Page 77 of The Spotlight Effect

“Who is that?” Gray asks.

“That’s a story she has to tell you,” Emerson answers.

I feel as if my breath is being sucked up out of me as my vision clouds while my head hurts. Rushes of the memories from when I was thirteen come back into my head.

I can’t do this.

Not again. He can’t come find me, he won’t. But deep down, I know he may try. I look over at Gray with tears running down my face.

“I can’t do this,” I whisper.

“Do what?” he asks. My stomach swirls. With the little energy I have, I stand up and run over to the trash can and throw up the contents of my stomach.

“Lex!” Gray yells. “Someone help.”

“Zara, can you go call her mom?” Gray tells Zara.

I don’t hear much else of what’s happening because my vision fades and all I remember is falling into Gray’s arms.

WHEN ALEXIA WAS THIRTEEN

ALEXIA

EIGHT YEARS AGO…

We all knew my dad married the woman his brother was in love with, but to be fair, he was in love with her too. My parents were high school sweethearts. But Griffin envied my dad and always felt like he took something from him. Griffin was my mom’s first kiss. It was a simple boy-girl party, and they gave a peck kiss, but nonetheless a kiss and Griffin has always held that over my dad’s head. My dad never cared, though. It was before my mom and dad even grew feelings for each other, which didn’t happen until ninth grade, but she kissed Griffin in fifth grade.

I knew Griffin had issues, but I never thought he’d go so low to hurt my dad. I never thought he’d hurt me. At this time, I was in eighth grade. It was almost summer, and my parentshad divorced, but they had a good relationship. They’d been best friends for a while, and they still were.

It was some of the best co-parenting ever.

It was a Thursday and me, Dexter, and Lia all had dentist appointments and after that I was supposed to go to Faith’s house for a sleepover. After school, we all waited outside for my mom, but she never came, so I called Griffin, and Faith's mom got Faith, and we agreed to see each other later. Dexter and Lia all got in the car.

It wasn’t until as we got farther, I realized we were headed out of town. “Uncle Griffin, you passed the town sign,” Dexter said to him.

“Don’t worry, we're just going on a trip,” he said before turning the air on. He put on a gas mask as the car filled with a smokeless scent and as we breathed in, we became unconscious.

When I woke up,I was tied to a chair inside of my dad's old childhood home. I knew his family no longer lived here. His parents got someplace smaller and closer to us, and his siblings had moved too, but Griffin brought us here. The house was still in the family, but it was more of a vacation place, considering it was three hours away from where we live.

The room was cold and dim, but I could see Aaliyah tied to one of the bedposts and Dexter tied to the other. They were both on the floor with their backs against the bedpost. I was the only one in a chair. That was the first thing that made me suspicious.

“Dex?” I called over to him, trying to wake up. “Dex,” I said louder. “Dex,” I said again, even louder. No response. “Lia,” I called, hoping she heard me. “Lia!” I shouted. I didn’t mean to, but I did, and I regretted it immediately. Stomping sounds filled the hallway, and the door flew open, revealing Griffin.

“Hello, Alexia,” he said, grinning while holding a cup of water and a gun strapped to his side.

“Why am I here?” I asked frantically while pulling on the ropes holding me to the chair.

“Simple. I want to get back at my brother,” Griffin stated.

He walked farther into the room and stood in front of me. “Your sibling should be up soon, but for now, drink,” he said and held the glass up to my lips. I know you shouldn’t take things from a kidnapper, but I’m not that dumb to reject water and food when it’s being offered, but I’m not going just to drink it either.

“You go first,” I said. Griffin didn’t fight; he sipped the water and was fine, so I deemed it good enough, and it was.

“I’ll be back with dinner,” he stated and left.

That was the first night. He only came back one more time and left bottles of water and chips, untied us while holding a gun to us, and then left, locking the door. You could tell from the click it was electronic.

The next day,I was woken up due to the feeling of being carried. When I opened my eyes, I could see we were walking down a hallway, and then he turned into a bedroom, which I recognized to be his childhood room.

---