by Nicky Shanks
I look up at Mrs. Atchley. “I’m his caretaker. Oliver, you can run along inside now.”
“I don’t mean any trouble, ma’am. I was patrolling the area and thought I’d stop and see if there’s anything I could help with. In fact, I’m a pretty good rain dancer myself.” He winks at me and Mrs. Atchley grunts. I know she doesn’t like police officers much.
“He’s fine.” She shakes her head. “Thank you and goodbye.”
“My name is Oliver Jackson.” I step out from behind her and the officer smiles. “What’s your name?”
The man holds his hand out of his window for me to shake. It’s big and warm and I like the way it feels in mine, like it’s making me safe.
“I’m Officer Randy.” He smiles again. “Nice to meet you, Oliver Jackson.”
Officer Randy is nice.
I see a pair of bright blue eyes peek out from the back seat. It’s a girl, and she’s huddled beneath a policeman’s jacket for warmth. I don’t think she knows I see her, but I can smell her strawberry scent through the rain. I don’t know what it is, but something tells me that everything is going to be okay when I look at her.
Officer Randy speaks to Mrs. Atchley for a few more minutes before he drives away.
I wonder if I’ll ever see her again.
Chapter Nineteen
Julie
Screams and laughter of children fill the air.
Where am I?
A movie plays in my head; there are children scattered around a lush, green backyard with a pool and an oversized tree house in an oak tree to my left.
“Mom!” I hear a boy say, but I don’t make a point to look for him. I’m sure he’ll find his mother before I even find him. “Hey, Mom!”
Someone tugs at my sweater.
I look down and see the brightest emerald green eyes staring back at me.
“Mom? Are you okay?”
I nod, but I don’t answer him. He must have me confused with someone else.
“Where’s Dad? He promised to play baseball with us, and I can’t find him.”
I open my mouth to speak, but I stop to look at the boy first.
Emerald green eyes.
Dark chocolate shaggy hair.
Light freckles on his olive-skinned face.
Tall, skinny body.
I gasp, and it startles him.
He looks like a mini-Oliver Jackson.
“Mom?” He cocks his head and stares at me. “Do you need to sit down?”
I shake my head. “N-No.” My mouth is dry, so I grab a water from the waiter and start to gulp it down. “I don’t know where he is, sorry…”
The boy laughs. “Colin. My name is Colin, Mom. What is wrong with you?”
“Don’t talk to your mother that way, she’s perfect…there’s nothing wrong with her.” I hear Oliver’s voice come up behind us, and I can feel adrenaline rush through my body. He still makes me feel things that I’ve never felt before, even without laying eyes on him.
He kisses my cheek and hands me an amber bottle of beer as he comes into my view from the side. “Your mother is absolutely perfect in every way, kid. Don’t ever forget that.”
The way the two of them smile at me burns my heart.
And my throat.
The stench of motor oil and gasoline fills the air and starts to choke me. The two of them disappear.
***
“Jesus, Mac! Drive like you’re not holding someone hostage!” Veronica’s voice fills my head. I open my eyes and I can’t see anything; there’s something over my eyes to blind me. My hands are tied behind my back and my feet are tied together so I can’t run. They threw me in the back of a van or large vehicle because I roll around with every twist and turn they make. “Don’t hit that fucking ditch, Mac!”
“I had to lose that fucking black car that was following us! I don’t see ’em…where’d they go?” I can smell the stench of cigarettes alongside the oil and gas.
Veronica groans. “I don’t know and I don’t care. Let’s just get to the boathouse and call Oliver so he can bring us our damn money!”
Oliver.
I wonder where he is right now.
I wonder if he knows that his mother has drugged me and blindfolded me.
All because of money.
And rules.
Let’s not forget the rules and why our lives are really in this kind of trouble.
“Shit, she’s awake,” Veronica says, and I feel her shift toward me. “Should I give her more chloroform or just knock her the fuck out?”
Mac laughs. “I don’t give a shit. Knock her ass out somehow so she can’t see where we are.”
“She has a blindfold on, dummy.”
“Who cares, knock her out for the fun of it.”
I wait for her to connect her fist to my head, but it never happens.
Instead, she leans down to my ear and whispers, “Stay fucking still and do as you’re told and you’ll go home soon, okay? All we want is money, and unless Oliver comes through, Mac will want to do more horrible things to you than this. Nod if you understand.”
I nod.
“Good girl,” she says, punching the floor next to my head. “There, she’s out.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, dammit. Now, drive.”
My entire body shakes so hard that I know I’m going to blow the cover that Veronica just provided for me. I’m not quite sure what’s going on to begin with, but I’m really confused at why she’s helping me after she kidnapped me.
I’ve been kidnapped.
Holy crap.
“She ain’t knocked out, look at her twitching back there,” Mac says.
Veronica comes back and hisses in my ear again, “I fucking told you to stay still.”
This time, her fist hits my head and things go fuzzy before going dark.
***
I’ve never paid much attention to the bigger picture of things. I’ve always just sort of…lived in the moment, and I’ve never dared to dream. I’m never getting out of my parents’ lives, anyway; they’ll see that I’m never able to escape them, I’m sure. I’m a meal ticket for them, and they aren’t shy about telling me so every chance they get.
