Page 17 of Lost In The Dark

“Better,” I agreed with a nod.

“We’ll be out here if you need anything, sir,” one of the security guys told Asher, and he just nodded in acknowledgement.

I turned to Eli and watched as he slid the keycard for the room into the lock, then pulled it back out again. I’d never stayed in a hotel or used a key like that, but I’d seen them on television. This was all just so new to me.

The door beeped and Eli pushed the handle to open it, but that was all I saw. It was like something hit me hard, then I wasn’t in the hallway of the hotel, or safe in Asher’s arms any longer.

Pain hit my entire body like a freight train and I felt a hand viciously pulling my hair. I gasped for air, and when I looked up as much as I could, a balding man, with a beer gut and an intimidating stature was over me. He was glistening with sweat, his whole body visible as he loomed over me in only a pair of black briefs.

“I warned you!” he hissed angrily as he leaned so close to my face I could smell his breath - a mix of cigarettes and mint. “Now you’re going to be punished again, you stupid bitch. You never learn, do you?”

I looked around me frantically. Where the hell was I? Who was this man and why did I hurt so much? I glanced down to my body as I was dragged across a rough floor, and realized I was completely naked. My body was purple and black with bruises all over and I was leaving a trail of blood behind me on the concrete floor as I was dragged. It looked like a basement.

Then I heard it. The beep. My heart felt to stop for a beat in my chest, before pounding even harder than it had been before. I didn’t know what the beep meant, but my body did.

“Get in there!” the man above me raged as he lifted me from the floor by my hair and thrust me into what looked like a big dog crate. He slammed the door closed, and again there was that beep. An electronic lock, I realized.

I curled myself as small as I could and backed into the back corner of the cage. It was too small for me to stand up and maybe a meter square on the base, which was also made of cold metal.

“You will learn to obey me, slave,” the man spat. I dared to look up at him, just as he attached some huge clips, connected to wires that led to the wall, to the cage above me. A squeak slipped out of me, my body seeming to know what was coming. Slave? Had he called me ‘slave’?

He looked to me, a sneer of delight on his face as he hit a button on a box on the wall. Blinding pain ripped through me and I could do nothing but scream in inexplicable agony.

“ADDY!” I gasped for breath through the pain as the image seemed to fade from my frazzled mind. My flight or fight instinct kicked in and I rolled over violently, escaping whatever had been holding me and landing hard in a pile on the ground.

The jolt of the hit, as pain roared through my trembling body, seemed to clear the grip fear had on my mind and I looked around and realized I was no longer in that basement or that cage. There was soft carpet beneath me and a sparkling light above me.

“Addy? Can you hear me?” I looked up as Eli dropped to his hands and knees on the floor beside me. His green eyes locked on mine and I remembered exactly where I was. The hotel, with Eli and Asher.

What had just happened? What was that? A memory? It had to be. I whimpered and curled tightly into myself, burying my face against my knees as I realized I was likely right. That man torturing me had to be senator Hilton.

A warm hand brushed against my arm and I cried out as I lifted my head. It was too much. I couldn’t be touched! Not now! Maybe never again! I shuffled back until I hit the wall, then I curled up again and started to rock back and forth. My breaths were short and panicked and I had a feeling of pins and needles in my fingers and toes. I knew I was freaking out, but I couldn’t stop it.

I couldn’t stop replaying every moment of that memory in my mind. What had that monster done to me before? There had been blood and so many bruises. Pain like I had never known! What did he do to me to make me that afraid? Eighteen months! I’d lived eighteen months with that monster!

“Addy? Can you hear me, sweetheart?” I looked up, my whole body vibrating violently. Asher was on his knees before me now, but he had left a clear gap between us and his hands were resting on his thighs, like he wanted me to know where they were. “Hey,” he greeted softly when I met his eyes.

“Ash-er,” I whispered, needing to hear his name to assure myself he was there.

“I’m here, Addy. Can you try to slow your breathing for me?”

“I c-can’t!” I gasped. The panic was just building more and more and I had no idea how to make it stop.

“You can. Do something for me, okay? Look around for me and tell me three things you can see,” he told me.

“What?” I was so confused.

“Please sweetheart. Just trust me,” he pleaded. “Three things you can see?”

I looked around me, not understanding why he wanted me to do this. But I couldn’t say no when he was being so patient.

“Fl-flowers,” I gasped.

“That’s so good. What else?”

I looked above Asher and found Eli stood watching me with so much concern on his face. I hated knowing I was causing that.

“Eli…be-behind you.” Eli smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

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