Threatened by C L Hardman - HTML preview

 “You talking about me again?” a voice asks besides Darcia.

 Darcia turns her head to see her mom standing in the doorway. “Go away.”

 “Why?” Avery asks down the phone.

 “Not you,” Darcia tells him. “I mean my mom.” She frowns at her.

 “You've already lost one parent,” her mom says to her. “You don't wanna lose the other.”

 “I lost you when you walked out on me nearly three years ago.”

 Her mom shakes her head, her dark blonde curls dangling high. “I had no choice.”

 “You had a choice,” Darcia tells her. “Just like you have a choice now.” She turns away. “Avery, I'm gonna go. I'll tell you about Detective Allen later on.”

 “Okay,” Avery says. “I'll call you later.”

 Darcia hangs up. She stands from her bed. “I'm going out,” she says as she puts on her jacket. “Oh, wait, I don't need to tell you that because you're not exactly the mothering type, are you?”

 “I thought you wanted to leave the past behind you.”

 “I do,” Darcia shouts. “But you're making it hard for me. I've just lost my dad. I'm going through a tough time right now and it doesn't help the situation by you wanting to sell the house and take me to Georgia.”

 “It''ll be good for you,” her mom smiles. “Start fresh.”

 “It's too late for that,” she says as she heads down the stairs and then leaves the house.

Logan frowns as he wonders why Anna's ignoring his calls. He slams his front door shut and steps into his living room, where he sees Travis sitting on the sofa. “I thought you were at the warehouse.”

 Travis doesn't reply. His eyes focus on the wooden floor and his knuckles are in his mouth.

 “Are you okay? What happened?”

 “I fucked up,” Travis tells him. “I really fucked up. Big time. I don't know what to do.”

 “Okay, just calm down,” Logan says as he steps closer to him. “What happened? Is it James?”

 Travis quickly nods. “I'm so sorry.”

 “Please don't tell me he got away.”

 Travis keeps nodding. “I did it. This is all my fault.”

 “No it's not,” Logan tells him. “It's fine. We'll find James, okay? We'll find him and we'll punish him. It's not your fault.”

 “It's all my fault,” Travis says as he stands. He looks at his little brother, guilt at the pit of his stomach. “It's my fault she's gone. If I'd have never helped James.”

 “What are you talking about? Wait, you helped James?”

 Travis nods again. “I helped him escape. He said he wouldn't hurt you if I let him go, so I believed him. I trusted him. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault, Logan. I didn't expect this to happen. I was selfish. I was thinking about myself again.”

 “Look,” Logan says as he tries to calm his brother down. “It's okay.”

 “It's not okay,” Travis shouts. “If it wasn't for me being a stupid selfish prick then Anna would still be here.”

 Logan steps back and frowns. “What? Does James have Anna?”

 Travis shakes his head.

 “Then what? Where is she? Tell me where she is? What's happened to her?”

 “She's dead,” Travis cries, tears falling from his eyes. “She's dead.”

 “No she's not,” Logan tells him. “Anna isn't dead.”

 “Yes she is,” Travis retorts. “It's all my fault. I should have left James where he was. I should have never helped him. I shouldn't have believed him, but I did. I don't know why, but I did. And now she'd dead through me.”

 Logan swallows hard. “Travis, tell me you're lying right now.”

 Travis falls to the floor. “She's upstairs in your room. I didn't know what do with her.”

 Logan quickly paces to his room and gasps as he sees Anna lay on his bed, her throat slit. “Anna?” He rushes over to her and stares. “Anna, baby?”

 “I'm so sorry,” Travis says as he stands outside Logan's room. “He slit her throat so quick I didn't have chance to stop him.”

 Logan falls to his knees. Tears swell his eyes and for the first time in his life he feels a pain in his chest. He can't breathe. “She's dead. Anna's dead.” He tries to catch his breath. “My girlfriend is dead.” He slowly stands as he takes a deep breath. He wipes away the tears from his eyes.

 “I fucked up,” Travis says as Logan faces him. “I tried to be a good big brother by letting James go. I thought he wouldn't hurt you, that's why I did it. But I was wrong, so wrong. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I'm sorry I let him go. I know you wanted him, and I should have kept him at the warehouse.”

