Revival

by Kirkpatrick, S.

  “Why the fuck are you calling me so late?”

  “Search the house, Dex! Search it right fucking now! Please tell me Max is there!”

  “What the fuck Abel, I thought she was at the shop with you?”

  “Search. The. Fucking. House. Dex. Now!”

  Without any further argument, he concedes to my demands and gives me updates as he clears every room in the house.

  After ten agonizing minutes, he confirms my worst fear. He confirms what I knew as soon as I saw that syringe.

  Max isn’t there.

  I knew she wouldn’t be, but it was the last strand of hope I was holding on to. I didn’t want to let myself believe it, but now I know.

  Rob abducted Bree.

  And now he’s abducted Max too.

  I’m going to kill this mother-fucker!

  ***

  “They’re going to find the girls, Abel. They’re doing everything they can.”

  “Brody, I can’t do this man. I can’t just sit here and do nothing while that bastard has them. There’s no telling what he’s going to do to them, what he may have already done to them. It was bad enough that he had Bree, but now Max too? And the cops just want me to sit on my hands and just fuckin’ wait? I can’t do that.”

  “I know, but even you said it, man. There’s nothin’ we can do right now. ‘Til the cops have more leads to follow up on we just have to try and be patient. I know that’s a shit answer, but it’s the only one any of us have right now.”

  I know he’s right and I know he’s just trying to help, but it’s not in me to just sit back and wait. I spent a lot of my childhood doing that. Helpless to the circumstances handed to me. There wasn’t a goddamned thing I could do back then. Not when I was as young as I was.

  Those days are over for me. I’ll figure out a way to help, I won’t rest until I do.

  ***

  It’s eight in the morning and I haven’t slept at all. All of our friends showed up at the station when they found out Max was taken. Since Rob abducted Bree, everyone’s been staying at the house Dex, Max, and I all live in. It seemed the best way to keep them all safe.

  I’ve long since sent them back to the house so they can try and get some sleep, but how the fuck am I supposed to try and sleep when the love of my life, the mother of my unborn twins, and my baby sister have both been abducted by Max’s psychotic ex-boyfriend? The answer is simple.

  I can’t.

  Four years ago, Max was able to escape her abusive ex, Rob. He ran her off the road while she was on her motorcycle and left her for dead. She suffered a long list of injuries and has scars on her body that remind her every day the hell she was strong enough to escape from. Rob was sentenced to ten years for attempted murder but a month ago he somehow managed to weasel his way into an early release for ‘good behavior’. Since he got out he’s managed to stalk Max, send threatening DVDs, and abduct both her and my sister.

  Those assholes who approved him to get out early should get fired and charged with being accessories after this shit! He didn’t even serve half his sentence!

  “Mr. Cooper, you’re welcome to go home now, we will contact you as soon as we have any further information.”

  Home.

  Where Max should be.

  With me…

  I nod to the officer, acknowledging him in the only way that I can. There isn’t anything to say really…

  My legs move of their own accord, carrying me to my truck, without any conscious thought. The drive back to the house is the same way. Hell, I don’t even remember starting the truck, let alone leaving the station, but somehow I end up at home.

  I see that my truck is placed in park, but instead of getting out and going inside, my eyes find the empty seat next to me that should be occupied by a tiny, feisty woman, that stole my heart the minute I met her.

  The passenger seat has never looked so big, and in the heat of the summer, my truck has never felt so cold.

  I don’t know how long I sit in the driveway, silence permeating throughout the cab. All I know is that grief and fury are waging a war inside of me, fighting like rabid dogs to see which one will prevail in the end.

  The emotions are so heavy, so palpable, that I feel physically exhausted when grief wins out. My limbs feel heavy, but on the inside, I feel empty. I don’t even know how it’s possible to feel so many things at the same time, each one contradicting the next. But here I sit, utterly stupefied and in shock.

  I close my eyes, inhaling a deep breath, trying to reign in my composure that’s slipping a little more by the second. By the time I open them, I find myself standing on my front porch, house key poised over the deadbolt. There’s a part of me that can’t bear to unlock the door and go inside the house without her. The same part that resents the police for telling me to come home in the first place.

  My decision is made for me when Dex opens the door from the inside.

  “I was just coming to check on you. I heard the truck shut off 10 minutes ago and was starting to get worried when you didn’t come inside.”

  “I um… I just…” I stammer.

  “Needed a minute?” He supplies, no judgment in his voice.

  “Desperately.” I confess.

  Dex doesn’t say another word, he just nods his head in understanding and leans against the door frame, waiting for my ‘minute.’ We’ve been best friends since we were in fuckin’ Pampers so he knows when to push and when to just sit in silence, never turning his back, despite his own pain.

  We somehow find our way inside the house and nod our goodbyes as I make my way upstairs to mine and Max’s room. The minute I hit the doorway, I’m flooded with her scent. She always smells like fresh rain and summertime.

  Smelling her in our room without her here, fucking guts me. My eyes wander around the room, to the boxes in the corner she still hasn’t unpacked since moving in. To the clothes on the floor by the closet door that I pulled off of her the last time we made love. To the baby magazines all over the dresser. To the scarves and other random girl accessories hanging up on the hooks that I installed for her by the far wall.

