by Pavan Kaur
“Don’t mind.” I watch her as she walks around people with her head down. I expected her to hide away from everyone knowing that Jack is in New York. She asked me before we left if it was better going to visit her friend in the evening and when I asked why she looked away. I suppose I already knew the answer to that question. She’s more comfortable in the dark outside; less people and because she knows all the little cracks on the pavement she won't ever have to look up. To anyone, she would just be a ghost.
I don’t reply. I’m going to wait until we head back home to see how her mood is. I open the door to the café. “Would you like anything?” I ask her, as she grabs two sandwiches and some water for her friend.
"No thank you." She places the things on the counter. I order myself a coffee and a hot chocolate for Hope. It's getting much colder now. I hand it to her, and she frowns. "What's this?"
“A hot chocolate.” She takes the cup from me as we walk out of the café. She takes the lid off and looks inside. “Hope, I promise it will taste nice.” I can’t help but smile at her. She’s the cutest person I’ve ever seen.
I watch her take a sip and lick her lips. She glances up at me. “Thank you, this is really nice.”
I pull her closer to me as I see a group of businessmen walking out of one of the offices. Her grip on my jacket tightens as they walk past us. She hangs her head and looks at the pavement as we make our way to the park.
Jackson told me that he would be close just in case anything happens; we both need to be ready for anything. I know how fucked up that man is so he’ll do what he wants when he wants and I have to find a way to get one step ahead of him.
Making our way to the tunnel, I stand a few steps back as she hugs her friend and gives her the food. I can't fully hear what they are saying, but I can hear the odd word here and there. Hope takes off her jacket and gives it to her friend. Taking a deep breath, I shake my head. I take my coat off and walk over to wrap it around her. Hope's friend looks at me with a smile. Returning it, I take a few steps back so they can carry on talking.
“Looks like he’s been there to help you. You look healthier, happier.”
I smile and feel good that Hope looks happier to her friend, as that’s all I’ve ever wanted for her.
“I’m happy with him,” I hear Hope reply. Taking a few more steps away from them both, I light up a cigarette and lean on the wall as I watch them talking.
As I stand there, I think about the charity We Are Loved. I'm in a position to help in more ways than that, and I think I'm going to talk to the doctor on Monday about a few other ideas I have.
I push myself off the wall as Hope makes her way to the other side of the tunnel and I remember what it's for, so I leave her for a moment, but I still take enough steps closer to see what's happening around her.
"I thought I told you to never look up." Hope freezes and I glare at the man walking close to her. I quickly walk toward her, but I'm stopped by two men who move me back a few steps.
Hope screams as her Uncle grabs a handful of her hair and throws her to the ground. “I told you I’d always find you!” he shouts at her.
Hope’s gaze drops to the floor. Come on Hope look at me.
“You must be the man that’s looking for me," he takes a step forward. This fucker doesn't even know who I am. My attention moves to Hope again, and her head moves to the side so that I can see her.
“What do you want? You’re killing a lot of people that I do business with." He looks back at Hope then at me with an evil grin on his ugly face. "Talking about business, this one is for sale, but I also know that she is worth—"
“Fuck you, asshole.” I push one of the guys out of the way to make my way over to him. “You look at me and tell me that you don’t know who I am!” I yell. This fucker will know who I am and he will know who’s going to kill him.
He looks me up and down then his eyes connect with mine, and we stare at each other for a moment. He starts laughing and a rush of cold blood runs through me as I remember him laughing like that once he was finished with me.
“Leo… Leo, Leo, Leo. You ran. You know, I haven’t found anyone like you again.”
"You're one fucked up man, and I can't wait to kill you."
He kneels and grabs a handful of Hope’s hair and pulls her to stand up. “Just like this girl here; never found anyone like you either.” He moves his face closer to her.
“Don’t you fucking dare touch her!” I shout at him. “Hope, look at me.” It takes her a moment, but her eyes lock with mine. “Do you trust me?” She gives me the smallest nod. “I’ll find you. I promise I’ll find you.”
Her uncle starts laughing again. “This is just so sweet, but I’m going to enjoy having to train you again.” He slaps Hope hard across the face which just pushes me.
I push one of the men and take quick steps toward her, but I’m stopped again when the other one punches me in the face. As I hit the ground, he continues to kick me in the stomach. He pauses briefly as I'm on the ground, so I grab my phone from my pocket and ring Jackson before putting the phone back in my pocket. I try to stand up, but get punched in the back.
"Get him up!" Jack shouts. One of the guys goes to grab me, but I push him off me. "Now Leo, this is what I'm going to do, because I like you. I'm in New York for a week then I'm leaving. So you have a week, to find me. You haven't had much luck finding me, but if I'm in New York, I'm making it easy for you."
I'd say something to him, but he knows just as well as I do that if I don't find him in the week, he'll become a ghost in my life again. This is my only chance to find him.
He looks at Hope and pulls her closer to himself, gives her another slap and whispers something into her ear and I watch as her body shake.
She tries to fight her way out of his grip but it’s tight around her hair, she’s crying now as I hear her sobs.
