a/n - one chapter away from absolutely all the answers, i promise

stay happy,
x bri

-

[ cara ]

I haven't run this fast in so long.

The last time my legs had actually moved this quickly, I'd gotten a call halfway through the last day of school from my Mom telling me that Elena was missing.

And likewise, my heart hasn't pounded this fast in so long.

The last time I'd actually legitimately worried that my heart was about to break right through my chest because of how fast it was beating, my Mom had told me that Emma was missing.

It's all actually pretty ironic, given this moment - I was running at a speed twice as fast as I'd ran that day in mid-June, and my heart was slamming twice as fast as it had that night in the hospital when there were staples wedged into the skin of my scalp. A part of me was afraid that I'd end up blinking and the scenario would morph right in front of my eyes; Emma wouldn't be running towards me, I wouldn't be running towards Emma, Emma wouldn't be here - it would have all been an image my mind splayed out for me. Maybe that was why my heart was actually vomiting in my chest right now.

It felt most surreal when we'd both gotten close enough to enclose ourselves around each other - it'd been a while since I'd held somebody this tight. The bruises covering Em's entire bottom half and the fact that she was only wearing a shirt long enough to just barely cover her butt flew straight past me as I held her to me tightly, like if I didn't grip her securely enough she'd "Oh my God."

"Car, I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I d-didn't mean anything I-" Emma paused, sounding like she was trying to take in a couple of breaths but ended up having a sob leave her instead. Both her hands were balled into firm fists, gripping the straps of my dress, but I could still feel them trembling and shaking like she'd just broken into a bank and the adrenaline from it still had her shaken up.

I stood there and just listened to her heave for a moment, not wanting to send her any further into shock, because honestly? I'd never seen Emma look as mortified as she did right now. The thought alone made me tighten my hold around the girl even more, only loosening my arms a slightly after hearing her whimper. Quickly, she pulled away from me and lifted the side of her shirt up in relevance of a large ass, red and purple ass, terrifying ass bruise on her hip that had Emma hissing, and me gasping. It went from her very hipbone up to the middle of her right ribcage, and it only hit me then that I must've squeezed it or something when I held her. I averted my eyes back up to meet Em's before I felt nauseas enough to throw up just from looking at the damage, "Does it hurt-"

"You need to help me," Emma shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip, shrugging off my question. Frantically, she grabbed ahold of my hand and started to drag the both of us towards the parking lot. "You need to help us."

"Hold on, stop, wait, Em, I don't even - Emma! I have questions, wait!" I snatched my hand away defensively and dug my heels as deep into the ground as I could manage. Emma screamed out loudly, causing me to flinch backwards a bit as she whipped her head around to look at me almost angrily, her eyes full of frustration. I held my breath.

"You don't get it!" She slapped her hands against her thighs, breath picking up, "There's no time to talk right now, Cara, alright, we need to go! I-I promised that I would get help and I promised that I would come back for her and if we don't start driving now, she's going to come back and we're going to be too late and I'm never going to be able to forgive myself, Cara, we need to go!"

I lifted both of my hands up to rub at my temples, which were starting to pound at how stressful Emma was making the night within such a little amount of time. I had questions - I wanted to know where Em was taken, who took her, what else they did to her aside from beating her, how she managed to get here, and where my sister was - "You need to slow down and explain this to me, Em, you don't understand how confusing this is! You just decided to show up after a week of being missing with a bruise the size of Canada on your hip and you don't want to explain anything to me! Do you understand how many questions I have?! If you're here, where the hell is Elena?"

"Cara, listen to me, I know where Elena is." Emma breathed out shakily, like it was a chain tied heavily around her throat and she was finally able to pull it off. Her teeth were gritted and her face was pale all over excluding her cheeks which were tinted an angry red - she actually looked like the word 'anxious' with legs. "I promised her that I would go back for her, and I need your help, okay, if we don't leave now, she's going to kill her. She's going to kill Elena."

-

"How did you find us?" I asked astoundedly, much calmer than the both of us had been twelve minutes ago. The nerves were consuming me to the point where my hands had picked up a pattern of clenching and unclenching the steering wheel till' I could see my knuckles tint white. "How'd you even escape?"

Emma was quiet beside me and I struggled to keep my eyes trained on the road rather than on her - it was only when we were both situated in the car and our blood pressures had spiked down a little bit did I realize how distorted she looked. If I weren't as close to Emma as I was now, I probably wouldn't have known it was her. There were bruises scattered all over her skin from top to bottom, cuts that would eventually result in scars over time laying in patterns across her legs and arms - she had a cut right beneath her left eye while her right was surrounded by a black bruise, and these were only the things I managed to capture above her clothes and above her skin.

