Control (21 page)

When we were thirty minutes into our drive, Momma’s cell phone
started ringing.  She picked up the phone to check the caller I.D. and then
shrugged.  Daddy looked at her in silent question of who had been
calling.  “Must be a wrong number. The caller ID only says
‘private’.”  She put the phone down and had just removed her hand from the
device when it started ringing again. 

Daddy turned to Momma. “Guess you should answer it honey; if for
nothing else but to let them know they have the wrong number.”  Momma
shrugged again and then answered the phone.

A look of concern came over Momma’s face.  “Oh my God,
Kristi?!  Honey, what’s wrong?!”  Daddy glanced over to Momma.
“Kristi, sweetheart, where are you?  Can we help you?  Where’s
Buddy?”  As soon as Momma uttered those words I knew that something was
very wrong.  I looked to both of my parents and started chewing my lower
lip, worried that something had happened to Buddy and his mommy.  “Kristi,
tell me where you are.  James and I will be there to get you.  You
just have to tell me where you are.”  Momma was silent while she pulled
paper and a pen from her purse.  She scribbled down an address and quickly
handed it to Daddy.  “Kristi, we are on our way, just stay where you
are.  While you wait for us, you need to call the police.  Please
Kristi, promise me you will call them.  Just hang tight, we are on our
way.”

Something had to be terribly wrong because Daddy made a U-turn and
then started speeding back in the opposite direction of where we had been
heading.  Momma turned to me and began to apologize.  I held up my
hand to stop her and said, “Momma, if Buddy needs help, I don’t care what day
it is.  We need to help Buddy.”

As we were driving, Momma and Daddy began discussing where they
could drop me off before rushing to Buddy and his mommy. They quickly decided
that there just wasn’t enough time to find someone to watch me.

We arrived at a run-down apartment complex in an area of town that
I had never been to before.  “What is this place, Momma?”

Momma gently put her hand to my mouth to shush me. “Don’t worry,
Baby Girl.  We are going to get Kristi and Buddy and then we’ll be
leaving.  I just need for you to stay quiet and calm until we can leave,
ok?”  Even though my head was screaming with all the horrible thoughts I
had about what could have happened to Buddy, I nodded my head. “That’s my brave
girl.  We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

When we arrived at the back portion of the complex I saw Buddy’s
mommy running, screaming down a flight of stairs.  Buddy followed closely
behind her and even from a distance I could see the tears that ran down his
face.  Momma quickly instructed me to stay in the car and then she and
Daddy jumped out and ran towards Buddy and his mom.  As my parents reached
them, a man started coming down the stairs.  He was waving something in
his hand and screaming words that I couldn’t understand from where I sat. 
I moved to the front of the car to get a better look at what was going on.

The man approached my parents and hit Buddy’s mom with whatever it
was he held in his hand.  Momma grabbed Buddy and pointed to our
car.  Buddy began running to where I was while Momma quickly got on her
phone to call someone.  Daddy got between Buddy’s mom and the screaming
man right as Buddy threw open the car door and climbed inside.  I turned
my attention to Buddy and threw my arms around him and held on as tight as I could. 
Buddy didn’t say anything but just kept crying and shaking.  I held him
silently and tried to comfort him.

Two loud blasts happened; one a couple of seconds after the
other.  Buddy jumped up and started to scream when he saw what had
happened.  “Mommy!” he screamed over and over.

He tried to open the door to the car and run over to his mom but I
grabbed his arm and held him in.  “Please, Buddy; Momma and Daddy are
there, they’ll take care of it, just please stay in the car with me.”  I
looked out the front windshield and I didn’t understand what was going
on.  Buddy’s mom and the screaming man were laying on the ground and my
momma was crying while wrapped in Daddy’s arms.  There was a dark liquid
quickly pooling around the area where Buddy’s mommy was lying down.

Buddy started crying again and I pulled his face up to look at me.
“Buddy?! Why is your mommy sleeping on the sidewalk?  Why did we have to
come get you if she’s tired?”  Buddy grabbed me then and climbed into the
back seat of the car, pulling me with him. “Don’t look, Paige.  Just don’t
look over there. We just need to stay here and look at each other, okay? 
Promise me you will look at nothing but me.”  Buddy’s voice wavered on his
last words and I knew he was trying to protect me from something.

