Lost In The Dark (‘Lost’ #1)

CHAPTER 6

ADDY

“No! Just st-stop,” I whimpered to the beast of a man that dragged me from the back of a rusted out old van and into a building that looked like a warehouse of some kind. It was dark out all around me, and freezing cold. “This is a mis-take! You c-can’t do this!” I cried desperately, the words barely coming out because of how violently my entire body was trembling, and how hard I was struggling to get air in, in my panic.

“Shut your fucking mouth and move, bitch!” The man hissed, then the hit came. A back hand across my face, so hard my vision dimmed and my legs almost gave out beneath me. But the beast didn’t relinquish his grip on me. He was huge, a mass of muscle and fat, on a frame that had to stand well over six feet. His head was completely bald and the look on his face was cold and menacing, especially when he hit me again. He seemed to enjoy that part, clearly. He’d already hit me twice as he was dragging me from the first derelict house, which I’d been held in for a matter of hours, and into the van.

He wasn’t the one who took me. That had been a group of three men who had all been slimmer and smaller than this monster. They’d found me broken down on the highway. My useless heap of rust I called a car had given up on me late at night, as I drove home from my job. I’d been waiting for the tow truck I had called when the large, modern SUV had pulled up behind me, and I’d been too busy worrying about how on earth I would find the money to pay for the tow truck and car repairs to pay much attention.

The three men had approached me, feigning kindness, and offering help. I had remained wary, fully aware how at risk I was on the deserted highway alone so late in the evening, but that hadn’t helped me fight back when two of them grabbed me. My fight had been completely useless and pretty pitiful. The next thing I knew a needle was being stuck into my neck, then everything went dark.

Now here I was, being dragged to God knew where by this beast with a penchant for laying his hands on me.

As the fuzz in my head, from the hit, started to clear, we were already walking through the door and into the warehouse. The smell was the first thing to hit me, a mix of extreme body odor, what I was sure was sewage of some kind, and damp. Then I heard the noises, a mixture of quiet sobs and desperate pleas.

“Oh God!” I gasped as I lifted my head and looked around the huge open space. Before me, lining the three long walls of the cold, drafty warehouse were cages, so many of them I couldn’t keep count. Inside each and everyone were women, tens of woman in filthy clothes, their faces marred with bruises just as I’m sure my own was. Most were huddled on the concrete floor, crying. Some paced back and forth past the metal bars that hold them prisoner. And that’s clearly what they were. Prisoners.

In the middle of the space sat a table and chairs, just like a family might use for dinner each night, but no family sat around this table. Instead there were six men, all very obviously armed with guns which sat before them, on the table, as they drank from bottles of various liquors and played cards. The prison wardens I realized.

I’d seen scenes like this on the crime shows I loved to watch. I knew what this was. Trafficking. Human trafficking.

Tears filled my eyes and my heart beat sped up ten times faster as I realized I had to get out of there. I couldn’t be one of those woman, trapped behind bars, just waiting to be sold and brutalized.

I tried to wrench my skinny arm from the beast’s grip, but he held me too tightly, so I started to kick out as hard and fast as I could, kicking at his tree trunk legs with my bare feet over and over.

“Looks like you got a feisty one!” One of the men sat at the table laughed from behind me, but I didn’t turn. I can’t stop. I have to get away! I told myself.

“She’ll learn,” the beast sneered as he threw me to the ground with just one shove, releasing my arm so I landed hard on the concrete. “They always learn,” he added, then he started kicking me. His heavy boots landed on my side over and over, and all I could do was scream in agony, powerless to even stand against his tirade, let alone fight back.

A shrill, terrified scream ripped me from the nightmare and back to reality. I sat up, gasping for breath and covered with a sheen of sweat. I looked around frantically, completely terrified. Where am I? The fact I had no idea of the answer to that question only added to my panic, and I threw myself from the bed and to the carpeted floor.

“Addy?” The lights overhead in the room came on as someone called my name loudly. I didn’t recognize the voice and I couldn’t make myself think straight through my terror and the panic that had a firm grip on me.

