The Boy Who Paints Me (29 page)

"Where on earth are you, I've been worried sick. You and Rainie disappeared then Sarah and Mitch. What on earth is going on?"

"I can't explain right now but I promise I will when I get back-"

"No, I have waited long enough and somebody is going to tell me the truth once and for all!"

I felt terrible that he was in this position. 
How on earth do you tell an old woman that she has a son like Mitch?

I felt a pang of guilt rush through me as I glanced at Leighton. He threw me a
reassuring smile before taking a deep breath.

"Gran, you know how dad is into a lot of things that we don't know about, right?" He said as his fists tightened around the steering wheel.

"Yes," she replied nervously.

"Well, it's a lot worse than we thought-"

"I don't understand, what's happening, Leighton? You're making me start to worry."

"Don't panic Gran, I have it under control. I can't explain everything now but he has Sarah-"

"What? I don't understand, what do you mean he 
has
 Sarah? As in they went together, Leighton you're confusing me?"

He took a deep breath after I gave his hand a gentle squeeze and nodded my head at him.

"As in he's taken her, against her will-"

"What? He wouldn't hurt her...he wouldn't, and why would he do such a thing?" She sounded so distressed and sad that my heart ached for her.

"I can't tell you everything now, Gran, I'm sorry. You just...I need you to trust me."

"I do."

"I think that she may be in a lot of danger if we don't find her soon."

"Oh gosh, he wouldn't hurt a fly, Leighton, I know him, I know my son," she said as the sound of her crying filled the car. Leighton looked
heartbroken.

"You're probably right, so don't panic, we think we know where he is and we'll get it all sorted out ok," I said, realising that this was too much for both of them.

"Rainie, is that you?"

"Yes, maam."

"You take care of my grandson. I don't know what's going on but you take good care of him, do you hear me?" She demanded.

"I hear you," I whispered as I tried not to cry.

"Good," she took a deep breath as though she was trying to figure out whether or not she should say what she was about to. She clearly decided that she should.

"Leighton, your father has a barn, just outside of town about thirty minutes or so. It used to belong to your grandfather...he could be there."

"Yeah, I know, that's where we're heading now. I'll see you later, I've got to go." He said before nodding at me so that I would cut the phone off. I did.

"She'll be ok," I whispered as I let my hand slip inside of his.

"I hope so."

* * *

"I think this is it," Leighton said as he pulled up outside of an old wooden building. The wood was clearly mouldy and the grass around it was terribly overgrown. It was clear to see that nobody visited the place very often and that it was pretty much abandoned. 

As we stepped out the car, Leighton took hold of my hand and held me close, next to him.

"I would really prefer it if you just stayed in the car," he whispered as we walked towards the barn.

"I can't, we're in this together, remember?"

"Ok," he finally gave in as we approached the door.

There was a piece of wood slotted through a gap in the two doors keeping them locked from the inside. Leighton let go of my
hand and pulled the wood out with his two hands. It wasn't easy, I could tell from the look on his face. When we stepped inside the barn, I immediately brought my hand up to cover my nose form the smell of manure. It was revolting. The barn looked damp, dark and cold, and it wasn't until the door was pushed wide open that I saw Aunt Sarah tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

"Oh my gosh, Leighton," I breathed as he followed my eye line.

We both ran over to her in a rush. She looked drowsy and her eyes were half closed.

"I'm here, it's me, Rainie.
I'm going to untie you, ok?" I whispered as the tears started to pour freely. I couldn't take it all in. She looked drugged, her eyes were heavy with dark circles around them and she had a bruise on her left cheek. I felt the familiar pain in my stomach that I used to get when Mitch used to hit my mom. There was a rope tied securely around her wrists and a dirty white cloth tied around her mouth. It was tied so tight that part of it was in her mouth, forcing her lips apart. Her lips looked dry and dehydrated, and I suddenly felt sick. I ran a few feet away from her and emptied the contents of my stomach onto the floor.

"Hey, it's ok, we're
going to get her out of here. I just need you to keep it together for a bit longer, ok?" Leighton said as he held my hair up and rubbed my back. I nodded my head as my eyes filled with more tears, and I tried to straighten up.

