Terrifying Love: A Halloween Anthology Read online

  “Get in!” Evan yells between the punches as he hits Oscar again. I do what he says and run to the other side, ignoring the two men on the ground. I jump into the car and start the engine.

  Paula holds the door open and screams, “Evan!” He doesn’t hesitate as he lands another punch on Oscar’s face and rushes into the car. I’m already driving when the door closes.

  Chapter Four

  We are all panting inside the car, my hands are sweaty on the steering wheel as I suck in breath after breath. “How?” I mumble under my breath, over and over as I finally manage to get my breathing back to somewhat normal.

  “I don’t know, but we need to get as far away as we can,” Evan says and I nod, not trusting my voice to be steady. Stepping on the gas, I go as fast as I can down the small road. I didn't even look where we were going, and at the moment I don’t care, we need to get away from here as fast as we can.

  Soft sobbing sounds next to me, and I glance to my right. Paula’s cheeks are covered in tears and she bites her bottom lip, probably not wanting to make a sound. I can’t do anything, and I don’t have to as Evan pulls her against him and wraps his strong arms around the girl. She starts sobbing louder and I hear Evan mumble things to her, stroking her arm as he tells her it will all be fine, that we’ll be at her parents’ home soon.

  I keep on driving, searching for a highway that will lead us toward Zheamouth as fast as possible. We need to get her back to her parents and have her safe. We’ll deal with everything else later. I’m driving as the night falls.

  “Willow, let’s get off the main road here,” Evan says after we've been on it for two hours. I look at him, my eyes wide and I nod. I’ve been checking the mirrors every second. Every car that stayed too long behind us made me nervous and the distance we put between us and the town didn’t help calm me down. I do what he asked and go off the main road. We’re now on a smaller two-lane road. “There, go in there,” Evan says, and I look towards the direction he’s pointing out. It leads to a pear farm and I do what he asks. “Just stop somewhere on the side of the road, we’ll get some sleep here.” I glance at him, nervous about what he’s asking, and he notices. “It will be alright, we’ve not been followed, and we need to sleep, Willow, you need to sleep.”

  His words are a comfort to me, and I stop on the road as far to the side as I can, hiding the car in the bushes as much as I can manage. “Come,” Evan says as he opens the door softly. Paula had fallen asleep and Evan lays her down on the seat. She mumbles something but continues sleeping. I’m relieved to see that she can still sleep, and I hope it will stay like that.

  I get out of the car and the fresh forest air fills my nose as I take a deep breath. I hear Evan walking around, the door still open behind me and the light inside the car burning. When he stops in front of me, I can see a cut on his right eyebrow and a bruise on his cheek. “I have a first aid kit,” I say to him, and without waiting for him, I walk to the back of my truck, glad that I have something to do before I have to think about everything that’s happened so far. The driving has distracted me, and now that we stood still, I could already feel the panic flow in, ready to take over.

  I open the waterproof box I have in the back of my truck. Taking out the first aid kid, I walk back to Evan. “Here,” I say as I point toward the seat and he leans against it, turning his head slightly so it’s still in the light. I open the bag and start cleaning the wound on his face. His skin is soft, and he doesn’t flinch when I touch a wet alcohol cloth against the cut. “Are you okay otherwise?” I ask him, a little ashamed that I didn't ask before. I only focused on getting away as fast as possible.

  “I’m fine,” he says, and I stare at him. “I’m truly fine,” he chuckles a little. “They can’t get me down that fast,” he adds and that’s when I let out the breath I've been holding, his soft chuckles chasing away the fear that wants to take over. And I focus back on his eyebrow. I put a bandage over the cut to keep it clean, as it started to bleed a little while I cleaned it. I clean the rest of his face, removing the dried-up blood that had trailed down from his eyebrow. I start placing everything back into the first aid bag as Evan grabs my hands. “You’re hurt,” he says as he turns my hands over. They had been aching slightly, but I didn't see how they look. Now that we stood still and with the lights on, I can see two cuts in my right hand near my wrist and a small cut on my left under my pinky finger.

