Chapter 4 #2
Pressing down on the accelerator, I decide to speed up a little bit to see if I can lose them, then swiftly turn down a street that takes me onto the highway.
I haven’t driven this way before but at least it’s a longer stretch of road that I can hopefully use to put some distance between us.
The rough streets quickly turn into smooth tarmac as I join onto the highway, as soon as I’m safely into a lane, I push my foot down further, hearing the Chevy’s engine roar to life as I speed down the smooth road.
The metal barriers and treelines whip past in a blur with no sign of the blinding headlights behind me.
Maybe they were just lost? I keep my hands firmly on the wheel when a harsh light blinds me from the rearview mirror, causing me to squint my eyes from the intrusion and I pull into another lane, quickly overtaking another car.
My stomach coils tightly with anxiety as the large vehicle rapidly finds its position behind me again, this time even closer than before to the point where I’m being nudged up the road.
Panic and fear strangle my lungs and I pull into the closest lane near the metal barriers, my knuckles painfully sore from gripping onto the wheel, fearing for my life.
I try to keep my eyes on the road and the mirrors at the same time to watch the vehicle follow me into the lane that we’re now both sharing.
There’s no way of me losing this vehicle without causing a crash, and this stretch of road seems to be going on forever.
Did I tell Dean that I loved him? I can’t remember.
I hope he knows how much I love him because I know deep in my gut that my demons have finally caught up with me.
No one else knows that I’m living here, that I ran away from my husband, and now he’s here for me.
I knew the dream of me and Dean would swiftly come to an end, almost too good to be true even.
But, if this is the end, I’ll die happy, knowing that I had those few short months with him and that’s more than I could ever ask for.
Releasing one of my hands from the wheel, I quickly grab my phone and type a message to Dean.
He needs to know that Ricky has found me.
That I didn’t die for nothing. I press send on the phone but it slips from my hand, dropping heavily into the footwell before sliding under the passenger seat, and that’s when it happens.
The car whips like a fish out of water across the tarmac and I shove my foot onto the brake then turn the wheel in hopes that I’ll stop the car from flipping but I’m too late, it’s all going too fast. Bright lights flash across my eyes as the vehicle behind me clips the back end of my car again, causing me to flip into the air, leaving everything to move in slow motion.
Sounds whoosh out of my ears before I hit the tarmac with a sickening thud, instantly the scraping of metal against tarmac stabs into my ears like a blade.
Round and round I flip, the car spinning at speed and I’m thrown around inside like loose change in a washing machine.
Glass shards pierce the air before embedding themselves into my skin, my face smashing against the steering wheel with a crunching thud and the world falls silent again, just the ticking of the engine can be heard through the throbbing pain in my head.
Am I dead?
“Ana? Are you alright?” The sound of Emily’s voice sounds so far away as the hellish memory fades back into the recesses of my mind.
“Um. Yeah, sorry. I just..” My words fail me as exhaustion takes over my body.
“It’s alright. We’ll make it out of here. I promise.” She says as her hand caresses my shoulder.
I smile at her words, and her faith that we’ll get out of here alive but in the back of my mind I know it isn’t true.
I almost want to tell her that we’ll die here, but the look on her face has me keeping quiet.
I can’t do that to her, so instead I cover my hand with hers and fall into a fitful sleep as blood dries on my back.
Each day turns into a blur, the hours and weeks pass by into nothing. The days are endless. They say time heals all wounds yet my time here is just creating more wounds that will never have the chance to heal.
Everyday we’re subjected to brutal acts from men who think they rule the world.
That women are nothing but shit on their shoes, a product to be used and sold to the highest bidder.
I haven’t seen Ricky since that time in his office, but I can’t count my blessings just yet for it’s only a matter of time before he decides to come and collect me again.
The girls he spoke about with Nico arrived this morning.
Well, I think it’s morning but I can’t be sure. Time is irrelevant in hell.
I know the guards separated them off into smaller groups, throwing three into our living quarters.
They’d dragged more cages in through the night to accomodate the new prisoners.
Girls who don’t even look old enough to walk to school on their own, nevermind be subjected to a place like this.
I could feel my heart breaking at the cries and wails from the younger ones as the guards pulled them into the small basement room, all of them kicking and screaming in an attempt to escape.
“Please! Please, don’t do this!” One of the girls cried out as her bare feet scraped across the filthy concrete floor.
The guard simply walked on with this hand planted firmly into her blonde hair before throwing her against one of the cages.
She landed with a heavy thud before crumpling down to the floor in a fetal position, her shoulders shook with fear as she cried for help. Help that would probably never come.
“Let me go. Please, please let me go.” She whimpered into her arms but I could tell the moment the guard had had enough of listening to her when he removed his baton from his belt and swung it across her face, sending chipped teeth flying across the floor like a shattered cup.
The rest of us backed further into our cages as the young girl screamed in pain, chunks of blood and broken teeth flying out of her mouth as she cried.
My stomach ached with fear and anger at what these people were doing to us, what my husband was doing to us.
I could feel my back screaming in agony from the blistered wounds as I shoved myself against the back of the cage.
Emily cried softly beside me in her cage and I slipped my hand through the bars to link with hers.
She lifted her head the moment our hands joined together, her eyes pooling with heavy tears. I tried to give her a brave face, to show her that maybe things would be okay but I couldn’t. I couldn’t lie to her and I couldn’t lie to myself either.
I prayed and begged and pleaded to anyone up above who would listen to me that we’d find a way out of this place, that Dean would come for me but everyday that passed, that wish slowly drifted away until it became nothing at all.
Just a whisper in the wind.
My husband covers his tracks well. He’s clever and manipulative and he has some very powerful people in his back pockets that he could always turn to if shit went south.
If Dean is going to find me, he and Eli are going to have to dig deep into the archives of Ricky’s life to even have a chance at finding this place.
The sound of a girl being thrown into her cage knocks me out of my trance, the heavy metal bars slamming shut echo around the dark space.
Finalising her stay here. She curls herself into a small ball in the corner of the cage, the front of her robe stained a bright crimson from the blood that’s pouring out of her mouth.
My gaze stays locked on hers as she lifts her head, our eyes connected for a split second before she looks back down again.
In that moment something passed between us. An understanding of sorts that we’re all in this together. That maybe we’ll never see each other again after this.