“Oh, um, I don’t know.” I told her, “Nick is making breakfast, so sometime after that.”
Nick came into the room with a plate full of food, setting it in front of me.
Mom let out a long sigh. “Okay, well, do you think I can talk to him?”
“Talk to who?” Nick asked, “Is everything okay?”
I nodded, “Yeah, it’s my mom. She asked to talk to you.”
“Oh, hi Mrs. Key,” Nick waved to her on my phone.
“Hi, Nick,” she smiled, “Thank you for taking care of her.”
“Of course,” he took my hand, looking at me, his eyes full of love. “I care about her a lot.”
Smiling at him, I gave him the phone and he went into the bedroom.
“I’ll be right out,” he said. “Please try to eat, okay?”
After he shut the door, I scarfed down most of the food before he returned. Normally, I’d want to know what Mom was telling him, but at that moment, I didn’t care; I was just happy I was eating a real meal.
By the time I was almost done, Nick finally came back into the living room, giving me a small, sad smile; hardly even looking at me. He went off into the kitchen to get his plate of food. An unsettling, overwhelming thought came over me: Eli was still out there. He had to have been, why else would Mom and Nick be acting so weird? The thought of it made my stomach twist.
Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t hear Nick come back into the living room.
“How are you feeling?” Nick asked, causing me to jump slightly. “Woah, hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I told him, brushing my long hair behind my ear. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
I heard him sigh and felt his eyes on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him then. Not when I felt so scared and helpless; instead, I stared at the soft, red carpet – but turned away when all I started to see from it was blood.
“Summer,” Nick’s voice was soft and soothing.
Blinking back tears, I laid my head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He set his plate down, then wrapped his arms around me. “You’re okay, you don’t have to apologize, Summer.” Shutting my eyes tight, my breathing became shaky as I tried to fight back the tears. “It’s okay,” he kissed the top of my head.
We sat in silence for a little while, then I gathered up my courage and asked him, “What did my mom say to you on the phone?”
“Oh, um,” he paused, clearing his throat.
I grew nervous and I sat up to look at him. “What? What’d she say?”
“We should probably, uh, maybe stay here for a little while,” he started, and I quickly understood what he meant. My stomach dropped, what my gut was telling me was right – Eli was still out there.
Without even thinking, I shot up, rushing into the bedroom.
“What are you doing?” Nick asked, following me.
“Where are the keys? We have to get out of here.” Seeing them in the bedside table, I snatched them up; turning right into Nick’s chest, he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight while I started crying uncontrollably.
“It’s okay, Summer,” he brushed my hair with his hand. “It’s okay. You’re safe.” But I didn’t feel safe knowing that Eli was still out there somewhere – knowing that he was still looking for me. What the hell was his plan, anyway? Keep me there forever? Kill me eventually?
I shuddered at the thought.
“How do you know?” I whispered.
“Because I’m going to do everything I can to protect you,” he promised. “Our dads are out looking for him right now.”
I looked up at him. “He’s not hiding under the basement?”
Nick shook his head. “My dad already looked.” When I started to tell him we should get out of here and keep moving, he said, “Why don’t we watch a movie? Take your mind off it. We can stream something on my phone.”
“But what about the car? If he sees it, he’ll be here.”
Nick shook his head. “Don’t worry about the car. Plus we’re miles from our houses, he's not going to find us.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He held my shoulders gently. “I hid the car.”
Letting out a long breath, I nodded slightly. “Okay.”
Nick slowly and gently took the keys from my hands, setting them back down on the bedside table. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
“Sure,” I told him and he handed me his phone.
“I’m going to clean up the kitchen. Why don’t you pick a movie for us to watch?”
Sitting down on the bed, I started scrolling through a few comedies. I thought that we needed a good laugh after everything. Not finding any good ones, I decided to search for stand ups; I knew we could definitely use one. When Nick came back into the room, we laid down and I cuddled up to him, starting to doze off.
Nick kissed the top of my head and rubbed my shoulder.
The next time I opened my eyes, Nick wasn’t there. Looking at the clock on my phone, it was only four in the afternoon.
There were folded up clothes on the end of the bed and I picked them up to take another shower.
While washing my hair, I thought I heard noise coming from the living room. “Nick?” I called, confused. “Are you okay?”
When there was no answer, I sighed slightly. I shouldn’t have thought that he’d actually be able to hear me. Rising out my hair, I got out of the shower. In the mirror, I examined the mark on my face; it was still a little swollen. Frowning at my reflection, I vowed to myself right there that if I did see him again, I was going to kill him.
After getting dressed, I went out to the living room to find it empty. “Nick?” I called but there was no answer. Slowly backing up into the bedroom, I shut the door and locked it. Panic set in. Where the hell was he?
The keys on the bedside table were gone.
He said that he had hid the car, so maybe he was out at the car? But why wouldn’t he have told me? Was he even in here when I was in the shower?
