“Laik, where are?—”
I whimper at the sound of his voice.
A cry threatens to slip from my lips.
“Fuck, Laik, are you okay?” Chase’s voice raises.
I can barely manage a whisper, “Ch-ch-chase, help.”
Fear grips every muscle in my body.
“Laik, where are you?” My voice drops an octave.
She doesn’t reply, but I can hear her breathing—hear her stifling her cries.
Mania creeps in. “Laik?” I clamp it down.
In the silence, I can hear my own sharp breaths drifting in and out, then the echo of a scream so cataclysmic, and instead of forcing the phone from my ear, I draw it closer.
Harlen turns his eyes on me.
I don’t look at him.
“Oh, god, Chase.” Laiken is crying hysterically now.
I grip the phone so tight, my fingers numbing out. Pressing my eyes closed, I fight to put some steel into my spine.
“He-he is…” Laiken swallows her words. “Hurtingher.”
My vision blurs.
“What do you mean,hurting, Laik? Who is? What is he?—”
Another bloodcurdling scream cuts down the line, severs me.
Laiken’s voice comes, raspier now. “He sh-sh-sho us, and now…”
I open my eyes, look down at my phone when silence spills out.
Call failed, glows back at me.
“He sh-sh-sho us, and now…”Were the last of Laiken’s words before the call was cut.
A fist is in my stomach, my heart in my throat.
Silence has invaded the line, and yet, I remain frozen in time.
“He-he is…hurting her.”
The terror in her voice had pressed a blade to my veins.
My hands shake. Harlen reaches for the phone, takes it from me. I don’t try to stop him. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. He taps across the screen, holds it out in front of him.
I can’t hear it, though I can feel it, our joint inhale, our stilted breaths as we listen, chests combusting with hope, awaiting a dial tone.
A lifeline.
Her voicemail picks up before it has the chance to come.
