Vicky looked at her first with excitement, and then with uncertainty, “What about you?”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you, I’m working on a case, and probably won’t be able to join you. That’s why I think you won’t even notice I’m not there, if you’re with Joyce and Ellen.”
“Oh I’d notice all right. I don’t like us being separated, not after…, well I just don’t like it.”
Aidan knew that what Vicky wasn’t saying. She didn’t like being separated after Aidan ran away as a child and disappeared for fifteen years. She couldn’t blame her lover for those insecurities. She knew Vicky had a lifetime built up around them, and she felt it was up to her to spend a lifetime reassuring her fiancée that she was here to stay. Truth be told, Aidan didn’t want to be separated ever again either. She had become quite clingy, after recent events.
“I know, baby, I don’t like it either. I’ll try to finish up at work as fast as possible, and join you if I can, how’s that?”
“Okay, I guess. But I really do want to show you New York sometime. We would have so much fun there,” Vicky relented, but she had misgivings about it. Something wasn’t right and she didn’t know what, and now she was afraid to leave Aidan alone, after what Samantha said to her.
“I’d like that a lot.”
“Okay, so I think to make up for this weekend, I’ll be ready to leave work in a few minutes, will you be available?”
“Oh yeah, baby, I’m all yours, do with me what you will,” Aidan did a spread eagle pose that had Vicky laughing with anticipation.
***
“Thank you for coming in on such short notice Samantha,” Dr. Kline held the door to his office open for his patient, “I had another cancellation and hoped you would be willing to take the spot.”
“Well I figure the sooner you cure me, the sooner I can get out of here.” Truth be told, Samantha was bored silly, and thought even talking with a shrink was better than sitting around the hospital doing nothing.
“What would you like to talk about today?” Kline thought, given the recent revelation, that he would give her the option to talk about anything she wanted to, to allow her time to heal.
“I don’t know, there’s really not much to talk about. I sit around the hospital all day with my baby, and then I take a cab to Aidan’s apartment and sit around there all night. It’s not a very exciting life right now.”
Kline saw an opportunity, “But your life was exciting in Syria?”
“Actually it had its moments. When you’re always on your guard, terrified that at any moment you might be killed, it can lead to some exciting distractions.”
Samantha was being facetious, but Kline could see her pain underneath. Her agony was an open wound, and Kline was hoping to dig the pain out, before the wound grew hard and began to fester.
“Tell me about one of those times. Just one, where you felt that terrified.” Kline could see the doubt in his patient’s face so he reminded her, “I really am interested.”
It was then that Samantha decided she’d trust him enough to talk about one of the times she tried to escape her captors, only to be caught and beaten into submission. She described the abuse in such detail that she unconsciously rubbed her arms, where the bruises once were. She had only been in captivity a week when she tried to escape. Her two captors, father and son, were having an argument, though Samantha wasn’t sure about what, because she didn’t speak the language yet. She knew this would be a good time to escape, because for a change they weren’t focused on her. She gathered up the wash and carried it outside to hang on the clothes line. She waited a few minutes to make sure they weren’t going to follow her.
After she had all the clothes hanging on the line she picked up the basket, and walked over to the truck sitting beside the house. Samantha quickly jumped in the front seat and began pulling the wires under the steering wheel, to hot wire the engine. She almost had it when the father yanked open the door, and physically dragged her out of the seat and slammed her to the ground. He screamed at her as he beat her, and knocked her hijab from her head, which infuriated him even more, because her hair was showing. His son joined him in the abuse, and Samantha was almost unconscious from the pain. She begged for them to stop, but to no avail, until finally, with their anger abated, they both grabbed an arm and lifted her up, dragging her back into the house. She was too weak to stand on her own, but they still chained her to the leg of the stove and left her cowering in the corner of the kitchen.
