Abducted (Amber Alert Series Book 2) (14 page)

Chapter 27

Steve didn’t let me forget the phone call. We had passed the sign for Ashland, Ohio just after Steve lost the cops on the back roads. I’m sure we had been on television for a while in a high-speed chase. So when we arrived, we had to stay in the house for a few days, and Steve used that time to punish me. The flashbacks were just as gruesome as the attacks themselves. I could hear the clothes being ripped from my body, my screams would echo through the empty house, Steve’s pleasured noises filling my ears. I could still see flashes of Steve’s face bearing over me, the enjoyment on Steve’s face, but the worst part was that I could still feel everything. There was no end in sight and it seemed to go on for ages. My screams never stopped; the tears continued to fall. I wanted nothing more than to die before it could happen again.

Steve didn’t even give me another room in the house. I had tried to escape so many times that he thought I enjoyed my punishment and that I was begging for his attention. I broke windows open and ran off whenever he opened the door, but now he wasn’t taking the chance. I was his, and he wasn’t letting me out of his sight. He took me everywhere, but made sure to change my appearance so that I wouldn’t look like Audrey Thomas.

Unfortunately for him, I was getting the word out in small ways.

I couldn’t do anything direct, but when people asked me my name, I said Anna, but then I would spell out Audrey in the dirt when Steve wasn’t looking. There were small things, but I needed to do more. I needed to find a way out, because I was losing hope. These days had passed so slowly that I felt as if months had gone by in a short span of time. But today was my day because Steve had finally made a mistake. He went to go get gas after picking up supplies from a local hardware shop and ordered me to pick up some food since we weren’t eating until later.

“Get whatever you want, just don’t spend it all,” Steve grunted as he threw bills and change into my hands.

I was about to walk off when he grabbed my shoulder and forced me to turn around. “And don’t talk to anyone. You know what happens when you break my rules now,” Steve said in a threatening tone.

I felt my body instantly shudder at the memory. The images instantly started resurfacing in my mind, and my body was ready to cave in on itself in a vain attempt to get rid of them.

“I know,” I said, as I turned and walked off.

I walked nonchalantly into the gas station store as if I was just passing through. The man behind the counter didn’t even look up when I entered; he was useless in helping me. I must have been in more shops and outdoors more than I was as a child over the last few weeks, but no one seemed to notice. Steve hadn’t changed his appearance that much, but no one seemed to lift an eyebrow in his direction. He had only grown out his hair and a beard and gotten a fake name so that he could work at a garage under the table. It was off and I didn’t like it, there was something very wrong here.

I made my way through the aisles without a problem, but I could feel Steve’s gaze burning into my back. I walked out of his view toward the next aisle and made my move. There was a telephone on the far wall and I had just enough change to make a phone call. It was risky, but I was becoming desperate. I glanced around nervously as I picked up the phone and slid the change into the slot. My heart was thundering into my chest and my breathing was rapid and shallow. I punched in the number for my house as soon as the dial tone came up on the pay phone and waited.

The phone continued to ring, but no one picked up. With each ring I continued to look around; Steve could come at any minute and then I’d be done for. I was about to hang up when my dad answered the phone.

“Anna? Audrey?” he asked curiously.

“It’s Audrey, Dad. I helped Mom escape, she’s safe.”

“I know. She called a little while ago from a police station in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Where are you?”

“I’m in Ashland–” I said, and then the line went dead before I could finish my sentence. I looked at the phone curiously and then felt a hand on the small of my back. The touch sent chills up my spine; I was in for it now.

"I guess I'm going to have to teach you another lesson. You must love getting punished if you keep up this behavior. Get the food, we are going home," Steve growled quietly in my ear so that only I would hear.

“No problem,” I said, as I went back to the aisles and took my time. I picked up random food without really looking at the label, and once I ran out of aisles to saunter through to waste time, Steve took the food from me. He went to the counter and dropped it in front of the man without a word.

The man behind the counter didn’t even look at me; he barely looked at Steve. He placed the items into a bag and handed them back to Steve before returning to his paper. I caught a glimpse—February 5th. It had been two months since Damien and I were arrested, and separated, which meant four months total since I had last been home. Now, I had sealed my fate with that phone call.

I was long past desperate now. I longed for Damien to magically show up and save me, or for my father to understand what I said and try to find me. It was a vain dream; now I had to live with pain and suffering. I miss Damien, I thought sadly to myself, as the car door slammed beside me and I was trapped yet again.

Chapter 28

When we first got here I tried everything, and Steve gave me a few passes because the other girls had tried them as well, but he didn’t seem to understand that I wasn’t going to give up. It’s been more than a year now, and I was going to escape or die trying—and now I could see that the only way out was to die trying. It was either die here with him or die in my escape, but either was better than another day with him and his torture. I shivered at the memory and then cringed at the sudden pain in my back.

There was still pain from my last escape attempt, and it wasn’t healing well. I had found a window on the second floor that opened above a lot of bushes and was willing to risk it. I had gotten onto the ledge and was about to jump when Steve pulled me back in and threw me onto the floor.

