Emilia Gardiner kept slipping in and out of consciousness. She wasn't exactly sure if it was the drugs that were taking too long to wear off or if it was just the fact that her body could not take the pain of being conscious long enough.  It was most probably the latter because her head hurt like a bitch. Perhaps she had a concussion. She was sure half of her face —the right side— was red with blood along with her hair. Matthias had tied the zip ties so tightly around her wrists that she was bleeding and her fingers looked like blueberry sausages. Blueberry sausages, she almost giggled at the thought. She didn't want to focus on the wriggly thing that was crawling up her legs because if she did, she would surely scream.

A rustling sound caught her attention. She strained her ears, listening. Someone was here. Matthias was most probably back. The last time he was here he'd given her half a bottle of water, saying that she'd need it if she was to survive the heat. Fucking climate change! It shouldn't be this hot this far in September. He'd also said that they were expecting someone —"a special guest."

Emilia tried to open her eyes but failed because of the sun rays that threatened to render her blind. She squirmed around on the forest floor, trying to get away from the sun so that she could see. She finally rolled under a tree. Finally some shade, she thought. It took some time for her eyes to focus when she opened them. She couldn't see faces because the sun obscured their upper bodies. Only feet and some part of the legs.

A pair of dusty men's boots came into view. She thought of playing dead and then laughed at the idea. Of course Matthias would check for a pulse and know that she was faking. Instead, she stilled and waited for whoever it was to come to her.

And whoever it was did. Matthias got in Emilia's face. She tried to get away but she was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Or in this case, the disgusting forest floor and Matthias' smiling face.

"Want to see my special guest?" Mathias asked.

Emilia nodded. She didn't have much of a choice.

"Alright then. Here she is." Matthias was giddy with excitement, literally bouncing on the balls of his feet like an athlete on steroids.

A pair of red high heeled boots that looked like something Amber from Sofia the First rst would wear came into view. Emilia tried to see the special guest's face but it was still being obscured by the sun. She stopped struggling to see and, again, waited for the special guest to come to her. And when she did, Emilia was more angry than  surprised to see Abigail Finn —Matthias' mother and accomplice.

Abigail grabbed Emilia by the hair and yanked until Emilia was staring at Abigail's eyes. "It's glad we could finally meet on my terms. How do you like the view?"

Emilia didn't answer. She couldn't. She was unconscious again.

Emilia jerked awake painfully. Her face had a heartbeat of it's own. Matthias had sprinkled water on her face and now it felt like it was being engulfed by hell fire. She gave him the best scowl she could master and hoped that she didn't look as stupid as she thought she did.

"Glad you are awake blondie. I have yet another surprise for you."

It took a little long for her eyes to focus on whatever Matthias was trying to show her because her right eye was swollen from the fall. But when she finally saw it, her face gained a new pallor.

At first, Emilia saw two graves. When she squinted her left eye, the two graves merged into one. She also saw Abigail standing under a tree, holding a shovel and organizing her straight jet black hair into position. Emilia stared at her long and hard. She wished that her eyes could suddenly turn into guns and shoot Abigail to death. Emilia stared so long that her mind began to wander. If Abigail was the one who'd murdered Marty then why was Matthias working with her willingly. Did he not know that his mother —his accomplice— was the one who'd killed his father? She didn't have the time to think more about it because she blacked out again.

★★★

It was only because Harold wanted to see his daughter —his last living daughter — that Lindsay Amari dropped off Lucy, at her sister-in-law, Heather's place. Harold's family was one of those whose names all began with the same letter. There was an elder brother called Harvey an aunt called Henrietta and another very old, very grumpy aunt called Haley. Pretty cliche right?

Lindsay remained outside apprehensively, not wanting to go in. She didn't want to see Heather who was obviously inside the house. She could see her moving around through the window in the kitchen. Lucy was staring at her with a small smile on her face. She obviously knew what was bothering her mother. She had always been too damn smart for her own good.

Lucy decided to tease her mother. "Mom, you know Heather can see you standing out here."

"Oh." Lindsay looked surprised, her eyes bulging like saucers. "Why don't you go in? I have an errand to run. I'll be back to pick you up at seven."

Lucy covered her mouth so that her mother would not see her laugh. She knew that her mother hated Harold's side of the family because they were gossips —Heather most of all. She was even paid to gossip. That's what radio presenters did. They gossiped for a living, right?

Lindsay had almost reached her car when she heard Harold calling after her. Damn it. She stilled and turned ever so slowly to see Harold holding a bag of what Lindsay supposed were groceries against his chest. Shit! Couldn't Lady Luck smile at her for once?

"Leaving so soon, Linds? You could come in for a cup of tea?" Harold said, putting the groceries on the pavement. He really was shameless.

Lindsay couldn't help herself. She was not the person to hide her emotions. "I would rather pierce my eyes with sewing needles. Besides, I have errands to run. See ya later."

