Island Rush (74 page)

I love you, Casey.  I love you, Casey Rush.  I love you, I love you. 
I kept repeating my thoughts, all of Casey.  After all, I did not know what to expect or what might happen when we walk into the house. 
I love you.  I’m sorry.  I want to be with you.  I want to hold you and kiss you.  I wish we had our time back on the island.  I love you, no matter what is about to happen.  I want our small house in the country, I want to marry you, I want to have a future with you.  I want to be with you forever.  I want to laugh and live every day with you.

Dad pulled into the driveway with the truck, and I saw my car, still sitting in the same spot.  The house gave me chills as did the shadows under the window shutters.  The blackness in the upstairs windows and the worn down porch wasn’t welcoming.  I saw the dead garden mom, and I worked on among the many things outside of the house.  I felt a tear fall for that too.

If you are alive, please don’t come after me!  Please be alive and safe, live a happy life.  Please understand you were the best thing to ever happen to me.  Please know I don’t want you getting hurt, I don’t want you getting involved.  Please stay away because I love you so much.  Please don’t try to be a hero for me, please, please....  I want you!  I want you so much baby!  But stay away.  Please.  I’ll be okay, I’m okay dying as long as you are safe!  Please.

Dad stopped, shut the engine off and opened the door.  I remained froze, the thoughts in my head uncontrollable as I began to get a little dizzy.  I was already full of pain all over my body, moving would just hurt.  My dad swiftly came over to my side of the truck, opened the door, and rested his hand on my shoulder as I got out.  But the moment my feet hit the ground, his grasp tightened in my shirt.  He began dragging me more.

I never clenched my teeth so hard in my life, never shook so hard or breathed so hard.  No, no, no!  Whatever happens, I needed to stay strong and not appear afraid or weak.  I don’t know if I could stay that strong.  I didn’t know anything.  I, unfortunately, was about to find out as he pulled me up the porch.

Casey, I love you.  Whatever happens to me, don’t let it ruin you.  Whatever happens, remember our time together.  Whatever happens, know I don’t blame you for not being here.  Whatever happens, I love you, and if you are already gone, I will see you soon.

Up the steps, he stopped at the door, grabbing the handle and opening the door.  We walked into our house, only to stop at who was before us.

“Nice to see you, sis,” he said.

Chapter 76

He walked towards me, holding out his arms. He looked slightly different but was the same person. Dark brown hair that looked almost black was cut just around his ears and at his neck. His brown eyes like mine had a teasing glint in them, which made my hurt and aching body want to cringe away from him.  His skin was still pale, but his face thinned out more, complimenting his age.  He was a couple of years older than me in his early twenties.

This is the first time seeing him since he was taken away. It was still a shock since I was used to seeing my brother not nearly as open.  Of course, I always knew he was not normal.  He seemed off and sometimes sick in the head by how he would look at me.  I wish it were back to that because at least then, he apparently covered some of it.  At the moment, all I could see was every ounce of his dirty attention on me.  

He and dad both looked as if they had cleaned up nice but on the inside… they couldn’t be any more screwed up. It was so strange, seeing the smirk across his lips as he came to me.  He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly to him. I stood there, terrified and having no reason to respond. It wasn’t like the reunion with dad when I had to act like I had missed him. There was nothing to hide anymore. Unfortunately.

He held me for a moment. I stayed stiff, not reacting as I felt him press closer to me, arms tightening.  He rested one hand on my lower back, his other at my hip where his skin brushed mine. It made me push back instantly, wanting to back away.  The thing was, his grip was hard and tight. It absolutely did not help that my head was still spinning in pain and bleeding from earlier. My back wasn’t in the greatest shape either.

He moaned, resting his head on top of mine, acting as if I wasn’t trying to push him away.  It was getting to me — bad too.  At least with dad’s violent actions, I knew what to expect after months of getting used to it. But this was different. I saw Alex look at me sexually before, and it made me extremely uncomfortable. I knew there was always something wrong with him, but this was completely scary. He never touched me or made an advance. This was the first time I was seeing him like this.

“What the hell?!” I hissed, trying to push him back, but he ignored it and so did dad.  He just sighed from where he was watching, not really caring.

Alex smiled, taking a hard breath. “Well. You sure have grown.” 

I couldn’t take it anymore.  I couldn’t get him off me, but I managed to spin around and find dad’s eyes.  “How did you get him out?”

He chuckled slightly under his breath. From there, dad guided us over to the couch, and we sat down.  It felt good to be away from Alex, no matter how uncomfortable I continued to feel. I didn’t like the fact that dad sat on my right, Alex on my left.

