by Robyn Steele
Chapter 5
It seemed like morning when I woke up. There was no way to tell. They had taken our phones and neither one of us had a watch. There was no way to measure time and we were sleeping in small increments. It just felt like morning. It was probably something to do with my body’s bio-rhythm or something. Not that I know much about bio-rhythm. I’ve only heard about it. Something in my body just feels like morning. I’m going to guess this is our fourth day being held by these jerks.
The woman Max called Aster brought our food in. We didn’t speak to her at all. She wasn’t the friendly one and we knew she wouldn’t tell us anything. She left without saying anything. Cruz and I tried to pass the time playing games on the television but couldn’t concentrate on it so we gave up on that.
The bathroom had a bathtub in it so I took a bath. Putting my dirty clothes back on was gross. However, the shower was refreshing and made me feel a little better. The warm water soothed my achy body that screamed from the lack of sleep and the accommodations. Cruz did the same when I finished. We felt more relaxed afterwards, even though our predicament was the same. That’s the magic of water. I’d love to be stretched out on a nice warm beach somewhere sunny.
While I was daydreaming about sunbathing, the door opened. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Were they playing tricks on me? I rubbed them with my fists. OMG! They weren’t! Nate stumbled in as they pushed him through the door into our room. He was still shackled and bound and blindfolded. I ran over to him. The door slammed shut and the men that brought him left us alone. I pulled his blind fold off and hugged and kissed him. It was so good to see him, even though I would rather he not be kidnapped, too.
“Tallie! You are here! Are you okay?” Nate was obviously as thrilled to see me as I was to see him. Cruz came over and helped me pull off the shackles and ties. No sooner did we have his hands untied did Nate grab me with a big bear hug and lip-locked me. I pulled back slightly.
“How did you get here? Did they go after you, too? Why would they kidnap you? I’m just getting everyone involved in this…this….mess!” I said. “I’m sorry Nate, I didn’t want you involved.”
Nate pulled me closer and held me tight. “I had to find you. I was persistent. I kept trying to find out where you were from your mom and grandparents. They said you were hiking with some out-of-town family. I knew something wasn’t right, even though they wouldn’t tell me. I knew where your favorite hiking spot was; and I was looking around here for you when these goons grabbed me and tied me up and brought me here.”
I pulled away a distance. Although I’m not sure why, I did feel uncomfortable that we had an audience. “You shouldn’t have got involved, Nate. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us.”
“Well I’m glad I’m here. If you’re in trouble, there’s no place I would rather be.” Nate told me as he pulled me back into him.
Cruz cleared his throat. “Hi, I’m Cruz DaMonico.” He extended his hand in greeting. “What exactly do you know, Nate?” I pulled back away from Nate. Nate hesitantly shook hands with Cruz.
“Are you the out-of–town family?” Nate spat the word “you” out like it was a bad taste in his mouth.
“I’m from out-of-town, yes. I’m a friend of the family.” Cruz answered without much information.
Nate looked me in the eyes with a hurt look in his eyes. “Why are you out hiking with this guy? What’s going on here?”
“We weren’t hiking, Nate. These guys grabbed us from in town and brought us out here. We were blind-folded and guessed where we were. This is really great news cuz this tells me my family might know where we are! There’s hope. Did they tell you anything else? Were they doing okay?” I was careful not to say too much or have Nate say too much since I never knew how much our captors could hear.
“What do they want from you? Why would they, whoever they are, kidnap you?” Nate asked.
“They think my father is alive and that this will bring him out of hiding. I have no idea what they want with my father. They haven’t really talked to us. They get angry if we try to talk to them so we just keep quiet. Did they say anything to you?”
“Just that your mom hasn’t involved the media so maybe my being here will get some action.” Nate replied.
So obviously my mom didn’t call the police and they think if Nate is missing, his parents will call the police and the media will get involved. Hopefully my mom can talk them out of that. Most likely she can’t, though. What would she tell them: hey your son is with aliens and we have it all under control so don’t call the cops. Ya, that’s not happening. Or maybe momma gave them a story of where Nate was, like he had to take me to the airport or something that took him out of town for a while.
The three of us just had to wait it out and see what happened. It was so frustrating not being able to do anything. I mostly paced around the room, aimlessly. Nate did pushups and Cruz watched both of us, not saying a word. We didn’t hear anything all day from our captors. They brought food in once but no one said anything. I tried to make small talk to pass the time but it didn’t work very well. For one thing, I was worried about what was going to happen. Also, Cruz and Nate seemed to have this unspoken aversion going on between them. It must be a guy thing. They didn’t really talk to each other, just to me. It might have been my imagination but it seemed like they gave dirty looks to each other. That’s silly, though. It’s probably this captive situation and not getting enough sleep that makes it seem that way.
