In Search of Grace (41 page)

             
Seth hesitated.  They hadn’t passed anyone else for awhile, and he wondered where his team was. 
Seth took her hand
before leading her
off the path.  Within moments, he saw the yellow rock.  “Good job
,
Alex!  But why did you go off of the main path?  Why did you follow him
?
”

             
Her eyes met his
but
she was far away.  Walking ahead of him, they start
ed to climb a small incline. 
“I am not sure.  He said he wanted to show me something, a waterfall, I think he said.  So I went.  I knew better, but I went anyways.
  When I have kids, I am going to teach them better.
”

             
They continued to walk
,
and the incline leveled off.  Seth turned but could no longer see the main path behind them and frowned.
His gut told him they should go back.
 
Alex started speaking again.

             
“I tripped over a root or something
,
and he grabbed by arm.  I remember yanking it away
,
and he laughed.  I knew then that I
was
in trouble and started to turn around and head back to the
main
path.”  Seth stood still as he watched her turn as if she was reliving the moment.  Her hand went up to her head.  “He grabbed my hair and yanked me back
,
and I almost fe
l
l.  I started to scream.  That is when he hit me the first time and told me to shut up.”

             
Seth could feel the rage building up inside of him as he listened to her.  Alex turned to look deeper into
the forest
,
the
n started to walk again. 

             
“That is when I started to run.  I was in good shape
,
but he was fast.  I did not know where I was going and think
that
at times I was running in circles. 
I was never so scared in my life. 
I saw light coming
from
an opening in the woods and thought it was the path, but it
was
only a
clea
r
ing
.
  I could hear him behind
me.
I hit the ground hard from his tackle.
”
Seth watched her
,
concerned as sh
e turned in circles
but
said nothing, waiting for her to con
tinue. 
“He put something over my mouth and nose, it smelled gross
,
and it made me feel weak.  I tried to fight though, I tried to fight the whole time he….”  Seth came up behind her and tried to wrap his arms around her
,
but she pulled away, keeping her back to him.

             
“Alex, you can take a break if you want.”

             
She said nothing for a moment, just stared at the ground.  “It hurt so
badly
,
and I thought, maybe, if I just lay there it wouldn’t hurt so much.
  He hit me a lot during the whole thing.  He kept talking about me leaving him
,
and I was so confused
because I had never met him before
.  He said that I would be the one to beg him to stay
,
but he was going to leave me this time.”  Tur
n
ing she
looked
at Seth.  He watched as a single tear slid down her cheek before she turned away from him again.  “It was then that I knew I was going to die.  I was going to die and never see Charles again.  I was going to die alone.  I always had
thought
I would die alone and there I was.
  I lay there on the ground and could not move.  Everything hurt.  He went to his backpack and pulled out this one-piece outfit.  I think it was a
painter’s
coverall or something like that and put it on.  He talked the whole time about not leaving anything of him behind.  I didn’t understand what he was talking about
but what you just said makes a lot of sense
.
”

             
T
he hair on Seth’s body
stood
up
but not from her words
. 
Looking around at the landscape, he could see or hear nothing
but something felt wrong
. 
He had an uneasy feeling that someone was watching
them.  It was the same feeling he
had that night in the jungle
before Richard
s
died
.

             
“I was so tired
,
and I didn’t care anymore
.
 
When he was done, he stood up, took the condom off
,
and put it in a plastic bag and then put that in his backpack. 
Then,
he came back to me
,
and
that’s when
I saw
the knife
in his hand.  I thought that he was going to stab me
,
but h
e rolled me over
and cut into my shoulder.”  Her voice faltered.  “
I knew he was cutting me,
and
I know it sounds weird,
but
I didn’t even feel it. 
Then
,
out of the woods -
there she was.  I heard her before he did, he was so focused on what he was doing, but she was there barking and growling
at him
.  He jumped up, grabbed his bag and took off.  She licked me, whined, and barked until her owner found us.  After that, everything happened so fast.  I think I blacked out a few times
.
”

             
Seth barely heard what she was saying. 
Alarm bells were going off in
his
head
,
and he knew that he had to get her out of there.
  He was not going to make the same mistake twice.

             
“
Alex, we
have to leave
.
Alex
!?
”

             
Alex turned to him
and screamed
a
s Pe
ter slammed the butt end o
f the gun against Seth’s head.
“Seth
,
watch out!” 
Her warning came to
o late.  In
horror,
she watched
as
a surprised look crossed
Seth
’s face before he
crumble
d
to the ground.
  She stood face to face with her demon.