“Okay, Buddy, I won’t look.”  He hugged me to him and we
buried our faces into each other’s shoulders.  Within seconds we heard
sirens approaching.  Lights flashed as cars started pulling into the
parking lot.  Buddy and I continued to hold each other while police
officers jumped out of their vehicles and ran to where our parents were. We
were still holding each other when the ambulances arrived.

After a while, Momma came over to the car and opened the door to
find us huddled in the back seat.  She had something dark splattered all
over her clothes.  “Buddy?  Paige?  I need you two to stay in
the car a little longer.  I’m going to start the car so I can turn on the
air conditioner for you, but you have to promise me you’ll stay right where you
are and not touch anything.”  Buddy and I looked to Momma and nodded our
heads.  Momma turned the key in the ignition and then turned the controls
until cool air blasted onto our sweat soaked bodies.  I didn’t realize how
hot it was in the car until my skin met with the chilled air.  Momma shut
the door and walked away.

“Are you coming back to The Center, Buddy, is that why we came to
get you?”  Buddy shook his head and didn’t respond.  He began to cry
again and I tried to wipe the tears from his eyes but they were falling too
fast for me to wipe them all away.  After a few moments, Buddy looked at
me.  His blue eyes shown even brighter when outlined by the reddened skin
around his eyes.  “I don’t know where I’m going, Paige, I don’t know
anything anymore.”

He shifted his position so that we were sitting side by
side.  He looked out the front windshield and quickly turned back to
me.  “I know I promised to come back, Paige, but I don’t know if I can
keep that promise.  I don’t want you to be let down if I can’t come back.”

I shook my head profusely, refusing to hear what he was telling
me. “No Buddy, when you and your mommy left the Center, you promised you would
see me again, and look, you kept that promise.  I see you right now. 
Just keep promising me that we will see each other again, and I know that no
matter what, it will happen. Just promise me Buddy!”

“I promise, Paige.  I promise that we will see each other
again.”

It felt like hours that Buddy and I sat in silence as we cried and
held onto each other.  Momma and Daddy would alternate coming back to the
car to check on us, but as soon as they saw we were okay, they would turn and
go back to whatever it was that was going on.  Thoughts flew through my
head about what could be happening.  I settled on the idea that Buddy’s
mom must be sick, really sick, and that’s why all these people were here to
help her.

The sun began to set when Momma and Daddy returned to the
car.  Their heads were hung low and they held on to each other to keep themselves
standing.  Buddy and I had fallen asleep, but woke up when we heard Momma
and Daddy pulling things from the bags in the trunk.  Daddy used a towel
to wipe off his skin and Momma did the same.  While Daddy changed into a
new shirt, Momma came around and opened the door.  She handed drinks and
sandwiches to Buddy and me and promised that it would only be a little bit
longer before we could leave.

A black vehicle pulled up a couple minutes later and a tall lady
dressed in a grey skirt suit climbed out of the car.  Momma and Daddy
approached the lady and they spoke quietly while frequently glancing back at
us.  When they finished their conversation, Momma came over to the car
with the lady right behind her.  Momma opened the door and asked for Buddy
and me to step out.

Buddy climbed out of the car never letting go of my hand.

“Buddy, sweetheart.”  Momma kneeled down to be his height and
then turned to indicate the lady standing behind her. “This is Mrs.
Morris.  She’s here to take you somewhere where you can get help.  I
want you to go with her and listen to everything she tells you.  I promise
you she is here to help and she won’t hurt you, Buddy.”

I looked to Momma and my words came out before I could stop them.
“But Momma, that’s a stranger.  We’re not supposed to go anywhere with
strangers.  I don’t understand why we can’t take him with us. Where is
Buddy’s mommy?”  Momma’s face fell and she barely shook her head while she
pulled me to her. “Sweetheart, Buddy is going to need to go with Mrs. Morris and
I can’t have you arguing.  She’s not a stranger and I promise you, he will
be fine.”

