The HUSH Series: (HUSH, HUSHED and JANE.)

by Sandra Raine

  I couldn't, for the life of me, begin to describe the overwhelming sensation, the joy, the honor of just holding Bree tightly in my arms for the few seconds that was spared between us once again. Forgetting about the horrors all around us, I kept thanking God over and over again at the same time whispering to Bree on how much I truly loved her, how this nightmare would soon someday end, and how we would be together, free as two girls can be but it was the sharp, stinging pain that suddenly shot across my backside that pulled me from euphoria and back into Hell with Cain's wrath bearing down on me in the form of open and closed fists 'cause I wouldn't let go of Bree despite his physical demands. As Cain continued to beat on me due to my refusal of releasing Bree to Abel and because I was shielding her entire body with mine, my strength of armor was slowly starting to fail me as well as my hold on Bree 'cause my arms were lessening each gut-wrenching second that passed us.

  "Jane! Jane!" Bree cried out repeatedly as her fingers and hands dug profusely through the fabric of my sheet as if she were trying desperately hard to hold on for dear life while Cain continued to beat down on me, cursing and yelling.

  "Let go, goddamn it! Let her fucking go, you little bitch!"

  "NO! NO! NO!" I found the courage to verbally fight back, tugging Bree closer and closer to my chest that I feared any closer she'd suffocate to death. But I didn't care. Better that she'd die by my own hand instead of Cain's.

  "The bed, Jane! The bed!" Anna screamed out suddenly and in between all the chaos of the other girls screaming and pounding on their cages. I mean, the noise alone sounded exactly like a prison riot that it almost felt like sweet music to my ears. I realized, right then and there, beneath the distracting chaos and Anna's coaching me that I had one shot. And this was it.

  I lessened one arm from around Bree's trembling body and shoved my hand beneath the mattress and swung the butter knife clear around my back grazing Cain's face. And the graze must've been something God awful 'cause all of a sudden he stopped beating on me and instead wailed from the top of his lungs.

  I unnervingly shifted a glance over my left shoulder and caught a glimpse of Cain tumbling backwards toward Abel where they accidentally bumped, and together the two stumbled to the ground. Without leaving room for opportunity for either Abel or Cain to get back up on their feet and take control of the situation I instead took control and jumped to my feet and rushed to Abel and kicked him hard in the groin with a calloused foot. He, too, cried out with his body springing forward then backward as he held desperately onto his crotch, muttering breathless, "Bitch! Goddamn fucking bitch!" and that's when his pistol came into my view. I quickly yanked the pistol from the front of Abel's trousers, cocked the hammer and pointed it directly at both he and Cain.

  "Diamond, please," Cain pleaded suddenly, raising both hands out in front of him.

  "Fuck you! Give me the keys!" I spat, shifting the gun down to the center of his crotch. Cain made a sudden move for his cock but quickly thought otherwise when I shifted the gun back to the center of his forehead glistening heavy in sweat. "You got three fucking seconds!" I then threatened. Cain wasted no time removing the key ring from around his waist and sliding them toward my feet.

  "Bree, tet the keys. Open Anna's door. She'll help you with the others."

  "Ja. . .Jane?" Bree's voice instead trembled, a great sign that she was still scared even to move.

  "It's alright, Bree. These men aren't going to harm you. Now get the keys. Go to Anna's door. Anna?"

  "It'll be okay, Bree," Anna quickly consoled with a vast amount of urgency in her voice. "I won't let them hurt you either. I promise. Now come!"

  Bree sniffled back her tears and picked herself up from off the floor and grabbed the key ring and hurried out of my cage to Anna's.

  "Good, Bree, good!" Anna exclaimed breathless, giving Bree a well comforted embrace once her door had been unlocked. "Now let's go help the others, okay?" Bree nodded, and together she and Anna started unlocking every one of the cage doors setting those beautiful souls free.

  "Let's go, Jane!?" Anna anxiously exclaimed once the last cage had been opened and the last girl had been set freed.

  "Yes, Jane, let's go! Please!"

  "Yes, before they overpower us and take control of us!"

  "Jane? Please, Jane? Jane, wake up?!"