             
“Hello
,
Grace
.
”

             
Alex froze.  It
could not
be
she thought
,
n
ot again!
Her mind closed
,
and spots formed in front of her eyes.
  Her breathing labored as the fear took over any coherent thought
.
  He
walked
over
to stand face to face with her, the gun hanging loosely by his side.  Leaning into her, he inhaled
deeply
.
“You smell good
enough to eat
.
”
 
Alex
stood still
as
she watched him reach out and
move her hair away from her neck.  Her skin began to crawl at the touch.  Tipping his head down to her
ear
,
he continued to whisper.  “Not even a hello
for an old friend?
”

             
Closing her eyes, Alex mustered all of the strength she could
not to pass out
.  “
You
are no
friend
of mine
,
you bastard.”

             
“
Oh
, she speaks
.
”  His laughter
echoed through
the clearing
.
  “We have known each other for so long.  Do you not remember the church
,
lovey?  When you handed me your bouquet of lilies
before
you walked out of the door?
”  Peter grabbed a fistful of her hair
,
yanking it back
,
forcing her to look at him.  Alex cried out in pain, clutching his hand that was now entwined in
the strands
.
  “You left me at the fucking alter
!
”

             
“
What?!? 
It wasn’t me.”

             
“Of course it was you.
I would never forget you.  You walked down the aisle with that smile on your face
,
carrying
all of those lilies,
handed
them
to me
,
and walked out.”

             
“Oh my God
!
I remember now.
I was the flower girl
.  I was only 1
5 at the time
.
”  Alex frantically tried to remember.  “My foster parents made me be in your wedding. 
The woman told me to give you the flowers with the note
.”  Realization dawned on her fa
ce at the memories.  “Oh my God!
  She didn’t want to marry you.  I didn’t know
,
  I swear!  I thought she just needed more time.
”

             
Peter
pulled
harder on her hair
,
then moved his face within millimeters of hers. 
Spit flew from his mouth.
“You ruined everything that day bitch.  But this time, I will walk away from you.”  Stepping back
,
he raised h
is
fist, backhanding her before she could duck, knocking her to the ground.  Moaning, she fought the urge to vomit as the pain sliced through her head.

             
Closing her eyes, Alex pictured Seth in her mind, wishing he
would wake up and
protect her.  In a
flash
, she realized that he did
protect her
.  Mustering all of the courage that she had, Alex
rolled over onto her back, lifting her foot up driving it between his legs as he towered over her.
  Making direct
contact,
her reward was to hear him grunt, doubling over in pain.
 
Rolling several times to get away, she jumped to her feet
and
instinctively start
ed
to run.  She only got a short distance before stopping.  Looking back
at Seth’s lifeless body
lying
on the forest floor
,
she knew that she
could not
leave him, praying that he was ok
ay
.  Trying to clear he
r
head
,
and remember what he had taught her
,
his voice rang out in her head.  “Run
only
if you know you can get away
,
Alex
.”
She
knew
she couldn’t get away.  He
would just follow
until he found her
.  Maybe he would find her today or
maybe
a
year from now
.  Alex knew that
she couldn’t live like that anymore.
  It had to end today.
  Walking
back,
she saw that he was still writhing in pain.
“This place is
filled
with cops you know. They are going to be here soon.”

             
“Oh I don’t think so
,
my dear.  They are
all
busy trying to find another body
on the other side of
Pearce
Lake
.  It is just you
,
and me
,
Grace
.
”
Alex’s
heart sank
hearing his words
. 
She watched as he stood to his feet
.
She knew what she had to do. 
Quickly
running at him
at full speed,
she
reached out, grabbed his shirt with both
hands
,
plac
ing
one foot behind him
while
throwing him to the ground.
Peter landed hard
,
and his breath was knocked out of him.
He wasn’t down long.  Jumping to his
feet,
he wavered.  Alex didn’t give him time to think.  Grabbing
his head between her two hands
,
she
drove her head against his,
then brought
down
her elbow as she pulled away, slicing
it across his nose.  Immediately blood spurted
out
,
and he cursed
loudly
.  Pushing against him, he fell back
, tripped by
her leg causing him to fall
hard
once more.  This time he was prepared for the fall and
reach
ing
out to her as he
went
down
, she tumbled with him
while
his
gun fell off to one side. 
All breath left her lungs
as she slammed down
on the hard ground
.  She gasped for air.