by Mark Edwards
She then broke my only weapon in two.
“Now's my time!”
By now we were both in the heavy rains.
EEEEEKKKK! I tried to dodge her knife-assault while she came at me, her hand moving all over.
AAAAAHHHH! I wailed, after feeling the point of her dagger in my back.
“Come on, scared, Taylor?”
AAAAAHHHHH! I dipped after feeling that dagger in my shoulder, by now my white teeshirt had been washed in crimson.
“Yasss! It's going to be so much fun killing you, you little whore!”
In the space of such a short time, I had lost a lot of blood, making me quite frail, too frail to put up any meaningful resistance.
I then started running while dragging my feet. I could here her boots on the wet grass and leaves. She was coming.
“Where you think ya going?”
“HELP!!!”
“Who's gonna help you out here in this lonely woods?”
“HELP! SOMEONE. ANYONE!”
No. I slipped and fell on the waxy grassland and I started rolling down this hillock while the rains poured on heavily. I finally ended up at the root of this large oak tree.
“My leg...it hurts...”
“Come on, Taylor. Stop acting like a baby,” she jeered, climbing down.
“Your little girl didn't even cry like the way you're doing now.”
“What-did-you-say about my little girl?”
Yes, I was suffering from at least two wounds from her nasty black dagger and my leg felt as if it was broken but nobody messes with my little girl.
While I was on the ground, she leaped toward me, wielding her dagger. I swiftly rolled away. Now she was on her stomach, on the muddy ground. I quickly leaped on top of her and started pulling her hair, while whacking her like crazy in the head until her dagger fell from her hand.
“Nobody hurts my little Haley. NOBODY!!!!!”
She stretched her hand out, trying to grab that bloody stiletto even as we wrestled on the ground, taking turns to be the one on top. At each attempt to grab her hell weapon I would pull her away.
“You not going to get away with this.”
Now she had her fingernails squeezing my throat while we rolled down this other hillock, our body had mud and all sort of leaves all over. She had managed to get a grip on her dagger.
AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!
I held on to my back after feeling the deep puncture of her dagger. This blow was worst than the previous two. I started vomiting blood.
My vision became blurry, my head started spinning and my chest got tight– my asthma. Even though the thick inches of raindrops pelted the ground I could hear the frying of my chest. I lay there on my back, gasping for breath.
She walked over, “come on, cry-baby; let me help you up.” She pulled me up and then spat in my face.
“Any last word, Taylor?” she provoked, while holding me up and resting the tip of her dagger between my boobs.
“Yes...” I breathed.
“Say it then.”
“Frigging burn in hell!” I cursed, forcing my knee into her private and raking my finger nails in her face.
AAARRRRGGGGG!
She fell over after clutching her bony crotch. She fell over, landing on her own dagger. She looked at me, eyes wide open, motionless.
“Now who's the top bitch?” I boasted.
15
I raced toward the hut. By now the rains had held up. I hurriedly opened the creaking wooden door.
“Haley?”
“Haley?”
“Haley, are you inside, Haley? Mommy's here to get you, baby. Mommy's here,” I sobbed.
I dragged my legs along the wooden floor of the hut.
“HALEY????”
There on the ground was Haley's neckless, the same one her grandma got her last Christmas.
“Alright,” I breathed, “I know you are, Haley. And mommy's gonna find you,” I blew.
I continued searching the hut.
*****
“No. This can't be. I've been through the entire hut. Haley's got to be somewhere around here.”
“HALEY????”
“Wait,” I stopped. I pushed my wet hair from my face. I listened again but all I heard was silence. “I know I heard something...”
“HALEY!!!!”
“There it goes again, the sound. Movements.”
I went on my knees. “I hear it again.”
By now I had my ear on the wooden floor.
“Heavens! There must be an entrance to this attic. But where?”
To the right of me, I saw this axe.
“Ok, I guess, I'll make an entrance then.”
I got a hold of the axe and then I started striking that wooden floor like mad, crazy. And I wouldn't stop apart from the two or three times when I wiped my sweat from off my face.
Finally.
“Aah,” I gasped, after seeing the crooked hole I've made inside that wooden floor.
It was time to go in, so I climbed down. It was kind of dark down there.
“Oh my goodness. There you are. Haley.”
Words couldn't have expressed but the feelings were mixed. Seeing the apple of my eye again, gave me goosebumps. Every single strand of hair on my body was raised. But seeing her tied to a chair while her mouth was gagged with duct tape was a real heartbreaker.
“Don't worry, sweetheart, Mommy's here. Mommy's gonna take you home, Haley.”
Without further ado, I moved over and rid my daughter of this frigging bondage.
“Mamee,” she cried.
