Runaway

Kallie's life is on the line. She needs to runaway.

 

Prologue

 

I was running. For my life.

My feet were pounding on the pavement. My heart was thumping uncontrollably in my chest. My breathing, labored, coming in quick, short gasps.

"C'mon Kallie! Run!" Ethan yelled in front of me. I tried running faster.

We left the rundown house behind us, passing newer and more stable houses as we ran. We didn't know where he went, but he'd be back soon. And when he'd find out that we were gone, there would be hell to pay if he found us. When he found us.

He always did.

I stumbled, but kept running. Ethan was ten feet in front of me. The neighborhood was quiet. A little too quiet.

Were we ever going to see someone?

I could feel myself tiring. My legs were getting cramped. But I pushed myself forward. We had to find someone. Someone who could help us.

We turned a corner. Ethan was slowing down too. Soon we were sprinting side by side. I could hear his breathing was becoming labored as well.

"We- we have to stop," I panted. Ethan shook his head.

"We can't!" he said. As he did, his legs pumped faster. I fought to keep up with him.

The sun above us was mocking. Stupid sun. It would have been much easier to deal with all of this if it had been cloudy, or even rainy. Something to match the mood. But instead, the wind was swirling around us, the trees swaying in the breeze happily. Nothing deserved to be as it was. Not when someone was after us. After our blood.

After our skin.

 

When the police left that morning, Ethan and I were in shock. My mother had been married, for a year, no less, and we hadn't known. She hadn't told us. And now she was being shipped away to jail for the murder of Daniel Stelz. Her ex-husband who was found in his home, dead. Stabbed to death. And my mother was the number one suspect.

"That's where all the extra money came from." I whispered. "That's where she got it from." How could we not have known? For an entire year, my mother had a husband, a second life, a double life- and we didn't have a clue. Sure, there had been hints, periods of time when we had more money than we ever did, or when my mother would come home from 'work' and be inexplicably happy. But we never thought it was something like this.

"Do you really think she killed him?" Ethan whispered. "Do you really think she would murder someone?"

"For money...maybe." I said quietly. "You know Mom, whatever she wants, she gets- no questions." Ethan nodded. We needed money. Needed it like we needed water. Needed it like air. Because the Browning family household was broke. Poor.

"Can they just leave us here, like that?" I asked. "Could they just take her away, and not do anything about us?" Ethan shrugged.

"I am eighteen. A legal adult, I suppose. Maybe that's why." I sighed. What were we supposed to do? It's not like she ever acted motherly to us, it's not like we loved her. But that's okay, because I don't think she ever loved us either. And that's just plain sad; a mother is supposed to love her children and her children are supposed to reciprocate. Not in our family.

"When do you think she's coming back?" Ethan asked. I shrugged. I didn't think she was going to come back for awhile. She was on murder trial, that's big news.

"Maybe we should call someone..." I said offhandedly. Ethan snorted.

"Who are we going to call?" he asked. I sighed. He was right. We had no family. We had each other. Family was practically nonexistent. My mother had no sisters or brothers, and her parents died when she was a child. So we had each other and I think that's all we needed. Ethan stood from the couch and stretched.

"Let's not sit here all day, okay?" he said. "Let's go down to the beach." And that was that- Ethan usually made the desicions and I just went along with them. Plus, there was nothing else to do. Ten minutes later, we were rolling down Main Street in Ethan's truck.

"Is it weird we're doing this?" I asked uncomfortably.

"Doing what?" Ethan said vaguely. His mind was elsewhere. He was probably thinking about our mother. Out of the both of us, I think he hated her just a fraction more than I did. He was the oldest and basically had to care for me since I was younger. It made sense.

"Well...we're going to the beach. And Mom was just arrested less than an hour ago..."

"Well, since when is Mom ever... a mom?" Ethan snorted. "It's just like her to get arrested. She doesn't care about what happens to us, so why should we care what happens to her?" He sighed. "Plus, what else are we supposed to do? Sit around the house and mope?" He shook his head and parked next to a sign that said "Welcome to Red Creek Beach!"

The beach wasn't packed as it normally was. There were only a few groups dotted along the shoreline, but we settled down about half a mile away from the truck. I flopped down on the towel in front of me. I pulled my hair into a tie and it took a few minutes- I don't think I ever had a hair cut, so my hair was really long and white blonde. And straight. unbearably straight. It was kind of annoying.

"I still don't believe it." I said quietly. "She was married. She had a husband." I shook my head. It boggled my mind and I wondered why she did it in the first place. Why she didn't tell us, why we couldn't be...a family.

"Let's not talk about her, okay? It's pissing me off." I shrugged and leaned back on my palms, enjoying the little afternoon sun we had left. I had my bathing suit on, but I had a white t-shirt on too.

"I'm going for a jog." I heard Ethan say.

