ghosts | d. grayson

chapter 11

11. family feud

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later that night

PAIGE WASN'T MUCH OF A SPIRITUAL OR religious person. She never found herself praying or walking into any place of worship for her own personal enjoyment. It just wasn't her thing. However, the second she found out that the motel had perfectly good running water, she found herself jumping for joy as she thanked God.

She filled up the tub with the hottest the water could go to until it was full. Walking over to the bathroom mirror, she carefully unwrapped the bandages around her stomach and arm. Carefully, she ran her fingers lightly over the long trail of stitches on her stomach. She knew it was going to scar as soon as she stitched herself up that day in the front seat of her car.

Sighing, she threw out the old bandages before slowly submerging herself into the hot water. In that moment, she had felt the most relaxed she had ever felt in the last forty-eight hours. Her body was exhausted and rest was what she so desperately needed.

After about fifteen minutes, she could feel herself pushing to stay awake. So instead of falling asleep in the tub and risking slowly sinking and drowning, she decided to step out and change into something that wasn't the sweatshirt and leggings she had been wearing for the past day and a half.

Towel drying her hair until it was damp, she got dressed in a simple t-shirt and shorts after rewrapping her bandages so that her stitches wouldn't come loose. She went over and lied down in the bed once she was done. It was of okay quality, but it was better than nothing. As soon as she pulled the sheets around her, her eyelids had fallen shut.

Staying up for more than twenty-four hours when injured was not a fun experience for Paige. But yet, as much as she desperately begged for sleep she just couldn't seem to get what she wanted. Her eyes opened every half hour, pulling her back into the real world as she groaned in annoyance and frustration.

When she had finally gotten herself to sleep for longer than just thirty minutes, she was interrupted by being viciously dragged out of her bed and thrown to the ground. Before she could react, she was pulled up and pushed into the wall. "You have got to be fucking shitting me," she said through her teeth, looking at the psycho daughter from a couple of days ago.

She could hear fighting happening out in the hallway meaning that the whole family was there to kill them and take Rachel again. Paige noticed the knife in the girl's hand causing her to roll her eyes before fighting back. She ducked down as the girl swung, grabbing her and twisting so that she would drop the weapon.

Dragging the girl into the bathroom, Paige shoved her head into the mirror before the girl pushed her off. Regaining her balance, she punched the girl in the face before dragging her out onto the balcony. They fought each other, trying to get the other to fall off. Paige watched as she ran towards her before she quickly moved out of the way, pushing her off the balcony and onto the ground. She watched as the girl got up before running off somewhere. "Fucking freak," she muttered.

She heard Gar and Rachel's voices from below before Kory joined them. She watched as they were slowly surrounded by each member of the family. "Get behind me," Kory said. "It's time to burn, assholes." Gar and Rachel watched from behind Kory as she tried to use her powers. Due to the lack of present sunlight, she wasn't able to get anything out. "Fucking night!"

She went to attack the husband but he had managed to rip the door of a nearby car off, hitting her back into a car across from him. Now it was only Gar and Rachel left to defend themselves as they looked between the mother, father, son, and daughter; each family member had a malicious grin on their face.

Before anyone could lunge at anyone, a smoke grenade was tossed causing them all to be blinded before the dad was dragged off. The two teenagers watched as the man in the Robin suit slid over the car, standing in front of them. "Dick?" Rachel asked.

"That's Robin," Gar said excitedly.

They watched as the father lunged at him before Dick fought him off using his bo staff. When the mother went to attack, they felt three small knives whip past them as they all lodged into her back, causing the woman to groan in pain as she reached up to rip them all out. Tossing them onto the ground.

Gar and Rachel heard Paige's shoes against the ground as she rushed over to join in on the fight, spinning one of her knives between her fingers. Throwing it at the daughter's leg, she went to fight both kids as Dick fought the parents.

Soon enough, Rachel and Gar joined in as they all managed to get the family down. They watched from the ground as Dick, Paige, Kory, Rachel, and Gar stood beside each other looking at all of them as they stood back up. "Well..." the mother began, a friendlier smile appearing on her face, "...look at the mess we've made."

Rolling her eyes, Paige walked over, dragging the woman by her shirt collar as they all led a different member into a room, tying them up in chairs.

"I say we leave them alone for a bit, think about what we want to know, and then ask our questions," Paige suggested as they all nodded in agreement. "So, Robin?" She asked, stopping to turn around and examine the man behind her.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Hypocrite, you didn't tell me anything either."

"So all those times in the alley, that was you?" He asked to confirm.

"Yeah, that was me," she nodded. "Well at least we make great partners." Dick chuckled before nodding his head in agreement.

"I guess we do." She watched as his eyes darted to the side as he started to connect more things together. "The man in the warehouse, who was he?"

She knew before he even asked that that would be one of his first questions. "One of the men who helped get my mom killed," she replied, slight anger present in her voice, as she made her way towards her room.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how my mom was kidnapped and I had to go on a suicide mission to save her, and I failed." The thought caused her more aggravation than sadness. Her mother was dead because of her. Because she was too slow. Because she didn't trust her own instincts causing her to be led off and distracted.

"So you murdered him and left your mark by leaving a couple of knives behind."

"Twelve," she added, "I left twelve knives behind."

"What even happened?"

"Uh, well... I chained him up, stabbed him a couple of times, threw knives at him, slit his throat, and then lit the motherfucker on fire." Dick slowly nodded as he tried to examine the expression on her face. Her tone was light but her face was unreadable. There was no anger or sadness. He couldn't tell if she regretted what she had done. Hell, he couldn't tell if she could even feel anything about the situation.

He was scared for her. There was no coming back from something like that. He didn't know what happened afterwards—the rampage that she went on. The blood that was splattered everywhere, because of her, stained the white walls of the building.

The blood of her mother clouded her senses only allowing her to see red.