Aly
Someone was dragging me by my hair, the roots pulling on my throbbing scalp. I tried to open my mouth to scream, but it was taped shut. My legs dragged along something rough and jagged, and tiny pricks—maybe splinters—tore through my yoga pants. My brain willed my eyes to open despite the droopiness settled in the lids, but they were also covered with tape.
The tender skin of my lips was already peeling off, sticking to the adhesive taping them, and salty tears gathered in pools below my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut, even though I already couldn’t see a damn thing.
Losing my sight completely forced me to listen harder so I strained my ears, trying to pick up any sounds. What was I listening for? Clues, noises, anything, my captor’s breathing.
Desperation and anxiety bubbled up my throat and a scream escaped my lungs, only to be blocked by the tape.
“Mmph!” filtered through the tape covering my mouth, rather than the shrieking Help! I’d wanted to release.
A sharp jab made contact with my shin, and I heard a loud crack, like a snap. Quickly, it registered the snap was actually my own leg bone.
Pain screamed through my body, and I was dropped to the floor with a thud. My head hit the floor hard, thankfully making everything go black once again.
The whine of a small motor awakened me, then a grinding noise, and for a second, I wished it hadn’t because the pain only intensified, blasting through my leg. I tried to move it, but it was completely lifeless.
Grunting from the effort, I kept trying to move my lower leg, but it wouldn’t budge. The whine roared to life again. I shifted, trying to roll to the side, off my face, but something fell on top of me. Something sharp poked into my rib cage, and I didn’t dare move.
“Where are you going, missy?” The voice that rang through the room was loud and feminine at the same time. Hoarse and seductive, foreign and familiar.
Fear froze me as I shook my head, unable to say anything.
“I’m going to take the tape from your eyes, but no sudden movements. I got my stiletto angled exactly right to puncture a lung if you do.”
I sensed the warmth of a body part near my face, and let out a violent scream as the thick piece of duct tape was torn from my eyes.
Blinking against the light, I looked around to find myself on the floor, but I had no idea where I was. A woman was standing over me, smirking at me. She seemed somewhat familiar, with blond hair and heavily painted eyes, but I couldn’t recall where I knew her from. I didn’t hang out with models or strippers or exotic dancers. This lady was attractive, curvy but fit, with big pouty pink lips and her glossy hair that was perfectly straight.
Who was she?
“So, what do you think now, Ms. Justice?”
I went to try to rip the tape at my mouth so I could answer her with a question—what was she talking about—but I realized my hands were tied behind me. How did I not notice? It must have been all the splinters residing in my thigh. Wait, I wasn’t feeling them anymore.
Actually, I didn’t feel my leg at all.
Terrified, I lifted my head and peered down at my body. I was wearing familiar leggings and a T-shirt, as if I’d been working out.
“Hello?” Blondie asked, her accent coming out a bit thicker.
I’d been running the stairs. That was how I knew the woman! She was in the stairwell, running fast as hell. She’d spoken to me right before I apparently blacked out.
Was she the person who did this to me?
I moaned, murmuring behind my gag to get her to release the tape, and she did. Although the whole fast like a Band-Aid thing didn’t really apply. It felt as if an entire layer of my skin was ripped from my face, and wetness—which I assumed was blood—dripped onto my chin. The coppery taste on my tongue as it reached out to wet my lips confirmed my suspicions.
Fear set up camp in my heart. I was going to die here, and I didn’t even know why. All I’d ever wanted was to live my life peacefully. I wanted to do better than my parents had, perhaps not survive paycheck to paycheck. Until I met Jake. Then I’d wanted it all.
That was why this was happening. I wanted too much.
“What do you want?” My question came out scratchy, my throat raw and painful.
“A new kind of justice, Ms. Road.”
I tried shaking my leg. Desperate, I needed to feel it. Pain shot up to my groin and straight to my solar plexus. Silently rejoicing, I felt my leg. It was there!
My leg. One leg. Half the pair.