  And in spite of those shaken and frightened pleas from Bree and the other girls I still couldn't bring myself to move. It was like my entire being had froze in a state of terror when in reality there was nothing more to fear particularly as I continued to stand there, in the disturbed company of Abel and Cain whom together appeared more terrified than me. I mean, I could literally hear the rapid beating of both their hearts drumming so clearly in my ears as if I had been standing inside of them, yet I couldn't hear the beat in mine. I mean, was I dead? Had I died? Was it Abel pointing the gun at me instead of me at him? I mean, I couldn't grasp it - freedom, that was.

  All of a sudden my hands began to shake and so uncontrollably that it took Anna's enduring strength to take the gun from me and usher me out of my cage which for the last four months had been called home. And the last thing I remembered hearing was that cage door closing gently in front of me instead of behind me leaving both Abel and Cain locked in, each shelling out one macabre threat after another.

  The escape felt like an escape from a natural disaster with bodies swarming everywhere only these bodies were stumbling blindly into the open of the semi-darkness. We then wasted no time scrambling across the barren of what appeared to be a new suburban development still under construction with some girls running south, others east and west leaving me, Anna and Bree runnning north toward the direction of some houses. But as we scurried up the various driveways, pounding frantically on the front doors and windows for help, the doors - much to our dismay - never opened.

  "What is it?" Anna pried suddenly when we stopped to catch our breath, and after we found ourselves standing helpless on the porch to the fifth house.

  "I. . .I. . .I don't think - " and my voice abruptly cut short while my eyes swept unnervingly around the neighborhood only to discover that the only lights visible to the houses were the porch lights. . .then it dawned on me that these houses had no occupants as they were just props to throw Abel and Cain's business off.

  "Oh, God," my voice cracked. "Oh, God, Anna, this is a trap." I then panicked behind my eyes that were glazed with fear.

  "Wh. . .What!?" Anna then stammered with that same fear glazing her eyes. "What do you mean? Are you saying these houses are. . .are. . .fake?" I stiffened a nod. "Jesus, Jane. . .What the hell are we gonna do?"

  I took Bree by the hand and squeezed it softly to ease her distress about what we had just discovered. "We have to get out of here." I advised Anna desperately. "I mean, find another neighborhood. . .an Interstate. . .maybe even another street. . ."

  It was Anna's turn to stiffen a nod. She, too, then wasted no time taking Bree by her other hand and the three of us continued to run.

  But half-way down the middle of the street, however, and very unexpectedly, a pair of headlights suddenly flicked on coercing Anna, Bree and me to stop running. Bree immediately let go of mine and Anna's hand and hid herself behind both our towering frames. Her trembling body and sudden whimpering sent me quavering in my own bare skin.

  The car, much to our dismay, came to a sudden halt just a few feet from us with the driver's side door slowly opening. And just by the way Anna, Bree and I were trembling in our skin, it didn't take much for anyone to see that we were scared shitless 'cause neither of us moved. I mean, we just stood there, paralyzed in our stances as if our feet had rooted themselves beneath the tarred street.

  "Jane!?" An all to familiar voice suddenly called out to me from behind the driver's door. "Jane, is that you?" The voice continued to interrogate, yet sounding awfully in doubt that I may not be. But I was dead wrong again 'cause I had instantly recognized that voice; it broke me from my trance and encouraged me to step forward, t
oward the direction of a possible freedom:

  "Mr. Church?"

  Then my knees just about buckled from beneath me just hearing the sound of his name escaping my mouth.

  Chapter 8

  Henry Church stood there with both his hands up in the air; his expression a rather painstaking confusion 'cause he had a pistol staring him straight in the face.

  "Jane, you know this guy?" Anna pressed curiously for an answer.

  "I'm not sure," I said staring at Henry in the same painstaking manner that within a millisecond became suspicious. "What are you doing here?"

  "I was just passing through - "

  "Ah, bullshit?! You came to see us, didn't you?"

  "What?"

  "Me and Bree. You came to see me and Bree. You're the high paying client Abel was referring to. You came to fuck me and Bree."

  "No, Jane, you. . .you got it all wrong," Henry stammered beneath a shaken and confused voice. "I. . .I came here to see you. . .to be with you. I have no interest in Bree."

