The sound of voices echoing somewhere far away makes the hair on my arms stand up and fear skitters up my spine. “Do you know how many are here?”
“They didn’t take the sack off my head until we were in here, but I heard two different men talk to D, but there were other voices in the background. I don’t know how many.”
“Ok, that’s good, Hallie.” The voices are getting louder. They are definitely in a warehouse, the echo is undeniable, and it sounds like they’ve been walking a long time as their voices get louder, so it’s big.
It feels like it’s happening in slow motion. Voices, footsteps on stairs, louder voices in a hallway, and then the door opens.
Dim light from the hallway spills in and I can see that the room is small, and it’s made up of cinder blocks. The two cots we are sitting on are the only things in this room. Well, except for a bucket in the corner, and I really don’t want to have to use that.
I hope I don’t have to use that. They’d have to unbind my feet first.
“Well, well, look who’s awake.” D says. He takes up most of the doorway and I can’t see him very well.
The light is brighter behind his head and hurts my eyes, which is making my head hurt worse, so I stop trying to see him and keep my gaze on his feet. There is another set of feet behind him, but I’m not going to try to see who it is.
D walks over to Hallie and cuts the binding on her feet and jerks her up to standing by her arm. “Come on, pussycat, we’ve got some lost time to make up for.”
She yelps in pain and starts to fall. “Stop jerking her like that.” I bark. “Her feet are asleep.”
D stops and looks at me, humor on his face. “So, you do have a voice. I was starting to think you were a mute.” He chuckles and starts to walk slash pull Hallie to the door. “Don’t worry, she’s in good hands.”
The fast beat of my heart seems to make my body shake with each bu-bump and I shakily say, “Hallie?”
She looks over her shoulder as she goes through the door. “Don’t worry about me, Marley. I’m okay.”
The light from the hall shines on her face and I can see the tear streaks on her cheeks and her red eyes. She’s not okay.
“Where are you taking her? Why can’t she stay here with me?” I ask.
D doesn’t answer me, I didn’t expect him to, but I just felt like I needed to stall them, so I said the first thing to come to mind. I don’t want to be here alone.
Hallie disappears around the corner with D and I get my first look at the person who was in the hall behind him. The long, angry cut up his cheek freezes my insides, and I suck in a breath.
I’m not sure what’s uglier, the leer he has on his face as he looks down at me, or the cut on his cheek. I’m pretty sure he blames me for that cut, and that thought has my heart jumping in my chest as my stomach lurches.
He’s smiling at me, but the look in his eye makes me recoil into the wall behind me, pulling my knees up to my chest. Hissteps are slow as he walks across the room, that disgusting smile on his face. Every move on his part seems to be calculated, but when he pulls a knife out of his pocket, panic grips my spine.
“I told you I’d do some damage to that pretty face of yours.” He leans over the cot, getting close enough that I can see the beads of sweat on his forehead.
My back and head are flush against the wall and I lower my eyes, not wanting to look at the pleasure he is getting out of this in his eyes. His hand is on the edge of the cot for leverage, his fingers look like sausages with hair on the knuckles.
The blade touches my cheek, just under my eye and starts to move down, the sting of the cut spreading across my face. “How does it feel? Hurts don’t it.”
I don’t cry out, I won’t let myself, but I can’t stop the sob that bursts from my chest. He’s dragging the blade slow, and I can feel a line of blood sliding down my jaw to my neck. Squeezing my eyes closed, I hold my breath to try and stop any more sound that would give him satisfaction.
“There.” He says and stands up straight. “Now we’re twinkies. Isn’t that what you girls call it?”
Keeping my eyes closed, and my head turned away from him, I jump when he yells. “Look at me.”
My eyes snap open and I turn toward him. He smiles as he looks at the cut. “Looks pretty good if you ask me.”
Icy blue eyes turning from calm to furious flashes in my mind, the hope that he will find me soon is keeping my mind from spinning out of control. His words ‘Uvek c´u doc´i po tebe. Da? [I will always come for you. Yes?]’ echo in my brain and I lock eyes with the excuse for a man standing in front of me. “He’s going to kill you when he finds me.”
He laughs and leans over the cot again, his face just inches from mine. “He’ll have to find us first, blondie. But there maynot be anything left for him to find.” His breath is just as bad as it was the last time he was in my face. He smells like an ashtray.
The pressure around my ankles tightens momentarily before I hear a snap and then is gone as he cuts the zip tie before he straightens again. He makes a show of folding his knife back in its sheath and walks out the door, locking it behind him.
CHAPTER THIRTY
