Fated Dreams (Book One In The Affinity series) (35 page)

No, I had to
believe he was okay. It was only a twenty-foot drop. Lucas had told me once
that the fall wouldn’t kill anyone, although you wouldn’t walk away uninjured
either. He didn’t want to chance it, so we usually sat farther back.

I stared at
Ryan with as much hatred as I felt. “You son of a bit—” He cut me off with an
evil laugh. He’d be great as a villain in a movie. But of course I planned to
hurt him as soon as I got these stupid ropes off, so the acting career was out
for him.

“So Sarah, now
that Lucas is out of the picture, how about a date?” he asked with the same
maniacal laughter in his voice. He was leaning against the tree again, his arms
folded in front of him. The fact that he had just pushed someone off a cliff
didn’t faze him at all.

I glared at
him. “You’d better kill me, because as soon as you take these ropes off, I will
kill you!” I said with determination, because I had every intention of trying.

“Well, I guess
I won’t untie you then, not for a while anyway.” He smiled. God, I wanted to
wipe that sadistic grin off of his face. “So, where do you want to go? How
about Renford, New Hampshire, where it all began?” He paused, staring into the
water. I glared at him coldly but stayed silent. I was worried about Logan.

“You know,
Lucas didn’t have to die. And he wouldn’t have if you had stayed away from him.
I would have taken you, and he would have been safe, but too late now.” He
laughed again.

“You sick
bastard, he did break up with me. We were meeting to figure out who you were,
that’s it.”

“Oh well, it
doesn’t matter anyway, but we should get going.” He pushed off the tree and
started toward me. “I really don’t want to hurt you, but I’m going to have to
knock you out again, because I doubt you would cooperate with me.” He bent down
to pick up a large piece of a tree branch.

“You’re going
to have to knock me out.” I spit the words at him.

He lifted the
wood above his head, and I cringed as he prepared to strike me with it.

Lucas rushed
out of the trees and lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. Luke leaned
over him and punched him a few times. “Wait,” Ryan said, covering his face with
his arms. “You fell over the edge, I thought you were dead!”

Lucas paused,
glancing over at me with confusion. I mouthed the word Logan and gestured over
the cliff with my eyes. Grief flashed across his face.

Ryan, taking
advantage of this distraction, lifted his arms and began choking Lucas. What
Ryan didn’t realize was how strong Lucas was. It wasn’t difficult to pull
Ryan’s hands from his neck.

Luke let go of
Ryan, and the psycho punched him. Lucas fell back.

Ryan got up and
took off running, but Lucas was right behind him. He grabbed Ryan by the back
of his coat, yanking him to the ground.

Lucas got in a
few blows until Ryan kicked up with his knee, shoving Lucas onto his back, on
the wet grass. Ryan started punching Lucas, but it didn’t last long. Lucas was
stronger and he had no trouble getting Ryan off of him.

They tumbled
around on the wet, dirty grass, each one fighting for control. Ryan seemed to
be getting tired, his movements slowing, and it wasn’t hard for Lucas to
finally pin his arms and legs so he couldn’t move.

“So this is
Tony? Do you know him?” Lucas asked me, panting.

“Yeah, I know
him. This is my friend Ryan, from Hadley Academy.”

“Some friend,”
he said, with pure hatred in his voice.

“Tell me about
it. But if you don’t mind, can we talk about this later? I’m kind of tied up
here, and Logan is hurt, hopefully not dead.”

Ryan looked at
me, confused. “Who’s Logan?”

“Oh, he’s the
one you pushed off the edge, his twin brother.” I nodded at Lucas. Man, I
enjoyed the look of rage that crossed Ryan’s face.

“So Lucas,
would you knock him out already, so you can untie me?”

“Anything for
you, babe,” he said as he pounded Ryan as hard as he could, which thankfully
did the trick. Ryan’s features smoothed, he almost looked innocent in his
unconsciousness.

