Taken

by Mia Ford

  I knew my brother wasn’t listening. He was pacing around, looking in cabinets and drawers and every once in a while he’d chuckle or click his tongue shaking his head and cracking his knuckles. I hate to admit that I was uneasy. No. Uneasy wasn’t the word. I was beginning to feel very scared of my own brother.

  “Joshua? Are you listening to me?”

  I watched as my brother walked back and forth and finally stopped to look at me. The look in his eyes was void of all emotion. There was nothing but darkness there.

  I stood waiting for him to say something more. To give me a gross and twisted interpretation of the events that he was contributing to. But he didn’t say a word. He looked around as if he didn’t even know how he had ended up in my apartment. Then, like some guy realizing he was about to miss a flight or a bus he looked around quickly and then headed toward the door slamming it shut on his way out.

  I really thought that he had given up.

  I suspected he had hurt Denise but I had no proof. It was obvious he was scaring Natasha but I insisted that she was safe. Then, just a few short hours ago I got a call from her.

  “Something is wrong.” She said, I could hear tears in her eyes. “Diamond made me promise to call her when I got in and I’ve been trying to call her all night. There’s been no answer. Marty, do you think Joshua…”

  “I can’t say for sure, Natasha…”

  “He did that to Denise. You know he did. There might not be proof but you know he hurt her.”

  “Natasha, calm down. Diamond is…”

  “Diamond is all alone, Marty. Please check in on her. Please just get to her apartment and check on her. I haven’t asked you for anything. But I’m begging you now.”

  What could I do? I love Natasha. There was no way I couldn’t check up on her friend for her. Unfortunately, I felt a twinge in the pit of my stomach that was writhing and folding in and over itself letting me know that my brother more than likely had something to do with this.

  Natasha gave me Diamond’s address and also told me where she was staying. I sent Ray to check on Diamond while I made my way to the suburbs to this address.

  While I was in the car Ray called me back.

  “This is bad, Marty. I’ve called the paramedics. You better get to Natasha’s place. Diamond said Joshua left a while ago. If he isn’t at her parent’s house now he’s damn well near there. Look, don’t try to take on your brother alone. He’s unhinged, Marty. To put it mildly.”

  Ray was right. As I sped down the expressway heading to this small suburb outside the city I watched the patterns of the streetlights and the tail lights as my mind focused on weaving in and out of traffic. I don’t know how fast I was going. But from the description Ray had given me of Natasha’s friend I was terrified of what I might find if I were too late.

  My GPS lead me right to the door and as I pulled up I saw that the front door stood open like a black mouth in a silent scream. Climbing out of my car, I listened, and a dreadful quiet gripped my heart. I was sure that I was too late. I held my breath and waited just a few seconds. That was when I heard her voice. Natasha was inside and she was crying.

  I dialed 911 and dropped the phone on the front seat of my car as I raced inside. Trying not to make a sound I followed Natasha’s sobs into the kitchen where I saw her standing in the corner, her hands raised defensively but her eyes were looking down.

  It was like she was afraid to face whatever it was that had her cornered. Something, some kind of monster had her shaking violently and so scared that she could only tremble and whimper like a dog that had been beaten.

  That was when I saw my brother. He looked as if he had tripled in size. His rage made his muscles bulge out and tremble. He was coming at Natasha from the other side of the room. I can only guess that she had tried to run out the back door and he stopped her with a slap or a shove or some other assault letting her know that he was not planning on handling her with anything other than malice.

  “I couldn’t make out what he was saying.” I told Officer Simmons. “He was mumbling and spitting when he talked like a person who might have Turrets Syndrome. It was a string of obscenities and accusations that Joshua had conjured up in his own head. Natasha didn’t just break up with him, she devastated him, humiliated him and there was absolutely no way he was going to let her get away with it.”

  I looked at Officer Simmons as he wrote down the general gist of what I was saying. He was a big man, made even bigger by the bulletproof vest and utility belt that circled his thick waist. His head was bald, as were many of the police officers on the scene. To prevent the bad guys from getting a lump of hair in their hands, I assumed. His eyes took in everything around him. It was as if he was concerned he might be quizzed on whether or not there was a potted plant next to the front door or if I had blood over the left or right side of my head. I got the impression he was a good cop. Thorough in his note taking and investigations.

  “Did you attack your brother?” he asked me without looking up.

  “I did. He had Natasha in the corner like I said. He stepped up to her while she was crying, begging him to just leave. Still babbling nonsense he pulled his arm back and punched her right in the face. I suspected he had done what he did to Denise but I didn’t see it. I believed Ray when he told me how he found Diamond but I didn’t see that either. This I saw. This I witnessed with my own eyes and before Natasha hit the floor I was on my brother pummeling him with everything I had.”

  “Did he at any time fight back?”

  “Joshua Hewitt, not fight back? Are you kidding? As you can see by my face he got a couple good licks in himself. But it was Natasha who leveled him out. She had to.”

  Just then I saw the paramedics wheeling Natasha out on a stretcher.

  “Oh my God. Can I talk to her, officer? Just for a second.”