Samantha finally stopped talking. She was no longer mentally in the psychiatrist’s office; she was cowering in the kitchen of her captor’s house in Syria. Looking at her now, Kline could almost see the bruises on her face and arms, as she rocked back and forth in the chair, holding her knees tight to her chest for protection from the blows. It took him some time to softly reach through that memory, and bring her back to him. And that was just her reaction to one memory. Dr. Kline knew that she was tittering on the edge, and he worried that the post-traumatic stress could become too much for her. What he didn’t realize was how much he would be so emotionally drawn to this fragile woman. Not in a romantic way, but in a clinical way that peeked his interest and drove him to learn as much as he could about his patient, in order to pull her from her torment.
“Samantha, will you come see me tomorrow?” Kline did not want to lose the momentum that they had built up, because he knew she had much more to say, and if he could get her to say it, she could begin to heal.
Samantha looked at him for a minute, trying to talk herself out of it, but then replied, “Yes I will.”
***
“You know I use to think Jerry hung around because he had nowhere else to go, but now I think it’s because he wants to be near you,” Vicky grinned down at Yvonne, who blushed, secretly hoping she was right. Vicky was picking up her messages from Yvonne’s desk, when she glanced over at Jerry sitting in the reception area. “Hey Jerry, having fun yet?” Vicky teased.
Jerry walked over, happy for any diversion. But just as he walked up to them, Vicky’s phone rang, and she took it at Yvonne’s desk.
“This is Victoria Montgomery, may I help you?” As Vicky listened to the caller, her eyes narrowed, and she put her hand to her mouth, as her face turned gray.
Yvonne couldn’t help but noticed the change in her boss’s demeanor, and wondered who it was that had Vicky’s eyes suddenly strained with tension.
Vicky said dispassionately into the phone, “I understand,” and hung up.
Yvonne asked, “Is everything all right at home, Vicky?” but Vicky ignored her and walked into her office, like a zombie walking towards death.
“What do you suppose that was about?” Jerry wondered out loud.
Less than a minute later Vicky came out of her office with her purse in her hand, “Yvonne, please cancel my appointments for this afternoon and tomorrow.” That was all she said, and she walked out the door.
Jerry became frantic, he called Aidan and told her that Vicky suddenly left, but Aidan calmed him down, “It’s okay Jer, she just text me, I’m picking her up at the front door.”
*
Vicky made casual conversation as they drove to their apartment, but it didn’t come easy because her heart had a choke hold on it, suffocating her thoughts. But as hard as Vicky tried, Aidan could sense that something wasn’t right.
“Everything okay, baby?” she asked as they walked into the living room.
“Aidan, I want to try something different, if that’s all right?” Vicky walked into the bedroom; followed closely behind by Aidan, as much to put her gun away as to see what Vicky was doing. Vicky pulled the comforter off the bed and then walked back into the living room, “help me move the table, will you please?” Aidan dutifully obliged, intrigued by what Vicky might have in mind. After they made room on the floor, Vicky laid down the comforter, place some pillows around it then lit some lavender candles and turned off the lights. Aidan loved the smell of lavender, and was a
lready feeling the stirrings in the pit of her stomach. But sex wasn’t what Vicky had in mind. She just hoped what she had to do would work.
“Strip,” she said, and Aidan didn’t have to be told twice, she quickly began peeling off her clothes, “you’re getting the special treatment today, sweetheart,” Vicky said with a weak smile. When Aidan finished undressing and stood in front of Vicky, naked, she was confused, but intrigued that Vicky had not undressed as well. Vicky looked her lover up and down, appreciating her firm physique and confidence, but this time, there was no lust in her heart. I have to do this, God forgive me, I have to.
“Okay, sweetheart, lie down on your stomach and just relax.” Aidan happily obeyed, thinking this was some type of foreplay. Vicky poured oil on her hands and rubbed it in. Then she leaned over Aidan and lifted her leg, applying pressure to the ball of her foot and up to her ankle. She began working on Aidan’s legs by rubbing them in a soothing circular motion from the ankle to the hip. She did the same thing with the other leg, and when she was done she covered the limbs with the afghan. Next she rubbed Aidan’s hips and lower back, causing a deep exhale from Aidan.