“Haley. Haley. What did they do to you?”
“I'm sorry, Mommy.”
I looked into her glossy little brown eyes.
“What for, sweetheart? What for?”
“Mommy, I should have screamed for help when I realized that I was tricked into going with this stupid woman.”
“That's fine, my baby. That's fine. Don't cry,” I hugged. “We are going to be fine. I promise.”
*****
By now we were back on the ground floor of the hut.
We breathed a sigh of relief. So happy I was to be reunited with Haley, I had totally forgotten about my knife wounds and my injured leg.
“So, tell me, who tricked you into going with this woman?”
“My dance teacher, Mr. Matt Neilsrtong.”
“I see,” I uttered, turning my face away from her. I hope he burns in hell when he gets there.
But Haley, why didn't you scream and say something when I was trying to get you?”
She looked at me. I ran my hands through her curly brown hair. “Why, Haley?”
The more I stared into her watery eye, the more I was loving her all over again, almost hating myself for having her taken from me.
“I didn't want you to get hurt, Mom.”
I stooped down and I held her cold little hands so tight, making sure that our moment of re-uniting was real. I couldn't hold back my tears. I just couldn't hold back.
“Mommy, there was this man...”
“What man?” I pushed my wet hair from my face.
“He said he was a Mexican. He showed me this gun and told me that he had bullets in there for you.”
“What?” I had my brows raise.
“He said if I ever scream or hinted that I was in trouble then he would empty all those bullets on you. I couldn't make him hurt you, Ma. He stood there, pointing his sniper gun at you while I was been taken. Nobody else could see him, mother.”
“Come here, pumpkin. Give your mommy a hug.”
“He even said he would give you a credit card so you could get me new clothes.”
“That son of a bitc....dog.” I shook my head.
“Mommy, I want to go home. Not sure I'm liking it here.”
“Sure, my sweetheart,” I grinned, carrying her in my arms, making our exit from the hut.
EEEEEKKKKKK!
SCREEECHHHH!!!!!
I dressed back a bit. I shielded Haley, using
my entire body, after putting her on the ground. She held on to me so tight. I could hear the racing of the poor thing's little heart.
“We'll be fine, Haley,” I gasped, taking deep breaths, trying to make my own breathing normal.
16
Like, seriously? She was back, Grem. But how could she survive falling over on her dagger? She stood by the doorway of the hut, preventing us from making our exit. She had blood stains all over her face. And she still had her black dagger plugged into the right side of her upper stomach.
“Mommy, I think she wants to kill us,” my little girl whispered.
“No, honey,” I breathed, “we're not going to die.”
“I'm scared, mommy.”
“I'm scared too, Baby, but she won't get that chance to hurt us; I promise,” I hoped.
“Ha, ha, ha. Going somewhere?”
“I would appreciate you excusing us.”
“Alright,” she gasped. “you've screwed up all of our plans and now I have my own dagger planted in my stomach, thanks to you.”
“What do you want?”
“You could at least leave the kid with me.”
“Are you serious, Grem?”
She closed the croaking front door behind her.
I kept her every movement in sight while safeguarding my timid little girl. She clung to me tighter.
“I Have always wanted to have a daughter.”
Really now? “I know you know how daughters are made.”
“I can't make em, so I steal em,” she grinned, in a serious sort of way, pulling that deadly stiletto out of her stomach, head tilted towards the ceiling, eyes closed, her sharp veins protruding her neck, while her clenching bloody teeth told the tale of the pain and anguish she must have been enduring.
AAARRRGGGGHH! She wailed like a dental patient, getting a tooth extraction without any anesthetics.
Haley covered her face.
“Ah,” she breathed, a cruel smile on her face, forming wrinkles over her eyes. She held the wounded area of her stomach with one hand while caressing her bloody dagger with the other. She bit a side of her lips.
“That was mighty close to the heart. You were trying to end me? How unkind, Taylor?” Everything about her was devious, even that cute smirk on her face.
“Leave us alone.”
“Hell no!”
Without warning, she raced toward us, wielding that bloody dagger.
EEEEEKKKK
SCREEECHHH.
I swiftly blocked her arm, preventing her from puncturing my face with that stiletto. But there was more to come.
EEEEEKKKKK
“Run, Haley; take the door!”
“Momeeee!!!!”
“Run, Haley, RUN!”
AAAAAHHHHH! AAAAAHHHHH!
I fell to the floor, hitting my head against the wooden wall after getting that sharp blow. I closed my eyes, pretending to be unconscious, wasn't too far from it though.
She turned toward Haley, whom she had cornered by now, holding that deadly dagger.
