by Lindsey Gray
He had to turn away. The anger of such a violation prickled his skin. He had come to accept that his life had been under a microscope for years, but his stomach churned, knowing that this violation now included Lucy. He felt an overwhelming need to move, to see if he could find her.
The television in the corner provided the only source of light, bathing that end of the room in its soft flickering glow. He knew he was lying on a large bed with the head and the left side pressed up against walls in the corner of the room, he assumed. He peered into the dark, trying to see the other side of the room. There was another bed, but he could barely detect it or anything else in the room. He managed to pull himself up and slide his legs over the side of the bed. He felt a sharp pull on his left ankle. That’s when he realized he was shackled, attached to a chain that went somewhere beneath the bed. The bed covers on the other side of the room rustled. He saw her face come into grainy focus by the flickering light. The most beautiful mess Finn had ever seen—her cheeks stained with tears, her eyes red and puffy.
“Lucy.” He tried to walk over to her, but the chain on his ankle brought him crashing to the floor. She crawled off the bed and down onto the floor. She reached out as far as she could. He could see that her right ankle was shackled like his left one. They reached for each other, but the chains just weren’t long enough. Mere inches separated their outstretched fingertips.
“I’m fine. Are you alright?” His voice was etched with pain.
He could see she wasn’t alright, but he needed to hear her speak. He needed something other than that insipid music in his ears. He needed the one thing that could calm him. Her voice.
She pulled at her hair, twisting it around and letting it all fall behind her. “Physically, I think I’m fine, just sore.”
They were separated by only a few feet, but it might as well have been a million. Since Finn and Lucy had reunited, there was hardly a moment when they were together where he wasn’t touching her. Her arms pulled her knees into her chest and he could tell she was feeling the same pain. The thing he wanted most in the world was right in front of him, and he couldn’t even touch her. It was pure torture.
A light from the ceiling slowly brightened until a soft glow lit the whole room. That’s when Finn could tell exactly where they were. Things had changed a little. The color of the walls was a softer white. There were now two beds instead of one. He didn’t see any instruments anywhere, but there was no doubt about it; he was in the room where his darkest nightmares had come true. He swallowed hard several times as he felt the blood pounding in his veins. He didn’t want to believe that he was in that room again. In the back of his foggy brain, overwhelming dread raged forth. Visions of his torturous years assaulted him with every breath. In that single moment, pain shot straight through his chest as the thought of Lucy sharing that same horror came to the forefront.
“I think the lights must be on a timer or something. They’ve been going on and off every hour.” Her eyes averted from his to the clock now visible on the wall.
“Is that eleven in the morning or eleven at night?” His voice was shaky as he attempted to gain control of his breath.
“I don’t know. When I came around and was able to see it for the first time, it said it was three.” She looked utterly exhausted as she wiped a lingering tear from her cheek.
“You’ve been awake all this time?”
“I’ve been concentrating on watching you breathe. I’ve even been counting, anything to keep me from watching that.”
Finn turned his attention back to the screen. The pictures had changed. Gone were the disturbing photos taken of Lucy and him, and in their place was something worse—close-ups of him and parts of Viktor. He suddenly felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Up to that point, Lucy had never seen those pictures, and he had prayed she never would. His devastating shame coursed through each tear that began to fall. Those pictures were the one thing Finn thought he could save Lucy from in all of it. The weakest periods of his life displayed in front of them in living color. He prayed she wouldn’t be as eternally haunted by them as much as he was.
“Finn, please, baby, don’t cry.” Her voice trembled as she tried to keep her own tears at bay.
“I’m sorry. I never wanted to bring you into all this. I never wanted you to see this place.”
“It’s him, isn’t it?”
“I think so. He’s changed a couple things, but it’s the same room.”
The same room. The room where he lost his innocence. The room where many times he thought he had lost the will to live. The room in which Viktor was the only one to hear his screams. The room Finn never wanted to face was holding him captive once again.
Viktor had definitely found the ultimate way to torture Finn. He put him in that room with the woman he loved, made her suffer, and Finn couldn’t even comfort her. He wanted to stuff all his feelings away, all the anger, fear, and shame. He knew he needed to concentrate on how to keep them safe and how to get home.
“Wh—What is he going to do to us?” Her words choked as they passed her lips.
“I really don’t know.”
With the lights on, Finn took stock of the room. There was a bucket and a roll of toilet paper beside each of their beds. He saw that there were boxes under each of their beds, and they had bottles of water and bags of dried food. Viktor wanted to keep them alive, Finn guessed.
With chains welded to bed frames that were cemented into the floor, Finn and Lucy had no hope of breaking the chains or shackles around their ankles.
Finn couldn’t believe all the planning that Viktor must have put into all of it. Taking pictures, watching, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike, Viktor had taken Lucy as another form of torture. Viktor words echoed in his head, “That Lucy is a beautiful woman. Those breasts, that tight little ass…I bet you had fun with that.”
Finn knew he could handle anything Viktor would do to him. The physical abuse couldn’t get any worse than it already had. However, he didn’t know what he would do if Viktor ever touched Lucy. Finn couldn’t let Viktor take her innocence too.
