Innocent me.... Episode 14
279 Words
Ella stared at the message until the words blurred together. Her fingers trembled so badly she almost dropped the phone.
“Come home…” she whispered. “But I don’t even know where that is.”
Jayden quickly took the phone from her hand and read the address. His expression tightened immediately.
“I know this place,” he said.
Ella looked up at him sharply. “You do?”
He nodded once. “It’s an abandoned estate outside the city. My brother used to go there… before he disappeared.”
The words made Ella’s chest tighten.
Before she could respond, sirens outside faded as the police vehicles drove away, leaving the street suddenly quiet again. The broken convenience store felt even colder than before.
Jayden handed her the phone back slowly. “This isn’t random. Someone wants you there.”
Ella swallowed hard. “Then we shouldn’t go.”
For a moment, Jayden didn’t answer.
Then he said quietly, “If you don’t go, you’ll never get answers.”
She hesitated. “And if I do go?”
His jaw tightened. “Then you might finally learn why everyone in your life has been lying to you.”
Ella looked down at the glowing address again. It felt like it was pulling her in.
Against her better judgment, she whispered, “I need to know the truth.”
Jayden studied her for a long moment before nodding once. “Then I’m coming with you.”
Ella blinked. “Why?”
He stepped closer, his voice lower now.
“Because whoever is waiting there… they don’t just want your past.”
A pause.
“They want you alive.”
- Writer