  All around this room, I see Max.

  I stroll over to the closet, pick up her shirt that’s laying on the ground, and make my way over to her side of the bed. I don’t know why I feel the need to hold her shirt, but I do. Maybe it’s just a way to feel her, smell her, to be close to her right now…

  The sun coming in from the bay window by the bed casts a light on the photo frame on our bedside table. I pick it up with shaky hands. My emotions are barreling through me so fast that I can’t come to terms with one before another takes over.

  The frame holds two of my favorite photos. The first picture is of the two of us from our weekend getaway. Max is holding the calla lilies I bought for her from a street vendor in one hand, right above her belly as she snuggles into my side. The photo was taken the day after we found out she was pregnant. We had just gotten done dancing in the middle of the street, not a care in the world about what was happening around us.

  In the photo, Max has the most beautiful smile spread across her angelic face that reveals her deep-set dimples in each cheek. It’s so pure, full of love and happiness.

  I pick up my phone and scroll through my music, selecting ‘First Day of My Life’ by Bright Eyes, the same song we danced to that day. A song that has such a powerful meaning for Max, that I can practically still hear her crying through the words as she sings them in my ear.

  The second picture in the frame is the ultrasound we got earlier this week. I rub my fingers over the two little bubble shapes in the photo.

  Our babies.

  My face grows warm, my nose is tingly, and my vision is starting to blur with the tears that are threating to fall. My entire future is here in my hands, plain as day, but it’s not currently within my reach.

  I clutch the frame and Max’s shirt close to my chest, lay back on her pillow and bawl
my eyes out.

  It doesn’t change anything.

  It doesn’t bring her home to me.

  It doesn’t help us find her or my sister.

  But it’s literally the only goddamn thing I can do.

  Chapter Three

  MAX

  “It’s nice to see you again Maxine. I’ve missed you so much.”

  My former abuser stands in front of me, his words are like venom in my veins. I used to find his British accent charming and now it’s just sinister and vicious. Something I now know is who he is down to his very core.

  Rob is just shy of six-foot tall and I remember him being on the scrawnier side. The Rob that stands before me now has bulked up a bit since the last time I saw him, but the evil that permeates off of him is stronger than ever.

  He’s wearing a suit, portraying that he’s a man worthy of respect, when he’s anything but. His brown hair has been cut and cropped close to his scalp as though it’s recently begun to grow back out after being completely shaved off.

  His brown eyes reflect the mayhem that consumes him, and the deep-set bags under his eyes show that he hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in quite some time. Although he’s attempting to appear well put together, I see right through him. I know the truth.

  He’s a fucking monster.

  If I didn’t have a gag in my mouth right now, I would spit in his face. I hate him. I hate him so much! I thrash around in the chair, trying to break free from the ropes that have me bound. But it’s useless. They’re too tight and I can’t move my arms or my legs. I find myself once again in a position that I swore I would never allow to happen.

  At Rob’s mercy.

  “Don’t try and move around too much, you’ll get rope burns.” Rob says, smiling at me with a heinous gleam in his eye like he’s ever cared about me being hurt before.

  Hell, most of the pain I’ve ever experienced in my life was at the hands of this monster. The brutal beatings I endured for almost two years, the months I spent in the hospital recovering from the night he tried to kill me. The long and grueling months after I was released, when I had to go through extensive rehab so I could actually walk again.

  Rat bastard!

  And here he sits in front of me, patronizing me about rope burns.

  What a fucking joke.

  “I don’t know why you would try and fight it, Maxine, we’re finally together again.”

  His words are taunts that I want to rip from my senses. I try and scream at him through my gag, I know he can’t understand a word I’m saying, but that doesn’t keep me from wanting to tell him what I really think about him. I want him to know that I hate him. I want him to know that the mere sight of him, no… The mere thought of him, makes my skin crawl and cringe.

  He disgusts me.

  “You have no idea how much it hurt me to see you with that man. How could you do that to me? How could you dispose of me so easily, Maxine?”

  Oh my gosh, Abel! He’s probably freaking out. I can’t even imagine the panic he must have gone through when he found out I was missing. First Bree and now me… He’s got to be a mess right now.

  It dawns on me that I don’t even know how long I’ve been gone. I’m in a room with no windows so I can’t see outside. The only lights are from the scattered fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling above me and a few at the far end of the room. I know I was unconscious for a while, but I have no idea for how long.

  I feel a tear fall across my cheek, knowing how helpless all of our friends and family must feel right now. The pain they must be feeling settles in my stomach like a twenty-pound dumbbell.

  “I hope those are tears of remorse for your betrayal Maxine.”

  Maxine.

  Ugh, I hate that name. I always have. And Rob knows this. That’s why he calls me that, that’s why he’s always called me by my full name. It’s times like this when I realize how young and stupid I was to get in a relationship with him in the first place.

  So very, very stupid.

  Rob stands, towering over me. He moves the hair out from in front of my eyes, pretending like he actually gives a damn.