 Logan tenses his fists. “This is your fault,” he pants. “You did this. My baby is dead because of you and your selfish needs.” He runs at Travis and pushes him hard.

 Travis collides with the wall behind him.

 “You killed her,” Logan says as he attacks his brother in rage. He swings punches and kicks him. “Anna's dead.”

 Travis crouches in the corner, tears falling from his eyes. “I am so sorry.”

 Logan steps back and takes a deep breath. He brings himself to reality and tears fall from his blue eyes. “Her parents,” he says. “Her mom and dad are gonna wanna know who killed their daughter.” He puts his hand over his mouth. “They're gonna wanna find her killer, which means me confessing everything to Detective Allen. Everything's fucked up thanks to you.” He kicks his brother hard in the chest. “We had James. He was gonna pay for what he did to us. Everything was perfect. Then you came along and messed everything up. My girlfriend is dead through you.” He grips his hair hard as the tears sting his eyes. He paces around the landing. “The police are gonna end up involved. I can't deal with this right now.” He stares at his brother. “You're going down for this.”

 Travis frowns. “I didn't kill her.”

 “They won't know that,” Logan says. “You wanna be the big brother who helps me? Then you can take the blame for this.”

 “I'm not going back to prison,” Travis shouts as he stands up. “No fucking way. Not for James' doing again.”

 Logan grips him by his jacket and pushes him hard against the wall. “You're taking the blame. I don't care what you say. You're gonna tell the police that you killed my girlfriend. You're gonna say that she came onto you and you freaked out and you had a knife in your hands and you lashed out and you accidentally slit her throat.” He takes a deep breath and tries to stop the tears from flowing. “You're the one who's taking the blame for her death. You're going to prison for life.”

 “No I'm not,” Travis says as he pushes Logan away. “I am not going back there.”

 “Oh, yeah you are,” Logan tells him. “Because if you don't, I will kill you.”

 “You're just saying that.”

 “Watch me,” Logan retorts. “You're taking the blame for Anna's death.”

 Travis takes a deep breath. “If I do this, I'm never getting back out.”

 “Anna's dead,” Logan shouts. “She's dead, Travis. Thank yourself lucky you're still breathing.”

 Travis runs his hands through his hair. “What now?”

 Logan wipes away the tears from his eyes and turns. He focuses on Anna's lifeless body. “While you're being charged for her murder, I'm gonna find James and I'm gonna end this for good.”

 

Not Real

 Avery watches his mom cook the food in the pan on the stove. “Please?”

 “Stop asking me,” Joanna tells him. “You're grounded, and that's final.”

 “But I haven't done anything wrong.”

 Joanna faces him. “Avery, are you crazy? What you're doing is wrong. You should be proud it's me and not the police. You could be in jail, not grounded.”

 “Okay, I get it,” he mumbles. “No need to go crazy.”

 There's a knock at the door and Avery quickly removes himself from the kitchen and into the hallway. He opens the door wide and smiles as he sees Darcia standing there. “Hey.” He pulls her in a kisses her.

 “I'm here to keep you company,” she smiles.

 “Well you can think again,” Joanna says as she steps into her hallway. “He's grounded and he's not allowed friends over.”

 “Mom,” Avery says. “Please let her stay. We'll stay in the living room.”

 Joanna rolls her eyes. “You've got one hour, starting now.”

 “Thank you.” Avery takes Darcia into the living room and they sit on the sofa and smile at each other.

 “Is Logan with Travis?”

 “Yeah, they're probably at the warehouse.” He takes her hands into his and plays with her fingers. “So what happened at the station?”

 “He knows about James,” Darcia mumbles.

 “He what?”

 “Detective Allen knows James is still alive. He told me he was going through the CCTV videos that my dad gave to him and he realized that James' body wasn't with the rest. He had guys check the house over where the bodies were found, and there was blood from the house all the way out into the garden. He said it stopped past the train tracks.”

 Avery sighs. “Great. Now he's gonna wanna look for James.”

 “He was letting me know so we could be warned, that's all,” she tells him. “He doesn't know we already know he's still alive.”

