It was the hundredth time I was calling Elisa, after going round and searching ceaselessly, I was left with no clue, no bloody clue. At this point, even Harry couldn’t help because there was nothing to hack into, no cameras… Nothing. It wasn’t that Elisa was smart, she was just… Lucky to have done what she did in a place that was free of technology.
The call hummed with life and I could hear shallow breathing at the end of the other line.
“Hello…”
I knew I had to go to Elisa, try to talk her out of it or try manipulate her to give me the location of where she was. She couldn’t keep Jenna alone, Jenna was stronger than her she had to have found someone to help her.
I knew that there was no other way I would find Jenna if Elisa didn’t help me and I couldn’t threaten her or bribe her, both would make her suspicious and too proud or too angry.
The soft breathing persisted and there were no words.
“Elisa” I called her softly.
“What do you want, Christian?” She asked harshly.
For the first time in my life I was without a plan, I was not calculating ahead. I wasn’t doing anything.
“I know you have Jenna __”
“You betrayed me, she’s pregnant… You both are engaged!!”
I closed my eyes listening to her yell and scream all kinds of hateful words towards me, telling me that she loved me and I close another person.
“Tell me where she is”
“Why would I do that? I have plans for my wayward daughter, I’m going to cut that thing out of her belly first as a punishment to her”
My breath hitched in my throat.
“Elisa…”
Before I could complete my statement, the line went dead.
The phone slipped out of my shaking hand and I tried to catch it but it landed too fast. The world was ending.
****
The light movement outside the door made me alert, I heard keys clank together in their bundle and I sat up. The door opened to reveal a middle aged woman. Her face looked plain and yet when her eyes landed on me, it was dead as if had seen a million deaths.
I shivered and moved towards the wall, deeper into the bed so that if she tried to reach for me, I could hit her first.
“Eat!” She pointing to the plate she dropped on the table.
Without another word she turned to the door.
“Please, wait..” I called after her, I was at the edge of the bed when she slipped out of the door and jammed it in my face. The locks clicked again and everything fell silent. I turned to the food and water, my belly grumbled.
I ran towards it and moved my spoon around it, searching for any particles of powder resting at the bottom, there was nothing I found. I smelled it to see if I could perceive anything out of the ordinary, nothing. By the time I began eating the food, it had gone cold.
I slept and woke up by morning, very early in the morning that the sky was still dark blue. I watched the sun rise and I sat in the bed till the sun was setting. There were no movements outside my door, it was as if they had forgotten me.
I woke up forgetting the time I fek asleep in the first place. The plate I had used the day before yesterday was still sitting on the table. My limbs were shaking as I used my elbows to propel myself upwards.
I went to the door and banged on it, I yelled and kicked and screamed. After about two hours, I went to the window. It offered the side view of the house, there was nothing interesting about the building that neighborhood this one.
The next day, the same woman came in with a different plate of food, I was too weak and hungry to raise my head from the bed when she arrived, maybe that was the plan.
She dropped the plate of food and new bottle of water, scooped the of plate and turned to me.
“Eat!!” She said sternly, this time I didn’t try to go after her.
My eyes roamed the walls of the room, it was yellow… There was a small desk and chair at the far end, only one door, the bed I was laying on and a little green rug.
By midnight, I decided to eat the food. My body was shaking as I sat and raised the spoon to my mouth, I gulped most of the water but knowing that they planned to feed me one every two days, I decided to save most of the food and water.
By evening the next day, I felt I was going crazy. I could smell Christian, I saw Blue doing a catwalk in the room, I saw Kylee grinding on a pole… When I blinked everything was gone.
I finished the rest of the food and the water, went to sleep and I woke up by late morning the next day and I stared at a wall until midnight came and the cold hands of sleep whispered promises of death in my ears. The next morning, I was awoken by Elisa.
“Get up!” My eyes snapped open to see my mother standing in front of the bed, two bulky men were standing behind her. Today made it the sixty day I was here.
“I said get up”
I tried to sit up but my hands felt like Noddles.
“Take her” she ordered and the men came forward, each held me by my arm and they pulled me to another room.
It was a bathroom and there was a tub filled with water, when I understood that they were going to bathe me, I fought for my release.
My mother’s hand came to my zipper and she pulled it down as the men held me tightly, despite my thrashing. When I was naked, they put me in the tub and the middle aged women that had brought two plates of food in six days came and started scrubbing me with lavender scented soap.
When she was done she washed my hair and shoved a toothbrush into my teeth, when she was done with scrubbing, the brush was painted red with my blood. My gums were on fire.
“Take her back” the woman commanded and the men yanked me out of the bat tub and took me to the prison.