  “I made a mess of the steering wheel,” I say as I look at it. I've been bleeding when I touched the steering wheel as we drove away. I start pulling my hands free, wanting to get it cleaned.

  “Willow,” Evan starts, and he loosens his grip on my wrists, not wanting to squeeze the cuts on my hands. “It’s alright,” he says as I look at him. “I’ll clean that when I’m done cleaning your hands.” He gives me a smile and I finally nod. He looks back at the cuts. “They aren’t too deep. I’ll clean them and leave them open. Alright?” he asks me, and I nod. I let him clean my hands, and he does it with the softest touch I’ve ever felt. He carefully goes over the wounds to clean them one more time before he let’s go of my hands. “Now let me see your face,” he says, and I look up at him. I've been following his hands moving over mine. “You have a split lip. Do you have any pain in your head?” he asks me.

  “No,” I say as I shake my head.

  “I thought you hit your head against the car.” he says and tilts his head as he studies me.

  “I did, but it’s fine. I’m alright. It wasn’t as hard as it sounded.” I touch my lip when I feel it throbbing. “It’s so strange that when you don’t talk about the injuries it sometimes feels like they aren’t there. Until you talk about them.” I lick my lip and taste my blood, the copper taste filling my mouth as I pull my tongue back.

  “Here,” Evan says as he grabs a water bottle and wets a piece of cloth from the first aid kid. He looks at me and his hand hovers in front of my face. I lean a little closer giving him permission. He touches my face as softly as he had done my hands, cleaning my split lip with the utmost care. “You sure you’re alright?” he asks again.

  “Mmmh,” I hum out as he’s still cleaning my lip. My gaze is on his and I’m getting lost in those hazelnut eyes of his. He pulls away the cloth, almost with trembling in his movement, as if he didn’t want to stop touching my face.

  “Good,” he stands in front of me, only that word between us, and I study him. I didn't have a chance to really look at him, not this close. And I notice the small scar he has that goes from the right side of his hair line down to the top of his cheek, it is thin and white. My hand goes up to touch it, to trail the thin white scar.

  “What happened here?” I ask him softly, not sure why I’m suddenly speaking in a hushed tone.

  His hand comes on top of mine and my gaze is pulled back to his. “A building exploded, and we stood near it. I got hit with a piece of wood from the door,” he tells it in such coldness that I lean in. Pulling my hand free, I hug him.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to him. He lets out a deep sigh and I hug him tighter. “Thank you for everything you've done.” And I didn’t mean just now, I meant also him serving his country.

  “No problem,” he says, and I can hear the awkwardness in his voice, so I start pulling back, but his arms come around me and he keeps me close. My ear is on his chest and I listen to the strong heartbeat while we stand there in silence.

  “We should get some sleep,” I mumble, even if I don't want to leave his comfortable, perfectly safe, arms.

  “You’ll sleep and I’ll keep an eye out,” he says. I go to the car as I pull away from him. “We need to be careful. And I’ll be fine on my own.” He gives me a smile, even if it doesn’t reach his eyes fully, as we’re not in a situation that will allow us to enjoy smiles like that. Still, it’s gorgeous.

  “Alright, only if you sit behind the steering wheel next to me.” He nods and I step into the car, gently moving Paula slightly out of the way, making a little more room for us. I sit down and
Evan sits next to me. For a moment, we sit there awkwardly, not sure what to do as the tension seems to be growing between us. After a moment, I take the next step and lean against his arm, my head on his shoulder. “Night,” I say to him softly and close my eyes. It doesn’t take much to fall sleep.

  I’m waking up over and over again, and I gasp for air every single time as I’m pulled out of my sleep. When the sun starts to come up, I’m done trying to sleep. “Shall we go?” I ask Evan who sits next to me, watching everything around us.

  “Yeah, that’s alright,” he says, not telling me that I need more sleep.

  “Shall I drive so you can get some sleep? We should be fine on the roads.” I say to him, not sure about the last part but we didn't have any problems on the road so far, only when we stopped.