 “I hope he doesn't,” Avery says. “Because if he does and he finds out what's going down, we'll all get put into jail.”

 “And that's why you're grounded,” Joanna says as she walks into the living room and hands them a glass of juice. “The police are smart. They'll figure out what's going on.”

 “I just wanna kill him and get it over and done with,” Avery says.

 “And I don't want my son to be a murderer.”

 Avery stares at his mom. “What am I sup—” he's interrupted by Logan as he rushes through the front door and into the living room. “What is it?”

 Logan has tears flowing from his eyes and his fits are bloodied. “It's Anna.”

 Darcia stands up. “What? Where is she?”

 “She's dead,” Logan cries. “She's dead, Avery.” He grips his best friend by his shoulders and falls to the floor in front of him. “She's dead. James killed her.”

 Joanna and Darcia can't believe what they're hearing, and neither can Avery.

 “What?” Darcia asks. “What?”

 Logan looks up at her, tears stinging his blue eyes. “James slit her throat. She's in my house. I don't know what to do. Everything's fucked up.”

 Avery grips his best friend tightly as he looks down at him. “Please tell me you're lying.”

 “I'm not,” Logan shouts. “She's gone, Avery. She's really gone and she's never coming back.”

 “Oh, my God,” Joanna says. “This is seriously messed up.”

 “I can't breathe,” Logan pants. “This is not real.”

 Darcia lets the glass off juice fall from her hands. It falls to the floor, but doesn't smash. “He killed my cousin.” She stares blankly in front of her. “He's taken two people away from me.” Tears fall from her blue eyes. “I'm gonna kill him.”

 “Where's James now?” Avery asks Logan

 Logan shrugs his shoulders as he falls backwards. “I don't know. Travis let him go.”

 “What?”

 “Travis. It's all his fault. He helped James escape from the warehouse and he killed Anna.”

 “Where's Travis now?”

 “At my house,” Logan cries. “I've hurt him. He's taking the blame for her death.”

 Avery helps his best friend up. “We need to get to your house right now.”

 Joanna puts her hand over her mouth but nods at Avery.

 “Come on,” Avery says. “Darcia, you need to drive us there right now.”

 Darcia comes back to reality and follows the boys out into the night.

Detective Allen finishes talking to an officer and he quickly grips his car keys. “I need three cars down town,” he demands as police officers look at him. “An officer has reported seeing James there. You all know what he looks like through the CCTV video. He was supposed to be dead, but he isn't. We need to catch him before he hurts people. He's dangerous, so make sure you're careful around him. And whatever you do, do not let him know you're after him. Play it cool.”

 He watches as a few officers gather their stuff and leave the station.

 “Detective,” a female says as she walks over to him. “We've gotten a call about a murder.”

 Detective Allen nods.

 “It's a teenage female,” the woman replies. “Also the partner of Logan Dillon.”

 “Logan Dillon?” Detective Allen asks.

 The woman nods. “Do you think this has something to do with James?”

 Detective Allen takes a deep breath. “Of course it has something to do with James. He's going to wanna go after them two boys because he hasn't finished with them. If there's anyway to get their attention, he's gonna hurt their close loves ones.” He scratches his chin. “He's finishing what he started. He's not just threatening them, he's actually making the threats realistic.”

 The woman frowns. “Do you think he's already been in touch with them two teenage guys?”

 Detective Allen nods. “I think he has, but they believed he was dead. I told Darcia Perkins that he was still alive earlier on, and she didn't seem surprised.”

 “Do you think they already knew?”

 “Yes,” Detective Allen says. “I think James has threatened them, but the boys ignored him. Therefore, he killed Logan's girlfriend.”

 “Do you want me to go down town?”

 “Yeah, make sure you find that bastard and catch him,” he tells her. “I'm gonna go pay Logan and Avery a visit.”

Darcia screams as she sees Anna's lifeless body lay on Logan's bed. Blood is covering her neck. “Anna?”

 Avery pulls her back. “Stop it.”

 She cries and tries to catch her breath. “Why? Why is he doing this to us?” She faces Avery. “This is getting out of hand.”

