Taken - Before her very Eyes (28 page)

Summer shrugged her shoulders and
pulled Sabrina close. “There are some questions that may never be answered.”

She wondered what would’ve
happened if John Scott had never been picked up last night. Would things have
continued on like clockwork, like it had for the last five months with Gavin
hiding the truth while she died a little more each day? Or would he have
eventually let the secret slip out one day? Summer knew there wasn’t much
chance of that. She knew Gavin planned to take the secret to his grave seeing
how he wanted John Scott silenced, eliminating any chance of the truth coming
out.

There was no way John Scott would
take the fall for kidnapping, rape and assault of a police officer. He would’ve
spilled the beans when the prosecution started counting out the years he’d be
looking at for the crimes, and he would’ve quickly spill everything he knew.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Demure,” the
paramedic said, breaking the tension in the ambulance.  “Your husband will be
fine.
And
if he stays in the hospital for a few days, without sneaking
out, I’m sure he’ll be home in no time.”

Dean shook his head. “No we
don’t—”

“Honey, if he says you’ll be
fine, then let it go.” Summer bent forward and placed a finger on Dean’s lips.
“He always likes to argue. Can never accept that everything will be back to
normal in no time.”

“You mean.” Dean struggled to
swallow. “We can go back to how it used to be?”

Summer nodded and felt a warmth
spreading in her chest, knowing that he still loved her no matter what she’d
put him through these past months. “Like they say, what’s past is past. I don’t
want to even think about what happened. All that’s important is that we enjoy
the rest of our lives together.”

Sabrina slid off the seat and
locked her arms around Dean’s head, smothering his entire face. “Can Daddy come
home and live with us, like a family?”

Summer nodded and loosened
Sabrina’s death grip on his face. “Yes, baby. Just like before.”

“And can we go to the zoo
tomorrow like Daddy promised?”

Summer pulled Sabrina into her
arms and squeezed her tight again. She never thought holding her daughter would
bring such pleasure as it did right now.  “Not tomorrow. Daddy’s going to need
to rest for a few days, but yes, we can go sometime soon.”

Dean smirked. “I thought you said
the animals would all be hibernating?”

“Don’t even start with me, Dean
Demure. You’re the one who put that notion in her mind. Just watch your mouth
or I’ll make you take her to the zoo tomorrow like she wants.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I
walked around all day feeling like a zombie?”

“No, I don’t suppose it would
be.” Summer slid forward in the seat and narrowed her eyes on Dean’s smiling
face. “You realize how close you came to crushing me when you crashed through
the side of that house? You could’ve killed me, not to mention Sabrina.”

Reaching out a trembling hand,
Dean gripped Summer’s shirt and pulled her down until their lips touched. “Just
shut up and kiss me.”

Summer relaxed as her swollen
lips met Dean’s and she swore she felt a little charge surge through her body
at his touch. It wasn’t anything like that awful feeling she had been getting
for the last while, but more like the spark of energy that lovers shared.
Dean’s touch brought a calm to her racing mind and heat to her entire body. She
opened her eyes and saw his chocolate eyes gazing up at her and knew at that
moment everything was going to be fine. She could tell from that one kiss that
Dean was her knight in shining armour who’d come to her rescue.

“You know,” Summer said, feeling
the hot tears filling her eyes, “I never doubted you. I knew you’d come for
me.”

“I never gave up before and I
never would as long as I have a shred of life left in this body.”

Summer smiled, gazing into his
beautiful eyes. “You came close to using it all up, but I’m glad you never gave
up. I’m glad you came for me.”

“I wasn’t a lot of help.”

“But you were there at the right
moment and that’s what counts.”

Summer slid back on the bench and
stared out the window as the hills gave way to the flat farmlands of the
countryside. The strenuous day had taken more from her body than she’d thought
as every muscle tingled with exhaustion. She wished they were at home so they
could all curl up on the bed and fall asleep knowing that they were safe once
again, but that wish would have to wait—at least for a few more days until Dean
recovered from his injuries.

