Page 79 of The Dark Obsession

The house is lightless; I can’t even see a shadow. I fear for my brother. I quake inside and move faster now the destination is closing in.

Rafael keeps pace with mine as we run up the driveway. He breaks into a sprint, and I follow around the rear. He doesn’t stop until his shoulder hits the age-weakened back door, and with a deafening crash, he falls into the house.

I follow him in, taking it step by step, fully alert. The complete darkness jars me. I can already hear distant sirens, police moving in on us.

“He’s not in here,” a sickeningly familiar voice calls out.

“Where is he, you asshole?” Rafael shouts.

“You’ll figure it out.” A sinister chuckle echoes through the house. “You’ve got twenty-four hours. Or, you could simply tell Rosalie to come to me, and I’ll let him go. Mostly unharmed.”

“Ben,” I scream.

The pitch-black room changes somehow, to a sudden feeling of danger, darker than the last.

“Shut up,” Rafael spits.

I hear movement around me as a heaviness fills my space. I run for the door, and an earsplitting bang cracks through the room.

“Oh, my baby has come to play.” Dale laughs psychotically.

The blood drains from my face, and a wave of dizziness engulfs me. I fall out the back door and hit my elbows. I shriek as my knees skid across the floor to break my fall.

“Twenty-four hours,” Dale screeches, and blue lights illuminate his kitchen.

Rafael, at my side, yanks me off the floor.

I squeal as he throws me over his shoulder.

“We need to move before the police arrive,” Rafael huffs, dropping me to my feet, and pushing me into the trees. He pulls me deeper into the overwhelming thickness. Branches scrap and scratch us as we run.

We stop to watch the blue lights filtering through the trees behind us. Rafael searches ahead with wide eyes, trying to find a break in the tree’s to get us onto the street. A crunch on the freshly fallen leaves in the darkness forces us into a sprint.

I fall out of the trees and onto the street across from Rafael’s car.

Rafael pulls me up and locks his hand on my elbow.

I wince, a cry escaping my lips.

He loosens his grasp and sprints across the road. “Are you okay?” He opens the door, and I drop into the seat, staring at three more police vehicles speeding around the corner. Rafael starts the engine as soon as he gets in and drives the opposite way out of town.

I shiver violently. “W-what are we going to do?”

Rafael flips on the heat, even though he has beads of sweat dripping down the side of his head. “We’ll go to this hotel on the edge of town. I need to keep you safe for a moment and have a quick think.”

“Why can’t we just show ourselves to the police and ask them for help?”

Rafael sighs and pushes himself back against his seat, straightening his arms. “Dale is not a suspect. They believe he’s clean. After all, he’s well respected here.”

“But—”

“They have no proof of him being around your mother or father. Fingerprints and DNA from the blood on the floor, though, will hopefully prove Dale attacked Adriel, but until then, we’re alone.”

“But we can’t do this without the police,” I mutter, my words blend together with all my trembling.

“Wemustdo thisalone!”

I flinch at his sudden outburst and stare at the seriousness on his face.

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