Ruthlessly

Lost, but not found

Jades POV

I threw the large empty feeding container over the horses' pinned fence with a grunt. I adjusted the hooks before I hefted the heavy bag of feed over my shoulder before emptying it out into the tin. I did the same with the water container, then poured a large bucket of water over into that tin. The horses ran over to me as I finished and one of them pushed his mussel through the fence and into my hand, asking me to pet him. I stroked his nose for a second before I bent down to pick up the chickens' feed.

I began spreading feed out onto the ground for the chickens to eat as they scattered all around me, making bocks and chirps. I smiled slightly, loving to hear something other than footsteps above me, or a toilet flushing. I put the feed down and walked over to the chickens' wooden fence. I looked out into the field. Studying the green grass and tall trees as if it would be taken away from me with a snap of two fingers. 

Once again, as I was coming to peace with the gut feeling of paranoia, I locked my eyes on the opening which led to the barn at the back of the bush. I couldn't help but feel it pulling me in, and seeing that I had just finished with my chores, I saw no harm in going back to take another look. Something didn't sit right with me. I wanted to believe Karma was telling the truth about the drought. But with the way she reacted the other night so drastically, I could tell there was something she didn't want me to know.

I walked my way to the back of the farm and towards the barn. The sun was shining down and as I got closer and I could see a steady sparkle coming from the ground, I stepped inside the barn and up to whatever it was, it was a ring. I picked it up and studied it. It was golden with a bright shining white diamond in the middle of it. Looking closer, I saw words engraved inside. It read: "Marcy, forever my own". I became confused while spinning it around in my fingers. Who would lose a wedding ring out here? In the middle of an old barn house? Was this even here a few days before? 

Out of the corner of my eye I caught another glimpse of shining gold. I bent over and picked it up and began examining it as well. It was another ring but this one was only gold and looked to be the size of a man. It didn't have an engraving of letters inside. Lost in my own thoughts, I stepped back and bumped right into Karma.

I let out a gasp and spun around to face her, shoving the rings into the back pocket of my borrowed jeans as I did. Karma looked me up and down, looking a little startled herself.

"You shouldn't be back here, Jade, this things old and could collapse on you."  Karma looked around the barn uncomfortably with her arms crossed, "Why are you back here in the first place and not off busy with your chores anyways?" 

"Sorry Kar, I just find this place so interesting.. but I'll leave it alone if it's that dangerous." It did look like it could collapse, maybe that was the reason Karma acted so sketchy about the place. I quickly bounded off away from the barn and Karma, but not soon enough to see her looking up at an old tattered rope hanging from a ceiling beam.

Karma ran to catch up with me. She told me that breakfast was ready and to head inside, so I started towards the house. Karma stopped and looked towards Jody, who also stopped what he was doing to look back at her from the crop fields. 

Karmas POV

I walked out to where Jody was stationed spreading manure from a bucket onto the crops. I stopped and looked down at him. He had lost the clown suit and only wore gloves as he got used to spreading the cow caca evenly. 

"Is everything alright?" he asked. I gave him a worried glance and looked over my shoulder, realizing that he must have seen Jade and I walking back from the barn.

"Um, yeah.." I sort of nodded, "But I've been thinking, maybe it'd be best if the two of us took over Jade's chores outside to keep her away from that damn barn.." 

Jody nodded back seemingly thinking as he did, "Honestly, I don't think we could keep her occupied inside so much, especially after being locked inside that basement for so long."

I sighed, knowing that he was right, it would be cruel to try to keep her indoors after all she'd been through. Still, I wanted her to be safe while having that freedom and part of me knew that it wasn't only because of the barn and our ugly past.  

"I just want her to be safe, not only from that barn, but we have Jason to worry about too. I want one of us to always be with her at all times, to protect her from somebody coming along and scooping her up." I pressed my hand to my cheek, "We really can't trust anybody, y'know? Not even the police are safe in this county."