“Oh,” Summer gasped, grasping her
stomach.

Dean turned quickly, his eyes
full of concern. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing.” Summer
forced a smile. “It’s just the baby kicking.”

“It’s kicking already. Isn’t it a
little early for that?”

“I don’t think Sabrina started
kicking until she was six or seven months along.” Summer grinned doing the math
and realized that maybe this was Dean’s baby after all. Maybe she would be able
to look at this child and not think about that night of terror at the hands of
Gavin.

“I told you it was mine. You
doubted me, but I never lost faith that we’d complete our family.” Dean reached
out and took Summer’s hand. “Maybe this time the baby will look more like you.”

“Maybe it might.” Summer grinned
lopsidedly. “Maybe it just might.”

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Wampus Springs—Mark of the Wolf
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Lori Foster sat slouched in her
chair, mesmerized by the leaves dancing on the playground. At 12 years-old, she
wasn’t the only student in Miss Hopkin’s class who found the world outside much
more interesting than math lessons. Her eyes darted quickly to the wall clock
then back to the leaves, waiting for the wind to whisk them high into a funnel,
only to return them to their partners a moment later.

As the sunlight retreated from
the angry clouds, an eerie darkness descended upon the schoolyard. It was the
darkness of dusk, thick and heavy, covering every crevasse under a blanket of
grey. Even though the classroom lights reflected off the dark windows, Lori
noticed movement in the distance, near the edge of the woods. She squint her
eyes as a fluffy white and brown bunny hopped from the woods and nibbled on a
patch of tall grass.

A flash of lightning sliced
through the dark sky, forking off into the distance. The overhead lights
flickered, sending the classroom into temporary darkness. It was at that moment
Lori saw them—two faint red dots staring out from the blackness of the woods.
She blinked fast, trying to adjust her eyes, but as the classroom lights came
back to full brilliance, the red dots disappeared, leaving Lori to wonder if
she’d actually seen them or if it’d only been the lightning playing a trick on
her eyes.

 “So class, it looks like we’re
in for a good storm,” Miss Hopkin said, turning from the chalkboard with a
nervous look on her face. “I hope that’s the last of the lightning. I’d hate
for everyone to miss their lunch recess.”

Lori glanced from her teacher,
back out into the darkness of the playground. She couldn’t spot the bunny
anywhere.

“Lori… Lori!” She turned back to
face the front of the class. “I know you’d rather be out playing, but please,
let’s just finish up.” As if on cue, the lunch bell rang and immediately the
students began to fidget.

“All right, fine. Eat your
lunches then go outside.” Miss Hopkin plopped into her chair and opened her
desk drawer. “But if you get your shoes wet and muddy, don’t even think about
wearing them back in my classroom.”

After retrieving her lunch sack
and dumping it onto her desk, Lori dangled the plastic bag before Cindy. “Tuna.
Wanna trade?”

“Tuna again.” Cindy tossed her
peanut butter and jam sandwich onto Lori’s desk then snatched the offering.
“How many cans does she have?”

“Too many.” Lori ripped open the
bag and took a bite. “Eat fast, cause I saw a cute bunny out by the woods.
Maybe if we’re fast, we can catch it. If my mom won’t let me keep it, maybe
yours will.”

“My mom won’t even let me have
goldfish, let alone a rabbit.” Cindy took a bite of the tuna sandwich then
lifted the top piece of bread and gazed inside. “But yeah, we can see if it’s
still out there.”

Lori pulled on the gold chain,
fishing the half pendant from beneath her shirt. It had been a birthday gift
from Cindy and one she absolutely cherished. Lori held her half of the pendant
out, dangling it before Cindy, waiting for it to be completed.

Without hesitating, Cindy fished
her pendant out and like two superheroes activating their magic power, they
whispered the phrase in unison as they connected the two halves. “Best friends
forever.”

When the second bell rang, Lori
and Cindy quickly cleared off their desks, dashed from the classroom, down the
hall to the glass door. The door had barely started to close when Max and Randy
stepped into their path.

