figuring out where he may have gone. There was nothing to go on, no remnants of our past anywhere. It was like we had never existed until we moved in with Connor.

I walked back into the hall, and my eyes went to the third-floor steps. The office. I took them two at a time, pausing as I made it to the doorway. This was my last hope of finding him. He hadn’t returned any of my calls or messages. I turned on the light and stepped inside. The desk had a few folders on top of it. Flipping them open, I realized they were for unrelated cases. I glanced around the room, hoping something would stand out. The file cabinet had locks on each drawer, and the coffee table that sat in front of a brown leather love seat only held magazines. I rounded the desk, cringing at the memory of the girl on her knees. I pulled open each drawer, groaning when I was met with only office supplies. Shit. My shoulders sagged as I walked back to the light switch before eyeing the copy machine. I flipped the lid up, but there was nothing in it. I hit the button to print the last scan, and out came an address and the letters “D.O.G.” scrawled across the top in Connor’s handwriting.

I glanced around the office as I tried to come up with a plan. I’d been driving Connor’s car to school when I actually felt up to attending. I didn’t allow myself to have a second thought. I hurried down the steps and into Colin’s room. His gun was still on top of his dresser in his closet. I carried it across the hall to my room and tucked it into my book bag. Next, I grabbed my laptop and googled directions. It was about forty-five minutes away, just outside of Jackson. That was plenty of time to find Colin and convince him to come back to me.

It was killing me not to leave immediately, but the last thing I needed was someone realizing I was gone and reporting the car stolen. I lay down in my bed and stared up at the textured white ceiling as I recalled the last day I was face-to-face with Taylor Woodward.

“There you are.” Taylor’s hand came down on my shoulder. I looked around for Colin, but he had been busy all morning with tasks Taylor had given him. “I’ve been wanting to catch up with you, see how you’re adjusting.”

“I-I’m doing well. Colin has helped me a lot.” I took a deep, cleansing breath so I would stop stuttering. “How is my mother?”

He looked down at the floor before his eyes met mine. “That’s one of the reasons I came to see you. Have a seat.”

I sat down on Colin’s bed. I spent almost all of my time in that tiny cabin as opposed to the large single-room women’s bay that offered no privacy. Taylor sat next to me, and I slid away from him fractionally. He placed his hand on my knee, and a shiver ran up my spine.

“Your mother had a long struggle, but she was having trouble keeping anything down. I called in a specialist, who prescribed her medicine, but her body couldn’t fight anymore, and she passed away.”

“What?”

His grip on my leg tightened, and I suddenly felt like I might vomit. “That’s not possible. Food poisoning doesn’t last for weeks.” I was trying to make sense of what he was telling me, but I couldn’t wrap my head around the news.

“Are you saying I’m a liar?” he asked, his head cocked at an angle, and a challenging glare in his eye.

“N-no. Of course not.”

“Because if that’s the case, perhaps you staying here isn’t the best idea.”

Oh God. My mother was dead, and now I was going to be kicked out on the street. I felt dizzy.

“I really need to see Colin. Where’s Colin?” I rubbed my hands over my eyes as I struggled not to break down.

“Colin is with his girlfriend.”

My heart stopped, ripped from my chest.

“Didn’t you know?” he asked, and I shook my head, tears unabashedly streaming down my face now. “It’s all right. He’ll be back later. I’m here now.” He wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug that pinned my arms to my sides as he pressed a kiss to my temple, pushing me onto my side and his weight coming down on top of me.

“What are you doing? Stop it!” Panic set in, and I screamed Colin’s name at the top of my lungs until a hand that smelled of mildew covered my mouth. I struggled in his grip, kicking my foot repeatedly into his shin as I lay on my side, immobilized.

Finally, like an answered prayer, the door flew open, and Colin blocked out the sun as his frame filled the doorway. His eyes were wide, and he lunged at Taylor, prying him off me. I scrambled to get out of their way, rolling onto the floor and gasping for air.

Colin was on top of Taylor, his fist pummeling into his face and blood soaking into the blanket.

I could hear myself screaming, but I sat frozen, watching in horror as Colin turned into a monster. Finally, my words got through to him, and he paused, his hand still in the air ready to hit again, his breathing ragged. He glanced down at Taylor, who lay unconscious, and then Colin’s eyes were on me again.

“Did he?” He looked me over. Assessing me.

“I’m OK. I’m OK,” I cried, and he pushed from the bed and gathered me in his arms, squeezing me so tightly I couldn’t draw a breath.

