Running Into Love - The Complete Box Set

by Annalisa Nicole

  “I’m just going to go get a towel to clean that cut on your head. I’ll be right back,” she says, then starts to get up and I immediately start to panic.

  “NO, please don’t leave me,” I plead.

  “OK, I won’t go anywhere. It’s not that deep, it can wait until later,” she says and sits back next to me on the bed.

  With relief, I close my eyes and drift off to sleep. In my dreams, I play out the horrible event in my kitchen. The look in that man’s face will never leave me for the rest of my life. It’s indelibly marked forever on my soul. There was a look of devastation and anger that bore deep in his eyes. I don’t know how long I slept, but I wake up screaming.

  “Shh Amelia, you’re OK,” she whispers.

  My heart is pounding in my ears and I’m breathing heavy. I look at Chloe and remember again what’s happened.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scream,” I tell her, as my whole body starts to shake.

  Just then the basement door opens, a bag is tossed down and something scrapes on the top step. We both cling to each other, then the door closes and locks. It wasn’t just one lock either. It was several.

  Chloe gets up and walks to the top step. She comes down with a tray of food and a bag.

  “What’s in the bag?” I ask her.

  “Let’s find out,” she replies.

  Chloe opens the brown paper bag and inside are some bandages and clothing. She sets it out on the bed and puts the tray of food between the two of us.

  “I don’t think he’s really a bad man by nature. I know that sounds crazy, but I think his grief has caused him to do things he normally wouldn’t do. I think the loss of his wife and baby was just too much for him to cope with. He leaves me alone for the most part. He doesn’t neglect my needs. He’s just keeping me imprisoned to punish me and Kyle. I keep hoping that one day he’ll just let me go.”

  “I don’t know how you can say nice things about him after everything you’ve been through,” I say, looking at her in disbelief.

  How can she make an excuse for this horrible man?

  “I was angry and depressed in the beginning. But I quickly learned if I had any chance to survive this, I had to stop being the victim and get outside of my own brain to keep myself safe.

  “We should eat, then I’ll clean you up. You have several cuts that need to be cleaned before they get infected.”

  We eat everything on the tray. There were two sandwiches, two apples, and some cookies. How can a man who kidnapped me so violently turn around and give me a cookie?

  There’s a sink, a toilet, and a shower in the adjoining bathroom where Chloe fills two plastic cups with water from the sink. When we’re done eating she walks the tray back up to the top step and pushes it through the narrow slit at the bottom of the door.

  She comes back down and opens the bandages and ointment. She cleans several cuts on my hands and arms and one larger one on my head. They must have all happened when I struggled with him in my kitchen. Chloe hands me the clothes and it’s then that I see my shirt is torn.

  “You can change in the bathroom if you like,” she says, pointing toward the bathroom and holds out the clothes to me.

  I’m still so unsure of my surroundings and I’m still trying to process everything. I must look like a deer caught in the headlights. I look to the door up the stairs.

  “It’s OK. He normally doesn’t come down here. You’re safe. If he does come down here, which is very rarely, I usually go in the bathroom and close the door. He has a few rules that I’ve learned quickly. Every few months he brings a box down here with supplies in it. There’s usually cleaning supplies and toiletries in it. I’ve learned what to do and what not to do. But, you’re safe here,” she says reassuringly.

  I take the clothes, go into the bathroom and close the door. I lean on the door and I can’t even begin to imagine what she’s been going through all this time. I change into the clothes and open the door. I look around the room and for the first time I take it all in. There’s a full-size bed with relatively nice sheets and a comforter on it. There’s a small wooden table with two chairs, a bookshelf completely lined with books, and on one shelf there are artfully constructed origami figures. I walk over to them and pick up one that looks like a unicorn. It’s beautiful. It’s made with purple and yellow paper and it had to have taken a long time to make.

  “That is one of my newer ones. One of the books he sent down was how to make origami. I find that it helps pass the time. This one here took me a few days to put together,” she says, pointing to the unicorn in my hand.