The pair Jake drooled over. He called me Legs.
My brain floated out of the room, ignoring the woman pacing in front of me.
He also called me Aly-cat . . . and Legs.
I want Jake back.
One minute I was dreaming of Jake, and the next, the breath was knocked from my lungs. A scream ripped from my throat and I lifted my head to see the blond bombshell standing on the pieces of my leg—correct that, bone—in big-ass heels and leather pants. She ground her heel into my exposed leg, causing more blood to come from somewhere and louder snaps.
Sweat poured from me, all the moisture escaping my pores. My eyes were dry—I had no tears left—and I simply whimpered.
“I want justice, Ms. Road. For me and my people,” she said, her words sounding as if they were far away as my consciousness wavered.
“From me?” I forced out through my bloody lips.
“You are defending my boyfriend, Gus Cameron, and I know that stupid limp-dick is up to no good. He wants to pin it all on me . . . and yes, most of the handiwork was mine. But I’m needed out here in the world to keep our race pure, to bring more justice for the Aryans.”
I took a deep inhale and tried to pull myself together. Breathe in, breathe out. Focus!
My client, Gus Cameron, was her boyfriend. He was waiting to turn someone in . . . was it her? Were all those pictures on the wall of his apartment hers? Had she committed all the hate crimes, and he only covered for her?
“He should’ve never fucked the blond Jew,” the woman spat out. “He should only dip his dick in Aryan pussy. I told him that, and he didn’t listen. I know she looked pure, being blond, but the bitch wasn’t. He’s going to pay because you’re going to fix the case and send him to prison.”
Fix the case?
Wasn’t that what the note said, the one left in my ransacked apartment? Did that make this woman my stalker?
“Okay, I don’t want to die,” I said slowly, croaking out the words. “I need medical help. Why don’t you help me, and then I’ll help you?”
“No! No medical help until the deal’s done and Cameron’s back behind bars.”
I would die if I didn’t get help soon; I was bleeding out. Already I was light-headed, having a hard time concentrating, and my vision kept going in and out.
A sob escaped my throat as my mind whirled. I wasn’t made to survive this type of thing. I was the daughter of a maid, a sheltered girl, poor but not necessarily tough. Praying frantically, I started making promises to God, to any higher power who would listen. A bright light flooded my face and I was sure it was Him—God—or maybe it was the light calling me.
Why did this woman have such a thick Russian accent? Hitler hated the Russians. Then I remembered reading something in my case preparation about neo-Nazi hate crimes, about some Russians declaring themselves Aryans.
The light brightened, and a booming voice rang out. “Marina! What the fuck? What the hell did you do?”
“You! You did it. You were going to turn me in and let them slaughter me like a pig, Gus. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.”
“You can’t fucking do that, Marina! She works for the government. You’re going to fry for this. I was trying to get us a deal. Fucking Christ, now what am I going to do?”
Lightness and darkness alternated, swirling around me. Voices faded in and out, and then I heard what sounded like a gunshot. I was pretty sure my body jerked at the sound, but that was only in theory, in my rattled brain.
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br /> Sometime later I realized my lap was soaking wet; I must have peed myself. Silence took over, and darkness returned. Unable to do anything else, I continued to lie there for a time, resting my eyes as I contemplated how much I really wanted to live.
With pain jolting through me, I turned my head and looked around.
There was blood everywhere, all over my skin and clothes. At the sight of the dark red liquid spilling from me onto the dirty floor, my head spun like the Tilt-A-Whirl at the carnival. My vision blurred, turning hazy as light came and went. I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or reality. The light seemed to be seeping in from somewhere, but I didn’t know where.
Was this death? Would I never live? At the thought, shrieks escaped my throat, barreling up through my vocal cords.
I’d never hurt so badly in my life. My eyes kept drooping from the shock and the pain. I didn’t know where I was or how the hell to get help, but I wanted it.