Taking a step closer to her again, I receive a hard punch to the stomach, and I start coughing as I try to get my breathing back to normal. I look over at Hope and signal to her with a nod. I need her to break free and run.
I grit my teeth and hiss at Jack, "I'll find you, and when I do, I'm going to make you scream the same way you made every child you took scream." I glare at him, our eyes locked. "I'm going to make sure that you will never hurt—"
“You really think you can find me? You’ve been hunting me for so long but nothing.” He pushes Hope to the ground again, as he walks over to me.
"Hope run!" I shout, and I watch as she scrambles to her feet and sets off as fast as her legs will carry her away from this.
“Get her!” Jack shouts at one of the guys. Then he turns back to me. “I have to know one thing. How did you do it? Escape and not just alone but with Jackson?”
Where the fuck is Jackson? He said he was going to stay close, so he should be here now. “I wouldn’t tell you anything,” I look behind him as I hear Hope screaming and I try to fight to see if she’s okay, but the guy smacks me in the face again.
"Now I'm going to get what belongs to me, and you're time now begins." I look at the guy coming back and smile at the fact that Hope isn't with him.
I look to the side when I hear a gunshot, hitting the man to my left. I look at Jackson, "Go find Hope, now!" I tell him, and he knows that I can look after myself. I watch Jackson running in the same direction that Hope ran. I turn to face Jack again. "If anything happens to her, I promise you one thing. Your death will be very, very painful.”
“You have to find me first.”
The guy hits me across the face once more, and it's fucking hard enough to knock me back a little. I watch them walking away and I try to get my balance, my ribs are hurting from the amount the fucker was kicking me.
I walk in the direction that Jackson went. I need to find her. I told her I would find her.
I find Jackson but no sign of Hope. "Where is she?" I ask as panic grips me. "What's that?" I point to his hand.
“Her phone and I found a knife with
blood on it. It could be anyone’s—”
"I heard her screaming, and it's fresh blood." I take the knife from him. "Hope!" I yell her name a few times to make sure that she can hear me. We search the area, but there's no sign of her. Where the fuck is she?
“Leo, let’s stand for a moment,” I hear Jackson say from behind me. Ignoring him I continue to walk through the park, she can’t be too far. Then my mind takes me back to the first night at the restaurant, she was gone at a click of a finger, nowhere to be found. If she’s out there, she’s gone far enough to hide. Really hide.
I stop and stand in the middle of open space, looking around as I wipe the blood from my lip. My face fucking hurts. Rubbing my forehead, I feel Jackson standing next to me.
"Breathe and let's focus. You want to find Hope, I want to find Hope. But first, tell me what he said so that information is out of your head and you can focus on her.”
“The only thing I can think about is Hope!” I shout, but he knows me well enough to know that in a small part of my head I’m replaying what he said to me.
I let out a long breath. “He’s here for a week, that’s the timeline he’s given me. Then he’ll be a ghost to us again.”
“We have a week and when we find him just put a fucking bullet between his eyes. There’s no way that we can get him to a warehouse.” Jackson stands in front of me. “Just finish this nightmare for all of us and then live a happy life with Hope.”
“I need to find her first,” I tell him as I shout out her name once more, she needs to know that I’m here.
Chapter 27
Hope
I bring my knees closer as I hideaway. I have no idea if they're still after me, but I ran. I ran so fast that I didn't get a chance to look behind me. Leo told me to run, so I did, but then Jack sent someone to get me, and when they grabbed me I thought that was it. He was going to take me back to the place I had finally escaped. But I didn't want to go back. I can’t go back. I’ve seen what my life can be like away from him; seen what my life can be like with Leo and that’s the life I want. I want to live my life with Leo.
The moment the man grabbed me, I saw the knife in his hands, and I panicked. The second my body hit the floor I started kicking my feet and I got lucky. I kicked him in the face, and he lost control of his hand and just cut me a little on my forearm.
So here I am. I found this little tunnel a long time ago on a night out walking. It seems like no one else knows about it, or they don't come here as I've never seen anyone here before. I don't blame them it's so small in here; you could get maybe three people inside. And at the moment I know that no one will find me here and that's good with me, although, that also means that Leo won't find me. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath. If I leave when it's dark, I can make it back to Leo's house and go back to being a ghost on the street and just hope that Jack won't be out there.
“I thought I’d come to see how you’re behaving.” Uncle Jack sits on the bed, his hand moving up my thigh. “I’ve heard that you’re starting to fight a little, do I need to show you the rules again?”
I shake my head. I don’t want him to ever touch me again, ever. I still feel him on my skin; feel his breath on me.
His hand starts moving up my top, resting on my stomach.
Taking a deep breath as I open my eyes, my body shivers at the memory.
The words he whispered in my ear made me cry inside. I can’t let him find me; I can’t let him get me. “The moment we get back, I’m going to make sure that every part of your body remembers me again.” The fucked up thing is, I do remember everything, the only time I don’t is when Leo is touching me.
