Caged (Caged series Book 1)

by Destiny Hawkins

  “So, I guess he needed two of you to take me down huh?” I said nodding my head. The last fight I was in was against Jessie, and I had no real training since I stopped kick boxing in Cali. All I had was wrestling, but in a street fight, that’s not having much.

  Neither of the girls replied. They both stood with confidence, but also cautiously. I guess he warned them about me, or they were just waiting for me to try and run again.

  I looked at the black car and saw that no one was getting out. Why wasn’t he getting out? Did he want to watch? I knew I couldn’t take these two girls on at the same time, maybe not even one, but I had to at least try. If I could take them down and get around the car then I would be free to try and lose them again.

  The girls slowly walked towards me and I stepped back while looking for some kind of weapon. When I finally spotted a metal pipe by the dumpster I ran for it, only to take a knee to my cheek. I fell back to the ground and watched as the girl picked up the pipe.

  Neither of the girls looked happy about what they were doing. If anything, they were just following orders.

  “What does he want?” I asked. The girl with the pipe didn’t answer, she just gripped it harder and swung it at me. I dodged it and quickly got back to my feet, but as soon as I was up the other girl came at me and elbowed me in the chin. I tried to ignore the pain the best that I could and elbowed her back a lot harder. I might have lost my skill in fighting, but I still had my strength. I kneed her in the stomach and she bent over in pain, then right after that I felt a sting in my lower back.

  I grunted loudly and angrily and went after the other one, but the pain hurt so badly that I fell to my hands and knees. I almost wanted to cry, but I didn’t want Arnold to see my tears. Crying only made things worse.

  I was pulled up by the other girl and was hit again with the pipe to my stomach. I looked over at the car and waited for him to get out now, but he didn’t. Not until after I was hit a few more times in the same spot and was gasping for air. .

  The back door opened and a tall man with dark brown hair and a black suit emerged from the car. Arnold actually looked a few years younger than the last time I saw him.

  My eyes started watering more at the sight of his smile, and the fear I once felt for him before came rushing in. It was almost like I died and went to hell, because my worst fear was walking towards me, planning god knows what.

  Arnold nodded and the girl let me fall to my knees. I was still gasping for air while trying to control my watering eyes, trying not to let him see the fear that I felt.

  Arnold stopped in front of me in those same black shoes he always wore, “It’s been a while,” his voice was calm, almost comforting. Or at least it would be if he wasn’t my former owner, “I’ve missed you.”

  He tilted my chin upwards to look at my face, and a tear streamed down my cheek. I hated seeing him, and I hated that he was here. I hated how I used to think of him as my father and that maybe he would change one day. I hated our whole connection.

  “Sorry about that, but I needed them to keep you from running off again,” he apologized.

  “What...do you want?” I asked almost whispering.

  Arnold smiled, “You Rose,” he got down on one knee, “I want my daughter back. “

  “I’m not your daughter,” I pulled my face away from his hands, “and I’m not going back with you.”

  “Oh? But you will. See, after my years in hiding, things started to change. At first I was going to let you go, but then I went to a fight one day, and saw that the fighters were older than thirteen.” he stood tall over me, “Then I thought, I could get my child back into this. We could make millions together, just like before.”

  I clenched my teeth and stared up at him. The tears were getting harder for me to control.

  “Look at you,” he pulled some tissue from his pocket and wiped the tears from my eyes. “You’re so weak now. I remember what you were like before. Nothing could hurt you. I didn’t have to punish you anymore, I gave you whatever you wanted- don’t you want that again?”

  When I didn’t answer, he sighed. “I guess this is all a shock for you. I’ll give you some time to decide and will contact you again, but make your decision wisely,” he gripped my chin tightly. “People will get hurt if you don’t. Even Winee.”

  “Leave her alone-” not thinking, I sprang to my feet and grabbed him by his shirt, but he proved to still be stronger than me, and slammed me on my back. He was actually a lot stronger than he used to be.

