“I’m so tired, Patch.”
“I know you are, sweetheart. I know you are.”
“I just need to sleep,” she tells me. My chest aches, and not from the beatings I’ve taken. They hurt for her. They hurt for everything that she’s been through.
Something surges inside me when I feel the nail slip free. I bring it up to the cuffs and slowly try to pick the lock. I know times wasting. I know she’s slowly slipping away from me, and I can’t let that happen. I can’t lose her. That thought alone sends a chill over my body. I can’t lose her. Is there something more to us? More than just the sex? I feel connected to her now. I feel like I need her in my life, and I need to protect her and heal her at the same fucking time. It’s overwhelming, this fucking emotion that I feel.
I continue to work on the lock when I hear the door open. I close my fist around the nail to hide it from their view. Just like every day, a sandwich and a bottle of water are dropped onto the floor in front of us. When the guy leaves, I grab my water and check it over before uncapping it and taking a long pull. Anika doesn’t do the same.
“Anika?”
“Hmm?”
“You need to drink,” I tell her. She shakes her head. “Yes. You need to. Get the bottle for me, sweetheart.”
“No. I’m so tired,” she says softly.
“Anika, look at me.” She slowly rolls her head to the side and opens her eyes. She’s fading. She’s losing, and I can’t let that happen. “For me, Anika. Do it for me. Please.” I’ve never said please for anything in my fucking life, but for her I will. I will fucking beg if I have to. I can’t lose her.
“For you,” she whispers before weakly reaching for the bottle. I watch her check it over slowly, just like I taught her to before she takes the cap off. I watch her take a small drink before I get back to work on the cuffs.
It seems like hours go by and nothing. Then suddenly one of the cuffs falls free. I let out a breath of relief before moving to the other one. I glance over and see that Anika is asleep again. Still, I don’t want her to get her hopes up if I can’t get these off. I continue to work on them, hoping that no one comes down here again. Then it clicks and falls free.
I glance around, making sure no one is coming down the steps, before I stand and rush over to Anika. I see the dried blood on her flesh, and it pisses me off. The stab wounds, the blood between her legs, on her thighs. I hate myself for what I did to her. I hate them for making me do it.
I grab her wrist and slide it up the post until I can get a good view of it. Then I begin to pick the lock on hers.
“What’s happening?” She asks softly.
“I’m gonna get us out of here,” I tell her.
“How?”
“That window. You’re gonna have to use all your strength, Anika.”
“I don’t have any left,” she cries, her eyes filling with tears. I stop what I’m doing and grab her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me.
“Yeah, you do. I know you do. You’re strong. You can do this. I’m gonna get these cuffs off, and we’re gonna climb out that window. You’re gonna run. You’re gonna run as fast as you can, okay?”
“What if I can’t?”
“Do it for me, Anika. Run for me.” She nods her head slowly as I wipe the tears from her dirty cheeks. Then I get back to work on her cuffs. One pops free, and my heart beats a little faster. I know at anytime they could come down here. I know I’m playing a game that’s dangerous to both of us. I glance over at that window, unsure that I’ll even fit, but I know she will. Then I refocus on the cuff on her arm. I hear someone moving around upstairs, but I don’t stop. I keep working until her other arm is free. Her eyes snap to mine, unbelieving that she’s free.
“Now what?” she whispers. I pull her to her feet to test her leg strength.
“Move around, get some feelin’ in your legs,” I tell her. I pull my shirt over my head and pass it to her, nodding at her to put it on. She takes it and pulls it over her head as I walk over quietly to the table. I pick it up, carry it across the room, and set it under the window. Breaking it is what I’m worried about. I look at the window and then down at myself.
“You’ve lost weight,” Anika says. I nod my head, hoping I’ve lost enough to fit through there.
“If I don’t fit, you run.” I ramble off Kal’s number to her, but she shakes her head.
“I’m not leaving without you,” she says.
“You have to. If I don’t fit, you run and call Kal. Don’t look back, Anika.” I grab her face roughly in my hands as I force her to look at me. She finally gives up and nods her head.
“Okay.”
“Good girl,” I say before pressing my lips to her forehead. Then I climb onto the table and grab the small rock I see sitting next to it. I slam it against the glass, listening to it shatter but praying they didn’t hear it upstairs. I stand still for a long second just listening, but when no one comes to the basement door, I keep moving. I pull all the glass, piece by piece, from the window and set it to the side so she won’t get cut on her way out.
