But it’s not okay. Because he’s losing it and I want to help—but I’m also gonna miss my window to escape if I stay any longer.
I look outside and see the security guards running in the direction of the explosions. The lawn is empty—but I know it won’t stay that way for long.
“Lev, please. They’re just fireworks. You’re gonna be okay. I promise!” But I doubt he can even hear me. He’s still got his hands clamped hard over his ears. I twist around on the spot, trying to figure out what I should do.
Stay and deal with Lev?
Or leave and hope that he’ll be okay?
If it were only me, I’d choose the latter. Despite Polly’s efforts, I just wouldn’t have been able to justify leaving Lev in that state.
But it’s not just me anymore. I have my baby to think of.
“I’m sorry, Lev,” I say with a heartbroken hitch in my voice. “I’m so sorry.”
Then, biting back tears, I turn and sprint out through the door. Down the stairs, out the side exit, across the lawn as fast as I can, the wind drying the tears on my cheeks. When I reach it, I scale the fence the same way I did the first time, what feels like an eternity ago. I’m at the top of the fence when I realize that Lev has followed me outside.
“You can’t go!” he wails. “You can’t go! Come back.”
“Lev, please go back inside,” I cry out, perched with one leg toward freedom and the other toward him. “You have to stay with your brother and sister.”
He doesn’t seem to be listening to me as he starts scaling the fence after me.
I blanche at the thought of him trying to mount it himself. If he falls…
“No, no, Lev! Please, you can’t follow me. Stop. Go back.”
He’s mumbling fast under his breath and refusing to listen. Desperately, I look out ahead. I’m high enough that I can see a few guards in the distance. Luckily, they have their back to me for now, but that can’t possibly last much longer.
I start to reach down for him, but as I do, I slip and lose my balance. “Shit!” I cry out as I overcorrect and go tumbling down on the far side of the fence, back on what is harder and harder to think of as “my” side.
I land heavily, the air blasting out of my lungs. I’m too dizzy to stand up or say anything, so when Lev drops to the ground next to me a minute later, I can barely protest.
“You have to go back home,” I tell him in a stern but breathless wheeze, doing my best to push him back toward the fence.
He frowns. “Then you have to come, too.”
“That’s not how this works! I can’t go back—but you can.”
“No.”
I’m hearing the sounds of approaching voices. Which means I’m officially out of time. I turn and sprint towards my house with Lev hot on my heels.
I’m rushing around to the back door when I realize one of the kitchen windows is broken. One step inside reveals that it’s not the only sign of destruction.
My home has been turned upside down.
My belongings are littered everywhere. There’s broken glass, broken plates all over the floor. The cabinets and drawers have all been dumped out and cast aside. Couch torn to shreds, stuffing dusting every flat surface like fresh snowfall.
Did Uri do this? Or was it someone else?
“It’s messy in here,” Lev remarks in disgust.
Breathe, Alyssa. Freaking breathe. I don’t have time to dawdle. I need to grab a few essentials and get the hell out of here.
I snatch stuff mindlessly. My tablet, my passport on the foyer table, other random shit. Lev shadows my every movement.
“I want to go home now,” Lev complains as I check to make sure the tablet is charged before I stuff it into the first backpack I can find.
It powers on. Thank God. I’ll be able to withdraw cash, to buy an airplane ticket, to message Elle and see what she can do to help. This is my last lifeline.
“Can we go home now?”
The panic is making me sweat excessively. I dab it out of my eyes and squeeze his hand in both of mine. “Lev, that’s your home. It’s not mine. It’s time for me to leave.”
He shakes his head like that’ll change reality. “The basement is your home now. I don’t mind sharing…”
He’s so sweet; I hate having to be this cruel to him. But the panic isn’t helping curb my impatience. I leave the house through the backdoor and make a roundabout detour to the main road.
I’ll have to walk a while before I can hail a cab. But I can’t do that with Lev following me.
It’s time to say goodbye.
I set my bag down at my feet and turn to him. “Lev, I’m really sorry, but I can’t come back with you.”
He looks heartbreakingly confused. “Why not? You belong to us now. You belong with us!”
I hear the whir of an engine in the distance. Maybe I can hitch a ride to the highway and escape from there. The window is closing, Alyssa. Now or never…
“Don’t go!” he sobs when I say nothing.. “Please don’t go.”
The engine gets louder. Make your choice, Lys. Now or never. Now or never. Now or—
“Oh, Lev. I’m so sorry. I just…”
I stick out a thumb. The car stops. But I’m so desperate to make Lev understand that I don’t see what’s happening. I don’t process the two men climbing out of the car until they’re right on top of us.
Black guns.
Black masks.
Black intentions.
They grab Lev first. I expect him to scream. Yell. Kick. Fight. Freak out. Something. Anything.
But the shock of being manhandled shuts him down completely. The moment the masked men grab hold of him, Lev goes catatonic. He disappears into himself. The lights are on, but there is nobody home.
Which is why I kick it up a notch. I scream. I yell. I kick. I fight back for the both of us.
It just isn’t enough.
The second man points a gun at Lev’s temple and looks me in the eye. “Stop or I’ll blow his fucking brains out right now.”
I go deathly still, panic burning a hole in my throat. “Please don’t!” I gasp. “Please don’t hurt him. I’m begging you.”
The man clutching Lev in a vise grip has a high, nasally voice. The one pointing a gun at Lev’s head has a deeper, commanding one. I can see both their eyes through the holes in their masks, but neither pair looks remotely sympathetic.
“Please, I’ll do anything. Just let him go.”
“Anything, huh?” asks the nasally one. “Maybe if you suck my cock, I’ll consider it.”
I stare at Lev. His face is a complete blank. He’s looking down at his shoes as though he’s frozen.
“He’s not dangerous. He won’t fight back!”
The asshole holding the gun looks at Lev’s face for a moment. “Yeah, she’s right. Just stick him in the back of the van. He’s the dumbass. Brain-dead, that’s what the boss said. Crash knocked him stupid.”
My blood boils immediately. Rational thought goes kaput as I lunge for his throat with bared claws, screaming like a wild banshee.