The Understorey, Book One of The Leaving Series (46 page)

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Authors: Fisher Amelie

Tags: #young adult, #teen humor, #young adult supernatural, #teen thriller, #teen drama, #teen thriller suspense, #young adult thriller suspense, #young adult romance, #teen romance, #young adult love, #young adult suspense, #young adult drama, #young adult paranormal romance, #teen supernatural, #teen, #teen paranormal romance, #young adult humor, #young adult paranormal, #teen suspense, #young adult thriller, #teen paranormal, #teen love

BOOK: The Understorey, Book One of The Leaving Series
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I hadn’t noticed before, because his body was
turned in such a way that it blocked my view, but in his left hand
was a gun and it was aimed at Jules’ head.

    “Stop!” I mumbled.
    “Put your bat down,” he said calmly.
    I placed the bat slowly on the ground and rose
with my hands where he could see them. He signaled for me to kick
the bat to the opposite corner of the cave and I complied. I
noticed he had two cuts across his arms, one looked particularly
deep, and that he had bound it with strips of a cloth but it did
little to stop the heavy bleeding. I realized then that the blood
in his parents’ bathroom wasn’t Jules’. It was his. I was very
proud of Jules. She must have caught him off guard enough to do
some damage but I felt a twist of agony for the price she had paid
for it. It was evident in her eyes but even more apparent in the
‘E’ he had carved on the left part of her chest just below the
collar bone.

I fingered my chest where I felt the same
pounding burn. It was deep enough to have soaked a thick trail of
blood down her shirt and into her jeans.
I’m so sorry
, I
mouthed. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting tears and shook her
head slightly.
    “Good,” he said, never breaking his frightening
gaze on Jules.

Her eyes stayed with mine. She silently
pleaded with me to cooperate. She had a few hours practice with
Jesse and somehow knew this was it for her soon.

“I’ve waited for a long time for you to find
us here,” he said, his eyes briefly darting to mine before
refocusing them on Jules’. “You know Julia? You aren’t the only
girl I’ve brought down here.”
My eyes widened in fear, anticipating what he’d say
next.   

“She’s not exactly the
best
I’ve had
down here Elliott but she had her moments. I do think I could have
enjoyed it more if you had been here to watch but I relish the fact
I can recount it to you in front of her.” He closed his eyes. “Her
scream, when I can get her to, I must say Elliott, is phenomenal;
involuntarily gravelly I’m happy to say.”

Jules’ eyes began to water and she shook her
head violently, trying to keep me from doing something stupid and
getting us both killed. My knuckles tightened in fury, the whites
of them brightened with a hungry need to hit him.

“Oh calm down, Elliott,” he threatened.
“Don’t act so surprised. I told you that I wanted her.” He smiled
at some private thought before continuing on, “It’s your fault, you
know. If you had just stepped aside as I had told you, it wouldn’t
have to be so painful for her.” He raised his red eyes my direction
and emphatically insisted with the gun, “You did that to her!”

Jules broke down into sobs as she shook her
head from side to side, telling me it wasn’t true. I made a move
toward her to comfort her. I didn’t care what he did to me. I
needed only to touch her and both our fears, our anxieties, our
pain, would dissipate into nothing.

Surprisingly, he made no move to stop me,
only stepped further back putting the fire he made between himself
and us but kept the gun aimed at Jules.

I touched Jules and it was as if nothing else
mattered. Our shared current emanated through our bodies and we
were one. I had never felt it pulse so powerfully through us and in
that moment I understood that it had been our heightened sense of
longing that caused it.

The desperation for the other was never as
frantic as it was in that second. Our bodies somehow knew it was
the last time our touch would be a reality and were instinctively
getting their fill before they extinguished forever. The sensation
was more powerful than before, although no less pleasurable. It
calmed me yet simultaneously frightened me. It was a sign. A sign
that our gift anticipated this was to be the end of our time
together.

The tears overwhelmed us Jules and we forgot
about Jesse completely. I sat on the back of my legs to remove the
gag, inhaling her into the deepest kiss, the softest kiss possible.
It glorified all that was good in us, all that was buried in our
hearts. I lifted my hand for her face but when it came up a
scorching, excruciating pain pierced my left shoulder.

