Obsession 2

Chapter 7- Obsessed

I feel like the past few hours have been a dream. Nothing feels real anymore. Or maybe it's that I don't want anything to feel real anymore.

If something happens to Sadie, I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself or Sammy. Even if he sets things right, if he touches her, I'll kill him myself. He knows how I feel about Sadie. We haven't been more than friends in years, but she's the love of my life and probably always will be, even if things never work out between us.

I have to get to her. I have to. There's no other option for me. I don't care about anything else anymore, as long as she's okay.

I can't lose her.

I can't.

"I know how you're feeling right now," Leo says, joining me at the table. "Kai kidnapped Mara and she was missing for two days, which may not seem long, but those days felt more like months. I can't even begin to explain what was going through my head. I felt guilty because I couldn't keep her safe. I was worried that something might happen to her...that Kai might hurt her before I was able to find her. But I didn't give up and neither should you. You're the only person who can save her now, so you can't give up."

I can tell by the emotion in his eyes that this hits home for him. Ever since Sadie went missing, he's been quiet and more reserved than before. It's probably bringing back a lot of painful memories for him, and a lot of resentment towards Kai.

"Do you ever feel guilty for not telling Mara what happened?" I ask him.

It takes him a while to snap out of his daze, but he finally shakes his head. "No, not at all. For one, I'm not sure she'd even believe me. I mean, you know what the story sounds like. It's crazy. I wouldn't even believe it myself if I hadn't lived through it. But since I did, I don't want Mara to suffer through the pain those memories would create for her. What happened changed her. It turned her into someone else. Until Kai made things right, I really thought I'd never get the old Mara back. Now that I have her, I'll never let her go again."

"Why are you here? You should be back in California, with your family, with Mara. None of this is your fault. It's mine. I'm the one who brought Sadie into this," I say in despair.

"If I can keep someone else from going through what I had to go through, I'm going to do it," he says firmly. "There's more to this curse than you know. Even though I've been studying it for the past three years, there's more to it than I know. I feel like I find out something new every time I go back to it."

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

He's quiet for a while, lost in thought, but then he looks up at me with a strange, yet familiar look in his eyes.  "You should research your family tree. Kai's family line traces back hundreds of years to the Rokusai Warrior Tribe. I could trace my linage back to that same tribe too."

"So you're...Japanese?" I ask. I guess I can see some Asian-like features, but not enough that I would've guessed that on my own.

"I'm one fourth Japanese. My grandfather, who was Japanese, told me about the legend of the Rokusai Warriors when I was just a kid. He said the tribe was destroyed when brother turned against brother, all because of some kind of curse that was called down by the Ainu people, who lived in the same region at the time. The Ainu people were chased out of their lands by the Rokusai and the curse caused the Rokusai Warriors split into two tribes- the Yami and the Hikari. The coincidences your story has to ours is no mistake. I think you and Sammy may be our Rokusai brothers."

"Okay, I am definitely not following you."

He blows out a breath and shakes his head. "It's probably nothing. Just something I've been studying since what happened with Kai. I guess it just seemed as if...all of it was meant to be. We were meant to be at odds with one another, just like I was meant to save him. Once I did, he was my brother."

"So I'm assuming one of you is Yami and the other is Hikari?" I ask, still very much confused.

He nods. "My grandfather was a descendant of the Hikari tribe. The curse affects us differently. Instead of making us evil and vicious, it makes us strong and heroic. The Hikari rode on white horses and wore red belts around their waists. They were kind of like...the Robin Hoods of their day. While the Yami...they were more like the villains, the bad guys. Or that's how the story goes, anyway. Grandfather said the two have been trying to reunite for years, but so far, that hasn't happened yet. Kai and I are a rarity."

"Sammy and I are actual brothers. If he's a Yami then so am I, right?" I ask. "Which means...if I were to come into contact with the curse, I would become evil..."

I can tell by the look in his eyes the the answer is yes. I swallow hard, suddenly panicked by this revelation. It sounds like a bunch of made up folklore, but after all I've seen, I'm not willing to rule it out.

