Cove's POV
I went the rest of the evening without seeing or hearing from Xander.
Cassidy and I spent a lot of time together, she stayed near me. It's almost as if she could tell something was wrong.
Cass has always had a protective side of her. I could not be more thankful for it than I am right now.
I rubbed my eyes tiredly, trying to focus on the movie we're watching. I think it has something to do with superheroes and a stone, I'm not sure though. I'm too tired to pay attention.
Just as I was about to drift off for the fifth time in a row, Jake dramatically gasped at something that happened in the movie. My eyes snapped open to try and see what happened, but by the time I looked credits were already rolling in.
"That. Was. So. Good." Jake grabbed the remote energetically and turned the tv off, making the room fill with darkness.
"I cannot wait for the next movie to come out, can you?"
Jake turned to look at me, and I realized he was directing the question towards me.
"Oh, um sure? I guess, I don't know," I mumbled tiredly before laying my head down on the armrest of the couch.
"Oh come on, you can't tell me you fell asleep while all of that happened!"
"Well I was trying to pay attention, but it's past 2 am and I'm so tired."
I looked around the room and saw Luca asleep on the floor and Cassidy next to me, also struggling to keep her eyes open.
"You guys are boring. Well, I guess we can go to sleep now. Who's sharing rooms with who?"
"I'm with Cove," Cassidy mumbled as she sat up slowly.
"All right, I guess that leaves me with this boring guy." Jake kicked Luca in the side, which made Luca grumble and slowly open his eyes.
"What-"
"Shh, it's bedtime. Get up you sleepy head."
Luca slowly got up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Okay okay, I'm coming. Give me a second."
Jake led the way upstairs and the rest of us followed. He tried to open the first door on the right, but I quickly stopped him.
"All of our parents are sleeping in the rooms on the right, we'll have to take the left side."
He nodded and turned around, then opened the door on the left and turned on the light. "There are two beds and a bathroom, I call this room!" Why couldn't I have checked here when I was looking for the bathroom earlier?
"Okay fine, Cass, we can take the next room." I walked to the next door and opened it, but it was revealed to be a small broom closet.
Looking down the hall, I saw two more doors. The doors were right next to the stairs which lead to the attic. I know that one of them is the bathroom I used earlier, maybe the other is a bedroom.
"Let's check these rooms, and if not we can sleep downstairs. We'll just have to be away from the others," Cassidy noted.
For some reason, sleeping alone downstairs seemed much better to me than sleeping next to the stairs where I knew Xander was. I considered asking Cassidy to just go downstairs with me, but before I had the chance to, she already opened the door.
"There's only one bed in here, it's big though. This room will do."
I bit back the protests wanting to leave my mouth and silently walked inside. I don't want my fear to control everything I do during this trip.
After bringing our suitcases into the room and changing, Cassidy laid down in bed while I plugged in my phone. I checked one last time for a notification from River, but all I saw was delivered.
With a sigh, I set my phone down on my nightstand before getting into the other side of our bed. Silence filled the room for a few moments, but just when I was about to fall asleep, Cassidy's voice broke it.
"Please tell me if anything is wrong, Cove. You don't have to keep it all to yourself. I want to help you."
I slowly turned to face her and propped my head up on my hand.
"Why do you keep saying that? Do you notice something?"
She slowly nodded and frowned. "Yes, you seem wary about something and I can't quite put my finger on it."
"Well it's just, something happened earlier. And I've been uncomfortable ever since, but I'm trying to get through it. I don't want to ruin this vacation."
She hummed in understanding and reaches over to turn off the lamp. "Okay, if you ever feel like you want to tell me what happened, I'll always be hear for you. But you don't have to if you don't want to. Only if you feel comfortable doing so."
I smiled at her, even though she couldn't see due to the darkness. "Thank you Cass, I really appreciate it. Goodnight."
"Goodnight Cove. Sleep well."
ð ð ð
There's a weird feeling in my body. I have no idea what time it is, but something made me wake up.
Usually, I'd just roll over and go right back to sleep. But this time was different. Every bone in my body was screaming at me to stay awake.
Click.
What was that?
My eyes opened and I was met by darkness. As my eyes slowly began to adjust to the dark, one thing was made clear.
Cassidy and I are not the only ones in this room.
Click.
I can see Cass still sleeping through my peripheral vision, but there is also a human figure in front of me.
A bright light shone, making me close my eyes again. That light was followed by another "click."
