Twenty-three
ALYSSA
MY HEAD IS POUNDING, I reach up to touch my forehead and find my movements restricted.
My hands are tied with rope. What the hell?
I try to look around, but it’s dark. I’m in a small, cramped space.
I’m in a goddamn car boot. Closing my eyes, I try to keep my breathing even and recall how I got here.
I remember being at work. I was doing obs on an elderly patient.
I remember an orderly entering the room and that’s it.
I can’t remember anything else. I just need to breathe, to stay calm.
As much as I want to scream out, I know I need to stay calm.
The longer whoever put me here thinks I’m still out of it, the longer Zac has to realise I’m missing and start searching.
Oh god, the thought of Zac brings tears to my eyes.
This is meant to be the start of our forever.
What if we don’t get a forever? What if this morning was the last time I would get to kiss him?
Hug him? I should have listened to him. I should have quit my job and just taken any random job he would give me at the club.
At least then, I wouldn’t be in this predicament now.
Has he realised I’m missing yet? He will be out of his mind once he notices that I’m missing.
I don’t know how much time has passed, how long I’ve been passed out in this car boot.
I can hear movement outside and the boot opens, letting in the sunlight.
Squinting my eyes, I try to focus on whoever the person is that opened the boot.
But I know who this psycho is without even looking.
I know it’s Caitlyn. I know she wants to follow through with her threats to get rid of me so that she can have Zac to herself.
“Oh good, you’re awake. I was hoping you’d be conscious when I make you take your last breath. It would be such a shame to not see the look in your eyes when you realise that I won.” She laughs while pulling on the rope that binds my hands. “Get out, bitch. It’s time to end this.”
I’m roughly yanked from the car, my legs giving out beneath me as I fall to the ground.
Whatever drugs she injected into me haven’t worn off yet.
As I’m trying to find the strength to stand, something hits my head, making me fall onto my back, my vision going blurry.
Not something, a foot. She just fucking kicked me in the head.
Grunting, I hold in my cries of pain.I will not give her the satisfaction of hearing my anguish.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why?” she screams into my face, grabbing me by the hair and pulling my face closer to hers. “I gave you the chance to leave him alone. He’s mine!”
She lets my hair go, pushing my head back down to the ground.
Pointing to herself, she says, “Mine, I know he loves me. He doesn’t love you. He doesn’t want you. And once he knows the lengths I’m prepared to go for him, he will know I’m the one he should be with.”
As she’s pacing up and down in front of me, I look around, trying to identify where I am.
When I look to my left, I know exactly where she’s brought me.
I’ve only been here once, when I turned eighteen.
I found out where my mother was buried and came here.
I haven’t been able to bring myself to come back.
Dread settles in deep within me. I’m three hours away from the city.
There is no way Zac will know to look for me here. This really is it.
I wanted to have it all. I wanted what Zac promised, to always have a tomorrow together.
I wanted us to be a family, an actual family.
I wanted to have kids with Zac. I haven’t admitted that to anyone, too scared of what that means.
I’ve always thought I could never have kids myself because they would grow up on their own, without a mother, just like I did.
But I know that Zac and his family, our family, would never let our kids grow up alone, even if I ended up with the same cancer that killed my mother.
I wish I had told him I wanted his babies.
I wish I had the chance to tell him how much happiness and love he has brought into my life in the short time I’ve had him.
I’ve never felt love like the love that Zac so easily and freely offers me.
I’m thankful that I got to experience that kind of love.
I just wish I could thank Zac for giving it to me.
I wish he could know just how much I love him.
Finding the energy, I sit up and push myself over to lean against my mother’s headstone. I tell her, “He will never love you.” I know I shouldn’t taunt her, but she’s going to kill me anyway.
Caitlyn pulls a gun out from behind her back, pointing it at my head while screaming at me, “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
Then I hear the gunshot… I feel a burning, searing pain in my arm. I can’t help but yell out in agony. She shot me. Looking down, I see that my arm is now covered with blood, so much blood. My head is dizzy. I can’t even cover the wound; my hands are still tied together with rope.
I’m trying to figure out a way to get myself out of this situation, trying to free my hands of the rope that binds them together. My arm is burning, tears run freely down my face, and my wrists are red, raw from the rope burn as I twist and turn them in attempts to free my arm.
