Lost (34 page)

“No. Enough!” Sam laughed as the girls
begged for one more treat.

“Please, Sam?
We could all share a funnel cake?” Jessie looked at him and batted her
eyelashes.

Sam was a
sucker when it came to his little sisters. “Okay, but only one! Everyone
shares!”

Sam, Karie, and
the girls had finally met up with Carey, Jimmy, and Ant. It was only 9, and no
one wanted the night to end.

Carey went up
to the window and ordered a funnel cake, and they waited for it to be ready.

He was standing in the shadows again.
The other children had joined the oldest boy and the girls.

He watched as
one of the boys took a funnel cake and went over to the rest of the group. They
were sitting at one of the tables that had been set up. The kids picked at the
treat and laughed, but he saw one of the little girls clutch her stomach.

“Sam, I don’t feel good,” Jessie said,
sadly. She had gone a sickly shade of green.

“Crap.” They
all knew what this meant, and sure enough, Jessie leaned over and let loose.

“Oh no.” She
started to cry, and she covered her face with her hands.

“No, sweetie.
It’s okay.” Karie stroked her back and leaned over, taking her in her arms.

Sam stood up.
“I’ll go get the car. You guys stay here.”

And he ran off
into the night.

He was torn. The boy had left the group,
and he knew that the older boy was the real target. But the little girl sounded
so sad. Her crying pierced the fog that swirled in his brain.

“I want my
Daddy.”

He heard her
moan softly, and the older girl just continued to rub her back. He watched the
little girl, and suddenly, time seemed to still.

He saw a
beautiful woman holding out her hand for him to shake, as he held a tiny baby
clasped to his chest. He saw her looking down at him, tears rolling down her
cheeks, and a huge smile on her face. He saw her in a beautiful white dress. He
saw her, her belly swollen with child. And he saw her struggling to give birth
to that child.

Images filled
his mind, and he knew.

He fell to his
knees and let out a pitiful wail, but no one heard him over the sound of the
carnival.

He saw her
smiling at him, as she handed him their son. And he danced with her in the
moonlight. Images of them buying groceries and swimming in the lake came to
him.

“Julie.” He was
crying now.

He looked back
at the little girl with the stomach ache, and he wanted to reach out to the
little girl.

“Jessie.”

And then
something came to him. Something in the night called out to him. Something he’d
thought was dead and gone.

“Hannah!”

And he ran
toward the lake house, praying he could save his family.

Julie Klevan was washing dishes now. She
was still singing along, though he couldn’t tell to what.

Walter had
gotten out of his car and was walking around the house. He felt like a pervert.
Peeking in on Mrs. Klevan as she did her thing, except he knew what was coming.

She was getting closer, and he let the
change come. It made him faster.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” Jessie said softly.
“Sorry, Karie.”

“Honey, there’s
nothing to be sorry about.” Karie turned around, as Sam drove everyone to the
lake house. “Almost home.”

Walter felt it before he saw anything.
He was moving around the house, trying to see into the shadows, when he felt a
shift—just like he had 20 years ago.

He saw
something move out of the corner of his eye, and he swung toward it, drawing
his gun.

She walked out
of the shadows, and Walter just stared.

She hadn’t
aged—not one bit. She was still young, still beautiful, and she still scared
him.

“It’s you,” she
said to him. Her voice was sweet—like she was talking to an old friend. “I
should have known we would run into each other. After all, your friend
did
try to kill me.”

Walter just
stared. He knew what he had to do, but no words came.

“Nothing to
say?” She wasn’t more than ten feet from him. “I killed your friend. Now, it’s
just you and me.”

And she leaped
at him, covering the distance like it was nothing.

Walter fired.

Ethan had tied a pair of women’s
pantyhose around his leg. The wounds on his chest were bleeding, but they
didn’t seem to be too bad. His leg on the other hand… not so good.

She had plunged
the knife into his leg, stood up, and walked away. He knew exactly where she
was going. He’d texted Walt, and then crawled over to the destroyed dresser,
looking for something he could use to stop the bleeding.