“Did you…d-did you kill him?”

“Not yet.”

“What if someone comes? Oh God. What’s going to happen to us?”

He pulled back, his large hands on either side of my face. “No one will hurt you. I promise. But we need to go.”

I nodded, but my body didn’t move. Colin spun around and reached under his bed, pulling out my small bag, which contained my only remaining earthly possessions. He grabbed a few of his own things and shoved them inside before taking my arm and guiding me to the doorway.

We ran across the grassy field to the main house. I kept a lookout as Colin slipped inside, grabbing a set of keys from a hook on the wall. He grabbed my hand and pulled me from the house. Our escape was a blur of sadness and fear, the adrenaline carrying me when my limbs were too tired to move on their own.

Colin tried three keys before the padlock on the gate that lined the property popped open. We slipped out and stopped at an old beige Cadillac. Our eyes met, and he smiled, for once catching a break.

“Get in.” He smirked, and I rushed to the passenger side, flinging open the door and diving in.

We drove for nearly a half hour until the car began to buck and lurch.

“No, no, no, no,” he muttered as we drifted off to the side of a desolate road. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” He slammed his hands against the steering wheel with each curse. He fell silent, and his heavy breathing was the only sound in the car. “We’re going to be fine.”

I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince me or himself.

“What about your girlfriend?” I asked, hating how my chest tightened just saying the word.

“What?” He looked around as if thinking and then laughed to himself. “Annabel, there is no one else. You are all I have.” He held my gaze until the sound of an engine in the distance caught our attention. “We have to flag them down.” He opened his door, but I reached across the seat and grabbed his hand.

“You can’t. What if it’s one of them?”

“If it’s one of them, there are two of us.”

I nodded, knowing we had no other choice. He hopped from the car and waved his hands in the air. The car, a shiny black sedan, slowed and pulled off on the shoulder ahead of us. Colin glanced at me before walking toward the car. An older man wearing a suit got out and glanced back toward me. Colin spoke to him for a few minutes before the man nodded, and Colin waved for me to join them.

That was how we met Connor Blakely and how he became the most famous lawyer in Mississippi by exposing a cult in the heart of Dixieland. But he was careful to keep us out of the story.

By the time it was raided, Taylor was long gone, and he hadn’t surfaced since that night.

Chapter 22 – Jacob

“If you fail, then we failed as parents,” my dad spat angrily as I slumped over on the couch.

“School isn’t important, and I think it’s time to throw in the towel on this one. I’m a lost cause.” I shook my head and laughed as my high settled deep into my chest. I dug my pack of cigarettes from my pocket and knocked the box against my hand.

“Don’t smoke in this damn house,” he yelled as his face turned red with anger. I glanced up at him through heavy eyelids. My father’s shirt was only half tucked in, and the bags under his eyes made him look twenty years older than he was. I watched as he slowly fell apart, much like me. The man who was once my childhood hero was now nothing more than a shell of his former self. My mother’s death and the downward spiral of his son had worn him down until he no longer functioned.

My head was spinning with my visit with Annie last night. I was anxious to get to spend the entire day with her and find out whether she was upset that I had been talking to Nat. I scrubbed the heels of my hands over my eyes, hoping to sober myself.

“What do I have to do to get through to you?”

I stared up at my father with blurred vision, waiting for him to stop lecturing me so he could leave for work and I could call Annie.

When I didn’t respond, he shook his head and walked out of the back door angrily.

“Thank fucking God.” I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and texted Annie to let her know she could come over. I got up and walked to the door, staring across the field. I pushed open the screen door and flicked my cigarette out onto the dirt road.

I slipped on my sneakers and walked toward our “bear” tree, hoping to catch her on her way over. When I reached the fence and still hadn’t received a reply, I decided to slip through and continue walking through the trees on her property.

As I walked up the steps to her porch, I smoothed my hands over my shirt before knocking on the oversized wooden door. After a few seconds an older man answered, causing me to take a step back.

“Hi, um…I’m looking for Annie.”

He eyed me for a moment. “She’s in school.”

My eyes narrowed as I scratched the back of my head. “Are you sure? She…uh…said something about not feeling well and wanted me to take her homework in.”

He walked by me, coughing into his fist, and went down the steps of the porch. I followed behind him as he walked to the garage and opened the door.

“The car’s gone.” He glanced from the garage to me again. “Where is your uniform?”

“Shit…” I shook my head.

“You have one minute to tell me where she is, or I’m calling the police.”

