Page 17 of I've Found Her Part 2: I’ll Never Lose Her Again

“Shhhhh……..There’s someone in the house.” Josh’s mouth is to my ear.

Panic sets in and I can hear my heart beating.

We lie still, trying to breathe quietly so we can listen.

I don’t hear anything, but Josh is tense and on high alert. Even in the darkness, I can see his eyes scanning the room. I know what he is thinking. He always sleeps with a gun under his pillow. But the gun is upstairs on his bed. I know there’s one strapped to the underneath of the kitchen table but that’s at the other side of the room.

After a few minutes, I hear it. The sound of footsteps squeaking on the wooden floors. My breathing becomes uncontrollable. My heart is racing. My body begins to shake. They are getting nearer and nearer. The footsteps stop about a meter away from us. If I was to look in that direction, I would be able to see them. But I don’t, I am paralysed in fear.

“Love you Clo.” Josh jumps out of bed with such a force. I can hear him fighting with another man, but I can’t look.

I close my eyes tight and pray for it to be over.

There’s shouting and growling.

“GET OUT CLO!” I can hear Josh shouting me, but I am frozen, I can’t even move my head.

*BANG*

Josh’s body lands at the side of me.

Everything goes quiet.

I am now brought out of my paralysis. I sit up to see Josh on the edge of our make-shift bed. The gun man stood over him. It’s him. The guy that killed Tyler, I’d recognise those evil eyes anywhere. He has found us.

Looking very pleased with himself he lifts his gun to me. With a mighty growl, Josh launches himself off the floor and over the top off me. *BANG*

“I..love you….so much …Clo.” I wrap my arms around him.

“Don’t you dare leave me Josh. Don’t you dare.” I feel my stomach becoming warm and wet with his blood. Josh’s body becomes limp. “No! No! No!” I cry shaking him, but he’s unresponsive.

“Well, well, well. I finally found you. You know, I almost gave up. But I knew you would slip up eventually.” He voice is smug and makes my blood boil. “A call was made to your best friend’s home from this area, so I thought I would come and check it out. And here you are. You are no match for me little girl. Even your bodyguard boyfriend couldn’t protect you.”

I move out from under Josh. I catch sight of myself covered in blood. Physically feeling my heart break, I no longer have any concern for myself. I cannot live without him. Adrenaline fills me, I run towards the gunman. I punch him in the face with all the force I can muster. He drops to the floor in a daze. But it doesn’t last for long. Laughing, he gets to his feet.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” I turn to run out of the cottage, but he grabs me by hair. I am thrown into the wall, my face smashing against a mirror. It breaks slicing the skin on my forehead. I’m spun around and met with a kick to the stomach. It takes my breath away. He lets go of my hair and I drop to the floor on all fours. Still unable to breathe I receive a forceful boot to the temple. I feel a crack to my scull and a piercing ring bellows in my ears. I stay down praying for it to be over. Surely another couple of kicks like that and I’ll be done. He paces around me.

“I have waited so long for this.” Another boot batters my face. The ringing in my ears is excruciating.

“STOP!” A voice I don’t recognise fills the room.

I am lifted off the floor and sat on a chair. My body is limp, I slump back into it. A light is turned on visualising the horrific scene I am in. Josh is lay lifeless in our bed of cushions. The once white bedding is now dark red. My heart is broken.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

“You need to stop this Cain! She is your sister!”

I am in and out of consciousness. I am not sure if I have heard him correctly. I look up to a man I vaguely recognise. He wets a towel in the sink and sits down in front of me.

“May I?” I don’t respond. I was hoping this nightmare would be over by now. He dabs and cleans my face. I do not understand what is going on. I don’t have the energy to ask. All I can do is look at my lifeless man on the floor. I no longer care about anything. I am numb.

“You are so beautiful. Just like your mother.”

“Hold on a minute. What the hell is going on here? She, is a dead woman, and how the F**K did you find me?”

The man stands furious. “YOU WILL NOT LAY ANOTHER FINGER ON HER!” The man has an American accent. I remember now where I know him from. I met him in the King security building. He had a meeting with Josh that day I spoke to the police.

“Mr Graves?” the name comes out of me in a whisper.

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