I heard the person walk across the room. The sound of their footsteps started to get louder, meaning they're coming closer.
I closed my eyes tightly as my breathing picked up and I felt the person stand right next to me.
The room was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time. Is the person just going to stand here all night?
Suddenly, I felt a rough hand on my face. I couldn't help but flinch.The hand moved up until it was in my hair, then tucked my hair behind my ear before going back to stroke my cheek.
"I know you're awake."
My heart skipped a beat and I froze. I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes and face the person in front of me. I can recognize the cold voice anywhere, though. It's Xander.
What does he want from me this time? Can't he just leave me alone?
"Open your eyes, I want to see your eyes," he whispered and dragged his thumb across my cheek.
Out of fear, I opened my eyes and blinked a few times before staring up at him. A smirk came across his face at my comply.
"Oh so beautiful. He will be very pleased to see the pictures I took of you while you were sleeping so innocently."
Pictures?! He took pictures of me sleeping!
"Who?" Was all I was able to mutter in my confused and tired state.
"Oh no need to worry about that, sweet girl. You'll find out soon enough."
I frowned at what he called me and quickly sat up, starting to fully come to my senses.
"What, get out! Leave me alone Xander!" He frowned at the raise in my voice and Cassidy started to stir in her sleep.
"Hush, Cove. Don't you want me to tell him that you've been good? He'll be very pleased to hear that. Might even reward you if you're lucky."
"Who? Who will!" I pushed his hand away from my face and frowned harder.
"I told you, no one for you to worry about. Now be good and I promise everything will get easier for you from here on out." As he said that, he started to walk away.
I sighed in relief and watched him closely as he headed to the door. Just when his hand reached the doorhnob, he stopped right in his tracks.
"Oh, and one last thing. There is no use in telling River about this whole encounter, there is nothing he can do about it. By the time my boss is ready for you, River will be way out of the picture."
Before I had the chance to respond, he was gone.
I sat in the same position for several minutes, trying to process what just happened. The first thing I did when I was finally able to move again was wake up Cassidy.
After a good 30 seconds of shaking her arm, she finally woke up and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Hm?" She mumbled confused.
"Cass," I whispered her name and quickly wrapped my arms around her. She gently hugged me back and opened her eyes.
"What happened Cove?"
I frowned and began to explain everything that happened to her in a frantic state.
"Xander was in here and he was taking pictures of me while I slept, then he touched my face and told me that 'his boss' would be pleased for the pictures."
"What?" She looked at me confused and sat up slowly. "Was it a nightmare?"
"No! It actually happened, I swear."
"Okay," She ran her fingers through my hair gently, "don't worry I believe you. Had anything else happened with Xander leading up to this?"
I nodded and looked down. "Yes, earlier when I was trying to find the bathroom he dragged be upstairs and held my wrist really tightly. I'm not sure what he was going to do because my mom interrupted before he had the chance to do anything."
"Hey it's okay, don't be ashamed this isn't your fault." She rubbed my arm in a comforting way and reached over to the nightstand to grab my phone.
"Here, you tell your boyfriend what happened okay? I think it'll help you feel better to talk to him, even if he can't do anything." She handed me my phone and started to stand up, but I stopped her.
"No, please don't leave."
"Im not going anywhere, I'm just going to turn the light on okay?"
I nodded again and sighed in relief while turning on my phone. The time showed to be 4:58 am, still super late.
"I'll stay up with you all night Cove, then in the morning we can go tell your mom okay? Or do you want to go get her now?"
I looked up at Cassidy and thought for a moment. "Maybe we should wait atleast a few hours, that way she'll be awake enough to know what to do."
She nodded in agreement. "Okay, we'll do that. For now we can turn on the tv to keep us awake, and I'll go lock the door."
"Okay, that sounds good." I grabbed the remote and turned on a random channel while she got up and locked the door.
She soon sat back down next to me and watched the tv, occasionally glancing over at me to make sure I was okay. I turned my phone back on and checked Snapchat.
New chat 55 minutes ago, it showed under River's name. Why was he up so late? I opened the chat and it read I hope you are sleeping well.
A small smile appeared on my face and I quickly typed back thank you, I didn't get much sleep.
His scary little figure popped in on the screen within a few seconds. He really needs to make a bitmoji, it looks so creepy without one.
Are you okay?
I frowned. Am I okay? I don't really know what to tell him.
Um, just some scary things keeping me awake. Are you okay?