A knock on the door made me jump, letting out a small scream. Quickly covering my mouth, I waited for another sound…
“Summer?” Nick’s voice was muffled by the door. “Summer? Are you okay?”
Breathing heavily, I unlocked and opened the door, throwing my arms around him, shaking.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He asked, holding me up so I wouldn’t fall from my legs giving out.
I nodded, sobbing. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just scared myself is all,” I chuckled slightly.
“Why don’t you rest?” Nick asked, leading me to the bed.
“I’ve been resting,” I told him. “I’m tired of resting, I just want Eli caught so I can go home.”
There was a knock on the door and panic overwhelmed me again.
“It’s okay,” Nick said quickly. He went to get the door and I mentally shook myself.
“Get it together, Summer,” I told myself quietly.
Back in the bathroom, I used the small hair dryer to dry my hair. My hair is so thick and long, it feels like it takes an hour to dry it all out.
“So now what should we do?” I asked coming into the living room. I smelled food in the kitchen, following the scent to find Chinse take out. “Oh, hell yes,” I smiled, grabbing a paper plate and dumping food on it. Turning around, the plate fell from my hands, landing with a thump! I froze; unable to move. My smile disappeared and I felt as though I couldn’t breathe.
“What are you doing here?” I heard myself ask. “Where’s Nick?”
“Don’t worry about him, he’s fine.” Eli said almost like he was in a dream-like state, “I can’t believe I really found you.” He took a step forward and though my mind was screaming; I still couldn’t move; I was too scared. “Now we can be together, again.”
Now I was able to move, I took a huge step back. “No, Eli,” I told him firmly. “I’m not going to be with you – ever.”
His face grew dark. “You will come with me!”
“No, I
won’t!” I shouted back. As he stared me down, I tried to quickly run through the small gap that led to the living room, but he grabbed me from behind, lifting me in the air. “Let me go!” I kicked and screamed, but he covered my mouth to muffle the screams.
“You're mine – forever,” Eli breathed in my ear, while dragging me out of the room.
Kicking and screaming did no good. I even tried using my nails to scratch his arms, hoping to make him bleed. He gripped me around the waist harder, making it hard to breathe. I tried to breathe slowly, in and out of my nose and to stay as calm as possible. Not knowing what else to do, I bit down on his hand as hard as I could. He let out a painful yell and instead of letting go of me, grabbed onto me around my neck, cutting off the airflow.
Then I had a thought: if I stopped what I was doing and acted like I was passed out, I could get away when he least expects it.
I let my arms fall and I shut my eyes, slumping against him.
“Stupid bitch.” I heard Eli mutter, dragging me out of the motel room.
He still had a hold of me while he shut the door, then he threw me over his shoulder and carried me to the parking lot.
Opening my eyes, I saw that no one was around. A horrible feeling came over me: I'm never going to make it out of here.
At the car, he laid me on the ground as he opened the trunk. His back was to me so I slowly got up and backed away. When he started to dig through the trunk of the car, I turned to run.
Next thing I knew, I hit the hard pavement, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me; unable to breathe. Quickly getting up, I ran back into the motel room, remembering that Nick had brought the gun into the room last night.
“Summer!” I heard Eli yell behind me.
I got the door open, rushed inside, and slammed the door before he could reach me. I locked the door and ran in the bedroom, locking that door as well. I grabbed the gun from the nightstand and Nick's phone, than ran to the bathroom, to lock that door. There was a window above the toilet that I'm sure I could fit through.
Standing on the toilet, I struggled to get the window open with my good hand. I heard the front door being kicked down. “Summer! You stupid bitch! Where the hell do you think you're going?” I heard the bedroom door being kicked down.
“Come on, open up!” I whispered to myself. I hit the window with my fist and tried again. It opened. “Yes!” I laughed to myself.
Climbing out the window, I heard the bathroom down swing open and Eli yelling at me. “No!”
He grabbed my foot and I kicked at him to let go. He was stronger than me, I knew, but I wasn't going give up. He grabbed both of my ankles and pulled me down on the floor. I hit my head on the floor but got up and pointed the gun at his chest.
He laughed. “You're going to shoot me?”
I pulled the safety off and cocked it.
He put up his hands, fear written all over his face.
“Where's Nick?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“H-he's in the car.” He stumbled over his words. “Summer, don't shoot.”
“Why not?” I yelled. “You took everything away from me!”
“Calm down.” Eli said.
“No,” I sobbed, my hands were sweaty and shaking.
“Summer,” he took a step towards me.
“Stay away from me!” I yelled.
“Let me take you home. I'm sorry for what I did.” He came closer to me, and my gut told me he was lying.
“Get back, or I'll shoot you.” I said shaking.
He didn't listen. I shut my eyes, holding my breath, and pulled the trigger.
I opened my eyes to find him on the ground, holding his leg.
I shot him in the leg. I continued to shoot the gun, there had to be more bullets – but there wasn’t. He started getting up and I started to panic.
“I should've killed you when you tried to leave my damn house.” He growled at me.
“Please, don't.” I begged, sobbing.
