Chapter 14

Lauren began to cry. Silently and with a heart full of panic, she cried. The room remained silent and dark as hades, but she knew he was still there.

She could feel him. Watching her.

The image she had seen still flashed around within her mind and now with her racing heart, she couldn’t control the tears.

A hand clamped down onto her shoulder.

Lauren screamed and threw as many punches as she could before a large pair of hands caught her fists and held them prisoner.

“Lauren! Lauren, it’s me!” said a deep, breathless voice and Lauren froze, her fists trembling in his hands.

“Aaron Spencer?” she whispered.

“Yeah…”

Like the strangest thing ever, the deepest calm settled into Lauren’s heart as he drew against his chest.

“Are you alright? Where did he hit you?” he questioned as he held her tight, resting a palm over her head and rocking her.

Lauren swallowed thickly and shook her head. “He…I’m fine…”

She held onto his warmth and drew in his comfort, her heartbeat easing to a steady pace.

Aaron got up and pulled her off the floor.

“We need to leave before he wakes up,” he said, tugging her towards the door.

Lauren resisted, tugging back as the doubt dove in, swift as a sparrow.

“Wait...what are you doing here?” she questioned.

Aaron turned to look at her, finding her wide eyes even in the darkness.

“I’ll explain that, I promise, but we need to leave.”

Lauren reached blindly towards the bed. “My phone...it fell under the bed when he…”

Aaron swore and felt his way to the bed. Reaching around underneath it, he retrieved her phone and found Lauren, handing it to her.

She immediately put the flashlight on.

Aaron hissed. “Put it off, Lauren!”

“No! I need to see who he is.”

She shone it onto the face of the large man on the floor and was stunned to see that she didn’t know him at all.

“I don’t know him,” she said.

Aaron nodded. “Martin wouldn’t hire somebody you know.”

Lauren realized immediately that she was right. “I knew it!” she gasped.

“Knew what?” Aaron asked, looking wearily at the man who seemed to stir a little.

She shook her head. “I’ll explain later. First…” Lauren trailed off and sent the light flashing onto the little photograph by the bed. She swallowed.

“What’s that?” Aaron asked as he approached it.

“Look,” said Lauren shakily and turned away so she wouldn’t see it herself.

A moment of silence passed.

“Jesus Christ!” she heard Aaron mutter and she sighed heavily.

He immediately turned the photograph so she wouldn’t see it. He looked up at Lauren and she saw the horror in his eyes.

“Please…tell me you didn’ see that,” he pleaded, appalled to think she had such a gruesome image in her head.

Lauren nodded. “I... I found it.”

Aaron swore. “What are you even doin' here so late, Lauren? Are you insane? What if I hadn’ been here?”

“The reason for which you still haven’t explained! I don’t see why I should explain mine!”

“I said I’ll tell you later.”

“Well, me too!”

Silence enveloped them for a second.

“The question isn’t why I’m here…” Lauren began shakily. “The question is ‘Why is there, under the bed of my late priest grandfather, a photograph of a n-naked girl...her body so badly ripped up and with a knife i-in h-her—”

“Don't say it, Lauren. We need to leave. Now!” Aaron said, cutting her off, not wanting her to finish her sentence nor to hear it said out loud.

“Wait,” Lauren said when Aaron began to drag her towards the door. “That’s the second picture I’ve found in this room, the first was a family picture of him and Aunt Abigail and my mother…there might be more.”

Aaron turned hesitantly to the bed. “Let’s just leave, Lauren—”

“I’m not leaving! Something’s going on and I’m going to find out what. You know and you won’t tell me so I’ll find out for myself. I don’t care what you say, but at the moment, I’m feeling like you might not have killed...” She trailed off when he stared at her. Lauren drew a breath. “If you didn’t do it, Aaron Spencer. I’ll find out who did. If you did... ”

Aaron turned away from her. The man on the floor stirred, groaning in pain and Aaron punched him in the jaw, sending him right back under.

Lauren jerked back at the sight.

Ignoring the man’s bruising face, she turned back to the bed and held the phone out to Aaron to hold.

He shook his head. “You stand back. If there’s any more of that in there…you won’t see it.”

Lauren’s skin crawled at the thought of any more images of that sort being hidden in that bed, but she stood back nonetheless, making sure Aaron could see what he was doing.

He stepped closer to the bed, bracing himself. God knew if he saw any more photographs like the one folded in his palm, he might throw up, but since the only other alternative was for Lauren to find them, he breathed in and lifted the mattress.

Aaron saw nothing at first, but when he looked up at the upper half, his blood froze in his veins.

Glistening from the flashlight and visible through the thin material of the mattress were photographs.

Tens upon tens, maybe a hundred gruesome photographs lay inside the mattress lining. Aaron stared.

“Are those…”

“Look away, Lauren.”

“A-Aaron…”

“Look. Away!”

Lauren turned her gaze down, her heart beating fast. God, what the hell was this? What on earth had they stumbled across and why were these things in pops’ room?!