  Arnold fixed his suit jacket and glared down at me, “Next time you try something like that, there will be consequences.”

  I struggled to bring in air and started feel dizzy.

  “I’ll contact you again for your decision. You know what will happen if I don’t like your answer,” he started walking away.

  “Rose?!” I heard a tired Cameron call. He disregarded the black car, Arnold, and the two girls and ran straight to me. Arnold smiled and motioned for the girls to follow.

  “Are you okay?” he asked as he watched Arnold and the girls head back to the car.

  I watched them with tears in my eyes. He was going to hurt the people that I loved if I didn’t give him the answer that he wanted.

  “Rose?” Lorena ran towards us, but stopped when she saw Arnold get into the car and pull off. She looked like she’d just seen a ghost.

  “Go bring the car around, Ren,” Cameron said. Lorena ran back to get her car.

  “What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

  “I saw that car start following you, and then I followed the car. Lorena was pulling over when I saw her, and then we started looking for you.”

  “Oh...” was all I could get out.

  Lorena pulled her car around and Cameron put me in the front seat, then he jumped into the back, “We should take her to the hospital,” Cameron said urgently. Lorena just looked at me as if asking if that were him, but I didn’t give any indication that it was. I just turned and looked out the window.

  “Lorena-”

  “We’re not going to the hospital,” I said.

  “But-”

  “No. I’m tired of the hospital. Plus...I’m fine,” I had no broken bones, and I finally caught my breath. The only real problem with my body would be the black and purple bruises on my back and stomach.

  Cameron sighed, knowing that he couldn’t argue with me and win.

  Lorena started driving, and I didn’t care where to.

  “So, who was that?” Cameron asked, “What happened-well not what happened-but why?”

  I didn’t answer right away because I was trying to think of the right thing to say. I still didn’t want Cameron to know about me and Lorena’s past. Plus with him knowing, he might want to do something about it and that might lead to him being killed.

  “I don’t think she really wants to talk about it right now, Cam,” Lorena said. When I turned to her she didn’t look back, just forward.

  My head was throbbing, and I was falling asleep when the car came to a stop. I snapped out of my daze and saw that we were at Lorena’s apartment. I figured she didn’t take me to my aunt’s because she wanted to talk and I didn’t question her. Besides, she can put up a good argument, and I had no energy to argue back.

  Cameron quickly got out of the car and helped me out. Then we followed Lorena to her apartment and went inside. Cameron and I sat down on the couch while Lorena went to get the first aid kit.

  Cameron looked at me with worried eyes and rubbed my hand. It was soothing. “You sure you just don’t want to go to the hospital?”

  I gave Cameron a fake smile and nodded, “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “Rose, what was that? Who were they?”

  “No one I can tell you about,” I continued to hold my fake smile, “but thank you-for coming after me...thank you.”

  “Any time. I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. Ever.”

  Lorena walked in with the first aid kit and sat it down on th
e table. I saw how she frowned at my hand in Cameron’s before she walked to the kitchen to get some cold water for me.

  “Thank you,” I said as I took the glass of water.

  “Cameron, did you want any?” Lorena asked before sitting down.

  “No, thank you,” Cameron said. He let my hand go and rubbed on his thighs.

  Lorena looked me up and down, “Where are you hurt at?”

  “My back and stomach,” I answered.

  Lorena lifted my shirt from the back. “You’re bleeding, and a little purple. Here, take your shirt off,” when she saw that I was struggling she helped pull my shirt off and tossed it to the floor, then she dabbed an alcohol wipe on the cut on my back.

  I tried to look at Lorena, who I was sure had plenty of questions about what she had just saw, and sighed, “Cameron, can I get some time alone with Lorena?”

  Cameron frowned at first, then he smiled and stood up, “I guess you guys have a few things to talk about.”

  “Yeah, thank you again,” I said.