“How dare you try to escape? I’ve given you everything,” he screamed, as he kicked me in the stomach, which rolled me over so he could kick me in the back.

The beating continued for a long time, and by the time it stopped I could barely feel his blows. There was no fight left in me after that, I was broken and a shell of my former self. There was no way for me to get out and I was on my last bit of strength. Tears fell as I realized just how hopeless it was. I had been beaten every day; there was no stopping. I was bleeding constantly; Steve had become concerned and had a local doctor make sure I was okay. The doctor said I was fine, but recommended that he give me time to rest and that I shouldn’t try to do any work around the house. That’s when I realized that Steve had somehow become a prominent member in this town. People liked him and wanted to help him. It was sickening.

“Don’t worry, Audrey. Everything will work out, it always does,” Steve said one day as he left for work. He leaned down to kiss me and I didn’t even move. My body didn’t respond and my eyes lacked further expression than a blank stare. He didn’t seem affected by it though; in fact, I think he liked it. He finally had the obedient wife that he always wanted.

I watched as he walked out of the door and stood there like a statue. My mind and soul were empty. Everything that mattered to me had been taken out of the world I lived in, and now I was trapped in hell with no way out. Even when I tried to escape when Steve was gone, he caught me. All of my attempts were useless, and there was no way to get out. I sighed heavily as I walked out of the room, with nowhere in mind as I walked around the empty house. It was two stories big and reminded me a lot of the house Damien had trapped me in the first time, but this time was different. There I still had the will to fight, and I also had someone I felt feelings for that didn’t hurt me. Here was hell.

I continued to walk until I made it to the bathroom, and for no real reason I let out a loud scream. It was a mix of terrified and tortured as I looked at myself in the mirror. I stopped when I saw the dead look in my eyes; I was a lost soul with no way out. My hair was a mess, there was dried blood all over me, and suddenly, as I looked at my appearance, I was taken over by anger. Another monstrous scream left my body as I slammed my fists into the mirror. There was a loud crack as the mirror broke from the impact, but I didn’t stop. I continued to pound the mirror, releasing my frustration, until I was in tears.

“There’s no way out of this!” I cried as I slid onto the floor.

I felt the crunch of glass beneath me as I laid down and let sorrow fill where anger had once reigned. I felt so hopeless and lost, I couldn’t handle it anymore, but what was there left to do? I felt a pinch as some of the glass shards dug into my skin at the change of position.

Glancing between the broken shards of glass, I had one last idea for escape. A final, desperate attempt to escape, but it was all I had left. I looked between my reflections in the broken glass and reached for a distant shard. I pictured my mother; I had saved her. I thought of my father; he would understand, but be broken. Then I thought of Damien; he would be destroyed.

That thought alone almost stopped me, but then I heard Steve open the front door and call my name. Then without another thought, I stabbed the shard into my arm and let out a sharp scream. Steve’s footsteps raced up the stairs, and I looked at the shard with disgust. I had to end it, I thought, as Steve burst through the door. I put the shard to my throat and he lunged for me.

"If you want to die so badly, it will be at my hands," he said, as he pulled me off the floor and away from the glass. “You’ll die like all the other girls did; The Chase.”

Chapter 29

I was tossed out of the house without a second thought. Steve threw a rag out with me, to stop the blood from gushing out, and that was it, nothing else; I was on my own. Did he think by throwing me out I wouldn’t try to end this suffering? I would end it; after I ended him. If he was going to hunt me down, then I would make it my goal to bring him down. I just had to find a way to do that. I got up as quickly as I could and took off running in a random direction. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do since my parents had only warned me of the dangers of people, but didn’t take the time to tell me how to live in the woods. I could sharpen a stick, but I’d need a knife and I felt as if Steve had been shot and stabbed enough and he didn’t die.

That’s when I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of some field that I had no idea where I was. I felt as if I had run for hours, but I wasn’t sure. I knew I had covered a lot of ground before I sat down and took a rest. My thoughts couldn’t help but go to Damien. I wondered where he was, what he had done for the last few months, but mostly I wondered why he left me. I know my mom had said splitting up was for the better, but that was before Steve took me.

I wouldn’t have been able to leave Damien with Steve, so why had he done it to me? What was he doing while I was here, running for my life and trying to find a way out. I thought back to when he saved me from the house, the smoke was choking me, the flames were closing in, but he was still there for me. He was fighting for me, trying to save me, but now when I needed him he wasn’t there. He had left without me and now I had to survive alone. I blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the tears in my eyes, and glanced around in the moonlight.

I must have fallen asleep, soon after that, because when I woke up the sun was up and I could hear Steve behind me. His voice traveled through the trees and sent me into a sprint. I didn’t think he would actually come after me, but now that he was I didn’t want to die. I just wanted to get out of this alive. I got up and sprinted through the trees and brush. There were bushes cutting into my legs, but I could hear Steve’s laughter behind me so I kept running. There didn’t seem to be a place to stop or a place to run to, so I had to run and stay alive for those that couldn’t before.

