The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

to be here for New Year’s… she’s going to flip,” I tell them.
    “Then don’t tell her,” Seth says simply. “Text while we’re on the road.”
    I contemplate the idea for a briefer amount of time than I expected. “I can do that.”
    Seth beams and points a finger at his chest. “I’m a very bad influence and I’m glad.”
    Luke slings his bag over his shoulder, folds the papers neatly in fourths, and then stuffs them into his back pocket of his pants. “Ready to hit the road?” He walks toward the door, scooping up his car keys off the desk. “We’ll stop and pick up your things and then we’ll go get Kayden.”
    “But how are we going to get Kayden?” I ask as Seth and I follow him across the room. “He wouldn’t even talk to me when I went to see him. And what if he doesn’t want to go?”
    His fingers wrap around the doorknob and he jerks the bedroom door open. “I don’t give a shit what he wants. He needs to go and get away from that fucking torture chamber known as his house. It’s fucked up that he’s there.” He steps out into the hall and glances over his shoulder at me. “Besides, we’re going to teach you how to be a little bit more persuading.”
    “We?” I ask, confused. I try to breathe through my mouth as I enter the hallway and the air becomes asphyxiating again. “As in…”
    He tips his chin at Seth, who flashes us a brilliant smile. “As in Seth and me.”
    My shoulders slouch as we head down the gloomy hallway, the air pressurizing the farther down we go. “I just worry we’re going to do more harm to him by taking him away.”
    Luke stops abruptly. Hitching his thumb underneath the strap of the duffel bag, he reels to face me and his bag bangs against the wood-paneled wall. “Callie, I’ve known Kayden for forever, and trust me, that house is going to do more harm to him than going away with us will.”
    “All right,” I agree, but my stomach twines into thorny, firm knots. Not because I want him to stay at his home, but because I’m worried. Worried I’ll do something wrong—mess it up for him again. I worry he’ll end up lying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood.
    Unexpectedly, the front door slams shut and a bustle of banging sounds fill up the house. “Luke,” someone singsongs in a high octave.
    Luke’s body stiffens and his breath hitches.
“Shit.”
    “What’s wrong?” I whisper, but Luke doesn’t respond. He just stands there with his hands limp at his sides and grinding his teeth.
    The bag starts to fall from his shoulder and I reach for him and then withdraw as he turns on his heels and motions at us to move backward. Seth drags me by the shirt as I hurry backward and Luke takes energetic strides as he ushers us into the room and toward his bedroom window.
    “We’ll have to go out this way,” he insists as he unlatches the lock and boosts the window up. Artic air rushes in and breezes through my hair and kisses my cheeks.
    “What?” Seth peers down at the high mound of snow below the window. “Are you crazy? We’ll get stuck in the snow.”
    Luke shakes his head as he backtracks to the desk. “No, we won’t. I promise.”
    “Luke!” the woman shouts. “I know you’re here so come out, come out wherever you are.”
    “Please,” Luke begs with dread in his large brown eyes as he scoops up the iPod from the desk.
    I’ve seen that kind of fear in my own eyes and in Kayden’s. Without any more hesitation, I swing my leg over the windowsill.
    Seth’s fingers fold around my skin as he snatches me by the elbow. “Callie, are you crazy?”
    I wiggle my elbow out of his hand, and before he can grab me again, I step up onto the windowsill. Bending over, I spring onto my toes and launch myself out the window. When I hit the ground, my legs sink knee-deep into the snow and the wetness instantly seeps through my jeans and into my shoes. Seconds later, Luke lands beside me. He doesn’t allow enough time to sink too deep as he bends his knees, falls forward, and summersaults down the hill. He lets go of his bag and climbs back up the hill, offering his hands to me. I take them, even though my initial reaction is to recoil. With a soft tug, my legs are freed and I slide down the hill on my stomach, my shirt riding up a little and the ice stinging my skin.
    When I roll onto my back and look up at the window, Seth’s feet are dangling out. He peeks over his shoulder into the room and then shakes his head. “What about