"Kay." I watched Ethan run along the edge of the water, a small towel slung around his neck. He needed to think, to chanel is stress. I guess this is how he was going to do it. My eyes traveled over the rest of the beach; there was a family of five down by the water, splashing each other. I narrowed my eyes then turned away. It was stupid to feel jealous of someone when you didn't even know how they lived. I mentally berated myself for feeling just that. There were two guys playing frisbee not so far away and I could hear them laughing. Sighing, I pushed myself up from the sand and slowly approached the water.

I had mixed feelings when it came to the beach. I was dead afraid of swimming in open water. Any kind of open water, really- I didn't know how to swim. But I loved the beach for one reason and one reason only; I just loved watching the horizon. Especially early in the morning, when the sky wasn't even blue yet, when it was gray, and the waves let off a light breeze of mist and-

I was up to my ankles. That's as far as I would go. I inhaled deeply. I searched the shoreline for my brother and found him, only a little speck in the distance. I looked down and swirled the water with my foot.

Then something heavy hit me in the back and suddenly the water was coming closer. And then I was wet. I gasped and spluttered and quickly crawled out, my heart pounding. I could feel my eyes quickly fill with tears and my chest heaving, I squinted up to see a tall figure standing over me.

"Are you okay?" he asked and held out a hand. Feeling a little foolish, I grasped it and let him pull me up.

"Are you okay?" he repeated. I nodded. He held out his hand again.

"Seth Smith." He had light brown hair that fell across his forehead elegantly. He was tall, much taller than me and broad shouldered. No wonder I fell in with such force.

"Kallie Browning." I paused and narrowed my eyes.

"Did you push me in?" He shook his head, smiling. He held up the frisbee I saw earlier.

"Sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." The other frisbee-thrower was waving in the distance.

"It's okay." There was an awkward silence and I rocked on the balls of my feet. I coughed and inched backwards.

"See ya, then..." Kyle cleared his throat.

"Bye." He smiled and ran back to his game of Frisbee. He looked over his shoulder and grinned at me.

"Sorry, again!"

I waved in his direction and lay down on my blanket. He was cute. Really cute. And he was obviously new here- I'd never seen him in school and I knew everyone. Even if they didn't know me. Some people thought I had nothing better to do. They thought I just sat in lunch and studied their every move. But I just thought myself observant. I was really good with people's names and faces and a lot of people thought it was stalker-ish. But whatever. I just had a good eye.

Suddenly, I had goosebumps and I shivered in spite of the beating sun. Someone was watching me. I could feel it. My first instinct was to look at Seth- I was just talking to him. But when I did, he was tossing the blue disk to his friend. It wasn't him.

I silently searched the beach for Ethan. He was headed back, but his head was down. Not him. Getting a little frustrated, I searched the rest of the beach, but no one was paying me any attention. Ethan jogged back up to the blanket.

"Why're you all wet?" he panted.

"I got pushed in." Ethan blinked in surprise.

"Someone pushed you in?" I nodded. His eyes narrowed. He was switching into over-protective big brother mode. He seemed to be in that mode a lot as of late...

"Who?" He was already looking around. He knew of my phobia.

"Doesn't matter. I'm alive." I said distantly and shivered again. Ethan stared at me. I blushed when I realized my choice of words. My goosebumps wouldn't go away and it was kind of freaking me out. It felt like someone was sitting just behind me, staring at me, but when I turned to look, no one was there.

We spent the rest of the afternoon there, discreetly avoiding the subject of our mother. I, however, only did it for Ethan's sake. I knew he would get mad and angry, but I really wanted to talk about it. Didn't he want to know the things I did? Didn't he want to know what she was thinking, and how she felt about us? I mean, sure, she never showed any kind of motherly love, but could she have harbored it deep down inside? But when Ethan wouldn't budge, I digressed and instead, I sneaked a few glances at Seth, but he never turned back around. Typical.

Ethan glanced at his watch. "Let's go home. I'm hungry." So we packed our things and made to move to his truck when someone jumped in front of us from behind some bushes. I inhaled sharply and unvoluntarily wrinkled my nose.

The man in front of us wasn't old, but not exactly young either. He had gray hair that looked like it was once brown. It was greasy and dirty; his clothing was dirty as well and torn in some places. He wore no shoes and he bared his yellow teeth at us. Ethan looked at him in surprise and grabbed my wrist.

"Can we help you, sir?" he asked. The man stood there, glaring at us but didn't say anything. Ethan raised his eyebrows.

"Sir?" The man sneered. I shivered again. The man noticed and turned his glare on me. Ethan gripped my wrist more tightly and dragged me around the man and to the truck.

"Get in," he muttered to me and threw the beach gear in the bed. I climbed in the truck, and turned around in my seat to see that the man hadn't moved. He was still glaring at us.

"What was that all about?" I asked when Ethan pulled out of the parking spot. He glanced in the rearview mirror.

"I dunno," he muttered. "But we wont go back there for a while. Just in case. He could be living there."

