chapter 13: phone home

They were back in the confinements of the hotel room with six locks on its doors.

"I brought your phone along," Willow casually stated, reaching into her own bag to hold up August's iPhone. "But you can only use it when I'm watching you. I assume you probably have somebody to text to tell them you won't be coming home for Christmas." The tone in her voice was threatening, her eyebrows raising to let August know that her words were a command, not a suggestion.

August thought about her dad and Daisy who hadn't crossed her mind since she had been so busy trying to stay alive. "But... I'm supposed to be flying to Texas on the 24th," she whispered. "That's five days."

"Yea, I can fucking count," Willow snapped. "But you will not be leaving here in five days," she darkly spoke, agitation growing in her as the girl didn't immediately comply.

"I have to see my family," August pleaded, her voice cracking.

Willow simply stared at her, her austere eyes giving her an answer.

August's eyes fell to the ground defeatedly. "Can I at least text someone?"

"Make it snappy." Willow handed August her phone, staying close behind her and watching as she frantically unlocked her phone and went to her messages.

Hey, Dad. Just letting you know it's quite lonely up here haha. The campus is quiet when everyone's on break

I'm sorry, kiddo! Keep yourself busy until you come down. I wish you could've gotten an earlier flight.

Yea, me too. Tell Daisy I love her. And I love you too.

The holidays making you sentimental or something?? Haha, we love you too, Auggie. So ready to see you x.

Tell Daisy not to eat all the Christmas cookies before I get there

You know there's no stopping that cookie monster!

Tears welled in August's eyes. She didn't know if that would be the last time she ever talked to her father. She hated that she would be missing Christmas with her family, and she hated that she might have never gotten the chance to say goodbye.

She swallowed the lump in her throat as cold hands yanked the phone from her grip. "Why didn't you tell them you weren't going to be there on Christmas?" Willow asked, annoyed at the girl's texts but also curious about who Daisy was. "And who the fuck is Daisy?"

"My sister!" August snapped, turning around to stare in rage at the woman who was keeping her hostage and not allowing her to spend the holiday with her family whom she hadn't seen since her semester started. "And I didn't tell them because it would break their fucking hearts to know I wasn't coming home for Christmas because some demented, batshit crazy lady is keeping me hostage at some weird hotel in the middle of Utah where a bunch of weird, gross-looking men stare at me like I'm a piece of meat!" Her voice cracked as she stepped towards the woman, fists balling. The rabbit was thumping in her ear. Her sudden-found bravery quieted him.

Willow's eyes widened at first. She never knew a 5'3" girl could look so formidable with her short brown curls and her soft sweater that nearly touched Willow's own leather jacket as she bowed up against the woman.

But she regained the coolness in her eyes and in her tone. "I've never had a fear of children and some smart-mouthed one who's been reading her little book of insults isn't going to make me start fearing them." She turned, putting August's phone back into her bag. A coldness was now instilled between the two, incited by August's harsh words. Willow reminded herself that she couldn't try to be friends with her hostage.

"Let's go," Willow barked as she walked towards the door, expecting August to follow her.

The only reason August did was because she didn't want to get thrown against the wall like she did the previous night.

Willow led the girl, who crossed her arms in a childlike manner and pouted the entire way, outside the hotel to her black Mustang, opening the door for the girl who rolled her eyes and got in.

The woman only smirked as she shut the passenger door. "Feisty."

After getting in, Willow started the ignition, and they were off. August knew she should have been afraid to where the woman was taking her. For all she knew, that could have been it. Willow could have been going to bury her body dead or alive underneath the red Utah sand. But she felt nothing anymore—not fear, not dread, not sadness. She simply sat in the passenger seat with her arms crossed, a sour expression on her face as she watched them travel the same long driveway they had traveled before, the forest looking less thick and scary in the daylight.

"How old is Daisy?" Willow asked, wanting to fill the tense silence in the car. Usually she was okay with tension and silence; in fact, she often found herself in those kinds of situations. She could easily ignore someone's presence no matter how angry they were at her. But there was something about the young girl's crossed arms and the way she kept her head turned as far away from Willow as possible that was eating away at her. She wanted to ask the girl questions—a want that she hardly ever came across in life.

August ignored her, staring out the window as they drove through the gates that automatically opened for them.

"I'm guessing she's probably younger than you. God knows if you were a younger sibling, you'd be even more unbearably bratty than you are now," Willow purposefully took a jab at her, wanting to get some sort of reaction out of her.

"She's six. And you're an ass," August mumbled the last part, angry at herself for giving the woman her words. The devil didn't deserve her breath.

"I try. You learn at some point in life that you gotta be good at something, even if it causes girls to pout at you like a child." Reaching the end of the driveway, Willow turned right onto a highway as she smirked at her own words.

"I'm pouting at you because you are a sadistic bitch," August snipped, finally looking over at the woman. She couldn't help but notice how cool the woman looked in her leather jacket and aviator sunglasses that August hadn't noticed her put on, and her shiny silver watch that reflected the sunlight filling the car. Her eyes trailed to notice a silver cross necklace laying against the fabric of her white t-shirt. "I'm surprised that necklace isn't burning into your skin."

Willow looked down at her necklace and let out a chuckle. "Are you a virgin?"

August's eyes widened as awkwardness tensed her shoulders. "Why the fuck are you asking me that?"

"Because you're always in such a terrible mood. Like you haven't gotten laid in years."

