Chapter Twenty #2
“Is that why you were gone so long?” It was the only thing that made sense. Everything else about Sawyer seemed the same. Well, minus the random dropping to his knees and sweating thing. That was a new development but it had to be related, right? “What happened?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Benji scoffed. “Why are you so resistant to someone giving a shit about your well being?”
“Because it’s not safe for you to give a shit about me.”
“Now you care about safety?” Benji turned to lay on his side, staring directly at Sawyer.
“Earlier today or…last night, whenever the fuck it was, you were so gungho about getting me out of here. About helping me,” his blue eyes narrowed, “Was that just some fucking bullshit?” Benji couldn’t help but laugh incredulously as he shook his head and laid back flat, staring at the ceiling. “I’m such a fucking idiot.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Then what the fuck do you mean by it’s not safe?!”
“I mean you’re going to get hurt even worse if you care about me even a little.”
Benji was extremely confused by that statement. “Why? Your uncle doesn’t have to know.” Sawyer flinched at the mention of that bastard and Benji’s brows furrowed. “Did…he do that?”
The man beside him nodded slightly.
“What…? Why?! What did he do?!”
“Because I’ve been disobedient.”
His eyes shifted towards the chair. “About letting me out?”
“About a lot of things, Benji.”
“So, he hurt you because of that?” Sawyer nodded once. “That’s some bullshit.”
“Par for the course. I should have known better.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t make it okay.” The two fell silent for a few moments after that. Benji didn’t know what to say. His mind was even more all over the place. Sawyer was hurt because he was helping him. He didn’t want that to happen. It wasn’t fair. It shouldn’t be like that.
“He beat me with a fire poker.” Sawyer eventually said.
“Excuse me?” Benji quickly asked, his brow furrowing as he looked at the man.
“It was…heated too.”
He swallowed hard. He couldn’t even imagine how badly that had to hurt. And it was because of him. Sawyer endured that because he was being kind to him. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
“The hand was probably the worst of it,” he mentioned, “He just stabbed my hand with it.”
The thought of that made him sick to his stomach. “Sawyer–”
“Benji, don’t.”
But Benji did anyway. “I’m so fucking sorry. I-I…I should have told you no. To leave me alone.”
“You were out of your mind. You didn’t know what I was doing anyway.”
That didn’t make Benji feel any better. If anything, it just made it worse because Sawyer really was just helping him from the goodness in his heart.
If Benji had begged him to do it, then maybe it would sting a little less.
A deep frown crossed his face as he stared up at the ceiling.
He couldn’t believe the next words out of his mouth.
“Forget about getting me out of here.”
Sawyer opened his eyes at that. “You were just pissed off about the prospect of me not helping you and now you’re telling me not to?” He shook his head. “You need to pick a lane, Benji.”
“That was before I knew what the fuck you endured just because you were taking care of me,” he paused, “Which, by the way, is your job to do. But I’m not gonna get into that.
” Benji sighed, “It’s just…you’re getting yourself mixed up in some shit you shouldn’t be getting yourself mixed up in.
Just let him kill me, it’s fine. I’ve had a fine life up until this point. ”
“Shut the hell up,” Sawyer spat, “You’re not dying down here, okay? He can hurt me and beat me all he wants. I’m still going to help you because you don’t deserve to be down here. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“And neither did you.”
That gave Sawyer a bit of pause. He clearly didn’t know how to respond to it. “I still want to help you,” he eventually settled on.
“It’s not a good idea.”
“None of this is. It’s all fucked, Benji. But helping you means helping me too,” he admitted and closed his eyes tightly. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to work for my uncle. I want to…escape. Run away. I don’t care where. I just can’t do it anymore.”
Benji took a deep breath and held it in his lungs for a bit before he slowly released it.
The conversation was heavy. The air around them was thick.
But it was a conversation that needed to be had.
Once again, he rolled back over onto his side, no longer bothered about what was said earlier. He just needed to look at Sawyer.
Slowly, he reached his hand out and softly placed it over the bandaged hand of the man beside him. “Then we’ll get you out of here. You can come with me.”
Sawyer’s brown eyes reopened and their gazes met. “Where are you going to go?”
“Home, I guess.”
He sighed. “But what about your family?”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. But that’s the only place I know to go. Someone there will help. Whether it’s my sister, dad, uncles…even my mom.”
“They won’t want me there.”
“They won’t say anything about it. You’re as much of a victim as I am.”
He could see the skepticism in Sawyer’s eyes at that statement but he didn’t say anything about it. Benji would just argue with him if he did because he really believed his words. Sawyer had been a captive for most of his life. There was no doubt about that. “What if they don’t help you?”
“They will.”
“What if they don’t want to help me?”
“They will.” He repeated. “I know they will. I’ll tell them everything you’ve done for me. They’ll be so thankful for you.”
Sawyer frowned a bit. “But what if they only care about the fact that I’m related to the man who kidnapped you?”
Benji shrugged. “Then they’re not the people I thought they were. And we’ll just…find our own way.”
Their gazes met once again. “You barely know me. Why are you so adamant about this?”
That was a valid question. Benji really didn’t know much about Sawyer but his actions since he had been there spoke louder than any other conversation they could have.
He did everything he could within his power to help him.
“Because I trust you,” he said, “You’ve been nothing but kind to me since all this has happened.
And you said it yourself, you want out of here just as much as I do.
We can do it. We can leave here together.
And when we’re free and safe, you don’t have to talk to me ever again if you don’t want to. ”
Sawyer chuckled at that. “And if I did want to?”
“Then that would be great.” Benji smiled softly.
Sawyer was silent for a few moments, clearly thinking about the options before him. And that was understandable. It was a lot to think about. After a bit, he did finally speak up. “Okay, Benji. I’ll go with you.”
Benji smiled just a bit and he nodded his head. “Good.”
“Now eat your protein bar. You look pale as a ghost.”
He snorted. “You try having hypothermia and an infection all within however many hours.”
Sawyer chuckled. “I’ll pass, but thanks for the offer.” He fell silent for a moment then said, “There’s another dose of the antibiotic. You should take it.”
Benji nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“I think it’s helping you some.”
“Yeah, probably.” Benji reached out beside him and felt around on the floor for a moment and found the bottle that Sawyer spoke of.
He popped one of the capsules and swallowed it down with the water he had been fighting for earlier.
Once done, he unwrapped the protein bar and took a bite.
It wasn’t the most filling food in the world, but it was at least something.
Beggars certainly couldn’t be choosers at that moment.
The two were silent while Benji ate his ‘dinner’ and by the time he looked back over to Sawyer, he saw that his eyes were closed.
The poor guy had fallen asleep. Figuring that was a good idea, he tossed the wrapper onto the ground and laid down beside him.
For a while, Benji just stared at the ceiling and thought about nothing and yet everything at the same time.
Then a small moment of clarity hit him.
He’d be getting out there with Sawyer.
That was a nice enough thought to lull him into the first restful sleep he'd had in days.