"Maybe he needs money." I said. I sort of felt bad- then thought back to the glare we were recieving and the guilt immediately washed away.

"Well, whatever he wants- I don't want you near the beach anytime soon, okay?" Ethan demanded. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, mother." Ethan shot me a venemous look.
 

"Kidding."

 

The next morning, before Ethan and I left for school, the police called. Chloe Browning, my mother, was to be on trial for the murder of Daniel Stelz. The police informed us that she was to have no visitors and Ethan let them know that that wasn't going to be a problem. He hung up without asking how she was doing. He was very angry.

At school, we went our separate ways. He went off to Calculas and I went off to English. Sitting at my desk, I had a pretty good view of the Front Lawn outside of school. I saw kids getting dropped off, riding their bikes, driving their cars and walking. I was just daydreaming when a new, but familiar voice broke into my thoughts.

"Kallie, right?" I turned to find Seth smiling at me. I smiled back.

"Hi." He sat down next to me and I immediately ran my hand over the top of my head, casually checking to make sure that no stray hairs were out of place.

"You're new, right?" I asked him. He nodded. "Welcome to Green Hills High."

"Thanks." He grinned and my heart rate speeded up a little.

"Where'd you move from?"

"New York, actually."

"Wow. East Coast. Is it really different from here?" He nodded again.

"It's not as humid here in California. It's an adjustment, but a good one." He smiled again and I blushed. He had a million dollar smile. Two rows of perfectly white teeth that shone brightly against his tan skin. When he smiled, his entire face lit up, his eyes, a bright hazel, sparkling. More kids piled into the classroom and gave us weird looks. I was used to the stares, but I don't think Seth was. He looked down at himself confusedly, probably checking to see if his shirt was on backwards. I knew the feeling and decided to break the little awkward silence that had settled again.

"Do you have any brothers and sisters?" I asked. Wow. What a conversation starter. Seth looked up.

"I have a brother. Derrick. I was playing Frisbee with him yesterday." He suddenly furrowed his brow. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have a brother." I said. "Ethan. He's a senior."

"The guy you drove away with yesterday?" I stared at him then grinned.

"You were watching me?" He flushed and I laughed. "I didn't mean to make you embarassed. But, yes, he's my brother." He furrowed his brow again.

"Did you know that other guy?"

"What other guy?" I asked.

"The one who jumped in front of you." I blinked in surprise. He had seen that? I wondered who else had.

"No, actually," I said. "he just...kind of came out of no where. He was creepy." Seth nodded in understanding. He looked around at the classroom. Everyone who was staring, because there was a lot of people, blushed and looked away. He chuckled.

"You're friends don't seem to like me." I scoffed. He was really new. And that kind of surprised me. Mostly everyone avoided or just seemed to dislike me. I wasn't entirely sure why. But when I became a Freshmen, my brother was a Sophmore and just really popular. I figured maybe I'd be liked to; I mean, he was my big brother, if everyone liked him, I would be liked too, right? Not the case. If anything, we were polar opposites on the popularity scale.

"No friends of mine," I said.

"Good to know," There was another little pause [stupid awkward silences!] and then Kyle cleared his throat.

"So, going back to the beach anytime soon?" I smiled apologetically. I wished...

"Actually, it's funny you bring that up. I can't," He seemed confused.

"Why not?"

"That guy gave my brother the creeps too and he doesn't think it'd be good for me to go there at the moment. I will soon though." I promised. "I could never stay away from the beach long," Kyle shrugged.

"I promise not to knock you into the water again," He grinned. I laughed.

"Yes, that'd be good." The bell rang then and the teacher walked in. He set down his briefcase and searched the classroom until his eyes fell on Kyle.

"Class, new student. Seth Smith," Kyle lifted his chin in greeting and Mr. Hughes wasted no time in getting class started. I wished I was back in bed at home. I was so tired. I stayed up half the night, thinking about my mother and what she was doing. How she was doing in jail. If she murdered that guy. Her husband. It was still foreign in my mind and it sounded weird when said outloud. If she did it, I wondered, did she feel regret? How did she feel that she took a human life? An innocent life? I couldn't get these questions out of my head and I spent half the night worrying about what was going to happen to me and Kyle.

I glanced at Seth who was doodling in the margin of his notebook. He caught my eyes and grinned at me. He was so cute! I smiled back, my face burning slightly and went back to staring at my notebook.

"...famous works include Macbeth, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew and of course, Romeo and Juliet-" Hughes was saying. Class was almost over. He glared at us all. "You should all know that by now." The class murmured their agreement. Hughes sighed and glanced at his watch.

"I can see none of you are paying attention. We'll just have to penetrate your minds tomorrow." He grinned as the class moaned. The bell rang a moment later.

"What class do you have next?" I asked Seth as I stood. He pulled out a slip of paper and consulted it.

"History with Llewellyn."

"I have that too. I'll show you where it is." Wandering the halls was never an easy experience. Everyone I passed ignored me. As usual. It was during these times, I wondered why everyone seemed to hate me. But this day in particular was proving difficult for such thoughts- Seth was there to distract me.

