Take Care

by Ash Johnson

  “Yeah I remember saying that to you, too” the person with the knife whispers, almost inaudibly. From the deep rumble of the voice, it must be a man.

  So I have a man holding a knife to my throat and probably a woman in the background holding a tray of knives. Then I glance at the tray again, finally noticing the designs on the silver platter. I stop crying and lift my head up just barely, despite the knife now pressing into my jugular.

  I know that tray.

  I shift my eyes from the tray to the person holding it, and then to the person with a knife at my throat and it suddenly clicks that I know who these people are.

  “I know who you are. Why would you do this?” I say quietly, my eyes filling with tears again. When the person next to me slowly takes off the sunglasses and ski mask, it just confirms the identity I knew would be next to me.

  “Very good, Ada,” he says before cocking his fist back and punching me in the side of the head, connecting with my temple and instantly knocking me out cold.

  Chapter 30

  Jay

  The sun has gone down again and I still haven’t heard anything from Ronan about tracing the phone number to anyone. Ada’s been missing for over 24 hours and I’ve worn a hole into Elle’s living room floor, pacing with worry.

  I keep trying not to let myself think about the terrible things that could be happening to her, but it’s becoming harder by the minute to think that the police will find her unharmed, or even alive for that matter. I took a criminal justice class in college and I know the statistics of finding a victim alive after a certain amount of time, so I become more terrified of the situation by the second.

  A shiver runs through me and I offer to make another pot of coffee for Elle and me so that I can try to stop my thoughts from straying to that place. Elle nods and I head to the kitchen to start a pot. As soon as I hit the button for the machine to start brewing, the front door swings open harshly, the knob slamming into the entry way wall.

  I rush around the island and out of the kitchen to see who is in the hallway, hoping it’s Ada but instead I find Blake, pissed off and wet from the unexpected downpour of rain that started Friday night and hasn’t stopped, like the sky is crying for Ada as well.

  “What the fuck Jay? You had the police question me about Ada? I didn’t even know she was missing!” Blake yells. His voice is rough like he could sob at any moment.

  “I’m sorry Blake, but you were the last person to see her before you came to the locker room with me,” I yell back, really wanting to tell him that I had the police question him because he was getting a bit clingy on Ada and it was freaking me out.

  “So Ada was taken after the fight Friday night?” Blake mumbles. He breaks eye contact and shoves his hands across his short hair before he looks back up to me. I can only nod and look to the ground.

  Every time I think of Ada being taken by someone, my blood boils and I start to shake, whether it’s from anger or fear I’m not sure, but I would bet it was both. I’m angry at myself for leaving her in the stadium by herself and terrified that something has happened to her.

  “Have the police given you any ideas as to who it could be?” he asks, starting to walk toward Elle who is still curled up on the couch and wrapped in a blanket.

  “No, they won’t tell me shit. I keep calling Ronan, but he’s now ignoring my calls. I just want some god damned answers. I’m freaking the fuck out here,” I state, my voice growing louder by the second to try and hide the fear inside of me. After Blake gives Elle a hug and a kiss on the forehead, he stands up and makes his way back to me. Then it comes back to me, this is the first time I’ve seen Blake since just after I won.

  “Where the fuck have you been, man? You totally disappeared after the fight.”

  Blake looks nervous; he’s shifting his feet and looking everywhere but at me, making me suspicious. After a few seconds with no answer, I decide to ask Blake again.

  “Answer me Blake, where the fuck have you been?” he looks over at Elle, who is now eyeing Blake suspiciously as well, but still doesn’t answer me. It is pissing me off that he’s avoiding a very important question and I lose my patience. I grab him by the front of his still wet black t-shirt and throw his body against the entry way wall. Elle gasps and jumps off the couch, but I am so focused on Blake that I don’t notice her walking cautiously over to us.

  “Blake you’d better tell me where the fuck you’ve been for the past day, right now!” I yell. My grip on his shirt is so strong that his prying hands can’t loosen mine.

