He dragged me around the corner to where his car was. The rain had finally stopped, but there was now a fog drifting along the ground. I could still feel the knife poking at my side so I tried not to put up too much of a fight. I obviously didn’t know Nate as well as I thought I did, so it was hard to say what he was capable of and I didn’t want to chance pushing him too far, so I went willingly.
He opened the driver’s side door and leaned down to my ear. “Climb in this side. I’m going to take my hand off your mouth to let you do this. Please don’t make me do something we both will regret.”
I nodded and he released the hold he had on my mouth. I crawled my way across the driver’s seat and into the passenger’s seat. This wasn’t an easy feat to do, because he drove a small sports car. The thought had crossed my mind to make a run for it while he climbed in, but I was already so cramped in the tiny car that I knew I would get tripped up in my attempts, and he would end up catching me and then there was no telling what he might do. So I thought to myself, maybe if I played along long enough, he would finally let me go. We had been friends—or so I thought—maybe if I could get him to remember the friendship, he would be less likely to hurt me in the end.
Nate climbed in and started the car. “Where are you taking me?” I asked him.
He turned his head and smiled. “Just somewhere to talk, Kelsey. We need to talk about this. I need you to understand where I’m coming from.” He put the car in drive and pulled out of Shot’s onto the main road.
He headed in the opposite direction of the college, toward a part of town I had never been to. The street lights became fewer and farther in between, as did the houses and businesses. He was taking me somewhere where no one would be able to bother us … or find me, and I began to panic.
“Nate, really we can talk about this back at school, or maybe over a cup of coffee tomorrow morning when you’re not so worked up.” I was pleading with him. I didn’t want to get to the destination we were headed, because I wasn’t sure I would make it back.
“No. We are going to talk about this tonight and I have to get you away from all the noise and people that might cloud your judgment,” he said as he turned on his signal light and took a left onto a dark street. Through the darkness I could see a large mass, and as we got closer, I saw that I was an old abandoned building.
“What is this place?” I asked as he slowly pulled the car to a stop.
“Just an old building my father owns. It’s been closed for years and sometimes the frat comes here to party when we don’t want to get in trouble with the university.” He popped open his door and stepped out. With the help of the security lights, I could see him motioning for me to get out when he stepped in front of the car. I guess he figured there was no way I would run now, and he was right. Where would I even go? The last house we had passed was a good ten minutes back the other way. I was going to have to ride this out and hope for the best.
I slowly opened my door and stepped out, and took in the big dark building. Some of the windows were busted out, and it had the obvious graffiti that abandoned buildings seemed to accumulate over time.
“Don’t worry. It’s a lot better than it looks. We have lights and old couches inside. I told you, the frat uses this pace to party sometimes.” He smiled. He obviously had no clue that I didn’t want to be here, that I didn’t want to be out here alone, with him.
He began walking to the doors of the building, but turned to glare at me when I made no attempt to follow. He said nothing as he pulled the knife from his pocket, the blade glinting in the light from the headlights of the car.
I gulped as I took a step closer to him. He reached out and grabbed my hand, roughly pulling me closer to him.
“We are just going to talk, Kelsey.” He smiled, but I couldn’t fake a smile back.
Nate pulled me inside the dark building. He let go of my hand long enough to plug in some security lights. The room flooded with the harsh lighting, and I could see that the walls were splattered with paint and more graffiti. There were a couple of old, worn couches and chairs spaced sparsely throughout the room, and huge sets of speakers in each corner. This place screamed squatter party house.
I wrapped my arms around my torso, hugging my body. “Nate, please take me home,” I begged him. I didn’t want to be here. I wasn’t sure what Nate was capable of anymore.
Nate crossed the room to stand before me, he wrapped his hands around my upper arms. “Kelsey, I told you. We have to talk first. Then I will take you home.”
A door slammed and both our heads turned to see who it was. I was elated at first because I thought finally someone had come to rescue me. But the person I found in the doorway was anything but a rescuer. It had been six years since I had come face to face with him, but I would remember those cold eyes anywhere.
“Who the fuck are you?” Nate let go of my arms and turned toward the person standing in the doorway.
“I would be that pretty little thing you have there’s father.” My dad’s deep voice echoed throughout the room chilling me to the bone.
His face was hollow. He was much thinner than the last time I had seen him in the courtroom, but he still held this aura about him that screamed dangerous.
“Oh, Sir, we were just out here talking.” Nate began to stutter. He didn’t know anything about my past and what my dad had done. He probably thought my dad was here to save me. But now, more than ever, I knew I was never going to make it out of this old, dirty building alive.
My father held up one hand to silence anything else Nate had to say. He was staring straight at me with and ugly snarl on his face.
“My, my, how you have grown,” my dad said as he walked along the wall, circling me like a wild animal stalking its prey.
“How did you get out?” I asked. My voice barely about a whisper.
“You would know if you would have been at the hearing a few months ago, sweet pea.” He grinned like the Cheshire Cat.
I shook my head. This wasn’t possible. He was supposed to never get out that place. I was supposed to never have to face him again.
“What’s wrong? Not happy to see daddy?” he asked as he pulled a black handgun from his back.
My whole world stopped when he brought the gun up and pointed it straight at me. I closed my eyes. I heard the explosion of the shot and waited to feel the burn of the bullet piercing my skin. But it never came.
I opened my eyes to see that my dad still had the gun pointed at me but Nate was no longer standing beside me. Instead he was lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding from his abdomen.