Everything changed this summer: I spent it with my brother Randy in New York. He just married Marianna a few days ago, and I got to be the flower girl in the wedding. It was magical and fun, two things that aren’t a constant in my life back home with Mom and Dad.
I want to stay here with them, but I know Marianna doesn’t want me around that much. She caught me using her makeup and called me bad names. I didn’t tell Randy because I don’t want to cause trouble. I’m only eight and still too small to understand adult things. At least that’s what people tell me every single day.
I begged Randy to let me ride with him one more time in his police car before he sent me back home to the parents neither of us wanted to claim. They aren’t good people, even I can see that, but he’s still making me go back to them.
I might not ever forgive him for that.
“Julie, I just got my own squad car.” Randy winks at Marianna, who pretends that she even cares. “Not to mention it’s not safe for you out there.”
“I’m not too young,” I beg and climb into his lap, because he’s twenty-three and much, much taller than a eight-year-old girl is. “You’ll protect me. I just want to have some more fun before I go home.”
His face darkens. He knows that if he sends me home that he might not ever see me again.
“Okay, get your shoes on.” He shakes his head. “I’ll get your coat and get the car started, so meet me outside. Hurry up; my shift is almost ready to start.”
I bolt up from his lap and he laughs, shrugging at his new wife and leaving us alone in the room. I’ve been here for a month and he’s spoiled me with new clothes, shoes, school supplies, and various other things that I’m going to have to hide from my parents when I get home.
“Well, better not get your new shiny shoes dirty.�
� Marianna smiles and crosses her arms over her chest. “I gave up my honeymoon in Jamaica to stay home and babysit you for a month so you could have those shoes, girly.”
I like the way the new shoes fit on my feet. I’m used to shoes being too big or too small. I’m also not used to a warm, cozy bedroom, either.
Or a woman who even pretends to like me.
The look on Marianna’s face when I chose to ignore her comment scares me.
“Better go get your one last bit of fun in before I ship you back where you belong.” She scoffs and leaves the room.
It’s cold in here now.
I sit confused on the soft and comfy bed I don’t want to leave.
Why do people treat me like that?
I try to be a nice girl; I try and help people and do what I can to be a productive member of society like my mother always says.
For some reason, I still get thrown out like the trash.
I drag my feet to meet Randy outside, and he can tell that his new wife has put me down once again. He never says anything about it, he just pats me on the back and gives me presents.
But he’s the only one who really loves me and looks out for me.
“Okay, kid.” He smiles and helps me buckle my seat belt. “It’s Officer Randy time.”
The rain starts coming down so hard that halfway into our night we have to pull off the road and try to wait it out a bit. He doesn’t feel comfortable driving around with a kid in the car during a thunderstorm, but it’s okay.
I just like being here.
When I yawn for the third time, he orders me to get into the back seat and cover myself with his police jacket to keep warm. The rain sends me to sleep, but I hear Randy talking to a woman through my dreams and it startles me awake. I don’t see the woman, but I do see someone else.
A boy.
He’s near Randy’s window, and his smile is wide and curious.
The boy is with someone else, but I can’t move my head far enough to see them.
“My name is Oliver Jackson,” I hear the boy say to Randy. “What’s your name?”
I like his voice. He’s scared and alone just like me.
Randy rolls his window down further and sticks his hand out for the boy to shake. “I’m Officer Randy. Nice to meet you, Oliver Jackson.”
***
I wake up in time to feel someone carrying me and quickly toss me down on a semi-soft surface; I still make a loud thump as my body sinks into it.
“This is what fucking happens when you break the rules,” I hear Mac snarl somewhere near me. A loud smack echoes in the room and someone whines. “When you break the rules, you get punished. Your good-for-nothing son didn’t give me what I fucking wanted, and now look! Look at her!” I hear someone cry out and get pushed down next to me. “If he doesn’t come through, what the fuck am I going to do with her, huh? I can’t exactly let her live, right?”
I want to scream and kick my legs, but they’re still tied behind my back and I don’t want them to know I’m awake again. My head hurts so badly that it’s hard to concentrate on what Mac’s even saying.
“I’m sorry, Mac!” Veronica cries next to me. “He won’t let us down, okay? He loves her—he’ll give me whatever I want. We just have to be patient!”
Mac roars like a lion. “You better fucking hope that car didn’t follow us here, because I swear to God this is the last chance I’m giving your sorry ass!” He stomps out of the room and slams a door behind him, making both of us jump.
Veronica sniffles. “Are you awake?” she whispers.
I nod.
“Don’t let him know.” Her breath stiffens and she tries her best to return to her hard self. “I’m going to call Oliver, it’s been a few hours. He should be halfway home by now, so this will all be over soon.” I feel her weight slowly leave the space beside me. “Just hang in there and you can live a long, happy life with my son.”
I feel her leave the room.
I think about Oliver and what Mac said about breaking the rules.
Oliver’s third rule—keep your secrets safe—has betrayed me once again. If I’d just told him about the marriage to Brandon, he wouldn’t have gone out of town and left me alone with Casey.
