Three weeks later…

“The doctor is happy with your progress.”

“When can I go home?”

She paused, and then slowly straightened. Her dark brown eyes watched me with concern.

“You keep saying that he’s happy with my progress, but you never tell me when I will be discharged.”

She reached out but hesitated. I waited for her to touch me. Instead she lowered her hands and took a step back.  “You have been through a lot. That was before you were shot. Your body has suffered a lot of abuse and it needs to heal,” she paused. “Your mind also needs to recover. Once the doctor is certain that you’d be okay, he will discharge you.”

She left before I could question her anymore. I fought the urge to throw something at the door. I had woken three days ago from a medical induced coma with Patrick at my side. He was the only one I’ve seen. No other family has come to visit me. Not even Stephen. Being under had made me remember. I remembered my life before I was kidnapped.

The things that had happened to me during that time would never be forgotten. I would never be able to forget the face of that man. After a few hours of being awake the doctor had came in to speak to me. He had explained that he had placed me in a coma to heal. According to him my body and my mind was in a bad place. I was shot twice the night they came to rescue me. With internal bleeding and low blood pressure I was rushed to the hospital.

They manage to stabilize me. I’ve been kept in the room with no TV or radio. Nobody was allowed to give me any newspapers to read. The nurse that looked after me also refused to answer any questions that involved my family. Whenever I asked Patrick about them he told me that they were fine. I was getting sick of it. I wanted to see my mom and sisters. Hell I even wanted to see Michael.

What the hell were they hiding from me?

***

I glared at Patrick. He sat across from me on the edge of the bed. Patrick smirked at me as he lowered his cards.

“Don’t be a sore loser sweetheart,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes at him as I dropped my cards onto the bed. He laughed as he collected it. We’ve been playing different card games for the past hour. The nurse had come in before disappearing again. I was given some pain medicine and something else that made me feel slightly woozy. I glanced up when I heard the knock on the door. Seconds later it opened. If I could get of the bed I would’ve ran to him. It felt great seeing another familiar face.

“Can you give us some privacy?”

“Everything you have to say to her or she has to say to you is my business,” Patrick said softly.

They stared at each other silently for a few minutes. Michael finally nodded. He softly closed the door behind him before walking further into the room.

“I spoke to the doctor. He said that you’re doing good.”

“They keep saying that but no one tells me what’s going on. They won’t even get me a TV or radio.”

“They have their orders,” he muttered.

Michael took a seat on the chair next to the bed. He held a thick brown file in one hand. “How are you doing?”

I shrugged. “I’m fine apart from not getting any answers.”

“I know you don’t really want to talk about what happened, but I need-“

“You need nothing,” Patrick cut him off. “She’s been through hell and you want to drag her through it again.”

“I don’t want to,” he glanced at me. “I have a job to do. The sooner we can get this over with, the better.”

“Hit me with it.” I sucked in a deep breath and slowly blew it out.

“I need you to tell me exactly what happened the day when you were kidnapped.”

My eyes dropped to my lap. I felt sick as the memories played through my mind. I knew I had to tell him what happened. Patrick took hold of my hand and gave it a squeeze. 

“I was at the supermarket getting some things. When I walked out I saw the van and called Stephen.”

“Why?”

I licked my lips. “When we went to the beach there was an incident.”

“What sort of incident?” Patrick questioned.

Too late I realized that I had to tell them everything to make sense of what I had said. I squeezed Patrick’s hand tighter.

“Remember that day I went to the party?”

“You came home crying and spent most of the weekend locked up in your bedroom,” Michael said softly.

“Kate and I were talking and someone overhead us. They announced the fact that I was still a virgin to everyone,” I glanced up at him. “I hated going to school after that night. They called me names and teased me. I got fed up so I did something stupid.”

Neither man said anything. They waited for me to continue. With tear filled eyes I did. “I placed an ad online that I wanted to sell my virginity.”

“How the hell could you have been so fucking stupid?” Patrick exploded.

I glanced up at them. I hated to see the disappointment in their eyes.

“Go on,” Michael ordered softly.

“I used a fake picture but I told my real age, name and where I lived. I got two replies. One was from a stranger and the other from Stephen. He told me to meet him and I did. That was how I met him.”

“Son of a bitch!”

I ignored Patrick and continued to tell them the rest. “On our last day at the beach we decided to go watch movie. We split up. Kate said something’s that made me mad so I took off.”
I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them. My eyes moved to Michael. “I walked into a man. He tried to drag me towards a van but I started fighting. He called me by my name. After that he injected me with something. I was paralyzed. He would’ve succeeded in kidnapping me if someone didn’t call out. He promised he would find me again.”

“Would you recognize him if I showed you photos?”

I nodded. It wouldn’t be hard to recognize him. He’s been my tormentor since he kidnapped me again.

“You called Stephen?”

“Yes. I told him about the fan and he asked for the license plate number. After I hung up I walked to my car and he was there again. I was injected again. When I span around Kate stood there with the injection. I passed out. I woke up in a container with other girls. I remember Anne and Mary.”

“Can you describe them?”

I gave him a description of all the girls I could remember. He wrote down every single detail before asking a few more questions. I kept the details to a minimum. They didn’t need to know all the details of the abuse I had suffered. Patrick had stormed out of the room when I briefly mentioned the raping. I could tell that Michael wanted to walk away too, but he had a job to do. When I finished we sat in silence.

“Why won’t anyone tell me anything?” I questioned.

Michael sighed. He closed the fall and placed it aside. His eyes caught mine “Do you know for how long you were gone?”

I frowned. “I was kept in a dark room most of the time. The only time I was allowed out was when he wanted me. I wasn’t aware of day or night. Time was lost on me.”

He surprised me when he reached out and gripped my hand. “You were gone for two years Alia.”

I was shocked into silence. Two years. My heartbeat increased. I tried to blink away the tears but they fell anyway.  Michael stood and took a seat on the edge of the bed. He wrapped his arms around. I clung to him as I allowed a sob to escape. I’ve missed two years of my life thanks to that bastard. 

“I want to see mom,” I whispered.

He sighed. Michael pulled away. He cupped my cheeks and wiped the tears with his thumbs. I couldn’t understand the sadness I saw in his eyes.

“Alia your mother,” he swallowed. “Your mother is gone. She died a few months after you got kidnapped. I’m sorry honey.”