Stay

1

"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win" - Stephen King

|SIX MONTHS LATER|

April 5th | Thursday | 4:37 pm

I flipped through the hundred dollar bills I stole from
the drunken man stumbling around the bar in the Chicago rain. It had taken me more time than usual, but it was worth the wait.

I jogged down an alleyway, pulling my hoodie up, headed to my sweet sleeping place. I had found it about a week ago, in between a hospital and an industrial building. I jogged towards the church, shoving the money into the small pouch on the front of my backpack. I'd been sleeping in the church attic for two weeks, a lot warmer than dark, grimy alleyways and dumpsters.

Thursday mass made it easy to enter the church, the staircase to the second floor to the right. No one stopped me, the reverend talking to his people outside.

Soon, I would flee to a new city. Staying in the church would be ideal but with the whole country, especially my brothers, searching for me, but I had to move within the next few days.

They had almost caught me last month in Minnesota, Caelan my oldest brother leading the hunt. He was a homicide detective but he had friends and connections in the FBI.

I missed my oldest brother but not enough to surrender and get him killed. Caelan was relentless, even after I called a month after the murder of Suzannah and told him to give up on me.

It didn't go well.

+++

I slammed the door to the pay phone outside the mall. I had my brother's phone number memorized, dialling it without needing to look in my notebook.

He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" The sound of his voice indicated he'd been up all night. I couldn't speak, fear and sadness overcoming me, but what I wanted to say was come get me, take me home. "Lannie, is that you? Lannie?"

I covered my mouth to hold in a sob. I took a deep breath, needing to keep composure. "It's me."

I heard the sigh of relieve from his lips. "Alayna, where are you? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm not hurt. I just-I just called to tell you I didn't do it. I didn't kill her, Caelan."

"I know you didn't, Lannie. The police just want to question you. Dad, Reid, Ryleigh and I are all worried about you, tell me where you are and I'll come -"

"I am not coming home, Caelan. I can't come home. I wanted to call and say ..." goodbye. I wanted to call and say goodbye. "Stop looking for me."

"No, no I will not stop searching for you," he murmured, calm yet firm. It would be the years of training, I imagine. "Tell me where you are, Lannie. Please, whatever happened, we can fix it, because I know something else happened that night. Tell me, Alayna, I need to know the truth."

"The truth will only hurt you."

"Why are you doing this? Lannie ... did someone threaten you?"