Fifty
I was so hungry that my stomach was gurgling and aching, and no amount of rubbing at it was making it any better, not that I expected it to. I hated that I couldn’t get that smell off me, because his cum was in my hair. I almost threw up after he did that, but in some ways I was glad I hadn’t, because the two smells would have combined, and made this horrifying experience even worse.
Thirst was an even bigger problem for me, because he hadn’t given me anything to drink since he’d taken me, and I had no idea how long ago that had been, but I felt dizzy and my head was pounding, and I had a feeling it was dehydration. Eventually out of sheer desperation, I pushed up from the floor, leaning my hands against the wall as the room spun, and my knees threatened to give in.
“I can do this.”
I staggered drunkenly across the room to the door, slamming my palms against it as I let out a scream for help. I kept expecting his voice to suddenly ring out, reminding me that he could see me because he was always watching. Another wave of dizziness hit me then, and I grabbed the door handle to stop me falling. Imagine my surprise when it opened, instead of resisting any movement. It wasn’t even locked! How had I not realised he’d left it unlocked?
A sudden clench of panic hit me, nearly stealing the strength from my legs as I stepped out into a dingy, damp-smelling hallway. Maybe the door wasn’t locked because he was lying in wait for me… ready to punish me for trying to get away from him.
I recoiled into the corner by the door and waited for agonisingly long moments, expecting him to reappear, that shiny black helmet reflecting my terrified face back at me as he tormented me. There were no sounds anywhere, and nobody appeared or spoke. I started tiptoeing down the hallway again, wincing now and then when I stepped on things I couldn’t see.
I had no idea what this place was, or what horrific things I might be walking on, but I needed to find the way out before he realised I’d moved. I found a ragged blanket tossed in a heap by the wall at the next doorway, and warily shook it, letting out a panicked yelp and dropping it when something big, black and with too many legs fell out of it. Oh god! I hopped back a few steps, hoping the spider wouldn’t get me, but it scurried out of sight almost immediately in the low light.
I couldn’t keep going without covering up my nakedness, because all I had left was my bra and underwear and that wasn’t a safe way to be walking around anywhere. I grabbed the blanket again, shaking it several more times, even though every movement made the room swirl again, and I knew I couldn’t risk passing out. Not here. Not with that big spider so close, and definitely not where he could find me.
I wrapped the damp musty blanket around me, and stepped through the next doorway to find a staircase leading into yet another dark area. There were still no sounds, so I found my way carefully down the stairs, clinging to the creaking railing on the way down. By the time I reached what must be the front door, I was beyond terrified of opening it.
What if what waited outside was him, or some stranger who’d take advantage of my weakened state, and lack of clothes. As I leaned my hand against the door and picked up occasional sounds outside, I realised I was probably safer out there than in here, because if he trapped me inside the dilapidated house with him again, I knew I’d die.
With a prayer, to whoever might be listening, that safety lay on the other side of this door, I wrenched the thing open, and stepped out into the dim evening.
Has-Been
A fter I helped Micro pick up the remains of the shopping he’d clearly been sent out for, and watched Tommy and Nick try to figure out how the hell to clean up spilled oil, arguing over whether it was flour or salt that soaked it up best, I headed outside, and sat on the pavement in the fading evening light, wondering how the fuck I was supposed to just wait for someone to find something.
My mind kept torturing me with all of the worst things that could be happening to my woman right now, interlacing it with reminders of the awful things powerful men had done to a young boy, who’d trusted monsters because he had no fucking choice. I couldn’t let her suffer like I had, but what if I was already too late?
I raced back inside, heading up to Ice’s tech room, and letting myself in without knocking. He exchanged frustrated glances with Tesio, aka Grease, who was sitting working with him. There seemed to be more equipment, and more screens in here than ever before.
“Thought you locked that door, man.”
I ignored Tesio, turning to Ice instead.
“Tell me you’ve found something, please, because I’m going out of my fucking mind here.”
Ice fixed me with that familiar glare, the one I’d been a proud recipient of ever since we first met. It never had the same hatred behind it these days, but it was still token Ice. I clenched my fists as I waited for something, anything, to fucking help me save Elise.
“Yeah, because of course I’d sit on that information, waiting for you to come and fucking ask me, instead of running it straight to you guys. We’re both doing the best we can, and you interrupting us isn’t fucking helping.”
Tesio held up a hand as I stepped closer to Ice, fully intending to slap that arrogant asshole look off his face.
“We might be onto something, man. Just hold your fucking water for five minutes. Ice, this is the same van, right?”
Ice leaned over to look at Tesio’s screen, so I rushed around to see what they’d found. It was the same dark blue van they said they’d spotted before. I was sure it was.
“Where the fuck is it right now?”
He flicked his eyes in Ice’s direction.
“Around the corner from where we are right now. Whoever this fucker is, they’re not afraid of letting us see the van.”
“Well, that’s fucking useless then, right?”
Tesio glared at me, before he turned back to his screen again, tapping away like he had other fucking leads that he was probably faking at this point.
“You think this shit is easy? You wanna take over, you be my fucking guest.”
Ice suddenly stood up, his chair crashing backwards on the floor.
“Fuck me.”
We crowded around his screen, and saw what he saw. A police report about a half-naked blonde woman found on the other side of town. Was it her?
Five minutes later we had that answer, as Stitch suddenly crashed into the room, his phone in his hand, and a stunned look on his face.
“That was the police. Elise was found earlier, and she’s at the station right now.” I leapt over the desk between me and the door.
“Then let’s fucking go and get her.” Did it bother me that Stitch received that call instead of me? Yeah, of course it did, but currently he was her next of kin, so of course they called him. It wasn’t because she’d asked for him instead of me, right?
I headed for my bike, realising three things too late, because my head was a fucked up mess. Firstly, the others were getting in the van, and secondly, my helmet wouldn’t fit on my new fucking haircut, because it’d be too loose, which was irrelevant since my bike wasn’t in a good state after the accident anyway. Thirdly, it wouldn’t have been fair to pick up my girl on the bike anyway, because she could be hurt or worse. I just had to pray that she hadn’t been through the kind of hell that could break a person.