Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (14 page)

“I need to speak with Miss Gray alone,
please,” she replied and Alex barely nodded his head.

“I’ll wait for you by the buffet table,
Arianna,” Alex concluded and headed off after the others.

“I have good news,” she began as soon as he
was gone and I darted my eyes up to her, “Your father, is
absolutely fine. Mark Owens is in custody, though right now he’s at
the hospital. He’s stable, but in ICU.”

“Wh… why?” I stammered, unable to stop the
well of hope that started in my chest.

“We had a nearby team swing by your house,
and they found his car about two blocks away. When they set out on
foot, they heard moaning and found Mark off the side of the road in
the woods between his car and your house. Some animal had attacked
him, or maybe a group of animals…” she trailed off in thought for a
moment before shrugging, “That’s why we tell people not to go
outside after dark alone. He was in pretty bad shape, but it’s
rather obvious where he was headed and we’ll just be thankful he
was stupid enough to wander past the woods alone at night.”

“He’s really… you really caught him…?” I
faltered and she finally smiled, a smile that lit up her whole
face.

“He’s really in custody, there are two
officers guarding his room at the hospital at all times until we
transfer him to the jail. We’d just gotten the warrant from the
judge to arrest him, because the tests from the sheets came back
with positive matches. We’ve got more than enough to put him behind
bars, Miss Gray.”

She reached out and caught my arm just in
time because I almost fell over I felt so relieved. I didn’t
realize what a toll it was taking on me that he was still free and
that he could’ve followed me until that moment.

“Anna,” Jason was back at my side suddenly,
and took my arm away from her, “Anna, are you okay?”

“Detective Gaines, this is Jason Gray,” I
introduced faintly as she let her arm fall back to her side and
smiled softly.

“Hello, Jason Gray,” she greeted before
relaying her news to him. By the time she had finished, Jason had
grabbed me into a tight hug.

“Thank you, Detective,” Jason remembered to
say before she smiled and walked off and he hugged me tighter.
“You’re safe now, Anna.”

“Now you can go get a girlfriend and stop
worrying about me so much,” I insisted, feeling his arms flinch,
“If Austin can… you can….”

“I think I love you a lot more than he ever
dreamed of loving you,” Jason whispered beside my ear, “Because I
couldn’t ever imagine being away from you… even if it was
supposedly better for us… even if you really were my sister.”

“Jay, you’re too…”

“Young,” he sighed, stepping back from me,
“I know… I know you think that… but I’m not, Anna… Come eat
something… you have to be hungry.”

I only nodded and followed him over to the
crowd of people scattered around the buffet. After getting a plate
full of food, with Jason constantly beside me, Alex met my gaze and
looked down at the empty seat beside him on the picnic bench. I
faltered; he had completely avoided actually answering my question
earlier, but that could have been because of Detective Gaines.
Somehow, I doubted that was his reason, but as I stood there
considering my options, Rayne sat across the table from the empty
seat and I found myself headed towards it. I bit the inside of my
cheek when I realized what I had just done as I sat on the empty
seat and Jason pulled a chair up to the end of the table.

“I can’t answer your question,” Alex calmly
told me a moment later and I glanced at him out of the corner of my
eye, “But I am inclined to inquire as to your staring at Rayne… and
the reasoning behind it?”

“I can’t… answer your question,” I retorted
bashfully and even though he looked rather amused, there was a hint
of anger in his eyes.

“You’re a smart girl, Arianna… you’ve
already proven that to me… you’re tough… that’s true, too… but
liking Rayne, isn’t smart,” he quietly stated, staring into my
eyes, “Besides it not being smart, I won’t allow it.”

“Won’t allow…? How can you control my
decisions…?”

“I don’t control your decisions,
Arianna.”

“You control Rayne’s…” I realized feeling
Rayne’s eyes on me, “I really wish I knew what was going on around
here….”

“Be careful what you wish for, Arianna,”
Alex whispered next to my ear, but nothing could bring down my good
mood, not even the nagging in the back of my mind about how they
knew what had happened.

