Page 59 of Darkness Falls

When the door swings open, I'm greeted by a man with sandy blonde hair. I don't give him the opportunity to speak before I plunge the knife into his chest to collapse his left lung. I rip the knife out and smile at him before saying, "This is a special gift from me to your daughter.”

I turn and run back to my car and hear a loud thud followed by a gut-wrenching scream. It's all happening exactly how I wanted it to. I watch from across the street as the petite woman struggles to drag the man toward their car to secure him in the front seat. She tries to call 911 but gets frustrated and gives up when she can't get her phone to work.

The car starts, and she backs out of the driveway, not even noticing the puddle of brake fluid it left behind. Once all is said and done, I'll be the innocent bystander who just happened to be driving behind them and witnessed the entire event. I have to make sure they end up dead after all. With every stop, I grow more and more excited.

She goes to stop at another stop sign, and I notice the car doesn't make a complete stop. I wonder if this is due to the brakes or if she's trying to make it to the hospital faster.

They turn onto the ramp for the highway, and I follow, trailing behind. Before long, I see the sign indicating the exit where the hospital is located only one mile away.

The exit comes into sight, and the car veers to the right, but just as I planned, she is unable to slow down enough to take the sharp bend safely. The next thing I know, the car smashes into the barrier on the side of the road.

I pull up behind them and watch as steam flows from the front end of the car. It's completely crushed, and the windows are shattered. I pull the cell phone jammer from my pocket to click it off before walking over to the passenger door to see the man slumped against the dashboard with the upper half of his body out of the front window. The airbag deployed, but it didn't matter. She was in a hurry to get him into the vehicle and never bothered to buckle him in.

This went perfectly. With where the glass is, they won't even be able to differentiate the stab wound. They will likely assume it's from the glass, and there will be nobody to advise them differently. I press my fingers to his neck to check for a pulse and am pleased when I find nothing.

I walk over to the driver's side, carefully prying the door open to get in. If the cops ask any questions, I'm just a friendly passerby who was trying to make sure they were alive. When I open the door, I see the woman has a large gash on the top ofher face, where it slammed against the steering wheel. It looks like this airbag was faulty and didn't go off—even better.

When I lean in to check her pulse, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that she is dead, too. This really was way too fucking easy. I take a step back to commit a mental image of the scene to my mind and close the door.

With that, I slip into the role of Julian again as I pull out my phone to call the cops to let them know about the fatal accident I just stumbled upon. I make sure to sell how truly heartbroken I was to come upon the scene before hanging up and letting my cold demeanor resume.

First step: kill Avery's parents. Second step: take Avery and force Callie to come back to the compound. I'm halfway to getting exactly what I want.

Chapter 27

Avery

I've been staring at a wall in my house, trying to comprehend what's happening since I received the phone call from the hospital early this morning.There was an accident. They didn't make it. You were listed as an emergency contact.That's all I heard. So many words were said between them about what happened, but I was only focused on the fact that my parents are dead, and I'll never see them again.

I was supposed to go to dinner with them this weekend, but I blew them off so that I could go on some stupid date. The girl ended up being a total bitch too, and we didn't vibe at all. Images of my parents flash before my eyes, with the weekend camping trips we always went on being the first ones. My father wanted to teach me how to fish, but I was always too afraid to put the worm on the hook by myself.

My mother was always encouraging me to be whoever or whatever I wanted to be. She took me to a craft store when I was eleven to buy me my first sewing machine and always encouraged me to express myself in as many ways as possible. She’s gone.

I think about how in lovethey were. They were married for nearly 30 years. I was their 7th wedding anniversary gift. Lucky number 7 is what my dad always joked around and called me. He would say it was pure luck that his anniversary and my birthday were on the same day because it was one less important day he had to try not to forget.

I should call Callie and ask her to help me with everything, but I don't know if I can. She is going through her own mess right now between finding out her parents aren't her real parents and trying to carry out her revenge on Damien. I don't want to dump this on her because it's not like she ever met my parents anyway.

I know that's probably shitty of me to think like that, but I don't want to be a burden. This is my problem to handle, not hers. She can be pissed at me for not leaning on her later on if she needs to be. For now, I'll just sit here and think about all the good times with my parents and go from there. It's the only real choice I have. My first instinct is to pull away when faced with any sort of overwhelming life issue, and I may or may not be defaulting to that.

I don’t even know how long I’ve been sitting here, just staring and thinking. I'm interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. The last time this phone rang, it was to tell me my parents were dead. I glance down and don't recognize the number. Maybe it's someone calling to tell me this has all been some sort of misunderstanding. I click the answer button and bring the phoneto my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Avery Pierce?"

"It is," I say.

"Hi Avery, my name is Reese Worthington. I am a lawyer who was hired by your parents to ensure your needs were taken care of in the event of their passing. I am noted as an emergency contact for them and was just made aware of their deaths."

"Who are you?"

"I know this all may be a lot for you to handle right now. My name is Reese. Are you able to stop by my home office today? I have some things your parents asked me to hold onto that I believe you should have now."

"I don't understand. Why would my parents prepare for something like this?"

"I think everything will make more sense once you stop by."

"Fine. Give me the address. I'll call an Uber."

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