I wasn’t going to be another statistic in the Steve Bennett murders and kidnappings.

I continued running through the trees until I made it to some cliffs. I glanced down to see a lake below me, and that’s when I got an idea. I turned around and held my arms up, not in surrender, but as if I was about to fly.

"You've lost!" I screamed at him as I stepped onto the edge of the cliff, ready to plunge into the lake below. "You don't have the pleasure to kill me. You've lost my mother, and I can guarantee that you won't find her ever again. You've lost, Steve, and the only thing you have left is you!"

"Not true, I still have you," he said as he lunged forward. I steadied myself as I took a step back and felt my feet go off the ledge, but as I dropped, Steve grabbed me and pulled me back. 

He threw us both on the ground, with him on top of me laughing manically. "I won, Audrey! I still have you! There is no end because—" 

I heard three loud shots ring out before Steve's body collapsed onto mine. There was something warm starting to seep through my clothing as the body was ripped away from mine. I looked up to see Damien in tears as he saw that I was okay. He immediately fell to the ground next to me and hugged me tightly to him. He sat me up after a while so I could see my parents, each with a gun, with triumphant smiles on their faces. They had successfully killed the man that made their lives and mine living hell.

"How did you find me?"

"When he went to prison, I got everything. Including the deed to the house here in Ohio. Which was hidden in one of his old books."

"Why did it take so long then?" I asked curiously.

"We needed to end this and get you out safely. Plus he had too many books and hiding places. We spent months combing through them all to finally get a lead," my father answered, as he leaned down and hugged me. "I'm glad you're safe, Audrey. I'm sorry it didn't seem as if we were fair to you growing up, but we did what we believed was best and now it's up to you to fix what parents believe now."

"I'll do it," I said confidently, as another shot went off. We all turned to see Damien standing above Steve's body with a smoking pistol in his hand. 

"I had to make sure he was dead,” he said in a sullen tone, as the blood pooled out of Steve's head and onto the ground around his cooling body.

"We'll find your sister one day, Damien," I responded, knowing that he was upset that he would never know what happened to her. 

"Maybe, but I'm glad to have you back, Audrey." he said, hugging me again and kissing me in front of my parents.

"Like mother, like daughter,” I heard my father say in a light tone as he kissed my mother. "Now let's go home."

***

I had to go to the hospital and have surgery to repair my injuries. I had broken a few bones, cracked ribs, and there was a case of malnutrition. It was hard to hear. I was told that it would be a long road to recovery because my body would fight the medication the entire time. I'd need a lot of time to heal, if I ever did. Damien comforted me as best as he could, and my father tried, but neither of them really knew what to say or how to fix it, so they left and allowed my mother to do it for them. My mom and I had had a long talk and shared experience, and I finally understood that some secrets are better left a secret, but others had to be told. 

"I never told you because I didn't want you to live through it, but I see now that it didn't work."

"I lived it through your eyes for a while. I had dreams, and I finally understand what you went through. I wish I had understood that before. It wasn’t fair to blame you for the laws; it was others. They wanted to feel safe, but the laws made teens act out more. It put us more in danger than without the laws."

"It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m glad you’re safe and that you understand now. Maybe you can work to get rid of some of the laws, you’ll see how much power you’ll have in those choices after this. It’s stressful, but if you want to see change, then you have to be the one to lead it in this case."

"Thanks, Mom. I know you’ll be there for me. The dreams weren’t so bad, it allowed me to see what it was like, but they also helped me understand how I felt about Damien," I said quietly, with a broad smile on my face.

"Do you love him?"

"Yes—I agreed to marry him, and for a moment the horrors of what Steve could do to me were gone."

"That's exactly how I felt when your father proposed to me," my mother said with a smile as she gave me a hug. "I'm sorry you had to live through this, but it's over now. We can both move on with our lives, and move past this."

"Do I have to change my name like you did?" I asked my mother as she got up to leave.

"That's up to you. I'm done changing names, there's nothing else to fear now that Steve is dead," she said with a smile.

"Wait, Mom!"

"Yes?"

"If I told you our story, would you write another book?" I asked.

"Why would I do that?" she asked curiously. “The first book was the only story I had to tell. It answered all the questions that people had, and I was never searched for again after it was published.”

"Damien loved your first book,
Amber Alert
, and I think he'd love a sequel," I suggested with a smile. 

A smile curled my mother’s lips, "I'll have to have your father help me again, let's see if he's up for it. What would you like it to be called?"

"
Abducted
."

"I can work with that. I'm sure Damien would love a copy," my mother said with a laugh, as she walked out of the room. 

For the first time ever, I finally felt like I had a relationship with my parents. I couldn't be more thankful for that. It's also what gave me the power and confidence to give a speech against the harsh laws that children were now put under. Even as I stepped to the podium, I knew that I had the courage to do it. I was the new voice of change, and I had a lot to say.