 Logan makes his way down the stairs and frowns as he sees Travis heading outside. “Where do you think you're going?” He pulls his brother back inside and locks the door.

 “I'm not going back to prison,” Travis shouts. “I can't, not for something I didn't do again. You can't make me pay for this.”

 “You're taking the blame,” Logan tells him. “This is all your fault. You should have left James where he was.”

 “It's too late anyway,” Travis tells him.

 “What?”

 “I called the cops,” he smirks. “I told them I came to my mom's to find my brother's girlfriend dead on the living room floor. They're probably already on their way here.”

 Logan tenses his fists. “Why did you do that?”

 “Because when they get here, you're gonna tell them everything, Logan,” Travis shouts. “The whole fucking truth.”

 “Are you crazy?”

 “Yes.”

 Logan punches Travis in his face. “God dammit, Travis.” He tries to calm down his anger. “I have to make James pay. I won't be able to do that if the police know he's still alive. They'll wanna arrest him for everything he's done.”

 “They already know he's still alive,” Avery says as he walks into the living room. “Detective Allen told Darcia earlier on. He told her to warn her. He realized James' body wasn't with the rest.”

 Logan begins to breathe heavily. “Everything has fucked up. We were supposed to kill James.”

 “We will,” Avery tells him. “We'll find him before the police and we'll make him pay for everything.”

 The doorbell rings and the three boys face the door.

 “Go see who it is,” Logan tells Avery.

 Avery makes his way to the door and peeks through the spyhole. His whole body stiffens. He faces Logan. “It's Detective Allen.”

 “Shit,” Logan says. “Anna. Oh, my God.”

 Travis quickly makes his way past Avery and unlocks the door.

 Avery stops him before he opens it. “Get him out of here.”

 Logan grips his brother by his hair and puts his hand over his mouth to shut him up.

 Avery takes a deep breath and opens the door. “Detective Allen.”

 “Well this is good,” Detective Allen replies. “You're just the guy I wanted to see, and Logan. Is he here?”

 Avery swallows hard. “I think.”

 “You think?”

 “He said he was leaving to go see his girlfriend,” Avery tells him. “I just came from upstairs.”

 Detective Allen sighs. “Avery, don't lie to me.”

 “I'm not.”

 “You still are.”

 “Still are what?”

 “Lying to me?”

 “No I'm not,” Avery replies. “Logan isn't here.”

 “May I come in?”

 “No.”

 “Why not?”

 “Because it's not my house. I don't have permission to let you in.”

 Detective Allen stares at Avery. “Do you wanna go to jail?”

 “No.”

 “Then let me inside.”

 “You can't arrest me for not letting you in my friend's house,” Avery tells him. “Especially if you don't have a search warrant.”

 “Okay,” Detective Allen says and then clears his throat. “I'll go get a search warrant and come straight back.”

 “I probably won't be here then,” Avery says. “It's a school night.”

 “Avery Harper,” Detective Allen shouts. “This is serious. Let me in right now.”

 “No.”

 “I need to see Logan.”

 “I just told you, Logan isn't home.”

 “Then why are you here?”

 “He has better Xbox games than me and his mom won't borrow them out.”

 Detective Allen begins to get impatient. “I need to speak to Logan about Anna.”

 Avery's dark eyes widen. “Why Anna? Did she get arrested?”

 “You don't know about Anna?”

 “Depends what you mean by know about her,” Avery tells him. “I mean, I know a lot about her.”

 “Do you know she's been hurt?”

 “Uh, depends what kinda hurt, I mean physically, emot—”

 Detective Allen pushes Avery inside and slams the door shut. “Where's Logan.”

 Avery steps back. “You know barging into someone's house is a crime.”

 “Logan?” Detective Allen shouts. There's no answer.

 “Told you he's not home,” Avery says. “You can leave now.”

 Detective Allen frowns. He stares around him and looks at the floor. “You've cleaned it up?”

 “Cleaned what up?” Avery asks.

 “The blood,” he replies. “Where's Anna's body?”

 Avery's arches his brows.

 “The station got a report from Travis Dillon, Logan's brother, saying that Anna Perkins' body was on the living room floor, poring out with blood.”

