Amber Alert (Amber Alert Series Book 1)

by Sara Schoen

"Go get me a clean work shirt!" He yelled, forcing me off the sofa in the direction of a room across the way.

  The room wasn't as bare as the others that I had seen, a queen size bed, two dressers, a bedside table, and a bathroom. I went through the closet to find a similar blue shirt and took it out to him swiftly, afraid to make matters worse. I tried not to look or think about Garrett's bloody mouth or Andy's death, I knew if I did I would start to cry. Something told me that was against the rules he had set up for his 'wife'.

  "Thank you sweetheart." He leaned in to kiss me, making my skin crawl and causing me to step away. He glared at me as if I had insulted him. I could see that he was thinking of hitting me so I looked at the floor around me; blue woven area rug under the table.

  I sat down uncomfortably close to Garrett when his father shoved me back onto the sofa. I was basically on his lap and afraid to move. I started to tremble again and pressed into Garrett's chest to find some comfort. Garrett lightly took my hand, scaring me more than comforting me and it didn't go unnoticed by his dad.

  "Don't touch her! She's your mother!"

  "She's not my mother and you're scaring her with the violence," Garrett said moving me off his lap, but keeping me close to him. For some reason I felt a little bit safer, but not when the man's eyes came within inches of my own.

  "Is that true sweetheart?" He asked putting his hand on my upper thigh. I just nodded, too nervous to speak. "I'm sorry honey." He leaned in to kiss me. A little squeak escaped my lips as I fell backward onto Garrett's lap again.

  Garrett attempted to save me from the situation and spoke up again, "Dad, you'll be late for work."

  "Shut up! Go to your room!" The man yelled in our faces.

  I heard Garrett sigh; defeated. Garrett lightly lifted me off his lap and went back to the room he came from. For a moment he glanced back at me with a tear running down his cheek.

  Once Garrett shut his door, his dad came after me. I finally recognized the emotion in his eyes; lust. He forced my arms above my head to hold me in place with one of his hands while he could do whatever he wanted with the other. There was a pleased smile that spread across his face as he pressed his body into me.

  "You'll get used to having me like this, all my wives do," he said as he kissed me hard on the lips, while his hand roamed freely against my protest. I could feel his fingertips trailing up and down my body until I felt something hard push against my thigh through his work pants.

  "Man if I had a few more minutes..."he said as he trailed kisses down my neck. I could hear him groan happily while he told me what to say.

  "Say you'll miss me Kelly," he said softly as he kissed my jaw line. When I didn't answer he ran his hands up to my shorts to make me squirm and do what he wanted.

  "I...I...will...miss you."

  "Now say, 'have a good day Steve'."

  Chapter 3

  I was going to throw up—I had to hold it or I’d be forced to clean it up. Steve slammed the door shut as he left the house. Once the front door closed, I ran toward the bathroom and barely opened the toilet lid in time.

  My eyes shut tight as my hands gripped around the toilet bowl. Images flashed in my mind rapidly, with controllable speed. I could see Andy's death, Steve taking me, his kisses, the pressure of his body against me and I could hear him calling me Kelly. My stomach retched and my head was almost in the bowl this time at the force.

  It took a few minutes for my stomach to calm down. I tried to keep the images from my mind so that I could stop. I pictured anything else I could, pets, my family, and even Garrett. Garrett was flashing into my mind more often the longer I sat there, filling me with guilt. Andy was dead because of me and here I am thinking about some other guy I don't even know and won't help me escape. That's when the mental images of Steve hitting Garrett repeatedly came to mind.

  I felt another retch in my stomach as I bent over again, the experiences had my knees weak and sent me crashing to the floor in a heap. Everything had finally caught up with me: his name, the rules, my morning, Andy's death, abuse, and the kidnapping. It was a lot to process, and I couldn't handle it at all. After an hour, I was able to leave the bathroom. Garrett hadn't left his room since Steve went to work, leaving me running through the house trying desperately to get out.