"I'm not saying anything for sure. Just be careful. I know he's your brother and I know you want to help him, but he's capable of things right now that you wouldn't even begin to understand," Leo says.

--

Leo's words have been stuck in my head all day. It's got me wondering about my family's heritage. If mom were still here, maybe she could shed some light on this and explain her Japanese roots. However, I don't know that she ever traced our family linage any farther than my great-great grandparents, who were born long after the Rokusai lived. I want to start digging, to find out if it's true. Are we descendants of evil? My mom didn't have an evil bone in her body and Sammy, before he lost his mind, would've never hurt a fly. So I guess I'm having a hard time believing any of this is true.

Not that any of this matters right now. I've got to find Sadie before Sammy does something to her. We checked the cabin this morning, but there's no sign Sammy has been there. I wanted to call the police, but Kai insisted we keep them out of it. That would only give Sammy a reason to run.

The only chance we have at saving Sadie is finding Sammy. And with all these new abilities he seems to have, that might be impossible.

Still, I have to keep looking. If something happens to her, I'll never forgive myself.

Kai and Leo have turned in for the night, but I can't sleep. So I decided to take a drive. I drive around our neighborhood thinking about all the places Sammy might be. He's smart- very smart. He wouldn't be anywhere that he'd consider too obvious. The police have been looking for him for over a week now.

Of course, I never considered the most obvious place...

The police, nor myself, would ever think to look in the most obvious place, thinking he'd surely be too smart to hide there...in plain sight. But that's what he would expect us to think, which has been leading us on a wild goose chase.

I start back in the direction of my house, my heart beating faster and faster the closer I get. I can't believe I didn't think to look here first. Hopefully, my suspicions are right and I can get to Sadie before Sammy hurts her.

I pull into the driveway and hop out of the car, hurrying for the basement door. It's locked, so I have to dig in my pockets for the keys. I finally put my hands on them and unlock the door. I turn on the light and look around, but Sammy isn't here and neither is Sadie.

I'm just about to turn off the light when I notice some broken glass scattered around the floor. I follow the trail all the we up to the window. I take my phone out of my back pocket and shine it towards the window, which I can see now has been broken. Sammy wouldn't have escaped this way since he has no reason to, but Sadie could have.

And if she escaped, where is she now? Surely she wouldn't have gone back home alone after what happened. Her mom has been out of town and if Sammy abducted her, she probably wouldn't come to me for help.

Just to be sure though, I walk next door to Sadie's house. I knock on the door first, in case she is home. I wait about a minute or so and when they're still no answer, I take the key out of the bird feeder that hangs next to the front door. That's where Sadie's hid her secret key for years.

I unlock the door and go inside, looking around cautiously.

"Sadie?" I call out. "Are you here?"

I check her bedroom, but there's no sign she's been here. Her bed is still neatly made and there's no clothes thrown around on the floor as usual. I check the kitchen, but again, there's no sign of her. I start back to the front door and that's when I notice something lying on the floor, just in front of the sofa. I kneel next to it, shining my phones flashlight to get a better look.

It's Sadie's cell phone, which she never leaves without. If she broke out of the basement, she would've come for her phone, wouldn't she? Maybe not. Maybe she would do the smart thing and go straight for the police.

I pick it up and examine it closely, but it's dead. She keeps a charger plugged into the wall next to her bed, so I take it into her bedroom to charge it for her. When I turn on the light, I see a frame photo sitting next to her bed- one I've never seen before.

My heart sinks when I see the blue cap she's wearing.

It wasn't Sarah's hat, it was Sadie's. I sent Sammy right to her. If something happens to her, it really will be all my fault.

And that thought sends me into a desperate panic. "Where are you Sammy?!" I growl, looking around. "What have you done with her?!"

I stalk outside and walk back over to my house, angrier than I've ever been before in my entire life. And while I want to be angry at Sammy for putting his hands on Sadie...my Sadie...

I can only be angry at myself. I was in such a hurry to track him down, I didn't pay attention to the bait I was using. Sammy has Sadie's scent now, and according to Kai, that's all he needs to become Obsessed with her.