"So..." Seth said. "What do you do for fun around here?"

I inhaled. "Not much. There's the beach and the boardwalk, I guess. The cineplex is about three blocks away, but they never have anything good playing there. That's really about it. It's a small town. The city is about ten miles away, it has better stuff to do there." And there was hardly anything good in the city either. An arcade or two, and a run-down Sports Plus. The only good thing was the Ice-Rink. We could never go much, it was a little expensive and we never really had the money to just spend it without a second thought.

We reached Llewellyn's classroom. I peered in. There were only a few people inside- Mandy Hinstoff, Kate Fraiser and Raquel Peuter were conversing in whispers and they looked up as we stepped into the classroom. I kept my head up and prayed they wouldn't say anything. They were the girls that couldn't keep their mouths shut.

"Your friends?" Seth offered as we passed the girls. They sneered as we walked past and I snorted.

"Friends?" I said sarcastically. I shook my head. He was really new.

"I have my brother. That's about it," Seth looked at me in shock.

"You have no friends?" I shook my head again, but this time it was Mandy Hinstoff who spoke.

"That's right." she said smugly. "Kallie Browning has no friends." She eyed Seth. "So why're you hanging out with her? It'll get you no where in this school. You should hang with us." Raquel and Kate nodded beside her.

Mandy, her legs crossed, her perfect brown hair straight and falling on her shoulders, wearing the best clothes, looked like a model next to me. Raquel and Kate were pretty, but no where near as gorgeous as Mandy. It's a shame. She's so pretty on the outside, so nasty on the inside. But that was the way the world worked. And the world is never fair. Ever. Seth stared at them strangley.

"I'll hang with Kallie, thanks." he said smoothly. "Bitchiness isn't my type." Mandy's smile slid off her face and she tapped her fingernails against her desk, irritatedly. She glared at Seth as he turned his back on her. I stared at him in shock, then grinned.

"I like you," I told him. "You've got nerve." What?! He just mouthed off to Mandy Hinstoff! I think I just found myself a friend! A really cute friend, too. Haha.

He shrugged. "Gotta do what ya gotta do." I nodded in approval. He had my vote.

 

The rest of the week went something like this: Ethan would drive me to school, I'd meet up with Seth, we'd chat in English, go to History, talk about Mandy behind her back then go our separate ways. We'd meet up at the end of the day, talk about whatever happened in our classes, then head home. I was slowly getting used to talking in school. Even if it only was for a short amount of time, I began looking forward to these small chatting sessions. It was like someone other than Ethan cared. Not that Ethan wasn't great, it's just that your brother can get kind of annoying after a while.

About a month later, it was almost Halloween. The weather dropped a few degrees, though not much to make any difference. It was still sweltering. And Ethan had finally let me go to the beach! Huzzah! This was most exciting, because about a week before Halloween, Seth had asked me if I wanted to go.

So, we trudged up to the beach and I hoped he didn't expect me to go swimming. That would be bad. We settled our beach gear on the sand and opened a large umbrella. We lathered up on sunscreen and tossed a frisbee around for awhile.

"So, you have a brother?" I asked flinging the blue disk. It soared high, then descended into Seth's hands. He flung it back and I had to jump to catch it.

"Yeah. Derrick. He's a Junior."

"You guys must be pretty awesome at frisbee." I tossed the frisbee again, but it landed short. He laughed.

"We are." he agreed. He picked up the frisbee and started throwing with a vengeance. He threw it so hard it landed in the water behind me. Hesitantly, I stepped up to the shoreline. The waves kept bringing it in and then sweeping it back out. Seth shouted something behind me. I didn't hear him. I stepped in to my ankles. At this moment, I could only hear my heart which was thumping erratically in my ears.

"Kallie?" I could hear over the drums. I felt the water splashing and saw a hand pick up the frisbee. Seth came up to me.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He was confused, I could see it in his face. It was just going to get a frisbee, just going out to a foot of water. But a foot of water could mean death if something happened. And I wasn't about to take any chances.

"Yeah." I told him. "Fine." He watched me strangely for the rest of the time we were there- I could see him mentally taking notes when I declined going in the water. We were sitting under the umbrella when he interupted me when I was rambling stupidly about something that now I couldn't even remember.

"Why don't you want to go in the water?" he questioned me. I froze. Then I mentally berated myself. This was stupid! It wasn't a big secret, it wasn't that big of a deal...anymore.

"I- uh, don't know how to swim." I said lamely. Which was true, I didn't know how to. But that wasn't why I didn't want to go in the water anymore.

"You don't know how to swim." he said flatly. I nodded feebly. He was very perceptive, I noticed. Almost like me. He watched everything, taking everything in and cautiously made decisions. We were similar in the concept that we were hesitant about the way we acted and how we acted around people.