I had sat on the couch to relax for a while when I heard in my mind a voice that sounded familiar. It was very faint and I couldn’t make out what they said. “Did you hear anything?” I asked Cruz.
“Not really. I wasn’t trying to. Let me listen for a while.” Cruz answered.
I heard it in my head. I told him.
Yes, I figured that’s what you meant. I’m concentrating.
Talitha, Talli. Can you hear me?
“It’s grandpa!” I shouted. I was so excited. Then I realized I needed to be careful. Stupid Talli. Think before you speak.
“A…Talli, I think you’re losing it babe. Your grandpa is not here. There’s no way you can hear him. As a matter of fact, I can’t hear anything. You are definitely hearing things.” Nate snorted at me. “Come here babe. You just need me to hold you and let you rest a bit.”
I didn’t pay any attention to what Nate said. I was answering grandpa. Yes, I can hear you gramps but so can they, if you get my drift.
I didn’t hear any more after that. I think he must have got my message. We didn’t want to alert these people if grandpa was here. I looked at Cruz and he nodded to me as if he understood.
“Ok, what is going on here?” Nate dragged the words out for emphasis on his question.
“Just try and relax, bud. There’s nothing we can do at this point.” Cruz advised.
“I’m not your “bud”, dude. And you’re the one that got my girlfriend into this mess. So don’t tell me to relax!” Nate became defensive.
I stepped in between the two of them to diffuse anything beginning to start with them. “Cruz did not get me into this. Actually, he got dragged into this just for being with me. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here.”
“Well, I for one, wish he weren’t here. I don’t get why he was with you anyway.” Nate was obviously jealous or something but I couldn’t understand why. There was nothing between me and Cruz. “And you two keep having this unspoken conversation with your eyes. What am I supposed to make of that, huh?”
“You’re not supposed to make anything of it, Nate. There’s nothing going on.” I pleaded with him.
“Ya, right.” Nate mumbled. He obviously wasn’t buying it but I really hadn’t given him a reason to not believe me. However, he let it go for now.
Things quieted down for a while. We all
sat around playing black jack. Anything we could find to keep our minds busy and not spend our time worrying. It was interesting watching the interactions between Cruz and Nate. Why do guys have to be so competitive?
“So where are you from, Cruz? I can’t really tell by your accent.” Nate glared at Cruz as he asked the question. Well, at least they were talking now.
“I’m from Italy. Salerno, Italy. Have you heard of it?” Cruz’ answer seemed to contain a little sarcasm.
“Never heard of it. So how is it you know the Harringtons? Specifically, how is it you know Talitha?” Nate answered with contempt.
“Actually, my family and the Harringtons have been friends for centuries. I’ve never met Talitha before. Although, I’m delighted to know her now.” Cruz retorted.
“What do you mean by that?” Nate spat out the question.
OMG! This is ridiculous! What is going on here? “Can we just talk about something else?” I asked. “I’d rather not be the topic of your conversation. I am right here, you know.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you then. Is there something going on between you two?” Nate pointed to me and Cruz.
“Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous! We just met. Jealousy does not become you, Nate.” I said.
“I’m not jealous. Just wondering where things stand is all. But you can’t convince me this guy doesn’t have his sights on you, Talli.” Nate accused.
“Let’s just focus on getting out of here, alright. Let’s work together and figure this out.” I tried to change the subject. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with boyfriend issues when my life and my family’s lives were at stake.
“So did my mom or my grandparents follow you here?” I spoke in a whisper so the captors wouldn’t hear.
“Nah. I’m sure no one followed me.” Nate replied.
“They could possibly have extraordinary hearing. They could hear even if you whisper.” Cruz warned.
“Who are ‘they’, if they can hear that well? Or better yet, what are they.” Nate joked. “Vampires?”
“No, you idiot. They’re aliens.” Cruz played along.
“Okay, I get it. They’re aliens that have taken over bodies here on Earth so we can’t see how disgusting they look.” Nate laughed.
“Yup, you got it. And now they want your body for their buddy back home.” Cruz kept up the humor.
I wasn’t getting into the game with them. I was really worried about grandpa, since I heard him. My mind was focused on him. I would never forgive myself if these people hurt my grandpa. I hope he hasn’t come here alone. No, actually, I don’t want him to bring mom or grams. I just don’t want them around here. Maybe he will bring the cops. That would be a good thing. Let them handle it. He probably won’t risk exposing our people to the public. This would be hard to explain to the police. Oh my heck. This is so bad.
