Blood Storm

Siren Call

Maddie and I had a pleasant afternoon— we spent most of it looking through prom magazines and watching movies. I barely even started to notice when darkness began to coat the sky outside. We were currently curled up in blankets on the thick rug in her living room, the fireplace roaring in front of us. We were watching the original Nightmare on Elm Street, but neither of us were really paying any mind to it— it was more background noise than anything.

I hadn’t heard from Jax again today, and while it was really nice to spend time with Maddie outside of school, I was starting to miss him. This was the first day— I think maybe since I arrived to Rockport— that I hadn’t bumped into him or spent most of my time with him. I knew it was silly, but it was leaving an uneasy pit in my stomach.

“I really wanted to go with something black for my dress,” Maddie pointed to the form fitting, slim strapless dress on the glossy page. “I just feel like it’s timeless. I don’t want to look back on my prom pictures and be like, yeah, that was so that decade, you know?”

“It’s neutral,” I explained. “I like the sweetheart neckline on this one, though. It would look good on you.”

I hadn’t ever seen Maddie in this form, either. Her sandy blonde hair was arranged messily in a bun on top of her head, and her face was void of make up— not that she needed it, anyway. She was just naturally pretty.

“I think black would look good on you too. Or a dark green.”

I sighed. “I haven’t even thought about prom. A few months ago, I was so excited for it. But now, I don’t know that I really care. It just seems trivial, you know?”

Maddie was quiet. The excited look on her face changed as she pursed her lips, almost as if she were afraid she had said something wrong.

“How are things with you and Jackson?” She asked suddenly. I think she maybe mistook my lack of excitement for boy troubles.

I smiled, staring down at my hands. “We’re good. Great, really. I’m really glad we met.”

She tapped her chin. “So.. are you two like, official?”

I bit my lip. I wasn’t sure that I even knew the answer to that. “I don’t know. I tried to ask him last night, but he just said ‘I belong to you, Colette,’ but that doesn’t feel the same as a confirmation to me.”

She frowned. “My mom.. she thinks he’s trouble.”

My eyes flashed up to her face, suddenly curious about what Jax could possibly do to deserve the title of “trouble”. “Oh? Why’s that?”

There must have been a rude tone to my words that I didn’t mean for their to be, because her face got red. “I don’t feel that way, you know that. But I think that she thinks he’s like.. a gang banger or a mafia boss or something. She says it’s weird for a nineteen year old to have that much success and money.”

Her words shook me a little. I hadn’t really thought about how strange it really was for someone Jax’s age to have as much power as he did in a town like this, where it was pretty much all old money. I assumed it was a family business that he had taken over, but did I really know that? I didn’t. For all I knew, Jax could be in the mafia. I would have never known.

My urge to protect him had the words rolling off my tongue before I could stop them, though. “That’s a little ridiculous, don’t you think?”

“I know he has his hands in a lot of real estate around Rockport,” she admitted. “And I know that that’s a big deal. My dad always used to say how he came in and bought half the town.”

“So he’s a real estate tycoon,” I shrugged. “That’s not a crime.”

She thought for a moment, and then laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s all silly, really. My mom watches too many daytime soap operas.”

I couldn’t help but laugh in response. Maddie’s laugh really was contagious. “Yeah, I guess so.”

We were quiet after that. Maddie flipped through her magazines and I tried to pay attention to the movie, but I didn’t do a great job.

So Jax had his hands in real estate. That did explain a lot— maybe not so much the mysterious calls and texts, but some of it, anyway. I just realized he hadn’t ever specifically given me details of what he did for work— just a general response that led me to make my own assumptions, and I began to wonder if he had done that on purpose.

It was a little unnerving, realizing how many things this man could really be keeping from me, and I was completely blind because of my feelings for him. I felt so connected to him emotionally and physically that I was becoming blind. A lot of questions hadn’t been answered. I had never been to his house, or met his brother and sister that supposedly live here— I’d never met anyone of consequence in his life, actually. When we were together, it was just me and him, and occasionally the people I loved made an appearance.