"Do you not realize you're the reason I'm in a terrible mood?! You're a fucking murderer who literally kidnapped me from my dorm and drove me halfway across the country tied up to your fucking car seat!" August yelled, invoking the woman's right eyebrow to shoot up.

"Your point?"

"I fucking hate your guts," August muttered, turning her head to stare back out the window.

A somewhat genuine smile rose to Willow's lips. She was so amused by the girl and how she could counter up to her remarks more than anyone she had ever met. "How charming you are."

Mouthing the woman's words in mockery, August rolled her eyes and scoffed. It felt good to yell at her, to call her names, to insult her to her best ability. Her hatred for the woman felt like it was filling up the space of the small car and would soon pop the roof off. Maybe it was actually her body that it was filling up, her head being the roof that felt like it was about to spin right off and fly into the sky, emitting its hot steam.

The silence lasted for a few minutes before Willow broke it. "I'm actually taking you to a pretty nice place. I figured since your panties are in such a twist, you could use a view of Utah's scenery."

August looked around, the only "scenery" being a tall rock formation matching the dirt red colors of the ground beneath it. "All I see is a rock."

Willow chuckled. "That rock is a lot more beautiful on the inside."

"That's how people describe me," August couldn't help but joke, a small smile tugging on her lips.

An enchanting grin spread across Willow's lips, one that August caught sight of. Her white teeth were so straight and so perfect, complementing the plump lips that surrounded them. Her eyes traveled up to the woman's nose, how it was perfectly arched and wasn't too bony or too wide like most people's. Through her dark sunglasses, the woman looked over at August, her green eyes almost penetrating the dark lenses and shooting right to August's captivated orbs.

August snapped her head away, telling herself that she was not going to be a victim of Stockholm's Syndrome. The woman, no matter her dark beauty that August couldn't possibly refrain from admitting, was a danger.

Willow drove the two towards the rocky structure, down a winding dirt road until she pulled the car on the side of the road right beside the structure which now looked slightly circular and exhibited an opening in the side of it. August assumed this was probably a tourist attraction and that the woman wouldn't try to murder her where a lot of people stop and view. She at least hoped, anyway.

"C'mon," Willow smoothly spoke, stepping out of her car.

August stayed put, waiting for the woman to walk around and open her door for her as she had done so many times before out of distrust that the girl might try to run off. But the woman started walking away, causing August to hurriedly step out of the car herself and close the door.

Skipping for a few steps to catch up to the woman, August stayed a couple feet behind her, her eyes glued to the elegance of the person in front of her rather than the grandeur of the rock formation they were walking towards. The sun beat down hard on them, regardless of the chilly December air. She watched from behind as Willow removed her sunglasses and slipped them into her jacket pocket, her long black hair waving in the wind that was picking up speed.

They approached the opening of the rock, and August puffed a cloud of fog from her mouth as her eyes laid upon the view in front of her. It was like an above-ground cave with the large natural entrance they entered in and then another one directly adjacent to it. She lifted her chin, staring at the smooth, red rock that served as a natural canopy, her eyes following every ridge downwards until see saw a small pool of crystal clear water that formed into a small spring leading out the other entrance of the cave. She could see the spring travel all the way throughout the red lands, going between big and little rocks and up every incline and down every decline. The large room echoed with the sound of the water trickling away from the pool and into that spring and then being filled back in from another trail of water on the other side where a small entrance was.

"This is so..."

"Beautiful," Willow finished the words for her, her cool eyes mesmerized by the girl's own mesmerization. She watched as her small lips parted in amazement, her loose curls falling back as she lifted her delicate head to stare at the natural ceiling.

"Yes," August breathed, taking in the scenery of the place as a wide smile spread across her lips. "I've never seen anything like this!" She stepped further into the cave, her shoes echoing throughout the open space.

Willow did enjoy the view of the cave, but she was distracted by the heaviness in her heart—a heaviness she never felt before. She watched as the innocent girl crouched to her knees in front of the water, slowly reaching her curious hand out until the tips of her svelte fingers dipped into its crispness. "It's not too cold!" she exclaimed, letting her hand sink further into the water.

"Because it's a hot spring," Willow mumbled, a lump forming in her throat. The girl's back was turned to her, and she just watched her small figure as she peered into the water in front of her.

"I didn't expect for there to be hot springs here." She waved her hand around in the cool pool of water that swirled with the force of the spring flowing water into it, the water going in circles around the pool until flowing back out into the opposite spring.

"Mhm," Willow mumbled, her hands beginning to shake. This was the perfect moment, she thought. She slowly brought her unsteady hand to her belt, feeling the hard metal object through her shirt. She couldn't wrap her head around why she was feeling a sickness grow within her. Being cold-blooded was her métier. She had never felt the reluctance she felt at that moment, and she couldn't discern where that reluctance was stemming from.

August stared down into her reflection in the water, not noticing the instability in Willow's glacial voice. "Willow?" she softly questioned as she stared at her reflection.

"Yes?" Her voice was just below a whisper, almost inaudible if not for the way it echoed throughout the cave. She grabbed hold of the handle of the gun in her belt, her knuckles turning white as her brain told her to pull the gun out while her muscles opposed, halting her from doing so.

But she knew what she had to do. She couldn't avoid it or put it off. It was for her safety and the safety of her people. It was simply her job.

She slowly pulled the gun out of her belt.