Maybe this was being OD, but she was starting to remind me of like, the other mother from Coraline or something, minus entirely black eyes and nails ten feet long.

"She tied me up with rope." Emma said quietly. Her eyes were fixed on her lap below her while her fingers were nibbling around with the bottom hem of her large t-shirt - it was like she would give anything to avoid speaking about this, but she couldn't actually think that she could just come back into the scene and expect nobody to question her, right? When this person eventually got caught and detained (because damn right they're going to) and Emma was sent to the station for questioning, what would she do then? If anything, Em had to start talking, now. "Over the past few days, I'd been trying to split the rope open since it wasn't very sturdy, which I'd noticed tag the first day she tied me up. I was still able to wiggle my hands around even with them being tied together, which is the first sign of a demented kidnapper."

I snickered lightly while making a turn closer to the factory Emma'd directed me to drive to. It was comforting in a sense knowing that regardless of how distorted and unfamiliar Em may have looked right now, she was still Emma. She was still stupidly humorous even with a bruise the size of Canada residing on her hip. "Go on."

"So um, today at like, noon, we managed to loosen the ropes to the point where I could slip my hand in and out, meaning that when the perfect timing came along, I'd be able to untie my legs and then hopefully do the same for Elena, and then leave. It was all just about timing." Emma explained, craning her neck and sitting up a little straighter to get a better look at the road we'd just turned on. "This is it, keep going and then make a left at the light."

I nodded and stepped a little harder on the gas- if the speed limit was a twenty-five and I was driving at thirty, nobody had to know. "Okay, and then what? What made tonight the perfect timing?"

"The girl was mad, she was like, screaming and yelling into the phone and-"

"Wait, you don't know who the person is? Are you kidding me?!"

"She'd been wearing a mask since the first day she took me!" Emma turned to look at me annoyedly, and by the narrowing of her eyes and the raising of her voice, I knew I was frustrating her. I was already pushing my limits far enough by asking her to talk about this, maybe asking questions was a little too much as of now. I muttered a quiet apology before she sighed and continued, "No, I don't know who she is. Elena doesn't even know who she is and she's been with her for a month. She's got brown hair and brown skin and long, tarantula-ass legs and a tattoo on her collarbone - that's all I've got right now. The mask keeps everything else hidden."

I nodded again to show that I was listening and grumbled as we met a crapload of traffic at the corner Emma had told me to turn on. I stepped down on the brakes and leaned my head against the window out of frustration. "Keep going, it's gonna be awhile. You live in California, need I remind you."

Emma rolled her eyes, "I was kidnapped, not brainwashed, I remember where I live. Thanks, though."

"Not that I didn't miss your dangerous use of sarcasm, but are you gonna continue the story, or?"

"She was trying to call someone all of today, but the person on the other end wasn't picking up, so I'm assuming she was just angry." Emma said, continuing to stare out of the passenger window. "She doubled our usual beatings by ten, if that's anything to judge by-"

I rose my eyebrows, "Usual beatings? As in like, daily beatings?"

She nodded and rolled her lips back, "Before I came to you, she had like a mental breakdown, I guess. She threw her phone into a wall and told us she'd be back in forty-five minutes to an hour. El and I just assumed that she was getting fed up of the person she was trying to call not picking up, so she went out to see them in person. So the minute we heard her car pull out, I loosened the ropes and made a run for it, I went to find a bus station."

"And my sister?"

"El wasn't tied up with rope, she was tied up with chain." Emma poked her tongue into her cheek and shook her head. "I tried to get her out, Car, I promise. My hands were like, shaking and they were burned from scratching at the rope and I couldn't get the chains to budge. They were way too secure and sturdy anyway. Elena was obviously the more prized hostage, I mean what the hell, she got chain and I got rope? Like, am I less prettier or something? Am I fatter? I don't know, I mean I was kind of offended-"

I scoffed and turned to look at the girl incredulously. Was she not hearing herself? Did her ears get beaten while she was being held captive? Was there like a clod of blood wedged inside of her ears? Maybe it was just earwax, or you know, natural stupidity. "Emma, are you kidding me?"

"I know, I know, sorry, back to the story." She scratched at the back of her neck before taking a long, deep breath and puffing it out. "Eventually, I found a bus station and I asked the driver to take me to the church Mali was supposed to get married in-"

"Where'd you get the money?" I asked her, stepping on the gas a little bit as the line of traffic gradually started to move up. My knee was starting to bounce on its own, instinctively - each minute we were spending waiting in this damn congestion of cars was another minute we could have been using to save Elena. What if we were running out of time? What if we'd already run out of time? I bit down on the inside of my cheek and inhaled slowly - an attack was the last thing I needed right now.