They decided to stay as close to each other as their chains would let them. They each pulled blankets and pillows off the beds and lay on the floor. It wasn’t nearly close enough for them, but Finn had to do something to comfort his Lucy.
They spoke in whispers, not knowing if Viktor was watching or listening. Finn didn’t think he knew about the FBI; if he had, he would have never brought Finn and Lucy to his house. They would be coming, though. Finn held onto that one ray of hope. Trained agents would come to search the house and would find them. There was no way Viktor could stop that. Finn and Lucy didn’t speak of it for fear Viktor would hear them. He just kept telling her to remember her father would find them. Lane would never give up. Finn knew he could count on that.
When the hour struck, the lights came up all the way. The clock said it was seven. They both sat up when the video finally stopped playing and the screen went black.
Viktor came on screen.
“Good. You’re finally awake. I thought I might have to douse you with cold water or something. You can speak. I can hear you, and I can see you.”
Finn and Lucy looked around. He must have a camera in the room somewhere, watching their every move.
“What the hell do you want now? Haven’t you ruined my life enough?” His anger was evident in Finn’s tone and by the deep crease in his brow.
“Oh Finn. Don’t you see? We’re bringing you back where you belong. Back with your real family. Now that you’ve found Lucy,” he said with a smile then licked his lips as he looked in Lucy’s direction, “we’ll be complete.”
“Stop dancing around and tell me what you want.”
“You and Lucy are joining our family. If the two of you are a good little boy and girl, you’ll be rewarded. If not, you will be severely punished.” He punctuated each syllable in the word punished. Finn could see a demonic look in Viktor’s eyes—the
same look he got when inflicting pain. Viktor’s lips twisted into that sickening smile of his.
“Finn, for your complete cooperation, you’ll be rewarded with one hour a day when Lucy will be released from her shackle. During that time, the two of you can do…whatever you want in the confines of the room. I will be making regular visits for some private time with the two of you. I’ll be able to watch you from wherever I am with this.” He held up a cell phone. “I have a direct connection to the camera watching you and will know what you’re doing, day and night.”
“What about Camille and the girls? How are you going to keep this from them?” If he was planning to keep them in this room, Finn wondered how long Viktor would be able to keep it a secret.
Viktor laughed. “Camille has always known of my affections for you. She knows you are the only boy for me and has accepted it.”
Finn suddenly felt like he was living in a parallel universe. Had Viktor just said Camille was okay with everything he did to Finn?
“Finn, you look shocked. Who do you think took all those photos? Who do you think set up this whole network of cameras and computers?” Viktor held out his hand, and Camille came on screen. She kissed him on the cheek as she sat next to him.
“I’m looking forward to finally having some quality time with you, Finn. I’ve been so jealous all these years Viktor has had you all to himself. Now we have Lucy, too; I’ll have someone to play with.”
Lucy’s face turned three shades of green. Finn felt it too. His stomach was churning as Camille’s words sunk in. She had helped him all along. She had always known. Did she get some sort of sick pleasure from watching her husband torture Finn? She actually sounded excited she would get to participate.
“We’ll be down to see you later. And, Finn? Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I’ve got a special surprise for you.” Camille blew a kiss to the screen before it went blank and shut off.
Lucy couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. She was a mess of uncontrollable sobs. Finn felt powerless to help her.
Finn, on the other hand, couldn’t cry. He was staring at a life of torture with Lucy right there beside him. He felt so helpless, so guilty for even leaving Two Roads in the first place. If he had stayed, Lucy would be safe at home, looking forward to college.
Lucy started to calm down, sniffling and wiping the tears with the hem of her t-shirt. “They’re going to keep us here. How can they without anyone finding out?”
“They can’t. I know your dad will find us. He has to. They know we wouldn’t run off, especially right before my birthday.”
“What do you think she’s planning? She’s going to do to me…w—what he did to you?”
Finn shook the thought from his head. “No, no. I won’t let her. They can do what they want to me, as long as they don’t hurt you.”
“Finn, I can’t let you do that. I’m strong. I can handle it as long as you’re here. We can make it through anything together.”
“Is it wrong to be happy you’re here with me?”
“No, no. We’re not alone. We have each other; at least we have that.” She threw her blanket over to him and he grabbed the end. She tugged on it as they created a connection. In any other situation, it would have seemed a little silly. It was their only physical lifeline to each other and that was better than nothing at all.
A few more hours went by. Finn tried to get Lucy to eat something. They had some trail mix and bottled water for his birthday meal.
The lights went back to their regular routine, going on and off every hour. Occasionally, the TV would turn on. Mostly old episodes of “I Love Lucy” and “The Honeymooners.”
When the clock struck one o’clock, the lights went completely up. Within five minutes, the door opened, and both Camille and Viktor stepped in.
Viktor was holding a long pole that looked suspiciously like a cattle prod while Camille carried a little cake.
“This is your incentive to play nice.” Viktor held up the pole. He pressed a button on the side, and electricity flowed through it.