I shuffled backwards until I hit the corner of the room, then I curled up as small as I could, knowing I’d be a smaller target that way. I wrapped my arms around my knees and began to rock. I could still smell that warehouse, hear the cries of those girls held prisoner. I still felt as if I were there and the footsteps approaching me could only be those of the beast, come to hurt me again.

I clamped my eyes closed and slammed my hands over my ears. Maybe if I can pretend he’s not there, he’ll disappear, or maybe I will . I’d take either option over what I was so sure was coming.

“Addy?” He knows my name! How does he know my name? “Addy, it’s just us, sweetheart. It’s just Asher and Eli. Can you look at me?” The words were muffled by my hands over my ears, but I heard them.

The names pulled me further from the images I was trapped in. I knew those names. Asher and Eli. They came for me. My brothers.

“Asher?” I whimpered, not moving my hands from my ears, or opening my eyes. I couldn’t. Not yet.

“I’m here, Addy. Eli too. You’re safe. We’re at the hotel, remember?” he said softly. “Can you open your eyes for me?”

“No,” I shook my head violently. “I…I’m scared he’ll still be there. He hurt me…I…I can’t go back there.”

“He’s not here, shortcake. It’s just me and Ash, and we will never let anyone hurt you again. Come back to us. You’re safe, I promise,” Eli spoke up.

It took me several moments to take in what he had said. Safe. You’re safe , I told myself over and over until finally I felt able to lower my hands and lift my head just enough to peek over my knees, which were pressed to my chest. When I finally dared to look I was no longer in that warehouse. I was in a warm, bright hotel room, and before me on their knees were Asher and Eli, both looking pale and panicked. They must have been asleep, since both of them had messy hair and were changed into relaxed looking t-shirts.

“I d-don’t want to remember an-anymore,” I squeaked, before the tears and sobs consumed me. I pressed my face against my raised knees and cried hard. I had been so stupid to think I needed to know what happened to me. Now I had been given back just two snippets of the memory I had lost and I was terrified and breaking apart. I couldn’t take anymore. I couldn’t handle reliving two years of this hell. I wouldn’t survive it.

“We’re going to sit either side of you, Addy, okay?” Asher asked, and I gave a weak nod. I heard them moving, then I felt them on either side of me, pressing against me just slightly, and surrounding me with their warmth.

“If there was any way we could take all of this pain from you, we would,” Eli told me. “We’d do anything to change what you’ve been through, Addy, but we can’t. All we can do is promise you that you’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again. Whatever comes, whatever memories you have to deal with, we’ll be right here beside you, helping you, holding you, and giving you everything you need or want, every single step of the way.”

“We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere,” Asher added.

For several minutes there was just silence and my quiet sobs. My brothers remained at my sides, holding me up between them as I felt like I was falling apart. They made no move to touch me anymore than the contact of our sides brushing, and I was relieved for that, since I was pretty sure I couldn’t handle any more than that at that time.

“My car…” I began when I was a little calmer. “…I was on m-my way home and it br-broke down. It was dark and I…I was waiting for the tow truck. That’s when they got me. Three men. They dr-drugged me.”

“Do you remember what they looked like?” Asher asked.

“Not those men. It w-was too dark, but another…the one who…who h-hurt me. I remember him now,” I replied.

“When we get home, and you’re feeling ready, I want us to sit down so you can tell me everything you remember. The FBI is working this case now, and I’ll make sure they get every relevant detail you recall, so they can find these men, Addy. We’re going to make sure they find every single one of them who put hands on you and we’re going to make sure they all pay. You will get justice, sweetheart, for everything.” Asher’s words sounded so filled with rage and promise. A promise he was making to me. A promise to stop those who had hurt me.

I’d never been a vengeful person. I never even really got angry before. It had never gotten me anywhere, but that had changed. Just those two returned memories had me wanting exactly what Asher had promised. It had me wanting every single person who was involved with destroying the lives of innocent young women, in the same way that mine had been destroyed, to be caught and to face justice for all they had done. I wanted that – justice, not just for me, but for every woman who had suffered or was still suffering.

“There were other girls…so many girls. We h-have to try and help them,” I said as I looked between the two of them.

“We will, sweetie. We’ll do everything we can to shut down the whole fucking operation, and to help those women,” Eli assured me.