Wrapping Leo’s coat tighter around me, I look at my hands as they continue to shake. I can still hear Jack’s voice in my head.
I was free. I was free, and now I'm a prisoner again in this dark world I tried to escape, but no matter how much I try to run he'll always find me. The memories will always follow me.
Pulling the coat around me as I lie down, I wait for the stars to come out and then I can go home.
***
Crawling out of the tunnel, I look to see how dark it is and how many people are outside right now. If I go the back way, it will take me about an hour to get to Leo's house. Or I can go through the busy route and get there a lot faster. I mean Leo must be really worried; there's part of me that believes he's still out there looking for me. He promised that he'd find me and Leo wouldn't lie to me.
Looking around, it must be late now. Jackson will have dragged Leo back home by now as it must be coming close to midnight. Right Hope, time to get back to being invisible. It's not like I was full of confidence and walking around letting people look at me, but I was starting to let myself be free a little so it won't be too hard to do.
I walk up the small hill to get out of the park. There’s no one around at this time which is a good thing for me as I can make it out a lot quicker. When I get to the road, even though it’s so late, there are still people around.
I put my head down as I make my way past a group that is drinking and doing drugs. They say a few things to me, and I ignore them as I pick my pace up a little. If I turn around to look at them, it will make them think I want to talk, but all I want is to get home.
I can’t remember the last time I was this scared to be out here alone. Walking to work when I first started I think, it was a new road and I didn’t really know the way but after a week or so, I was fine as I remembered how to get there and back without having to look up. I know most of the way back to Leo’s, but there are some roads that I don’t know well enough unless I look up.
“Well, aren’t you just a beauty?” a man says as I go to cross the road. He grabs my arm. “I’m talking to you sweetheart.”
"Please, let go of me," I manage to say in the smallest voice, and the moment his hand loosens around my arm, I make an escape.
"Get back here!" one of the men shouts, and without looking behind me I continue to run, but I hear them behind me.
Dashing between the buildings, I find the right road that leads to Leo's house. I know it's not far from here, I'm sure of it. I hide behind one of the buildings while I get my breath back, taking in the roads around me to figure out where I am. I hear footsteps gaining on me, so I duck further into the shadows as they run past me. I kneel down for a moment just to get my surrounding settled in my mind, five minutes away, I'm sure of it. A few blocks out of the busy crowd then I know the way from there, just need to get through the rush now without running into them again.
Getting up, I start making my way out onto the street again. Looking both ways, I make a quick move trying to get out of the rush of people. People will be coming out of the clubs soon, and I want to get out before that happens.
Running for the last few blocks, I see the same group of men from earlier and my heart is beating faster. I’m so close, so close to Leo. I move quickly through the buildings to the other side so that I can get out of the busy area. As I get out of the side street, I bump into one of the guys that were running behind me.
I dodge away from them before they can grab me. Three streets away now, I can make it. I look over my shoulder to see they’re still following me. Why are they following me? Why? Wiping the tears away from my cheeks, I feel a little relief when I have Leo’s street in sight.
I take another look over my shoulder and see that they are still coming after me, so I pick up my speed to increase the gap between us. Please, Leo, be awake, please.
Running up to the house, I start banging on the door as I look over my shoulder to see them getting closer. I hammer harder and louder at the wood. Please open the door.
The door opens, and I jump in and quickly slam the door behind me.
"Hope!" Jackson pulls me in for a hug, and I don't fight him.
“Hope,” I hear Leo say as Jackson lets me go. Leo pulls me and wraps his arms tight around me. “Are you okay? You’re shaking.” He rubs my back to calm me down.
I
jump when I hear the guys shouting outside. I hear Jackson open the door and my body tenses up again. "Hope." Leo moves to my eye level then looks over at the door as the men are out on the street looking around.
"Have you seen a girl running past here, long dark hair?" one of them yells, and Leo's hands leave my body, but I quickly stop him. I just want him to hold me.
“I’ve got this,” Jackson tells him.
“Please don’t leave me,” I whisper, as Leo pulls me closer and I start crying into his chest.
I hear some shouting outside, but nothing that I can make out, just listening to Leo's heartbeat is enough to calm me down.
"Come on," Leo starts walking, but I don't unwrap my arms from him. "Take a seat." He lowers me down onto the couch and his hands move to my neck, lifting my face. "I've been looking for you for hours, Jackson made me come home." His eyes move over my body as he turns my arms. "Where were you cut?"
"Just a little cut here," I tell him pointing to my arm. My body has finally stopped shaking, and I just want Leo to hold me. Hold me to take all the pain away from me.
“Hope, have a drink.” Jackson places a glass of water on the table. “Those guys won’t ever be looking at another girl or woman again,” Jackson tells Leo, as I just stare at him.
"Where were you? We looked over every inch of that park." Taking the water as Leo hands it to me, my hands begin to shake again. "Let me." He brings the water to my lips, and I take a small sip and pull away from him.
“I just want a shower please.” I want to wash him off. I want to wash his touch off me, his breath off me, just the feeling of him off me.
