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He paused for a long time, long enough for me to feel the tears slide down my temples. He didn’t need to say it, I knew. She never made it home, right dad? Just say it! She never made it home! I screamed ‘no’ through wired teeth. I didn’t give him a chance to continue. I began ripping out anything attached to me and tried to sit up. I could hear Maddy’s muffled sobs as she buried herself into my grandmother’s stomach.
My Uncle Danny helped my dad restrain me against the hospital bed. If I hadn’t had been so weak from the drugs I know I could have broken through them, nothing would have stopped me from getting to Jules but I could barely hold a pen let alone fight off two grown men.
They waited until I calmed down. All I could see were watery faces staring down on me in pity. I scrambled for the pen and paper and tried to write down everything I wanted to know. My mom helped me once more.
How long?
“Julia was here from the second she got into town until I had to order her several times to go home and get some sleep and something to eat. She repeatedly refused me but I eventually convinced her that you wouldn’t be up for hours......”
I underlined the words ‘how long’ and waited impatiently. I wasn’t interested in the back story.
“Eight hours,” Danny said.
Eight hours. Eight hours away from her being safe in my sight or enduring whatever hideous plan Jesse had for her. Only eight. I felt like vomiting but knew that wouldn’t have been an option with my jaw wired shut and shut my eyes for a moment instead to catch my breath.
Why aren’t you looking for her?
“We’ve searched everywhere Elliott. She’s not here son. We found her car running on Main with the door open. We think she’s alive because there was evidence of a struggle and it looks like he took her away in his car Elliott. He’s taken her somewhere. We’ve notified all the necessary authorities and they are all doing everything they can,” Danny said, before pausing. He leaned in and focused on my eyes, “Is there any place you can possibly think that he would have taken her? Anything you could give us would be helpful Elliott.”
I nodded and wrote, Blackwater Falls.
Someone must have called for a nurse then. I didn’t complain until I saw the syringe in her hand. I began to protest but it was no use. I couldn’t stop her and my dad and Uncle Danny had me by the arms.
As I drifted off to sleep, I thought of nothing but Jules. All I could ever want in the entire world was being threatened and I was handicapped by the very thing Jesse tried to kill me with. I fell asleep angry hoping the rage would burn the drugs faster so I could wake and tear out of the hospital with a vengeance.
I dreamt of Jules from the second my eyes closed to the second I woke. She inundated my thoughts and I woke to blood boiling when I realized where she was. I opened my eyes and checked around the almost quiet room.
I immediately grabbed my chest, just below my left collarbone. It was an instant excruciating misery and throbbed terribly. I frantically pulled the hospital gown from my body but found nothing there. Impulsively, I rubbed the area trying to remove the torment.
I had no idea the time but it looked late, only my dad was in the room with me. It was definitely late in the night because my dad was snoring steadily and I barely heard a peep outside my room. I heard a nurse tell someone to get some sleep before she closed their door and I waited for her footsteps to dim before I began removing anything that would have kept me tied to that insipid bed.
When I was positive there was nothing still attached, I slipped from underneath the covers and grabbed the bag full of the clothes I came in. I tossed everything on as quickly as I possibly could and crept from the room as quietly as possible.
Before I left, I noticed the pen and paper and tossed it in my back pocket. I was grateful to the last person who had come and left the room because the door was cracked open an inch or so and I escaped without so much as a sound. I knew I had precious little time to get away because my heart monitor stopped beeping and I could already hear the nurses’ speedy steps heading the direction of my room.
I had no idea how I was going to get to my truck but I didn’t care. I was working down my list and wasn’t going to worry about everything at once. One step at a time, I kept telling myself. I turned the corner and was almost found out. I peered back around that same corner and saw someone, people, I never expected. My entire team, including Matthew Tanen, sleeping along several chairs. I took a closer look at everyone sleeping in the waiting room and figured Matt was my only chance because he was closest.
I quietly snuck up to him and pulled at his sleeve. He startled awake and I had to restrain his booming voice with my hand. Several of my family members stirred but thankfully never woke and when I thought Matt had a grip on himself I pulled him toward a hidden hallway.
“What the hell are you doing out here Gray?” He asked.
Matt, I scribbled as legibly but as fast as I could, Remember that time you said you owed me because I wouldn’t let you cheat off my paper in Chemistry and instead stayed with you all night and helped you study?
“Yeeeesss,” he said reluctantly.
I’m calling in that favor, I wrote. I need your help and I don’t want you to ask questions.
Matt was the kind of loyal friend that knew when to let things go when you wanted it dropped and he agreed without hesitation. We ran toward the double doors and I had a fleeting thought towards the pain in my chest. That’s when it hit me, hard.
Oh my God! Julia!
Chapter Nine
From The Other Side
“Jules, can you breathe alright?” He asked, knuckles tight on the steering wheel.
I nodded my head, barely acknowledging him, not that I could talk anyway, with all the duct tape he had plastered to my mouth. I learned my lesson early on in this little abduction that if I didn’t answer promptly I paid dearly with a slap to the face.