“My old man is the police, and I don’t know. She was supposed to meet me. We were going to spend the day together.” My gut turned as I realized she must really be upset with me.

Pulling a cell phone from his pocket, he dialed a number, his eyes fixed on me.

“Is Annabel with you?” There was a pause before he spoke again. “There’s a boy here saying she was supposed to come see him today and never showed. My car’s gone.” There was another pause, and I shifted my weight from foot to foot.

“I’ll call the school.” He held the phone away from his mouth. “When was the last time you saw her?”

“Yesterday. She was watching the news and was acting weird about some girl who went missing that looked like her. She left and promised she’d come back today.” I conveniently left out the part about Nat, guilt gnawing at me.

“Call your father. We have a problem.”

Chapter 23 – Colin

She was supposed to be safe. Now she was walking right back to Taylor because of me. I slammed the car in drive and took off down the road, the tires squealing against the asphalt.

I hung up the call with Connor after explaining about the address I had found in his file. I dialed Annie’s number and listened to it ring, holding my breath as I waited to hear her voice, but it went to voicemail.

“Fuck.” I slammed my hands against the steering wheel as I yelled. If something happened to her, I couldn’t live with myself. I hit redial and held the phone to my ear, flying down the road with no concern for my safety. It transferred to voicemail again, and I hung up as I sent a text to her telling her I was coming for her. I still had a twenty-minute drive to think about how badly I had fucked up.

The miles drifted by painfully slowly, and by the time I had reached the old, dilapidated farm house, I realized I didn’t have my gun or any way to defend myself, but one look at Connor’s car in the driveway and I knew I had no choice but to go in. I threw my car into park and got out, storming toward the front porch without bothering to close my door behind me. The property had no fence or outbuildings. If Taylor was here, he was alone. I pulled open the door and glanced around. The furniture was old and mismatched, and garbage littered the floor. A sound from the second floor got my attention, and I took the stairs three at a time. I glanced at the three doors in front of me.

“The prodigal son returns,” Taylor called out from in front of me, and I walked cautiously toward the open door. “Isn’t this a pleasant family reunion?”

My eyes went to Annie, whose hands were tied behind her back. Her feet were also bound, and the rope running up her back held them together as she lay on her side on a filthy single bed. Her face was red and damp from crying, and blood oozed from a cut on her forehead. She was still clothed, but her tank top strap was torn and her jeans unbuttoned.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, and my heart cracked. I took a step forward, and Taylor waved the gun at me, forcing me to stop. I looked to him, his hair slightly longer and graying along the sides, but other than that he was the same sick son of a bitch he was before, only now he didn’t have an army of followers to hide behind.

“She’s not sorry yet, Colin. But she will be. We were just waiting for you to show up. It’s not a party without you. You remember, don’t you?”

“Shut up.”

“That’s no way to talk to your father.” He ran his palm over his dingy, yellowing shirt.

Annie’s eyes widened, and my stomach rolled as the truth was exposed.

“Shut up,” I bit out.

“You never told her? I raised you better than that. Your mother’s necklace was a nice touch.”

I glanced at the silver cross that hung from her neck onto the bed. Taylor smiled as he reached down and ran his finger over her collarbone, tracing the silver chain. She squeezed her eyes closed as a sob ripped from her chest.

“Don’t touch her.” I swallowed against the lump in my throat as I held up my hand to him. “It’s supposed to be me, remember?”

Taylor stood, cocking his head to the side as he thought about my words. “All this time you’ve had her.”

“I couldn’t let her go.” My gaze darted to Annie and I could see that she was now questioning me, and it killed me inside. “I knew…” I summoned all of my courage to speak the vile words he was waiting to hear. “I knew one day we would find you again.”

“You left on one hell of a parting note,” he said skeptically.

“I couldn’t let you have her. She was mine.” The words made my physically ill and the pain in her eyes radiated throughout my entire body.

Taylor’s tongue ran out over his lips as he smiled. “Then let’s not keep her waiting.”

I held both hands up to show him I wasn’t going to harm him as I stepped closer to the bed. “I want to untie her first.”

“No,” he snapped as he squared his gun. “She stays like this.”

“Okay.” I nodded and took another slow step towards her until my shins pressed against the mattress. This was my punishment for all the things I had done wrong. I was naïve to think that saving Annie would wipe the slate clean. Now I would have to hurt the one person I cared about to protect her. “Annie,” I sank down to eye level with her, her eyebrows pulled together and pleading with me to help her.

