Conspicuous Secrets

Chapter Fifty

I posted Chapters 50-51 so make sure you are reading them in order!

I was standing in the middle of my kitchen.

I could tell I was all alone, knowing for a fact that no one else was in the house. There was not a speck of dirt in the house. The counters were spotless and even the floors were sparkling. The air was eerie and the silence was unsettling. There was no sound at all. Absolutely nothing.

I had an urge to leave, so I started making my way to the front door. I couldn't even hear my own footsteps hit the floor below me. Just as I reached out to grab the door handle, the loud sound of a phone ringing filled the dead silence. Looking toward the sound, there was a landline placed on the kitchen counter. I knew for a fact it hadn't been there just a second before. Leaving the building's exit, I walked over toward the counter and picked up the phone.

As soon as the phone touched my ear, a voice yelled through. "He's coming for you, Delilah!" The voice sounded urgent and full of panic. It sounded like Gavin. However, as soon as the words carried through, the line cut out and pure silence refilled the air.

Then, there was a hard pounding on the door. Charles. Grabbing a knife out of the kitchen drawer, I took off running down the hallway and locked myself in the bathroom. I sat down in the far corner, in between the bathtub and the sink, and held the weapon out in front of me so I could easily defend myself.

Heavy booted footsteps carried through the hardwood hallway, slowly heading in my direction. It was the only sound I could hear. My ears couldn't even pick up the sound of my own heavy breathing or the heavy pounding of my heart in my chest. I placed my hand over my mouth as the footsteps stopped right outside of the door, terrified that he could hear my own breathing, even though I couldn't.

His fist pounded on the door and it soon burst open making me scream in fear. Charles was now standing in front of me, pointing a gun at my face. I couldn't stop screaming. My life was over.

"Delilah!" Someone kept shouting my name but it was in the far distance and muffled.

"I found you, Delilah..." Charles spoke darkly. "And I'm going to kill you."

He pulled the trigger and a gunshot sounded through the air, but the bullet didn't get the chance to touch my skin. I woke up yelling.

Arms wrapped around me and pulled me backward into a warm body. "Shhh..." Kason tried to console me as I cried. He held me tightly up against him and laid his head on top of mine.

Just a moment later, Daniel ran into the room with his gun in hand. "What's wrong? What happened?" He was alert, looking around the bedroom, assessing the situation.

"We're okay," his son told him. "She just had a nightmare." I clung onto Kason like my life depended on it and curled into him.

Daniel nodded, understanding immediately. Apprehending the situation, however, didn't stop him from looking skeptically around the room as if he was expecting Charles to jump out of the shadows any second.

"It's okay," Kason spoke softly to me. "You're with me. I'm right here." If I was at home, I would've had run to Gavin. Considering he wasn't here in a moment like this, I was thankful that Kason was. He gave me so much comfort. A feeling of safety. The pain got hard at times, but when he was there I didn't feel a thing.