  “Like I said, any time Rose,” he kissed me on my forehead and left the apartment.

  Lorena continued to tend to the cut on my back, and didn’t speak a word.

  “I appreciate this,” I said, “I don’t deserve it, so thank you.”

  Lorena didn’t reply. When she finished with my cut she lightly pushed against my shoulder to make me lay back, then she examined the various bruises on my stomach. Lorena frowned, and then went into the kitchen. When she came back she had a bag of ice and rested it down on my stomach.

  “Lorena....”

  Lorena sat down next to me and took a deep breath, “Was that him?”

  I bit my lip and nodded, “That was Arnold.”

  Lorena’s eyes widened, “Like Arnold Kiboski?”

  I nodded again.

  “Well, what does he want?”

  I clenched my teeth, “Me...Maybe you...” I shook my head. “He said he’s going to give me time to decide.”

  “I don’t understand. Decide what?”

  “To go back to him, or not. He’s letting me decide.”

  “And if you say no?”

  I looked Lorena in her eyes, and couldn’t imagine anything bad happening to her. I didn’t want to.

  Lorena nodded as if reading my mind. She knew that he would come after her if I didn’t make the right decision.

  “You know, that day I lost everything,” I said, looking away from her, “I lost the hope you gave me, and my best friend,” I shook my head. “You were all I had back then, and when I lost you I completely lost everything. I never want to feel that way again.”

  “You won’t have to,” Lorena gave a slight smile, but nothing reassuring. I was tempted to ask what that meant, but was afraid of her reply, so I didn’t. “Get some rest. You need some. We can make a call to the police when you wake up.”

  I wanted to tell her that the cops weren’t on our side, but then I thought of Detective Roy and Carter. I could tell them to come back when I woke up, and Arnold would have go back into hiding.

  “Okay,” I said, spreading out on the couch.

  Lorena looked down at me with glossy blue eyes, “I missed you.”

  “I missed you too.”

  Chapter 34

  I woke up from the sound of soft footsteps coming from the hallway. Lorena slowly entered the living room just enough for me to see her beautiful face in the moonlight. I sat up and looked out the window at the stars.

  When I turned back to look at Lorena she was smiling at me, and I saw a twinkle in her ocean colored eyes. She stepped out from the darkness with nothing but a white sheet wrapped around her and spun around.

  I tried to call her name, but there was no sound coming from my lips, then she laughed again and put her finger to hers. I frowned in confusion, but then sat back as she approached me. I didn’t know what was going on, but right now I didn’t care. It’s been a while since I really enjoyed myself, and I wasn’t going to ruin this moment because of my constant worries that something bad will happen.

  I looked up at Lorena, who was running her fingers through my curly hair, and mouthed the words ‘I love you.’ She then sat down on my lap and I mouthed the words back, then laughed again, causing me to laugh again.

  I couldn’t get around how beautiful she was and it gave me butterflies, only this time they weren’t unbearable. I slid my hand into her curls and wrapped my arm around her. How did we get to this? Or how could we get to this? I looked into her eyes one last time before I opened mine.

  * * *

  Lorena was sitting on the armrest of the couch with her legs curled up and her chin rested on her arms. Even in reality she was gorgeous, but not as happy as she was in my dreams.

  I wanted to ask her if everything was okay, but I already knew the answer, so I didn’t say anything. She just sat there staring into nothing. When I figured she wasn’t going to speak, I just turned to the blank TV screen.

  “You were never very good at comforting me,” She said softly.

  “Hmm?” I turned back to face her, but she still wouldn’t look at me.

  “Comforting. You have always sucked at it.”

  I didn’t know what to say back.

  “I knew you cared about me, but you were always so cold. I remember wondering if you even knew how to show your feelings.” She slightly smiled, “You were so weird at first, but then I grew to like you,” she turned to me. “I guess that’s why I was so attached to you once we met again.”