Aaron suddenly lifted the small mattress off the base and began carrying it out of the room.

“We need to leave.”

Lauren nodded and followed him out of the house.

They walked quickly along the dark road until they came to where Aaron had parked his Ford. He threw the mattress in the back and opened the passenger door.

“Come on,” he said to Lauren.

She hesitated, staring at the open door.

“We’ve opened a can of worms, Lauren. Those photographs are evidence of somethin’ sinister and we’ve found ‘em. This isn’t going to die now. We need to figure this out and if you insist on going back to the Mayor’s then fine, I’ll drop you off there, but I’m not leaving you here.”

Lauren’s fingers fiddled and she backed away from him, putting her back to the truck.

Aaron tilted his head at her. In a second, he was standing over her and gasping, Lauren jerked back against the car.

Slowly, Aaron raised his arm over her head and rested it on the top of his car so that she was enclosed between his body and the car.

Lauren stared up at him with wide eyes. What was he doing? She bit her lip as his gold eyes focused down on her, his face lowered so that only a few inches separated them.

The road was dark and empty and all she felt was Aaron’s presence surrounding her, his masculine scent filling her senses.

“What’s wrong, Lauren?” he whispered. She stared at him, at his mouth inches from hers. “You scared of me? Scared I’ll end you?”

Her lips parted in apprehension. Before Lauren could think of what she was saying, she said, “I’m... I’m not scared of you, Aaron... not anymore.”

Aaron stared at her, feeling something he’d never felt before. She’d nearly died tonight. That bastard would have killed her. His eyes trailed down to her mouth. He had to get her out of her. Had to keep her safe, and there was no way he was taking her back to the Mayor’s. No fucking way.

“Get in, Lauren,” he whispered.

She looked at him and glanced down the dark road before quickly climbing into the truck. “I’ll go with you,” she told him as he closed her door.

Aaron nodded and headed round to his side, his heart beating hard and fast in his chest. If he had gotten over his fear of the Burns house years ago he could have found it himself. If he only looked.

But now he had it. Gruesome and sickening as the real thing. The photographs were hardcore proof.

“What were all those pictures?” Lauren asked shakily and he glanced at her. She was scared. He wanted to hold her. To calm her. “W-what’s going on?”

Aaron drove a little faster. She was about to have a panic attack.

“Lauren, breathe easy. Breathe in through your nose, honey. Come on, breathe,” he said gently, reaching over to hold onto her hand as he drove.

It wasn’t as much the breathing that calmed her as the feel of his hand on hers. She nodded and leaned her head back against the seat as Aaron drove up his driveway.

His mother had had a busy day, baking a recipe she remembered and insisted he allow her to bake. Aaron hadn’t the heart to say no, but she was worn out by her baking and had fallen deeply asleep. He knew she wouldn’t awake tonight, so he carried the mattress into the house with Lauren beside him, making sure she couldn’t see the side that carried the pictures.

She pushed the door closed behind them as Aaron carried it towards the living room. He paused and looked around.

He didn’t have a choice.

He glanced at Lauren. “Come,” he said and headed towards his room.

He could keep this here and as long as it was in his house, nobody would find it.

Lauren followed Aaron to his room, standing aside as he put the light on when they walked in.

She watched as he dragged the mattress and dropped it onto the floor beside his own bed.

Her eyes flitted over his bed from her frozen spot at the door. It was wide and comfortable looking. Suddenly, she had the urge to crawl into it and sleep this dreadful night away.

His room was simple enough with colors of soft beige and black and grey. It didn’t look put together like in a color-themed magazine room, but rather accidental. Like everything in his room just happened to be beige or black or grey. It looked rather nice. And surprisingly fancy.

“It’s okay…come on in,” Aaron said quietly from where he stood. “I won’ hurt you, I promise.”

Lauren walked in and closed the door so as to not disturb Selena, clutching her phone to her body with both hands. “I know you won’t,” she said softly.

Aaron stared at her, his chest filling with a light joy from her words. He ignored the feeling and looked down at the mattress, the photographs still slightly visible through the material. Turning to his bedside table, he drew out a tiny knife and began cutting away at the material, his hands shaking from the repulsion to what he was about to see.

He stopped and glanced up at Lauren. “Turn away, Lauren,” he said and she turned her face and then her body, facing his wardrobe.

His momma had raised him to be a gentleman and he’d be damned if he’d let Lauren see the filth on those photographs.

Aaron finally ripped the material away and nothing above, below or upon the earth could have prepared him for the force with which the nausea hit him. He gasped and turned away quickly, covering his mouth with his hand as he forced his stomach to stop rocking in his body.

Lauren heard Aaron gasp and then make like a gagging noise. She worriedly turned to him and then her eyes dropped to the mass of photographs taped to the bare mattress at his feet.

Every nerve cell in her body went absolutely numb.

“Oh…myyy…God!”