"Well, well, well if it isn't prince charming and his wench," a familiar voice said as a sound of amusement filled the air. He was sick...even worse than my mom.

I felt Leighton become tense next to me, and I heard Aunt Sarah faintly whisper the word 'no' bringing even more pain to my heart.

Before I had the chance to react Leighton had charged after Mitch. He suddenly stopped and I heard Mitch laughing as though there was some joke going on that we had all missed out
on. When I finally had the courage to stand up and turn around, I froze.

I froze when I looked at Mitch, and I froze when I saw the gun in his hand pointing directly towards Leighton....

Chapter 17

"Mitch...no," I said with a shaky voice as I watched him take a step closer to Leighton. He was frozen, he didn't move a muscle.
"Shut up, you did this," he said as he pointed at me. "This is 
your
 fault. A few simple rules, Rain, that's all, and we could have been gone, no one needed to get hurt," he growled.
"Don't you dare blame her, this isn't about her, this is about you and how messed up you are," Leighton spat out angrily.
"Oh, the bitter orphan speaks," Mitch laughed as his eyes locked with Leighton's. My stomach dropped. "This has nothing to do with you, son, this is between me and my girl-"
"She's not your girl!" 
"Leighton, don't," I pleaded.
"Yeah, 
Leighton, 
don't," Mitch chuckled as he pulled a box of cigarettes out of his back pocket. He flicked the lid open with his thumb and lifted the box to his mouth. He used his lips to pull out a stick whilst keeping the hand with the gun pointed at Leighton. He slid the box back into his pocket, took out his lighter, lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply whilst keeping his eyes on Leighton the entire time. "Mmm, that's good," he said as he let the stick hang out the corner of his mouth. "Helps with the stress. See, this is a stressful situation, son," he said as he held his cigarette between his thumb and index finger and pointed towards us. "It gets me so mad when I see another man touching my girl, you understand that, right, son? I'll take your silence as a no then. It's a shame, I thought we had more in common," he said as he winked in my direction.
I glanced at Leighton whose fists were balled up by his sides and his eyes fixed on his dad.
"Princess? Come here, baby-"
"Don't move," Leighton interrupted, sounding nothing like his normal self.
"It's funny but I always thought that the man with the gun was in charge," he chuckled but there was no real humor behind his voice. "I 
said
 come here," he repeated slowly in a deep voice.
"Rai," Leighton breathed out as I took a step forward.
"I have to," I whispered as I slowly walked towards Mitch. To say that I was terrified was an understatement. Mitch didn't look angry, he looked calm, so calm and that scared me more than anything. This wasn't the Mitch that I knew...this Mitch was much worse.
"Good girl," he said as I stood in front of him. I closed my eyes as I heard a small whimper come from Aunt Sarah's mouth. I was shaking all over but I had to keep it together. I needed to know that she would make it out.
"Open your eyes, baby," Mitch said as I felt the rough pad of his thumb trace my lips. "So, so beautiful...you drive me crazy you know. Do you have any idea how much I've missed you, hmm?" He said as his hand travelled slowly down my arm causing me to flinch. "Turn around," he growled before slamming my back against his chest so that I could see Leighton.
I could see how mad and upset Leighton was but I knew that he had realised that the situation was out of his control. I stared at him as the tears rolled down my cheeks, praying that this would be over soon.
"You messed up, Rain," he breathed in my ear as Leighton and Aunt Sarah stared at me. I felt dirty, like I wanted to scrub my skin and remove every trace of Mitch. "You really screwed me over, princess," he said as he ran the tip of the gun up and down my stomach and then let it travel, very slowly up my face until it was pointing at my temple. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't even think about the situation. I needed to keep pretending that it wasn't real...that it wasn't happening because if I accepted it then I wasn't sure that I would survive.
"Don't touch her," Leighton growled.
"Shut up! Shut up!" Mitch screamed making all of us freeze. I hadn't heard him like this, and I knew that from the look on Leighton's face, neither had he. Our eyes met, and I gently shook my head, trying to tell him to just be quiet. He looked heartbroken but this situation was out of our control.
I suddenly felt Mitch's breath as he smelt my hair and then breathed out. "You smell so good...Doesn't she son? You know how she smells, right? How she 
feels, 
don't you? But it's ok, I can let that go because that's what you do when you love someone, you forgive them. Isn't that right, princess? Forgive them for setting you up, forgive them for stealing your money, forgive them for running away...forgive them for sleeping with your son...Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness," he laughed. "It's a funny thing though, don't you think? 
Forgiving someone.
 I mean, you can forgive someone of some mistakes but what about the big ones, the real grimy stuff, the ones where they may as well have just spat in your face? Hmm? How do you forgive someone when the person that they betrayed you with is still alive? Still breathing, still walking around, ready to take what's yours again-"
"No, that's not true," I said in a panicked voice as I realised where he was going with his point.
"You're lying again, Rain-"
"I'm not," I whispered helplessly, trying desperately to hold back the tears.
"Oh but you are princess," he said before throwing the end of his cigarette on the floor, stamping on it with his foot and then squeezing my face so tight that I thought it was going to break.