"Why is that?" he asked conversationally. I sighed. It was going to come out eventually. I just hoped it wouldn't be this soon. I knew him enough, but it was still very hard to talk about- that's why Ethan and I hardly ever did.

"I never wanted to." I said honestly. "It's a long story-"

"We have nothing but time." he said nonchalantly. I sighed again. Here we go.

"When you asked me if I had any brothers or sisters, I only said I had a brother." I took a deep breath. "But if you were to ask me ten years ago, I would have told you I had a sister. At the time, my family consisted of me, my mother, my brother and my younger sister, Kristy." His eyes widened a little in shock, but he otherwise didn't move.

"I was six and Kristy was three. My mother had told Ethan and I to watch her, to make sure she didn't go into the water. Ethan was seven and my mother was talking to one of the neighbors." I could feel a lump forming in my throat, my windpipe tightening. "We were young. We were little kids. And we weren't paying attention. All I remember is that my mother was screaming and Kristy was gone." I whispered. I could see the memory forming in my head. Ethan and I playing catch with a ball, not caring, nor wanting to, about what Kristy was doing. We were big kids, we didn't want to look after a baby. I remember throwing the ball back to Ethan and then my mother screaming. I told this to Seth.

"My mother's face...she looked tortured. She was screaming so loud...and then the police came and they searched the beach, but they couldn't find her. They searched the water too, but they couldn't find a body." I looked up at Seth who was watching me with a deadpanned.

"We don't know what happened. The police questioned everyone who was there, but no one saw anything. We don't know if she was kidnapped or if she...if she drowned." My voice broke and I couldn't speak anymore. This was too much. I tried not thinking about it, whenever I came down here to the beach, and I usually never did. But this just brought back so many memories. The way the breeze was whipping my hair that day, the bathing suit I was wearing. Kristy had a ribbon in her hair. The ball was red. The sand was hot. The water warm.

"Kallie," Seth said quietly. I looked down. I sniffed and wiped my tears away.

"That's why I don't go in the water," I finished. "because she could be out there." We were both still for a moment and all I could hear were the ominous waves crashing up and down the beach and the occasional seagull chirping in the distance. Seth took my hand. I looked up and he squeezed me hand. He smiled faintly but I couldn't pull myself to do the same. He meant well, but it was difficult for me to talk about my sister. She was only a baby and her life had been taken away much too quickly.

"Do you want to go home?" he said a little later. He was still holding my hand. I sniffed then nodded.

 

I knew I was dreaming. Even in my dream I knew it was a dream. I was running. Just running.

I was running down a dirt road. It was just one solitary road with a wooden fence on both sides and beyond that miles and miles of light green grass. It was early in the morning; the sun was just barely over the horizon. In my dream, I asked myself why I was running in the first place; where was I going? Was there a reason for just running? What was I leaving behind? Anything important?

Before I could answer, sometime dark appeared at the end of the road. Not that I knew where that was- it was on the line that separated the sky from the road. Just a black dot. And even in my dream I knew that it was important to get to that dot.

So I picked up the pace. I made my legs pick themselves up and push themselves down. I could feel my heart beat in my chest though I wasn't uncomfortable. My feet were moving ceaselessly beneath me. I was barely making progress- I was either running very slowly or the black dot was just too far away.

After awhile, my vision began to fade around the edges- kinda like an old movie. The picture flickered once, then turned gray. It was then I realized I was looking up at the ceiling.

I sighed, rolled over and went back to sleep without looking at the clock.

 

When I woke up again, it was much brighter outside- I saw that the clock read 1:42 pm. Surprised, I rolled out of bed to find that Ethan wasn't in the house. His keys and truck were gone. I found a note taped to the refrigerator.

Kal,

Went to Paul's house for a while. Before I come home, I'll go to the store and get some food. Italian sound good to you? I'll be home before 5.

-Ethan

I threw the note in the trash and made some toast. Paul was Ethan's best friend since kindergarden. They were exactly the same person in two different body's. Paul had a sister too, but she was younger, maybe 12. Not much you can do with a 12 year old when you're 16.

I threw my bathing suit on with shorts and a big white t shirt. I left my hair down but put a headband on to keep it out of my face. I would go down to the beach for awhile. Ethan wouldn't be home for a few hours, so that meant I could sit on my towel and relax for a bit.

It was a short car ride to the beach, but a ten minute walk for me. I didn't mind, I didn't have much stuff anyways. I just had a bag with a sandwich and an apple in it, three bottles of water and a blanket. I walked along the edge of the highway, keeping one foot on the road and the other on the grass. There weren't many people on the road today and for that I was grateful- the last time I walked to the beach, three cars had stopped and asked me if I needed a ride- and I would've gladly accepted- if they weren't all old guys with missing teeth. I shuddered.

Just as this thought ran through my head, a dark blue truck pulled up beside me. I stopped in alarm and I felt my jaw slacken in shock. It was that guy- from the beach! The old guy with yellow teeth, the guy I saw when I first met Seth! He was grinning wickedly at me, and I slowly became aware that I was pretty much in the middle of the highway with no one around besides this perve.

