Don't Stand By Me (COMPLETE) - Chapter 14: Chapter 14

KIARA
August 1st 10:30
"Guys, it won't stop ringing...what do we do?" Cassie seemed braver than the rest of us, standing right at the trunk of Dixon's car, her hand placed precariously on it.
"It's been a half hour..." Elvis noted, "Whoever it is is not happy..."
"Do you think it's his father?" Dixon piped up, arms folded.
"Richard has been in hiding for years since he escaped. He'd hardly use a phone." I gnawed on the inside of my lip, body itching to move forward and just open the trunk, "I'm gonna open it."
"Are you sure?" Cassie turned to give me a frown, "One, it's probably disgusting in there and two, what if we use the phone and it starts tracking us?"
"Body decomposition is a slow process." I shrugged, "The smell now is coming from the corpse bloating. He'll look a bit disgusting but not enough to make me vomit. Plus the fact that the phone is switched on at all means it can be tracked. I figured the river would have broken it. We might as well take a look."
Dixon furrowed his brow, stepping next to Elvis. Elvis reached a hand to the small of his back, holding him there tightly. I expected Cassie to step back beside them but to my surprise she trailed her fingers down to the trunk, preparing to open it for me. I stepped towards it and she gave me a smile and a nod, steeling herself for whatever was inside. I couldn't help but give her a small smile and really take her in for a moment before I popped the hood.
Her hair was pulled back in a loose bun, curling tendrils falling loose and pliant around her heart shaped face. Her eyes met mine, wide and fearful but still with a small hint of a smile on her lips. She was gorgeous.
"Look," Elvis began, snapping me away from Cassie's gaze, "Just open it, grab the phone and slam it shut again."
I nodded, biting the bullet and pulling the trunk open. Charles looked pretty much as I suspected, slightly bloated, his skin discoloured and a small trail of foam leaking from his mouth. I couldn't look away from his eyes, half closed and sagging.
"Kiara?"
"Ki?"
"Kiara!"
I shook my head, face buried in my knees that were drawn up to my chest. I slapped my palms over my ears, praying for the shouts to stop, for everything to just stop.
"You get out here right now! Before I drag you by the ear back to that group home."
In that instant I snapped.
"I wish you would!" I screamed, not moving from my position.
I regretted it instantly as the footfalls grew louder until they were outside the closet door. It was yanked open and I found myself staring at the thick black work boots I had come to know so well.
"Let me go!" I shrieked, kicking and flailing as I was dragged by the scruff of my neck out of the closet.
"Hold still!" He roared, dragging me out of the room, "You want to act like a mongrel? Then you get treated like a mongrel. I'll take you to the pound and get you put down."
"Please no!" I sobbed, kicking wildly and feeling a sense of satisfaction when it connected with his shin.
"You little bitch!"
I howled as the back of his hand connected with my cheek, his thick rings leaving a cut across my face.
"That's it!" He snapped, moving towards the bannister with obvious intention, "You have been horrible ever since Sheila decided to foster you. I warned her not to, after what happened with you and that fire, but she insisted!" He shook his head.
"I haven't done anything wrong!" I wailed as he stopped walking, "I'm just a kid! You're meant to love me!"
"Love you? Love you? You're a monster!" He began to lift my body upwards and I panicked, kicking outward with more intent as my foot connected with his chin.
The impact caused him to loosen his grip, giving me a chance to wriggle free as he stumbled backwards. He reached forward, eyes blazing and I reacted on instinct, rushing forward and shoving. He was still disoriented from the hit and he flew backwards and landed on his back - at the bottom of the stairs. I clenched my jaw at the sound, screwing my eyes shut as he screamed before quickly falling silent with a sickening crunch and a thud.
"D-D-Dennis?"
He didn't reply.
It was an open casket funeral for some reason. I had been granted a day leave from the holding centre to visit the casket and pay my respects before the ceremonies began. I wasn't allowed to attend the funeral and for that I was intensely grateful that I wouldn't have to face Sheila and her wrath. In hindsight, I realised that maybe I had been allowed to see him to gauge my reaction, to see if I showed any remorse or if I was just a total psychopath, but eight year old me didn't have those capacities for thinking.
