I coughed, covering my mouth as the mucus drove itself out through my lips. The harsh wind of chilling pin pricks whipped across my skin. I tore the sweatshirt off my arms and sunk into the squishy, chilling material underneath me. The snow had never seemed as harsh as it did now. I remembered how it used to excite me, how it had been my favorite season, winter that is. Now, it just seemed to course through me with the blood curdling scream I hungered to release.
The tears froze on my face as I sat there, twisting my head around, fighting the pain that radiated from my heart. How could this have happened? How could they have done this to me?
I rubbed the back of my head, holding back the whimpers as my throat tightened. They had been my whole life. They had been everything to me. Without out them, there was nothing for me here.
This was supposed to be a better life, a better start. I had held all of that hope in my heart up until now. That little girl was no longer here.
The life had been sucked from my soul, and now sitting here, I seriously thought about just laying here, on the snow and letting the hypothermia take me.
“Braelyn! Braelyn Justine Valyntine,” a rough, raspy voice yelled from behind me.
I clenched my jaw and sunk further into the snow. A dark, deep devastating road had been impaled on the small town of Uriel. The Valyntines had been a big part of the culture here, my father, the mayor had been a great man, and my mother, the town’s best doctor had been reaped from this town.
“Don’t do this to your parents, Braelyn. You know they wouldn’t have wanted to see you commit suicide after all this. You’ve come so far,” the voice tore through my concentration.
Cold hands grasped my arms and yanked me up. I let out a shout of anger and kicked out at the strong hands around me. He had brought the police. Smart man.
It was no secret that I was destructive and with the sudden change in lives, I didn’t have much time to recover.
His dark, hairy arms wrapped around me as the police tried to drag me out of the snow. How did they expect me to react after all I had been through? Hearing the news of your parents’ deaths wasn’t something that made your life better!
“How would you know what my parents felt like? They’re dead and it’s all your fault,” I shouted. I was done for it, I knew that. The men had too much strength pit up against me.
“Braelyn, I know, I’m sorry. I should have had them protected better,” he replied, his brown eyes tearing up. It was hard for the man to see the misery I was going through. It should’ve been. This was all his fault!
“Just let me go! Let me go with them! I have nothing here,” I cried, finally losing my cool.
I hated these pesky teenage girl emotions! Every time I tried to mask my feelings, they burst out!
I sank in his arms, letting the misery drain from me. What else could I do?
“They killed them, Noah. They killed them because of me. If I hadn’t been there…if I hadn’t gotten them thrown in jail,” I sobbed. He wrapped his warm jacket around me and pushed back his always groomed, black hair.
“It’s not your fault. You saved many lives, Braelyn. Without you, they would still be out killing thousands of others,” he assured. I shook my head, holding the anger back.
“If I hadn’t been in that store they would still be alive! There wouldn’t have been two bullets put through their heads,” I cried.
My head ached with the tightening of anger in my head. I could feel the vein popping out; I just knew it was there. It always popped out when I tried to hold everything inside.
“We don’t know that it was them. It could have just been a coincidence,” he countered.
“Uh, Mr. Jacques, we need to speak to you,” a policeman interrupted from behind us. I felt his arms loosen around me and pull away.
The bags drawled out further than usual. It was clear that my case had been more unbearable to him than he’d ever had before.
He took a few steps away from me, leaving the coat around my shoulders. I sat on the ground listening.
“They’ve escaped. We don’t know how they did it, but they’re gone. The police department confirmed that they’ve escaped from prison. These serial killers are let loose and you’ve got to bet that they’re going to come after her,” the man whispered.
My heart stopped, chilling to the core. I knew it. This just pained me more. They had murdered my parents and now they were going to come after me. I rubbed the temples of my head.
“She’s homeless now, Jacques. What are you going to do? She’s in the Witness Protection Program and it’s not like she can just live on her own. She’s only fifteen,” the policeman continued.
I scanned the area. Where was that other policeman? He had been here a moment ago.
“She’ll start a new life. She’ll have a new name. I won’t let them get to her,” Noah grumbled.
I took a deep breath and calmed myself. I needed to stay strong for my parents.
“Unit 251, this is dispatch. The targets have been spotted around your area,”
I gasped for air, suddenly, as the tightening around my throat constricted my breathing. My legs lifted from the ground. I tried sinking down, but the hand was too strong.
A maniacal grin spread across the man’s face. His dark blue eyes held my gaze, never looking away. A beard had grown to cover around his chin and his upper lip, but the haircut was the same spikey looking pinpricks that looked as though they could be used to kill someone.
“Braelyn Valyntine, how nice to see you again. Such a shame about your parents,” he said, the venom spilling out his mouth.
I kicked out desperately. The blackness was starting to overwhelm me.
“We’ll have fun tonight,” he said, walking away from the site. Where were they? Where was Noah?
He wasn’t here when I needed him! Where was he taking me?
I heard slamming of car doors as we grew further away from the road where I had collapsed.
“What a sweet sight to see,” a voice broke through my unconsciousness.
I dropped to the ground, gasping. Finally, he had let me go. I gazed up as the dark black spots retreated. Most of the gang stood in front of me, Roland Mitchel, Geoffrey Hopkins, Samuel Wretch, Harold Reaves and the leader, Jet Blaque. They were back together, the group of serial killers. They had been named the Blaque Ring for all the destruction they had caused. It all seemed so childish.
“Open the back, Wretch. We have to get out of her before they find us,” Blaque commanded, catching my eye with his blue glittering eyes again.
I pushed myself off the ground and dove for the hill to the left of us. I couldn’t bear to see them. Not this time. I feared that I would do something that would get me killed.
Unfortunately, Blaque had anticipated this and shoved me back to the ground before I even had a chance. I fell to the ground whacking my head on the cement.
The sound of metal screeching echoed through my ringing ears. They were opening up the back of the mini semi. I don’t know how they’d managed to get ahold of one. This would be the perfect vehicle to smuggle living souls.
I gulped as the tightening around my shoulder smothered my breath away. I cried out and tore at the ground as Blaque lifted me from the ground. Soon, I felt the darkness envelope around me as the door began to shut. I leapt forward, catching a glimpse as a small, delicate snowflake flew towards me. Tears rushed down my face again. The fear had finally inched its way out.
“No! No,” I cried out, pounding on the door. The light had been shut out of the room.
The adrenaline rushed through my veins. I kicked out at the door, doing anything to get out. I pulled up at it with all the strength I had, scratching at the centimeter gap between the door and the floor.
“No! Let me out! Let me out! Noah,” I screamed.