Snatched

I

screamed so loud my own insides felt rattled. I heard the thumping of hurrying footsteps on the stairs. Max had heard my scream. She was coming. The entire room felt shaken as I stopped screaming like it had heard the touch of a human voice after ages. Max ran toward me and was sitting in front of me now, shaking me. She was saying something.

Even though she was sitting right in front of me, she felt out of focus, her features blurred. She shook me and shouted at me, but everything felt distant. All I did was stare at it. Max, finally noticing my gaze, whipped her head toward the direction of my eyes.

Upon seeing it, her own tense shoulders slackened, and she just stared at the hibiscus flower sitting there atop the corpse of a sparrow. The sparrow was still oozing blood, and the flower still looked fresh. It had not been long before she left. She could still be in the house, but I doubted that. She was too smart to take such an unprecedented and stupid risk. Max herself seemed to be lost and in shock.

She shook herself back to the present and turned to me. “Did you see her?” I shook my head. Max sighed exasperatedly and then nodded. She gave me a hand and got me up. I was still in a daze, unable to comprehend my own circumstances. "Go and get cleaned up downstairs; I will call Detective Ocon and Nathan."

I heard what she said and nodded mindlessly before beginning to trudge downstairs, diary still in hand. “Wait, Victoria.” I stood still without turning around. “What is that in your hands?” I did not care anymore about hiding things from her or her keeping an eye on me. “It is my father’s diary. I found it on the roof.” I knew she did not understand what I had just said and wanted an explanation, but for now, she let me be.

I was grateful for her understanding. I trudged downstairs, unaware of my surroundings. I heard rattling coming from behind me. Was that Max? I heard Max following right after me with a phone pressed to her ear. I realized it was my phone. In my daze, I had forgotten it in the attic. "Hello, sir, sorry for waking you up at this hour.

Something has happened. You need to come here right away. I will send you our live location. You should also bring officers for sampling; there might still be something of value lying around like thumbprints, a piece of fallen hair, or a broken nail." Detective Ocon said something indistinct on the other end, and then Max nodded and cut the call.

Then she dialed someone else. “Hey, Nathan. Sorry for waking you up from your sleep. You must come here right away. I will text you the location.” She cut the call immediately, refusing to elaborate any further.

Max made me sit down on the living room sofa as she went to check the doors and windows and confirm Hannah was not still in the house. She came back ten minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee.

We both knew we were not sleeping tonight. She sat down beside me and placed my coffee on the table in front of me. I sat on the sofa, my shoulders still tense and rigid, the diary sitting comfortably on my lap. "The attic window was open. She came from there.

There is no reason to worry. I have locked it now. I also rechecked the locks on all of the other locks and windows in the house. It does not seem like she left the attic, so we can let go of the possibility that she might be hiding in the house. Just in case, I have asked Detective Ocon to bring officers to sample the entire house." She had no idea how to comfort me.

She was uncomfortable. It was obvious from her posture. She was continuously bouncing her legs and giving me side glances as if she was scared that I was a fragile vase that would break down upon one look from her. Because of this, she was taking refuge in one thing she did know, facts. And so, she is telling me the facts she thinks might help.

Nevertheless, I was grateful she was there. I did not know what I would have done without her. I nodded my head. Nodding was not enough. “Thank you,” I said to her. I meant it. "Nathan was asking about you. You should probably talk to him and reassure him you are okay. Otherwise, he might spend the entire ride here in tension." I realized she was right. “Where is my phone?” She immediately pulled it out from her pajama pocket and placed it in my open palm. I dialed his number.

Slowly but deliberately, I dialed his number. Ring... he picked up at the first ring. “Max, is that you? Did something happen to Victoria? I am on my way there right now. Hang in there, just stay with her.” “Nathan, it is me.” There was silence on the other side of the line. “Victoria, are you okay?” I stayed quiet. I obviously was not okay.

But what even was okay anymore? Normalcy? I had no normalcy left. But I did what I did best; I lied. “I am alright. Max is here with me. She took care of everything. She even made me coffee. Do not drive too fast. Just be here when you can. Bye.” I cut the call before he could ask any more questions. I saw sympathy in Max’s eyes from the corner of my eye as I put my phone down on the coffee table. I hated sympathy. “Do you want to talk about how you are feeling?” I hated that question. I hated that she was the one asking me. I hated that she had seen me in such a vulnerable moment.

Most of all, I hated how easily Hannah got to me. I shook my head. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to just go up to my room and lie face down on the bed. But I could not even do that. I knew Max would not stop me. But I was so scared. I was so terrified. I was terrified of her shadow haunting me. I was terrified that she would engulf my thoughts completely as soon as I was alone. Most of all, I was terrified she would take me again, and this time, I would not survive.

Scratch that. I knew if she ever got the chance again, she would make sure I did not walk out of there. She would never repeat her mistakes. Yet here I was, repeating my own mistakes. I should have let Max check the attic window. How did I not remember what kind of person Hannah is? How did I forget that she targets weaknesses? I got so selfishly caught up in my own suspicion of the world that I forgot about the actual doom that loomed around my head.

I was so caught up in my suspicions of the entire world being against me that I forgot about the actual person who was after me. One stupid mistake. One stupid mistake, and she has scarred my last safe haven. I have no one to blame but myself. I was not only putting myself in danger, but I was also putting everyone around me in danger and making Andrew's efforts go to waste. And that dead sparrow.

I could not stop thinking about it. The way its lifeless eyes gleamed in the dark. The way it was just lying there, slowly bleeding out. I then had a horrifying realization. What if the sparrow had still been alive when Hannah left it? What if it slowly, excruciatingly, bled to death? No. She would not be that cruel. But she killed people. How was making a sparrow bleed to death going to change her heart?

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