  “Jesus Christ Jay, lay off me man. I’ve already been questioned and cleared by the cops, why do you need a play by play of what I do with my time?” Blake huffs. He’s looking at me like he has no idea why I’m freaking out on him.

  “Damn it, Blake. Why can’t you just tell me where the fuck you’ve been?” I’m pissed he won’t answer me, but also scared about what he’s going to say when he does. Blake sighs loudly, shifting his eyes between Elle and me and then somberly nods.

  “Fine, I’ll tell you where I’ve been.” Just as soon as Blake opens his mouth to tell us, my cell phone rings. I drop the hold I have on Blake and pull my cell phone out of the pocket of my jeans. It’s Ronan. All of the sudden I’m anxious to answer it and even more anxious to not. I’m afraid of the news that could be on the other end of this phone. I run my fingers through my hair and answer the call.

  Chapter 31

  Ada

  When I finally come to again, it looks dark outside, but the curtains make it difficult to say for sure what time of day it is. I’m in the room alone, still tied up and I have what looks like dried vomit down the front of my chest and white bra. I must have thrown up while I was unconscious.

  I glance at my arms, looking for deep wounds from the knives that they had, but only see a few nicks and cuts, nothing deep enough to worry about. At least I hope they aren’t. It’s dark enough in here that I can’t really tell how badly I’m bleeding.

  The doorknob turns and someone walks in, flipping on the light and making me wince. When my eyes can finally focus, I look up and see a woman standing in the doorway.

  “Why are you doing this to me, Millie?” I whisper. She smiles and her face looks menacing as she saunters her way toward the bed. I didn’t think her pretty face could ever look threatening, but at this moment, it does.

  “Because you are the bitch that broke my fiancé’s heart and I’ll kill anyone that gets in the way of my fiancé’s happiness.” I am so confused and terrified at the same time. I’m out of Rob’s life, why would she want me around anyway? I have to ask.

  “Millie, I left Rob so that you two could be together. Why are you attacking me now?”

  “Well,” she says walking toward me slowly and dragging a wooden baseball bat behind her. “I did it because after you left Rob, he was a mess. He broke up with me because he wanted to focus on getting you back and that’s when I started watching you. I was pissed that he had chosen you over me, and I wanted revenge.” She stops at the side of the bed, the bat still behind her and her knuckles turning white against the tan wood as she continues her rant.

  “Then you finalized the divorce and Rob completely fell apart. I started sending you the texts to see if you would realize how badly you screwed up and go back to him because I didn’t want to see him in pain. When he came back to me a few weeks later, I told him how upset I was that he chose you over me and that I’d been sending text messages to you. He was so thrilled that I had been threatening you that we came up with this little plan to kidnap, torture, and then kill you because you’re a horrible bitch that deserves all the pain in the world.”

  “But I don’t understand why you two wouldn’t just want to be happy together? Why bring me back into this and then have to face prison, because you two are most definitely going to prison, you know that right?” I question quietly.

  There’s a flash of confusion and sadness on Millie’s face, but she recovers quickly and then brings the bat ove
r her head. My eyes go wide and I try to curl my body together, but there’s no point because my limbs are all connected to the bed posts by pieces of rough rope. She hammers it down, hitting me right below my breasts in the ribs. I howl out in pain, only to get a shock from the dog collar around my neck. Tears are streaming down my face and pain is shooting through my ribs. A few of them are more than likely broken.

  “You know you stupid whore I wouldn’t have had to do this if you would have come back to Rob instead of sleeping with that fighter. Don’t get me wrong, he’s really hot, but you shouldn’t have hurt Rob like that.” She’s sticking up for him? He must have a strong hold on Millie for her to defend Rob’s plot to kill me, or even defend him for wanting me instead of her. She narrows her eyes at me and then continues her rant.

