“You don’t know what you’re talking about” I said to him and he chuckled.
“You think?” He retorted.
He stood up and walked to the window.
He stayed there for a while.
“The cops are here” he said, his voice held disbelief and shock.
I looked up immediately and relief sprang through me for a second.
“Get up” he ordered me.
“I can’t ” I told him.
He ran towards me and picked me up from the bed.
“Josef, they might be here for another reason” I said as he carried me bride style out of the room.
He didn’t reply but I could understand that he wouldn’t risk it.
“I can walk” I told him as we entered the elevator.
He stared at me suspiciously then dropped me down.
We reached the second to the last floor and the elevator door opened, he pulled me out and led me to the stairwell.
Bravo, the police would use the elevator to get to the room he didn’t want to risk it either. I walked quietly, knowing that I had needed to find an escape. Once we reached the ground floor, he started pushing me to the exit through the back.
My limbs were weak, my throat was sore and my head was aching but I still had a flick of strength in me. It was like a dull flame.
I pulled my hand from his grip and I sprang away from him, he ran after me, trying to catch me and I started yelling, drawing attention.
I heard him cuss, I saw heads turning in my direction, saw the officers running towards us.
Everything was too overwhelming and I couldn’t process it as it happened.
I heard Josef struggling but I was on the ground, my cheek was pressed against the floor and the last thing I remembered was an officer telling me it’s going to be okay, they had Josef now.
****
I thought I was moving, maybe in a vehicle but as I opened my eyes and my surroundings started making a little bit of sense, I knew that I wasn’t moving but someone else was holding me and moving… No, he wasn’t moving, he was crying and his shoulders were shaking.
I groaned as the person added too much pressure on my chest.
“I’m so sorry” it was Christian’s voice, I heard it loud and clear.
My eyes shot open and I wanted to make sure that he was here, with me.
I couldn’t hold my eyes open but he was really here.
The next time I was awake, it was quiet and the room was dim.
Someone was holding my hand, I panicked and pulled my hand away.
What if I had been dreaming all this while, what if Josef was still here. A figure in the darkness sat up and advanced towards me, I closed my eyes and wrapped myself up in a tight ball.
I heard my own sobs and small whimpering but all I could feel was fear.
“Baby, it’s me” Christian said.
I looked up, he had turned on the light and it was really him.
I looked to the side, another figure was standing there.
It was Kylee and she was staring at me sympathetically. I looked back at Christian, his eyes were bloodshot red, just like Kylee’s.
I bursted out in tears.
***
Kylee was sitting on the bed, Christian had bought chicken soup for me, from a nearby restaurant and it was amazing. I moaned as I took another spoon.
“This is really good” I told Kylee.
She gave me a ghost of smile, that’s all I managed to get out of her. The smile faded quickly.
“Why is Christian taking so long?” I asked her
“He’s making sure Josef gets what he deserves”
I nodded and turned my attention back to the food.
“What about my mum?” I asked her.
“No one knows, but we’ll find her”
I thought about it for a while, and I got sick by the thought and lost my appetite.
“I couldn’t believe it when that man said my mum had given me to them… And then I remembered her promise of my birthday gift. It was her gift to me. How fucked up is that?”
Kylee shivered and shook her head. Jeandre walked in holding balloons and flowers. He smiled warmly at me, it was the first touching smile I had seen in hours.
He dropped the flowers by the side and handed the flowers over to me.
“Get well soon” he said.
“Thank you, Jeandre” I told him.
He turned to Kylee and I watched an expression cross his face, it was gone before I could make anything of it.
“Josef was not your fault” Jeandre said to Kylee, it was the first time I saw him directly addressing her.
She turned to him and gave him a flat look.
“Don’t try to pity talk me” she said to him.
That was the same attitude Kylee gave everyone that wasn’t in her circle and I suspected that her circle just got tighter.
“I’m not trying to pity talk you. I’m just stating the oblivious” he said and Kylee stood up and started to walk to the door.
“Are you leaving?” I asked her and she stopped walking.
I was taken aback by the tears on her cheeks.
“Christian is the only person in the world that is good to me and I have failed him several time, this time I’m not going to forgive myself and before I cause any more problems, I have to remove myself ”
What the hell did that even mean?
“Kylee… Jeandre is right. At least I don’t feel like you failed me”
She tried to smile, I saw the contemplative look but the intrusive thoughts won and she left.
Jeandre exhaled and took her spot on my bed.
“Have you guys met before?” I asked him.
He nodded.
“Plenty of times actually, she is Christian’s shadow. Whenever he goes, she follows”
“No, that’s not true ” I said and Jeandre shrugged.
“Your accent, where is it from?”
He visibly froze and I knew that it was a subject that struck his core.