He shivered and then wrapped his arms around his knees, grunting as the move sent a wave of sharp pains stabbing through his side.
The phone had rung.
That had been his savior.
“Shit. Fuckin’ phone. It’s probably fuckin’ Nancy again. Dammit. Stay right there, or you’ll wish you were dead when I’m finished with you.”
The phone had rung. And then, the man had left the basement and hadn’t closed the door at the top of the stairs all the way.
And Rye had wanted out so badly. He’dneededout. Things had been getting steadily worse. Not that they’d ever been good. But the man had been getting angrier and meaner, finding new ways to hurt him.
So when the phone had rung and Rye had seen the small ray of light shining through the crack in the doorway at the top of the stairs, he’d had to. He’d had to take the chance.
He shivered again and forced his eyes open, blinking back tears. Ahead of him, not too far along the narrow beach, the inky black water lapped at the shore, the waves almost quiet and gentle. To his left and right, the beach stretched on for what might be miles, curving along the lower edge of the rocky cliff face.
There was no one else out here. He was alone. At least for now. And that meant he was safe.
Sort of.
He was also freezing, and his stomach ached with hunger. And his feet throbbed from all the cuts and bruises he’d gotten during his frantic scramble through the forest and away from that fucking hellhole—
Nausea rose in his chest, and he grabbed his head with both hands and scrunched his eyes shut. No cursing. He had to stop. And he—
His whole body seized up with fear as a sound seemed to carry in his direction, echoing along the coastal cliffs behind him. A voice. A deep male voice. He held his breath and didn’t move.
The voice didn’t get closer. And it didn’t seem angry. It was close by, though. Which meant Rye was actuallynotalone.
He barely stopped himself from cursing again, and then he sucked in a sharp breath as he turned his head to the right, toward the voice.
“I miss you, though.”
Forcing his eyes open, Rye scanned the cliffs throughbleary vision.
“Okay. Goodnight, Kris. Thanks for calling.”
Calling.A phone. A phone ringing.
Rye’s chest hurt.
There was a light laugh, and then,“You have nothing to worry about, big sister.”
And Rye saw a flicker of light from up on the cliff to his right. Not more than a couple hundred feet away, maybe.
No, no, no. The breath he’d been holding all left his lungs, and he somehow pushed himself back against the rocky wall more as he sucked in the icy air.
If whoever was speaking said more words, Rye didn’t hear them. His heart was pounding too hard, blood rushing to his ears, and something was screaming at him to move. To get away. To hide. Because if he got caught, he’d be dead.
Yet he couldn’t get himself to. His body was still frozen to the spot, unresponsive and numb, and he could barely breathe. Some shudder or shiver or something rolled through him, and he closed his eyes and lowered his head to rest on his knees.
There was a click, like maybe a door shutting, and then things around him became quiet. Carefully, he looked up. The flickering light had gone out. Whoever that was had left.
But he wasn’t comforted by that, and for a moment, he thought about whether he should move farther away down the shoreline. When he turned to look, however, all he saw was darkness. Terrifying darkness. And the air seemed to thicken around him more, the fog closing in on him.
He scrunched his eyes shut one more time and pushed his back against the rock. This spot. Maybe he was safe here in this spot for now. Maybe the owner of that voice wouldn’t find him. And maybe the man—
He muffled another cry into his arm. It was too much to think about. And he was exhausted and freezing and in pain. And maybe he should just sleep. Maybe in the morning, he could find a better place to hide, somewhere... safe.
With a shaky breath, he curled up on his side, his back still to the cliff wall, and he closed his eyes. The water ebbed and flowed along the shoreline, and he let himself focus on the quiet sounds of the waves washing up and then receding, hoping it would lull him to sleep.