The pantyhose
was what he’d come up with. Ethan stood and made his way down the stairs as
quickly as he could. He needed to get to the lake.

“What the hell?” I dropped the glass I’d
been washing when a gunshot filled the air.

I didn’t think.
I just threw open the door. And then I saw him.

“Officer
Petterson? What are you doing here?” I asked.
What the hell is going on?

He turned
toward me when I called his name. In the darkness, I saw a hand shoot out at
him. Blood bloomed on his light blue shirt, and my hands flew to my mouth. I
ran to the officer and caught him as he fell.

“Oh my god.
What are you doing out here?” I looked around frantically.
What just
happened?

“You need to
go…” The man in her arms told her, blood bubbling out of his mouth. “Get
inside… Lock—”

“No, don’t
talk. It’s okay.” I struggled to get my cell phone out of my pocket. My head
was flying around, trying to see from where the danger was coming from.

“NO!” He said,
spittle flying from his mouth. “Get… away!”

Something came
at me from behind and threw me away from the fallen officer.

I landed on the
grass near the fire pit, the wind knocked out of me. My phone flew from my
hand, and I didn’t see where it landed.

She came into
the light.

“NO!” I screamed.

“Fuck it!” Ethan muttered to himself and
flipped on his lights.

He gingerly
stepped on the gas. The pressure of doing so caused a sharp pain to shoot up
through his leg. He touched the wound, and his hand came away crimson.

“Fuck!” Ethan
said again. “Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!”

He smiled
bitterly. If Walter had been here, he’d tell Ethan to watch his mouth.

Instead, Ethan
yelled once more and pounded the steering wheel. He was pushing 100 miles per
hour, but it was still taking too long.

“Hold on,
buddy. I’m coming.”

“YOU BITCH! I knew it!” I yelled at the
woman in front of me. Rage was making me shake, and I stole a glance at the
injured officer lying on the ground.

“You know
NOTHING!” She yelled back at me.

“I know you
left your son, Hannah. I know you left and never looked back. I know Brian
looked for you, for months! Well, FUCK YOU! Sam’s my son.” I was crawling over
to Officer Petterson as I yelled at her. I took him in my arms. “What did you
do?”

“I did what I
had to do.” She laughed, and I shuddered. Her madness was coming through loud
and clear.

I felt sick.
“It’s going to be okay. Hang on.” I placed my hands over the dying man’s chest
and willed life back into him. “It’ll be okay.”

I didn’t know
what to do. I rocked the man in my arms and prayed that someone had heard the
gunshot.

“Where’s my
son, Julie?” Hannah walked over to us, pulling something out of her pocket.

I tried to
crawl away, tried to pull the officer with me.

“She’s going to
kill us.” His voice sounded strong, for just a second, as if he had to get it
out. “Don’t tell her…”

I nodded.
“Walter, right? You’re Detective Jeffries partner.”

“Walter… yeah.”
He sounded weak, and I felt blood pump out into my hands. I hugged him to me
feeling powerless.

“You are
fucking insane. You’re a crazy bitch, and I’ll die before I tell you where Sam
is,” I said this to her calmly, because I knew Walter was right. It was obvious
she was going to kill me anyway. I could offer this last bit of hope to my son.

She was only
about five feet from us, and I saw her stroke something in her hand. “This
should’ve been my life! Brian and I would’ve had a glorious life. Look!” She
waved whatever it was she had in her hand. “And instead, he settled for this!
For you!”

I was able to
make out a picture. It was the seven of us—me, Brian, and the kids—at the beach
a few years back. It was worn, and only Brian and Sam were still visible. The
younger boys, the girls, and I…

“You’re fucking
nuts,” I told her. I struggled to my feet and tried to pull Walter back with
me. He moaned in pain, and I fell back to the ground.

“You are going
to die.” She reached toward Walter, and I watched in horror as her hand seemed
to shift, or morph. I heard bones creaking, and it sounded like they were
breaking. I flinched with each sound. I watched as Walter tried to sit up,
tried to move to better shield me. And I watched him pull a second gun from the
back of his pants.