I tried to move but I somehow felt as though I was glued to the wooden floor. I'd gotten so frail, I had to choose between shouting or breathing.
“Hope you not as stubborn as your mamma, kid, because I'm... tired.”
“Run, Haley,” I breathed. I knew she couldn't hear me.
EEEEEKKKKK!!!!
She was held by Grem. “Time to say your prayers, Haley.”
I then suddenly heard the thud of the front door.
BANG, BANG!
She fell to the floor, where she lay, without moving, both eyes fixated on me while blood poured from her mouth.
“You don't mess the shit with my family.”
“Daddy,” Haley burst out, running into the welcoming arms of her dad, Martin.
“What took you so long, Martin?” I croaked, still lying there on the ground, with this throbbing head pain.
He walked over to me, holding his kid, like a proud superhero; well he was one, if you ask me. “You alright? You look awful.”
“I know I look like shit, Martin.” By now my voice was a bit stronger. “So how did you find us?”
“This morning when I called, you forgot to hang up your phone. So I listened to everything that happened back at Matt Neilstrong's apartment. Everything's recorded too.”
“I know I could always depend on you for eve-dropping on my phone conversations, Martin.”
“You had your GPS on. I could have found you earlier but your phone batteries probably went dead; it couldn't keep up with all that recording of gruesome events back there, I guess.”
“So, you were watching me, Martin?”
He hugged his Haley without even saying another word to me.
“Martin.”
“What?” he breathed, with some amount of disgust. I looked into his green iris while he rubbed his hand through his disheveled brown hair.
“Thanks for watching me, I mean, thanks for watching your family.”
No! “MARTIN!!!! She's got a gun; she's going to shoot!” I wailed.
Oh, no. I held my head.
“DON'T MOVE A MUSCLE.!”
“DROP THE GUN, WOMAN!”
By now the dark cottage was stuffed with this SWAT team.
“YOU HEARD, RIGHT? DROP-YOUR-WEAPON, LAY ON THE GROUND.”
“What took them so long,” Martin breathed, holding our terrified daughter so close. Did I say our daughter?
Then in came the local Williamsburg law enforcement.
“Ma'am, you've got some questions to answer.”
“She ain't got no questions to answer, Officers,” Martin intervened, handing them his cellphone. Take this, all the recordings are on there.”
“I'll be back, Taylor,” she groaned, while her blood-stained body was being hauled from the cottage.
17
Williamsburg LOCAL PRESS
Extra, Extra,read all about it...
¶ ANYTHING, EVERYTHING
SERIOUS MOMMA was willing to do anything and risk everything to find her abducted 9-year old little girl.
Taylor Formidi, a 28-year old Williamsburg librarian went beyond the call to find her missing child, Haley, single-handedly. And in doing so, she unearthed one of the biggest crime rings.....
EPILOGUE
One Month Later...
DISNEYLAND THEME PARK
Orlando, Florida.
“Where are you going, Haley?”
“I want to take a picture with Goofy, Mamee.”
“Ok, you better be careful, honey. And don't...”
“Yes, I know, Mom–– don't wander off, or talk to strangers,” she provoked.
“Let the little girl have fun.”
“Go on, Haley, Take your pictures with Goofy.” I then turned to him, after taking another sip of my strawberry slush.
“Daddy's here!” Haley marveled.
“Three's a crowd, Martin.”
“Mo-meee?”
“Ok, Haley, your dad can stay. Next time, Mister,” I pointed, “you call before barging in on us. Am I understood?”
“Don't have a problem with that, Madam.” He took his Caribbean blue sunshades off.
I focused on his half-buttoned floral short-sleeves shirt just to avoid staring into his green eyes.
“Feel free to keep your distance, Martin.”
“Who said I wasn't going to. Anyways, I'll be taking a look around – a lot of changes since we've been here the last time.”
“Sure, go ahead. Will call you if Haley needs you.”
“Fine.”
“By the way, I got the job.”
“The job?”
“Yes, the interview I did a couple of weeks ago, for Senior Librarian,” I boasted.
“Taylor, that's awesome,” he hugged.
“Thanks, Martin,” I kissed.
“Oh, I forgot,” he said, pulling my arms from around his waist.
“Yeah, you did forget how much I hate you, Martin.”
“Kids,” Hal
ey intervened, registering her disgust.
“And how old are you again, Haley?”
“Listen, Taylor, we'll settle this once and for all.”
“What do you mean?” I spat out, furiously, after thinking about the silly mistake I made, seconds ago.
“I come by your place tonight...”
“Excuse you?”
“Yes, and we'll do the cruelest and craziest stuff to each other, proving to each other, tonight, who hates who the most.”
Haley covered her mouth, preventing that smirk from escaping.
THE END
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