  My footsteps echoed through the house—I was sure Garrett could hear me walking around from inside his room.

  All the doors were locked in place, except the front door, and I couldn't force that one open even if Garrett did help me. The windows were all boarded shut, and it looked like every escape route I could think of was sealed off. Maybe the same ones the other girls used. Logical, smart and over powering, he definitely had done this before.

  "Are you okay, whatever your name is?" Garrett asked from behind me. I jumped, he needed to stop coming up behind me, it was going to get old really quick. I turned to see Garrett with concern in his eyes as he looked upon my vibrating frame, but soon I noticed something else. He wasn't wearing a shirt. My eyes landed on the muscles he had. He must have spent his days here exercising, there was nothing else to do. I bit my lip as I felt a calming feeling come over me as Garrett stepped toward me. I realized that I wanted him to be close to me.

  I saw his eyes change as he tilted his head in confusion like a puppy.

  "Do I look okay? My name is Anna by the way," I said letting venom drip from my words. I hoped that my anger would scare him off so he'd get away from me and leave me alone. He wasn’t going to help me escape, if anything he was going to keep me here.

  His eyes flickered, the concern gone, and fury taking its place. "Look I was just asking! I didn't do this to you!"

  "You might as well have!" I retorted as my stomach clenched again. I raced back to the restroom, and threw up in the toilet again. Garrett took my hair as it started to fall out of my ponytail in clumps. He waited for me to stop before he dropped my hair and continued our argument where we left off.

  "I haven't done anything to you but help!"

  "You haven't helped me! Oh great, you washed dishes and asked if I was okay, what the hell does that do for me here?" I yelled at him. How could he think that was helping me? All he did was basically tell me I told you so!

  "It's the only kindness you'll get here." His words, truthful as they were, stung. Steve would be 'kind' if I behaved and followed the rules. It made me sick to think about the kindness I would receive from him, but Garrett had been nice, even went against Steve's rules.

  "Why am I here?" I asked, trying to find answers and hopefully a solution.

  "He wants the perfect family again. My mom died, and since then he has been trying to re-live it," he answered looking at me sadly. I must look awful puking all morning.

  I laughed at the thought, making him angry, "You think that's funny? My mother died and you think that's funny?"

  "No, trust me. I wish your mom was still alive," I said as I remembered Steve's advances with me this morning.

  Garrett turned away from me, heading back toward his room. His pants had bloodstains on the back, while his back was red and raw.

  "Wait-" I pleaded as I felt another clench of my stomach. I put my hand over my mouth, hoping to hold it down and keep whatever food, if any, I had left in my stomach.

  "What?" he asked, clearly annoyed with me after our little fight. I swallowed the annoyance from his response as well as the vomit about to come out. I normally had a harsh tongue, but in this moment I knew I should keep it under control.

  "What happened to your back?" My hands slapped over my mouth, the question slipped out by accident. He glared daggers into me, before he turned on his heel and left.

  I heard Garrett slam his door shut. It tore me apart slightly to have Garrett treat me so nicely and then reject me because I was angry.

  I had been forced to watch Steve’s assault on me then Garret, and I had to lie in order to keep myself out of trouble. Whether I wanted to admit or not, I needed Garrett. He knew more of what was going on here, he w
as the only one that could help me. It made no sense to me though, there's no such thing as a perfect family, especially when you kidnapped the 'mother’.

  I let out a scream. I was terrified, annoyed, and angry all at once. This house was a prison. I was living a nightmare, and I doubted anyone would come. No one came for the other girls—they hadn’t made it home. They had died here, like I would.

  "Shut up!" I heard Garret scream from his enclosed room.

  "No! I'm stuck here and it's your fault!" I yelled back, hoping to make him angry so he had to come out and face me. It worked. Garrett opened the door and took three strides toward me, towering over my small frame. I suddenly wished I had thought about his reaction before I angered him.

  "I didn't take you! If anything I helped those other girls!"