"Get off her!" Leighton screamed as he lunged forward.

"Not a smart move, son," Mitch replied as I heard the sound of a click, coming from the gun that was still pointing towards my head. I was no expert, in fact, I had never even seen a real life gun before today but I was pretty certain that the safety had just been taken off.  Leighton suddenly froze.

"Please," Aunt Sarah pleaded as I watched the tears run down her face. I felt helpless.

"
Dad
, please...I'm sorry. I'm going to take a step back," Leighton said calmly as he held his hands up in the air. I could tell that he had no idea what his father was capable of anymore and to be quite perfectly honest, neither was I.

I knew that it was time to put on a show because right now everyone's lives depended on it. I could afford to sacrifice me but not Aunt Sarah and not Leighton...I couldn't live with that.
"Forget about them, ok? It's just me and you now, right? I made a mistake but I want to make things right, with us...with me and you."

"What are you doing?" Leighton asked in a panicked voice.

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with you...you mean nothing," I felt my heart ache at the sound of the words but I had to keep going. "This is about me and him, 
us. 
I want to fix things, Mitch, I 
will
 fix things...I promise," I lied.

"Really?"

"Yes," I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Ok, I believe you," he said a little too easily as he slowly released my face, "but just in case I'm wrong we're going to play a little game. You see my little friend here," he said, lowering the gun before waving it in front of my face, "he's going to let one of his bullets go straight through his head, and you're going to stand there and watch...
silently
," he said as he quickly lifted his hand towards Leighton.
"NO!" The scream was so loud that I wasn't even sure how I had produced it. "No, please," I begged as the tears rolled down my eyes. "Please, I will go with you, Mitch, I will go with you, ok? We'll go together," I said as I turned to look at him, trying to distract him from Leighton. "I won't even think about him. You can have me...just 
please
 don't hurt him," I pleaded as the tears poured down my cheeks.
"No, Rainie," my aunt said causing me to glance back at her as she stumbled off her chair and stood next to Leighton, looking very weak and tired.
I quickly turned back towards Mitch. "Just ignore them, ignore them both. It's just you and me now, you were right, ok? You're always right, I can see that now. We're meant to be," I tried to convince him.
"You're lying-"
"No, think about it," I said as I grabbed his face and turned him so that he was looking at me, "no matter where I go, you find me, I've run but I've realised now, I know it's you, Mitch, 
just
 you. I ran all this way to get away from you and found your son but it makes sense now, it wasn't him...he just...he reminded me of you," I said as I forced the bile back down my throat.
"Rainie, don't," Leighton pleaded as more tears rolled down my eyes.
"Shut up!" Mitch shouted before looking at me again. "You're mine, do you understand?" I nodded my head in fear. "You don't run away from me ever again, 
ever
."
"I won't," I choked as I forced myself to stroke his cheek.
Just get out of here, please,
 I screamed inside my head as I thought about my aunt and Leighton.
Suddenly Mitch burst out laughing, catching us completely off guard. I just stared at him as he continued laughing. He suddenly started to clap his hands together, with the gun still held tightly in his hand.
"That was beautiful! Honestly...just beautiful. I can see why we both fell for her son; she's quite the actress, isn't she?"
"I'm not-"