He tilts his head back and laughs like the crazy man he is. I don’t know what happens next because right before my eyes my world goes black.
My head is throbbing when I finally come to and I try to lift my hands to feel why it is hurting so badly. Then it all comes rushing back to me. Everything. The first phone call from Joel, him showing up at my house and beating me. The hospital, the fire. Joel being in the bathroom after my shower, Shelby screaming and crying trying to help me. My sister. Oh, God my baby sister, what must she be thinking right now? And how is my beautiful, sweet daughter going to handle all of this? And Adam. I just can’t begin to imagine what they are all going through and Shayne with her pregnancy... she doesn’t need this kind of stress. I have to think. I have to outsmart him and do whatever it takes to be able to survive. He’s so much worse than he was before.
I see darkness the minute I open my eyes. Where am I? I can’t move my hands to feel around because they are taped together but I do lift my arms and they hit something hard. I feel around and start to panic as I try to stretch out my legs but they keep hitting something. I am locked in the trunk of the car. Where is he taking me? What is he going to do? Oh, God! I am starting to panic and I can’t breathe. This is it; he really is going to kill me. I start to hyperventilate even though I told myself I would stay calm and not let him see my fear because I know he thrives on seeing it.
I know there is no way I am going to be able to get away from him. I am helpless and completely at his mercy. My heart is pounding and my head is racing. I have to think. I can’t die at the hands of this man. I just can’t. The hot, salty tears start to roll down my face and I have no way to wipe them away. Do I reason with him and when he thinks I am going to comply with everything he wants then make my move and try to escape? It’s the only way I can think of to try and get away from him because no one is going to be able to find me. I need to calm down and figure out how I am going to escape the man who’s on a mission to kill me.
I have no idea how long I have even been in here. I do feel when the car comes to a stop and starts back up again. And now it seems like we’re slowing down as I hear what I believe to be gravel under the wheels of the car. We come to an abrupt halt and I am slammed into what I assume is the front of the trunk. I hear nothing for a few minutes and then I hear the sound of the car door slam. My eyes get wide and my chest starts pounding again as I lay here waiting to see what Joel is going to do when all of a sudden I hear the keys in the trunk and the lid is lifted.
My eyes are instantly blinded by the light and I blink several times to adjust them and when I do, Joel is hovering over the top of me.
“How was the ride, Erin? Are you nice and comfy back there?”
I don’t know what gives me the strength not to answer him but I don’t until he leans down and grabs hold of my face, squeezing my cheeks until tears start to prick my eyes.
“If you want to live through the rest of this day, you’d better start answering me when I talk to you. For the last time, Erin. DO. NOT. FUCK. WITH. ME. Now let me show you what’s going to happen if you don’t start cooperating with me.”
He removes his hand from my face and I feel it burning from his disgusting and grimy touch. I see his hand come up and before I even know it, he backhands me across the face. It stings and it burns so bad that my eyes start to water.
“You have got to be the most foolish woman I know.”
He is so close to my face that I can smell his breath. He’s been drinking. I can smell it all over him. I try to blink back the tears and stay strong for myself as well as the ones that I love, but I can’t, I can’t do it anymore. Memories start to roll through my mind faster than a freight train as I remember what Joel did to me that last time he came home drunk. Please, God. No. Don’t let him do that to me again. This time I know I won’t be able to survive.
“I know that look, Erin. You’d better be scared, you fucking whore. I should just dig a hole and bury your ass in it, but not yet. I am going to play with you a little bit first and YOU are going to love every minute of it.”
I blink back the tears as best as I can and think of Adam. My Adam. The man who saved me, the man who loves me, the man who believes in me and in us, the man that I have to fight for. And then I see my daughter. The young, vibrant girl that she is and the woman she will become. The love I have for the two of them and the love they have for me is all the strength I need to make sure I survive. Some way, somehow, I’m going to make it through this.
“It looks like you need some help getting out.” He reaches in and lifts me out by placing one hand under my knees and the other under my neck. My body tenses up at his touch and I just want to kick and scream and have him take his filthy hands off of me.