"Need a ride, sugar?" he asked. He patted the seat next to him and I shook my head quickly. I cleared my stuck throat.

"No thank you, sir." I said politely, but my voice shook and I think he could hear it, because a second later he grinned.

"Don't worry about it, sugar. I don't bite." He grinned again and I caught a flash of silver in the back of his mouth. My stomach clenched tightly.

"No, that's okay. I'll just walk." I began inching forward and so did his truck.

"It's a pretty long walk for a pretty girl like you- sure you're legs won't tire out?"

"I'm fine, sir." I tried not looking at him as I held my head up and continued walking. I could feel his truck crawling next to me for a moment, then it stopped dead.

"What the-" The guy glared at his rearview mirror and I turned around. There was a white pickup truck pulling up behind him. Seth leaned out. He glanced at the truck in front of him.

"Is there a problem?" he asked. I let out a sigh of relief.

"No there ain't!" The guy snapped. "Run along now, kid." I glared at him for a second before I turned back to Seth. Someone- Derrick?- was in the passenger seat, but he had that whole bed in the back...

"Can I get a ride?" I asked quickly, already walking slowly towards him. He nodded quickly and I ran to the truck, throwing my stuff in the back and hopped in. I leaned out and saw the guy still scowling. He turned the wheel to the right and pulled away, his muffler backfiring. Seth opened the small window that separated us and he and Derrick turned around.

"What happened?" he demanded. I quickly told him the story and took a deep breath.

"Could you take me to the beach, please?"

"I would say no, but we're going to the beach anyway." he told me and putting the truck in drive. I settled myself in a more comfortable position.

"Why would you say no?" I asked hotly. He glared at me from the rearview mirror.

"He's that creepy guy from the beach that your brother doesn't like!" I rolled my eyes and then coughed. Count on Seth to drag my brother into it. I held my hand out through the small window.

"Kallie Browning. You must be Seth's brother."

"Derrick," he told me and grasped my hand. "You've seen that guy before?" I nodded.

"The last time I was here, I was with my brother, but he jumped out of the bushes and just glared at us." I paused. "It was pretty strange, but it is California- people who live on the streets are always asking for money and being rude. It's pretty normal."

"Yeah, well that guy isn't." Seth retorted and pulled up to the beach. He turned the truck off and turned to me.

"Promise me that you won't come here without your brother or someone else," he said pointedly. "please."

"What?" I asked in shock. "Why?"

"Because weirdos like that could just snatch a pretty girl like you up." He winked and got out of the truck. I sighed and followed. Derrick sidled up beside me.

"I think he likes you," he whispered a little loudly. I snickered as Seth slapped him upside his head. Derrick ran off when he saw someone he knew from class, leaving me and Seth alone. We set up our towels and umbrellas and settled on the sand. The silence was tangible; it was very awkward and uncomfortable. Seth coughed.

"So tell me about your family," he said. "I've only heard you talk about Ethan- what's your mom like? And your dad?" My stomach clenched tightly and I inwardly groaned. Any other topic would have been fine. He had to go and think this one up. I sighed.

"What do you want to know?" I asked, casually trying to avoid the big question.

"What do they do?" I paused, trying to think of a plausible answer. My dad had died when I was younger. I didn't know him at all, and I'm pretty sure Ethan didn't either. I'm not sure how he died, but that he did when I was an infant. My mother on the other hand, was a different story. In all actuality, I didn't even know myself what she did for a living. I tried remembering the last time I had an actual conversation with my mother before she was shipped off to jail. I guess I was quiet for longer than I thought, because Seth waved a hand in front of me. I stared at him and his expression changed.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded and cleared my throat. I told him about my dad. Kyle was quiet for a minute.

"I'm sorry. Your mom though?" he inquired. I stayed silent.

"You don't know where your mom works?" He said each word carefully and slowly, like they weren't the words he was originally going to say. I shook my head. He nodded then squinted.

"Do you know what time she leaves and what time she gets home?" I shook my head and could feel something build up inside of me. It took me a second before I realized I felt ashamed. I blushed and put my head down.

"Do you...have a mom?" I could tell he was confused now and I knew I had to tell him. He was getting more and more curious and if I didn't say something soon, he would probably think something was worse. I nodded.

"My mother," I said slowly. "used to live with me and Ethan." I looked up and furrowed my brow. "She doesn't anymore."

"What happened?" Seth asked quietly.

"She had a husband. One that me and Ethan didn't know about. They were married for a year." I paused. "The police came that morning. Her husband was dead. They took her away for his murder." Seth inhaled sharply.

"Did she do it?" he asked. I looked up at him. His eyes were such a startling shade of hazel, so bright and warm, almost yellow. I shrugged.

"We don't know. But in all honesty, I think she did." I sniffed. "Which is pretty sad. But if you knew my mother, you'd probably think so too."

