[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter 24

It’s only been an hour. Benji and I had been sitting here exchanging words every now and again, not really having any sort of conversation, and it had only been a fucking hour. It felt like it had been a million hours, but alas, it had only been one. I don’t know how much longer I can last like this, shit I don’t know how much longer Benji can last like this. He’s feeling a lot of pain and he wants to sleep, but I’m afraid about letting him sleep because quite frankly, I don’t know if he’ll wake up from it. I tried to look over at him but, even though my eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness, I couldn’t see him.

“Benji,” I said softly, hoping that he hadn‘t fallen asleep.

“Hmmm,” he mumbled, I could tell that he was getting more tired by the second and I felt bad about him having to suffer through all of this. He wasn’t the one that they wanted, I was.

“Are you alright?” I asked for what had to be the millionth time. Quite frankly, I was surprised that he wasn’t completely annoyed with me at that point.

“Tired.”

“I know babe, just hang a little longer, okay?”

“Can’t hold on for much longer,” he muttered, his voice obviously weakening. I reached my hand out and it came in contact with Benji’s arm. I gripped him lightly in an attempt to soothe him. He moved closer to me and rested his head on my shoulder.

“I know Benj, but you gotta,” I insisted.

“Come on, just a little nap,” he whined, sounding like a child. I contemplated it, I really did. Benji really needed some rest and since he was so close to me, I would be able to tell if he stopped breathing or anything. Then again, we did have to call Joel back soon to find out what the plan was. We could be spending our last hour here and if I couldn’t wake him up when it was time to get out of here, we could be in a lot of trouble if we needed to get out of here quickly.

“Wait a little while, just until after we call Joel back and find out what’s going on so we have an idea about how much longer we’re gonna be here,” I whispered back to him, deciding that waiting would be best.

“Ang, come on,” he whined again.

“We might be getting out of here as soon as we call Joel back and you need to be awake if that’s the case. But if we’re gonna have to wait again, I promise that I’ll let you take a nap,” I said, hoping that we would be getting out of here when we called Joel back and I wouldn’t have to let him sleep because it was really the last thing that I wanted him to do.

“Alright,” he replied. I smiled, knowing that he couldn’t see it, because I was relieved that he wasn‘t going to continue to beg with me. If he kept begging me, I eventually would have given in because I love him and I don’t want to continue to put him through the pain that I’m sure he’s dealing with right now.

“I love you Benjamin,” I told him seriously, kissing the top of his head.

“I love you too Angela,” Benji replied as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I started to run my fingers through his hair. I found it rather amusing that not even two weeks ago, our roles were reversed and he was the one soothing me. I guess we really did both need each other. My head immediately jerked up when I heard something right outside of the door and I could feel Benji lift his head slightly too. “What’s happening?” Benji whispered.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. It couldn’t be Joel and the police because it was too soon, they wouldn’t have made a move already, especially since they were expecting Benji and I to call them back. Knowing this, I figured that Benji and I would need a plan just incase we were split up. “Benj, no matter what happens, I want you to hang on to your cell phone and call Joel back. Even if we get separate and you don’t know where I am, I want you to go. If you get the chance, leave,” I whispered.

“I’d never leave you behind,” he replied, sitting up. “Never.”

“Benji, please promise me that if it comes down to it and you have to decide between getting out of here to save your life or coming back and risking your life to save me, that you’ll leave.” Benji was silent. I waited only a second longer before speaking, “Promise me Benjamin.”

“I can’t and I won’t,” he simply replied. Damn him, I thought. The last thing I needed him to do was to put up a fight about this. I wanted to make sure that he got out okay, he was hurt, he needed help more that me.

“Benji please,” I pleaded.

“No,” he said sternly, his voice beginning to sound like normal and not the weak and tired voice that he had been using only moments before.

“You’re hurt Benji..”

“I don’t care,” he interrupted. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

“Don’t be sss..” I started to say but was cut off when the door flew open. I was squinting from the sudden burst of light, but as soon as my eyes adjusted, I could see Mike, my attacker from the ally, standing in the doorway.

