Out of the Darkness

186

I glanced down to where she had one hand on her skirt, swishing the material back and forth. The skirt flared and showed more skin that it had originally done, flashing her thigh for me to see. "Damn it," I groaned quietly, and turned back to Sam. He was watching me with one eyebrow cocked. "Shut up, asshole," I grumbled, then grabbed my keys and the bag with Anna's doll, then walked to the door. "We should get going," I sighed, and turned to wait on them. Anna looked at me and gave me a small smile, before turning her attention back to Christine. "You good?" Sam asked, getting in front of me and effectively blocking my view of Anna. "Yeah. Yes. I'm fine. Let's go," I replied. We left and piled into the car again. "Are we going for ice cream first?" Anna asked, from the backseat. I laughed and met her gaze in the review mirror for a second. "But you were so eager to leave!" "Just stop and get me ice cream," she pouted, poking her bottom lip out. I almost stopped the car right then, just to kiss her again. "Stop that," I grumbled and looked away. I didn't know if she was purposely teasing me, or what, but it was working. "What'd I do?" she giggled. I glanced in the rearview again and saw her smile. I returned it with one of my own, then looked away. I zoned out for a while, staying on autopilot for driving, but my mind was elsewhere. Anna, or Stacia, finally had her memories back. She had went through so many emotions in that hotel room, that I almost couldn't keep up. She was elated, curious, overwhelmed, and brokenhearted. Even though her father had died a few years ago, she had just lost him. She was getting to see her family again, but not able to interact with them, or let them know that she was okay. I wondered if she was going to be okay. If she was actually going to be able to go through with it, without letting them know that she was there. I wasn't sure that I would be able to do that. I would want them to know that I was there. I guess she knew that it could put them in danger though, so that would help her stay in control. I drove through the first place I found to get ice cream, then passed their orders back to them, then gave Sam his. I didn't order myself any because I really wasn't in the mood, and plus I was driving. Didn't really want ice cream in my lap. I glanced in the rearview again and saw Anna close her eyes as her lips closed around that first spoon of ice cream. She moaned a little, and I looked away. Maybe I should have gotten ice cream. Even if it landed in my lap, it might help me cool down. I shook my head a little to clear my thoughts, and kept driving to our destination. It wasn't that far away from the hotel, but with traffic, it took us about 45 minutes to get there. I let my eyes wander over the nice two story gray blue colored home. It had a white fence on the second story balcony, giving it the look of a country home. The elaborate wooden front doors told a different story, but somehow still had a welcoming feel. Bushes and shrubs lined the outside of the home, perfectly gardened, letting the colorful flowers accentuate the house. "Are you coming, Stacia?" I glanced over to see that Christine was already outside of the car, waiting on Anna, who hadn't moved. She was staring out the window at the house, with a little fear and apprehension in her eyes. "You don't have to do this, if you're not ready," I said, loud enough for only her to hear me. She swallowed and met my gaze in the mirror. "I'm ready. I think." She took a deep breath and then she was gone. "Anna?" "I'm here. Thank you for bringing me here, Colby," she answered. "Of course," I replied. "We can catch an Uber back to the hotel," Christine said. "Are you ready?" she asked the air. "Yeah," Anna answered. "See you guys later." Wait!" I exclaimed. I yanked the duffel bag that had Anna's doll in it, out of the floorboard, and held it out to Christine. "I don't know how you're going to explain this, but you need it. Anna can't stay without it. Maybe hide it in the bushes or something until you leave." "Good idea," Christine said, taking it from me. I watched as she walked over to the side of the house, and drop the bag behind the tall shrubs there. Then she headed to the front porch and pressed her finger to the the doorbell. "So, what should we do, while we wait?" Sam asked. I held up my hand. "Just a sec." I kept my eyes on Christine, and saw the front door open. A woman, maybe in her 30's, stepped out onto the porch. She threw her arms around Christine, with a giant smile on her face. The woman had shining, raven hair, down to her shoulders, and wore a stylish set of wire framed glasses on her face. She looked almost exactly like Anna, just older. She was too young to be her mother, so this had to be her little sister, as weird as that was, since Ann was still so young. Just then, a young guy stepped out and hugged Christine. He looked like he was around my age, with the same dark hair. "Colby, we should go. This looks kind of stalkerish," Sam said, breaking my concentration. He was right. I tore my eyes away from the family, and put my car in drive. We were quiet for a short while, with me just driving with no real destination. Eventually, we ended up back on the highway. "Where are we going?" Sam asked. I shook my head. "Dunno." "You wanna go back to the hotel and have a few drinks at the downstairs bar?" "Why not?" I answered. "We got time to kill." We went upstairs to our room, just to make sure we looked decent, then took the elevator back down to the lobby. We took our seats at the bar, then Sam's phone started to ring. He glanced at it, then to me. "It's Kat," he said, then answered it. "Hey babe, what's up?" The bartender came over then, a woman with blonde hair, in a black dress shirt. "What can I get for you?" she asked.