Chapter Eleven
Kara wriggled with discomfort as the hours ticked slowly by. She could no longer hold her bladder. She had to figure out a way to escape the dungeon like basement. She steeled herself against her mounting fear. She had to connect with her captor.
Kara drew on every bit of strength she’d ever known.
Fear hovered behind her thoughts like a ghost infiltrating a room.
She had to get free of the bindings and find a way out.
She listened to the distant hum of the plant, felt its vibrations beneath her.
She scanned the room, looking for something, anything that might give her an indication of where she was within the plant.
There were too many rooms that looked exactly like the one in which she was trapped.
The bare concrete walls, one light bulb hanging in the middle of the room.
She looked behind her—an opening to another room.
If only there was an exit in that room. She’d have to find a way out.
She made noises, wriggling to get her captor’s attention.
He walked toward her.
Kara’s heart raced. She had to do this. She had to try.
He stared down at her, his face a mixture of concern and…
something malicious that she couldn’t place.
The guy was insane, and Kara thought she just might be, too, for trying to connect with him.
Her legs were bound too tight to cross them, so she pulled her kneecaps together and glanced from her knees to him, over and over again, trying to signal that she had to go to the bathroom.
If she were untied, she could run. Don’t go down without a fight.
“What?”
She shook her head, bent forward, rocked.
“I don’t know what you want.” His voice rose and fell with agitation. “All I want is to be together. Siblings shouldn’t be separated.” He turned his back to her.
Siblings?
Roland turned around and she silently pleaded for release, eyebrows pulled together, sad eyes at half-mast.
He crouched beside her. “I’m gonna take off this tape, Marissa, but if you scream, that’s it. Understand?” His eyes remained locked on hers.
She nodded, her eyes hopeful. Who the hell is Marissa?
She held her breath as the duct tape ripped clear of her skin. Tears sprang from her eyes. Stinging pains pierced her cheeks.
He sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry. Your face.” The edges of his lips sagged. He took his sweatshirt in his palm and moved to wipe her cheek.
She pulled back. “I have to go to the bathroom,” she said in a shaking, thin voice.
“Oh.” He scratched his head, looking around as if he, too, wondered where a bathroom might be.
“Please, I don’t care where I go, just let me go. I won’t scream. I won’t run. I promise.”
He walked out of the room in silence.
“Please?” she yelled after him. “I just have to pee. I won’t scream. Please?” Her throat was so dry, as if it were stuffed with cotton.
She heard the same dragging sound she’d heard earlier.
She spun her head around, this time afraid to scream—afraid of what he might do to her.
She didn’t think she could take another minute of that tape on her cheeks.
She felt her tongue along the tiny piercings inside her mouth, where her teeth had ripped into the flesh of her cheeks.
The sharp taste of blood was still present.
She felt her face grow red and set her lips in a determined, tight line.
Who the hell was he to hurt her like this?
Anger seared through her veins, brewing a resolve she wished she could harness.
Slow footsteps approached. He slid a box cutter from his pocket.
“Marissa,” he whispered. His hand shook as the blade came closer.
“I’m not Marissa,” she cried, pulling away, whimpering.
His hand stopped midair. “Shut up. That’s them talking, not you.”
Kara rolled her lips in tight to keep from speaking. If she was going to come out of this alive, she needed to stay focused. Step one, get out of the bindings. Step two, find the exit. Step three, run. Oh, God, please don’t kill me.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Marissa, but…they brainwashed you, don’t you see that? All these years we’ve been apart.” He shook his head from side to side. The box cutter shook in his hands.
“Please don’t kill me. Please,” she begged. Kara looked down at the thin cuts on her wrists, feeling the slits pulsate with stinging pain.
He gripped the box cutter so hard his knuckles turned white. He grit his teeth. “Goddamned Social Services. Don’t you remember the way we used to be?”
“Please,” she whispered.
“What have they done to you?” He grabbed her bound hands and brought the blade down toward her wrists.
“Please,” she cried. Tears spilled down her cheeks. She pulled her wrists back toward her chest, but his grip was too tight. She trembled so badly her teeth chattered. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away, expecting the sharp slit of her wrists, the burn of death slowly taking her.
A quick tug on her wrists and the duct tape fell away.
Kara opened her eyes. A loud cry escaped her lips, coupled with nervous, relieved laughter. She quickly covered her mouth.
Her captor remained crouched before her, the blade between his thumb and forefinger.
Kara looked at the angry red scratches on his hands and swallowed hard. She tried to speak, her voice merely a whisper. “Thank you.”
Something scurried in the darkness. Kara’s eyes shot in the direction of the sound, which faded away as fast as it had come. The door.
The man stood. He gave Kara a long, hard look, then walked toward the noise.
Kara’s mind raced. Her legs were still bound. Should she tear that tape off as he walked away? Should she scream? She wiped the tears from her eyes and reached for the tape. The pads of her fingers touched the shiny silver edge.
He turned back toward her.
She quickly brought her hands to her ankles and rubbed them. “My legs ache. I really need to pee.”
The man stood up straighter, rubbed the back of his neck. “Just tell me one thing, Marissa. How’d they keep you away? Did you try to find me?”
Kara bit her lower lip. She wanted to scream I’m not Marissa! but she feared for her life. She needed to get free of the bindings. She said the only thing that she could come up with, the truth. “I was scared.”
He sat beside her on the floor.
Kara inched away from him.
“I broke my promise,” he said, turning sad eyes toward her. “I promised they’d never separate us. I promised I’d take care of you.”
Kara’s words came without thought. “It’s okay.”
“No, no, it’s not okay,” his voice grew loud. He pushed to his feet. “I made a promise and I broke it, all because of those damned Lowreys.”
Lowreys? “It wasn’t your fault.” Kara had to calm him down. His anger would only be taken out on her. “You…you’re here now. That’s what matters.”
His hands clenched and unclenched. He scratched his knuckles and tiny flakes of skin glided to the floor. He turned to face Kara.
Kara spoke quickly, “You found me. Who cares about the…Lowreys?” She stole a look toward the darkened end of the room. She had to escape. She willed her eyes to see past the pitch black. It was no use. She’d have to take her chances, run in that direction and hope she’d find her way.
“You don’t have to worry about them no more.” He spoke in an even, matter-of-fact tone. “I took care of them.”
Kara’s throat tightened. Fear soared through her limbs like lightning.
She brought her knees to her chest, breathing in fast, hard breaths.
A killer. She was going to die in this awful, stinky, dirty room, in the bowels of the power plant, and she’d probably never be found.
Any attempt to speak was stuck in her throat, silenced by fear.