“Hey, where’s the fire?” Max
asked, trying hard to even out his lopsided grin. “You two almost knocked us
down.”

“Yeah,” Randy made kissing noises
and shoved Max into Lori, “like you wouldn’t want your girlfriend to fall on
top of you, so you can suck her face off.”

“Shut up!” Max grunted, returning
the shove. “She’s not my girlfriend. We’re just friends.”

 “Sure, lover boy.” Randy rolled
his eyes then smiled at Cindy. “Where you guys going in such a hurry, anyways?”

“To the woods, to look for a
bunny,” Cindy said shyly. “Why, do you guys wanna come?”

“Sure, you girls might need our
help catching it.”

“But, if we get caught?” Max
looked around nervously. “We’ll be in detention all week.”

“Someday, Max, you’ll have to
take your mother’s tit out of your mouth and stop being such a baby. I’m
going!” Randy started toward the back of the schoolyard. “You coming?”

“Um…” Max waited until they were
a few feet away then made up his mind. “Okay, but if anything happens—”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,”
all three mocked in chorus.

Max shook his head, running to
keep up. “You guys are the babies.”

As they reached the tree line,
Lori headed straight to the patch of tall grass where she’d last spotted the
bunny, but it was nowhere in sight. After stepping around the bushes she
spotted faint bunny tracks in the soft earth and followed the trail behind the
first row of Maples. Randy and Cindy were right behind, but Max paused, peering
nervously around for any sign of Miss Hopkin.

“Hey, guys. I think the old bag
went inside to find the Janitor.” Max snickered. “She’s probably helping him
mop the floor with her dress.”

“You’re just disgusting!” Lori
said, rolling her eyes, unsure at that moment why she was actually friends with
Max, but when a rustling sound captured her attention, she forgot all about
him. Slowly she turned, listening and judging where the sound had come from.

“Over this way! Walk really
careful so you don’t scare her.” Lori led the way, followed by Cindy then the
two boys. They made their way down the small path, through the brush, and
around more Maple trees. The woods thickened and darkened with each step they
took. It was as if the trees were crowding closer, huddling against the
frightening darkness. They were twenty feet from the forest edge when Max came
rushing past, almost knocking Lori off the pathway as he sprinted on ahead.

Lori saw the white patch of fur
flash across the path and watched, surprised at Max’s sudden burst of bravery.
He seemed to be suddenly sparked with life, a welcome change from his normally
nervous behaviour.

For a moment, Max disappeared
behind a stand of high weeds, emerging, panting for breath, holding a
struggling bunny by the scuff of the neck.

“You’re a fast little bastard.”
Max raised the bunny to his face, staring into its eyes. “But you’re no match
for me.” The bunny tried to run but its feet only stirred the air. “Hey, I
caught him!”

“It’s not a him. It’s a her.”
Lori carefully stepped off the path and into the deep greenery. “And I’m going
to name her Rosy and keep her in my garage, and—”

The forest was suddenly lit,
every tree and crevasse instantly illuminated in an eye-startling flash of
lightning from overhead. Momentarily every shadow retreated to its hiding
place, only to escape a few seconds later, growing stronger and darker in
anticipation of the attack of thunder that was due. Lori heard a few startled
screams from the playground, but they were muted when a deafening roar of
thunder assaulted her ears, shaking the ground and her body, too.

She glanced at Cindy and was
surprised to see her shaking uncontrollably. Her eyes were glued to something
just over Lori’s shoulder. As a shiver raced through Lori’s body, she slowly
turned to see what Cindy was staring at.

There, only a few feet behind,
stood Max. The bunny was no longer in his hand, but hung, swinging back and
forth, its teeth pierced through both of Max’s nostrils. Hands shaking, eyes
crossed and wide, he stared down at the bunny. Instantly it dropped with a dull
thud, scrambled to its feet then dashed away into the shadows. Instinctively
Max cupped his shaking hand over his nose as the blood began to flow.