We were silent for a minute. I cleared my head and tried not to think about anything at all as I watched the waves. The sounds soothed my insides and then Seth spoke.

"Why do you think..." He didn't have to finish his question.

"For money." I told him. "We're kinda poor. And my mother was struggling to make ends meet. My brother has a job, but it's almost minimum wage and my mother liked to spend her paycheck on booze, so... I bet she thought she'd inherit his money, so she killed him. I don't think she thought the police would catch up with her so quickly." I said coldly. She was ridiculous and that was probably her reason for the murder. If she did kill him.

I could see Seth was shaken. His face was pasty and he had a strange look on his face. I smiled at him faintly.

"You okay?" I asked softly. "I just kinda loaded that all on you. I'm not the usual beach girl." I kidded. He smiled back.

"It's just a shock." he said. "To think you've been going through all this and you're...okay. You're fine, like you don't let it bother you."

"I don't want it to. So I just- I try to not let it bother me by thinking about other things,"I said optimistically. "My brother is great, so he's really all I need. Sometimes though you get that person who wants to know all about you." I laughed as he blushed. I sat up straighter. The awkwardness was over.

"So, what about you?" I asked him. "I feel conceited, I'm just talking about myself. What about you? What's your mom and dad do?"

"Well, my mom is a lawyer. She works in the city mostly, so I usually only see her on the weekends. My dad owns the auto shop on Main Street."

"So, what was New York like?" I asked him. "I only know that it's humid and muggy there."

"Well, unlike California, it has more than one season." I laughed.

"So you've seen actual snow?" He look surprised.

"Are you saying you haven't?" I nodded.

"I've always wanted to. It looks like fun to build a snowman!" He nodded.

"Yeah, it can get really cold in the winter, and then sweltering in the summer. We lived on Long Island, so it was particularly humid there, surrounded by water."

"Wow," I said jealously. "You've seen the Atlantic Ocean before? That's so cool!" He watched me bemused. I could understand, I was acting like I was 5 on Christmas. I started explaining.

"It's just- I always wanted to see things I've never seen before. I want to do things in life, I want to travel and take pictures. It looks fun."

"Well, there's nothing really special about Long Island." He told me. "Cali's much more exciting." He looked at me pointedly and I blushed. There was a noise behind us and Seth looked over my shoulder and immediately his face hardened. I went to go look, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me up. He dragged me towards his truck.

"What're you doing?" I asked bewilderedly, pulling on my arm. What was up with him? I went to go look my behind me and my heart skipped a beat.

That guy was standing on my towel glaring at me. On my towel!

Seth shoved me in the truck on the passenger side.

"Don't move. When I shut the door, lock it." he ordered.

"Seth-" I said, but he slammed the door shut. I locked the doors as he said and watched as he stalked up to the guy angrily. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but a moment later, the guy walked off. He glanced behind him and sneered at me through the windshield. I looked around at the parking lot and saw him climb into his truck. I looked back at Seth who was now being approached by Derrick and his friend. They spoke for a moment, before gathering up our stuff and heading towards the truck. I went to go unlock my door, but Seth shook his head at me. He dumped my stuff in the back and Derrick jumped in with it after shaking his friend's hand and walking off. I unlocked the driver's side door and he came in. He started the truck sharply and peeled out.

"What did you say to him?"

"Don't worry about it." he retorted and I regarded him in surprise. He was so worked up about it, it was half annoying and half cute at the same time. Through the window, Derrick made a face at me and I grinned in spite of myself and the situation. We rode through Main Street in silence and we passed the mechanics shop that his dad owned. I peered in as we whipped by but couldn't see anyone. A minute later we pulled up to my house. Ethan's truck was in the driveway and the door was open.

"Please don't go to the beach by yourself, Kallie." he asked me and I sighed. He was turning into Ethan.

"Promise me," he prompted. I held up my hand.

"I promise," I said.

"See you in school tomorrow?"

"Yep. Unless of course I get abducted by the creepy guy from the beach." I opened my mouth in mock horror but he gave me the evil eye. I laughed and stepped out of the truck.

"Peace out." I said to Derrick and waved at Seth.

When I got inside, I smelled pizza. The smell of cheese was wafting through the air and I followed it into the kitchen. Ethan was cutting it into 8 pieces.

"This is your idea of Italian food?" I asked him. He nodded and grinned. I shook my head and grabbed a slice.

"What happened to going to work today?" I asked through the gooey slice of cheese. He swallowed.

"Off today. You should start thinking of getting a job," he told me. I rolled my eyes.

"No, really," he argued. "We really need it, Kallie. Badly. Mom's paycheck didn't seem like enough, but it was enough to keep us alive. I can barely do it on my own." I sighed.

"I'll look around," I told him.

"That's all I ask."

 

 

"I'm going to the store!"

"Why?"

"There's no food!"

"You're not taking my truck!"