  I thought back to how we cuddled in our sleep together. On the coldest roughest nights I found so much comfort lying next to her.

  “I knew it was you...” She sighed, “Something told me that you were that girl- the only person I could remember,” She laughed. “The very person that wiped all of my memories away.”

  I looked away from her, feeling awkward. Ever since I learned who she really was, I’ve felt nothing but guilt for what I had done to her. Even though I was okay with taking away all the bad memories, I felt horrible for destroying her good ones too.

  “I’m sorry,” I said in almost a whisper.

  “Don’t be. I forgive you,” She gave me a reassuring smile, “I realized after you told me the truth that you were just trying to push me away, and now I see why,” she shook her head. “Besides, you gave me a second chance at living a happy life. Even if it was by accident.”

  I swallowed, trying to keep myself from crying with joy. She forgave me. After everything, Lorena forgave me, “Thank you.”

  Lorena nodded. Then she shivered and rubbed her arms, “So, he’s really dangerous huh?”

  I sat up, “Very.”

  “What are we going to do about him?”

  I shrugged, “I really don’t know. There’s a detective- Detective Roy- that hunts Arnold for sport. Arnold stays clear of him and his team. I could tell Roy to come back and see what he wants to do about it.”

  “You don’t want to call the police tonight?”

  “No, they work with Arnold.”

  “Hmm,” Lorena rested her head on her arms again, “well, I guess it wouldn’t be safe for you to go home tonight huh?”

  “Oh, if you want me to-”

  “I don’t,” She smiled tiredly. “Haven’t had a sleepover in a while.”

  I sighed with relief, because I really didn’t want to leave yet.

  Lorena climbed onto the couch with me and faced me, “This isn’t going to work out,” she laughed.

  “Not at all,” I laughed with her.

  Lorena jumped off of the couch and held her hand out to me, “Come to bed with me.”

  I took her hand and followed her down the hall to her bedroom. She let go of my hand laid down closest to the wall. It was just like how we slept in my room at home, so why was I feeling so nervous?

  I slowly got down in the bed with her and she gently wrapped her arm around me.

  “Rose?”

  “Huh?” I almost jumped.

  “
How come you don’t call me Winee anymore?”

  “Because you’re Lorena.”

  When she didn’t reply I figured that I had to go on.

  “You and Winee are different. I mean, you’re the same people, but then you’re not. You can’t remember everything from when I called you Winee, so you’re different now. You’re Lorena. I hope I don’t sound weird.”

  “You don’t, but who do you like better?”

  “I loved Winee, and...” I didn’t know how to say it.

  Lorena reached down and held my hand. I took a deep breath, feeling her soft touch on my skin, “You know I could never hate you right?”

  I didn’t respond right away because I was still staring down at our hands, “I could never hate you either- ever,” I gripped her hand tighter, “cutting you off wasn’t easy. I kept asking myself if that was something my father would have done for my mother, because he loved her so much. I wasn’t sure if he would sacrifice his happiness to keep her safe, and since I couldn’t get an answer from him, I just hoped that’s what he would have done...I love you, Lorena,” I sighed when I noticed that she was asleep. I guess I would have to remember to tell her again another time, “I love you...”

  I let myself drift off into another deep sleep.

  * * *

  I sat in the living room while eating ice cream from a bowl, and waited for my parents to stop arguing so that we could go out to the park. I didn’t know what they were arguing about, and I really didn’t care, because this was their forth argument this week. Maybe the first time I would have tried to stop it, but after the second and the third, I decided to just let them scream it out. Besides, even if I wanted to hear what they were saying, I couldn’t, because they were in the back room.

  I finished my ice cream and turned to look out the window. It was such a nice sunny day and all I wanted to do was go to the park with my parents and have a good time. Why did they have to argue so much? Sometimes I got worried that they would divorce and I would be stuck in a custody battle, but then I figured that would never happen and left the thought alone.