I began to open my mouth to continue my argument, but Buddy
reached over and put his hand on my shoulder.  I turned to look into his
tear streaked face and kept shaking my head in silent protest to his
leaving.  Buddy gave me a slight smile.  “It’ll be fine, Paige. 
Just remember my promise.  We will see each other again.”   Mrs.
Morris gave me a sympathetic look and then placed her hand on Buddy’s back to
lead him to her car.

When they were almost to the car, I pulled from Momma’s grasp and
ran towards Buddy.  I reached behind my neck and unclasped the necklace my
mother had given me that morning.  “Here Buddy, take this.  It’ll
remind you of me and the promise.” He began to refuse but I shushed him and
forced the necklace into his hand.  “Just take it.”  He nodded in
reluctant agreement and I threw my arms around him.  “I love you, Buddy,”
I whispered.  Buddy’s body shook with the force of his tears and he looked
down at me.  “I love you too, Paige.”

Momma walked over to me and took me by the hand to lead me back to
our car.  Before climbing in I looked back towards Buddy’s
direction.  Mrs. Morris had already begun pulling away and Buddy turned to
look at me from the rear window.  He pressed his hand to the window and
watched me as they drove off.  My heart shattered at that moment as I
watched the only boy I would ever love leaving me.  I climbed in Momma’s
car and hugged my knees to my chest.

Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…

The
sound of my alarm clock wrenched me from a deep sleep.  Slumber continued
to pull me back down and battled against the annoying beeping of the
clock.  Each trip between slumber and wakefulness buoyed me farther to the
waking side.  I felt like a slow motion ping pong ball bouncing back and
forth between two opposing players. Out of habit, my arm shot out from me with
every intention to smash the offensive timekeeper into pieces.  Something
tugged on my arm and my hand couldn’t locate the clock
or
the side
table.  I pulled my arm back to my side and felt tubes and wires with my
other hand.  Why are there tubes in my bed?  It’s a struggle to open
my eyes, and when I finally coax them into thin slits, my vision is blurry and I
can barely see dark shapes in the dimly lit room.

Buddy. 
I dreamt of Buddy.  Why…?

Beep…beep…beep…

The
alarm.  I need to find that fucking clock and throw it out a window. 
With my free hand, I began ripping at the tubes and wires, when a large, strong
hand clamped down on my wrist.

What
the hell?!

Where
am I? My body was slow and my brain was foggy.  I tried to remember what I
had done the night before.  I remember being at Tomb and drinking while
spying on Daemon. Did somebody drug me?  No, that couldn’t have
happened.  I never left my drink unattended. I must have a nasty hangover
and that is why my body aches so badly.  But whose hand is that?

“Damsel?” 
A low timbre voice whispered to me. “Paige, are you awake?”

Daemon. 
That’s right.  He was supposed to come over after work.  This makes
sense now.  My confused panic subsides and I start falling back to sleep.

Beep…beep…beep…

The
clock was irritating me to no end when I asked, “Could you turn the alarm clock
off? It should be on the side table.”  My voice was horribly gritty and my
throat felt like a desert.  Small cracks formed across my lips as I spoke
and the level of dehydration in my body was surprising.  I must have drank
more than I realized.   A rhythmic pounding assaulted my head and my
wrists and ankles were burning and sore.  Wrists and ankles?

“She’s
awake.”  That low voice again, but louder.  The sound of multiple
footsteps crossed my room.  Why are there people here?  Why do my
wrists and ankles hurt?

My eyes
peek through my lashes and I see the forms of several people looking over
me.  Who are these people?  Several voices speak at the same time and
I fight to get up from my bed.  Two large hands firmly grasp my shoulders
and I am gently pushed and held down. I know instantly that it’s Daemon. 
Despite the pain coursing through my body, I still react with desire at his
touch.  The combination of sensations was confusing.  My eyes blink
repeatedly as I cleared my vision to see why he was holding me. 

“Damsel,
calm down.  You need to stop moving and talk to me before you can get
up.  Can you do that, please?”  The comforting lilt to his low,
seductive voice soothed me into submission.