  "I don't believe you. And not by the way Abel made it sound. He had both me and Bree prepped and ready to go. . .for you."

  Anna quickly shoved me to one side and pointed the pistol down to Henry's crotch. "That's it!" she bellowed cocking back the hammer. "Let me blow his fucking dick off, Jane!"

  "Anna, please! This isn't the wild, wild west!" I pleaded.

  "S-h-i-t!" Anna slurred. "Not by the way these assholes fuck! You think they were nailing in horseshoes or something! And besides, he came here to hurt you and Bree. We can't just be merciful, Jane!" Anna argued while keeping the pistol trained on Henry's crotch. I looked back onto Henry thinking that Anna had a point but we weren't killers; we were just girls trying to escape.

  "I'm sorry, Henry."

  "This is bullshit, Jane!" Henry spat suddenly on the defensive. "And by the looks of it, I'd say that you're more than just in deep shit. When your father finds out about how you crippled his business here - "

  "What?" I scoffed a bit on the defensive myself. "You're going to run and tell?"

  Henry let out a comical grin. "What the fuck happened to you, Jane?" he then insulted with a laugh.

  At first I didn't know what Henry meant by that remark, but what I did know now was that my complete trust in him shattered when his demeanor went from compassionate to down right spiteful. And what I discovered in that moment was that my father was right all along about Henry. My heart broke in an instant.

  "Is this why you came here, Mr. Church. . .To show me what kind of man you really are?" I bluffed hoping to God Henry wouldn't call it. But Henry's expression suddenly riled. And the fine chisel of his jaw began to protrude. I had touched a nerve. Wait! Let me rephrase. . .I had spoken the truth. Oh, Jesus!

  "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," Henry then toyed beyond a devious smile; a smile I could have personally ripped from his fucking face. But the Pistol unexpectedly fired coercing Bree to scream and me to flinch from my despicable thoughts on Henry. The echo of the gunshot then bounced around the fake neighborhood causing the wind around us to stir a little.

  "Goddamn it, Anna!" I yelled, yet still keeping my cool with her.

  "What?" Anna smirked. "It's just a warning shot." she added with a shrug of her shoulders.

  "Jane?" Bree sniffled, tugging on my bed sheet scared.

  "Shh, it's okay, Bree." I comforted. I pulled her body close to mine and squeezed her shoulders.

  "We have to go. Now. Before those fucks find us. And this asshole here tries to harm us." Anna pressed.

  I looked back onto Henry who continued to remain in his place only now his hands were down to his sides. Anna was right. We had to get out of here, and fast! I wasted no time snatching the pistol from Anna's grasp and pointing it back onto Henry who took a sudden step back. His eyes opened wide with fear while the Adam's Apple in his throat jolted up then down.

  "Jane, what are you doing?" Anna said giving me a baffled stare coercing Bree to do the same.

  "Where's the money?" I demanded Henry ignoring Anna who opened her mouth to say something but then clasped it shut when she saw Henry gesturing toward his Jaguar.

  "There's an envelope. . .beneath the driver's seat. If you take it - "

  "Anna, go!" I urged ignoring Henry. "See if the money is there." Anna nodded and dashed to Henry's Jaguar and rummaged beneath the driver's seat.

  "It's here!" Anna exclaimed with a hint of awe clinging to her tone. "Shit, Jane!" she then bellowed, "It's like we hit the fucking jackpot!"

  "Good." I retorted breathless, yet scared out of my mind 'cause I was committing a robbery against Henry. Suddenly my hands began to tremble. "Bree, honey, go get in the car with Anna." Bree stiffened a nod and ran to Anna who quickly ushered Bree into the backseat of Henry's Jaguar.

  "Jesus, Jane! What the fuck are you doing?" Henry infuriated, shifting his heated gaze between me and his car - an obvious prized possession of his.

  "What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?. . .I'm taking your money, Henry, and your car. Back pay for making me have feelings for you. Now get on the fucking floor and don't move!"

  "What!?" Henry mused. This time it was my turn to fire a warning shot forcing Henry to understand that I had no time for his chit shit 'cause he belched, "Oh, shit!" before hitting the pavement face first and without another quarrelling word.

