by Ashlee Price
It was past seven o’clock when I got down there, and though I was sure that she wouldn’t be there, the hope was still alive that everything was fine and I was just jumping to conclusions. I had a history of doing it, and I wanted to believe that this was one of those times that I’d just read the situation the wrong way. God, please let me be wrong.
***
I went around to the backdoor that she’d told me was the last one to get locked for the day and tried it. It was locked, but I’d kind of expected that. The pain in my chest was getting worse, and I was feeling like it was hard to breathe again.
I stood there for a long time, trying to decide my next move. I was unsure what to do, and I wasn’t used to that. I was where I was in the world because I was the type who could make a decision. It was hard to do that, though, when it was such high stakes. I couldn’t even think of losing Mia without getting heart palpitations.
Going around to the parking garage, I looked for Mia’s car. I wasn’t sure where she parked, but I started to get really scared when I saw her car still sitting in the parking lot. Something told me that even though I should find her in there, I wasn’t going to. I just knew it.
Calling her number for the fifteenth time, I heard a soft ringing and that was when my blood turned cold. I went towards the sound and saw where it was coming from. Mia’s phone was on the concrete floor of the parking garage, and that was the last straw. Mia would never have left her phone behind. No one would. She’d left it behind for a reason, and my mind started to go into overtime with thoughts of what might be going on. Where was my Mia?
Chapter 2 – Mia
My head hurt when I was finally able to open my eyes. I was pretty sure that I’d opened them before, a few times, but every time I was greeted with darkness. This time wasn’t much different, but the blackness wasn’t that complete. After I had my eyes open for a few seconds the darkness had more shapes and my eyes were adjusting to the change.
When I tried to stand up, I realized that I couldn’t stand up all the way. There was heaviness on my ankle. I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten there, but after a moment of freaking out, I started to remember what was going on, or at least how I’d felt before I did get to this strange place. My mind went to Rocy and I wondered if this was why she’d been acting differently. She had acted like there was something wrong. I just never thought that it would be something like this.
I realized that I’d been taken. I didn’t know by whom, or even why, but I did know that I was scared to death. I wanted to know where I was and how I was going to get out of this, but more than anything I wanted answers as to who. Who would do such a thing to me?
I had an urge to say something. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make much noise with the fabric in my mouth. It was another thing that I wasn’t familiar with, but I knew what it was doing and I knew the purpose. I had to wonder whether there was a chance that someone would hear me. Maybe I wasn’t as far away from people as I feared. I just had to get loose and everything would be okay. I would find someone who could help me.
My hopes surged for a time, and I was thankful for the positive perspective. I’d read enough thrillers that I knew the mental aspect of this would be the worst. All I had to do was keep the faith and keep myself together for a little while and everything was going to be okay.
I kept that disposition as my eyes adjusted further. The weight on my ankles was chains, but even that wasn’t enough to pull me from my stubborn path of optimism. It was thought out well: my binding was enough to let me move a little, but I wasn’t going anywhere. It took all of the ideas that I was thinking and spit them out. My mind was whirling with ideas, but nothing that would help me to get out of my situation. Now I didn’t even care if I ever knew the who and why, just as long as I got out of there.
“I see you’re up.”
I didn’t have to see the man to know who the voice belonged to. It made me go a little cold inside, but I was too afraid to say anything.
“I’m glad you’re up, Mia. I was starting to wonder if I’d given you too much. That wouldn’t have been good. Then I don’t know what I would have done with you, but I didn’t want you to struggle.”
My hand went to the sore spot on the side of my neck. “What did you do to me?”
Ryland kind of shrugged. “Nothing really, I just needed some time with you and this seemed to be the only way to get it.”
I knew that he was off, a little off is what I’d thought, but it was clear to me then how much I’d been wrong about Ryland. He was not just a guy who was trying to seduce me. I thought I’d hurt his feelings when I told him that I didn’t want to go out again, but now I knew that it was something else altogether. He wasn’t hurt. He was ready for revenge, maybe. I’d heard about men not taking it well, but I this was ridiculous.
When I finally got my voice back, I asked him again what he had done to me and why my neck hurt so badly.
“I had to tranq you a little bit, Mia. If I’d thought that you would have come willingly, I wouldn’t have had to do it, but we both know that you’re stubborn when it comes to us.”
His wording was making me more nervous than the chains at that moment. While I’d thought that he may have been off a little bit, I had no idea how much he was off. I was getting more terrified with every passing thought that collided in my head.
“So you shot me with a tranquilizer?”
I wanted to ask him what kind, what dose, just so that I would know how long the effects would last. I could still feel a lingering sleepiness that wasn’t supposed to be there, and I’d already put it down to having been given something.
Ryland nodded his head and told me he’d shot me with one of the darts that we use to sedate animals.