Jody nodded his head again, "Based on what you told me, I can definitely understand where you're coming from. One of us will be with her at all times, promise."

He gave me a smile which quickly faded. We were both scared and worried about what was coming next and Jade's tormented mind couldn't quite grasp it yet, or maybe it could.. I wasn't sure and that's the part that scared me the most.

I shook the feeling, "Anywho, breakfast is ready.. Jade is already in there. We had better get inside before she notices us taking so long."

Jody nodded and followed me inside where Jade had been busy setting the table. I thanked her gleefully as she placed the last fork, then took her seat. I walked over towards the stove and grabbed the two frying pans I had used to fry bacon and eggs. I made my way back towards the table and began dishing out food. I then took my seat and we all began eating.

"So Jade, I've been thinking about this whole situation with Jason and I think that it's best if you stay close to either Jody or myself at all times, just until everything calms down."

Jade stopped chewing slightly but nodded her head and smiled back at me. I could see she didn't really like the idea of being on a short leash, but understood why it needed to happen, there was really no reason to argue. I settled my worry even further and allowed my thoughts to rest for the time being.

Everyone ate quietly after that, and I cleaned up quickly afterwards. I had things to do and no time to do them.

"I have to go out into town to get a few things.. I'll only be an hour or two", I grabbed Jody by the arm as he was bringing his cup to the sink and pulled him aside while Jade went to the bathroom to wash up. 

"You keep her distracted while I'm gone, keep her inside and away from.." I gestured towards the back-window by the sink, "Out there." I huffed out the last part before turning and walking out the screen door and leaving the two alone together.

Jades POV

I came out of the bathroom after washing my face and hands, I looked around, noticing no one around, and tried to make it out the front door without being noticed. I cared for Karma's concerns, but I also didn't want to be treated like a glass doll. 

Before I could reach the door, Jody grabbed me by the wrist, making me jump. He wasn't rough or anything, he just came out of nowhere... kinda like a cat, he should have worn a bell. He's too quiet for his own good. If he did that, to Karma I know she would swing first and ask questions later. 

"Cheese and rice, Jody!" I turned to look at him with wide eyes and he read my expression. 

"Sorry, but someone needs to be with you if you go outside, remember?"

I rolled my eyes at him, then looked back at him, then I realized he was serious. "Are you actually going to listen to my older sister?" 

"Yes, she scares me first of all, and secondly, she's right about Jason. He could come around at any time.. He drinks all day and does nothing. What do you think will happen?" his tone sounded like a scolding tone and I tried to ignore it, but honestly it was kind of attractive. 

"And thirdly, I would feel safer if you stayed inside with me while Karma is out." 

Hearing that made me blush a bit, but I quickly pulled it down and gave attitude right back to him instead. 

"Fine." I huffed "If it really makes you feel safer, I'll stay inside with you."

Jody bounced onto the couch and threw his arms over his eyes. He looked tired. I pursed my lips before heading upstairs and into my room and flopped onto my bed. I laid back and crossed my arms over my chest. I knew that Jody and Karma were being reasonable, but still I didn't want to feel like a prisoner. I stared over towards my bookshelf, which was full of books, before getting up and walking over to it. I scanned the books before my eyes settled on a chunky green one. 

I slipped it out and flipped the cover open. It revealed a photo, so I guess this was a photo album. I walked back to my bed while studying the picture in front of me. It was taken in front of our house. There were two adults and two kids playing. The two children I recognized as Karma and Jason, while I didn't recognize the two adults, I assumed they were our parents. The man who I'm assuming was our father, had raven hair and dark blue eyes like Karma and Jason did, while our mother had light brown hair and dark blue eyes.. but no eyes were green like mine, which was odd. I must've not been born yet because I wasn't in the picture.

I kept flipping through the photos and realized that I wasn't in any of them. Most of them were only of Karma and Jason playing, or feeding animals, and of our parents by the house. I kept looking and also realized that I'd never met our parents before. I don't have a memory of them at all. 

