4. Sarra

4

Sarra

I felt guilty about Knox reading Mam's papers but was too scared to read them myself. The more I read, the more afraid I became. I didn't know why I trusted Knox, but I did. After all he's been my only friend for most of my life.

There was something in those papers that seemed worse than Mam taking me and raising me in the swamp. And why did I feel that Knox would take care of me? I was taught to take care of myself my entire life.

I got ready for bed and grabbed my laptop. I wrote half a paragraph, but my mind refused to work. ‘The man of my dreams was in my home,' I whispered out loud. And tears fell from my eyes for no reason. I never cried.

Mam used to tell me only babies cried. I mentioned that to Shane once, and he told me that was a damn lie; he said anyone with feelings cried. I believed Shane, and I thought the same thing. That's when I realized I hid stuff from Mam.

I hid things because she would get angry if I said something she didn't like. I forgot many things about Mam because I didn't want to remember them. Not all of my memories were good ones. Some were downright nightmarish. If she were angry, she would tell me I was just like my father, which always confused me. Because she would tell me she didn't know who my father was.

I set my laptop down and snuggled under the covers. My eyes closed when I heard Bub walk in and lie on the floor beside me. I slept until the dreams came, dreams of a toddler screaming for her mommy and daddy.

Mam was there. She tried to quiet the toddler from crying, but she wouldn't stop crying, and then a hand was put over her mouth. I couldn't breathe; I was being smothered. I felt someone shake me.

"Sarra, wake up. You're having a bad dream," Knox said.

I opened my eyes, and Bub growled. I put my finger to my lips and got out of bed. Pointing at the window, I grabbed my bow next to the bed.

"You stay here; I'll see if anyone is out there," Knox said.

I shook my head as I slipped my slippers on. I looked at his feet. He glanced down, then disappeared and returned with his boots on.

"Stay here," he whispered.

He turned and left the room. I was right behind him. He didn't bother with a shirt. My mouth hung open, but as soon as he went around the corner, I saw two bodies fall to the ground. He had knocked them both out. I turned my flashlight on and shined it on the men on the ground. I couldn't believe what I saw.

"Do you know these two?"

"Yes, they are my cousins. They were testing to see if you were good at your job. We should leave them here and let the snakes get them," I said before turning the hose on and squirting them.

They both woke up, and I turned to go back inside. Knox reached out his hand and helped both men up.

"Are you two okay?" I heard Knox ask my cousins before they walked inside.

"Yeah, we wanted to make sure you could do your job. It's good to know you can."

"You could have gotten yourselves killed very easily," Knox said. Then he looked at Matthew and smiled. "Hey, so Maverick, you're one of Sarra's cousins?"

"Reaper, it's good to see you again. I didn't realize your team was guarding Sarra," Matt said, smiling. "My Delta Force name was Maverick," He explained, looking at Sarra. "I'm relieved to see it's you who's here with my cousin."

"I'm surprised to see you not guarding her. What have you been doing since you left the service?"

"I was a DEA agent, but everything has changed so much that I quit yesterday. I'm not doing anything right now besides hunting down the man who wants to kill Sarra."

"After you catch him, you can join our team if you are looking for work. The Delta Force Guardians are looking for some Delta Force men to join us."

"I'll damn sure think about it. Would I have to live on your mountain?"

"No, you can live anywhere as long as you have a way to get where you need to be. We usually always go in twos. But you didn't want that for this job. And I can take care of this guy if he shows up here."

"This is my brother Cooper. Cooper, this is Knox Bellmont, better known as Reaper. He got that name because he collected all the bodies of our friends and made sure they made it home to their families," Matt said.

I looked at Reaper; he deserved that name. From now on, I would call him Reaper. He was a hero to all his friends, the ones living and the ones who didn't make it out alive.

"From now on, I will call you Reaper. You are a hero. I'm sorry for not asking you how you got that name," I said, hugging him.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I was surprised when my buddies stuck that name on me, too. But then they explained how they decided on it, and I was proud to be called Reaper."

"Thank you for waking me from my bad dream," I said.

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"It was a silly dream," I said. I noticed my cousins were interested in my dream by the way they were waiting to hear it. "Let's get some hot chocolate, and I'll tell you. It was kind of strange."

We were sitting at the table when I started telling them my dream. "It was strange because when I was dreaming about the little girl crying for her mommy and daddy, I couldn't breathe. The woman who held the child put her hand over my mouth, I mean the little girl's mouth. It's very confusing," I said, looking at the men.

"It was you!" Cooper said. "You are remembering what happened to you. I told you she was involved in the death of your parents. She stole you."

"Cooper, I told you what the letter said. Mam killed those men who killed my parents. If that was me, she was trying to keep me quiet so I wouldn't bring attention to myself."