Stalked

Twenty Four

"Ariana!" Carson shouted.

I stayed silent.

"Ari where are you?" Carson asked again.

Once again, silence.

"Ariana please answer me. It's just us, please answer" He pleaded.

I stayed silent and just curled my knees up to my chest. I just want to be alone right now, I'm aware everyone went to eat but I want to be alone. As if hearing my thoughts, Carson opened the closet door and I cowered back into the corner, hoping to turn invisible.

"Ariana what's wrong?" He asked, squatting down to be in front of me.

"Nothing" I lied as I buried my face in my knees.

"Come here" He said, holding out his hand.

Knowing he wasn't going to give up any time soon I grabbed his hand and let him pull me to my feet. He walked to my bed and sat down, I sat in front of him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing" I lied.

"Stop lying, tell me" He said.

"It doesn't matter" I lied again.

"Just tell me" He pleaded.

I looked him in the eyes and I could see he really cared. I took a deep breath and looked anywhere but his eyes.

"I overheard Maria on the phone" I said vaguely.

"And?" He asked.

I stayed quiet as I tried to collect the right words to say this. I've never been good with words like this.

"I know that's not all, you'd be fine but what happened on the phone?" He asked.

Just say it. Just shout it out. Just rip off the bandaid.

"ShewastalkingtoDerrick" I said really fast.

I hoped he wouldn't have understood but he knew exactly what I said. His eyes went wide and I broke down again. My hand flew to my face as I bent over and put my face in my lap. Not comfortable but comforting.

"What about?" He asked.

"Me" I said in between sobs.

"Why? What did he want?" He asked, grabbing my wrists and making my eyes meet his.

"She wanted to go into town, I said no, and she must have wanted me to go so Derrick could grab me again" I said with tears slipping from my eye and running down my cheeks.

"Come here" He said, leaning back against the headboard and pulling me on to his lap.

I laid my head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close to him.

"He's not going to hurt you, because I'm not letting you out of my sight" He promised as he kissed the top of my head.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"I say we tell the others before she can do any real damage" He said.

"But how? We're all going into town tomorrow and it'll be suspicious if we all just change our minds. She'll know that we know" I said, I can feel my heart racing.

"When they get home; you tell Riley, Eric, and Tyler and I'll grab Steve and Adam" He said.

"Okay but-" My sentence was cut off by the sudden ringing of a phone.

I noticed a wall attached phone by the bathroom and I glanced at Carson. What if it's him? What if Derrick is calling to kidnap us? Or kill us? I glanced at Carson and he seemed to be reading my mind, his looks of terror probably mirrored my own. I slowly stood up, walked to the phone, and answered it.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Say goodbye to Tyler" Derrick said before the line went dead.

|•| a/n |•|

Ah short chapter! Sorry I wanted to Clift hang it. Next one will be longer but yush! This part of the books going to be filled with action so get ready. 1k away from my goal!!!

20k by Saint Patricks Day come on penguin Army!!!!! 💜💜💜