Austin: Hello again, Madelyn. If you want your boyfriend to live, my suggestion is that you do everything I tell you to do. Do you understand?
Maddie: I understand. What do you want?
Austin: Meet us at the old abandoned theater a few blocks behind your college. Don’t bring anyone with you or he dies. Do you understand?
Maddie: I understand.
Maddie: Please, don’t hurt him.
I feel like I’m going to fucking throw up. That last message she sent, those four words.Please, don’t hurt him. So simple, but fuck, they hurt worse than the bullshit he’s put me through already.
What's worse is I know her, and I know exactly how she’s feeling right now. She’s terrified, but she’s still thinking about me. She’s not thinking about herself or the danger she’s about to walk into. The only thing on her mind is saving me, and this fucking bastard knows that.
The fury that surges through me is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. The adrenaline coursing through my veins only amplifies it, turning every emotion into something sharper, something almost uncontrollable.
My body moves before my brain can catch up.
I pull against the restraints again, twisting my wrists and fighting against the zip-tie cutting into my skin. The chair scrapes against the floor as I struggle, the pain from the broken glass digging deeper into my hands, but I don’t care. I don’t feel it. Nothing compares to the rage burning through me.
Austin watches me with amusement, like I’m some kind of animal trapped in a cage.
Maybe that’s what he wants. Maybe he wants me to be angry and lose control. But he doesn’t understand something. This zip-tie isn’t going to hold me forever. Eventually, it’s going to break and I’m going to get free. And when I do, he’s going to regret ever putting his hands on her.
The stupidest thing this motherfucker ever did was inject me with adrenaline. He thinks he gave himself more time and made me weaker. He has no idea he just handed me the one thing I needed.
A fighting chance.
I can only imagine what Maddie is feeling right now. The fear running through her. The thoughts racing through her head as she tries to figure out how to save me. She’s probably blaming herself. That’s what she does. She carries everything like it’s her responsibility and every bad thing that happens in this world somehow belongs on her shoulders. And I fucking hate that he’s making her feel that way.
I hate that she’s walking toward him because of me.
Austin finally walks away, returning to the medical cart. He looks over everything laid out in front of him before picking up the scalpel again. The way he holds it makes my skin crawl, like the fucking inanimate object is something beautiful.
He turns back toward me, smiling as he walks closer. “I wonder how much our dear Maddie will love you when half your face is missing.” he laughs as he brings the scalpel up to my cheek and begins to skin me alive.
32.Madelyn
I feellike I can’t breathe. I’ve been having a panic attack for the last ten minutes, trying desperately to calm down so I can find Miles and save him. I’m about to face my stalker and I don’t know if I’m going to make it out of it alive, or if Miles is even still breathing. The thought that he might not be causes my panic attack to worsen and I start to hyperventilate.
“Maddie! I need you to calm down, alright? Take some deep breaths for me, please,” Nate says, while grabbing me by the shoulders.
I’m trying, I try to say.I swear I’m fucking trying, but this is all too much.
He killed Julius. The only father figure Miles had left in this world and he’s gone. The image of Julius’ lifeless body as it laid severed on the ground resurfaces in my brain and I try to push it out. A bloodcurdling wail escapes me and I’m trying so fucking hard to control it.
Julius didn’t deserve the ending he got. He was a good man who did so much for Miles, so much for all of us.
I take a minute to try and control my thoughts. I listen to what Nate tells me to do and start taking long, deep breaths. Ihave to calm down. It's not about me or anything else right now. I need to focus on what is important. I need to do this for Miles.
When I’m finally ready, I nod my head at him and we take off back to the hospital to pick up Morgan. I’m trying not to think about our conversation from earlier and put it behind me and see things from her perspective.
Sure, she shouldn’t have lied to me about her and Miles, but I also shouldn’t have freaked out on her the way I did. Right now, Miles needs us and I need to forgive and forget for his sake. His life is on the line and I refuse to let the past be the thing that gets in the way.
After we pick up Morgan, Nate gives her the details on what's going on and what happened to Julius, while I try to mentally prepare myself for what I’m about to walk into. Morgan is trying to hold it together in the backseat, but we’re all broken by what’s happened today.
We lost someone important to us, and trying to go on despite it is one of the hardest things all of us have to do.
As we drive to the abandoned theater, Nate and Morgan both try their best to tell me what to do once I make it inside. They can’t go inside with me. The stalker specifically said no one is allowed to come with me or he’d kill Miles and we just can’t take that risk.
