The Forgotten Night (24 page)

Cassidy and Andrew were just getting out of the car in front of Andrew’s house when a gunshot sounded behind them. Cassidy screamed, and Andrew pulled her close to him and turned around, protecting her behind him.

“You’re not going to save her this time,” Brian screamed madly as he approached them down the drive, holding the gun up.

“You’re not going to take her,” Andrew said defiantly.

Brian laughed and Cassidy shivered. She hated his laugh and she hated him.

“I was hoping this would be easy but I see now that I was wrong,” Brian said and pulled the trigger on the gun, pointing it to the side at the last minute so that the bullet pinged harmlessly off the driveway.

Cassidy cringed at the sound.

“Next time it’s going straight through his head,” Brian yelled. “Get out here, Cassidy! It’s you I want!

Cassidy poked her head from behind Andrew and slowly stepped to his side.

“You are not going with him,” Andrew said, looking down at Cassidy.

She looked up at Andrew then over at Brian.

“Either you come here or he dies. Your choice.” Brian smirked at her.

“She’s not going with you!” Andrew yelled.

“Fine by me. I mean, might as well kill you too,” Brian said, raising the gun so it pointed at Andrew.

“No! Don’t! I’ll go, just don’t hurt him!” Cassidy yelled.

“Cassie, no,” Andrew said, looking down at her.

“I can’t let him hurt you, Andy. I love you. I can’t watch you die.”

“You think I can just watch you go with him? No, I’d rather die protecting you then watch you go with this psycho.”

“Enough already! You two say 'I love you' way too much. It's pathetic.” Brian yelled. “Get over here now or I will shoot, dammit!”

Cassidy stepped forward and slowly walked up to him. Brian grabbed her by the arm just as they heard tires screeching to a halt in front of the house. Brian turned around briefly but it gave Cassidy enough time to react. She pulled back her leg and kneed him in the groin then knocked the gun out of his hand. Cassidy didn’t think, she just ran.

“Cassie!” she heard Andrew call after her.

The Winbrights lived next to a wooded area, which is where Cassidy chose to run. Rachel, Andrew and Cassidy had played hide-and-seek in the woods many times when they were younger, so Cassidy knew the layout well. She only hoped that Brian wouldn’t be able to find her.

Andrew watched as Cassidy knocked the gun out of Brian’s hand then ran into the woods. “Cassie!” he tried to yell. He didn’t want her running into the woods, he wanted her to stay with him. He looked up and saw Rachel getting out of the car, the car that had distracted Brian.

“Call the police, Rach!” Andrew called out just as Brian grabbed the gun off the ground. He pointed it toward Andrew. Andrew ducked behind the porch banister and watched as Rachel drove off in the car to get away from Brian’s gun shots. He prayed that the police would arrive soon.

Brian was already walking off into the woods when Andrew looked up over the porch railing. He was going after Cassidy. Andrew stood up and before he really thought about what he was doing he ran into the woods, just as he heard sirens and police cars pulling up to his house.

Andrew heard Brian yelling out to Cassidy and continued on toward his voice. If he learned anything from playing in these woods, it was where Cassidy loved to hide.

Cassidy tried to calm her breathing, she couldn’t draw more attention to herself. She had sprinted into the forest, never looking back and ran straight for her tree. A long time ago, when she was younger, she’d found a tree that was hollowed out enough at the bottom for someone to hide in. She would hide there for all the games she, Rachel and Andrew would play. Only Andrew knew about her spot, seeing as he found her one time while playing hide-and-seek.

Cassidy had tried her best to cover up her foot tracks in the snow, but it was difficult while trying to escape a psychotic murderer. She had to calm her breathing as it was getting dark and it would be easy to see the puffs of breath in the cold night air. God, what was she thinking? She should have ran into the house, not into the forest. She had heard a couple of shots as she made her way into the forest but prayed to God that Andrew wasn’t hurt. She heard the faint noise of sirens and tried not to get her hopes up, she still had to wait for them to find her.

“You know, you really should practice on your hiding skills,” Brian said from in front of the tree.

Tears immediately welled in her eyes. She didn’t want to die, she wanted to get married, to live a long and happy life with Andrew. She wanted to see their children grow up. She didn’t want this.

“Please…” she cried.

“Get out of there. I don’t want to shoot you just yet. But I will if I have to.”

Cassidy slowly crawled out of her hiding spot, and Brian pulled her forward by her hair. She cried out in pain but made no effort to fight back.

“Get up!” he screamed at her.

Cassidy got to her feet and Brian shoved her forward. “Fucking bitch, you’ll get what you deserved.”

“You’re a heartless bastard!” she retorted and he shoved her again. She stumbled on the roots and fell to the ground on her hands and knees.

“Might as well end it here, I suppose. No need to take you back out of here. I’ll leave you for the others to find.”

“You’ll never get away with this! They will find you and when they do, you won’t stand a chance.”

“Just like what you did to my brother, huh? Send me to prison?”

“I’d rather watch you die,” she said viciously.

Brian held his gun to her temple. “You won’t get to see the day.”

He pulled the trigger.

She heard the gun go off and screamed, but felt no pain. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Brian laughing maniacally.

“Thought I was going to do it that quickly, huh? I want you to see my eyes when I kill you. I want to see the life drain from your body.”

* * *

Andrew had sprinted to Cassidy’s tree, her hiding spot, but she wasn’t there. He saw the foot prints walking away from the tree. He saw Brian’s footprints.

Andrew made his way through the woods, backtracking to find Cassidy and Brian. He had to find them before anything happened. He heard the gun shot and Cassidy’s scream. Oh god, no. It couldn’t be. She had to be alive.