Max came into the room, bringing our dinner. I have to admit, it was nice to see Max. He was much friendlier than the others. We tried to get him to stay and talk to us for a while. He refused, naturally. He didn’t want the wrath of the goons to come down on him. We just wished we could get some information from someone, but it wasn’t happening. All we could do is sit and wait. It was so aggravating!
After we ate dinner we played some more cards and then we all got comfortable enough to get some sleep. We had become so exhausted that falling asleep had become a little easier. The exhaustion was more a mental exhaustion from worry and fear. Also our bodies weren’t able to sleep in a good position or a comfortable place. Max had brought us some blankets to lie on, which helped. I got some good sleep for a change. Cruz slept a little better. However, Nate didn’t sleep much since this was his first night here.
I was awakened early by six men that came into the room and tied and shackled us. They moved us out of the room and into the hallway. We proceeded down farther into the building, not back towards where we had come in at. Judging by how much we had travelled inwards, this must be a very large building. We passed several doors that led out of the hallway. Again, they had no windows so we didn’t know where they led to. After walking down the hall for a while, we were taken into another room which looked much like the last room we were in. It had a larger sofa, love seat, two chairs, a lamp, a fridge and a table. There was also a bathroom off the room. The men took off the shackles and ties and left the room.
“I guess we’re playing musical rooms or something. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to keep moving us.” I vented. What is the point, I wondered. “Maybe they are trying to confuse us. It seems we are moving farther back into the building but maybe it’s an illusion. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a building this big out here on the reserve. In fact, I have never seen any buildings out here. I assumed they put us in a temporary shelter that was erected just for this purpose. But if that were the case, it wouldn’t be so big.”
“Unless…” Cruz began and then hesitated. “Are there big enough hills to hide a building under the ground?”
“I suppose that would be possible. It would have been here before they took us. I haven’t ever seen anything but it’s a big area. I haven’t covered all of it. Yes, it’s possible.” I considered the idea.
“I think they moved us to this room, farther in, in case someone found the building. It would take them longer to find us and by then they would be able to trap everyone in here along with us. Like sort of a trap. They leave the opening unguarded. Watch for someone to snoop around in here and then close in on us and trap everyone.” Cruz said.
“OMG! That’s awful! I hope they don’t fall for it! We better warn them!” I shouted.
Cruz stepped toward me and put his arms around me. “Calm down, Talli. Try to be quiet and stay calm. We will do one quick warning and then say no more. Do you understand?” Cruz whispered in my ear.
Nate jumped over to us and pulled us apart. “Hey, dude, that’s enough grabbing my girlfriend and no more whispering in her ear!”
“Chill, Nate! Don’t bring attention to us. There’s nothing going on between me and Cruz and you don’t need to be inviting the goons in here.” I warned.
“Are you serious? He just put his arms around you and whispered in your ear! In front of me, no less.”
“Think about it, Nate. If that meant anything do you think we would be flaunting it in front of you?” I disputed. “Calm down before you give everything away to the goons.”
“Actually, play along with me for a minute, Nate.” Cruz mouthed at Nate. Then mouthed to me, “Warn your family while I create a diversion.”
That was a brilliant idea, I thought. Mom, grandpa, grams, dad, don’t come into the building. It’s a trap. Don’t come in here to get us. They will capture all of you with us. Please stay out. While I warned my family not to come in here with my telepathic abilities, Cruz picked a doozey of a fight with Nate. They were yelling loud at each other and accusing each other and then they started shoving and then Nate threw a punch to Cruz. Cruz grabbed his fist before it connected with his face and held Nate’s hand there. Even with his injured ribs he was fast and strong. He was using his speed and strength and Nate was a little surprised. He just backed off and stared at Cruz wondering what had just happened.
“I don’t even know if I wanna know what’s going on here.” Nate remarked. “But Talli, you can’t give up on us like this. We’ve been together for a long time, like forever! Think hard about what you’re doing, babe.”
“Nate, just know that my feelings for you have not changed, I haven’t done anything wrong, there is nothing between Cruz and I, and you need to just give it a rest until we are out of here. If you really care about me, you will trust me on this.” I pleaded with Nate, as I put my arms around his waist and looked in his soothing green eyes.
“Okay. I will honor your wishes, even though I don’t like it.” N
ate agreed reluctantly.
“Thank you Nate. Thanks for trusting me.” I gave him a hug. Just a hug, though. No way was I kissing him in front of Cruz.