Page 2 of Keeping Ava

With my phone still connected to the call, I light the way, stumbling over an old axe and lawn care equipment. There’s nothing blocking the back, and I scramble over a riding mower to enter another small overgrowth that I crawl into. The thorns of this bush scratch my skin; it stings, and I can feel the few drops of blood sliding down my arm as I move deeper inside and hide within the tall grass.

I’m lucky that the faint sound of leaves rustling is masked by his heavy footfalls and the sudden rush of a scared cat running.

Large trees are up ahead, just a few feet away, when he whispers my name and I still. “Where did my beautiful Miss Ava go? Come out, and I’ll play nice.” His shoes crunch on old leaves or garbage—who knows—and I bite down hard on my lip to keep in the scream that wants to escape. I don’t turn around, but know he is very close. Jason takes another step, and his shadow looms near when sirens wail. They too are close, and he kicks something that sounds like metal near him. “You’ll pay for this, baby.”

Car doors open and close. He doesn’t move.

The sound of his door being kicked in comes next, and someone yells for help—for an ambulance. He doesn’t move.

Multiple lights move throughout the backyard, focusing on him as feet pound on the ground coming toward us.

He doesn’t move, but I know he sees me now. How close he was to me.

“Hands up and drop to your knees,” a man yells from behind us, guns cocked. Still nothing, but I feel him. His eyes burning into my flesh. Eating me alive. “On the ground now!”

At that moment, I look back and our eyes lock a second before his knees are taken out from behind. He falls near me but can’t react when three officers grab him and force his hands behind his back.

Jason is in handcuffs before I can blink.

He’s being pulled up and searched as someone offers me their hand up.

And through it all, his eyes never leave me. Not once. There’s no anger in them, which I find odd; instead, what he gives me is a slimy smirk. His cold, dark eyes are happy.

“Are you okay, Miss?” a female officer asks, but I can’t answer, frozen in fear once more as Jason mouths the words:

I’ll come for you.

* * *

A Few Months Later…

My life will never be the same.

How can it be?

I’ve gone from owning a quaint little café in downtown Lubbock, to being on the run.

From having friends and a life of my own, to absolutely nothing. In the blink of an eye, I’ve had no choice but to disappear. No goodbyes.

I was taken from my home in the middle of the night and told to follow instructions. To go with a man I don’t know and trust that he’ll keep me safe until we meet my next handler a few states away. From Lubbock to San Antonio—I’ve been hiding there for the past three months because that’s where his trial is set to be. They keep me out of the public eye, too, and away from reporters who are desperate for the inside scoop.

Then, there are also the morbid fans. Those that find this sort of sickness fascinating enough to try to contact me.

And yet, it’s still not a secure enough place for me. It’s why I now find myself being driven toward San Diego without a choice in the matter.

Three cities.

Each with more than one life taken by this monster.

The more his depravity comes to light, the more I realize it’s my fault. His fascination isn’t new; it began when we were teens, but I never thought he’d do something like this. Hurt others because of me.

To me he was just a jerk with a wounded ego. That’s it.

All because I’ve always turned him down.

Because I’ve never told a soul how uncomfortable and pushy he’s always been. About the one time he—

“We’ll be there shortly,” the Texas Ranger says from beside me inside his large black pickup. It’s a short statement like all the others before, but not rude. Not in the least. Weston has been kind—more than generous—in taking on the last-minute responsibility of bringing me to my next destination.

---