  “Don’t you worry about us going to prison because Rob was already questioned by the police last night and he told them that he saw you at the fight, but that was it. And tonight, after we kill you, we’re going to bury you in the desert where no one will find you before you get eaten by a mountain lion or coyote. We’re cleared and then Rob and I can live happily ever after without you roaming this Earth and making us miserable.” She sneers at me like I’m the scum on the bottom of her shoes.

  After a few seconds of trying to reign in my tears from excruciating pain searing through me, Rob decides to walk into the room. He saunters over to Millie who has a smile that says she obeyed and an equally chilling smile breaks across Rob’s face as he leans forward and places a long and lingering kiss on her lips. These assholes are trying to rub it in my face that they are together when I couldn’t care any less.

  I lay my head back onto the mattress and focus on breathing in small breaths so that my ribs won’t hurt as much. Finally, Rob breaks the kiss and looks at me with a smirk on his face.

  “How does it feel to watch someone you love with someone else, Adelaide?” he scoffs.

  “Rob, I don’t give a shit that you and Millie are together. It was a shock to me when you came into the hospital with her while we were still married, but we’ve been divorced for over two months now. I’m over it.” I croak, feeling powerful with my words, but then the power fades when Rob takes the bat from Millie’s hands and wields it over his head. He slams it down across my shins and I scream when I feel my left tibia break, receiving another electric shock to my throat from the collar.

  “Why couldn’t you just want me back Adelaide? That’s all I wanted from you! I wanted you to care!”

  It takes a few minutes to calm my erratic breathing, but when I get it evened out I open my eyes, which are leaking with constant with tears, to see a blurry Rob and Millie smirking at each other like they’re enjoying some private joke. I inhale slowly and try to stop my quivering lip before I speak to them again, trying to show them that they haven’t broken me.

  “So you two have been following me for the past two months then?” I mumble through my silent sobs, trying to get a perfect understanding of the situation before they kill me.

  “Yes, Adelaide we have. The best part is that Millie works at the hospital as well. She’s a receptionist at the gynecology office a few floors down from you and has a badge that get’s her most places in the hospital, so we could get into the E.R. and keep tabs on you easily. You’re little friend Brittany is a nurse at Millie’s office and she was more than willing to give her your new phone number when you changed it. Millie told her that you two were friends and she didn’t get your new number after you changed it. Brittany was more than happy to give it to her. She was even sweet enough to invite Millie to the barbeque your douche boyfriend had at his house,” Rob sounds like he’s full of pride as he tells me the different ways that they’ve been stalking me.

  “So, instead of the two of you just being happy and moving on with your lives, you decided to kidnap and torture me to death. Is this your idea of a fun Friday night activity? Are you having a nice date night tonight?”

  “Well, it’s late Saturday night, actually. You haven’t been a very fun guest because you’ve been passed out or throwing up on Millie’s carpet the whole time. But you can bank on the fact that we’re going to torture and then kill you in about twenty five minutes or so,” Rob responds, looking at his watch and then trailing his eyes back to me, the wicked smile on his face makes my stomach turn.

  “What’s in twenty five minutes? Why not just kill me now and get it over with?” I fume, suddenly feeling very run down and ready for this to be over. I’m not sure why Rob is waiting to do this.

  “Well, in twenty five minutes it will officially be Sunday, and you remember what Sunday is, don’t you Adelaide?” his smile gets bigger as he tilts his head to the side. I furrow my brow and slowly shake my head, trying to figure out what he is getting at when it hits me like a sack of bricks to my chest.

  “Oh my God,” I whisper in a breathy tone. “You’re going to kill me on the same day that Ivy died.” My eyes blur again and tears stream down my face. I turn my gaze back to Rob and Millie who both have an evil smirk plastered on their faces.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you Rob? Why the hell would you choose to do it on that day and not just get it over with now, you heartless bastard?”

  “Because Adelaide, it makes for a sweet family story, losing both daughters on the same day only thirteen years apart. Plus, your mom will be forced to think of you too, and we both know how much of a bitch your mother is,” Rob scowls. He turns around and starts leading Millie out of the room but turns around when his body is in the door frame.