When Lucas
untied me, I glanced down at my wrists and noticed there were cuts all over my
skin where the ropes had been, and they were starting to swell. I was going to
have some nasty bruises.

I rushed down
around the hill that led to the bottom where Logan was.

Logan was lying on the ground, and his leg
looked unnaturally twisted. I shook him, digging my fingers into his warm coat.
His eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving. I lay my head against his chest…he
was breathing. “I knew you were using my brother to get to me,” I heard him say
weakly.

“Oh, thank God
you’re all right.” I sighed with relief, sitting up onto the damp ground.

“Well, I’m not
sure you’d call me all right, but I’m not dead.” His voice was soft and shaky.

Lucas came down
the hill, rushing toward us. “I called Detective Franklin and Mom and Dad,
they’re on the way with an ambulance.” He stood between me and Logan.

“Oh good,
because I think my leg is broken, and there are other things I can’t move. And
by the way, who the hell pushed me off the cliff?” Logan's eyes had opened now,
and he was able to lift his head.

We both laughed
with relief; he was going to be fine. Logan was his old sarcastic self,
cracking jokes; even a slight smile appeared on his dirt-covered face.

“That would be
the guy who attacked Sarah. His name is Ryan, her friend.”

“I went to
private school with him a long time ago. I haven’t seen him since.” I felt the
need to defend myself.

“That explains
why you thought Tony looked familiar, but couldn’t place him. He looks a lot
like the guy from the newspaper article,” Lucas said, leaning over Logan to make sure he wasn’t hurt worse than we thought.

Logan
swatted him away weakly. “Sarah, you should really be choosier when
you pick your friends,” he said, grinning at me.

I scowled. “Be
quiet, or I’ll sit on your leg.”

He winced at
the thought.

“Lucas, do you
want to go make sure Ryan doesn’t wake up? I’ll stay with Logan.” Even though I
didn’t want to be apart from Lucas for even a second, I was worried Ryan would
get away.

“You’re right;
my parents should be here soon. I’ll send them down when they arrive,” he said,
starting up the hill again.

“Can you sit
up?” I asked Logan when Lucas walked away.

“I think so; I
could probably stand if you want to give me a hand.”

I leaned down,
wrapping my arms around his waist, and pulled.

“No, no. I
think I’ll sit,” he said with a wince. I could tell by his face that he was
suffering more than he let on. I really hoped the ambulance would get here
fast. I helped him move toward a maple tree so he could lean against it.

The sounds of
scuffling above us brought our attention upward. Lucas was struggling with Ryan
again. He must have woken up while we were down here and taken Lucas by
surprise. He had Lucas up against a tree, choking him with the large branch he
was going to hit me with.

I rushed over
to the bottom of the large rock hill. “Stop it, Ryan!” I yelled.

He glanced down
at me, giving Lucas an opening to punch him. He fell to the ground right on the
edge of the cliff. Lucas pounced on him, giving him more blows to the head.
Ryan shoved him off hard, and Lucas slipped. They both flew over the edge.

“Lucas!” Logan
and I screamed together. He was hanging from the ledge. Ryan was holding onto
Lucas’ feet. There was no way Lucas could hold on much longer.

“Hold on, Lucas,
I’m coming,” I yelled, running up the hill as fast as I could. Once I got to
the top, I saw that he was grasping a rock that jutted out of the edge of the
cliff.

I found the
discarded rope, quickly wrapped it around the nearest tree, and brought it over
to Lucas. He grabbed hold of it, but still couldn’t pull himself up.

I held onto his
hand. “Try to climb,” I pleaded, desperate to help. I just didn’t know what
else to do. I couldn’t just stand here and watch him die, but what was I
supposed to do?

“I can’t,
Ryan’s holding on to my feet.” His voice was strained, sweat forming on his
brow.

I glanced down,
and there he was, clinging to Lucas for dear life. I grabbed onto Lucas’ arms
and yanked with everything in me, but it was no use; he wouldn’t budge. Panic
bubbled up inside me. “I can’t pull you up,” I sobbed, tears filling my eyes,
obstructing my view of his gorgeous face. I just hoped it wasn’t the last time
I saw it.

