Chapter 35

Haisley moaned as she rolled to her back. Pain etched a path from her legs up to her back. Questions swirled in her mind about her location. Why did she hurt so much? Then her memory sparked, and she sat up, pain spreading around her torso and up her neck to her head.

“Mel?” she whisper yelled.

“I’m here.”

Mel’s voice wasn’t weak, so that made Haisley think Mel was okay. Haisley crawled toward Mel, hoping and praying nothing had happened yet.

"Are you…" Haisley couldn't finish the sentence. Instead, she reached out and touched Mel's belly, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized her friend still had her baby inside of her.

Haisley wrapped her arms around Mel as tears spilled out. Mel held her close, crying, too.

“I’m sorry I suggested that about them selling the baby, but I?—“

“No, it’s okay. If the baby is alive, I can find it.”

“I’m so sorry. ”

“Shhh, it’s going to be okay.”

Haisley shook her head. "How?" she asked with a sob.

“I don’t know, but I have this feeling.”

Haisley didn't have that feeling but was glad that Mel did. Maybe something good would happen, but she had no clue what good could come from this.

After a long moment and after their tears had dried, Haisley glanced around. “Any idea what they have us in?”

“I crawled around a little. I think it’s a small room. Maybe a store room, or a closet. I don’t know where we are or what type of room it is. There is carpet on the ground, but it’s industrial carpet. We aren’t moving, so I don’t think we’re in a mobile home.”

“Yeah, we’re not moving.” Haisley rested her head against Mel’s shoulder, needing the connection.

"I don't feel like I was out that long. I don't think they took us far. I don't even think we're out of California."

“Neither of them is from this area. Do you think we could be in a hotel room?”

It felt like Mel was shaking her head. “No. No beds.”

“Okay, so no beds, but carpet on the floor. I’m going to get up and see if I can find a door or window.”

“Do you think we can escape?” Mel asked.

“I’m going to try. I can’t live with myself if we don’t fight to get out of this.”

Haisley stood, her legs a little shaky from whatever they'd given her. She reached out with one hand and moved around the room slowly, trying to not fall as she inched along in the near darkness.

Her fingers ran into a wood frame, and she patted both hands on the area, finding a door. She searched for the knob and turned it, but the door wouldn’t budge.

“I found a door, but I can’t pull it open.”

“Any windows?” Mel asked .

Haisley continued on, searching. She was ready to declare defeat when she felt fabric. “Maybe.” She pulled at the fabric and heard rings sliding on metal. “It’s a window, but still dark.”

She moved, her hands shaking as she felt cool glass. Why couldn’t she see out? It didn’t make sense. Then Haisley caught something that looked like a pinprick of light high up in the sky.

“I think we’re out in the forest or something. It’s dark as heck, but I think I’m seeing stars up above.”

Noise sounded behind her, and she turned to watch Mel crawling over. Then they were both standing at the window, their hands clasped together as the first spot of hope filled Haisley.

“Will it open?” Mel asked.

They both searched for a latch. Mel found it first, but it was too hard for her to pull open. Haisley moved over and tried the lock. It wasn't painted shut but hadn't been moved in a long time.

“I haven’t heard anything, and I was awake for maybe an hour or more before you came to,” Mel said.

“Do you think they left us here?”

“Maybe. How smart are these guys?”

Haisley almost snorted. Will was dumb. She realized that now after knowing Peach and his friends. “Not very. I bet they thought we would just stay here.”

“Well, we can’t get out if we don’t get this window open,” Mel said.

“I’ll keep trying. You know, it could be like a stuck lid. Do we have anything to use as leverage?”

“I don’t think so.”

Haisley pulled on the latch, then moved and pushed on it. She felt it give, or maybe it was just her hand.

“We have to get out,” Haisley said .

“I’m going to slow you down. You make a run for it.”

Haisley reached for Mel, her hand landing on Mel’s arm. “There is no way in the world I’m leaving you behind. You are coming with me no matter what.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you. Let’s work on getting that latch open.”

It took two more tries each for the latch to finally swing open. Then it took both of them using all their strength to get the window up.

Haisley slipped out then turned, seeing Mel a little stuck. She turned and grabbed Mel under the arms and pulled gently. The scrape across her belly had to hurt, but Mel was out and they could escape.