We made our way home around three a.m. and
found Dad sleeping on the couch with the t.v. on. It was pretty
obvious he’d been waiting up but just couldn’t stay awake that
long. When we closed the door though, he jolted up and looked back
at us.

“I take it word reached you,” he commented
in his groggy voice and I nodded, “I’m going to bed. I’m glad
things are settling down now. I’ll talk to you guys in the
morning.” He groaned as he pushed himself off of the sofa and
hugged each of us before he went upstairs to his room.

“Are you okay to sleep in your room alone
now?” Austin asked and I started to nod, but ended up shaking my
head. “We’ll all crash down here, then; right, Jay?”

“Sounds good to me,” Jason decided,
sprinting up the stairs two at a time.

“So… Amy Moore, huh?” I pressed while Austin
and I started upstairs to change and grab pillows and blankets.

“She’s different,” he replied with a faint
smile on his lips.

“What does that mean really?”

“I like her,” he chuckled softly, “I do like
her, but she isn’t you… I’m trying to give you your space, since
you see me as a brother… If I don’t get my attention elsewhere,
I’ll end up doing something that I’d regret.”

“Oh… well… she seems nice enough,” I
reasoned quietly, “She’s pretty.”

“So… you and Alex?”

I giggled and rolled my eyes. “He thinks I’m
different,” I laughed, glancing at Austin, “So, if your guy speak
is universal, I guess he likes me.”

“And you…?”

“I don’t know… I barely know him.”

“That didn’t stop you from staring at Rayne
Hathaway,” Jason commented from his doorway in his pajama pants
while he pulled a tank top over his head. The second I realized I
was staring at him, I darted my eyes to the floor.

“Rayne? Really, Anna? He actually seemed
pretty nice the little I got to talk to him,” Austin included and I
shrugged, “He seems different from the rest of that group… Anyway,
I’ll see you back downstairs in a few.” He slipped into his room
while Jason walked over to my door with me and leaned against the
doorframe.

“You may not like Alex, but Alex likes you,
a lot. And the attention he was giving you, did not go unnoticed. I
know you were a little preoccupied, but there were almost
three-hundred other people there that noticed us… A lot of them
wanted to come say something… A lot of the girls got pissy because
Alex was paying you so much attention… You know why no one came up
to us?” Jason queried, and I turned back to face him after piling
my pillow and blanket up on my bed, “You got sucked into the group
that runs the high school, Anna. They’re the ‘in crowd’ that
everyone’s just dying to be part of and hoping one of them will
notice them.”

“Sucked in is an accurate statement… I’m not
surprised though…” I whispered, “I’ll see you downstairs Jay… I
have to get changed.” He took a step away from the door and I
closed it before changing into a pair of shorts and a tank top.
When I’d gathered up my stuff and started out the door, I jumped to
find Jason there, taking my pillow and blanket from me and heading
back down to the living room before I could argue with him.

I kept having that dream with the wolves
wandering around, but every once in a while, it would shift and I’d
be standing in the woods with them walking around me. Only once,
while we were walking in the woods, several of them ran off and I
heard a bloodcurdling scream that sounded gravelly and not really
human; still, I ran off towards the sound. I hate to admit what I
saw then, but… they had attacked a troll doll, well, a slightly
larger than human-sized troll doll that appeared to be alive and
was bleeding black goo.

Needless to say, I was starting to feel a
little crazy, especially with how often I kept seeing the animals
running in the tree lines, because they were
always
there no
matter where I was traveling or who I was with.

Everywhere we went over the next three days,
we saw Alex. It didn’t matter if I was with Austin, with Jason, or
with both of them; it also didn’t matter where we went, Alex was
always there. The only thing that changed was who was with him.

It was Jason’s birthday when Dad pulled me
aside in the kitchen and I heard Austin and Jason playing a video
game in the living room.

“Good news, bad news… which first?” Dad
asked like he always did when he knew he had to say something we
didn’t want to hear.

“Bad,” I replied like I always had. I’d
rather hear the bad first and then get the good. He sighed before
he took a deep breath.