  "You're a very sick and disturbing man, Mr. Church," I said carefully side stepping his body. "Goddamn you for making me believe that there was some good in you. You need help!"

  "Not anymore than you're going to need help, babe."

  "Well I'm not the one who's lying on the floor, now am I?"

  We hit the Interstate about five miles out from Abel's Hell - Anna and Bree were now free. And I couldn't have been any more contented at the outcome of our fates. However, and in spite how things appeared in both Anna and Bree's eyes, I still wasn't free. And I knew it would be just a matter of time before my father and his organization would eventually find us. And that I couldn't live with. I had to go back. . .home, without Bree. I had to go back home and finish my father off.

  "Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me, Jane?" Anna blurted as we were in the midst of ransacking a Goodwill donation's bin just off to the side of a Safeway supermarket's parking lot in Casa Grande. Luckily for us the lot lights were dim and it was late.

  "Here, Bree," I said ignoring Anna and handing Bree a blouse and a pair of jeans as she just stood there staring down at me in absolute shock upon hearing the news of my returning back home. "Put these on."

  After we were appropriately dressed, I snagged the opportunity and continued to speak.

  "Look," I said tossing my filthy bed sheet into the rummaged pile of clothes. "If I don't go back and bring justice to my father and his men. . .the three of us are going to end up dead somewhere, or worse, slaving in another country."

  "You're scaring me, Jane." Bree said.

  "Me, too." Anna sided.

  "I don't mean to scare you, Bree," I said kneeling down before her and taking her hands and squeezing them comfortingly. "But you're going to have to trust me."

  "How?"

  "By going with Anna."

  "But I don't want to go with Anna, Jane. I want to stay here. . .with you."

  "Bree, I know you don't understand what's going on. But let me just say that as your big sister it is my job to make sure you're alright. And this - you going with Anna - is the right thing I can do for you. Please try and understand? I need you to understand?"

  It was like looking at a traumatized Bree all over again as I drove her and Anna to the bus station - only this time through the rearview mirror and not back in her cage. And regardless on how Bree felt with my decision I myself was comforted with the idea of Anna taking good care of her. And so I tried hard not to let Bree's difference get the better of me by thinking of our future together instead.

  Once the bus tickets were purchased, and both Anna and Bree were safely on the bus heading West I took a few
minutes and dismantled the GPS on Henry's Jaguar by shooting the fucker up; something I couldn't do in front of Anna or Bree 'cause I knew it would have scared them both especially with the possibility of being tracked.

  I left the bus station and drove to the nearest motel dive, sweet talked the night clerk into giving me a room with an extra hundred dollar bill attached to my tab for my lack of a proper ID. After a long hot shower and the best meal I had in months - Taco Bell - I hit the pillow and crashed out peacefully for the night.

  February 10th, 2012 -

  For the last two weeks I spent my time being chauffeured around in city buses and shuffling around in different motels wearing disguises and making pleading phone calls to my father with each phone call failing me miserably each day 'cause I couldn't get him to agree on meeting me someplace alone to "talk things out". I had gotten the sense that my father sensed that I was up to no good. And I didn't blame him really 'cause what I really wanted to do was meet up with him alone, and if possible, blow his fucking brains out since I believed he deserved to die. But I figured it was my father's keen sense for danger that made him suspicious of me which I believed served him right considering what he's put me and Bree through. I also found my father's suspicions amusing 'cause for once in his fucked up life he actually feared something, and that something was me. And it gave me a great sense of pleasure.

  I hung up the phone on my father for the last, and what I agreed would be, final time, and with a stern understanding that it was time for me to let go of my intentions and move on and start living my life with Bree even if it was on the run. I figured in time I would do the right thing and drop two quarters on him and his organization, or perhaps, and better yet, take a trip down to a local FBI agency and tell them my story since I felt it would be useless to do so now as I believed my father was moving about the city and no longer living in our home in Paradise Valley - not since becoming aware of my escape and the time I had on my hands. I sensed he was to smart for that. . .I mean, hanging around a place he knew he could very easily get caught in.