"Yes I am!"

"No-"

But I had his keys in my hand and I raced out to the truck before he could get downstairs. I pulled out of the driveway just as he opened the front door.

"Kallie!" I laughed as I pressed my foot down a little harder, sending the truck down the street and out of sight.

I grabbed a basket as I walked into the store. We needed the essentials, eggs, butter, milk, bread- and I didn't take long and as I walked out of the store, I took my time. Ethan wasn't really angry with me- we went through that routine at least once a week.

When I walked out of the store, it was quiet. The store had been almost deserted, as well as the parking lot. I was just pulling Ethan's keys out of my pocket, when several things happened at once, all in the span of maybe 5 seconds-

The bag of groceries were knocked out of my hands. Eggs rolled, the milk carton split and splattered everywhere. I felt a blow to my head and I saw stars as I fell to my knees. Someone slapped a hand over my mouth, though I had no air in me to scream, and threw me bodily over their shoulder. I saw the black creeping around the corners of my vision before I lost it completely and I knew no more.

 

 

When I woke up what felt like 5 seconds later, I was no longer outside. It was dark and wet. I lay in a cold puddle on the ground. It was quiet. There was a sliver of light that shone on the wall in front of me. I could see it was made of concrete. I sat up and shivered. There was a breeze and when I looked up I saw it came from a window that was near the ceiling. It was night.

I stood gingerly and rubbed my aching head. I stumbled and felt a long the walls for a door. There was none that I could feel. As I went to turn, I stumbled again, but this time, not on my own two feet- there was something on the ground, something metal that I could feel through my flip-flop. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the little light I had, I saw that it was a door- on the ground. My foot had nudged the handle. I tugged. It was locked. I shivered again, though the breeze was gone. Goosebumps found their way onto my arms again. I was being watched. I could feel it. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The light was gone.

I turned to the window. The light was back and whatever had been blocking it was gone. Something caught my eye and I looked all the way up- there was another trapdoor on the ceiling, a short rope hanging from the handle. I knew even if I jumped, I wouldn't reach it, but I did anyway. No luck. Frustrated, I distanced the jump from the ground to the window and came up with ten feet. I jumped, but I knew I was no superhero- there was no way I'd get to it without something to hold me up. I was short, and I resented it.

Irritated, I let out a grunt as I sat down in the puddle again. Moisture seemed to seep through the walls. I screamed in frustration. It echoed back.

As I heard my scream ring in my ears, it all came crashing down- I was abducted. I had no idea where I was, I had no idea how I'd gotten there and I had no idea of when I was going back home. I stared at the wall.

And I stared at the wall until my eyelids became heavy and I fell asleep.

 

When I opened my eyes again for the second time, the sun was in view of the window, though I knew it wasn't morning. Early afternoon, I guessed. I stood up and stretched my joint-locked bones. I distanced the window again. I screamed again.

"Hey!"

I jumped at the sudden sound and crashed into the opposite wall, stumbling again over the handle on the ground.

Someone was staring at me through the window.

And that someone was the creep from the beach.

I screeched as he threw something small through the window. On further inspection, it appeared to be a gray ball. A second later, the creep cackled and fled. I looked back down at the ball and it began to smoke. Thick, curling gray smoke that wafted through the room and filled my lungs. I coughed and choked and breathed in through my shirt, though I knew it wouldn't work.

My legs gave out beneath me and I crumbled to the floor.

 

The third time I awoke, I noticed that I was not lying down. In fact, I was standing, but just barely- my feet were hardly touching the ground. My arms ached and for a second I wondered why, but then I felt it. My wrists tied together, chained to the wall above me. On my feet were shackles and they too were bolted to the wall. I was in a different room, something more open but darker. My eyes adjusted, but there wasn't much I could see- there was a wooden door but at the end of the long room.

It opened. He started walking towards me, but he was dragging something behind him. Upon further inspectin, I saw it was Ethan.

"NO!"

I screamed and pulled on the shackles. He just grinned as he shackled Ethan's legs then pulled him upright and then shackled his wrists. Ethan was out cold. There was a gash on his forehead and the right side of his face was red with blood.

"What do you want?" I screamed. "Who are you?"

He turned around. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and jeans. He his hair was mussy and greasy and his teeth were yellow. I cringed but stared at him defiantly.

"Who am I?" he rasped. "Nathan Stelz." He glared at me. He left.

Stelz.

My blood froze. Stelz.

Someone we knew? I didn't remember the last time I saw someone besides Ethan that gave me comfort.

Author's Note

So this is all I have so far. I'm on haitus at the moment; life is a little chaotic, so I'm sorry. But I'll be back soon :]

Reviews

[NCPanthersgurl]

That's a really great read, and I can't wait to read more!

The only critique I might have is isn't this a bit long for a prologue? Would it be better as a chapter?

Otherwise can't wait for your next post.

[Tay Mo :)]

Good Job! I liked it. This was a good topic choice too. =)