Finally, I came to the last photo. It was of the barn out back being built by two men, one I recognized as our dad, but the other man looked suspiciously like me, not by hair colour but by his facial features and another very familiar trait... bright jade green eyes, just like mine. 

I then remembered that the only people who ever raised me in the time I was in the barn were Jason and Karma, until Jason was old enough to leave and took me with him. I scrunched my face into a confused expression, I stared at the photo of the two men nailing together wood to build the red barn, it looked so new in its prime.. so well built too.

I pulled out the two wedding rings I had found in that now burnt-down structure that it was. I looked closely again before walking over to my window, something wasn't lined up at all, and I needed to investigate further... I couldn't see the barn from out front but.. I looked down at the roof and saw that both the higher and lower roofs were connected and I could easily jump down without getting hurt..

Jody's POV

I jumped awake as the screen door slammed shut and I was met by Karma with hands full of brown-papered bags filled with groceries to the brim. I looked at her weird.

"Why go shopping when you have everything you need on the farm?" 

She laughed and looked over at me, "Not meat boy, we don't slaughter the animals on this farm, I only grow crops and sell them in the market downtown for a living." She brought the bag over to the counter and started to put things away. "I also got some clothes for Jade, so she doesn't have to keep using mine." 

Karma stopped fussing with the groceries and scanned the room, "Where is Jade?" 

"She went up to her room after you left. I haven't seen her since then.."

Karma nodded and left the kitchen to start up the stairs. I leaned back onto the couch only to bounce right back up on my feet when I heard a small scream come from Jades' room. I rushed up the stairs to see Karma standing in the middle of an empty room.

"Goddammit Jody! Why weren't you keeping her close to you?!" I could see her getting worked up, she was frantic. "s**t, was Jason here?" she asked before she looked me dead in the eye. She began walking towards me, looking like she was ready to gun me down. 

"Did you let him in here, hmm? Did you just hand her over right back to him?!"

"W-what? No, Karma, why would I ever let that happen... I've let too much happen already. I'm sorry okay? I should have kept her closer to me.. I-I don't know what happened.. I fell asleep.. God I'm sorry."

She glared right into my eyes, searching to see if I was telling the truth or not. She finally backed down, seeing that I was, indeed, being truthful. She turned away from me and shook her head, covering her mouth while she did. 

"God, you idiot."

"I know.." I stated.

"What if he did get in here? They could be anywhere by now! She could be Dead for Christ's sake!"

I watched Karma freaking out, she was pacing and, honestly, I spaced out, not listening to her, thinking of what could have happened. Thats when I noticed the open window.

"Karma, the window." she stopped in her tracks and looked out. I did the same. It looked really easy for someone to get out without being seen, or heard, for that matter. We both stepped back, then Karma picked up a book from Jades' bed. It was a photo album. A picture of two men building a barn could be seen. 

Karma sighed, "Shit.. Why is this thing even in her room?" she shook her head, "Well, she's still on the property somewhere, probably in that stupid barn. I should have torn that damn thing down-"

Knock, knock, knock  

Karma and I froze as we looked at each other, someone was at the door. We both made our way downstairs. We stopped in front of the door and looked at each other before Karma swung it open. We stepped outside to be met by not one, but at least the whole police force at the front door, along with a smirking Jason. 

The first officer who looked to be the sheriff stepped forwards, "Karma Kells?"

Karma glared at Jason, knowing that she would have to comply with the law. His smirk never left his face and he never looked at me, not once. 

"Yes sir, that's me." 

"I'm gonna need to ask you to bring out your younger sister Jaden Crusie."

"It's Kells, not crusi-"

The officer stopped her, "Now we all know your momma had a bastard child with the farmer across' the lot. Killed a damn good officer too.." he gestured his hand out towards Karmas' front door, "Now, if you would be so kind as to bring her out."

Karma went stiff, she froze before she whispered out, 

"S-she isn't here..."