He pulled a knife out from behind his back and came towards me. I held up the gun and tried shooting him again.
I heard a gunshot, but it wasn't mine. His eyes teared up, and blood came out of his mouth. He fell to the floor in front of me, and I screamed, getting up on the toilet. There was blood on his back. Someone had shot him, but not from me.
Two policemen were standing in the doorway.
“Are you okay ma'am?” One asked.
“I - I am now.” I said. I looked down at the body. “Is he dead?”
The other policeman walked over to him, checking his pulse. “Yes.” He stood up straight and offered his hand. I took it and he helped me down.
“Is there anyone else is the room, ma'am?” The other asked.
“Nick...” I whispered to myself, then I looked up to them. “Nick. He's - um,” I tried to remember what Eli said. “He's in the car!”
I rushed out to the parking lot to the car. Nick was climbing out of the trunk. “Nick!” I ran up to him and nearly knocked him over. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I'm fine.” Nick said. “Are you okay?”
“I am now.” I pressed myself into him.
“Are you guys okay?” An older lady had asked us. She wore a winter jacket and had short white hair poking out from under her hat. “I heard screaming and yelling.”
I threw my arms around her. “Thank you, so much!”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Nick shook her hand but she gave him a hug, too.
While I sat on the back of the ambulance, I told Officer Chen what happened while Nick told Officer Bradford what happened. I kept looking at the motel door where they were going in and out of, waiting to see a body bag come out of the room, but it never happened; maybe I missed it.
“How are you feeling?” Officer Chen asked me then. She was about my height, and had her dark brown hair pulled back into a bun.
“I’m okay,” though my voice shook.
She gave me a small, soft smile. “The important thing is you’re safe.”
Nick slowly came walking over to us. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, and Officer Chen gave us a warm smile, getting up. “I’ll give you two a moment.”
Nick took her place next to me, putting his arm around me, holding me close. “Are you really okay?” he asked, softly.
I nodded, watching Officer Chen and another talk. I had no idea what it was about, but neither one of them looked very happy. After a moment, he nodded, then made our way over to us.
“Hey, Officer Bradford, is everything okay?” Nick asked.
“I just had a few more questions, can we speak for a moment, please?” he asked.
Nick nodded, “Yeah, no problem.” Then told me, “I’ll be right back, okay?” he kissed my cheek and went to talk with him. I watched as they talked, Nick had his back to me, but I could still tell something was wrong.
The older woman who had called came over to me. “How are you feeling, dear?”
I wrapped the blanket tighter around me. “A little cold, but I’m okay. Thank you.”
“Do you need anything?” She asked, concerned.
I shook my head. “No, Nick is going to take me home. Hopefully soon.”
“Nick?” she asked confused. “I thought his name was Eli?”
Goosebumps covered my body. “No,” I breathed, “Eli – Eli was the one that kidnapped me.”
“Oh, dear,” she looked around franticly.
I shot up, asking, “What’s wrong?”
She pointed to the door of the room Nick and I were staying in. “Well, he was just walking out of there looking for you.”
I started at her. “Walking?” But he had been shot…they said he was dead. Looking around, my eyes instantly found Nick. “Nick!” I yelled, running towards him. “Nick!”
He turned to me. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “No, no, I’m not okay. We need to leave – now!” I tried to pull on his arm to leave, but he held onto me, trying
to calm me down.
“Summer, it’s okay –,”
“Ma’am –,” Officer Bradford tried to calm me down, “It’s alright, I know you’ve been through a lot the last few days –,”
“He just walked out of there,” I told them what the woman had told me, trying not to cry anymore.
The next thing I knew, Officer Chen was guiding me back to the ambulance. “Ma’am, it’s okay.”
“No, he just walked out of there!”
“Summer,” she said firmly and I blinked back a few tears. “We will find him.”
She sat down with me again, handing me a water bottle. Nick soon came over to us, and I tried to stay as calm as possible.
“Where’s the car?” I asked Nick, growing impenitent that we were still sitting here with Eli out there somewhere.
He nodded towards the side of the motel. “It’s back there, I’ll get it in a minute. Everything is okay, Summer,” he attempted to reassure me.
“You guys should wait on leaving in your car,” Officer Bradford came over to us, looking apologetic. “It’s been confirmed.”
Nick and I looked between each other. I was absolutely terrified; when was this nightmare going to end?
“But shouldn’t we get somewhere safe?” I asked him slowly.
He nodded. “Yes, I’m having Officer Chen take you somewhere safe until we get Eli.”
We thanked Officer Bradford and piled into Officer Chen’s police car.
Driving down the road, the sun was setting. The sky was pink and white. I watched it the whole time, thankful that I was finally able to see another sunset. Thankful that I was finally going to see my family again, with Nick beside me. I laid my head down on his shoulder, listening to the soft music Officer Chen put on for us.
Though I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, that this wouldn’t be the last time we’d see him…
The End
For now...
Never Talk to Strangers Page 9