“Please help me, please,” she begged, and I forced myself to not show any emotion.

“I told you I wasn’t the good guy, little one.”

“Colin.” I’d never heard her sound so small and fragile, and I knew her fear wasn’t just for Taylor anymore.

“Idle hands do the devil’s work,” Taylor called out with a little too much enthusiasm. “You’re stalling.”

I stood up and my hands went to the button of my jeans as the cold metal end of the gun pressed into my arm. “I’m savoring the moment.” I’d hoped the police wouldn’t be so far behind me, but I knew there was never any saving me.

All the years I was worried I would rub off on Annabel, but it was she who had changed me, and now I would betray her. That is when I saw it, the familiar red light of a camera perched on top of a tripod beside an old broken dresser. If none of us made it out of this room, at least the truth would.

“Have you filled Annie in on what really happened to her mother?” I asked, and I couldn’t look her in the eye even though she already knew the truth.

He laughed from behind me, the barrel of the gun slipping from my flesh. “She put up a good fight.”

Annie began to mumble a prayer under her breath, her words coming so rapidly I couldn’t make them out.

“Your mother prayed just like that before I sent her to meet her God.”

“Say it. Tell her what you did to her.”

“I sacrificed her for you. I got her out of the way so Annabel could be yours.”

“Where is she buried?” I asked, my jaw clenched as I struggled to maintain my composure.

“Why?” he asked skeptically.

“So I can show Annabel what happens if she doesn’t obey me.”

Annie’s voice grew a little louder, and she kept her eyes closed tightly.

“She wasn’t buried.” A wicked laugh escaped his throat. “It’s very expensive to feed so many mouths. We made do with what we had.”

“What about my mother?” I turned to face him, and his smile faded.

“She didn’t share our vision.”

My eyes narrowed as I looked to the gun and back to his face. He raised it slightly. He could get one shot before I had my hands around his neck. It would be worth it. This is the way it should have ended that night at the commune. Annie should have been the only one to walk away, and now it was time to right that wrong of our past. As if reading my mind, Taylor turned the gun to Annie.

“You think she is worth dying for? Is it worth her death to get revenge from me?”

I looked down at the beautiful broken girl, shaking and terrified.

The sound of sirens crept closer, and I watched Taylor's eyes dance around the room, his hand shaking under the weight of the gun.

“You won’t make it out of here alive.” I wanted my chance to kill him myself. If I didn’t act now, I wouldn’t have the opportunity.

“I’m at peace with that, son. I’m ready to meet my maker…but I’m taking one of you with me.” He took aim back at me.

“Police,” called someone from below.

Taylor turned the gun on Annie and pressed it against her forehead. “You go out there.”

I searched her beautiful green eyes, red-rimmed and swollen. “If you hurt her, I’ll take my time, make you suffer. I have a very good imagination.”

“You always did.” He grinned, and I wanted to lunge across the room. “Go,” he whisper-yelled, pressing the barrel harder against her skin and causing her to whimper.

“Come out with your hands in the air,” someone called out. I raised my hands in front of me and turned to walk out of the room. I stood at the top of the stairs as they barked orders. I slowly descended, and a few steps from the bottom I was grabbed, and handcuffs snapped hard against my wrists.

“You son of a bitch.” Jacob came through the door, his fist cocked back. He swung, connecting with my jaw before another officer was able to restrain him. The taste of copper filled my mouth. “You fucking sick son of a bitch!” He was pointing at me, screaming.

“He’s upstairs. He has a gun pointed at Annie.” My eyes locked with the cop who had just finished putting on my cuffs.

“Who?” Jacob looked as helpless as I felt.

“My father.”

“Take him,” he told another officer, and held out his weapon as he made his way to the second floor.

Annie cried loudly, and Taylor began to quote scriptures as the cop demanded he lower his weapon. I sat on my knees, hands restrained as I tilted my head toward the ceiling and began to say a silent prayer for her safety. It was the first time I had ever said the words and hoped that someone was listening. I didn’t deserve redemption, but Annabel was innocent. She deserved mercy.

When the gunfire rang out, I could do nothing except hang my head, my world ending in the moment she screamed. A growl resonated from deep inside my chest, and crippling pain from my heart breaking left me paralyzed. Jacob yelled and struggled against the other cop, and time seemed to slow to a near standstill. I couldn’t breathe or move until I heard her cry, and I inhaled, pushing to my feet and stumbling up the stairs in a daze.