They took off toward the road, but after a moment, Mel put her hand on Haisley's arm. They both stopped, and Haisley took Mel's hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“If we walk on the road, they could see us. We need to head into the forest.”

“What about bears and other things like mountain lions?”

“We’ll have to take our chances. We both know that these monsters could kill the baby without a second thought. We have a better chance at escaping a bear or mountain lion.”

Haisley snorted. “That’s true. I never told you what these men did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

"Let's move into the forest, and I'll tell you as we walk. I know we should make noise walking in the woods to scare away predators."

“I’ve heard that, too. I’m not sure how well it works.”

“I think it’s safer than staying on the road.”

They picked their way to a path through the forest that wasn’t close to the road and began walking. She thought they were headed in the same direction as the road, but she wasn’t positive.

"Will, the man who was holding you, he was my ex. I'd broken up with him because he was a jerk. He got mad that I wouldn't date him again, so he broke into my car, popped it into neutral, and pushed it down a hill. It was totaled."

“Oh shit, that’s awful.”

"That's not even the bad part. He asked me to meet with him at a restaurant that was kind of a bar, too. I agreed because I thought he was going to apologize for wrecking my car. Instead, he drugged me."

“Oh shit. I don’t like where this is going.”

They’d gone about a hundred yards when they spied a vehicle on the road. Both of them froze and moved behind a tree. They watched as the lights passed by and kept going. It wasn’t Will or Eason returning from wherever they’d gone.

Haisley continued her story. "I kind of came to a few times, but not enough to fight them off. I remember Eason. That's the guy who was holding me. He was the sheriff in my county. There were a few other guys. I woke up the next morning on the edge of a pool behind a house in the rich part of town. I don't even know whose house it was."

"Oh, Haisley, I'm so sorry."

"I stumbled home, barely making it. They all lied, of course. I lost my job, lost my apartment, and had no car because Will had trashed it. Then Peach's mom took me in when they found me at their old church. I was there because the pastor was in on the attack, too."

“Damn, that’s terrible.”

"So the baby could be any one of theirs. They want me gone because once I have the baby, they could end up being implicated in a crime."

“Oh shit. That’s scary. Having them connected to your baby, what do you think of that?”

She shrugged, knowing Mel couldn't see her, but they were holding hands, so maybe she felt the action.

“I don’t want them on the birth certificate. I’m thinking about never asking for child support. It would make it harder for me, but I don’t care. I don’t trust that some dumb judge wouldn’t give them custody.”

“Did you think about abortion?”

"I did. But I've had so many miscarriages I couldn't. I thought really hard about it, but after learning I was pregnant, I figured it would die inside like all the others did. Then, after ten weeks, I was still pregnant, and I knew this was different. That's when I went to the pastor and told him he needed to come clean. Ellen, Peach's mom, was there in the back and heard the argument. He threatened me, and that's when she came out and told the pastor to go to hell."

“Wow, that’s great that she stood up for you. It’s sad that they ended up dying in Colombia.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if Peach has heard anything about Audrey.”

“Wait, who is Audrey?”

They had been walking for almost an hour, and they hadn't seen another car on the road. They also hadn't heard anything in the forest. She wondered if they should stop and rest. Mel had to be tired, but if they stopped, Eason and Will would find them.

“Before I tell the story, do you want to stop and rest or keep going?”

“Keep walking. I can’t think of them catching us again. ”

“Okay. Let’s keep going. We’ll walk until we find help.”

“Now, tell me about Audrey.”

“She was a neighbor’s daughter who went missing. I don’t know why, but Ellen and John, Peach’s parents, thought they could find her.”

“Did they just head down there without any help?”

She shrugged. "There was a photo of Audrey. I guess they thought they could do it. Peach says he told his parents about a few of the rescues he did, and he feels it's his fault for making it seem easy."

“But they had to know it wouldn’t be easy. They had to understand the SEALs have a team.”

Haisley blew out a breath. "I don't know if they wanted to play the hero or if they really didn't think about what they were doing."

"Dang. I'm sorry, and that sucks."

“It does. Now, there are people in the government looking for her, but I don’t know what happened. When we get home, I want to look into it.”

When she caught a slice of sky, she noticed it was getting lighter to their left. That meant they were going south. She hoped south was a reasonable way to go. Eventually, they would have to rest. Mel was doing fine now, but if something good didn't happen soon, they would be in trouble.