“Oh that feels so good,” Aidan slurred.
“Shh, just relax please,” Vicky began to sing softly, as she worked on Aidan’s arms and hands, applying her thumb to the pressure points on her lover’s wrists, then rubbed both arms in a circular motion as well. She moved up to the back of Aidan’s head, and applied pressure to the neck muscles at the base of her skull, down to the shoulder blades. Satisfied with her work, she changed positions, and began working on Aidan’s back, where she lovingly rubbed the scars just below the shoulder blades. For a long while Vicky would slide and glide her hands up and down until she heard Aidan exhale a groan.
“That’s it honey, just relax,” Vicky suggested as she fought back her tears. She balled her hands into fists, and using her knuckles, kneaded Aidan’s shoulders, a deep, penetrating rub, across the shoulders and down the back. She was surprised by how tight Aidan’s muscles were, so she spent extra time massaging those areas. She changed to tapping Aidan’s back with quick, light chops, and Aidan released another groan that comes from deep relaxation. Vicky noticed Aidan’s tension dissipate and for that she was grateful, but there was no smile on her face. She began to vibrate Aidan’s back, gently rocking her back and forth in a slow, rhythmic motion, and it wasn’t long before she heard a soft snore coming from her lover, still Vicky continued to massage Aidan, as she hummed softly, knowing it was safe now to let her tears flow.
Finally, Vicky covered her sleeping lover and with quivering lips, kissed her on the forehead, I’m so sorry Aidan, but I had no choice, he said he’d kill you. Please forgive me. Vicky dried her eyes and walked into the bedroom, where she opened the bedside table and took out Aidan’s gun. She looked at it despondently, and then stuffed it in her purse. As she walked back into the living room, she looked at Aidan’s beautiful, sleeping form, one more time, praying that she would see her lover again. Then she quietly left the apartment.
Chapter 12
Love isn’t just some flowery expression of desire. It’s commitment of self, be it physically or mentally. Sometimes to protect that love, one must be willing to make sacrifices that can test the very love you’re sacrificing it for.
Time to get ready for my date, Jerry thought as he unlocked the apartment door and walked in. He was excited about a night alone with Yvonne, and was thinking about what he should wear, when he walked into the living room and saw Aidan asleep on the floor. Jerry was so distracted by that he dropped his keys and the clatter they made, woke Aidan up.
“What? Vicky?” Her voice was graveled, her hair was tangled about her face, and she was confused. She sat up, and realized Jerry was staring at her strangely. He quickly turned away from her, and covered his eyes. She looked down, “Fuck me!” she exclaimed, pulling the blanket up over her nude breasts, “You can turn around now,” she said as she stood up, “Uh, I thought you had a date tonight?”
Jerry could see that Aidan was embarrassed, though she tried to hide it. “Never let anyone tell you that you don’t have a nice rack, Aidan.”
Aidan laughed hard, appreciating his assessment of the situation.
“Anyway, I do have a date; I just came home to change my clothes.”
Aidan looked around realizing something wasn’t right, “Where’s Vicky?”
“I thought she was with you?”
“Vicky!” she called loudly, but no one answered back, “maybe she’s in the back…, Vicky?” Aidan called again, as she ran back to their bedroom and searched the closet and the bathroom. Jerry did the same in his room, to no avail. Aidan looked at him with terror in her eyes, she pointed to their bedside table with the drawer slightly ajar, “My gun is missing.”
Jerry knew his friend was brave enough to stare down even the vilest man with a gun, but to see the panic in her eyes now, told him it could only be one thing, Vicky was in desperate danger, “Aidan, just before Vicky texted you this afternoon, she got a phone call that she took at Yvonne’s desk. Yvonne and I thought it was very peculiar, because she was joking with us one minute, and then suddenly canceling all her meetings, the next minute.”
“Did she say why?”
“No, she just walked out.”
“What did she say on the phone?”