Emma shrugged, "He actually said it was on him. I mean, I would say the same if I were him, to be honest. I look like I came straight out of The Walking Dead, the least I could do for someone like that is give them a ride. Like, what if I said no? Would they eat me?"

"We left the church like three hours ago, though." I pointed out, disregarding her TWD remark only because I still hadn't caught up fully on the seasons and I knew that if we continued to talk about it, I'd cave in and ask her for spoilers. And now wasn't exactly the time for show-talk. If it were, I'd be telling Em all about the fact that Spencer and Toby have been having hella sex on Pretty Little Liars rather than listening to her escape-story.

Emma nodded and nudged her chin towards the road where the traffic had finally stopped and the cars were finally flowing. We both sighed in relief as I stepped down on the gas pedal again, "Right, so I kind of just stood there not knowing what the hell to do because nobody ever told me the address of the hall where the after-party would be. But there was an altar-server who was walking out of the building and I figured that he must've served at Mali's wedding, so I asked him if he knew anything about where the after-party was, and turns out he did. I mean, the kid was a little weirded out seeing a zombie-look-a-like asking for a wedding after-party address but eventually I got it out of him. I begged him to lend me like five dollars for bus fair, which also took a little, and by a little, I mean a shit ton, of convincing. I'm guessing he felt bad seeing how I looked too, though. Or maybe he just thought I was getting aggravating since I practically followed the kid all the way to his car - either way, I got the money. Then, it was just a matter of waiting for another bus. Wait! Here! Take a right!"

I quickly pulled at the steering wheel causing the car to swerve harshly towards the right, eliciting two high-pitched, glass-breaking screams from the both of us. Cars from behind, and in front of us honked "Oh my God, Cara! They gave you a license?!"

"Shut up!" I was panting heavily, trying to regain a normal speed of breathing, wanting nothing more than to reach over the middle console and drive my fist into Emma's throat. She could've gotten the both of us killed before we even got to Elena! Of course, she was in pain, though, and I was planning on being a kind friend. "You scared me! It was instinct to swerve!"

"Right here! Stop here, hurry!" She flung her finger towards a large building that looked a lot like the factory we'd gotten the fake SOS texts from. I bit down on my bottom lip and pulled my car into the building's lot, Emma swinging her door open even before I'd put the car in park.

Quickly, I unbuckled my seatbelt and threw myself out of the car to run after Emma towards the entrance of the building. It was kind of incredible, to be honest - there were bruises littered all across her legs to the point where they basically looked broken, for lack of a better word, yet she was still able to run.

I stood (cowardly) behind Emma once we'd made it into the building while she swiveled her head around for a few seconds, like she'd forgotten the in's and out's of the building. It only took a moment before she grabbed for my hand and ran in a direction leading towards a flight of stairs that then led to a second floor. I grunted as Emma proceeded to drag me up the steps, "Why do these buildings always have stairs?!"

Ignoring my question, we ran down a few more hallways on the second floor until we reached a dead end - there were two doors to both sides of the hall, and Emma went for the right, pushing it open and running inside. I stood outside of the room for a moment, taking a few breaths to settle myself before going in. I'd been doing a lot better with handling the anxiety lately, tonight especially, but there was till a limit of how much nerves I could take and right now, it felt a little over-the-tops.

"Cara!"

I blinked and forced myself into the room, my eyes immediately watering at what was waiting for me inside.

Elena was sitting on the cemented ground, chains surrounding her all the way up to her chin - there was blood and tears all over her yet all I managed to notice was the way her pale face had lit up seeing me standing at the doorframe. Emma had dropped to her knees and had started to fumble around with the chains and I quickly made use of myself, joining her in untangling the chains from El's body.

"Cara," she whispered, her voice thin and hoarse and barely even audible if not listened to closely enough. I bit down on my tongue to avoid looking at her and breaking down completely. Unlock the chains, get Elena, and leave. "Cara, y-you have to get me o-out of h-here, please. Please, please, y-you have to, you have to, I-I don't wanna d-do this a-anymore-"

I nodded and gave up on trying to hold back any tears, taking her head inbetween my palms and holding her to my chest where she broke apart even further. She was shaking and hiccuping and wheezing and all I could do was hold onto her while Emma worked at the chains. Please don't be a dream, please don't be a dream, please don't be a dream.

Emma groaned aloud in frustration and stared at the chains in defeat. "El, I know you're happy to see her but I need to borrow her for a moment, I can't get the chains undone alone."

Nodding, Elena sobbed once more before pulling away from me and leaning her head against the wall behind her instead. I took a deep breath and swiped at my under eyes quickly, where tears had suddenly pooled, and began to work at undoing the chains around her along with Em. "Hang in there, El."

