Stay(27)

My breath caught in my chest, and a whimper escaped my lips when I stared down at the pages. The smiling face of my little sister looked up at me. In a horrified trance, I flipped through the pictures. The next photo was of Lynn, then my parents, then Ari again with the dogs. The last image was printed straight from Google Earth, and my house was circled in red ink.

“Try anything again and I cannot promise their safety,” Nate spoke calmly. He stood and yanked the photos from my clammy fingers, smearing the ink. I was too weighted down with fear to react. “Leave her. No food or water until tomorrow. If she tries to escape, put her back in the closet.”

Lily, who was pressed against a wall next to Phoebe, tried to step forward. Phoebe took a hold of her wrist and pulled her back, quickly shaking her head. Rochelle crossed her arms and glared at me for another few seconds before getting up and limping over to Zane. She gently touched the bruise on his face. He snarled at her and pushed her away. Not having her normal balance, Rochelle stumbled and fell, her knees smacking against the concrete floor.#p#分页标题#e#

Crying out in pain, she spun herself around and crawled after Zane. With one hand outstretched, she called to him.

“Wait!”

Nate had already ascended the stairs. Jackson stood at the base of the stairs with his arms tightly crossed, looking like he might get sick. Zane turned, cold eyes flashing at Rochelle.

“Later,” he said with no emotion. “I’ll come back later.”

Her whole body relaxed and a wide smile took over her face. “I’ll be waiting,” she cooed and used a chair to pull herself to her feet.

Zane turned, snapped his fingers at Jackson to follow, and stomped up the stairs. I heard the multiple locks click into place.

I let out a shaky breath and lowered my head. The adrenaline and terror were slowly leaving my body, letting the full extent of the agony my body was in register in my brain. Wincing, I moved so that my back was resting against the thin pillow. I closed my eyes, and hot tears rolled down my cheeks. It stung. I carefully reached up and felt several tiny tears in my skin, no doubt acquired from running through the darkened forest.

I turned my hands over and saw that my palms and been completely torn from the asphalt, as were my knees and my right side and hip. My head throbbed, and I was uncomfortably hot, making me wonder what would happen if my wounds became infected.

I heard the metallic squeak of the shower turning on. Phoebe moved around near it but didn’t get in. And then it shut off. She came over to the cot, carrying several wet rags and a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

“Me help.” She knelt down next to the cot. “This hurt,” she warned. I closed my eyes and gobbled the old quilt into my fists. Phoebe gingerly ran the wet washcloth over my face. I whimpered but remained still. She worked her way down, cleaning the dried blood and mud from my skin. Then she blotted every scratch with alcohol. I turned my head to the side and bit the inside of my cheek in an attempt to distract myself from the pain of cleaning my wounds.

“There.” Phoebe stood. “You want pain pill?”

“Sure.” Why not? Why should I suffer any more than I already was?

Phoebe went to the dresser and returned with an orange pill bottle. She dumped the contents out in the cot. It was full of different types of pills varying in size, shape, and color. She pursed her lips as she thought, sorting through the medication.

“I think this right one.” She picked out a large white pill. “Lily, get water.”

I took the pill from Phoebe. “Thank you,” I told her.

“You so close.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “So close to freedom.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No.” Her head whipped back and forth. “No apologize. So close to freedom is hope. We do it again.”

“Yeah. Uh … next time. Next time we’ll have a plan.”

“Yes. We come up with good plan, and we get out.” Her head tipped up and to the side as she spoke. She didn’t believe a word she was saying. And at that moment, neither did I.





CHAPTER TWELVE





ECHOING BOOMS WOKE me up. My eyes flitted across the dark basement to one of the small, rectangular windows. It was too dark to actually see it, but I knew the general location. Another boom rattled the house. Thunder. The loud noises had to be thunder.

I let my shoulders relax, and then I heard it again. My body went rigid. Bombs, it sounded like bombs. And then a faint, colorful glow illuminated the window.

"Oh," I said out loud. "Fireworks." Without warning, emotion bubbled through me and I started crying. There was one main reason for fireworks in the summer, and that meant we were four days into July. Four days into July meant that I had been held captive for over a month.#p#分页标题#e#