  I place it back on the shelf and sit at the table. I look at my hands and the cuts on them, and then notice all the bruises up and down my arms. My hands start to shake and I start to cry.

  Chloe kneels on the floor in front of me and takes my hands in hers.

  “It’s OK, let it all out,” she says.

  Kyle

  We’re in Slick’s blacked out, black Explorer, in a neighborhood known for its violence and crime. He pulls up an alley, then parks.

  “I’ll only be a minute, everyone stays here,” he orders.

  He steps out, shoves his gun in the back of his jeans, and closes the door. He bangs on the building door three times and a man big enough to be a bouncer at the worst bar in America opens the door, jerks his chin then lets him in. The three of us don’t say a word to each other and within five minutes Slick gets back into the Explorer.

  “What did you find out?” Asher asks.

  “They haven’t heard anything about today, but they know of a man who may be connected to Chloe. Just outside of town in a secluded area there’s a man who’s rumored to have abducted a woman a few years back. My guy said one night a man came into a bar and got drunk and claimed to have kidnapped a woman and gotten away with it. I have the address, but this is a long shot. Rumors about a drunken man are not a good lead to go on,” he says, turning back around facing the front of the vehicle.

  “We have to try. Something is better than nothing,” Aiden says.

  “I agree, this is more than I’ve ever gotten in two years of looking for Chloe. I’ll take a chance and try anything,” I tell them.

  Asher has a strange look on his face and looks at me with a blank stare.

  “What are you thinking about Asher?” I ask puzzled.

  Why is he is just staring at me?

  “You said you’ll take a chance,” he replies.

  “Yeah, so? I think we should look into any lead we have,” I tell him confused.

  “Yes, you’re right. It’s just those words. Take a chance. They have a special meaning to me. Never mind, just forget I said anything.” he says, shaking his head.

  “If you two fairies are done, I think this is a really bad idea. I’m only one man with a gun. You guys don’t look like you can handle yourself if it comes down to a fight,” Slick tells us.

  “I think I speak for all of us when I say we can handle ourselves. This guy has our family and we intend on getting them back,” Asher says.

  The drive takes less than thirty minutes and we end up driving down a dirt road. A house comes into view and we park behind some trees, well out of sight of the house.

  “OK, this is how this is going to go down,” Slick says, as he turns around in his seat to look at us.

  “You’ll all stay behind me and do exactly as I say. Do I make myself clear? We’re not going in until dark. We’ll sit here and stake out the joint first,” Slick tells us.

  “No fucking way, if this is our guy, if our girls are in there we need to do this now. Who knows what he’s doing to them. We can’t just sit here and let God knows what happen to them,” I say angrily.

  “No, I said we do this my way,” Slick shouts.

  “Look, I think you’re outnumbered here Slick. We can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Asher says.

  Slick sighs deeply and looks at the three of us.

  “Man you guys are a pain in my fucking ass. Alright
, but you need to sit tight for a little bit. I’ll do a sweep of the parameter and see what we’re dealing with. You stay here. If you guys mess this up it could end badly, not only for the girls, but for us too.”

  We all agree and sit in the truck. Waiting for him to come back seems to take forever. Just thinking that Amelia, and possibly Chloe, are in that house is killing me. Finally, Slick gets back in the truck and closes the door softly.

  “Alright, there’s one man inside and he’s armed with a handgun. I didn’t see any trip wires or alarms around the parameter. I think our best bet is to go in there full force. I think the best outcome is for me to get him at gunpoint. You three start looking around for signs of the girls,” Slick informs us.

  With Slick in the lead with his gun drawn, we quietly make our way to the front of the house. Asher and I are on one side of the door, while Aiden and Slick are on the other side of the door. Slick counts down from three, then moves in front of the door and with his boot, he kicks in the door and all hell breaks loose. Slick barks orders at the man to get on the floor and put his hands behind his head. He aims the gun just inches from his face.