Casey.
I wonder what happened to him.
And who was following us?
My mind does jumping jacks as I try to piece everything together. A door opens and I don’t hear anyone start screaming to be able to tell who it is. The cologne that comes closer is familiar but before I can place it, someone is tugging at my legs and untying the knots at my feet. Without saying a word, the heavy object keeping my feet together drops to the ground and the person gasps and waits a few seconds before pulling me into a sitting position.
“Jules.” I hear Brandon’s raspy breath in my ear. “I’m keeping your blindfold on just in case I get caught. They won’t hurt you if you haven’t seen where you are.”
“Brandon?” I choke out, but it feels like I’m in a long tunnel. “What are you doing here?”
“Heather and I followed you.” His breath quickens and we hear someone coming. “Lie back down…I can’t get the knots at your hands untied. I’m going to get under the bed and hide until it’s clear again.”
I do what he says, and I feel him pull a blanket around my legs to hide them. He shuffles and his body bumps mine, and I know that the surface they’ve dumped me on is a bed as the springs push up from his body beneath mine.
“Jesus Christ, it’s cold out there.” Mac enters the room. “Start a fucking fire or something.”
Someone shuffles around and after a few minutes, the room starts getting gradually warmer. No one notices that my legs are beneath the blanket, and it gives me a sense of peace as Mac groans and a chair creaks as he sits down in it.
“You call him?” Mac asks.
“I called him,” Veronica answers. “He didn’t answer.”
Mac grunts. “Wasn’t he in California? That’s almost an eight-hour flight; he’s probably in the air. We’ll give him another six hours before we do anything rash.”
A tear runs down my cheek.
Oliver didn’t answer.
“You’re so generous,” Veronica swoons, and I hear sloppy kissing. I forget that Brandon is underneath me until he moves his body when the kissing starts, no doubt to turn away from it because it’s not a pretty sight to see. “I’m hungry, let’s eat.”
Mac laughs. “You and your food.” A smacking sound fills the air and Veronica squeals with delight. “I’ll get the food…there’s a barbecue shack a few miles from here on the outskirts of the city. Don’t let this bitch out of your sight, understand me?”
“I got it…I got it.”
A door opens and after a few seconds, Brandon rolls out from underneath me and pulls my body upright again, working on the knots around my hands. “Julie, flatten your hands.” I do what he asks. After a few minutes, he finally gets the knots free and takes the blindfold from my face. The fear in his eyes is enough for me to throw my arms around him and hug him like I’ve never hugged him before. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay.” He rubs my back and we hear a car door.
“She’s coming back.” I start to move my legs, but I realize that my left knee isn’t allowing me to bend it correctly. “My knee, I think it’s twisted or something.”
He quickly looks down at it and applies pressure with his hands. I let out a groan full of pain and he stops and rubs his jawline. “Look, I’ll stall Oliver’s mom. Heather is waiting in my car half a mile down the road in some bushes off the road. Go outside, turn right off of the dirt driveway, and run until she sees you. Hey!” He snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Do you hear me, Jules?”
“I think she hears you,” Mac growls from behind us. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Mac grabs Brandon by his arm.
“Run,” Brandon whispers sharply at me.
So I do.
I somehow get on my feet and my heart is pumping so hard that i
t hurts. Mac swings for me but misses because he’s holding onto Brandon too. I hear the thuds of fists against flesh but I don’t look behind me.
I know I’m going to feel guilty later.
He told you to run, Julie.
My knee is burning with pain, but I keep going. I see Veronica in the corner of my eye and she leaps toward me but misses and falls to the floor as I open the only door I see and fall onto an old rickety porch before me.
“Get her!” Mac screams at Veronica.
I push myself up, cry out in pain, and see Heather running down the dirt driveway, her black hair matted to her head with something red.
Blood.
“Get away from her!” she screams and points behind me. I turn and see Veronica reaching for me, but I step backward and fall off of the porch and onto the ground; the dust from the interrupted dirt surrounds me in a cloud as we hear Brandon fighting with Mac inside the house. “Brandon!” Heather screams and runs toward me, helping me onto my feet.
“Get those bitches in here!” Mac screams.
Veronica has an odd look on her face. “If you two don’t run, he’ll kill all three of you.” She nods toward the road. “Go. Run as fast as you can.”
“I’m not leaving Brandon!” Heather tries to catch her breath. “I’m not doing it!”
“You have to!” Veronica hisses. “I’m trying to fucking help you!”
Heather screams as Mac stumbles from the house and growls when he sees the three of us speaking instead of fighting. “I told you to get them inside!” He kicks Veronica out of the way and lunges for us, but Heather sprays some kind of liquid into his eyes and he screams out in pain.
“You think a little pepper spray is going to save you from this? Tie them up and throw them inside with the other one. He’s still breathing but he’s a damn mess.” He nods at someone behind us.
I can barely turn my head to see who he’s talking to because I’m in so much pain.
Mary.
“Sure thing.” Mary laughs and sticks a needle into Heather’s neck, making her fall asleep almost instantly. “You want them out for six hours, right?”