  "I bet you did!" I bet he helped them right to their graves because he didn't get them out of this house. He trapped them here as much as his father did, but this time I thought ahead and decided not to say it. "I gave each of them a chance to escape! It's not my fault I couldn't show them the way home!" Garrett yelled as he raked his fingers through his hair.

  "You could've left with them!" I retorted. “Why didn’t you go with them?”

  "And been killed myself?" Garrett yelled back at me throwing his hands into the air in frustration.

  "You could've left and called the cops!"

  "There's no electricity or a phone!"

  "So you're saying you don't know how to use a phone?" I asked condescendingly, clearly making him angrier. When I was I going to learn my lesson?

  "I do, but there isn’t one here to use. Asking why I haven't left yet and why I didn't do anything for those girls! I've done more than you can imagine!”

  "Like what? You're probably the reason he has these stupid rules!"

  "Each girl did something to make a rule. Something that angered him enough to chase them."

  "Chase them?" I asked when what he said registered in my mind. It wasn't how I was expecting him to answer.

  "What?" His anger subsided quickly, replaced with fear. He clearly wasn't supposed to say anything about what he had let slip out and now he was going to try to cover it up.

  "You said he chased them. What do you mean?"

  "I didn't say that," Garrett said shaking his head and refusing to look in my eyes.

  "You're lying! Yes you did!"

  "Just follow the rules and don't get used to having me around to stick up for you. I've learned my lesson the hard way." He turned his back to me and practically ran back to his room away from me.

  "Wait! You know something! Tell me!"

  "The less you know the better. I told one girl everything and the next thing I knew—nevermind." He was acting as if Steve would hear him tell me and he would be punished. I just wanted to know what I had to do to get out of here.

  "Garrett! Tell me right now!" I grabbed his hand. I wasn't strong enough to make him stop, but for some reason right when I touched him he stopped.

  "Let go, Anna," he said softly. It was the first calm thing he said to me today, which caught me off guard.

  "No! You have to tell me."

  "I don't have to do anything!" he said as he pulled his hand out of mine and slammed his door in my face.

  "You're such a jackass!" I yelled at him through the door, stomping my foot in anger.

  "Yeah, keep going! You're really proving your case that I need to tell you anything!"

  I stormed off to my room, slamming my door shut. The only thing I had left to check was the closet in my room, I knew there was a box in the corner of the closet. I just hoped that there was something in there that could help me.

  When I opened the box I let out a loud terrified scream. There was rope, knives, and chains tossed into the box, the same ties that held the girls to the chairs in their photos.

  "Anna! Anna! Are you okay?" I heard Garrett ask as he pounded on the bedroom door.

  I didn't answer, I couldn't find the words to answer. I just let out another scream as tears just rolled down my face. I kicked the box back into its spot and slammed the door shut. I never wanted to see those things ever again.

  "Anna! Are you okay?" Garrett asked worried about me. Wasn't he just angry with me? Why did he care if I was screaming? That’s all that probably happened in this house.

  "I'm as fine as I can be."

  "Can I come in?" he asked after a few minutes in silence. I was actually surprised to hear him speak again. He had been so silent, I thought he went back to his room and left me alone again.

  "No?" I said, unsure why he wanted to come in, but I wanted to be wrapped up in his arms, to find some sort of solace. I needed someone, I had loved Andy, but I needed someone who could be here for me now and that was Garrett.

  "Whatever,” he scoffed. This time I heard his footsteps walk away and the familiar sound of his door slamming shut behind him. I was left staring at the twelve girls that had been here before me, and were all dead now.

  "Tell me how to get out! Help me get out of this! I just want to go home! Didn't you want to go home?" I yelled angrily at the photos in front of me. All of them full of pure terror and new to this imprisonment just as I was now. The only way I was going to survive was if I knew as much as possible. I needed to know what to expect, and only Garrett knew what was going to happen.

  It took all my courage to walk up to the door. I wasn’t there long when Garrett opened the door.

  "What do you want?" he asked, his words dripping with the same venom I had earlier.

