by Sara Schoen
“No, I won’t. You’ve been through this before, now it’s my turn. You’re the only one that can do something about it. He has to leave tomorrow because we’re bringing too much attention to him. Just hide, then get out so we can get Dad and the cops that actually can help us and are willing to help us.”
I could see the indecision on her face, so I didn’t give her an option. She had just been taken advantage of, and now I was stronger than her. I took her by her hands, dragged her slowly over to the hole, and then moved her feet into the hole.
I gently slid her in, knowing she was in pain and this was the only way to save her. I was about to live through what she lived through, and I could only hope that I was strong like her and would be able to make it through it like she did.
"It's the only way we can both survive. We have to split up," I said, repeating her words back to her as I sealed her into the hiding spot.
Chapter 26
"Where is she?" I heard Steve scream as he barged into the room and saw that my mother was gone. He had come in this morning to see that she was gone and was completely flabbergasted as he ran out to look for her. He had torn apart the house from the sounds of crashing and movement that I could hear.
He clearly hadn’t found her because he asked again, “Where is she?”
I didn't answer. I only looked at the open window that led down to a ledge where someone could jump down to the ground and escape. Steve followed my gaze and stormed to the window. I had made the jump previously, and left a shoe print on that ledge before pulling myself back in. I had to come back, because if we were both gone he would have torn the house apart and he would have found my mother. I wasn’t going to let her live through this again. I had to keep her from living it again, even if it meant that I now had to live through the horrors of Steve Bennett. I would do it for her.
“I’m going to bring her back. Don’t move,” he ordered, as he cuffed me to the arm of a nailed down chair.
He stormed out of the house with a slam of the door before I heard the rev of the truck's engine. He took off at full speed to find her and then soon I could no longer hear then engine.
“Audrey?” I heard my mom ask in a muffled voice through the floorboards.
“I’m still here. He won’t be gone long because we have to leave soon. Stay quiet until we leave, then escape and find a way to a town to get help. I don’t know where we will be going, but I will do everything I can to let you know.”
“He’s smarter than Damien was and actually doesn’t want to let you go. You have to be on your toes and vigilant,” she warned.
“I understand. Just please be quiet.” I said, as I tried to stop the tears from falling down my face. Even if she couldn’t see them, I knew she would be able to hear me crying.
“Audrey, you know what’s going to happen once he comes back right?”
“I do. I’ve seen it before,” I stated, as I remembered him once again taking advantage of my mother after Damien told me those stories. I finally understood what my mom went through and now I knew exactly what I was facing. Only it didn’t prepare me for what I had to suffer through.
“What did you say?” my mother asked, as the rumble of the truck came back about twenty minutes later.
“Mom, stay quiet. No matter what,” I said, as I held my head up high and tried to prepare myself for what was about to happen.
“I love you, Audrey.”
“I love you too, Mom,” I said as the door slammed open and closed.
Steve’s footsteps thundered up the stairs and made his way toward the room he held us in. I just looked up to his face without a word. There were creases etched into his face in pure anger as he looked at me, but I didn’t flinch. His green eyes burned into mine as he huffed out an angry breath and let out a loud frustrated scream.
“You let her go! She escaped because of you!”
“I’ve been chained this whole time,” I stated matter-of-factly. His anger visibly increased, so I decided it was best not to talk anymore.
“We have to go. We can christen the new house before you know it,” he said as he lifted me over his shoulder and carried me out of the house.
I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to move because it hurt so much. Maybe he knew that, or he wanted to get out quickly. Someone must have heard all that screaming I did, and I could only hope it was true. He tossed me into the truck and slammed the door shut. I could hear his footsteps on the gravel outside as I contorted myself to lean on the door. He got in and his hands were instantly on my back. I heard him sigh in pleasure as tears slipped down my cheeks, and he started the ignition.
“You’ll love it with me. Your mom did,” he assured me as we drove off.
I moved just enough so I could look up into the room I had been locked in as we drove off. I caught a glimpse of a person in the room and knew that my mother would be safe, for now. But, the real question was what was going to happen to me. I watched as Steve drove so that I could see where we were going, but we took highways and back routes for days in a row. He was careful to avoid the highways in the daytime because of the amount of police activity on them during the day. Back roads weren’t watched as much and he sped as fast as he could.
He continually looked back in the rear-view mirror and stopped briefly to let other cars pass to make sure we weren’t being followed. I hated when he stopped the most though. He took advantage of that time to punish me for letting my mother escape. Whether by touching me, or kissing me, Steve used the stop to his advantage, and I was wishing that he would never stop driving again. There was no option for me, I was trapped with him and had no way out.
My fear spiked as Steve came to yet another stop; this was the fifth one in two hours. It wasn’t just any stop either. He had found an old motel in the area and decided to stop for the night. When we pulled in we were one of three cars in the motel’s parking lot, with a lot of space between us all. I suddenly had a very bad feeling about this place, but I couldn’t place it.