  The three of us spread out and search the main floor first, then the upstairs. Every room I search that comes up empty, tears a little piece of my heart right out of my chest. This can’t be a dead end. It just can’t be. I was devastated to lose my sister, I felt like someone took half of my heart away. Having Amelia taken too, feels like someone has taken half of my soul. No one can live with only half of a heart and half of a soul.

  We come back down, not having found anything. Slick has his boot in the man’s back. I don’t know what comes over me. I’ve never felt such utter untamed anger before. I grab the man off the floor and pin him up against the wall with a loud thud and place my forearm at his throat. I press so hard he gasps for air.

  “Where are they, you sick son of a bitch?” I shout, as spit flies out of my mouth into his face.

  Then it hits me. I finally get a look at his face. This is the man who lost his wife and child. I could never forget this man’s face. I back away slowly letting the man drop to the floor. He coughs and sucks in much-needed air. Slick steps on his chest and points his gun in his face again.

  “It is you,” I say numbly.

  “Is this the man you told us about?” Asher asks.

  “It’s been you this whole time? Where are they?” I shout at him.

  I grab him back off the floor and punch him in the face. Blood sprays from his mouth and nose, across my face. My knuckles split open, but I barely feel it. Asher and Aiden grab me, pulling me away from him. In the scuffle somehow the man gets Slicks gun and he makes a mad dash for the door off the kitchen. He quickly turns the locks on the door, then slams the door behind him.

  We all run to the door and pull it open. Slick goes down the stairs first followed by Asher, then Aiden, then myself. When I make it all the way down the stairs, I see the man and he has Amelia held around the throat in front of him. He has a gun to her temple and my heart drops in my chest. I hear a woman shouting and it’s then that I see Chloe on her knees on a bed behind them.

  “Chloe,” I whisper. It’s really her.

  She’s really here. Two years of worry and stress melt away at the sight of my sister. I place my hand over my chest, not from pain, but overwhelmed joy. There are a million thoughts running through my mind all at once. I wished for this day to come so many times and now she’s here, she’s so close I can almost grab her. Then I hear Amelia crying.

  My attention is drawn back to the man and he still has Amelia at gunpoint. Slick takes a few steps forward and tries to reason with the man.

  “Look man, there’s no need for all this. We just want the girls. Just hand them over and we’ll leave you alone,” Slick says.

  He takes another step toward them and the man moves the gun from Amelia to Chloe.

  “No!” I shout. Never in my life have I felt so helpless. My instinct is to jump the man, but he has the gun and at any time he could kill one or both in a heartbeat.

  “Take one more step and I’ll kill them both,” he shouts.

  Everything next happened so fast. Slick lunges toward the man at the same time Chloe jumps off the bed and jumps on the man’s back. The man steps back and rams Chloe into the wall. Her head bounces off the wall with a loud thud and she falls lifelessly to the floor.

  Slick grabs for the gun that the man’s turned back toward Amelia. Aiden and Asher move toward the man, as I just stand there rooted to the ground. I don’t know where to go first. Chloe is on the ground unconscious behind Amelia, as she screams hysterically, struggling in the man’s arms.

  Then the three guys make a mad lunge for the man. Then it happens. The gun that was aimed toward Amelia is fired and the five of them all fall to the floor. My world starts to crash all around me. There’s a ringing in my ears and my whole body goes numb.

  Then another shot is fired, pulling me out of my frozen trance. I look up from the pile of bodies and see Chloe standing over everyone, with the gun in her hand. She has blood running down the side of her head and down her arm.

  Did she just fire the gun? My eyes go from Chloe, to the pile of bodies on the floor. A stream of blood is pooling around the lifeless pile. I hear my voice screaming, no, but I’m pretty sure I haven’t said anything.

  Asher, Aiden, and Slick start to move and they stand up. When everyone is standing the only bodies still on the floor are the man and Amelia.

  On my God, Amelia.

  Her shirt is covered in blood, and the pool of blood seeping from her chest is quickly growing. Slick places his hand on the gun Chloe still has raised and lowers her hands, then takes the gun from her. He wraps her in his big body and she starts to shake uncontrollably, as she goes into shock. Asher moves toward Amelia and he sinks to his knees beside her.