I wanted to live. I didn’t want to just survive, but I needed to breathe his air, Jake’s air, to live with him side by side. But like the blood seeping from my body, the chances of him finding me were slipping. Fading. Everything was darkening, and then the light came again.
“Help!” I screamed, but it came out more of a ragged whisper, my throat completely raw from earlier. “Help!” My voice echoed off the wooden walls that surrounded me, walls I hadn’t noticed before. I was in some kind of barn, but I didn’t know where.
How would anyone find me?
I’m going to die here.
Light blasted into the room and voices took up residence in my mind. This was it. It was over. I was in heaven or hell, or maybe it was purgatory. I didn’t know.
“Ma’am?” a soft voice called to me. “Ma’am,” the voice repeated, and a hand shook my shoulder.
I didn’t want to go. I’d changed my mind; I wanted to stay dead. I was ready to die. Whatever was left of me wouldn’t be enough for Jake . . . or for me.
“Miss, I’m here to help you. Can you blink or nod if you can hear me?” It was a woman’s voice, and she was gently untying my hands.
A swallow tumbled down my throat, and I nodded once, or at least I thought I did. I wasn’t sure if I did or not. Did the woman even see it?
“It’s okay, honey, I’m here. My name is Shirley, and I’m going to have my husband lift you now. There’s no way we can wait for an ambulance. We’ve got to get you to help.”
I watched as this stranger with red hair like mine ran a hand down my arm, saying soothing words as her middle-aged husband wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and lifted me. Shivers continued to rack my body. My lifeless limb hung by a thread, and blood dripped from me as he carried me to a small compact car.
The woman named Shirley sat in the cramped backseat with me, holding my head steady in her lap with one hand and putting pressure on my leg with the other. With every jolt of the car, pain crashed through me, and I moaned.
The car ride faded in and out. Murmurs, quiet discussion floated around me. I was pretty sure I heard someone say, “We need to go to the local hospital, can’t make it all the way to Pittsburgh.”
Where was I?
My focus drifted to sushi, and bowling with Jake. I thought about his gym, and how he was always asking me to go there. I was thinking so hard about him, I swore I heard his name on repeat.
“Jake, Jake, Jake . . .”
The next thing I remembered, I was waking up in a hospital bed. Dazed and confused, I blinked my bleary eyes, comforted by the certainty that was the Pittsburgh skyline I saw outside the window.
But the older redhead who sat in the chair next to me, holding my hand, her I wasn’t certain of.
“I’m going to get your Jake now,” she whispered to me.
My eyes were blurry and I squinted, trying to make out who the woman was, and how she knew Jake. “Bess?” I murmured, wondering if I was imagining the woman being middle-aged.
Bess is young? Right?
The stranger shook her head.
I reached out and grabbed her wrist and squeezed tight. “What happened? Who are you?” My voice sounded foreign and ragged, and I was beginning to imagine the worst.
“Darlin’, you were kidnapped, but I rescued you. I’ll tell you the rest later. I’m sure Jake is very worried about you. I waited until you were awake to go get him. Had to make sure you were really going to be okay,” she said in a hushed tone.
Everything was so fuzzy to me; her words sounded as if they were coated in a layer of static. My head throbbed and my body burned with pain, but neither were close to the odd absence I felt in my heart. Something was wrong with me—really wrong—but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
“Wait! What happened? Jake? How do you know Jake? Why do you keep talking about him? Please don’t leave me here guessing,” I pleaded with the woman as she stood to leave.
“I’ve been looking out for him.” Her expression was pained as she twisted her hands together, the knotted joints reminding me of my own mother’s hands. “It’s what I should’ve been doing years ago, but I fell short. It’s how I found you. Now, let me get the nurse and tell them to call the authorities, and then I’m going to get Jake. It may be a while. I’m not sure who took you or why, but when we’re all together, you’ll tell the police what you remember. Until then, get some rest, Alyson.”
I shifted slightly in the bed, straining to hear the woman whispering in the hall.
“I’m off to alert her other friends,” she said outside my room, “but I think you should call 911. I found that woman brutalized after a violent crime.”