Dad raised an eyebrow and spoke up, looking to me.  I went out of my way to face him more than Alex.  Both were pieces of shit regardless. “Are you sure you would like to know?”

“Yeah,” I nodded instantly.

He explained. “They didn’t have enough evidence on him. The case is still pending, but he is out for now.  I managed to get him out for less money than needed before.”

“What?!” I said, outraged.  “How? How?!  He had blood all over him, his prints were on the knife!”

He began rubbing my shoulder. “I managed to get your brother out for much less money at the moment because of the way the case was going.  If everything continues as planned, everything should be fine.  Not to mention, some of my friends managed to help me out too,” he said, winking. I expected that to be part of it.  I never had validation that his friends helped, but some were flipping cops. Of course, they could.  But… how could they have pulled that off with the evidence?!

I knew there was more to it. I didn’t know how they got away with it, but it was clear that they could make it possible.  I just wish I understood what their plan was to begin with after they killed her.  Dad and Alex did not seem concerned now.

“Yep,” Alex said, and I looked to my brother. “I’m an innocent little boy until they can prove it.” He placed his hand on my arm, rubbing up and down as if trying to comfort me. 

At this point, I was shaking badly. I hated everything racing in my mind. Hated that my thoughts wanted to go back to Casey and that only made it worse.  Hated how Alex was touching me and not knowing what was going to happen next! Oh god, not knowing if I would be alive by tomorrow. I didn’t know if I would ever understand how they were getting away with this!  It also became unclear if I could even stay conscious enough to handle facing those things! 

From what dad did earlier, I was weak. I figured I would be okay. But even after a couple hours, I didn’t feel good. I suppose that could be expected. He slammed me hard into a brick wall a few times, made my head bleed, hit me and handled me roughly too. I tried shaking it off as best as I could. I needed to stay strong, stay alive, and keep pushing and fighting on. The hard part was knowing I couldn’t run yet. I might be able to live. I might as well get everything out of the way. I was not satisfied yet with what they told me. I realized I deserved to know how they got away with it because what they said made no sense.

“I need better answers.  I know why you both did it, but I need to know more.  Because there is no reason Alex should have had the chance to get out,” I said, aiming my words to dad.  Both of them put their attention on me more seriously.

Dad smiled softly before letting it fall. “He got out because the spotlight went to someone else.  As it should have to begin with but we screwed up the day we killed her.”

I raised a brow, letting everything else that was spinning in my head fade. I needed to know more and hear this. That’s all I could think. Hearing this was all that counted. “Spotlight on who?  Who else could be blamed for what you did?!”

“You really don’t give us enough credit,” Alex chimed in.  I didn’t dare to look to him as he spoke.  “It’s not like we went in with no plan.”

“Seems like it, idiot. Had mom’s blood all over you!” I snapped at him, shaking slightly. 

My eyes rested on the floor, not wanting to stare at them.  Not my dad who I was facing either.  Especially when he spoke. “That’s because she didn’t die after I stabbed her like we thought,” dad said in a serious tone.

My head shot up, and I stared directly at him. “What happened?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Dad sighed gently and patted my leg, which I instantly winced away from. I was hurt with a swarming head but put everything — every ounce of energy — into listening.  “After Alex and I agreed that it needed to be done, we came up with a plan.  I listened in on your mother’s phone calls before.  The last time I listened, she and her new lover were fighting. More specifically, they were fighting about how your mom should leave me. She refused to at the moment. So Alex and I figured we could pin it on whoever she was seeing. He was obviously mad at her.”

I watched my dad intently, eyes wide and stinging; I couldn’t blink, even when more tears came.  I took it all in and couldn’t believe it.  With his eyes, though, I knew what he said was true.  It was turning my stomach inside out with how awful I felt. 

“That gave him a motive.  So, we planned to make it look as if this guy broke in.  We followed this guy and learned his schedule and routine, and learned when he would be somewhere where nobody could vouch for his whereabouts. That’s when we decided when to kill her.” He paused, licking his lips as he explained. His eyes showed me he was going back to that night. “When her lover was out that night, I had Alex break the door. We wanted it to look like a break-in. Besides a few other things done in preparation, breaking the door set it all in motion. It woke your mother, and I insisted we go downstairs to see what it was.  When I walked down the stairs with her, Alex hid in the kitchen. Our mistake, though, was I jumped the gun.”

Thought I was listening with very active ears, it was becoming harder and harder to contain it all.  It hurt terribly in the pit of me, and I felt like I was going to be sick. I needed to hear more, needed to know!  With tears steadily streaming down my face, dad continued explaining.