  “Sure,” he answers, and I’m glad he’s not acting like a — I’m a man and macho and I can do anything I want — and insists on driving.

  He starts to get out of the car when his phone goes off, the buzzing sound pulling my attention to his pocket. His gets it out and answers the phone. “Evan.” He looks at me and opens the door. He steps outside and closes it behind him. He walks a little further and I follow him with my gaze.

  “Who’s that?” Paula’s soft voice comes from my side and I turn toward her.

  My brow furrows as I answer, “I think it’s his FBI friend.” This makes Paula sit upright and her gaze goes to Evan who is talking outside and according to the erratic hand movements, this isn’t a fun conversation ether.

  When he’s done, he storms back toward the car.

  “What happened?” I ask him when he opens the door. He looks at me and I pull up my eyebrows in question as I wait for him to spill it.

  “I talked to Marcus, my FBI friend. They want us to travel to the Blue Moon Hotel in Larkensaw, they’ll be there waiting for us.”

  “Say what now?” I exclaim.

  “Willow,” he starts, and I click with my tongue.

  “No, Evan. They suggested that we would use her as bait. Not a chance.” I shake my head with those words and fold my arms in front of me as I settle my gaze on Evan.

  “Willow, I know what you mean. But it’s a good plan, even if I don’t like it either,” he says, and starts getting into the car. I slide to the side to give him room.

  “No, Evan. We are not doing this. We are not going to endanger her life. She has had enough of that already. They need to come up with a new plan.” I glare at him.

  Evan sighs deeply, his hand on the steering wheel. “Look, we don’t have a choice. Would you rather keep on traveling and stop at a motel, be awaited by them again and have the chance that we’ll lose this time? Or would you want the FBI waiting for us so we could catch these bastards?”

  I lean toward him even if he has a point I say, “No. Hell, no. Not a chance. Not going to happen, they better think of something else. No!” My arms still folded in front of me as I give him a glare.

  “Willow.”

  “Don’t Willow me…“ I hold up my finger in front of him. “You know damn well that this is a bad plan. We’re not going to use a fourteen-year-old as a bait, especially not when she just got away from those people. Three times now. So, no.” My hands ball into fists as I lay them on my legs and lean back, my body full of tension as anger surges through me. What the hell does the FBI think they are doing? You don’t do that to a kid. She’s been through hell and back and they still want to use her.

  “They—” he takes a deep breath and says through gritted teeth, “insisted that we would keep on traveling, go to the next hotel and they would be there.” Evan says and I could hear the defeat in his voice.

  Still, I don’t care. “Even if they threatened to throw you in a burning lava pit, you still should’ve said no.”

  “That’s not how it works, Willow. I can’t,” he growls at me.

  “Oh, yes, you can. It’s so freaking easy, just NO. That’s it, only those two letters. N.O.” I lean toward him, my lips thinned as I stare him down. And I’m using my full on 'I’m the span of Satan' stare that made the biggest bully at my schoolyard cry one time. He only stares at me as I increase the level of fierceness as I narrow my eyes at him.

  He opens his mouth to protest, but I’m getting ready to just throw him out of the car and close the door in his face while I drive off. “I’ll be the bait,” Paula says from behind me, and I swivel around fast.

  “No,” I say to her and she rolls her eyes at me. “Paula,” her name comes out me in a breath.

  “Look, Willow, you guys did so much for me and if this helps getting them, then we need to do this. I’ll be fine, right, Evan?” she asks him with a shaky voice as she looks past me.

  “I’ll keep you safe, no matter what,” he promises her, and I could see her lips twitch into a quick smile.

  “Let’s do this,” Paula says, and I open my mouth to tell her no. “It’s my choice, Willow, you are not my parents,” and with that, she has a point. I only cross my arms.

  “I’ll call Marcus,” Evan says, and I hear him walking away again. This time he leaves the door open and I get flashes of what they are discussing. I can’t figure out a full plan out of it.

  So, when he walks back to the car, I ask him, “What the plan?”

