Chapter 5 - The Second Accomplice
The blood drained entirely from my face. I spun around, sweeping my flashlight beam across the dark corners of the bedroom. The door was locked again from the inside. The windows were sealed. There was no one else in the room.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
My phone rang loudly in the silent room. Caller ID: Mom.
With trembling fingers, I swiped to answer, pressing the phone to my ear. "Mom? Mom, are you awake? Did you send me a text?"
Silence on the other end. Then, a low, raspy chuckle that made my spine turn to ice.
"Your mother is busy right now, Sarah," a strange, distorted voice whispered.
"Who is this? What have you done to my mother?!" I screamed, waking Lily up again. She whimpered, clutching my shirt.
"We told you not to meddle, Sarah. Ryan was just the cleaner. But you had to involve the cops. You had to ruin the family business," the voice hissed before the line went dead.
I grabbed my car keys, threw a coat over Lily’s pajamas, and carried her out to the car faster than humanly possible. I didn't care about the police, I didn't care about the house—I had to get to my mother’s house across town.
Ten minutes later, I slammed my car brakes in front of my mother’s suburban home. All the lights were off. The front door was standing wide open, swinging gently in the midnight breeze.
"Stay in the car, lock the doors, don't look out," I whispered frantically to Lily, grabbing a heavy tire iron from the trunk.
I stepped into the dark foyer. "Mom?!"
No answer. Only a thick, metallic smell hanging heavily in the air—the unmistakable scent of fresh blood.
I crept down the hallway toward the kitchen. The floor felt sticky under my bare feet. I flicked on the wall switch.
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My mother was tied to a wooden chair in the center of the kitchen, gagged, her head slumped forward. But it was the writing on the kitchen wall behind her that made me drop the tire iron.
Scrawled in bright red blood were the words: "SHE CHOSE WRONG."