Lucy got up onto the bed on her side of the room and crawled into the corner. Camille set the cake out of reach on the table beneath the TV. She came and sat on the bed with Lucy as Viktor sat down next to Finn.
“Come on.” She patted the spot on the bed next to her. “You want to be a good girl, don’t you?”
Lucy cringed before she scooted over to the spot next to Camille. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut when Camille’s fingers tangle through her hair. She refused to let them see her cry. They wouldn’t break her.
She rubbed her nose against Lucy’s cheek, nuzzling her neck. “She smells delicious, honey.” Lucy felt the tip of Camille’s tongue lick the side of her face. Lucy shuddered in disgust. “She tastes even better.”
She stood up and made her way over to Finn. She pointed for him to sit on the edge on the bed. He complied and she straddled his lap. “I’ve waited a long time for this.” Camille rubbed her fingertip across his bottom lip.
Lucy tried to keep her eyes closed, but they popped open at the sound of the electric prod.
“We’ll have none of that. Be nice, Finn. I’m trying to give you a birthday kiss.”
Finn groaned at the pain from the prod that hit the flesh of his torso. Camille pushed him so his back was up against the wall. One of his legs was flat on the bed, the other draped over the side. She crawled into his lap, bringing her lips closer to his. She looked over at Lucy and winked. Lucy clenched her jaw and fisted her hands until her knuckles were white. Camille lifted the corner of her mouth in a grin before crashing her lips to Finn’s mouth in a bruising kiss. His face was like stone, unmoving. She grabbed at his jaw and forced his mouth open so she could shove her tongue inside. Lucy could see the sick pleasure Viktor derived, his body practically vibrating. His lustful gaze then turned to Lucy.
Be strong, Lucy. Be strong, Lucy.
Lucy prayed that Camille would keep Finn occupied. She couldn’t bear the thought of him seeing what Viktor was planning for her.
Viktor’s gaze softened a bit as he came to sit beside Lucy. Even though the feel of his fingertips brushing against her cheek made her skin crawl, it was soft and almost gentle. He could feel Lucy shaking against his fingers and he pulled back. Then he slowly brought his hand back to her cheek, cupping it. It seemed as if he was trying to get her used to his touch.
Was this how he got to Finn? Did Viktor slowly make his touch comfortable, so that when he crossed the final line, it was too late?
Lucy knew what was coming. The twelve-year-old Finn didn’t. He would have trusted that Viktor’s touches were out of love or concern, not lust. He wasn’t about to convince Lucy any of it was alright.
Lucy tried to turn into stone just as Finn had. Viktor kissed along her neck and up behind her ear.
“This is the spot Finn pays so much attention to, isn’t it?”
Lucy couldn’t respond as he licked and sucked on Finn’s favorite spot.
He suddenly pulled back and grabbed his cell phone from his pocket. “Shit!”
He stood up and turned on the TV. He switched it to a channel with several squares. They were security camera feeds. He enlarged the one of their front porch.
Camille released Finn and went to Viktor’s side. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe people have noticed they’re gone. They might just be coming to ask about them.”
Viktor made his way over to Lucy and released the shackle from her ankle. “Stay right here until we leave. Once we’ve dealt with our visitors, we’ll be back.”
Viktor grabbed his prod and led Camille out of the room with his hand on the small of her back. They heard several locks engaging after the door closed.
A brief second passed while Lucy debated whether she should walk or run into Finn’s arms.
She couldn’t help herself. She ran over to him and tackled him in a hug, causing them both to fall back on the bed. He kissed every inch of her face—her forehead, her cheek
s, her eyelids, her nose, her jaw, and then finally her lips. Lucy wanted to forget everything that had just happened. She was like a woman dying of thirst, and Finn was her oasis. She needed to drink all of him in.
“Slow down. I’m happy to touch you too, but we need to watch what’s going on.”
Lucy pulled back from him and noticed that Viktor had left the TV on. They saw Camille come into view on the screen that showed the front porch. Three men in suits went through the door.
“That’s the agent that was out at the house. He’s the friend of your dad’s.”
“Sam Weston,” she sighed. He was one of her father’s college roommates. “They’ll find us.”
Finn and Lucy watched the screen with fascination as they followed Sam from one square to another, making his way through the house. It was obvious that they were there with the search warrant. They were boxing up things and going through the rooms one by one. There must have been twenty agents wandering throughout the house. They made appearances in all the squares—the living room, the kitchen, the main bedroom, the girl’s room.
The girls? Where were the girls?
They didn’t see them anywhere. Lucy prayed wherever they were, they were safe.
When Lucy looked over to Finn, he had a confused expression on his face. “What is it?”
“I know we’re in the basement, but they aren’t coming down here. The door is in the entryway. Why haven’t they come down?”
Lucy ran over to the door and began pounding furiously, screaming at the top of her lungs for help. Her fingers clawed at the doorframe for any sign of weakness.
“Luce?” Finn shuddered with silent sobs. He knew her efforts were in vain. “The room is soundproof. They won’t hear you.”