“It’s okay,
Sarah. If I fall, I’ll just break something, like Logan.” He smiled, trying to
cheer me. He was so amazing. Here he was hanging from a cliff about to fall to
his death, and he was trying to comfort me. But I wasn’t a fool; I looked down
at the ground below them. They were hanging about ten feet from where Logan had fallen. He fell on grass, but below where they were hanging were about six or
seven large boulders. “You’ll die if you fall on those.”

His eyes were
full of agony. “I love you,” was all he said. His hands started to slip from
the rock. I grabbed them, holding on with all my strength, but it was no use,
his hands started to slip again. My heart leaped to my throat as fear ripped
through me.

“AHHH!”

We both glanced
down at the sound of a scream. The shriek was cut off abruptly as Ryan landed
on the boulders. With Ryan no longer hanging from Lucas’ feet, I pulled with
all my strength, now that he was able to climb. Once he was standing, he
grabbed hold of me tightly. We clung to each other, never wanting to let go.
Tears flowed down my cheeks with relief at the feel of his warm body in my
arms.

“Lucas! Are you
all right?” we heard Logan holler from below.

“I’m fine,
Sarah saved me,” Lucas yelled as he gazed into my eyes. He wiped my tears away
with his finger, and kissed the side of my head.

I remembered
Ryan, and glanced down at him. “Is he dead?” I asked. I had mixed feelings
about the answer. I really liked him when we were friends. He made my time at Hadley Academy bearable, but if he were dead, it would finally be over.

“I think so.”

We pulled
apart, Lucas dropped the rope he was still holding, and we headed back down to Logan.

“So what
happened?” Logan asked me when we were sitting on the grass beside him.

I told him the
story from the beginning, starting from the part where I was followed. When I
finished, I asked why he came out here.

“I heard you
yelling. I was out in the backyard getting something out of the shed when I
heard someone shouting. I was pretty sure it was you, but I couldn’t imagine
what you were doing back here. As I got closer, I realized you were yelling at
someone. Then when I saw that you were tied up, I tried to help. And that’s all
I remember.”

We turned at
the sound of heavy footsteps and saw his parents rushing toward us. “Logan, honey, are you all right?” Karen asked, clearly shaken. She knelt down on the grass,
hugging him tightly.

“Yes, I’m okay,
Mom, but I might have a broken rib from the fall, and now you’re breaking
another one.”

“Oh, sorry” she
said, pulling away. She glanced at Lucas and me. “What happened?”

I let Lucas tell
the story as I wandered over to check on Ryan.

I was no
professional, but judging from the position of his body and the way his head
hit the rock, no one could have survived a fall like that. I watched his
lifeless remains, wondering what could have happened that made a person change
so drastically. So he had a few dreams. I couldn’t imagine that would make him
become a psychopath.

I was relieved
that this was over, in this life anyway. The thought of this happening again
entered my mind, and I felt panicked all over again. What if Tony constantly
appeared in every life we had, bent on ruining our happiness? I couldn’t allow
that to happen.

I remembered
the article about the ritual to keep souls from returning. I glanced around to
see if anyone was looking. Then I carefully reached into his pocket, trying not
to think about how gross it was to be touching a dead body. I felt something
and pulled it out. It was a picture of the two of us at the beach. Emma had
taken it. We had spent the day sailing on Ryan's parents’ boat and we were
relaxing by a fire on the sand. I needed something personal of his to burn for
the ritual, and this was a personal item. I tucked it into the front pocket of
my jeans.

“Hey, did I
just see you steal from a dead body?” Lucas asked, stepping up behind me. His
left eye was starting to swell, his neck was raw and red, his lip was cut, and
his knuckles were bleeding. But of course it could have been much worse.

“I’ll tell you
later.” I really didn’t want to explain my crazy idea with everyone around.