  “See you in a few Adelaide. I promise to make it slow and painful, like the pain you inflicted when you left me.” Then he shuts the door quietly, leaving me broken in more than one way.

  I lie in the dark, taking slow and short breaths because the pain in my chest and my leg are almost unbearable. As tears run down my cheeks, I think of all of the people I love and how I wish I could tell them goodbye.

  Elle will be heartbroken when she finds out I’m never coming home. My mom might be forced to care, but it’s doubtful. Then I wonder how Jay will take the news that I’ve died. Will he be sad? I close my eyes and picture him one last time. I see his dark brown eyes staring at me, his brown hair that’s long enough to hold onto as we make love, his gorgeous body, ripped in all the right places, and those tattoos that take up space on his massive arms and chest. I loved tracing them while we lay in bed together. I wonder if he knows how much I really loved him. I wish I could tell him one last time.

  I must have been contemplating these thoughts longer than I thought I was because Rob comes walking back into the room, alone. He has on some yellow rubber kitchen gloves and a white rain jacket on; a rain jacket that I bought for him right after we got married. I laugh internally when I realize that the first time I’ve ever seen him wearing this jacket is when he’s about to kill me. Peachy.

  “Let the fun begin. I hope you’re ready Adelaide,” Rob sneers before an evil chuckle escapes his lips, and because I know I’m going to die and I’ve given up the idea that pleading with him will change his mind, I give him a snarky answer.

  “Yep, let’s do this shit.”

  Rob cuts his chuckle short and glares at me telling me he doesn’t think it’s funny that I’ve just given up. Instead of adding threatening comments to his monologue, Rob reaches into the front pocket of his jeans and pulls out a cigar. After popping it into his mouth and holding the tip with his teeth, he reaches into the other pocket and pulls out a lighter.

  As soon as the cigar is lit and the lighter is tucked back into his pocket, he reaches behind him and pulls a long and sharp knife from his back pocket. When he places the knife on the bed by my right thigh I narrow my eyes at him, wondering what the hell his angle is.

  “You don’t smoke,” I comment, trying to shift our focus from the knife by my leg that will more than likely be used to kill me.

  “Oh, but I do on special occasions Adelaide; and this is a very special occasion.” He takes a fe
w deep puffs before letting out a plume of smoke toward my face. Just as I’m getting bored with his hastiness, Rob leans forward and digs the glowing tip into the right side of my stomach, just above my belly button. My hands ball into fists and I try to pull my stomach away from the cigar to no avail.

  The movement sends a shot of pain from my ribs and also makes Rob dig the cigar in deeper. I yelp, but am cautious of doing more because the shocks of the dog collar hurt like hell. With tears running down my face, I open my eyes and look at the monster I was once married to.

  “You bastard, why do you think this is going to make things easier for you? Just kill me and get it over with, please.” I say through gritted teeth as I cringe at the pain. I mentally pray that Ivy will be here with me to keep me strong while they torture me, because I won’t last much longer on my own. He picks the cigar up off of my stomach and, after using his tip cutter to chop off the end with pieces of my skin seared into it, uses the lighter to light it once more.

  “I love it when you beg, Adelaide, but I refuse to make things easier on you. Not after all of the torture you’ve put me through in the past five months. I’ve had to watch you act like you’re better off without me. Had to watch you get a new boyfriend and rub it in my face that you were fucking him. Had to watch you wipe me from your memory completely, do you know how deeply it hurt when I saw those things?” Rob grunts, spitting out the word boyfriend like it’s acid on his tongue.

  “Make things easier on me?” I squeak, trying to keep my voice low enough that I won’t set the collar off once again. “Do you know what it felt like to walk into a hospital room and see my husband with another woman? The same person that I had been trying to start a family with and had put plans forward to build a home with was engaged to another woman while still pretending to be happily married to me. How long had you been cheating on me while we were married, Rob?” I ask, genuinely curious and since I know he wants to rub salt into the wound, he’ll tell me the truth.