My thought from earlier came to mind. There had been only one day— the day he had sent me roses— that I hadn’t seen him. He had bumped into me three different times on accident before we started spending time together. How coincidental is that? It was a small town, so I guessed it wasn’t too out of the ordinary— but partner the first two run-ins with him walking by at just the right time to see me fall into the ocean and save me from drowning, and I’ll admit, it was a little bit strange.

I knew that I was probably over thinking. I wasn’t used to having anyone who brought me happiness like Jax did anymore. I knew I was probably self sabotaging, but I couldn’t stop myself from the rabbit hole of doubt I was going down.

I jumped when my phone rang in my pocket, and I yanked it out. I looked over at Maddie and realized that she was snoring softly, her lips shaped into a small pout.

I grabbed my phone and wrapped my blanket around my shoulders, tiptoeing as fast as I could to the front porch to try not to wake her.

I flipped on the porch light as I went out, glancing down at my still ringing phone. Jax’s name lit up my screen, and I felt instantly at ease.

“Hey,” I answered warmly. The night had definitely gotten colder, and I regretted not wearing a shirt under my cropped sweater. I pulled my blanket tight around my shoulders and went to sit on the porch swing.

“Having fun?” His voice was music to my ears. I felt myself take a relaxed breath and leaned back on the swing.

“It’s been nice. How was your day?”

“My day is always boring when I don’t get to see you,” he murmured. His voice was like velvet. I desperately wished I could see him.

“Are you back home?” I asked curiously. I couldn’t just leave Maddie alone to go see him, and I would never, but the thought was tantalizing.

“About a mile or so away,” he chuckled. “I’m sorry my trip was so last minute. I don’t like breaking my promises.”

My stomach fluttered. “You didn’t make me any promises, though.”

“Not directly, no. But I did ask you if you had weekend plans, and I feel like that was misleading considering today’s events.”

I shivered as a gust of cold air hit my neck, sending a chill down my spine. “It wasn’t. You didn’t make me a promise.”

He was quiet for a second, and then he spoke up. “Colette, I wanted to ask you—“

“Colette?”

My body turned into ice. A voice had called out from the woods beside Maddie’s house, gentle but still loud, as if it knew I was here.

I knew that voice.

My dad’s voice.

I jumped up from my swing, running down the porch steps to stand at the concrete slab at the bottom, barely managing to hold onto my phone from the violent shaking in my hands. My ears and eyes were straining towards the tree line, my heart hammering as adrenaline forced its way through my icy veins. Jax was in my ear, still— I assumed he heard the commotion, since I wasn’t exactly quiet.

“Colette? Colette, what’s going on?” His voice was full of anxiety, and I heard an engine rev in the background.

I stared at the dark tree line, willing my eyes to see a figure that wasn’t there.

I knew I heard it. I knew I did.

My dad had called for me.

“Coleeeeette!”

Again.

I panted, my breath coming in gasps. That was the same voice my dad used to use when he called for me during hide and seek as a child. My eyes widened and my head snapped from side to side, trying desperately to find the source of the noise.

“Colette, don’t you dare follow that sound!” Jax was screaming in my ear. I had no idea how he heard what I had heard. “I’m coming to you right now—“

“That’s my dad’s voice,” I whispered between gasps.

Involuntarily, I took a step forward towards the forest. A sharp, stabbing pain hit me directly in the heart. I couldn’t stop myself. There was no rationalizing. There was no way I could make this make sense in my current state. The sound of his voice made me feel like I had just stepped on a land mine— my entire being was blown to a million tiny pieces, and the only thing I could do was take another step in the direction that would bring me closer to the owner of that voice, and the only person who could disable the land mine.

“Colette, listen to me!” Jax was yelling now, snarling into the receiver. Someone else was yelling in the background, a girl. That may have interested me before, but right now, my eyes were fixed forward towards the sound of my dad’s voice. “That is not your father! Do not go near—“

“Colette.. please,” my father’s voice pleaded. He sounded broken, as if he desperately needed my help. “I need you.”

I wasn’t in control of what I did next. It was an automatic response by my psyche. I wish I had been able to think rationally, but all I could think was.. my dad. My dad was out there. He needed me. He was calling out for me and he was hurting.

My phone slid from my fingers, landing with a soft thud on the concrete, and I ran straight for the forest.