Dreamily,
I whispered, “Okay, just keep talking like that and I’ll do anything you say.”

Daemon chuckled
softly and before he could respond, I felt other sets of hands on me.

“Ms.
Stone, do you know where you are?” 

The
female voice that spoke to me helped clear away my confusion and I was once
again aware of the fact that Daemon and I were not alone. I rubbed my eyes and
when I pulled my hands away a hospital room came into view.  Daemon stood
with two nurses by my bedside and my eyes locked with his while the nurses
bustled around us checking monitors and medical equipment that hung on poles
around my bed.  Daemon’s gaze never left me and the desperation and pain I
saw behind those eyes caused an ache in my chest.  Why am I here?

My eyes
caught Daemon’s gaze again and I noticed the dark circles that marked his
normally perfect face.  He was still wearing the clothes I last remember
seeing him in and a darker shadowing of facial hair has spread down his
jaw. 

“Ms.
Stone?”  The older brunette nurse spoke again.  She wore purple
scrubs and white tennis shoes and her grey streaked hair was pulled back in a
purple ribbon.  Even at her age, she was attractive and appeared to be
kind. “Are you in pain, Ms. Stone?”

My
response came out in a whisper, “No, I’m not in pain.”

I
looked back to Daemon. “Why am I in a hospital?”

Concern
wrinkled Daemon’s brows and his eyes flicked to the floor before returning to
my face.  It seemed like an eternity before he finally answered.  His
voice was softer than I’d heard it before and I became worried.

“Paige,
you’ve been hurt.  Do you remember what happened at your apartment? Do you
remember that I found you and brought you here?”

There
was still a heavy haze that wrapped around my head, but Daemon’s words brought
back what had happened. Images of Annie’s and David’s broken bodies and my bedroom,
covered in candles started surfacing in my head; Chris surfaced in my
head.  Tears escaped the narrow slits of my eyes as I remembered. 
Daemon grabbed my hands quickly and spoke so soothingly, it almost didn’t sound
like his voice.

“It’s
okay, Damsel, don’t cry.  You’re safe.”

I shook
my head attempting to tell him I wasn’t crying for myself.  Those tears
were for my roommates.  I needed to know if David and Annie had survived,
but I was frightened to ask and find out that they hadn’t.  I would be
fine.  I would survive because I’d be damned to let Chris win, but David
and Annie…would they?  Daemon continued to speak soothing words, but I
couldn’t hear what he was saying, my thoughts were back in that apartment, back
with the battered bodies of my friends.

“David? 
Annie?  Are they…?”  My voice was whisper soft. Vocalizing my fear of
what might have happened to them was too much to say with any force or
confidence.  But I had to know.

“They
are alive, Paige.   They are here at the hospital, they’re safe.”

They’re
alive.  They made it through this.  I wanted to go to them, to see
them breathing, to feel their pulses strong in their bodies.  But I was so
tired, so sore.   My head fell farther back into my pillow and I
closed my eyes.  Just keeping them open was exhausting and I resisted the
sleep that was fast overtaking me.  Forcing my eyes open again, I turned
my head to Daemon.

His
expression was full of so many different emotions and I tried to identify them
as they flitted across his face.  Pain, desperation, anger; such intense
anger.  He noticed I was looking at him and his expression changed again
into a mixture of consolation and concern.  Seeing him sitting there tense
made me realize he was holding back something, but I was too tired to
pry.  Maybe if I could just get another couple of hours of sleep; maybe
then I could ask him more.

My eyes
began to close again when I felt him lean down to whisper in my ear.  When
his lips brushed my ear, a small gasp escaped my lips from his contact and I
felt him pull away unsure of whether he had hurt me by his touch.  My
hands wanted to reach for him but I couldn’t will my muscles to respond. 
I was drugged.  Whatever painkillers they had coursing through my system
were effective.  I knew that if I wanted, I could float off this bed, but
I had to stay here, with Daemon.

He
leaned into me again but refrained from brushing against me.  His voice
was so soft, so low, that I could barely hear him.  My brain attempted to
unjumble his words long enough to understand what he was saying to me.