Then I hear it, another gunshot. I hold my breath, and close my eyes, waiting to feel the pain of being shot again. Waiting to identify where she has shot me this time. The pain doesn’t come. Opening my eyes, I see Caitlyn just before she falls to the ground.
Wait, did she shoot herself? No, she wouldn’t have. My head is spinning. I know I need to stay awake. I can’t give in to the darkness that calls me to close my eyes right now. A man dressed in black stops and squats down in front of me.
“Alyssa, it’s okay. There’s an ambulance on the way. Just hold on, okay?” he says as he cuts my wrists free from the rope. I don’t know who this man is. I don’t know how he knows my name, but right now, I don’t care.
“Zac, I… I… I need Zac,” I plead with whoever this stranger is.
“He’s going to meet you at the hospital. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
I hear the sirens getting closer and I let go. Closing my eyes, I give in to the darkness and let it take over me.
Beep, Beep, Beep. Oh god, someone shut off the damn alarm.
The noise continues, my eyes flutter open slowly, and I take in my surroundings.
The smell of antiseptic, the beeps of machines, the chill in the air…
I know I’m in the hospital. Confusion wraps around my brain.
Am I at work? Why is my head pounding? I attempt to lift my arm but a burning pain pauses my movement.
“Argh,” I groan out loud.
“Sunshine, baby, don’t move. Let me call for the doctors.”
Zac… Zac’s here. He’s squeezing my hand like he’s afraid I’m going to run off somewhere. He reaches above my head, pressing a button.
“Wh… what happened?” I ask him as I look around the hospital room.
“Alyssa, I am so fucking sorry. This should never have happened to you. I should never have let this happen to you.”
Zac bends his head down, leaning his forehead on the hand he has in a death grip. I wriggle my fingers to get him to loosen his grip, which he does, slightly.
“Zac, what happened? Why am I in the hospital?” I ask again.
“You don’t remember?” he asks, looking up, concern creeping across his face.
I shake my head no, wincing as pain slices through my head.
“Where the fuck is the doctor?” Zac questions, looking towards the door. “Sunshine, I didn’t do my job. I didn’t protect you properly.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about. I close my eyes briefly—the light is really too bright.
“Shit, sunshine. Please open your eyes. Don’t go back to sleep yet, please,” Zac pleads.
My eyes pop open immediately. “Zac, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I was so fucking scared I was going to lose you. When we discovered Caitlyn had taken you, it felt like my world dropped out from under me.”
I tighten my grip on his hand in an attempt to reassure him that I’m not about to disappear.
“She took you to the cemetery, the one where your mother is. Three fucking hours away. By the time we realised she had you, she was two hours in front of us.”
“How did you find me?” I ask.
Zac shakes his head. He looks a little nervous. “I
uhh… well, I…”
I wait for him to decide on what he’s about to tell me. His hesitancy is making me nervous.
“Okay, I had a GPS tracker put into your engagement ring. I’m not sorry either. I know it’s probably all kinds of wrong, but it’s also the only reason you’re still alive right now. The only way we knew where you were.”
I look down at my left hand, where my engagement ring currently sits. I remember it was around my neck while I was at work, so I’m not sure how it landed back on my finger, but I think I could probably guess. I look back at Zac.
“Okay, let’s keep it there,” I tell him, honestly not bothered at all that he can track my location through the ring.
Zac sighs like a weight has been lifted. “Yeah? You’re not mad? Sarah said you’d be pissed when you woke up and found out I had a tracker on you. You can be pissed at me, sunshine. I can handle it.”
“I’m not mad; it’s a little disturbing that you did it without telling me. But I’m glad you could locate me easily. I’m glad you got to me before she finished what she started.” As I go to move my arm, the pain shoots down again. “What happened to my arm?”
“Caitlyn shot you in the arm,” Zac grunts out, “and I didn’t get to you in time. Dean had two guys near the cemetery for the last few weeks. They got to you, not me.”
I rub my fingers over his hand. “It’s because of you that those men were there.”
The door to the room opens and a doctor and nurse walk in.
“It’s about fucking time,” Zac bites out.
“Miss Summers, I’m Dr. Ryan. How are you feeling?” the doctor asks, while holding a light pen to my eyes.