 “And you believed Travis?” Avery asks. “Come on, that guy is mental. He got arrested for hurting a pregnant woman.”

 Detective Allen narrows his green eyes, his busy brows connecting. “You better start speaking right now, kid.”

 “About what?”

 “About what's been happening since I last spoke to you.”

 “Well, I got with the girl I've been in love with since like forever,” Avery says. “That was a great thing after everything that's happened.”

 “James is still alive.”

 Avery twitches his lips. “I know,” he replies. “Darcia told me.”

 “But you already knew that.”

 “No I didn't,” Avery tells him.

 “You keep lying to me,” Detective Allen says. “Look, I'm trying to help you, but I can't help you if you won't tell me the truth.”

 Avery sighs hard. “It's complicated.”

 “How complicated?”

 Avery holds out his hands in front of him and stretches them wide. “That much.”

 Detective Allen rolls his eyes. “Avery, stop being immature and tell me.”

 “I just did.”

 “You're acting like this for a reason,” he says. “What are you hiding?”

 “No reason at all,” Avery laughs. “I'm just weird like that.” He faces the door and his heart drops as Kay, Logan's mom, walks through it. “Oh, crap.”

 “Oh,” Kay says as she closes the door behind her and stares at the Detective. “What's happened?”

 “I'm actually waiting to find that out myself from Avery's words,” Detective Allen replies to Kay.

 Avery rolls his eyes. “Fine.” He stares at the stairs. “Go upstairs, and I'll tell you everything.”

 Detective Allen nods and so does Kay.

 “What's happening?” Kay asks Avery. “Is it Travis? Logan?”

 “It's fine,” Avery tells her. “Don't worry.” He follows Detective Allen upstairs and pauses.

 “He did this, didn't he?” Detective Allen asks as he stares at Anna's dead body.

 “Yes,” Avery tells him.

 Darcia ignores the guys as she carries on kneeling beside her cousin, her hand tightly wrapped around Anna's.

 “We'll get him,” Detective Allen promises as he stares at Avery. “He won't get away with this any longer.”

 “You need to tell her parents.”

 “I will do.”

 Avery takes a deep breath and then stares at Darcia. “We also need to tell you something else.”

 “And what's that?”

 He faces the Detective. “We were gonna kill James.”

 Detective Allen sighs. “I understand why you want to, but if you did, you'd be put into jail. Would you want that?”

 “As long as I knew James was gone for good, I really couldn't care if I was in jail or not.”

 “Where's Logan?”

 “In the back yard with Travis.”

 “Is there anything else you need to tell me?”

 Avery nods. “I'll tell you everything that's happened since we last spoke, as long as you do me one thing.”

 “And what's that?”

 Avery stares hard at the Detective. “When you finally arrest James, let us have our fun with him.”

 Detective Allen frowns. “And why would I do that? It's going against my job.”

 “You said you wanna help us,” Avery says. “Then help us. Arrest him, and take him somewhere we can hurt him. Once we know he's been punished, you can take him to jail. No will know what's happened to him, and you'll have no proof or evidence that we did it if he tells you that we did it. You can just let it go.”

 Detective Allen scratches the back of his head. “Avery, this is crazy.”

 “But it's right, and you know it.”

 

Turn Around

 Darcia stands with her uncle as Detective Allen breaks the news about Anna to him and his wife.

 “I am so sorry for your loss,” Detective Allen tells them.

 Darcia lets the tears fall. She knows Anna's parents don't know about James or anything that's been happening lately. All they know is that their daughter has been killed by a lunatic that's still out there.

 “I'll call back tomorrow,” Detective Allen says as he leaves the house. He turns and faces Darcia as she walks him to the front door. “I'm gonna find him.”

 “Not before I do,” she retorts and slams the front door in his face. She takes a deep breath and then runs up stairs. She opens Anna's bedroom door and then falls onto her bed, tears streaming down her face. “Come back, Anna. Please.”

 “My baby,” Anna's mom sobs as she stands in the doorway.

 Darcia faces her aunt. “It's not happening right now.”

 Anna's mom doesn't reply, she just slides down the door frame with tears falling from her eyes. She clutches her chest as she tries to breathe. “Why?”