  Chapter Five

  We ended up driving for another day, as Marcus wanted us to do the same as we've done the previous two days. Drive, get sleep, and do it all over again the next day. Evan explained the plan to us a few times, and I am not sure it will work, but I can't say anything about it as we stop in front of another motel in another small town. We go through the same routine as we've done twice before, trying to keep everything as ‘normal’ as we can as to not tip Nemesis or Oscar off that something was going on.

  “Are you sure you can do this?” I ask Paula as we wait for Evan to come with the motel key.

  “Yes,” she says in a voice that is steadier than my own. Evan comes back quickly, and we move into the room he rented for us. It’s the same as the first one, brown and boring but this time it feels darker, more darkness looming over us than the first time.

  “You know what to do?” Evan asks as he closes the door behind us. She nods at him, as she sits down on the bed, her fingers wiggling around each other, showing the nerves that she doesn’t voice to us.

  “Do you think they will show up?” Paula asks, and I glance to Evan as I’ve been wondering the same thing. The first time might have been a lucky break for them when they found us.

  Evan walks over and lowers himself in front of Paula. Taking her wiggling hands in his, he says, “We don’t know for sure, but we need to try this, Paula.” He squeezes her hands as he continues, “It’s likely that they are following us in some way. They have seen us getting into Willow’s car twice now and with how they are after you, it seems they really need you, so yeah, I think they will show up.” It’s not the most reassuring talk I’ve heard but it’s the truth. And Paula knows that as she nods, her face white and blank and I’m worried for her, for when everything’s over. Will she recover from this? I really hope so.

  “I’ll go do my thing then,” I say to them as Evan gets up and stops in front of me. His hand hovers in the air, almost if he wants to touch my face but doesn’t know if it’s okay, so he settles for my shoulder.

  “Be careful, go to the store, someone’s waiting for you there,” he gives me a small squeeze. “Stay safe, Willow,” he adds. I nod at him and go out of the room, without saying goodbye to Paula, I don’t want to say anything as it would mean a goodbye and this isn’t it. I look to my left and right, trying to act like I would if we weren’t planning on catching the bad guys. I walk as fast as I can to the clothing store they have in this town. It’s down the road on the others side from the motel, and I dash inside quickly. I walk to the back of the store, picking out a few pieces of clothing as I try to act as normal as I can. A man walks toward me. I glance at him as my heart starts racing and my stomach twists.

  �
��Follow me please,” he says and holds up his badge. I let out an audible sigh as I place the clothing I had picked up on some rack and follow him out of the store. We’re going through the back, walking down a small back ally and into another door. We go through a kitchen and enter a small lunchroom styled restaurant. It’s empty except for the FBI people who sit here.

  “I’m Marcus,” a man says as he stands up from the bar and walks over to me. He looks older than Evan, his hair is short and blonde, and he wears glasses on a slightly hawk like nose. His face is clean shaven, and he wears jeans and a sweater. Something, I think, is way better than you normally see in the movies, and certainly better than the guy who picked me up from the store. It’s always like they have a neon sign above their heads with ‘FBI over here’ written on it.

  “Willow,” I say.

  “I know,” he answers as he turns back to the window. The lunchroom isn’t big and we’re at the bar with our backs to the window, except for Marcus who is facing the window. We have to wait for roughly half an hour for Evan to walk in. I’m not sure if my heart has been running a marathon already, but now that he’s in the restaurant, I feel it turning up a notch.

  “Is she alright?” I ask him as he stops next to me. His hand touches my arm as he nods.

  “She’s alone and knows what to do,” he says, and I’m not fully sure if he’s talking to me or to Marcus, who nods as well.

  Evan takes a seat as Marcus says, “And now we wait for them.” And that’s what we do. We waited for two hours and in those two hours I've been pacing up and down the restaurant, almost getting into a fight with the FBI person who told me to calm down and sit down.

  For the fourth time I repeat, “We should’ve been back by now. They know we wouldn’t leave her alone this long. They know you are here.”