“The ambulance
and police are here. And your parents just pulled up. Detective Franklin called them.”

Great, my
parents were going to freak.

Detectives
Franklin and Markus walked over to us. “Hello, Sarah, how are you doing?”
Detective Franklin asked me.

“I’m holding up
so far.”

“You should
have a paramedic look at your hands, they look nasty. And Lucas, they’re going
to want to look at your face.” He glanced from Lucas to me. “I’d like you to
tell me what happened from the time he took you from the theater. Zack is fine,
by the way. Someone heard him about a half an hour after he was put in the
trunk. He called the station and told us that you were taken. We’ve been
looking for you ever since.”

I nodded and
told him my story.

Everything became confusing and chaotic
after that. My mother wouldn’t stop crying and hugging me. My dad’s continuous
handshakes to Lucas and his appreciation for protecting me were getting a
little embarrassing.

The ambulance
came, and the attendants carried Logan up. They insisted on looking at my head
where Ryan had hit me to knock me out, and my wrists. Of course, they
eventually told me that I would be fine, like I knew I was. I was more worried
about Lucas. My parents were to check on me every six hours while I slept, to
make sure I didn’t have a concussion. They told me to keep the bandages on my
wrists for a couple of days.

The coroner
came and finally took Ryan away.

When I was told
I could leave, my parents whisked me away, telling me that they were not
letting me out of their sight ever again. I waved to Lucas, who was getting his
eye checked out by the paramedics; we hadn’t really spoken since the detectives
arrived.

My parents doted on me for the rest of the
evening, bringing my dinner to the couch in the living room while I watched TV.
Even Alex was nice to me. It was a little unnerving.

For the next
two days, I was watched like a hawk. They were afraid that once the shock wore
off, I would freak out. And I wasn’t exactly sure I wouldn’t. I was still
ticked off at myself for not remembering that Tony looked just like Ryan. I had
a feeling Lucas blamed me too. In the confusion, he said that it was too bad I
hadn’t figured it out earlier. He probably blamed me for Logan’s injuries. I
know I did. I hoped he could forgive me. But since today was Sunday and I
hadn’t heard from him since I left the waterfall with my parents, I wasn’t sure
what was going to happen.

Despite their
threat at the waterfall, my parents had finally left me alone, but only for an
hour. We were running out of food, so they had to go grocery shopping. Alex was
at his friend Noah’s. I stayed home from work yesterday, not by choice. I
wanted to go, just to get out of the house, but my mom made me stay home. She
said she was making sure my head wouldn’t suddenly bother me, and I’d faint or
something. But I’m sure she was worried that the stress of it all would come
back. I was a bit jumpy, and any noise startled me.

Since Friday, I
had been dreaming of the incident on the cliff. I would run over and grab
Lucas’ hand, but I didn’t have the strength to hold him. His hand slipped out
of mine. I watched his face as he fell; he stared at me in anger for letting
him slip away. I looked down and saw his deformed body lying on the rocks.

I heard
laughter behind me. I spun around to see Ryan leaning against the tree; he
stopped laughing and said, “You belong to me!”

I would wake up
screaming. The dream always left me with an eerie feeling, and it clung to me
throughout the day. So when everyone insisted on watching me, I didn’t object.

I was deep in
thought, staring at the TV, when the doorbell rang. I jumped, suddenly
terrified. I had just been thinking about Ryan. Even though I knew he was gone,
I couldn’t help but feel anxious since it happened. I was frozen with fear and
was afraid to answer the door. Maybe the coroner made a mistake, and he wasn’t
really dead, but wouldn’t the police tell me?

The doorbell
rang again. I covered my face in my hands, hoping whoever it was would go away.
After a few minutes, I breathed a sigh of relief; they must have given up.

Bang bang bang.

I jumped at the
sound of pounding on the door, and I looked over when I heard a slight squeak.
The doorknob turned. I held my breath, afraid to make a sound. It was Ryan, I
was sure of it.