16. Chapter 16 - Hadley
Chapter 16 - Hadley
Breathe
I sat in the back of a police cruiser for the second time in the same day, but my hands were uncuffed and Kip held them in my lap from where he sat next to me. Police cars formed a convoy and headed towards the crime scene to carry out further investigations based on the information I had given them. I felt exhausted and sick just from driving towards the house I had escaped from.
When we pulled into the driveway, I took a deep breath and Kip squeezed my hands as I looked out the window at the modern house in the woods that had held me captive for six days.
I had to see it through.
I nodded to him curtly, granting him the permission he had been seeking. In response, he opened his door and extended a hand to help me out, while Sheriff Boyd, Agent Harvey, and their team members also disembarked from their vehicles.
Agent Harvey walked up to me and looked me in the eye with respect instead of accusation like she had when she’d first walked into the interrogation room. Tim walked up behind her and lent his silent support as I prepared myself to rip open every wound that had just started to close.
She spoke up first, commanding the scene, “I have to ask that no one touch anything inside of the home, our crime scene team will touch anything that we need to with gloves so we can keep evidence accurate. Are you ready to lead us through there, Hadley?”
I swallowed and licked my dry lips as I looked over across the dark lawn to the spot where the flood lamps illuminated the grave I’d spent so much time in. A chill passed through my body, and Kip wrapped his arms around me and kissed my hair.
“He cannot hurt you anymore. I won’t let him.”
I smiled sadly up at him and then nodded my head and Agent Harvey led the way to the front door. She and Boyd walked in first, and we followed.
I instantly felt my body stiffen as I stepped over the threshold. We stood in the living room in silence for a moment as everyone looked around, seeing the space with fresh eyes since the truth came out.
Boyd couldn’t tear his eyes away from the closet behind the door, and Harvey was staring longingly at the bookcase.
However, I couldn’t look away from the crimson stain on the carpet in the middle of the room where I had taken the life of the man who had tortured me when he tried to permanently end my life.
I remembered the way the knife had slid in my hand as it plunged into his chest for the first time from the sweat on my palms.
I remembered the noises that escaped his throat as it violently leaked blood out onto us both as he struggled to breathe.
I remembered the smell of his life leaving his body.
Kip’s body was coiled tight next to me and his grip on my hand was iron-tight as he fought his own emotions to be there with me. “Hey,” I said, tearing my eyes away from the stain to look up at the man who had stolen my heart in such a short time. “You don’t have to stay if it’s too much for you. I’m sure this must bring back memories for you—”
“Stop.” He commanded. “I’m irate because of what you went through here, not because of anything else. I’m here for you, and I’m not leaving.”
“Okay.” I loosened my hold on his hand and hated the way it felt empty as soon as it let go. Stepping around the yellow place markers outlining the stain, I walked towards the bookshelf and Agent Harvey as Kip reluctantly let me step out of his embrace. I stood next to her and pointed to the shelf halfway up on the end. “The screw on the outside board.” I waited for her crime scene man to step forward and raise his glove-covered hand toward where I was talking about. I nodded when his hand touched the hole. “Push it in.”
He did and there was a deafening click as the entire unit moved and he pulled it open, revealing a set of concrete stairs illuminated by an eerie green light dangling from a socket in the ceiling.
“Son of a bitch.” Harvey said from next to me as she looked to the stairway. She drew her gun and motioned for me to stay back as she and her team slowly descended the stairs and cleared the room below. “It’s empty.” She yelled back up and beckoned for me to come down.
Kip slid his hand along the small of my back and I leaned into him. “My brain is trying to tell me he’s down there waiting for me. Which I know is crazy, but—” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the rough stairs that had inflicted so much pain on my body each time he threw me down them.
“I’ll go first,” Kip said, waiting for me to look at him. “Remember what I said. I’m never going to let anyone hurt you ever again.”
He walked down the steps and turned to look at me halfway down and then walked down the rest of them, looking around the room before calling back for me. “Come on down, baby.”
Tim walked up next to me and took a deep breath, “That man has it bad for you, Hadley.”
I was surprised when I actually chuckled and nudged his arm with my shoulder. “I’d be lost without him.”
I took the last step towards the stairs and Kip stood at the bottom, looking up at me and holding his hand out for me, so I forced my feet to take the steps down until my hand slid into his.
The smell hit me first and instantly sucked me back into the darkness of the iron cell in the damp basement air.
