Page 19 of Hunter's Trial

After everybody else has left, I wait around the back of the building by the holding cells for a little while, wondering if he is going to show up or not. I might just be making a fool out of myself by putting myself out here like this, but I have a couple of things that I want to say to him before this is all over. I think that I might just kick myself if I don’t even try. I owe myself that much.

One minute turns to five turns to ten and he still doesn’t show up. My pride won’t let me go inside to check where he is. Probably avoiding me. Likely avoiding all of us. I guess I can’t really blame him for it either. I take my bruised ego and head to my car. I don’t know why I’m so damned disappointed. Everything went exactly how it was supposed to go. I don’t know what else I was expecting… I just wanted to see him one more time, I suppose.

He has to disappear, that’s part of the arrangement that he made with Alek. None of them are ever supposed to hear hide nor hair of him for the rest of their years.

I would have only gotten myself in trouble if I had been able to say goodbye and I know it. It’s better this way. I need to get home to my daughter and celebrate. Our futures have been secured. That’s all that should matter.

I sit beside my daughter on her bed, legs outstretched in front of me while she’s snuggled down into her covers.

“One more chapter?” Liz asks softly, her eyes only half open as sleep clogs her voice.

I lean down to kiss the top of her head softly. “I don’t think that you would even remember what happens, you’re so tired.”

“Nu-uh… I would…” Liz says.

Though, even as the words leave her mouth she’s starting to drift off into sleep. Just a few minutes from now I’ll turn on her sleeping stuff and she’ll sleep for the rest of the night like a rock. We both are overly full from the takeout that we had for dinner. Paired with post-dinner sundays to splurge and a mini movie marathon, I would say that tonight went perfectly, all things considered. She was even allowed to stay awake an extra hour just because we were having so much fun. But, as all things, it has to come to an end.

I have no problem admitting that I don’t have any desire to leave her room either. I miss the days where she was small enough that I could stay in bed with her on these sorts of nights where I just don’t want to leave her side. Everything is for her. Now I don’t have to spend the rest of our lives checking over my shoulder. Horus will be with us, keeping us safe.

I can just picture it. Liz all grown up and going away to college and Horus going with her, watching her and caring for her. A personal bodyguard for a college freshman would likely make her feel important.

“You have to sleep, or else you’ll be too tired to go to the park tomorrow.” I hug her close for a lingering moment and then slide out of bed. Slowly I tuck her into place and turn on her nightlight, soft ocean sounds filling the room a second later. She smiles weakly up at me like she wants to say something but just can’t seem to summon the energy to do so. It’s for the best. I don’t think it would take much to convince me to crawl right back into bed with her.

She’s asleep before I even have a chance to close the door.

Wearing an old pair of boxers as sleep shorts and an oversized comfortable t-shirt I walk through the small living room of the house to the kitchen while pulling my hair up into a messy bun on the top of my head. I turn on the tea kettle and start to search my cupboard for a bag of popcorn. I’m too wired to sleep anytime soon even though I know that if I stop moving, I’m likely to fall asleep. It would be just like me to set everything up to watch a movie and fall asleep on my couch before the credits have even finished playing.

I set out my tea mug and get ready, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.

It startles me so much that I almost knock the teacup right over.

It’s probably Horus checking in on me before he settles in for the night as well. That, or he forgot something. Or he saw me with the kettle and he wanted a cup for himself. If I had known that he was coming to see me I would have worn something a little more appropriate. This is hardly an outfit that I would consider to be attractive by any means.

Can’t leave Horus waiting though.

I answer the door with a witty quip on the very tip of my tongue - but it’s not Horus.

My blood runs cold and my bowels start to turn watery at the sight of the towering man in front of me. Billy found me. He’s here. He’s standing here, on my doorstep.

“Hi baby, great job on your case!” Billy greets me with a smile like no time has passed at all since the last time that he saw me.

He holds his arms out to hug me - and the thought of him touching me again makes bile rise in my throat. I have to get out of here. He steps forward and it snaps me out of my trance. Immediately I step back and attempt to slam the door shut in front of me. I need the door locked.

Horus. Where is Horus?!

I have to stall for time. No matter what happens, I cannot allow this monster into my house. Liz is in here. She’s sleeping. I can’t scream or she’s going to wake up and have to live in this nightmare all over again. Adrenaline kicks in as Billy slams the door open with his hand and foot. The corner of the door knocks me straight in the head and I stagger backward before catching myself. I can’t let this happen. Fight, I have to fight.

I try to kick the door closed again, gritting my teeth angrily against the onslaught but he’s so much bigger than I am. He drops the door and grabs me by the hair. He makes it seem practically effortless to yank me right out of my own house by my damned hair into the darkness of night.

“This is why you left me? To be here all alone with nobody to care for you?” Billy sneers. “You should have known better. You’re not capable of taking care of yourself, baby. You need me. You got all your dirty money from those bastards… defending a fucking criminal and yet you have the nerve to call me a monster?”

Don’t scream, don’t scream, don’t scream.

I lock onto his hands and try to relieve the pressure screaming through my scalp as he spews hate and vitriol down at me. He drops me in the middle of the yard by the bushes that had once been charming to me. Now I’m never going to be able to look at them again without thinking of this. He’s ruining another home. I’m going to have to move again. I’m going to be running forever.

Where the fuck is Horus?

Oh god, what did he do to Horus?!

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