Chapter 12
Summer
“Okay, Summer, my name is Rose, I’m Stone’s wife, it’s just you and me, okay, I promise you are safe,” Rose whispers as the door shuts, the clicking sounding a lot louder than it probably is making me flinch and she says, “I want to try and give you a shower so I can assess your injuries, do you think you can do that for me?”
Her voice sounds like it’s underwater.
Why aren’t the screams and cries echoing?
Why is it so quiet?
Is this a sick game?
“Eric,” I mumble, not really focusing on the woman before me, expecting Hanz to storm in any minute and torture me for being out of my cage.
I need Eric’s eyes to keep me centered, I need him.
I hear a sniffle but don’t look, not really seeing anything, already used to the crying and shouting, though that one silent sniffle is putting me on edge.
Is he about to do one of his shows? Where he punishes us in front of the others.
I feel a gentle hand touch my arm, and I instantly flinch back, but it doesn’t deter the person grabbing me and gently helps me stand on my wobbly legs.
My body goes, like it knows the person can be trusted, while my mind —I-I can’t.
Where am I?
Is this one of Hanz’s games?
Does he want to make me think I’m free when I’m not?
I want Eric.
I need him.
I want to die.
My mind is not able to focus on anything. It's all scrambled, and his laughter echoes, and I focus on it as I’m guided across the room and into a smaller one already on edge, ready for him to jump out at me.
His coldness, the evil glint in his dark eyes blind me, like he knows he’s about to make me bleed.
I want Eric, but he’ll never save me.
Running water echoes, and my heart rate speeds up, but I try to swallow it back.
Maybe Hanz is finally going to drown me instead of watching me choke repeatedly, laughing?
“Okay,” the voice whispers, Rose, right Rose, she’s going to... “Let’s get you washed and we’ll see what your injuries are.”
I’m guided in the shower, the warm water hitting my injured skin instantly, shocking me and I gasp.
I haven’t had a shower in, well, since I was taken, only drowned several times with my head in a box, and a scream bubbles up. Without meaning to, I let it out, and Rose says, “It’s okay, I’ve got you, you are okay…”
I don’t hear her words, though, as my body trembles and the screams become louder as I push myself into the corner of the shower, the cold tiles making me shiver.
Eric, I need Eric, where is he? Where are his eyes?
“Rose, do you need a hand?” I hear a man ask loudly outside the door, and I scream, “No, please no… Eric”
“Tank, I’m fine, she isn’t hurting me, she’s curling herself up into the corner of the shower,” Rose replies as she gently washes a cloth over my bruised, sore skin that feels so soft but in my mind, all I feel is sandpaper.
My screams of terror get louder as my body shakes, and she tries to speak to me so softly, but all I can picture is the evil glint in Hanz’s cold eyes as he grins at me as I try to gasp for air.
“Keep her head down for another minute, she needs to learn her fucking lesson killing our clients…”
His cold words hit me, and I bash myself harder into the wall, trying to knock myself out, trying to end everything, and Rose chokes, “You’re okay, Summer, you’re okay...”
“Rose!” I hear a man snap, and Rose growls, “Don’t you dare come in here, Tank, you are a male, it will set her off!”
“She’s already set off, Rose, her screams are of terror!” he growls in return.
“You’ll make it worse, Tank,” is all she replies as she continues to wash my dirty skin, and my breathing intensifies, gasping for air becoming a struggle and I black out, my legs giving out. Rose shouts, “Tank!” as I fall onto the floor, letting the darkness take me.
***
Gentle fingers running through my hair bring me to consciousness, and disappointment hits again.
I’m not dead.
“Hey,” a female whispers, and I open my eyes, locking with dark green worried ones.
“I’m not dead, I should be dead,” I croak, and her tears fall as she leans forward and presses a kiss to my head.
“I’m going to go get Anchor,” she whispers as she stands, and it’s only then that I realize for the first time in a year and a half, I’m in a bed, comfortable, and it just makes me tense further as I slowly let my eyes look around the room.
The walls light gray, the furniture black but the picture on the nightstand is what has me struggling to breathe.
The woman sitting astride a Harley, looks so much like me, only she’s happy, still a virgin, ready to give herself to her boyfriend.
“What are you doing, you silly man,” I giggle and Eric grins wide as he lifts his phone and states, “Making memories with my girl.”
His girl… I’m not that girl anymore, she’s gone, dead, where this new me should be.
The door opens, getting my attention as confusion fills me, everything begins to become clearer. I’m not in the warehouse, I really was saved.
My heart flutters at the sight of the figure in the doorway, a figure I never thought I would see again, and I realize I’m not dreaming. It wasn’t all in my head —he did save me.
Eric…
I choke back a sob as Rose leaves, and Eric’s hazel eyes, the eyes that have kept me fighting for so long, lock with mine, and everything hits me all at once.
“You left me,” I choke, the memory of him and that woman clear as day, the pain in his eyes despite the smirk on his face blinding me.
He thought I was using him, that I cheated on him, and instead of confronting me, he decided to get petty revenge.
He flinches and opens his mouth, but shuts it again as several more men come up behind him sending me into a panic and even though I know they won’t hurt me, I know, but my mind blanks, my reality disappears, and I instantly stumble off the bed, falling onto the floor and rush into the corner, my body shaking as I pull the shirt I’m wearing over my knees.
Wait, shirt?
I look down in shock. It’s been so long since I felt cotton against my skin and oh wow, it is so soft.
Is it Eric’s?
“Summer,” someone whispers, and I look up in shock at how close it sounded, the shirt taking all my senses away, and panic hits me as I lock eyes with dark brown ones, and I try to press myself even tighter into the corner, my body trembling.
They won’t hurt me, they won’t hurt me, I try to repeat but my mind won’t listen.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Summer. I’m a doctor in the E.R.,” he whispers, and I eye him before confirming, “Doc?” my voice still raspy from being choked.
I remember Eric mentioning his pres is a doctor and a little bit of an idiot before, before…
“Yeah, sweetheart,” he says with a soft smile, and I admit, “Eric said you were an idiot.”
The men snort, some coughing to hide their amusement, but Doc doesn’t laugh —no, he can see I need honesty right now —and he agree. “I am an idiot, I nearly lost the woman I love and our daughter.”
I nod slightly, and despite my body trembling, I stop forcing myself into the corner, and he smiles softly.
“Can you tell us, sweetheart, how long you were in that warehouse for?” he asks gently, and I flinch, but he continues, “There were marks on the wall. Someone mentioned star shapes indicated a baby?”
“I fell pregnant three times, they kicked the babies out, gave me twenty-four hours before selling my body again,” I admit quietly.
I hear several curses making me flinch, and Doc growls, “Quiet!” seeing my reaction, before he asks softly, “And the other marks? The lines?”
The picture of the wall hits me and I choke, “They were how long I was in there for,” I lock eyes with Eric’s which show so much pain and sorrow and I admit, “The day I caught you trying to get revenge for something you took the wrong way, no, the day you cheated on me,” he flinches, “Was the day I was taken.”
Eric stumbles back with complete shock, a man catching him before he falls, and my tears blur my vision as the cries and sobbing’s of the people taken fill my head, and everyone is rendered speechless as Doc’s mouth parts and the man I fell madly in love with, the man whose memory alone gave me strength, looks ready to fall apart.
Nineteen months, it’s a long time to focus on one person, it’s a long time to suffer from the pain I suffered from, it’s a long time to try and heal from, healing I know I won’t be able to do.
I want to die.