I stood, hovering over the casket, gazing down at his bruised face and I felt nothing. I didn't feel guilt or shame or remorse. I felt anger, an anger I couldn't pinpoint but I just knew that I had done the right thing. But that didn't mean it hurt any less, thinking back on his words, the strikes he would lay on me, a child.
All I had ever wanted, as far back as I could remember, was to be loved. And now I figured that was never going to happen.
"I want to go." I tugged on the social worker's hand, gazing up at her with wide eyes.
"Okay, sweetie, let's get you back."
The case was open-and-shut. I had very little memory of it but it boiled down to self defence once a medical examination showed that my bones hadn't healed properly after fractures and I was essentially malnourished. I was released back into the care of the state where I remained until the day I turned eighteen and Elvis swept me away to New York.
"Ki?" Elvis' hand was firm on my shoulder, "Are you alright?"
I turned around, winding my arms around his neck and holding him tightly, tears flowing into the crook of his shoulder. He didn't say a word, he didn't need to ask. He simply held me and stroked my back gently until I had calmed.
He murmured into my hair, "I got you, it's okay."
"Thank you." I sniffled, pulling away and pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. I cleared my throat, "Sorry guys."
"Don't be." Cassie gave my elbow a quick squeeze, "This is a horrible situation. I'll grab the phone."
"No." I shook my head, "I can do it. No point getting other people's DNA on his body." I reached into the trunk, patting around Charles' pockets until I gripped the phone tightly.
Stepping back I finally exhaled as Cassie slammed the trunk shut, the smell wafting through the air as she did. I grimaced, curling my nose up as the phone in my hand began to ring again.
Pearl Montgomery.
"Anyone know a Pearl Montgomery?"
Elvis and Cassie shook their heads while Dixon gaped incredulously, grabbing the phone from my hand and gazing down at it.
"Pearl Montgomery? Heiress to the Montgomery fortune?" He exclaimed, "AKA Charles' long term girlfriend?" He waved the phone around wildly.
"How do you even know this? FUCK!" Elvis pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers, "Shit, shit, shit!"
"If she's got that much money...she could track him down easily." Cassie panicked, running a hand through her loose curls.
"Plus she's known to be psycho. I read on TMZ once that he took a trip to the Cayman Islands for business and she flew to a neighbouring island, got a rowboat and snuck onto the shore of his villa to see if she could catch him cheating."
"Girl sounds resourceful." I noted as the phone stopped ringing.
"Do you think there's anything in the phone that could help us?" Cassie asked.
"What if we texted her? Pretend we're him and back further and tell her that he'll be home in a week. That'll buy us enough time to dump him."
"She'll hardly believe that, she'll follow him." Elvis sighed, "But we could tell her we're somewhere completely different."
"Should we risk it?" Cassie pondered, sitting on the trunk of the car.
"It can't hurt surely. I'm gonna text Violet, I feel like she'd know what to do here." I rattled off a few worried texts, noticing as Elvis pulled out his phone to do the same.
Then I held up Charles' phone, to find it password protected, "If I was a rich asshole what would my phone password be?"
"6969." Dixon joked, "Maybe his birthday-"
"Nope, that worked. Of course it did." I groaned, finding myself now with full access to the son of the biggest crime boss in the country's phone. Wonderful.
I pulled up the conversation with Pearl in his messages, seeing the 83 unread notifications from the girl. They varied in tone, going from sickeningly sweet to horrifically angry.
Baby?
Where are you?
I miss u:(
Thinking of u;)
Where r u
Wtf
I hate u
If ur with that whore again
Ill kill u
Baby txt me back
Going for spa treatment ttyl xx
Don't my cuticles look good??
Wtevr
Loser
It wasn't even noon and all of those text messages had come from that morning. Maybe we were dealing with a psychopath. I had heard of Pearl's father, hand in hand with Charles' in one of my modern crime lectures, but never knew he had a daughter, much less one to this extremity.
"What should I say?"
"Let me do it," Elvis reached out for the phone, "I can be a douchebag."
