Chapter 3 - The Voice In The Dark
"Grandpa, oh my God, you're bleeding!" I screamed, rushing to his side.
He weakly pushed me toward the driver's side door.
"Just drive to the address in the glove box," he wheezed.
I carefully strapped Brucie into the dusty car seat in the back.
I helped Grandpa into the passenger seat, my hands slipping on his blood.
The engine sputtered to life, and I tore down the dirt road into the pitch-black night.
My mind was a chaotic blur of terror and disbelief.
"You need a hospital," I cried, pressing the gas pedal harder.
"No hospitals," he coughed, spitting a glob of blood onto the floorboard.
"They own the police, and they own the hospitals."
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cheap burner phone.
"If I pass out, call the only contact in this phone," he instructed.
His eyes rolled back into his head, and his body went completely limp.
"Grandpa!" I shrieked, but he didn't respond.
I grabbed the burner phone with trembling fingers and hit dial.
The line rang twice before a deep, familiar voice answered.
"I told you never to call this number, Bruno," the voice said.
My breath caught in my throat.
It was Luke.
"Luke?" I sobbed into the receiver.
There was a long, agonizing silence on the other end.
"Clover?" he whispered, sounding utterly horrified.
"He found you, didn't he?" Luke asked, panic rising in his voice.
"Who?" I demanded.
May you like
"Your grandfather," Luke replied coldly.
"The man who kidnapped you from your real parents twenty years ago."