“All she said was ‘I understand’ and then she left,” Jerry was racking his brain trying to find some clue he might have overlooked, and then it hit him like a bomb exploding, “Wait! Yvonne asked her if everything was all right at home, but she didn’t answer her. Could she have meant Vicky’s parents?” Jerry was already on the phone to Yvonne, before Aidan could suggest it.
“I’m going to get dressed, be right back,” Aidan rushed back into the living room where her clothes lay in a clump, and pulled them on as quickly as her shaking hands would allow. Then she ran back to Jerry, still talking on the phone. “It was a call from Vicky’s parents,” he relayed to Aidan, “Okay Yvonne, thanks and listen, I’m sorry to do this but something important has just come up, I won’t be able to make it tonight.”
Though Jerry said it as nonchalantly as he could, Yvonne could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, she knew something was terribly wrong, “Jerry, this is about Vicky, isn’t it? Please let me know whatever this is, that you’re not saying.”
“I will, Yvonne, I promise.”
Yvonne could hear Aidan yelling in the background, “Com’on, we have to go!” and she said a prayer for all three of them, please be safe.
***
“Samantha, did you ever try to escape again?” Dr. Kline knew he was risking an emotional breakdown from Samantha, if he pushed her to hard, but he had finally gotten her to open up and he needed to keep her talking.
“Yeah, a few weeks later, but it was basically the same result, I got caught, and they beat me senseless. I didn’t try anymore after the second time.” Samantha set up and pulled her shirt over her shoulder, and showed him her deformed collarbone. She explained that it was broken when the old man stepped on her, during the beating. Her captors knew it was broken, but did nothing to fix it. Samantha managed to immobilize her arm with a makeshift sling and that helped the pain some, but she still suffered horrendously for months. It was during that time that the son began to take notice of her as a woman, not as a possession.
Kline sought to take her mind off the shoulder pain, and get some facts for his report. He asked, “Samantha, how did you come to end up with the father and son? Were they the ones who took you from the convoy?”
Straightening her shirt, Samantha leaned back in the chair. She looked out the window at the beautiful blue sky, drawing from the freedom it radiated, and began to tell her story, “No, it wasn’t them that took me, it was them that bought me.”
“Bought you? As a slave?”
Samantha nodded her head and continued, “They wanted a house servant,” she went on to explain that the insurgents took he
r when they commandeered the truck. When the insurgent jumped into the cab of the truck, he hit her so hard on the jaw, that she lost consciousness. When she woke up she was dressed in a hijab, jeans with a white blouse, and was sitting in a barn somewhere in the dessert, bound and gagged. As she looked around she saw one of her fellow soldiers, also bound and gagged, but still dressed in his Army fatigues. Samantha stopped and turned to Kline with a questioning look. He understood, and told her that the soldier was found dead at the Syrian border. Samantha paused for a moment and then went on with her story. She told Kline that there were two other prisoners in the barn, both women, and they were tied up and gagged as well.
Samantha had never been more frightened in her life, as when two men barged into the barn, carrying machine guns on their shoulders. They grabbed her up and dragged her outside, where they handed her off to a small, greasy looking man, who led her to a group of men gathered not far from the barn. He positioned her in front of them and then pulled off the hijab. The men’s eyes grew wide at the sight of her blonde hair, strong frame and pretty face. They didn’t know that she wasn’t a Syrian, let alone that she was an American. They didn’t care. The bidding began at fifty pounds, and as each man upped his bid, eager to win the spirited blonde for themselves, the bidding ended at one thousand pounds. Samantha was sold to the father, whose son would eventually fall in love with her, and whom Aidan and Jerry would later kill, for seven dollars and thirteen cents.
Dr. Kline removed his wire framed glasses, and smiled at her, “Samantha, do you know how I know you’re going to get through this, and have a future to look forward to?”
“No, I haven’t a clue, since I can’t see it anymore.”
“I know, because I had a dream last night, that you were introducing your son to me, at his college graduation.”
Remember, You Love Me: Little Girl Lost Page 22