Chapter 33

                                    

                                          
KATHLEENS POV~
                          
My eyes crack open. There's a ringing in my ears and a throbbing at the back of my head, but what worries me most is the sense of floating as my mind bends over backwards to wake up. 
                          
I look around within my foggy vision. The room is small, with black walls and a bench. With further inspection I notice a window on the back wall. Modest with bars instead of glass. That's when I realize I'm in the back of a van. 
                          
My arm twitches as it comes back to life, and slowly my legs return as well. I use my hands and knees to support me as I try my best to silently stand. 
                          
Walking is harder than I ever remember it being, and I imagine that this must be how babies feel before they've learnt to take their first steps. 
                          
I make it to the window and use the bars as support so that I can lean against the wall. In the drivers seat sits my Mother. Both hands on the wheel as she looks at the road, and in the passenger seat is the boy who took me. 
                          
I vaguely remember red hair, but that's about it. Not his face, not his eyes. Just his smile...
                          
I told Dean that my Mom wasn't going to be the one to take me. She had a plan, and she knew she'd get caught, so she sent somebody else. I just have no idea who. 
                          
I take a deep breath to make sure my lungs still work, and thanks to the blasting music, neither of my captors have noticed I was awake. 
                          
"Didn't hit me hard enough," I shout. The boy jumps so high Id probably laugh if I didn't feel as if my body was broken. 
                          
He flips his head towards me, eyes flaming, but as we make contact I feel my heart shatter and my face drops in confusion. Just as I do so I can see the boys eyes soften, ever so marginally, and we stare at each other for what feels like hours. 
                          
My mom laughs from her perch in the drivers seat and she turns off the music. 
                          
"I see somebody's awake," she hums. 
                          
"Sure am," I grunt, lifting a hand to the back of my head. I break the stare to look at my palm, that now has blood splattered all over it. 
                          
"I'm sure Ollie didn't mean to hurt you," she adds as she looks at me through the rear view mirror. 
                          
"Liar," I mutter as I meet her eyes. 
                          
"Ah yes, my little lie detector. When was the last time you used that on me? It's been forever."
                          
"I was ten," I say. "You told me you loved me right before you waterboarded me in the basement." 
                          
The boys eyes widen slightly, but Julia shrugs it off as if I hadn't even spoken. 
                          
"So you do remember... it was a pity when I had to leave you there. I thought at least they'd put you into foster care back home, but no. My mother had other ideas."
                          
"She flew me to Virginia because it was the only way to keep me safe."
                          
"Safe from what?"
                          
"From you!" I yell. "An abusive son of a bitch who murdered twenty seven people!"
                          
"Oh now Katy, that's not very nice."
                          
"It's not supposed to be," I roll my eyes. Getting angry was never the answer with her. I just have to find a way to get under her skin. 
                          
"So after Gran told you you'd never find me you killed your self?"
                          
She smiles. "Look who's putting the pieces together."
                          
"What was the point in staying alive?" I ask. 
                          
"What?" 
                          
"Well, Dads not getting out until he's like, sixty five. You've been all alone these past five years. What was the point?"
                          
"I haven't been alone, I had Ollie." She places her hand on his arm and I sigh. 
                          
"Another lie. If anything he's been here for what? A year? Just long enough for you two to have started killing together?"
                          
"Killing?" He blurts. "What the hell are you talking about?"
                          
"Starting nine months ago somebody has been killing all over the country exactly how we used to, isn't that right Julia?"
                          
"Kathy," she says, her tone stern. "What are you talking about?"
                          
"Well I'm talking about your bodies. Unless you think it's possible for somebody to be a copycat? Because, I don't know about you but they looked pretty precise. Every cut the same. Every bruise. And I mean, you've been alive the past nine months, alive and killing. Tell me I'm wrong?" I say sarcastically, and she scowls through the mirror. 
                          
"That wasn't me," she barks. "That's impossible."
                          
I bite my lip. Her words seem true, but then again, with enough practice anyone can be liar. 
                          
"Impossible, yes, unless," I drag out the s and stare at her face, watching for any kind of reaction. "You had an accomplice. Somebody you and Zander killed with, somebody you shared your secrets with." 
                          
Her jaw tightens, and I know I've hit my mark.
                          
"I'm right," I whisper. "But are you really trying to say you had no idea? I find that pretty thin."
                          
"I didn't!" She yells. 
                          
The one thing she hates most? Being blamed for things she didn't do. 
                          
"Aw, I made the big lady mad, didn't I?"
                          
"Shut up you little girl."
                          
"Not so little anymore, am I Mom?"
                          
She falls silent and I laugh. 
                          
"Who even is this guy?" I ask, poking the boy through the bars. "Did you pick him up off the side of the road? Find him in an orphanage? How old even are you?" 
                          
The boy glares at me. "I'm nineteen," he growls. 
                          
"Down boy, no need to get your hackles up," I laugh. "What is a boy like you, doing with a person like her?" I point between the two. "A little bit of an outlandish duo if I do say so myself. What'd she offer you? Money? Compassion?"
                          
"She didn't offer me anything," he barks. "I'm here because I want to be."
                          
"Oh no," I hum. "You see, what you need to understand, Ollie, is that no matter how big or small your lie is, or how well it's hidden, I'll see it. And right there? You were a liar."
                          
My voice is unnaturally calm and high pitched, I've set it in a way that you'd talk to someone illiterate, because that's how I want him to feel. 
                          
I already got the only answer I needed from Julia. Now all I have to do is find out who this boy is, and stay alive. 
                          
"I'm not a liar."
                          
I giggle. "Stop, stop, you're embarrassing yourself."
                          
His eyes alone look at if he could kill, but in the moments I've been with him I know enough to discern that his bad boy presence is just a facade. A facade I will break down if it's the last thing I do. 
                          
Julia clears her throat. That's what she always did after she cooled down. "Well, looks like the girl I knew is coming back," she exclaims. 
                          
"No," I whisper. "The girl you wish you knew, and the girl you wish you raised, but no matter what did to me, I will always be nicer than you could ever be capable of."
                          
Her grip on the wheel tightens and she pushes on the gas slightly harder. I smirk, knowing my plan has worked. Getting on Julia's nerves is the only way to get past her. She likes that. Ollie on the other hand? He'd probably stop telling me anything if he could, but I feel like Julia's presence alone keeps him going, and I can only wonder why. 
                          
"So," I declare. "Where are we going?"