I nodded silently, passing it to him and watching him type in silence for a few moments. He paused frequently, furrowing his brow and erasing anything he wrote, before typing again. This continued on for at least five minutes before Elvis shrugged and passed the phone back.
Hey baby
"Really?" I snorted, "All that for hey baby?"
"It's effective!" He chuckled, nudging Dixon with his elbow who gave him a smirk in return.
Ding!
"Uh oh." Cassie muttered, leaning in close to me to glance at the phone screen.
Hey baby????? That's it?????
Where df are u??
"What's your bright idea now?"
"Let me." Cassie gently took the phone from me, tapping out a few words and passing it back.
Doing work 4 dad in Miami
I'll be back in a week, dont wait up
"Nice," I raised an eyebrow appreciatively, "You sound like an utter douche."
"What can I say, years of practice." Cassie shrugged, sending me a wink as the phone dinged once more.
Lol
K
"Great." Dixon grinned, "Now we can forget ab-what?" He interrupted himself at Cassie and mine's wide eyed gazes.
"Nothing is okay when a woman just says k." I shook my head frantically.
"Ever!" Cassie supplied, holding the phone shakily, "She's pissed."
"Shut the phone off." I instructed.
"Should I smash it?" Elvis suggested.
"No." I shook my head, "I think we should keep it, turned off. There could be information on there we could use to bargain with, if we get caught by the cops."
"Smart woman." He smiled approvingly, "So now what?"
"We go search for Violet." I suggested, pulling out my phone to find that it was dead, "Fuck, my phone's dead."
"My signal is spotty at best," Elvis groaned, "My first couple texts were sent but now the rest won't deliver."
"Ours have been dead since yesterday." Dixon rubbed a hand down his face, "We haven't been eager to go into the car to get our chargers."
"There's no point in us racing into town without a proper way of making contact. Let's charge up our phones even a few percent and we'll run in to find her. Or we could split up and hope she comes back here."
"There's no point without a way to contact each other." Cassie sighed, "We're stuck."
"Then we'll charge our phones and then go look."
"She said she's with a friend. So she's not alone at least. I do think she'll come back, just needs to cool off."
"I agree." Elvis nodded, "Let's sort ourselves out."
Dixon frowned, "Is no one questioning how she found a friend in this random town in the middle of nowhere?"
I shrugged, "It's Violet. She probably just started talking to a stranger and they couldn't find a segue to leave."
Cassie moved around to the car, leaning in and pulling out two identical chargers. When she exited the car, her face was scrunched with disgust.
"That smell never gets old." She joked, "Alright let's go."
Dixon and Elvis moved into the trailer but I hesitated for a moment, which Cassie noticed.
"You okay?" She frowned, bumping my hip with hers.
"Not really." I sighed.
The emotions of the last two days had decided to slam into me at that exact moment. Between the flashbacks that were plaguing me, the guilt towards Violet, the fear of being caught and the weird spiralling feelings towards Cassie...I was exhausted.
"Anything you wanna talk about?"
"Just everything of the last few days is hitting me at once."
"I get that," She shrugged, "Maybe we can sneak away later, have a look at the stars. It always soothes me."
"You and Dixon are fairly calm about all of this." I frowned, "Not a single freakout between the pair of you."
"I think he's in the same mindset as me where...stop me if I sound insane but - what's happening is happening. Us freaking out will only freak you guys out more, it won't do any good for anyone. Someone needs to be calm and collected and I guess that's us!" She spoke with a smile and I resisted the urge to kiss her there and then.
"That's really wise of you."
"What can I say?" She smiled before her expression grew serious, "Look, I've been meaning to talk to you-"
"Do you think I'm fucking stupid?"
"What the fuck is that?" She exclaimed, whirling around as the roar of an engine sounded.
Just visible down the road sat a pearly white cadillac, headlights blaring despite it being the middle of the day. A girl was leaning out the window, shouting into her cupped hands.
"Who the fuck are you two? His whores?"
"Oh my god." Cassie gasped, grabbing my wrist and holding it tightly, "Pearl."
"Shit- Elvis!"