Andrew sprinted even faster than before and slowed down when he saw Brian standing to the right of Cassidy. She was kneeling on her knees, tears coming down her face, but she was alive.
She was alive.

“Say goodbye, bitch,” he heard Brian say just as he raised the gun up to Cassidy. There was no time to stop him, he couldn’t protect her. He was too late.

Everything played out in slow motion. Tears were falling down his cheeks, but he didn’t care, he just watched as Brian cocked the gun and put his finger on the trigger. Andrew forced his eyes to remain on Cassidy as he heard the shot echo through the forest.

Cassidy flinched as the sound of the gun went off. She looked up and watched as Brian dropped the gun and fell to the ground. He was dead. She looked up just to see Detective Coulter walk through the thick foliage. “I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

Cassidy turned her head at the sound of rustling. She looked up and saw Andrew rush toward her.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again!” he cried.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” Cassidy sobbed. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Cassie. I don’t know what I would do without you. I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“Don’t let me go,” she whispered as they clung tightly to each other.

“Never.”

Epilogue

Four years later, Christmas Day…

“M
ommy! Daddy!” Cassidy heard faintly. She moaned and rolled over. Two weights came down on top of her as she opened her eyes.

“Hey, careful,” she laughed.

“What are you two doing up?” Andrew groaned. He sat up and pulled his children further up on the bed.

“It’s Christmas, Daddy!” their son Benji said happily.

“Presents!” their daughter Mikayla cried out in joy.

Cassidy looked over at Andrew and laughed. “It seems like our children would like to go open their presents. Are your grandparents here?”

“Yeah, and Auntie Rachel and Uncie Ian!” Mikayla replied.

Cassidy smiled at her daughter as they heard a knock on the door. “Come in!” she called.

The door opened and Rachel stuck her head in the room. “Sorry, I was watching them, and they just slipped by me.”

“No, you and Uncie Ian were kissing! Like Mommy and Daddy do,” Benji said, climbing off the bed.

Rachel laughed uneasily and shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, so maybe I wasn’t watching them the whole time.”

“Benji, why don’t you go show Auntie Rachel what I taught you yesterday,” Andrew told his son, who smiled and nodded his head then ran toward Rachel and jumped up on her at the last moment.

“Andrew Eugene Winbright, what did you teach our son?” Cassidy chastised him.

Andrew smiled at her then kissed her cheek.

“Eww!” they heard their children say.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go downstairs and see what your grandparents are up to.”

“Presents!” their kids called out in unison.

“No opening any presents until we come down there too!” Cassidy called out as Rachel shut the door.

“How much time do you think we have?” Andrew asked when Cassidy turned toward him.

“Ten, maybe fifteen minutes?” she smiled.

“That’s enough time, right?”

“Aren’t you tired? It’s not like you weren’t up all night.”

“Baby, I could never get tired of you.”

“Well, Daddy,” she said and kissed him affectionately, “we need to get up and get dressed before our children do any more damage. I mean your sister is watching them.”

Andrew threw back the covers. “You’re right, you know we probably should get down there as soon as possible.”

Cassidy laughed and got out of bed. It didn’t take them long before they were opening the door to their bedroom and walking down the stairs to the large living room.

“They're coming!” Cassidy heard their children yell.

“All right, calm down, you two. We’re here,” Andrew said and immediately the two settled down.

“Sorry we weren’t up earlier,” Cassidy said and sat down on the couch with Andrew, smiling at all their family members who had been patiently waiting. “Are you two ready to open your presents?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, go pick out one. Only one though,” she told them and immediately they both went for the biggest boxes.

Andrew laughed and put his arm around Cassidy. “You did something really mean, didn’t you?”

“Why would I do that to our kids?” she asked innocently.

Andrew kissed her cheek and laughed when he heard his children groan in disappointment as they found clothes.

“All right, our presents now,” Cassidy and Andrew's parents said, producing two presents for each of the kids.

“Kayla, Benji, careful with the presents,” Cassidy said as she watched them tear open the wrapping paper and jump up and down with joy. “Your parents really do spoil them.”

“My parents, what about yours?”

“Okay, you two, settle down,” Mrs Winbright warned.

“So the parents need to be warned by their parents,” Rachel said.

“What are you talking for, Rach?” Cassidy smiled at her sister-in-law and best friend. “You were the one who went off and eloped with Ian despite the fact that the wedding you had planned was going to take place the very next day. Who was the one who got in trouble, eh?”

Rachel smiled. “Okay, so I might be more of the troublemaker than you two.” She leaned over and kissed Ian sweetly then turned back to her nieces and nephews. “All right, guys, come get your presents!”

They jumped up from where they were currently playing and ran over to get their presents from Rachel and Ian.

“Benjamin Lukas Winbright, what do you say to everyone?” Cassidy said after he had opened all his presents.

“You too, Mikayla Mariah-Faith.” Andrew smiled down at his daughter. She nodded and went over to thank everyone. They knew when their parents used their full names, they meant business.

“So where’s my present?” Andrew turned to look down at his wife.

“What did you get me?” she asked in mock indignation.

Andrew pulled out a small box wrapped neatly. “Just because I love you,” he said, handing her the box.

“Thank you,” she said, taking the box. “What is it?”

“Just open it, Cassie.” He laughed as she carefully removed the wrapping paper. She opened the box and immediately a smile broke out on her face. “Do you like it? I figured I would give you something that held some sentimental value.” It was a collector’s edition of
Pride and Prejudice
.

Cassidy smiled up at Andrew and kissed him. “Thank you, Mr. Darcy.”

Andrew laughed and kissed her nose. “So where’s my gift?”

“Well, I can assure you this is so much better than your gift,” she said, setting the book Andrew bought her on the side table.