“Why?”
He didn’t say anything for a while. He didn’t want to talk about what he’d done. He wanted to talk about what I’d done when I left him.
“That is something that I have wondered for a long time, Mia. What we had was going to be perfect if you would have just given us a chance.”
The way he was talking, I was trying really hard not to look at him like he was bat-shit crazy. I knew that it wasn’t going to do me any good. I just wanted to get out of there. This man was not using all of his brain at the moment and I could see a little crazy in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Ryland. I didn’t know that you felt that way.”
“You would have, if you’d ever noticed me. You’re just like everyone else. You act like I don’t exist.”
Well, he sure existed now.
“It wasn’t like that, Ryland. I don’t date much, and I knew after we went out that it wasn’t going to be a good idea. We were working together, and I didn’t want it to get weird.”
I stopped when I realized that it had gotten far weirder than I would have thought was possible. I would have never in a million years put myself in such a position, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I was stuck in chains, with a man who’d clearly lost his mind. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go and I wouldn’t have made it before he stopped me. I’d always looked at Ryland differently, but now I could see the man behind the eyes and it frightened me more than I would have thought possible. I didn’t know what he wanted to do to me, but the man had a smile on his face that could have frozen the sun over completely.
“Well, now you see what happens when you try to leave me, Mia. I’m not going to stand by and let you ruin it for us. I’m just not going to. One day you’ll understand what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to save you.”
Chapter 3 – Ryland
I hated the way she was looking at me. She was looking at me as if I would hurt her. Didn’t she know how much I loved her? That I was doing all of this for her?
“When are you going to let me go, Ryland? You can’t keep me here forever.”
I knew that she was right. I couldn’t keep her there forever, but the plan was to change her mind. After I changed her mind about us
, helped her to see what it would be like with us back together, I planned to let her go. In my mind, we were going to move into together and live happily ever after. I just had to get her on board with it as well. We were meant to be together, so I knew that it was going to happen. I just had to wait it out and let her come to the same conclusion that I had: Mia and I were meant to be together.
“I will only keep you here as long as I need to.”
“To do what?”
She was full of questions, and I was starting to think that I liked her best when she was passed out. Then Mia was not arguing and interrogating me like she was now.
“We are meant to be together Mia, and you will stay here until you really understand that. I’m not going to leave this place without you with me.”
Her face kind of fell, and I could tell that she was really starting to see what I meant. I wasn’t going to give her up. Maybe she just needed to know that she was worth fighting for. I would fight for her till my dying breath. I loved her that much.
“Enough of that, Mia. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
She nodded her head that she was, and I went to the edge of the enclosure and brought back the brown bag of food that I’d picked up earlier. I’d almost forgotten, but now I was happy that I hadn’t. Anything to make her see that I was there to take care of her. I wasn’t trying to hurt her. I just wanted her to love me like I loved her.
When I came back, she watched every move I made. For once, I wasn’t invisible anymore. I knew that what I was doing was not conventional in any sense of the word, but I was okay with that. We would have one hell of a love story to tell our children about. How their father had saved their mother and fixed everything. That is what I was sure our story would be. How I saved Mia from a fate filled with unhappiness because she had married the wrong man.
“Here you go, Mia.”
She looked at me like she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. I wasn’t sure what the problem was, but then I realized that she was chained on her wrist, which would make it impossible to eat something. I wanted to curse myself for not thinking ahead better. I’d been so worried about what to use and where to get it, that I didn’t take into account that I was going to have to let her eat while she was with me. It was the little things that were hard to remember, and it was those little things that I was going to have to make sure didn’t get me caught.
I had to unchain her, and that poised a whole lot more problems that I hadn’t really anticipated. I’d known that I was going to have to let her go eventually, but I hadn’t really ironed out all of the details. She couldn’t be allowed to know where she was; I knew there would be hell to pay for it and it would be harder to keep her calm. I needed her calm so that she could see things for what they truly were.
“If I release your hands, you have to promise that you will be nice and not try to get away.”
Mia had a look of hope on her face that I wanted to squash. She was hoping that she could get out of it somehow and that if I released her wrists, she was halfway there. The idea made me stop. Instead of letting her go at all, I decided that I could just feed her. It would tell her that I cared that much that I would feed her. Mia was not very happy with that idea, though. She was more worried about the indignity of it, asking me repeatedly to just let one hand go so that she could do it herself. I didn’t want to give in because it felt like the beginning of the end. I needed to stay in charge.
“If you’re hungry, Mia, then you will let me feed you. You’re mine and I’m here to take care of you, so let me.”
She shook her head that she wasn’t going to do as I said. There was a part of me that wanted to force her, but I knew that it would defeat the purpose that I’d set out. I was there to make her realize that she loved me as I loved her, that we were meant to be together, but if I took the road of force, I knew there was a good chance that I would lose her forever. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Well, then, I guess you have made your choice. It’s going to be a long night on an empty stomach.”