  "I want to know what happened to the other girls," I stated quietly, giving him my best puppy dog face so that he would tell me what I needed to know. He didn't find the face irresistible, he scoffed at me and shook his head at the effort.

  "I'm not going to tell you so just drop it," he spat angrily at me. He started to close the door on me again, but I put my foot in the jam to prevent him from closing me out. I really needed answers and he was the only one that could answer them for me.

  "I need to know so that I can be safe and one day escape like they tried to do. I need to know what they did wrong or what they did right."

  "Fine, I will tell you, but not in here. I have a secret place, just give me some time," he said with pleading eyes as he closed his door, leaving me alone again.

  Chapter 4

  "Garrett, are you ready yet?" I asked impatiently. He had shut the door in my face, and had me waiting so long my feet were starting to hurt from standing.

  I wondered how long I had been waiting for, but it was hard to tell what time it was. There were no clocks and no clear view through the windows, so I couldn't see the position of the sun.

  "Yeah, I'm ready," he said suddenly, when the door finally opened and held a piece of black fabric in his hand.

  "What's that for?" I asked pointing to the scrap of fabric in his hand.

  "I have to blindfold you,” he said simply as he took a few steps toward me ready to blindfold me that moment.

  "Why?" I questioned taking a step back away from his advances.

  "So you don't see where I take you."

  "But why?"

  "Just let me blindfold you," he yelled, annoyed with my questions and demands that he explain everything to me.

  I groaned, but allowed Garrett to blindfold me. My world was sent into a black abyss as he pressed the fabric tightly against my eyes. I couldn't see anything, and it didn't even change when I blinked. I was surrounded by the same darkness that it almost didn't even seem like I had closed my eyes.

  "Let's go," he said as his hands lightly touched my shoulders to guide me toward his secret hiding spot.

  "Where are we going?"

  "Downstairs." He put my hand on the railing and let me walk down the stairs on my own.

  "That's not what I meant," I said, letting annoyance lace my words.

  "Too bad, that's all you're getting," he said as my feet touched the last step and I stood safely on the floor.

  "I'll lead y
ou." His tone was soothing as he took my hand and led me through the house.

  I didn't understand why Garrett had blindfolded me or why he wouldn't talk to me about the other girls upstairs, but he had been adamant about it. I wasn't allowed in his room either, and we weren't allowed to talk in the main room, so where was his safe place?

  I heard the familiar squeak of a kitchen chair sliding along the floor. There was an audible click as he opened or closed a door, maybe he just tapped the wall by accident; I couldn't be sure. The sound of something sliding along the floor met my ears soon after. I felt his hand take mine again as he led me forward again with him. Soon my feet left the smooth hardwood floors and touched cold concrete that sent shivers up my spine. We were going downstairs; the slight clunk of his boots in front of me calmed my nerves. I was afraid to fall, I was afraid of this house, and I was afraid of everything in it, but with Garrett it was bearable.

  "Keep your head low," I heard Garrett whisper in my ear.

  I did as I was told, but the gravity was ready to push me forward and let me roll down the stairs again. I frantically felt for a railing, but this time there wasn't one and I felt like I could fall at anytime.

  "Relax, I will catch you if you fall. I promise."

  There was just something in his voice that gave me comfort and his touch sent sparks through my system. I hadn't felt that since I fell in love with Andy, why was I feeling it now? I barely knew Garrett and I had no intention of getting to know him better. I wanted to go home.

  I could picture the grass hill near my house vividly from under the blindfold. In the spring my friends and I would roll down the hill until we were itchy from the grass. In the winter we'd go sledding until it was too cold for us to move our fingers and we needed hot chocolate to sooth our chattering teeth.

  I began to realize that being blind allowed me to freely imagine what I wanted the world to look like. I could see it exactly how I wished it would be; I could be back home. For a few moments I was free from the prison of the home. I could forget about the locks and boarded windows that kept me inside. I could imagine the feeling of wet grass in between my toes and the early morning sun on my cheeks.