Chaos and Control(86)

By the time I make it to the top, I’m exhausted. I pull myself onto the platform and lay on my stomach, my face turned to the side in a puddle. Rain soaks me as my chest heaves, trying to catch my breath. Even in the warm air, chills rush over my skin when I hear the crazed sound of Dylan yelling my name.

I crawl to the other side of the tower, just to stay out of sight, and press my back to the reservoir. I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around them in an effort to stop trembling. Minutes pass, and I strain to listen for Dylan’s voice over the pounding rain. But I hear nothing. Dropping my head to my knees, I think about Preston and Bennie and how helpless I am up here alone. I groan thinking about what Dylan wants from me.

“Hey, baby. Did you think I wouldn’t find you up here?”

I raise my head to find Dylan towering over me. I gasp and choke as water pours into my throat.

“I told you I’d find you.” His words are sloppy and muffled because of his injury.

I scream and jump to my feet, backing away from him. I run to the other side of the tower, trying to beat him to the ladder. As soon as it is in my sight, he appears, a vicious kind of grin in place.

I retreat and run back out of sight. Now I’m blind, having no idea which direction he’ll come from. I lean against the railing and flip my head back and forth, waiting for Dylan to appear. My pulse pounds in my ears. That, along with the rain and thunder, makes my hearing useless.

In another flash of lightning, I see Dylan come charging from my right side. I take off running, but I know that it’s useless. I’m trapped up here, running in circles around this tower. I make it around once, but know he’s close when I feel the platform shaking beneath my feet. His hand snags the back of my shirt and jerks me so that I fall on my back at his feet.

I land with a thud, all the breath knocked from my lungs. Dylan stands over me now, blocking the rain. I fight to pull in air as my fingers claw at the platform below me. My soaked clothes stick to my skin and weigh me down. He watches silently, fascinated with my struggle.

“You thought you could leave me?” he yells. Blood still pours over his lips and mixes with rainwater before dripping onto my chest.

“Help!” I yell, but I know there is no one to hear my cries. “Help me!”

Dylan drops to his knees, straddling my waist, my hands pinned by my sides. He sits on me, making it impossible to move. I try to lift my hips to buck him off, but he’s too heavy and I’m too weak.

“I sent you little clues, baby. So that you knew I was coming.”

“I got them,” I barely get out. I feel suffocated by my fear and the menacing look in his eyes.

“They were to remind you of who you belong to.”

“I don’t belong to anyone, Dylan.”

He leans over now, his face a few inches above mine. I hold my breath.

“You. Are. Mine,” he says, slapping me across the cheek. My head snaps sideways, and tears sting my eyes. The pain is blinding. “Are you ready to come home?”

“I am home,” I spit at him. I’m able to pull one hand free and swing it at his face, landing an ineffective blow.

“Oh!” Dylan shouts, chuckling. “This is new. I like this fight in you, baby.”

I push against him and wiggle free, but only because he allows me to. He’s amused. Back on my feet, I head for the ladder. When I’m close, Dylan catches my arm and I fall, rolling toward the edge. I catch myself and push away from the ledge, pressing my back against the tower.

Dylan squats down and gives me a bloody smile.

“Now get yourself together, baby. We’ve got to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I say. I throw a punch into his chest, but he just grunts at my effort. His hands cup my face in a deceptively tender way.

“I love you, baby. But I don’t share. Now. Let’s. Go,” he says through gritted teeth.

I try to kick him, but he pins my legs down. “I’d rather die up here than have to look at you for another fucking minute!”

Heavy raindrops and the weight of my own words sink in. They hold me in place, and I feel like the sky is drowning me.

His eyes become slits as he stays perfectly still. He is a snake before striking. I should have seen it coming. I should have known not to goad him. Dylan’s hands shoot out and wrap around my throat. My eyes go wide when I realize he is going to grant my wish. He pushes hard, and with the metal tower against my back, I can’t get any air. My fingers claw at his arms, my feet flail and kick, but it is no use. Dots begin to dance in my vision, and my head is spinning.

I close my eyes and say good-bye to Bennie, to the best friend I ever had and the mother I wish I did. I say good-bye to Crowley and everything good and bad this town ever meant to me. Preston’s face flashes in my mind, and I cling to it as blackness begins to pull me under.

Then, the hand around my throat is gone. I suck in a much-needed breath as my eyes struggle to stay open. Preston appears above me; he looks like an abstract painting made of shadows and light. His lips move, but I can’t understand. I blink away tears and rain just as Dylan rushes Preston. The two fall to the platform, and the metal structure shakes beneath me. My brain screams to do something, but my body is useless. Chills send a shock down my spine as I can do nothing but watch Dylan’s fist connect with Preston’s jaw.

“Preston,” I cry, but my voice is lost amongst the struggle and rain. My chest heaves as I watch Dylan attack again, but Preston pushes him away. White-knuckled grips on each other and neither will surrender.