Fear Games

8. Family Secrets

Eden

My mother stood before me, something I never thought would occur in my life. All my life I was told that she was dead, but that obviously wasn't the truth. The resemblances were uncanny, but mostly because I figured if I put a ton of black makeup on her face, she'd look like an older version of me. The long, dark hair was almost identical to mine as well.

"How...?" I said. So many questions were running through my mind, but I wasn't sure how to ask. 

"The simple answer is that whatever your father came up with after I left is a lie," Miranda--I mean, my mother--said. "I can explain everything on the way to Josh's house, but will you at least trust me?"

It wasn't until now that I realized we were in the middle of the woods, and the spot we came from looked like some sort of underground tunnel. My mother is alive. Holy freaking crap, my mom is alive! I didn't know whether to be happy or pissed, enthusiastic or enraged. 

"You made me think you were dead my entire life," I said finally. "Why?"

"Like I said, there's a lot to explain, and I'll do it on the way. But the killer will be back any second. He ran off before I could unmask him, but I was able to get the keys. That bastard."

As much as I didn't want to, and wasn't sure how much I could trust a woman that was able to drag my up a set of stairs while I screamed my lungs out, I needed answers. Answers that only she had. "Fine," I said. "Let's go."

***

Josh

Rachel pointed the gun at the security guard and the blood started pounding in my head. She's going to kill him. Oh my God, I'm going to watch her kill someone. Kill an innocent.

The man held his hands up in the air and said, "Don't shoot. I'll have backup here soon enough."

Rachel, using her free hand, tugged me along with her as she started to walk, and Leslie followed us. "Not if we get out of here before you. Take one step forward and you're dead."

Within just two minutes, we made it out of the hospital and ran back toward our cars. Matt was already in Rachel's and I got into mine as quickly as possible. We pulled out of the hospital and over to a spot where we could all be alone, not too far from the building.

I pulled my car over to Rachel's and rolled down my window. "What was that?" I screamed.

"I had to get us out of there!" Rachel said. "And now we have to figure out how to get Brandon out of there. If they realize he was with us--"

"They won't," I said, but I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince her or myself. "We have to do whatever can can. If anything goes wrong--"

And that's when a loud bang shook the ground beneath us.

***

Eden

For a few minutes, I expected Miranda not to tell me anything. I thought that maybe she just did that to get me in the car and leave me oblivious to everything, like I obviously had been for my entire life, regardless of whether that was what she intended.

Finally, she spoke.

"I'm clearly not dead," was all she said.

"Wow, really?" I said sarcastically. "Because I thought I was just imagining shit. Glad for that clarification."

"I spent almost my entire life growing up with depression," Miranda said. "Severe depression, and I was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, it put a strain on my relationship with your father. In fact, we were never even married when we had you, but we planned on it. Eventually. That obviously never worked out either."