“Ma’am, why are you just saying this now? I thought you said she had an accident?”
“It wasn’t time for her to be found yet,” was all I heard before her footsteps retreated down the hall.
Who was this woman playing with my destiny?
Jake
I paced the same path I’d paced a hundred times already, my feet practically wearing grooves in the hardwood in front of my brother’s fireplace. Sunlight poured through the windows, throwing golden beams in my path, and I wanted to kick them. Spring weather had fully taking over, summer on its way, but I was anything but bright.
In my head, I was back in the driving rain, lost in that alley, looking for answers to life. GRAFFITI GOD kept flashing before my eyes. Fucking God. Who the hell did he think he was raining down shit on my life?
My fucking life had sucked beyond belief because I had my parents’ blood on my hands and now this. It was my job to take care of Aly—God’s way of helping me absolve myself—and I’d fucked it up and she was gone. Disappeared into thin air.
As far as I knew, the police had turned up zip. Barry had gone out looking, and then apparently fell drunk on liquor and guilt. The last time I spoke with him, he was slurring so badly, his words were nothing but gibberish. I’d tried to call him a few times since then for updates, but his phone went right to voice mail. Just like I’d thought; the man was fucking useless.
As I was thinking of the nicotine-reeking devil, my phone buzzed.
“You sobered up?” I belted into the phone after slamming my finger across ANSWER CALL.
“Yeah. Sorry ’bout that, but this is all my fault. Al didn’t want this case. I pushed it.”
“Get to the point, Barry.” I didn’t have time for his sob story.
“Police have a lead. Stay tuned.”
“Where? What?”
“I can’t say. Stay around and available. They just called me.”
Click.
The little ass had nerve.
Against my better judgment, I’d agreed with Bess when she had begged me to come stay with her after the first night, insisting I not be alone. Aly had been gone with no news, and I knew for sure I was meant to go through life alone. I couldn’t do this even when Bess kept saying I could. I wanted to slam my fist into the mantel, but I kept it together for Bess.
No more rescuing or love fantasies for me anymore. That was
done. I’d be on my own forever now.
My entire body was tense to the breaking point, my muscles jumping from unused adrenaline that pumped through me. A million emotions yanked me back and forth, driving me insane—anger, frustration, uselessness, worry, confusion, and rage. The rage kept me going.
Through it all, my head whirled with disjointed thoughts.
Dr. Wells kept calling, and I kept hitting IGNORE.
Lane was on an earlier flight home.
James was coming from Florida to be with Maddy, so Bess could babysit me.
I wasn’t working out. All I did was pace and swear and swear and pace.
I needed to go home, crawl into bed and ride this awful nightmare out. Maybe I’d wake up on the other side of this dream and not tamper with my life or anyone else’s problems.
Spent and worn out from my own mental berating, I leaned my head into the mantel. The edge dug into my forehead, and I wanted to slam my whole fucking face into the piece of shit. I wanted the pain to leave my heart, bleed from my soul. Who was I to think I deserved a bowling partner, let alone happiness?
“I’ll get it,” Bess yelled from the kitchen.
“What?” I lifted my head, dizzy and dazed.
“The door, Jake. Didn’t you hear the bell?”
I shook my head, not caring. When I didn’t move, Bess hurried past me to the front door.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she spat out in a hushed voice.
Curiosity and concern for Bess pulled me from the living room. I stepped into the foyer only to become enraged when I saw for myself who was at the door.
“Get out!” I screamed at our unwanted visitor, my voice cracking.
The woman put her hands up in the air, and her knobby fingers shook. “Jake, Bess. I know where Aly is.” Her words came out fast and rushed before we could slam the door in her face.
“Shut the fuck up, Shirley.” I stormed to the doorway and stood next to Bess, looming over the older woman I hated more than anyone, her red hair a reminder of who I was really missing. “Do. Not. Fuck. With. Me.”
The Crossroads Duet Page 45