“I became too anxious. I pulled the knife out I had and stabbed her while we walked, right through the chest. I should have waited until she stopped walking but I didn’t. Either way, she gasped and fell to the floor, bleeding out. She was still and did nothing more after that, which I expected. It was a large knife.  After that, I got cleaned up.  Alex and I scanned the whole place, making sure there was no evidence to give us away.  We cleaned the knife and put it away too. Then, I called the cops, freaking out.”

I lowered my eyebrows. That did not at all match what I saw or what actually happened. There was reason Alex was thrown in jail. Unfortunately, the story wasn’t done here. I knew it got worse, and it did.

“A few minutes after the cops were called, I went upstairs to make sure you were still sleeping.  That’s when I heard her screaming. Your mother started screaming and crying for help. She even yelled for you. I ran downstairs, but when I got down the steps, her screaming stopped.”

Alex cut in, explaining more. I forced myself to turn back to see his dark eyes. “She stopped screaming because I was right there when it was clear she was still alive.  That’s why I had to grab the knife again, grab her, and stab her. I was so scared she was still alive, so I did it many times. I got sloppy and hysterical and even left cuts.  By the time dad got down there and she wasn’t screaming, it was too late.  I cleaned up as best as I could and hid the knife.  The cops were there directly after. They found the knife with the prints, and they saw I still had some blood on me.”

I couldn’t believe it.  Yet I didn’t have the strength to refute it.  My head felt ready to burst.  And hearing all that made me want to collapse and cry.  I hated the detail that those words sketched in my head.  What I hated worse was one very fine detail.  It echoed in my head, and I knew it would not stop. 

My mom… she called me as she was dying. She called for me, and I never heard her screaming. I never woke up. I knew that if I had woken up in time, it would have been too late. But knowing that she was screaming and calling for me, it broke my heart. It broke my heart into a million more pieces. 

I said nothing to them.  I had absolutely nothing to say.  I could figure out the rest on my own.  Alex was arrested, dad’s friend’s helped screw with the evidence, and they had it pointing towards mom’s lover.  It was the saddest thing.  I wanted my mom to have the justice she deserved.  I just wish I could have been there for her so she understood that I wanted to help. That I would have helped her if I could have.  It made me feel terrible, right down to my core.

They were silent for a moment, letting their explanation sink in. It sure did too. It was all I could picture and focus on. It made my breath pick up unevenly as my tears fell. I no longer wanted to focus on that and know more. I had enough and wanted more than anything to think of something else. The issue was everything else to think about wasn’t too pleasant. 

It took a while to let it sink in.  I looked straight ahead, not wanting to see their faces. But then, dad spoke, as if nothing was just dumped on my soul. I couldn’t complain. I needed a distraction more than anything.

He aimed words to Alex in a light playing tone.  “Hey, Alex, did you know your little sister has not been faithful to us?” I had a feeling he wanted to inform Alex about what he had learned not too long ago. 

“What? No dad, I don’t believe I know,” he said, looking at me with an over exaggerated questioning expression.

“Well apparently, when she was on the island with that nice fellow, they fell in love. Apparently, he was her teacher, and… he was engaged. She decided to spill all her secrets to him.”

Alex raised his eyebrows, no longer playing. He seemed truly interested since I figured this was his first time hearing anything about Casey and me. A white smile spread over his mouth. Alex lifted his hand, placing it under my chin, tilting my head towards him so I was looking directly at him. So close, so close to my face, it made me sick. It made my tears fall faster, staring into the eyes that watched my mother bleed out and die.  I wanted to throw up.

“Really? Naughty little sister. You’ve really changed since I last saw you. You grew a lot and… matured.”  His eyes swept over me. “I can’t blame that teacher. I can imagine you got nice and dirty with him.”

I didn’t answer, not wanting to speak a word to him. I tried tilting my head away from him, but his fingers were strong and forced me to stay looking at him.  He laughed under his breath.  “Oh, well that says it all.  My little sister is a woman now. All grown up.” He cupped my cheek with his other hand. “Did you scream when he went inside? Hmm?” he whispered, moving closer towards my lips.

My goal was to live no matter how broken I was or defeated, but it would be done with as much dignity as I could keep.  Not to mention, at this point, it was hard to control my actions with how disgusting I felt. Drawing forth all the saliva in my mouth, I spit hard in his face. “Fuck you!” I yelled, taking satisfaction at his appalling expression. “You sick son of a bitch!” I screamed loudly at him.  Over his words to me, over what I just learned, and how much I hated him. 

He leaned back and groaned, wiping away the spit with his shirt. When he did, he instantly came back with a hard hand, smacking me. Smacking me with so much power that it pushed me into dad. I moaned, the feeling burning with the hot sting in my cheek.  It made me dizzy again.  My head and neck hurt even more. 
Oh god, oh god, I just want Casey... I just want to be with you, Casey.