Instead of
turning it on Hannah and firing, he slid it to me and pushed it under my folded
legs. And then he lunged at Hannah.

Rage tore from
his throat, and he swung at her. He landed a punch to her right cheek, and then
he fell to his knees. Blood was flowing freely down his chest, and I thought I
saw something slip from his stomach.

Hannah danced
away.

I crawled over
to the fallen man, hiding the gun as best as I could. He was going to die, and
I didn’t want him to die alone, in the dirt.

“I’m sorry.” I
took him in my arms, his blood flowing over my arms. I didn’t bother trying to
stop the flood of tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“No, we… we
should have stopped… her… 20 years ago.” He coughed and blood flew from his
lips. “Tell him… If Ethan… If he’s alive… tell him…” He took a deep breath.
“Gets jalapeño business.”

I wasn’t sure I
heard him right, but I promised. His breath was coming fast and shallow.

Hannah just
stood there watching, a sick light in her eyes, and a smirk on her beautiful
face.

“Sick bitch,” I
spat at her.

I heard a car coming fast, and then
light turned into my driveway.

NO… the kids
are home!

Hannah swung
toward the sound, but it wasn’t my van.

“What did you
do?” Ethan Jeffries, adrenaline flowing, flew out of his car and ran to his
fallen friend.

I was crying
now. Walter Petterson’s eyes looked hollow, but he smiled as his friend fell to
his side.

“Listen up you
rotten, old prick. Don’t you die on me. You fucking fight.”

I knew what he
was doing. He was trying to shove some of his rage, some of his strength, down
Walter’s throat, but he was too late.

“Hey… You, you
take care of my Cindy, okay?” Walter, was gripping Ethan’s shirt now, pulling
his friend down so that he could hear him. “You remember… that night… I… I
didn’t finish my joke.”

“What?” Ethan
was crying, trying to stop the bleeding. “What are you going on about?”

“It gets...
jalapeño business… You know… my joke—nosy pepper.”

Ethan let out a
strangled laugh. “Please don’t—”

And then he was
gone. Almost 26 years, they’d been together, and now Ethan was alone.

“FUCK!” Ethan
shrieked. He sat back and struggled to take a breath.

I looked over
at Hannah, who was watching the scene with a grin.

“Okay. He’s
dead now,” she said calmly. “Now tell me where my son is!”

“You deranged
cunt!” I yelled and threw myself at her. I must have caught her by surprise,
because I was able to take her down with me. I hit her over and over again.

His best friend was dead. He was hurt.
And all he could think was this lady had balls. Julie Klevan had
serious
balls.

She had Hannah
on the ground and was hitting her over and over again. She appeared to have
surprised Hannah, and for a moment, Ethan actually thought they had a chance.

But then she’d
had enough. Hannah’s arm shot out, and she gripped Julie by the throat. Julie
kept hitting her, and then Hannah squeezed. The smaller woman’s eyes bulged,
and she started tearing at the hand that was strangling her. Hannah rose to her
feet, never letting go of Julie. Julie’s legs kicked frantically as Hannah
lifted her in the air.

Hannah threw
her off, and Julie landed heavily on some folding tables that had been set out
in the yard.

Ethan heard the
sound of bones breaking, and he struggled to stand.

Julie was
trying to catch her breath, and she looked up. Horror crossed her face, and she
tamped down a scream. Ethan and Julie could both see that Hannah was changing.

And then he
heard music. He didn’t know what it was, but it was getting louder.

“My son,”
Hannah growled.

She took two
steps over to Julie and hit her in the face. Ethan saw blood fly and heard her
cry of pain.

The van pulled
in, and the music stopped.

Ethan stood,
shakily, and tried to run to the kids in the van.

“STOP! Stay
away from
my
son!” Hannah yelled.

She lunged to
Ethan and threw him aside. She stood in front of the van.