I started to gather up my things. I had to get home and get some sleep before my shift started. It didn’t matter what was going on with Mia. I still had to keep up appearances and pretend like nothing was different from the day before. It was going to be hard, knowing that she was here, but I had to or I was going to be caught and my little game was going to be over. We couldn’t just disappear at the same time. That would be very suspicious, and the last thing I wanted to do was to bring suspicion to my door.
“Ryland, wait, please.”
She could tell I was leaving. I asked her if she had reconsidered the food.
“No, I just don’t want you to go. How can you just leave me like this if you say you love me?”
I could feel my jaw tightening as she talked. She was trying to use my love against me, and I started to rethink the idea of force. Nothing was going the way I wanted it to, and I was tired of not having my way.
“I’m not letting you go. I have a shift to start in a couple of hours, so I need some sleep. I’ll be back for you when I get done. Just consider it extra time to think. I have a feeling that you have a lot of thinking to do.”
After putting the gag over her mouth, I looked back once and smiled. Whether she was in chains or not, Mia was finally mine and she wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter 4 – Logan
“I’m sorry, sir, but she’s only been missing for a couple of hours. There’s nothing we can do until it has been at least a day.”
“It was yesterday.”
“Sir, it’s two in the morning. It’s only been a few hours. Do you know how many people go missing in Chicago every day?”
I shook my head that I didn’t know, and I told the officer that I didn’t care either. He was being nice, I knew that, but I didn’t care. I’d been there for almost an hour and it was crystal clear to me that it was getting me absolutely nowhere fast. It was like he wasn’t even listening to me, and it was driving me crazy.
“What do I have to do to get someone looking for her? Isn’t it the most important time, the first 48 hours?”
“It is, sir, but you don’t know if she’s even really missing. She could have gone to a friend’s house, or family. Or just gone out. There’s no telling. You need to call her relatives and friends, see if anyone has seen her first.”
I felt like he was asking me to do their job for them. I said something along those lines out loud and he didn’t take it very well. I was finally asked to leave when I just wouldn’t accept the policy. I was told to come back in twenty-four hours, and I promised that I would be there. Until then, I was going to do as the police officer suggested. I was going to go see what I could find out.
***
I went home and took a shower to wake up a little bit. I was hoping that a clear mind would bring me a good idea, or a thought as to where she was. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Me and Mia hadn’t been together that long, but I felt like I’d known her forever. However, the real truth of it was that I didn’t know a lot about her outside of the sanctuary. I didn’t know where her family was, how big it was, or anything else like that. I was going to have to call in a professional who could figure that out for me.
By the time I was out of the shower and dressed, I had a line to an investigator who was going to do just that. Hey, money talks. All I had to do was find her and the rest could be handled. I just had to find Mia.
I waited around until it was nine o’clock and the animal sanctuary where Mia worked was open. It was there that I’d seen her car, which was still sitting in the parking garage. I figured that the sanctuary was where I could at least get an idea of what she had done before she left. Was she upset? Was someone messing with her? I just couldn’t see this as something that she chose to do. She had been taken, of that I was sure.
I asked to speak to Chase. He was her coworker, and the two worked closely together. He didn’t seem to know much about what had happened to her, though.
<
br /> “I thought she was going on vacation? She’s been talking about it all week.”
“She was supposed to meet me at home after she got off here, but she never showed up and wouldn’t answer. When I came down here last night after a couple of hours, I found her car parked in the garage and her phone was on the ground dead.”
Chase had a stricken look on his face. I don’t know why it gave me relief. It was like a confirmation that at least I wasn’t jumping to conclusions. While I really hoped that I was, the truth was that I knew something was wrong. This feeling of heaviness in my chest was not for naught. I knew that there was something going on and that Mia was in danger. I just didn’t know how to prove it. I didn’t even know where to start.
“I don’t know what to say, Logan. I wish I could help you. It isn’t like Mia not to show up anywhere. She hasn’t missed a day since she started here, and everyone here knows that she was looking forward to your vacation. Have you talked to the cops?”
I told him what I was told and he just kind of shook his head. “Something must have happened to her, Logan. Mia isn’t like that. You should know that.”
I agreed and thanked him. I asked him to let me know if he heard anything, and he promised that he would. I talked to a few other people, everyone I could find who worked there. I felt like someone had to know something.
I was about to leave when someone mopping the floor caught my eye. I remembered a little bit about what Mia had said about him, and when our eyes met I got a feeling that he was the one who was going to know what had happened to her. His dark gaze didn’t stay on mine long before he was looking away and going back to his work. He knew who I was, and he was trying to be inconspicuous.