“How am I going to survive this?” I asked shakily. “The memories. They’re all going to come back, aren’t they? Every minute of those two years. I…I d-don’t think I’m st-strong enough to relive it,” I squeaked, the last part pushed through my tight throat as more tears fought for freedom.

“Addy, you survived whatever those memories are going to show you. You survived two years of a living nightmare. You’re strong, so much stronger than you realize,” Asher told me.

“And remember you have us now. We’re going to get through it together. When you feel weak, you take strength from us, okay? We’re a team now,” Eli added.

“You guys are too kind. I could be a horrible person for all you know.”

“We know enough to know that’s not true, shortcake,” Eli said.

“I’m guessing I’m not quite the sister you were expecting though, huh?” I sniffled.

“Don’t, Addy. We’re both more thankful than you can know that we get to have you in our lives now. Telling us about you, so we could find you, was the one decent thing our father ever did for us.” Eli took my hand in his as he spoke, but only held it lightly, allowing me to pull away if I wanted to.

“Thank you, both of you. I don’t know what would have happened to me without you,” I told them, and I knew it was true. Without the attorney they had sent, and then their continued help and support, I would likely have been railroaded into those murder charges and spent the rest of my life in jail, or at least until someone in there ended it for me.

“Thank you for agreeing to come home with us. I know it must be so hard to trust anyone right now, but by coming with us, you’re trusting us. I promise we’ll never make you doubt that trust, sweetheart,” Asher returned, and once again I was crying. I was an emotional wreck, but at least some of my tears were relief and not all terror. Just the notion that I wasn’t alone in the hell that was about to bombard me over the coming weeks and months, was giving me the strength I needed to get up again and keep fighting to move forward. Maybe I could do it if Asher and Eli were beside me. I hoped so.

“Do you think you could try and get some more sleep?” Eli asked as he looked to me with concern. I had no doubt I looked like a disaster. My hair had this amazing ability to stick up all over when I slept on it, and my face was likely blotchy. My eyes were sore and also probably bright red too. I was not a pretty crier and I knew it.

“What time is it?” I asked. Asher glanced at the expensive watch on his wrist.

“Just after four A.M.”

“I can’t sleep anymore,” I told them with a shake of my head. “I…I can’t stand to go through anything else in my nightmares right now.” I fought not to cry again, desperate to keep myself together.

“How about we take some pillows and bedding down stairs and watch a movie?” Eli suggested.

“You guys should sleep.” I looked between them and realized they looked pretty exhausted themselves.

“We’re not leaving you alone right now. We can doze on the sofa,” Asher assured me.

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine,” I lied, not wanting to keep them up when they so clearly needed to sleep.

“Addy, we’re not leaving you, so I’d give up if I were you. We’re two of the most stubborn guys you’ll ever meet,” Eli chuckled.

“Can you stand?” Asher asked as he rose to his feet with such ease and elegance. It amazed me, considering his sheer size.

“Yes. I…I’m really alright,” I told him, but I still took the hand he offered and allowed him to pull me to my feet. My legs were still shaky and the tingling in my toes and fingers was lingering, but I managed to remain upright. Eli stood too, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Asher grabbed the covers and pillows from my bed, then we were headed back downstairs to the lavish looking living area.

I couldn’t help but pause to look between them as we left the room. It was hard to believe they were even real.

I had spent my entire life believing I was hexed or jinxed or something. Everything I ever did, or tried to do, went wrong. If I ever earned a little extra for something I wanted or needed, a pipe would burst, or the roof would leak. If there was a huge puddle a car could speed through and soak me, I’d be right there, every damned time. The first day of my dream job at the library, my car refused to start and I arrived two hours late after a string of public transportation disasters. Even my mom’s funeral had been a disaster with the minister failing to turn up on the scheduled day.

Everything always went wrong for me, and no matter what, I had always been forced to handle every single issue alone. There was no choice. I had no one else. I never had, until now. Until Asher and Eli came into my life, exactly when I most needed them. I just hoped I was right to put some trust in them as I had, because if they betrayed that trust, I was pretty sure it would end me. Too much had happened and I was on the precipice of a cliff, the smallest blow liable to send me over that edge and plummeting into the abyss.