Im okay. What scary things? What happened.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a few moments and I hesitated. If I tell them the whole truth, it'll worry him way too much. But at the same time I don't want to lie to him.
I just don't feel comfortable here. I don't think I can sleep because everything is scaring me, every time I close my eyes I feel like something bad will happen.
Oh, I'm sorry my love. It's okay I promise. You'll be home soon enough, okay?
Okay. And there's another that happened, but I'll tell you in person.
Alright, whatever you feel the most comfortable doing. Goodnight
Goodnight River, I love you
Without waiting for him to respond, undoubtably knowing he'd just say that he loves me back, I turned off my phone.
I looked up after setting my phone back on the dresser and noticed that Cassidy was starting to fall asleep. Her eyes were half closed and her face looked extremely tired.
"It's okay, Cass. You can go back to sleep. I'll be fine I promise."
She frowned and quickly shook her head no, turning to look at me with tired eyes.
"No I'm okay, I'll stay awake. My eyes are just not used to being open this late but I'm not even that tired."
"Don't lie, it's okay Cassidy. I'll be fine if you sleep."
"Are you sure? I'm fine staying up just-" she started hesitantly.
I cut her off with a shake of my head. "Shh no, I promise I'll wake you up if I need you or if anything happens. Goodnight Cass."
She nodded slowly before lowering the tv volume, then setting down the remote and closing her eyes.
"Do you need me to turn off the lights?" I asked.
"If you don't mind, but I'm fine if you want to keep them on."
"No it's okay, I'll turn them off."
Silently, I slid out of bed and went to flip the light switch. As I walked, a small piece of paper caught my eye. It was laying on the floor, did I drop this?
I picked it up and carefully unfolded it, noticing that it was some sort of checklist. The words were written in sloppy, rushed cursive handwriting and read:
-Place tracker somewhere discreet
-Take pictures once everyone's asleep
-Send pictures to boss at the address listed in messages
-Go to warehouse to receive first payment
-Find out information for blackmail
-Give all information to boss
-Receive second payment and flee
The first two boxes were checked off. Xander must've dropped this on his way out, after all he's the only one who would do anything like this.
Shivers went up my spine when I read the list over again. This is really weird and scary, I need to find out who his "boss" is and stop him from doing anything else to me or River.
"What's that?" Cassidy questioned tiredly.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it. Goodnight." I turned off the lights and grabbed my phone from the nightstand, then went into the bathroom. After closing the door, I flicked on the light switch and placed the piece of paper on the counter.
With quick hands, I unlocked my phone and opened it back to Snapchat. As I expected, River texted 10 minutes ago: love you more, goodnight.
I need to tell him about this. I'm not going to be stupid and hide it, there's no use. If something does happen to me, he needs to know everything I know to have the best chances of helping me.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard, not sure where to start. I decided to first send him a picture of the paper.
He instantly opened the picture and left on opened for a few minutes, no doubt examining it.
While he did that, I typed:
I woke up and found someone in my room. Earlier today, the same guy tried to drag me somewhere but my mom came and he ran away. His name is Xander Black, he's the older brother of my friend. When I woke up and found him in my room, he told me that his boss wanted the pictures and there's no use in me telling you about it because by the time you find out who he is, you'll be out of the picture.
River immediately clicked on the chat and after a moment of reading, he asked: can you tell me anything else about Xander? What does he look like?
I opened my pictures and scrolled down for a good few minutes until I found a picture that all of us had taken the previous year. Xander hasn't changed in looks, he's a bit taller now but that's it.
River saved the picture once I cropped and sent it to him. He responded; Thank you. I promise it'll all be okay Cove, I won't ever let anything happen to you. Try to sleep, I promise it'll be over soon and I'll fix this.
My eyes felt heavy and tired as I read his message. Even though I don't want to sleep, I'm exhausted.
Okay, I'll try to sleep. Goodnight River, I'll see you soon. I miss you a lot :( hopefully we can talk more tomorrow, I love you so much <33
I grabbed my phone and exited the bathroom, turning off the light before plopping into bed. With the sound of Cassidy's soft snores and breaths, it didn't take long before I fell into a deep sleep.
2906 words
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I really do hope I can update quicker. I don't want to promise anything because I hate breaking a promise, but I really am trying. I just can't stand to read this book anymore, it's so cringey I hate it. But ofc I won't leave you guys without an ending, just give me some time and it'll be done soon enough <33