CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

He saw his mother fade slowly and he opened his eyes. He saw someone that looked like Annabelle but his vision was so blurry. He tried to blink to make it better but he found out that he couldn’t

“Anna?” He called out

The blurry figure stopped and looked back at him. He was expecting her to walk to him but she didn’t. He moved close to her and found out that she was sinking. He started to run towards her but it felt like she was moving farther from him. She kept sinking into the ground until she was finally gone.

“Damian! Damian!! Damian!!!”

He blinked back to reality. He groaned softly. He looked up and saw his best friend and his sister. He looked around and it was dark already. He could swear that he has just closed his eyes. How had the day gone by so fast? He met his best friend’s stare

“Are you okay? You looked like you were almost scared to death” he said
“I am. What is going on?” Damian asked
“Your father, he called. He said he was going to speak to only you and he would call back when you were awake. We don’t know when that is so we have been waiting. I woke you up because I was worried about you. We heard you crying and I know you don’t want to talk about it but always remember that I am always here for you” Justin said
“Phillip is not my father” Damian said
“What do you mean by Phillip is not your father?” Justin asked
“He isn’t” Damian said, handing the note to Justin so he could read it for himself

After a long silence, Justin looked up at Damian

“I am so sorry!” he said
“Why should you be? You saw it, Anna saw it and even Sally that just joined the family saw my father for the monster that he was but I didn’t. I was blind to an obvious truth!” he said
“Don’t beat yourself up. You have a heart of gold, Damian. You see the good in people when every other person sees only the bad. You loved Phillip even without knowing the truth and when he killed Darius and Anna threatened to kill him back, you got him to safety” Justin said
“Because I needed answers!” Damian said to him
“I don’t think that is why you helped him escape from his prison. A part of you couldn’t let him die there and that was why you took him away from the danger that loomed ahead. A part of you knew that if he stayed here, he wouldn’t survive the night and you were right. You couldn’t stand him being dead so you did what you thought was right” Justin said
“And where did that get me? Where did that get any of us? Anna is almost dead because of my actions!”
“Almost dead, not dead yet! We will find her, Damian!” Justin reassured
“I just don’t think I can go another day without her. I don’t think I can go through another minute of pain, knowing Phillip is doing something to her!” Damian said
“Then let’s go find her. We would start from the beginning. We would look everywhere and leave no stone unturned” Justin said
“I don’t know where to start!” he said
“You know your father better than anybody else. Where would he hide if he was being chased?” Justin asked
“I don’t know. Everything I knew about him is a lie. I don’t know where he can be or where he can’t be. The last place I saw him was at a house, the abandoned house up state”
“Then, let’s start from there. We would tear down every abandoned house in the area until we find her” Justin said

He looked at his best friend and he was glad that he had him around

“Guys!!!” they heard Sally scream from downstairs

He grabbed Justin and he sped down the stairs with him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked

“Dad, he’s calling again!” she said to him

Damian grabbed the phone and picked it

“You have gone too far Phillip. You took mom from me and now you have Annabelle. I will hunt you down and I will kill you. You will find no p ace, even in your death. I would make sure of that!” he said
“And you think you are in a position to be making threats? I really did train you well and for somebody that is not my son, you sure act like you are. Anyways, I have seen that you have the entire Cordina looking for me and that is fine but you know you can’t find me, at least, they can’t find me. You want your girlfriend, you will get her back”
“I want her alive!” he yelled
“And you will but there is something you should know and I would like her to tell you herself”

The line went dead. Damian looked at Alex. The phone rang again

“Damian?” he heard her say

His heart broke. She sounded do weak and tired.

“Baby, hey. I am so sorry I left. I am so sorry that you’re caught up in all of these madness. I would find a way to get you out of there, I promise. Do you know where you are? Can you describe it?”
“She can’t, because she doesn’t know where she is, she is drugged beyond sanity and as I said, there is something you should know. Apparently, she is pregnant with your child, almost six months now!” he said
“What do you mean by she is pregnant with my child? Six months? Why didn’t you day anything, Anna?”
“That doesn’t matter. You see, she tried to attack me and things got out of hand and now she has a dead child in her so I am going to get it out of her and burn it. Now, the issue is that I can’t assure you that I would be returning Annabelle alive, but at least I would be returning her to you. That is all that matters” he said
“You are a fucking psychopath! Don’t touch her!”
“Too late!” he said

Damian felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen and he raised his shirt up. The last thing he heard was Anna’s scream before he blacked out. He groaned as he woke up and looked about. Alex and Justin was sitting beside him.

“We have to get her back” he said as he tried to stand up
“We can’t!” Alex said
“What do you mean by we can’t? We have to get her back! Now. She is pregnant and he is crazy!”
“We can’t because before the line went dead, he said she was dead!” Alex said
“That is not true, that is not possible. I am linked to her. If she dies, I would feel it. Yes, she is in extreme pain right now but she is not dead! Don’t say she is because she is not. I will find her, with or without your help and when I do find her, You would have to explain to her why you’re not willing to help me now!” he said
“Fine, let’s take a leap of faith and hope your psychopath of a father didn’t kill her. We have been looking for her for days, weeks. We don’t know where she is”
“I do” he heard his sister say
“What do you mean by you do?”
“I have an idea. We have been looking for her everywhere but we have been looking in the wrong places. When he let her speak, she sounded like she was far from the phone when though she wasn’t. What if she is underground? Before dad ended the call, he said something about not needing to bury what is already buried and we all thought he was talking figuratively. What if he wasn’t? What if he meant literally and that is why we can’t track a scent anywhere?” Sally said
“That doesn’t make any sense to me” Justin said
“Well, my father has never made any sense to me either so this wouldn’t be surprising” she said
“Sides, we have looked everywhere! It would not hurt to look under ground. Those old houses have basements that we overlooked” Alex added
“This could be a waste of time” Justin said
“Or it could be the just what we need” Damian replied
“What if we don’t find them? What if we don’t fond your father?” Justin asked
“I don’t need to find my father, I need to find my girlfriend. I can look for my father later bit right now, Annabelle just had a knife in her because she is with that crazy animal. I have to get her back. That is my priority now. Phillip’s location can come after” he said
“Alright then. I would send troops out tonight to start the search. Basement and cellars would be the objective”
“Leave no stone unturned. Phillip might be crazy in the head but he knows what he is doing. He is smart. He has been one step ahead and I still don’t know how so be discreet” Damian said to him