  I internally scoff at the absurdity of it. The truth is, Rob is incapable of feeling anything for anyone other than himself.

  “Tell me, Maxine.” He whispers in my ear. “Did you let him touch you here?” He licks my neck.

  “What about here?” He cups my breasts with one hand.

  “I’m betting you were a fucking whore and let him touch you here too, didn’t you?” He slams his hand against my crotch.

  I close my eyes at his touch, willing myself to disappear… Having him touch me again, in anyway… I feel filthy.

  “This belongs to me. You belong to me, Maxine. Don’t forget that. I was the first man inside you and you better believe that I’ll be the fucking last. Do you hear me?”

  He moves to kiss my cheek and I recoil away from him. I try and hold back the bile forming in the back of my throat. It’s an involuntary reaction to the simple fact that he absolutely repulses me and I don’t want him touching me ever again. All his touch is capable of bringing is pain and torment. And where Rob is concerned, I’ve had my fair share of both.

  “Oh, so you want to play hard to get is that it? You want to deny me what belongs to me? Well, how about I remind you of your place in this relationship.”

  His face to comes to life, genuine excitement spilling across his face as he rears back and slaps me across the face with the back of his hand so hard that I see stars causing me to immediately taste blood in my mouth.

  See what I mean? Pain and disgust. That’s all he’s capable of.

  I fight like hell to hold back the tears of shame that are trying so hard fall from my eyes.

  I wish my hands weren’t bound so I could show him who I am now. Who I’ve become since the last time he knew me. He has no idea that I’m proficient in Krav Maga, one of the most brutal fighting styles someone can get in to. It’s a fighting style most common amongst Mossad intelligence officers. He has no fucking idea that if I weren’t in these ropes that I could easily end his life.

  I’ve been taking my Krav Maga classes religiously ever since Kat enrolled me all those years ago. And even though I’m not one to brag, I’ve taken down men twice Rob’s size in competitive sparring before. So when I get out of this chair, because I will… Somehow, some way… I will take him to the ground with a force that will leave him breathless. Because that’s exactly what I was trained to do.

  “In case you haven’t noticed Maxine, you’re in no place to deny me right now. It’s exactly as it was before. I have all the power and you’d be smart to remember that. I spent four years in prison after the fucking stunt you pulled. You have a lot of making up to do for that. You will be punished for what you did to me, Maxine. Do you want to know how?”

  I shake my head no. I assume it’s going to entail him beating me to a bloody pulp while I sit in this chair. Defenseless. Completely at his mercy, exactly how he prefers it. He gets off on it.

  Rob is a sadistic bastard, and with how angry he is at me for getting away, blaming me for his time in prison, and for being with Abel, there’s no telling how badly he’ll beat me this time. I just hope he doesn’t touch my stomach.

  Oh my gosh, does he know?

  “It was a rhetorical question really. Wait right here. Although I suppose you don’t have much of a choice now do you?” He gives me his serial-killer-like smile as he saunters out of sight behind me.

  I hear the door click and lock behind him and take this time to assess my situation and take in everything about the room around me. I don’t know much about my current situation, but one thing is certain…

  I have to find a way out of here.

  Each of my arms is bound separately to the arms of the chair I’m in. I examine the ropes to see if there’s a weak spot in the knotting and quickly get discouraged when I see the intricate sailor knots staring back at me I w
on’t be able to wiggle out of these. They’ll have to be untied or cut.

  I then glance down to see that each of my legs are bound to the separate legs of the chair with the same knot. My gag is made of burlap, which is already chaffing the sides of my mouth. I suppress a frustrated scream when I realize that I won’t be able to chew through it.

  Next, I survey the room. It’s long and wide, appearing to be an abandoned warehouse of some kind. Every part of the room that I can see is concrete. The walls, pillars, floors, even the ceiling. I don’t see a door anywhere in front of me. Well, as far as the scattered overhead lights will allow me to see that is. Which leaves just the exit through to the door Rob just went through. And I have no idea where, or how far back it is in the room.

  Fuck! It’s going to take a miracle to get me out of here.

  My thoughts are interrupted by the door behind me opening once again. Although I can’t see the door to gauge how far it is from where I sit, I count the seconds it takes for him to approach me.

  I close my eyes and concentrate on the light footsteps. One, two, three.

  After twenty agonizing seconds, the footsteps stop.

  “Open your eyes, Maxine. It’s time to face your punishment.”

  I don’t open them. I can’t look at him while he beats me again. I just can’t…

  “I said open your fucking eyes!” He screams.

  His fist connects with the side of my jaw without any forewarning. Reluctantly, I open them, telling myself that if I listen, making him think I’m playing his game, it will make this entire shit show easier in the long run.

  But when I open my eyes, I find myself instantly relieved by the sight in front of me.

  She’s alive!

  Bree’s arms are tied behind her back and her legs are tied together by the ankles. Sadly, the ropes are twisted in intricate patterns all the way up her legs. She couldn’t walk away even if she was given the opportunity to. She has the same burlap material gag that I do and she’s no longer blindfolded like she was in the proof of life video Rob sent Abel.