At my shout, Elvis appeared at the doorway of the RV in seconds, looking insanely flustered and confused. He glanced out, head whipping around wildly, before it settled on the girl that was clambering back into her seat and revving her engine.
"Get inside! Now!" Elvis snapped, holding the door open wide.
I moved on instinct, using our joined hands to drag Cassie in alongside me. Elvis slammed the door and leaned against it, sliding the bolt shut.
"What's going on?" Dixon asked, mouth full and a sandwich in hand.
"How did you even have time to-whatever..." I shook my head, "Pearl is here."
"She's here?"
"Yeah!"
"Like in our immediate proximity here?"
"No she's in San Diego - yes she's fucking here!" Cassie snapped, whacking his shoulder.
"Holy shit!" He dropped his sandwich and ran to the window, pulling the curtain back slightly and peaking out, "Woah she's hot."
"Not the point we're going for right now! What does it even matter?" I hissed.
"Just because I'm gay doesn't mean I can't make note of when a woman is hot."
"Guys!" Cassie snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at each of us in turn, "Relax! We can't be freaking out right now."
"She's right." Elvis chimed in, "We're best to just wait her out right now. She hardly has a gun and we're safe in-"
Bang!
We all flew to the ground at the sudden jolt of the RV. Then it happened again, and again, and again-
"Is she...is she ramming the fucking RV?" Elvis snapped, dashing to the nearest window, "Oh that fucking bitch, we are never getting that deposit back now!"
"That's hardly the point right now!" I groaned, bracing myself for another jolt.
She was relentless, slamming her car into the RV over and over, screaming something unintelligible as she did.
"We can't let her keep doing this." Dixon gnawed on his lower lip, "She'll either tear the RV in half or draw the one cop from that goddamn folktown over here! Do something!"
The three of us stared at him in shock.
"What?" He snapped, "I'm stressed. Shut up. Stop her." He then took a tumble as Pearl rammed the RV particularly hard.
"Okay..." Elvis sighed, "I'll go outside."
"You are not going out there alone." Dixon stood in front of him, blocking his route to the door.
"She's a bleach blonde five foot tall heiress. I'm sure I'll manage."
"No." Dixon scowled, "I'm coming."
"Enough of this sappy shit, we're all going out." I rolled my eyes before sheepishly turning to Cassie, "I mean...if you want to."
"Oh you couldn't pay me to stay in this RV right now."
"Then let's go." I ignored the flush spreading across my cheeks as Cassie reached out, intertwining her fingers with mine.
Elvis takes the lead, pushing the door open slowly and holding his arm out behind him to stop Dixon from dashing out in front of him. Pearl seemed to have taken a break from destroying the RV and that somehow was more terrifying. They were really underestimating the odds of her having a gun and if she did we were absolutely screwed and dead.
"Hey!" He called out to her, "We just want to talk! Please stop!"
"Where is my Charlesypoo?" She snarled.
The four of us stood outside the RV, watching her carefully. She was standing in her Cadillac, the roof pulled down. Her hands were on her hips and she glared at us with a pout on her lips. Pearl looked exactly like what I had expected her to; she was tall and thin, face decorated in bright makeup to suit her icy blonde hair. She was wearing white jeans and a white corset top with a bright pink cowboy hat sitting on her head.
"Charles is no longer with us." Cassie said gently and I really had to withhold a snort from her wording.
"What does that even mean? And which one of you is he cheating with this time?" She practically squealed, stamping her foot petulantly, "I am sick and tired of this! I am at the last straw!"
"I don't think that's how the saying goes." Dixon muttered, quickly silenced by Elvis' elbow digging into his side.
"I'm bored of you. You're boring and like lame." Pearl rolled her eyes, jutting out her lower lip, "Just tell me where my bf is!"
I tilted my head, studying the poor empty headed girl standing in front of me, before deciding on the easiest port of call, "He's inside the RV."
Three heads whipped in my direction but I ignored them.
"Now!" Pearl beamed, hopping out of the Cadillac, "Was that so hard? Maybe my father was wrong about poor people."
"What the fuck are you doing?" Elvis hissed.
"Trust me." I muttered.
But in all honesty, I didn't even trust myself.