Dawn by McKayla Box

Chapter 38

It feels like the longest walk of my life.

It takes every ounce of strength I have to put one foot in front of the other. I hear the guy walking behind us, his shoes scraping against the asphalt. I’m not sure if Bez is with him or not because I’m too afraid to turn around and look. Sweat trickles down the back of my neck and the roaring in my ears comes and goes, like radio static between tuning into channels.

When we reach the house, the guy comes up along side of me. “Stop.”

We both stop.

“Stand right here on this sidewalk,” he orders. “Do not move. I’m going inside for about 30 seconds. Moving would be bad for your health. Clear?”

We both nod.

He chuckles and walks toward the house, then disappears behind the barred door.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Presley,” Sunny whispers. “What’s happening?”

“No idea,” I tell her. “We just need to stay calm. Do what they tell us. Say as little as possible.”

“We shouldn’t be here,” she says, and I can tell she’s on the verge of tears.

So am I.

I slide my hand into hers and give it a gentle squeeze. “Hey. We’ll be okay. Just let me talk and do what they say. It’s why we aren’t running right now.”

“Maybe we should.”

I shake my head. “No. That guy isn’t lying. I’ll do the talking. We’ll be okay. Alright.” I squeeze her hand again. “Okay.” I realize I’m repeating these words as much for me as I am for her.

She manages a small, timid squeeze back. “Okay.” Her voice shakes on that one word and I almost lose it.

I don’t actually believe any of what I told her. I have no fucking clue what’s happening and I wish I’d listened to Bridget and I’m so scared I can barely breathe.

But Sunny came because of me.

I’m responsible for her.

So I need to get my shit together.

The door to the house opens and the guy reappears. He motions for us to come toward the house. We walk up the driveway and he frowns. “You two lesbos?”

“No,” I say.

“Then quit fucking holding hands.”

We let go of one another.

“Walk through this door,” he says. “There’s a couch on your right. Sit down on it. And don’t move. Clear?”

“Clear,” I say.

He grins and his eyebrows bounce as his eyes rove up and down my body.

He’s so fucking gross.

And terrifying as hell.

He moves out of the doorway and we walk past him into the house.

The door slams shut behind us and we both jump.

The living room is a small square, the beige carpet stained and worn thin. There’s an older wooden coffee table in the middle of the room and a long green couch in front of it, as stained and worn as the carpet. We sit down and the springs poking my backside barely register. There’s one end table on my end of the sofa with a lamp on top of it, but it’s off. There’s a light on in the hallway. The walls are bare, save for the yellowed stains courtesy of years' worth of cigarette smoke. That stale stench still permeates the space.

I hear footsteps in the hallway and a guy walks out. He’s in his twenties with dark hair and a neatly manicured goatee. He’s wearing black jeans and a blue golf shirt. Bright white sneakers on his feet. A gold chain hangs just inside the collar of his shirt. He’s not smiling, but he doesn’t seem nearly as menacing as the two maniacs who order us into the house.

He eyes us curiously for a moment, then sits down on the coffee table across from us. He looks at me. “I know your name is Presley.” He looks at Sunny. “But I don’t know your name. Please tell me. And please don’t lie because I’ll find out eventually.”

Sunny licks her lips. “My name is Sunny.”

The guy nods. “Okay. Presley and Sunny. What are you doing here? Jared tells me you told him you were lost, but we all know that’s not true, don’t we?”

“I think a friend gave us the wrong address,” I tell him, coming up with the best thing I’ve thought of while we walked toward the house. “We were looking for a party down here. Actually, she’s not a friend. The girl who gave us the address. I think she gave us the wrong address on purpose. When we pulled up, we knew we were in the wrong place and we were just trying to make a U-turn and figure out where we were. Then those guys stopped us.”

He runs his fingers slowly over his beard. “Someone set you up. And sent you here. As some sort of a joke or something. That’s what you’re saying?”

“Yeah,” I say, nodding. “We should’ve known. She hates me and I should’ve known better. I don’t know what we did wrong, but I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”

He studies me for a few moments, then turns his attention to Sunny. “Is this true?”

“Her name’s Shanna,” Sunny says. “The girl who sent us here. I got in a fight with her earlier this week. Yeah. It’s true.”

Sunny is quick on her feet. Using Shanna’s name is specific. It makes it sound more real.

The guy nods slowly. “I see. And this… Shanna. She just happened to give you the address to this house? That’s correct?”

We both nod.

He purses his lips. “Well, I guess that must be the truth then. Just some back luck. Right?”

“Yeah,” I say. “And honestly. I’m so sorry whatever we did, we didn’t mean to do it. We just want to go home.”

“I’m sure,” he says, nodding. “I’m sure.”

A phone vibrates somewhere.

He reaches into the pocket of his jeans and pulls out his phone, holding it to his ear. “Yeah. Yeah. Did you get the picture? It is, right?” He nods. “Okay. Back door is open.” He ends the call and puts his phone back in his pocket. He folds his arms across his chest, but doesn’t say anything.

“So…can we go?” I ask.

“Not for me to decide,” he says.

I glance at Sunny, then back at him. “Who decides?”

“You’ll see momentarily,” he answers. “I wish you hadn’t lied to me, Presley and Sunny. I wanted to help you. But now it’s out of my hands.”

My heart races. “What does that mean?”

I hear a door open down the hallway, then close. I hear heels against tile, then footsteps on carpeting.

I want to throw up.

Then she steps out into the living room.

And I recognize her immediately.

The girl from the parking lot.

The girl I saw with Trevor.