The tiny cell sat in the corner and his workshop of torture devices lined the walls. I leaned into Kip’s side as he looked around and saw everything that had left distinct marks on my body.
I watched as the agents took pictures of everything, looks of pure shock and disgust covered their faces as they finally saw their victim for the monster that he was.
The red-handled cane stole my gaze and wouldn’t let go. So much pain. Fuck, it had caused devastating agony across my body with each swing.
“Breathe, Hadley,” Kip whispered into my ear and held me.
But if I took a deep breath, I’d remember the fear I’d felt while sitting in the pitch black alone in the cell, unsure if it was day or night. Unsure if that would be my last day on Earth, or if he’d keep me alive for more torture.
I couldn’t breathe down there.
“He kept the video files over there.” I pointed at the wall that had a bunch of storage bins labeled with dates and names on them.
Agent Harvey walked over and quickly opened one with her gloved hands and looked back at me, shocked. She turned around again and looked at the many bins. “ There has to be fifty different labels on these. Fifty different girls?”
“At least,” I answered and took a gargled breath as my lungs ached for air. “He talked about how he’d been doing it for decades.” More memories assaulted me. I could hear his voice.
“My God.” She whispered as she stepped back so her team could photograph them. “Where are the bodies buried? Did he tell you?”
I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. My mind was screaming in agony and my heart was splintering further the longer I was down in the basement. I needed fresh air; I couldn’t take a deep breath.
I could smell his skin.
“In the woods, he didn’t say where exactly.”
I could see the emptiness in his eyes.
I could feel the squeezing of his hands around my neck.
“Kip-,” I gasped, my voice cutting out. My skin was tight on my arms and hands. I felt an icy shiver run down my spine and tingles break out over my body.
“Hadley?” Kip called, putting his hands on each side of my face and making me look at him. “What’s wrong? ”
But I couldn’t see him past my memories. I couldn’t see anything.
You’re my favorite trophy yet. My most prized possession. You feel so good.
My mind swarmed as I tried desperately to keep the past and the present separate. My eyes wouldn’t focus on anything as noises sounded far away suddenly.
“Baby, look at me. Look right into my eyes.” Kip was crouched down in front of me, trying desperately to get my eyes to look at him. My chest felt like the monster was sitting on it again.
“I can’t breathe,” I whispered, forcing the words through my dry throat. “Help me.” I felt the panic rise in my nerves as I clutched at my throat. “Please, help me,” I begged as Kip’s hands ripped mine from my throat where I was digging at the skin with my nails, desperate to release the hold the ghost had on me.
“We’re done. I’m getting her the fuck out of here.” Kip barked as he slid his arms under my legs and picked me up. He ran up the stairs as I buried my face in his neck. “I’m right here Had. Feel me. Smell me. You’re safe. I’m with you. ”
I held my breath as darkness descended over my vision completely, my arms clinging to Kip like a buoy in the middle of the ocean of turmoil.
When we made it outside, a rush of fresh air snapped against my skin, making me gasp as I drew it into my lungs, soothing the burning ache inside of them.
“That’s it. Take a deep breath.” He said as he sat me down in the front seat of Tim’s rental truck. He turned my body, so my legs were hanging off the seat out the door and he stepped in between them and hugged me to his body like he was my life raft. Holding onto him tightly, I surrendered to his scent enveloping me, bringing calm to my pounding heart and chaotic mind.
As soon as I regained the ability to form a coherent sentence, I weakly uttered into his neck. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“Then we’ll leave.” He barked orders around to people who had come out of the house after us and before I knew it, I was being whisked away into the back seat of the truck and tucked into his lap as Tim drove us back to Kip’s house.
I kept my eyes closed and my mind focused on his chest rising and falling under my cheek and timed my own to his and before I knew it, I was drifting into a dazed sleep. Worn out and drained, he lifted me from the truck, saying something to Tim, and then walked us into his home.
When we walked in, I was vaguely aware that Mike was sitting in the living room with Dev, but I didn’t pay attention to what they said as Kip carried me upstairs to his bedroom.
He stripped me out of my clothes and pulled a long-sleeved shirt of his over my head before sliding his bare body in next to mine under the heavy weight of the blankets.
“You are so unbelievably strong.” He whispered into my hair. “I love you so fucking much Hadley.”
My body succumbed to exhaustion, and as sleep enveloped me like a menacing creature lurking in the depths of dark water, I answered back. “I love you too.”
Praying for a reprieve from the chaos in my mind, I went willingly.