"How's your investigation coming? Did you find our daughter's killer?" Harold made air quotes when he said the word investigation. The disapproval was so evident that Lindsay felt it coming off of him in hot waves.

Lindsay was so close to getting in her car and running Harold over. She'd always known that Harold disapproved of her investigation into her daughter's death. But what could she do? She was born that way. She'd always been obsessive right from when she was young. 

"It's funny that —for a moment— I thought that I'd made a mistake in deciding to divorce you. You are welcome to see Lucy whenever you want. But you and I are done."

With that said, Lindsay got into her car, ignoring the shocked look on Harold's face and drove away. He had probably thought that Lindsay was joking. Well joke's on him.

Lindsay drove around with no particular direction in mind. She felt free, like a bird that has been set free after leaving in captivity for years. She didn't have to answer to Harold anymore. She could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted —including investigating Harleigh's disappearance. Fuck you Harold, she thought.

Lindsay pulled over to the side of the road. She sat there thinking back to the whole case. First that detective coming to her house to inform her of her daughter's disappearance. Then there was the whole issue with Thelma. Lindsay had been told to always look for the common factor when trying to find out the answers in an investigation. It worked in Math too. So what was the common factor here?

The woods!

Lindsay sat upright so fast that she almost banged her head on the steering wheel. Why hadn't she thought of that until now? Now she knew that if there was going to be a breakthrough in her daughter's case, it would be in the woods. And she would be there to witness it all go down. And maybe have her revenge as well. She stared at the gun lying on the passenger seat for a while. She'd never shot anything or anyone before, but somewhere deep down in her heart, she was sure that she was going to kill someone today. Whether it was with her bare hands or with the gun on the passenger seat, only time would tell.

Lindsay drove towards the woods. When she was about to reach, she turned off the main road and onto a dirt road that led to a quaint, quiet neighborhood up a hill. She drove up the hill until she could see the main road that led into the woods.

Contented with her viewing spot, she sat back and waited. There weren't many cars that used this route. Still she watched each and every car that passed attentively. She wished that she had binoculars with her so that she could see the drivers. Her naked eyes would have to do for now.

Lindsay had been watching for thirty minutes when something caught her eye. She sat up straighter in her chair and watched as a car that resembled Archer's in make and build parked on the side of the road. He got out of the car and took off into the forest at a brisk pace. Why the hurry? Lindsay thought. Lindsay waited for more cops to get there but none showed up. Archer was going solo. Lindsay opened the door of her car, taking out her gun with her and slipping it in the waistband of her mom jeans. She took one deep breath, glanced around and went into the woods, feeling exhilarated.

She was sure that she was getting her revenge today. She was going to avenge Harleigh.

★★★

When Callie had told her daughter, Yasmine, and that nice hot cop —what was his name again? Benjamin that was it— that she was at police station, she'd lied. She'd left the station long ago, feeling an urgent need to do something to save her daughter. The Callie who sat by and twiddled her thumbs while her own daughter suffered was gone.

Callie was so happy that she had left the police station when she did because she had reached the Finn residence just in time to see Abigail leaving. Callie hadn't recognized her at first because she had been fully dressed in black except for her boots which were an unflattering blood red.

Callie had followed Abigail in her rental car. She'd driven slowly, though, because driving was proving alien to her. She'd driven a car before but that was ages ago, in a past life that she could hardly remember. Now the technology had changed, the buttons were no longer where she expected them to be and the cars were much more faster, more efficient, more....weird.

Callie was so engrossed in following Abigail and figuring out how the car worked that she didn't realize that she'd followed Abigail up to the woods. She saw Abigail's car stop and that's when she realized where she was. She could see the part of the woods that had been burnt on one side. Callie stopped a few feet away and watched Abigail get out of her car. She had a brief moment of panic when she saw Abigail looking in her direction. Had Abigail seen her? Her heart rate slowly returned to normal when Abigail turned away from her and entered the forest.

Something about the way Abigail walked into the forest, so carefree, so nonchalant fueled Callie's anger. She didn't even know that she had nursed such raw anger until she'd heard Yasmine's tired voice over the phone. She clenched the steering wheel, finding new purpose in her anger, her intense desire for revenge. 

Callie reversed and drove away from the forest and towards a place she thought she'd never have to return to. She wasn't surprised that she remembered the place after all this time. She remembered it in the instinctive way that a baby recognized their mother, in the way a person knew the way home.

Stuffing her hands in her pockets, Callie got out of the car and walked the short distance to the gun shop that stood opposite the Moi Calienté strip club where she used to work. She bought a gun —a Glock— and one bullet. That bullet had a name.

Abigail! 

The woman who had stolen her life, who had killed her love, kidnapped her daughter and married her off to a psychotic killer. And now she was going to pay.

Callie got into her car and drove back to the woods, carefully searching for Abigail's car and finding it easily. She got out of the car, literally smiling from ear to ear and headed into the forest at a brisk pace.