"Y-You guys came back," Elena hiccuped and peered down at me with tears dancing on the bridge of her eyelashes. Her chest was heaving in up and down motions and it was like looking right into a mirror - it was like watching myself have a panic attack. My heart had snapped the minute I caught sight of Emma, but now it was like suddenly it was breaking into thirds, fourths, fifths, more infinite pieces hearing Elena talk like she thought she'd actually be left here alone - to die. It was different with Elena, always. She was my sister.

"Yeah," I exhaled, already finding myself growing frustrated with how well the chains were locked around El's waist. "and we aren't leaving without you either."

"I got it!" I shouted, feeling nothing but surprise and awe at myself as I lifted a loose, single end of the chain up to my face. Snatching it from my hands, Em began to pull endlessly at the string of chain as I sat there, watching the chain unravel around Elena's waist until it was inevitably completely off of her, pooling in a pile on the floor. I didn't even get the chance to say anything before Elena dived into me, wrapping herself around my torso.

Pushing the chain aside, Emma stood up frantically and eyed me with wide eyes, "We don't have a lot of time, we need to-"

"Actually, you had plenty of time. You just didn't use it well." Someone from behind Emma snickered, sarcasm laced through every one of her words. I felt my breath catch in my throat and I clutched onto Elena tighter. The girl moved to the side of Emma and it was only then I caught sight of the black ski mask covering her entire face. She nudged her chin towards me, and then grabbed ahold of Emma's shoulder, maneuvering Em to face her. "Who's that?"

"I'm Cara." I quickly spoke up for Emma, not wanting anything further to happen to her. Ski-Mask took one look at me before giggling and kicking her foot directly into Emma's abdomen. I gasped watching Emma collapse onto the ground, eyes widening as Ski-Mask used her foot to shuffle Em aside towards the wall Elena had been leaning against like she were kicking junk away to the bottom of her bed to hide the mess it created. God, I wanted to do something, anything, even just call out Emma's name, but this girl was absolutely psychotic - one wrong push of a button and this entire building may just erupt. Elena gripped onto my thigh while I squeezed on her upper-arm as Ski-Mask made her way closer towards the two of us, eventually leaning down and grabbing Elena out of my reach to fling her across the room where Emma was laying doubled over. I'd opened my mouth to scream out only for the woman in the mask to act quicker, placing her hand overtop of my mouth and squeezing tightly. Her free arm moved to grip both of my hands that had made their way up to grip at her palm on my face.

Suddenly, both of her hands retracted themselves from my face. I had the absolutely perfect opportunity to slap her or hit her or punch her anywhere on her body, but of course, I wasn't at all expecting her to just pull her hands off of me the way she did, and she was able to act quicker than I could, lifting her foot to kick me upside the head. I groaned out as I fell to my side against the wall.

For about the fourth time since I saw her again, Elena sobbed, "Cara!"

The woman in the ski mask groaned, sounding annoyed as she peeled the mask off of her face and threw it aside. She rolled her eyes at the string of sobs that Elena proceeded to let out, "Relax, you're getting annoying. We're killing you, not her, remember?"

There it was - the feeling of my lungs starting to close in on me and the dizziness starting to blur and cancel out all of my vision. I wanted to say something, I wanted to recite every fricking swear word I knew at this person and I wanted to get my hands around their neck, but I couldn't even move - I couldn't even get solid breaths in. She squatted down again so that she was at face-level with me, and I glared up into her green eyes - they looked like they belonged to poisonous cats. "You really are full of surprises, aren't you Cara? I told you not to call the number again, so you decided to do even worse by coming here. I'm impressed."

And suddenly, it all clicked - every jigsaw piece that had been scattered across the board for the past few days, ever since we'd found the phone number in Elena's car, finally slid into place. I wanted nothing more than to spit it out, yell it out along with a few curse words thrown in there, but all I could manage to actually do at the moment with my shrinking lungs was whisper, "Kariana."

Kariana hummed, smiling almost sympathetically, but more so in a sarcastic "Congratulations, you've figured it out," type of way, before kicking me again in my side, really making sure to dig the pointed-toe of her boot into me, may I say. I whimpered loudly and reached for my hip, rolling over pathetically. "Sorry, that was just for good measure, can't have anymore sudden surprises, y'know what I mean? But hey, babe! How're you?"

"Okay, I think that's enough, Kari." Another voice emerged from behind Kariana. I forced myself to lift my head enough so that I could see who was talking, but honestly? I wish I hadn't. I parted my lips and attempted to gasp only to choke on the air that'd tried to make its way into my lungs. This wasn't happening. "You said it yourself, she's not the one we're trying to kill. Stick to the plan."

Oh my God.