Jules yelled my name as I tumbled onto the
stone floor behind me. She lunged herself on top of me and pleaded
my name, tears flooding down her face. I hated when she cried,
worse than a million gunshot wounds to the shoulder. My chest ached
for her.

    “Elliott!” She cried over
and over.

Jesse lifted her from my torso and threw her
against the rock wall purposely slamming her head against the stone
and pulled her gag back into place.

    “Calm down Julia! It’s
only his shoulder. That’s not the shot that’s going to kill him.
Trust me,” he said with a cruel smile.
    I sprang to my feet but made no attempt to go
for the bat at the other end of the stone alcove. I wouldn’t have
had time. I had no idea what I was going to do. In my hesitation,
Jesse aimed the gun at my other shoulder.
    “Please,” I begged.
    “What?” He mockingly cupped his hand over his
ear. “I’m sorry Elliott, did you say something?”  He laughed
maniacally. “Nothing to say for Julia? I really expected more of a
protest than this
at least
Elliott. You’ve hardly said two
words. Come now! What kind of boyfriend are you that you can’t even
spit out two words to plead for her? Does her life mean nothing to
you? Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He turned to Jules. “Look at this loser? He
can’t even fight for you. How can you be with somebody so
pathetic?”
    “You broke his jaw!” She yelled through her
gag.
    Jesse ignored her, “Should I describe the
intimate things we’ve shared tonight Julia? Do you think that might
goad some sort of response from him? Why don’t you tell him Julia?”
She pleaded with me through her eyes. “No?” He turned his gaze back
to me. “That’s alright. I’ll start then.........Hmmmm.” He tapped
his gun against his chin, “Well, first off, she’s an amazing kisser
Elliott. I’m shocked you never spoke of her lips before.

“I particularly enjoyed her tongue, very
warm. I accidentally bit her though. Poor girl. I was too eager.”
He turned toward Jules, “I’m really sorry about that by the way,”
before returning his eyes to mine. “It was messy as hell, with all
the blood and everything, but it didn’t stop me now did it Julia?
And those orthodontics? They really paid off I think. I let my
tongue feel its way around her mouth and I couldn’t find even
one
out of place. You’ve been quite a good girl, I can tell.
Diligent in wearing your retainers.” He sighed, “I like good girls.
You know what I like more? Making good girls dirty. Isn’t that
right Elliott? You’ve lent your ear my way to hear a tale or
two.

“Wouldn’t you agree I’m quite good at that?”
He paused, waiting for an answer that wouldn’t come. “Well,
I
think I am. You’ll actually be able to judge for yourself
here Elliott in just a few minutes. Anyway,” he said waving the gun
absently, “her hair is quite soft. I’ve never smelled anything so
appetizing before. It was a shame it got so bloody and filthy, I
had plans to run my knife through it. A souvenir would have been
nice. Oh well,” he sighed in disappointment. “Let’s see, what
happened next?”

Jules closed hard at the memory of it all and
tears poured slowly down her cheeks. He stared at her reaction and
it must have reminded him of what he had done next.

    “Oh yeah!” He laughed,
“Her legs. I must admit Elliott, out of all the legs I’ve slid my
hands up, hers were the most enjoyable. She kept trying to squeeze
them back together and I was forced to lay my knees against
them.

“That took care of that, didn’t it Julia? She
may have a few bruises but after that it was no trouble at all to
feel what I wanted to feel. Of course, mind you, it was over her
jeans, a problem I plan on remedying soon, now that you’re
here.

“It was a good thing you came when you did
too, because I was really starting to become impatient. I am so
enthralled
with her. She seems so, what’s the word,
uptight
. I can’t wait to lay my hands on her.

“That’s something you’ll never get to do, is
it Elliott? Rightfully so. I never really understood the hype
around you. Technically you were no better at sports than I, but
that didn’t matter, it was the position people coveted and they
just worshipped you for it, didn’t they? 
   

“Academically? If I was being honest with
myself, I’d have to admit you have me there but I just don’t
care.

“The only thing I didn’t want you to have was
the university life you held in such esteem. You rattled on and on
about it, constantly wafting it in front of my face.

“It’s not fair that you got a full ride when
you barely earned it. I saw how little you studied for your exams
this year, tediously preoccupied with the girl and all, while I
worked myself to the bone trying to earn a friggin’ D and yet, as
always, you ended up with your perfect scores.

