Page 2 of Abducting Sarah

I crossed my arms and glared.

“Neither do I. I’m sorry—I know you don’t like the pills. But it’s necessary. They don’t want to leave their family fortune to a crazy—”

“Oh fuck you!” I jumped up from my seat and stomped out of the dining room, tears falling.

There wasn’t enough oxygen in the mansion’s halls, so I ran upstairs to our bedroom and threw the windows open wide. Long, gasping breaths filled my lungs with cool night air. October had been unseasonably warm, but the nights felt crisp, yet somehow still humid.

Spanish moss drifted on the breeze as it dangled from the ancient oak trees that made up Lakeworth Forest—what Ryan called our backyard. A full moon lit the treetops, but the light barely touched the ground. Something at the base of the trees caught my eye. I wasn’t sure, not at first. But then I realized someone was down there.

Ice shot up my back as I studied him. He stared right back at me. Not a ghost—he was solid. He was tall, thickly built, and wore a black hood over black pants. I couldn’t see his face. But he saw mine. I wanted to scream or shout at him or call for Ryan, and I couldn’t. If I called for Ryan, the man would disappear—I knew it. Something in my gut told me so. If the stranger disappeared, then I would never know who he was or why he was outside my house.

I tried to call down to him, but he stepped into a pool of moonlight and my voice failed me. The stranger pulled his hood from his head.Definitely the same man from the shops in Charleston. He had a strong jaw and a shaved head. He appeared white in the moonlight, but I wasn’t sure.

Our bedroom door opened and startled me. I spun around and saw Ryan. Gruffly, he said, “We weren’t done talking.”

“I was.” I turned back around to the window, and the man was gone. “Dammit.”

“What?”

“The man who followed me in Charleston—he was outside, just now.”

He huffed. “Just stop, Sarah. There’s no one outside, just like there was no one following you in Charleston. Stop.”

My blood boiled as I stared into the forest. The moonlight shifted in the trees. When I looked up, a black cloud had shaded it out. I gritted my teeth and said, “You owe me an apology.”

“Because I want you to live up to your end of the bargain?” he asked sarcastically.

“You called me crazy.”

“If you don’t like it, then don’t be crazy.”

He walked into the en suite bathroom and shut the door. The sink ran. His nightly routine before bed—brush his teeth, use tooth whitening strips, and perform his mini-facial. Ryan lived by his routines and had tried to get me to follow suit, but regiment was not in my vocabulary.

I had never lived a scheduled, rigid life. It was not in me to do something that tedious.Maybe that’s the real reason we’re not a good fit?

I sighed deeply and stared out the window again. Such a quiet night to be thinking about breaking up with Ryan. Not that I actually planned to. He was a catch—both of my sisters envied what I had with him. Engaged to a millionaire and future billionaire, most women envied me. But did I still love him anymore? It was hard to say. Our relationship had long been tainted by my hallucinations.

I tried to put it all out of my mind. I had gone over the details countless times—the pluses and minuses of leaving him—and there was no point in going over it all again. I always came to the same conclusion. He would be a wonderful provider for our children.

I focused on the night instead. Moonlight poured over the trees once more. The black cloud had moved, this time it was over the house. I saw only the edge of it above. It struck me as odd.Clouds aren’t black. Not even at night. They’re grayish at night. Is that smoke?

Suddenly, I couldn’t move, and everything went silent. Bright white light flooded the window, surrounding me like a bubble. I tried to scream or breathe or blink, and I couldn’t. I was frozen.

Is this a stroke? Some strong bastard of a ghost? The fuck is happening?All I could do was watch helplessly. I couldn’t feel the floor beneath my feet anymore. I had begun to float in my bedroom.

Panic washed over me as I passed through the open window frame.I’m hallucinating. That’s all this is. Just another hallucination. A bad one. It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real!

I floated upward, toward the edge of the roof, beneath the black cloud. As I came closer to the cloud, it reflected the moonlight the way a black car did—shining yet dim. Part of the black cloud slid away from the rest of it, and the light bubble I was inside of stretched and extended into the opening of the cloud.

It was like being sucked upward.

As my bubble entered the cloud, a familiar humming overtook my ears. Bees.Why would bees kidnap me?It was a ridiculous thought, and I would have laughed at it, if I could have laughed. I still couldn’t do anything. I worried I would suffocate, but I didn’t feel like I was. Outside of absolute terror and the gallows humor I got from my now deceased mom, I didn’t feel anything at all.

Until I saw my captors. Upon seeing them, I wished I couldn’t see anything at all.

CHAPTER 2

Jacaranda

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