“Get out and don’t say anything to anyone or I kill you,” Steve threatened, as he motioned for me to follow him.
He roughly grabbed my hands and led me inside. I noticed that before he did, he peered through the window to make sure there were no posters of us, or anything out of the ordinary. We walked up to the counter to see a middle-aged man with balding hair. He looked shocked to see us, either because he knew who we were or because he was surprised to have people. He looked at me with the same shock, and I just shook my head lightly to try to tell him to stop. He could get injured if he wasn’t careful. He needed to pretend that he didn’t recognize Steve or myself, even though our faces must be plastered everywhere.
“How can I help you?” The man asked, seeming to take my hint that he didn’t want to know who we were.
“We need a room to stay in for the night,” Steve answered, handing the man cash without another word.
“Two rooms?” he said gesturing to me.
“Oh, no. This is my daughter. We are on our way to see her mother, right, sweetheart?” Steve lied, clearly noticing he was too old to fake being my husband.
“Right,” I stated, taking an extra-long time to blink so the man would hopefully see something was wrong.
“Okay, well, here’s the key,” the man said, hesitantly taking another look at me. “I just need you to sign some papers. This will take some time, why don’t you wait for your daddy over there,” the man added, as he pointed me towards the books.
I just nodded and sat down in a chair. At first glance I couldn’t see why the man had sent me over here, but then I saw it. Hidden behind the books were coloring pages and crayons. I picked up a book and turned my back to them so I could write out a message. I listed my name and my home number, along with my father’s cell phone number. Then I carefully and slowly folded the paper and slipped it into the book. I didn’t move right away, though; I pretended to keep reading so that Steve would buy it, except I flipped to the front again so that it d
idn’t look strange.
“It’s done now, honey. Let’s rest up for the trip tomorrow,” Steve said, calling me over to him.
I brought the book back with me and gave it back to the man, nodding a thank you as we walked out. He stopped me and called me back. “Excuse me, miss!” he said, once Steve was outside of the door.
“If you need help, call this number. It will come directly to me,” the manager said, as he slipped me a piece of paper and the same book back to me.
I took the book he gave me and slipped him the one I had written on. Without saying another word, he took the paper and I went to follow Steve who was waiting for me.
“What did he ask you?”
“He gave me this book to read until we leave tomorrow,” I lied, as he handed me a suitcase from the trunk.
“Why?”
“Just in case I got bored, I guess,” I stated bluntly, forcing myself to wink at him and then beating myself on the inside for doing this to myself.
“You wouldn’t get bored if you weren’t a screamer,” he said with a smile as we walked to our assigned room.
I didn’t say anything, but I was thinking. I was trying to find a way to end this. I just hoped one came soon. I waited until midnight, reading the same page of the book without really seeing the words. Steve finally got up to shower and I took my chance. I waited for the water to start running before I flipped through the book and called the number the manager had given me. It rang a few times until he picked up.
"Hello, it's the girl that came in this morning," I said in a hushed whisper.
“I understand, Miss Thomas. The police are already on their way.”
"Thank you so much. I have to go before he gets out," was all I said before I hung up.
I breathed a sigh of relief, until I heard Steve speak, "Now, we can't have that can we?” he said hanging up the phone and pulling me out of the room back into the car. “We’ll get to your punishment later. Once we get to the house,” Steve promised as we quickly pulled out of the parking lot, leaving the manager standing there with no way to help me and the sirens closing in.
Chapter 27
Steve didn’t let me forget the phone call. We had passed the sign for Ashland, Ohio just after Steve lost the cops on the back roads. I’m sure we had been on television for a while in a high-speed chase. So when we arrived, we had to stay in the house for a few days, and Steve used that time to punish me. The flashbacks were just as gruesome as the attacks themselves. I could hear the clothes being ripped from my body, my screams would echo through the empty house, Steve’s pleasured noises filling my ears. I could still see flashes of Steve’s face bearing over me, the enjoyment on Steve’s face, but the worst part was that I could still feel everything. There was no end in sight and it seemed to go on for ages. My screams never stopped; the tears continued to fall. I wanted nothing more than to die before it could happen again.
Steve didn’t even give me another room in the house. I had tried to escape so many times that he thought I enjoyed my punishment and that I was begging for his attention. I broke windows open and ran off whenever he opened the door, but now he wasn’t taking the chance. I was his, and he wasn’t letting me out of his sight. He took me everywhere, but made sure to change my appearance so that I wouldn’t look like Audrey Thomas.
Unfortunately for him, I was getting the word out in small ways.
I couldn’t do anything direct, but when people asked me my name, I said Anna, but then I would spell out Audrey in the dirt when Steve wasn’t looking. There were small things, but I needed to do more. I needed to find a way out, because I was losing hope. These days had passed so slowly that I felt as if months had gone by in a short span of time. But today was my day because Steve had finally made a mistake. He went to go get gas after picking up supplies from a local hardware shop and ordered me to pick up some food since we weren’t eating until later.