“Then, you had the gall to accuse me of
slacking off. Granted,” he laughed, “I was preoccupied myself with
most of the girls volleyball team this semester but how dare you
accuse me of slacking off when you barely spent a few minutes with
me at all! What kind of friend does that make you?

“You’ve completely ignored me since your
experience
with her that first day and I gotta’ tell you, it
really rubbed me the wrong way. You knew I wanted her, you even
threw the fact that you were on to me in my face. That ticked me
off but I thought, ‘it’s Elliott. Get a hold of yourself. He’ll
come back around, you’ll see’ but I was wrong wasn’t I? You never
did. You grabbed hold of the nonsense that she was
your
Julia and ran with it, leaving me to cough and choke on the
remnants of your dust.”

   I knew the guy had a
selective memory but to be so insane as to make stuff up and
convince yourself of the validity?
    “You pretended like Julia was so special. Like
she was more than a good roll in the hay but I know what she really
is. She’s nothing but dirt underneath my fingernails, o nly good
for one thing.”
    I was struggling with the extreme anger surging
through my muscles. I drew my bottom lip through my teeth, despite
the excruciating pain, to keep from charging him and getting myself
killed before I could save Jules. I needed to get my bat,
badly.

I regretted hesitating earlier and should
have grabbed it before he could regain control of his gun. He
continued with the retelling of his cruelty but was totally unaware
of the building wrath that I would descend upon him with every
single word he spoke. I wore a mask of calm and let the storm erupt
within me waiting for the perfect moment to unleash it.

    “Let’s see.........Oh! And
her stomach! Smooth and flat. Not one ounce of fat, yet still as
soft as I’ve ever felt. I must say, I didn’t anticipate liking her
body so much.

“You know, I claimed earlier that she wasn’t
as good as some I’ve brought in here but I only said that because
she struggled so mightily and I could barely control her.

“I’d like to retract that statement,” he
said, pinching his lower lip between his thumb and forefinger. “No,
in fact, I think she’s the best. I think I enjoyed it all the more
because of the fight. It’s too bad you’ll never get to have her.
I’m sure you would have found her as incredible as I will.” He
sighed, apparently approaching the end of his speech and shrugged
his shoulders.

“I had so much more I wanted to say to you
Elliott but I just can’t remember now. I just can’t seem to get
Julia out of my head, sort of anti-climactic.”

He snorted.

“You know when you’ve been looking forward to
something for a long time and then when the time comes you sort of
lose interest? No matter, Julia will more than make up for it.
Won’t you Julia?”

He kept the gun pointed at my shoulder and
carefully walked over to Jules, then with his free hand wrapped her
hair around his fist. He yanked her head backward and she squealed
in pain. He aggressively pulled down her gag. I reigned in the rage
once more.
Soon
, I promised myself. He pulled her up to him
and she stood, trembling. He pushed her head to his and kissed
her.

“Gotta’ get the taste of him out of your
mouth. You will never taste him again, you hear me?”

She watched him.

“Acknowledge me!” He yelled.

Her body tightened in response before she
nodded.

He kissed her again, harder. It was painful
to her because she began to groan but that only served to spur him
on and he kissed her even more harshly. When he pulled his face
away from hers, their mouths were covered in her blood. Jules
wailed and spit the blood toward the stone to keep from
choking.

Not now, Elliott.

    “Get undressed,” he said,
cutting the ties at her hands in one swift swipe of his blade, “but
replace your gag. I can’t have you biting me. Your screams might be
muffled but I think we’ll still be able to ruffle Elliott’s
feathers.”
It sickened me to hear his thoughts, like the object of his torment
wasn’t human, wasn’t Jules.
    “No,” I said.
    “Get undressed Julia or Elliott gets another
bullet,” he threatened somberly.
She immediately bent to remove her boots.
    Before she could move onto her coat he ordered
her to remove her socks as well, “I didn’t say everything but your
socks darlin’. It’s important to me that your feet are as cold as
the rest of your body. Consider this punishment for earlier.”

She nodded and removed her socks. Even her
socks were soaked in blood but I couldn’t locate the source,
ultimately deciding she must have stepped in a bloody pool back at
the cabin. She removed her coat and stood frozen, her eyes focused
rigidly at the stone beneath my feet, afraid to remove her sweater
or pants.

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