“Come with me,” he said grabbing my arm and yanking me to my feet and I yelped in pain.

“Where are you taking here?” Benji demanded. Mike ignored Benji and pushed me through the doorway, where the other man was already waiting. I froze with fear but was snapped quickly back into reality when I heard Benji yelling and banging on the door that had been shut. “Where the fuck are you taking her!?”

“Benji!” I yelled when Mike roughly grabbed me and started to drag me away from the almost prison like room that Benji was still locked in.

“Angela?!” He yelled back and continued to pound on the locked door. Benji continued to pound on the door and call my name as I was being dragged away, my mouth now covered by Mike’s hand, preventing me from screaming back. I fought against his grip in order to call back to Benji but it was to no avail, the grip Mike had on me was too strong. I continued to struggle as I was being dragged down an empty hall which was only lit by the sun spilling in through the dirty windows. Dust was being disturbed as we continued to move and I continued to fight. I’d survived this long and I’d be damned that after all I’ve endured if I didn’t go down without a fight.

“In there,” one of the men said (I’m not sure which one it was) as I’m pushed into a room where a few dirty mattress lay and my eyes widened in fear as the thought that they were going to rape me entered my mind. I began struggling even harder, using all the might that I could muster. Mike shoved me (at least I think it was Mike) roughly and I went tumbling down onto the mattress, face first. The horrible smell of the aged mattress immediately overwhelmed my senses and I began to cough. Coughs erupted from me for several moments and when they finally seemed to calm down, I realized that the two men were gone and the door was shut and most likely locked. I was thankful that they had left me alone and not harmed me in any way and hopefully they wouldn‘t hurt Benji either.

I looked around the small room, this one had a window, to see that it was only slightly larger than the one that I was just in, but that was really the only difference. This room, like the other, was bare with the exception of the dirty mattress that I had been thrown on. After a moment, I lifted myself from the floor, a few stray coughs leaving my lips, I walked over to the window to see if I could spot anything or anyone that looked like they were here to help Benji and I. But I didn’t see much of anything other than a bunch of old looking buildings and only about three to five cars, but nothing else. Mike and his brother were smart in bringing us here because they would notice if an unfamiliar vehicle was to park in the area. That would make a police watch difficult. I sighed hoping that the police would be able to figure something out. They had to. They couldn’t just leave us here like this, we could be killed at any moment.

I sighed and moved away from the window, not wanting to think about anything bad that could happen to Benji and I. There was probably already a plan in the works and that was why Benji and I had been separated. Maybe they had heard us talking. A new wave of panic rushed over me, what if they heard us on the phone with Joel? If they heard us, that would mean that they knew that the police were coming.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I whispered to myself, panicked by the thought of Mike and his brother knowing about our plan. Benji and I would be in a lot if shit if that were the case. If they knew that we were plotting against them, they could kill us. They really didn’t have a reason to keep us alive any more any way, they had gotten out of the police station in one piece. Then again, they could be using us as leverage in their escape. Maybe there’s more to this than we knew about. I mean, there was no way that this was where they planned on staying. They couldn’t possibly remain here forever, they had to be after something else. I sighed again and lowered myself to sit in the corner of the dingy room.

I began to run my fingers through my hair but I stopped when I got an idea. The window, maybe I could climb out of it. If I could get out, I could get help, but help was coming, wasn’t it? I looked up at the window, still not pulling myself up to my feet. I was confused, I didn’t know what I should do. There might be a way for me to get out of here, but I can’t just leave Benji like that, there was no telling what could happen to him while I was gone. I stood up and walked over to the window, I didn’t want to leave, I just wanted to know if escaping were a possibility if worse came to worse. Taking a deep breath, I gripped the window and pulled. To my utter shock, it opened. Keeping my calm, I pulled the window closed slowly as to prevent making a sound. Carefully, I eased myself back down onto the floor, this was all going to be over soon. In less than an hour, Benji was going to call Joel back to find out how the police were going to get us out of here, at least I hoped we were going to get out of here.