“Get whatever you want, just don’t spend it all,” Steve grunted as he threw bills and change into my hands.
I was about to walk off when he grabbed my shoulder and forced me to turn around. “And don’t talk to anyone. You know what happens when you break my rules now,” Steve said in a threatening tone.
I felt my body instantly shudder at the memory. The images instantly started resurfacing in my mind, and my body was ready to cave in on itself in a vain attempt to get rid of them.
“I know,” I said, as I turned and walked off.
I walked nonchalantly into the gas station store as if I was just passing through. The man behind the counter didn’t even look up when I entered; he was useless in helping me. I must have been in more shops and outdoors more than I was as a child over the last few weeks, but no one seemed to notice. Steve hadn’t changed his appearance that much, but no one seemed to lift an eyebrow in his direction. He had only grown out his hair and a beard and gotten a fake name so that he could work at a garage under the table. It was off and I didn’t like it, there was something very wrong here.
I made my way through the aisles without a problem, but I could feel Steve’s gaze burning into my back. I walked out of his view toward the next aisle and made my move. There was a telephone on the far wall and I had just enough change to make a phone call. It was risky, but I was becoming desperate. I glanced around nervously as I picked up the phone and slid the change into the slot. My heart was thundering into my chest and my breathing was rapid and shallow. I punched in the number for my house as soon as the dial tone came up on the pay phone and waited.
The phone continued to ring, but no one picked up. With each ring I continued to look around; Steve could come at any minute and then I’d be done for. I was about to hang up when my dad answered the phone.
“Anna? Audrey?” he asked curiously.
“It’s Audrey, Dad. I helped Mom escape, she’s safe.”
“I know. She called a little while ago from a police station in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Where are you?”
“I’m in Ashland–” I said, and then the line went dead before I could finish my sentence. I looked at the phone curiously and then felt a hand on the small of my back. The touch sent chills up my spine; I was in for it now.
"I guess I'm going to have to teach you another lesson. You must love getting punished if you keep up this behavior. Get the food, we are going home," Steve growled quietly in my ear so that only I would hear.
“No problem,” I said, as I went back to the aisles and took my time. I picked up random food without really looking at the label, and once I ran out of aisles to saunter through to waste time, Steve took the food from me. He went to the counter and dropped it in front of the man without a word.
The man behind the counter didn’t even look at me; he barely looked at Steve. He placed the items into a bag and handed them back to Steve before returning to his paper. I caught a glimpse—February 5th. It had been two months since Damien and I were arrested, and separated, which meant four months total since I had last been home. Now, I had sealed my fate with that phone call.
I was long past desperate now. I longed for Damien to magically show up and save me, or for my father to understand what I said and try to find me. It was a vain dream; now I had to live with pain and suffering. I miss Damien, I thought sadly to myself, as the car door slammed beside me and I was trapped yet again.
Chapter 28
When we first got here I tried everything, and Steve gave me a few passes because the other girls had tried them as well, but he didn’t seem to understand that I wasn’t going to give up. It’s been more than a year now, and I was going to escape or die trying—and now I could see that the only way out was to die trying. It was either die here with him or die in my escape, but either was better than another day with him and his torture. I shivered at the memory and then cringed at the sudden pain in my back.
There was still pain from my last escape attempt, and it wasn’t healing well. I had found a window on the second floor that opened above a lot of bushes an
d was willing to risk it. I had gotten onto the ledge and was about to jump when Steve pulled me back in and threw me onto the floor.
“How dare you try to escape? I’ve given you everything,” he screamed, as he kicked me in the stomach, which rolled me over so he could kick me in the back.
The beating continued for a long time, and by the time it stopped I could barely feel his blows. There was no fight left in me after that, I was broken and a shell of my former self. There was no way for me to get out and I was on my last bit of strength. Tears fell as I realized just how hopeless it was. I had been beaten every day; there was no stopping. I was bleeding constantly; Steve had become concerned and had a local doctor make sure I was okay. The doctor said I was fine, but recommended that he give me time to rest and that I shouldn’t try to do any work around the house. That’s when I realized that Steve had somehow become a prominent member in this town. People liked him and wanted to help him. It was sickening.
“Don’t worry, Audrey. Everything will work out, it always does,” Steve said one day as he left for work. He leaned down to kiss me and I didn’t even move. My body didn’t respond and my eyes lacked further expression than a blank stare. He didn’t seem affected by it though; in fact, I think he liked it. He finally had the obedient wife that he always wanted.
I watched as he walked out of the door and stood there like a statue. My mind and soul were empty. Everything that mattered to me had been taken out of the world I lived in, and now I was trapped in hell with no way out. Even when I tried to escape when Steve was gone, he caught me. All of my attempts were useless, and there was no way to get out. I sighed heavily as I walked out of the room, with nowhere in mind as I walked around the empty house. It was two stories big and reminded me a lot of the house Damien had trapped me in the first time, but this time was different. There I still had the will to fight, and I also had someone I felt feelings for that didn’t hurt me. Here was hell.