  “No. I’m afraid not. Not until you answer a couple more questions.” Officer Simmons didn’t seem to be too concerned about my plight. I just wanted to see if she was alright, if she was even conscious but the handcuffs and the pain in my own face and body kept me seating on the ground where I was.

  I watched as the ambulance doors were slammed shut and the vehicle sped away, lights swirling and siren howling. I’d have to meet her at the hospital if I wasn’t thrown in jail.

  My brother had yet to come out of the home. I had no idea what was taking them so long with him. I can imagine the statement he was giving police until I heard the shouting begin.

  “That son of a bitch! Let me go! Do you know who I am? Do you know I could have your jobs?”

  I looked at Officer Simmons who pursed his eyebrows together and looked in the direction of the front door of the house.

  “That’s my brother.” I said as they nearly dragged him out of the house, his hands behind him tightly restrained. Two officers quickly swept him away and shoved him into a police car where he proceeded to scream.

  It was a heartbreaking sound to hear. Like the natural call of the whales was soft and yet terrifying I heard the muffled cried of a creature that had finally lost. He was caught in the net and floundering. Looking at the officer in front of me I could tell by his expression that he was clearly annoyed with the situation.

  “Mr. Reid, does your brother have a history of mental problems? Is he on any kind of medication that you know of? Does he have a therapist or doctor he sees regularly?”

  I shook my head slowly from side to side.

  “To be honest, I don’t think any of those things would have helped him.” Watching Joshua thrash around in the back seat of the squad car I let out a sigh.

  Officer Simmons pulled his keys from a long metal wire attached to a disk on the hip of his belt and pulled me up to my feet. He undid my restraints.

  “Well, it’s pretty clear that your brother was the aggressor in this situation. We are going to have to take him downtown and he’ll probably spend the night in jail. If he doesn’t calm down it may be more than one. Do you plan on pressing
charges?”

  “Yes.” I said. There was no other choice.

  “You look pretty beat up. Would you like the paramedics to take a look at you?”

  “No.” I said. “But what hospital did they take Natasha to?”

  “St. Joseph Provena. You know where that is?”

  Quickly the officer gave me directions and I headed off in pursuit of Natasha. A million thoughts were going through my head. How much damage had my brother done before I got there? Why did she choose to leave and not tell me where she was going? What if she was really hurt, like Denise had been? Like Diamond had been. How many people had been hurt because I hadn’t done something about my brother sooner? Tears began to fill my eyes. The traffic lights blurred as my eyes filled. Blinking, I felt them race down my cheeks.

  This was not how relationships developed.

  Snapping me out of my thoughts as I sped down the street was the chime to my phone. It was Ray.

  “I am at the hospital with Diamond. How is Natasha?”

  “I don’t know. They took her away in an ambulance.”

  “Oh, God.”

  “What about Diamond. Is she alright?”

  “It some sick shit, Marty. It will break your heart. But this Diamond seems to be as tough as her name. She asked me to come with her to the hospital so I’ll be hanging around here for a while.”

  “That’s good, Ray. Please do that. Make sure she gets whatever she needs and make sure I get the bills. At least there is one thing I know I can help with.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s the easy part, Marty. What are we going to do about your brother?”

  “Right now the police have him in custody. They said he’ll be spending at least the next couple of days in jail. But this could be attempted murder.”

  “I hate to tell you this now but I think you’ve got another issue on your hands.”

  “What are you talking about, Ray.”

  There was a long silence on the end of the line but I could still hear Ray breathing on the other end.

  “Do you remember the girl Joshua had been dating about a year ago? Her name was Molly.”

  “Yeah. She is a Canadian model or something, right?”

  “Yeah. Well, it turns out that she was a Canadian model.”

  “Was?” I asked, feeling a wave of nausea wash over me. It couldn’t be this bad.

  “I thought, after what happened to Denise to do a little checking. As it turns out Holly never made it back to Canada like she had told her parents she was planning. There is no body. No real, solid evidence but now that we know what he is capable of we might want to cast a bigger net. You catch my meaning?”

  “I do, Ray. Thanks for the information.”

  “I thought it should come from the inner circle. Not some hack reporter looking for a story or some pity for the poor Joshua Hewitt.”

  After feeling that weight settle over my mind I began to strategize what I would be telling the shareholders and executives at the office. It wasn’t my top priority. It was a distraction. For the first time in my life I felt helpless and out of control. There was a rage inside me screaming for my brother’s head and even though I could level some vigilante justice on him like they used to do in the frontier days when everyone carried a gun, a handshake was a contract and horse stealing got you the death penalty, the police of this century wouldn’t let me anywhere near him. So I had to distract myself the only way I knew how. The business.

  Yet no matter how hard I tried I kept focusing on Natasha and the scandal of it all.

  It was funny how the hospital emergency parking area seemed alive and buzzing just like any office was at eight o’clock in the morning minus the blood. Parking my car I quickly made my way into the emergency entrance practically screaming Natasha’s name.

  “Can I help you sir?” asked a stern older woman with bright, unnaturally red hair with red lipstick to match. She wore white pants that hugged her thick thighs and middle while a loose blouse with red, pink and purple hearts on it lay over her ample bosom. A stethoscope hung like a limp snake around her neck and her name tag read Mary Jean Neilsen, R.N.