“The trial is going to have to be public…”
he revealed and my heart thudded painfully in my chest, “I’ve done
everything I can, called in every favor I could… but it’s too
big.”

“Why does it have to go to trial?” my voice
came out in a whispered breath as I held back tears.

“Well, that’s the good news,” Dad continued
and I looked at him through blurred eyes, “He might not wake up…
but if he does, the D.A. is willing to offer him a plea bargain to
keep it out of court. Five years, no probation.”

“Five years…?” I whispered even quieter and
he smiled distantly as he nodded.

“Ten years is the maximum sentence in this
state, and there’s only one person that’s ever been sentenced to
the full ten years. It’s a good deal, I promise you,” Dad swore,
reaching his hand toward me before he pulled it back. He was afraid
to touch me, afraid I’d break? I wrapped my arms around him and he
held me tightly. “I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this,”
he sighed across my ear, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

I shook my head, letting my tears collect on
his shirt. Dad was Dad, whether I was adopted or not; this was the
man that had raised me, that had been involved in my life, even if
he was frequently absent.

“Don’t tell them,” I murmured into his shirt
before I stepped away from him and rubbed my arm over my eyes,
“Please don’t tell them.”

“Hadn’t planned on it,” Dad assured as I
sniffled and wiped at my eyes, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah… I’m just… going to go outside for a
little while,” I told him and he smiled as he stepped out of my way
so I could walk out the door into the backyard.

Our backyard wasn’t huge, and it was lined
by trees like every other part of this weird town. Despite the
trees, the sun rained down warmth on the soft grass and my bare
feet loved every second of it.

I walked out to the middle of the yard, and
fell onto the grass on my back, staring up at the blue sky. Summer
was not my favorite time of year, it got too hot and bright outside
for me, but it was still early, and we lived further north now, and
it felt like spring.

I felt someone watching me, again, and
propped myself up on my elbows, looking at the house, but no one
was at any of the windows or doors. I turned slowly toward the
woods and felt like I was staring whoever was watching me down, but
I couldn’t see anyone. It wasn’t the first time this had happened
in the past three days, and still, I realized I should be
scared—someone was watching me but I couldn’t see them, but I never
could conjure up the emotion… for some odd reason, I always felt
safer.

Still, I stood up, dusted the grass off of
me, and walked to the back door, pausing only long enough to glance
at the woods again before I slipped inside. Dad was gone back to
work, but I still heard Austin and Jason in the living room playing
video games.

I took another minute to compose myself. My
hands were still shaking as I clenched and unclenched them from
fists repeatedly at my sides until they stopped. When I was certain
I appeared okay, I went into the living room and joined in on the
games until it was time to leave.

True to their word, they threw a huge party
for Jason’s birthday, but unlike the bonfire, this one was out in a
field with lights somehow strung up in the trees marking the path
from the main road, around the edge of the field, and around the
old barn that they’d turned into a dance floor and huge buffet.

I spent most of the evening outside on a
small bench I’d found, staring up at the stars and thinking, or
trying not to think, really. The seat beside me remained mostly
occupied by Alex, despite the fact that I hardly spoke until he
started asking random questions.

“What is your favorite color?”

“Purple, or blue… why?” I retorted and he
shrugged.

“Trying to get to know you better. Favorite
animal?”

“I don’t know, really… I like wild cats… and
wolves… beautiful, but dangerous creatures that have to be viewed
from afar.”

He chuckled, “Interesting choices. Favorite
sport?”

“Oh… archery,” I mumbled softly.

“Very interesting choice. Favorite
season?”

“Spring.”

“Not summer?”

“Too hot… I like spring best….”

“Favorite food?”

“Um… spaghetti.”

“What I have to do to get you to go on a
date with me?”

I darted my eyes to him to find him smiling
softly. “Alex… I…” I faltered, turning him down didn’t seem like
the wisest idea, thankfully I thought of another alternative, “You
have to tell me in detail what
exactly
is going on here… no
tricks, either… you know what I’m talking about.”