Julian
Mama, call 911.
The blood drained from my face, and my chest started to constrict. My lungs wouldn’t inflate, and it felt like there was a hand choking the life out of me.
“What, what is it?” I heard Savyy’s voice trying to break through the fog in the back of my mind.
The phone slipped from my fingers, and it thudded against the ground, sounding like a shotgun going off. Savvy kept asking me what was wrong. I vaguely remember her talking to someone on the phone, but I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t sit here and do nothing. I needed to get to my son.
I tried to stand but my legs didn’t hold. The floor was hard as it rushed to meet my ass.
How?
I’d kept him safe for five years. Five fucking years. We’d stayed here in Silverbell, and there were never issues, never crime. Julian comes back and my kid gets… fuck, I don’t even know.
No, no.I swung my head from side and side and tried to keep the bile from creeping up my throat.
She grabbed a hold of my shoulders and shook me. “Okay, Anna I need you to take a deep breath. The police are on the way to the beach house. They’ll be there soon.”
The blare of sirens pierced the darkness of my mind as it crept in like a dense fog.
“I need to go, Sav. I need to know he’s okay.” I wailed before opening the front door and just started running. I couldn’t drive because I’d been drinking most of the afternoon, even though Savvy stopped a while ago.
It didn’t matter that I couldn’t breathe. It didn’t matter that I didn’t lock my townhouse, all that mattered was him; getting to Ben in time.
I knew I shouldn’t have let him go with Julian this weekend. I had a bad feeling about it and overlooked it. An SUV slowed as it got to me, but I didn’t look over at it until the driver rolled down their window and started yelling at me. “Annagayle Rafferty, I need you to get in this car right now. Do not make me get out. I will.”
I kept running, ignoring the burning in my calves or the short breaths I’d been forced to take in order to do so. First thing to do when I made sure Ben was okay was make up an exercise plan. Clearly, I was out of shape.
The SUV again sped up behind me, and the tires squealed as it came abruptly to a stop. The crank of a door opening sounded and then slammed shut before I saw Savvy running toward me. She grabbed a hold of my arms to get my attention, but I shook my head.
“No, no.” I chanted it over and over again.
“Anna… I need you to calm down, okay? I will drive you up there. Get in my car right now before you kill yourself trying to run the whole way. That will not do Ben any good.”
I sniffled and nodded, knowing she was right, and let her push me to the SUV. She opened my door and shoved me in. I was acting like a psycho, but I’d never felt this type of fear. This is one of a mother’s biggest fears.
Savvy got back in the SUV and gunned it. “Which house on Coopers?”
“The very last one on the row. He wanted it to be peaceful and quiet.” I choked on the word quiet. “Oh, my God, Savvy.”
She grabbed my hand in hers and squeezed, trying to give me moral support. I didn’t even notice the drive as she raced along the road to the beach house Julian was renting. As we crested the hill, my heart dropped. I was going to be sick.
So many police cars. Why were there so many? Where was Ben? What’s wrong with him? My mind sped at six hundred miles per hour.
The scene was a flood of commotion. It seemed as though the whole precinct was here. I fell out of the car and caught myself before hitting the ground. I needed to get my feet under me so I could run.
Savvy ran after me, but I didn’t care. I had one goal, one purpose. Make sure my son was okay. We got to the ropes, and I tried to climb over, but a thick arm crossed in front of me and grabbed my wrist. “Ma’am, I can’t let you go in there.” It was the new officer. I had no idea what his name was, and, at the moment, I couldn’t give a fuck.
“My son is in there. I need to go. Let me go, please.” I begged, but he continued his strong grip on me. I tried to fall down so he’d release me. He couldn’t hold my whole weight in just my wrist, surely? It didn’t work. Nothing I did to try and escape worked.
The radio on the officer's uniform buzzed and someone started talking.
“We’re waiting for the hostage negotiator to get here.”
“Have we gotten a visual of the gunman?”
“No, teams are going in now.”