  “Natasha Morgan? She was brought in just a little bit ago. She had been attacked in her home.” The words sounded so cruel and ugly as I spoke them. Would Mary Jean Neilsen think I was the one responsible for it, Who could blame her if she did. I still had blood all over me.

  The older redhead looked at the computer screen in front of her.

  “Are you family, sir?”

  Taking a deep breath I lied.

  “She’s my fiancé.”

  Mary Jean looked me up and down then looked back at her screen.

  “She’s been transferred to the seventh floor so she and the baby could be monitored overnight. Visiting hours are from seven in the morning to two in the afternoon and then again from five until eight.”

  I stood there with my mouth hanging open.

  “Did you say baby?”

  NATASHA

  “What do you think of the name Jerome?” I asked Diamond. Rolling her eyes she shook her head no.

  “That sounds like someone who passes out flyers inviting people to come hear him DJ.”

  “You know, if you weren’t still in this hospital bed I’d really let you have it.” I said, straightening out her blanket while giving her a dirty look. Diamond had suffered a concussion as a result of my ex-boyfriend Joshua Hewitt. I swore I’d never say his name again as long as I lived but the newspapers and gossip columns weren’t ready for me to forget him yet.

  His face was all over the news at night. Reporters were sneaking around trying to get pictures of me, my name having been changed to “the estranged girlfriend of Joshua Hewitt”. Thankfully, I had gotten a hold of my parents and reassured them that everything was okay.

  “You can’t believe what is written in the paper these days.” I said adding an uncomfortable chuckle to the end of my sentence.

  “Elvis! The King! Yes! That will be this baby’s name. Even if it’s a girl.” Diamond said, her eyes wide, her face smiling brightly.

  Leaning backwards I laughed until I almost fell off the side of the bed I was sitting on.

  “Come on! You are not taking this task very seriously.” I hopped down and walked to the window pulling the curtains and blinds open. “This is like being in a hotel. You’ve got a beautiful view of the grounds. Geez, only loony-bins and colleges have property like this to walk around and look at. Can you believe it?”

  “I know.” Diamond said. “Please tell Marty I said thanks again.”

  “I told him all four other times you said it as well as the slurred message of undying devotion you mumbled while you were under those pain killers.”

  “Yeah. Those were nice.” She said dreamily. “But tell him again. I had insurance. I know none of this was his fault. I could have handled the hospital stay on my own.”

  “We know you could have but you’d be at County sharing the room with some old lady named Blanche who suffered a stroke or dementia or both. She’d be rambling about her dead husband and ungrateful kids thinking you were stealing her skin cells one at a time. We couldn’t live with ourselves leaving in a place like that.”

  “I can’t say I don’t like a private room.”

  I looked back at her and smiled as hot tears filled my eyes.

  “No, Natasha. Not again.” Diamond said, crying just a little herself. We had been going on and on like this for the past three days. We’d cry and look at each other knowingly but not say a word about what really happened that night.

  “I can’t help it.” I mumbled pitifully. “If I didn’t…”

  “Didn’t what? Go on a date with Joshua? Introduce me to him? He would have found me anyway. Hell, Nat, he was following you everywhere. Even if I had never laid eyes on him he would have cornered me. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to you.”

  I looked down at the tiles on the floor. My bare toes wiggling against the cold laminate squares.


  “Thank heavens for Ray, right?”

  “Oh, what a nice guy he is.” Diamond said wiping her eyes.

  When I couldn’t get Diamond to pick up the phone to tell her I had arrived at my parent’s house I immediately called Marty. I wasn’t sure what he could do to help but I knew he was a better bet than the police. They wouldn’t do anything until she was missing for twenty-four hours and even then, what could they do? They would be polite and reassuring saying that in most instances the person shows up a day or two later. In most instances that probably was correct. But I knew different. I knew the poisonous element in my equation that was missing from all those others. No. I called Marty and managed to tell him what was happening and where I was just before I heard the glass break. Then the phone went dead.

  Suddenly the home I had grown up in became a carnival funhouse with a maze of dark corners and deep shadows that could hide a full grown man, a strong man with ill intensions.

  My parent’s home was a beautiful Cape Cod. As you stepped in the house there was a hallway that lead to the left to the front room and to the right was the kitchen. Before hitting the kitchen was a set of stairs that lead to the bedrooms and bathroom. Across from the stairs was a door leading to the basement. It wasn’t a mansion but it was my home, cozy with loving memories of Christmases and birthdays and coming home from school and hundreds of other every day, average occurrences that suddenly became tainted. This unwelcomed devil was oozing his evil and hatred all over everything that had felt so pure and safe just a few seconds earlier.

  I hadn’t brought my cell phone ,figuring there was a good possibility Joshua had had a GPS on it. It was the only way I could figure he always knew where I was.

  Using the landline proved to have its own drawbacks. Like when someone snips the cable that connects it to the poles that connect it to any kind of help.

  Holding my breath I listened. Every creak and snap that I know I had heard a million times before throughout my life as this house settled became threatening.