  “Somebody call 911!” Asher shouts.

  “Kyle you need to do something!” I hear someone shouting at me, but I’m frozen.

  Asher stands and runs over to me and shakes me violently, “Kyle you need to fucking help her, you’re a fucking doctor, get a grip, man. You need to help Amelia,” he shouts and points to Amelia on the floor.

  Aiden is on the phone with the police and he tells us an ambulance, and the police are on their way. I finally get myself together and I go to Amelia.

  I kneel on the floor on the other side of her. She’s unconscious, I feel for a pulse. She’s alive. Thank God. I pull my shirt over my head and hold it to the wound on the left side of her chest, applying pressure. Aiden runs upstairs, yelling he’ll flag down the paramedics.

  There’s just so much blood. My t-shirt is quickly soaked with her blood. I apply stronger pressure and I can hear the ambulance in the distance now.

  There are thudding feet coming down the steps. The room is quickly filled with medics and at least a dozen police officers, who take control of the scene. A paramedic grabs my shoulders.

  “Move aside sir, I can take it from here,” he says.

  “No, I’m a doctor. I can help her,” I insist.

  “You need to step away, sir. You’re in shock and in no way capable of handling the scene. Step back. We can take it from here. You’ve done everything you can, we need to get her loaded and in the ambulance,” he says.

  I stand and the paramedics quickly get to work. A second team has Chloe on a gurney with oxygen. I lock eyes with Chloe and she stops shaking. I’m so torn between going to my sister and staying close to Amelia.

  Chloe holds out her arms to me and I rush to her. I wrap her in my arms and start to sob with two years of pent up emotion. I can’t believe she’s really here. I’ve missed her so much. Another team of medics check the man who held them captive. They shake their head and cover his whole body with a sheet.

  “Shh, it’s OK. I’m OK,” Chloe says.

  I pull away and look at her with relief. The paramedics wrap her head and take her vitals. Other than her head she appears to be alright. I p
ull her into a hug again as I hear a medic say, “She’s in Vfib.”

  I turn around and see the medics working on Amelia. If I thought my world stopped earlier, it doesn’t compare to what I feel now. The room is silent. I see Asher next to her, he’s being held back by Slick. He’s screaming, but I hear nothing. I can see the medics mouth move as he says, clear, but I hear nothing. They shock her heart with a defibrillator. They take her vitals and again they shock her heart. Each time is like a physical shock to my own.

  I sink to the floor on my knees. To come this far and finally find Chloe only, to turn around and lose Amelia would be unbearable. I’ve never felt such pain in my heart. It feels like an electric shock. There’s a shooting pain going from my heart all the way down to my fingertips. I never put much thought into the words, heartache, until this very moment. It’s an actual physical feeling. My heart is breaking right inside my chest.

  All the schooling and training I’ve been through to become a doctor, and I kneel here numb. I’m trained to be an OB/GYN, not an ER doctor, but I shouldn’t be feeling this kind of helplessness. Aiden shakes me and I tear my gaze away from Amelia to look at him. His lips are moving, but I still hear nothing.

  “Kyle, you need to go with them,” Aiden says.

  He shakes me and repeats it again. I feel like someone just punched me straight in my heart, as my senses start to come back. She’s alive, I can hear the monitor beeping telling me she has a stable heartbeat again and she’s being loaded on a gurney.

  “Kyle, she’s stabilized now, you need to go with them,” he says urgently.

  They carry Chloe up on a stretcher first, followed my Amelia. Chloe is loaded into a separate ambulance and I’m told she has a concussion and that she’ll need stitches in her head, but that she’ll be fine. The police said we could go, but that we needed to all make official statements at the hospital. Slick gets in the ambulance with Chloe and gives me a nod.

  They load Amelia in another ambulance and the medic says only one of us can go with her to the hospital. Both Asher and Aiden insist I go with her and they’ll meet us there.