“Paige,
please, you have to tell me.  Did Chris do this?  The police need to
know.
I
need to know.  Before falling asleep again, please tell me
who did this to you.”  His voice was pleading.  He knew the darkness
was pulling me back away from him and his voice was the only thing keeping me
from letting go completely.   My mouth opened to respond, but no
sound could come out.  I nodded my head and then my mind was once again
wrapped in nothingness.

~

“Does
she know?”

My
mom’s voice broke through the fog of my sleep.  She spoke quietly and
quickly and all I wanted was for her to hold me.

“No. 
She can’t know yet…”

She’s
talking to someone, a man.  I cracked open my swollen eyes and it felt
like someone has sealed them shut with Velcro.  It hurt to move, but I
wanted the comfort of my mom.  Their voices were hushed and barely
recognizable.  I moved my head to turn towards them and a groan escaped me
from the pain of movement.

“Paige? 
Baby girl?  Are you awake?”

A small
hand slowly began smoothing down my hair.  My eyes cracked open again and
her concerned face stared back at me.  The lights in the room haloed
around her, illuminating her light hair.  My lips attempted to turn into a
smile, but my face was assaulted with pain from the effort.  Momma didn’t
speak again as I tried to wake up, but her hand continued to pat my hand to
console me.  My mother’s eyes welled with tears as she took in my
appearance. My body was beaten and marred.

I
lifted my hands to examine the markings I could feel on my wrists. 
Bandages blocked my view and I pulled at one to free it enough to reveal the
skin below.  Dark purple rings wrapped around my slender wrist and I could
see where the bindings had ripped into the skin.  I’m unaffected by their
appearance, completely numb to the physical reminder of the attack.  I
remembered my refusal to let Chris win, to feel fear, to only feel anger. 
He may have controlled my body, but I controlled my mind.  I won what I
considered to be the biggest battle of all. 

Momma
gently recovered my wrist and turned my face back to her gaze.  “Don’t
worry, Baby Girl, your body will heal.  You will heal.  You’ve always
been so strong.”

Her
voice waivered as she spoke and I could tell she was struggling to believe her
own words.

I
remembered my dream and tears escaped my eyes.  That was the day that
Buddy’s mom died, the day I lost him.  I never dreamed about
that
day; never.  “Momma…I dreamed about Buddy….about the day his mom died. Oh,
Momma why did I dream about that day?” My sobs came faster but I reigned them
in.  I would not cry.

“Oh,
Baby Girl.” My mother took me into a hug to comfort me.

In my
peripheral vision, I noticed movement within the shadowed area of the room
behind my mother.  Thinking it was Daddy, I looked over to the corner of
the room where I had seen the movement.  Momma turned to give me a better
look and Daemon stepped out of the shadows.  He looked terrible and in
desperate need of a shower and sleep.  His movements were slow and
calculated as he moved to stand next to Momma.  Her expression was
troubled and he just stared at me.  I wanted to know what he was thinking,
why he appeared to be distant.

The
room was quiet as I alternated looking between their faces.  They seemed
familiar with one another and I wondered how long they had been talking in my
room.  Momma’s face looked slightly troubled and she fidgeted her
hands. 

“Momma? 
Have you met Daemon?  He’s my…”  I stopped. What do I call
Daemon?  I know we had agreed to be with only each other, but any word
other than ‘friend’ felt foreign.  My voice would not cooperate as I
attempted to explain our relationship.  Eventually, I gave up and changed
what I had intended to say.

“…This
is Daemon.”

Daemon
flinched when he realized what I’d done.  It was a cheap maneuver on my
part, but so much easier than defining what this was between us.

Momma’s
eyes flitted to Daemon and back to me.  “I know, Paige.  We’ve met
several times since I arrived here.  Your daddy is downstairs getting some
food, but he’ll be back up here shortly.  How are you feeling, Baby
Girl?  Can I get you anything?”

At some
point, moisture had ceased to exist in my mouth.  The last thing I wanted
to do was give my mom a chore, but I was in desperate need of water.

“I’m
thirsty.” 

Momma
nodded her head once and then grabbed the pitcher beside my bed and walked out
in search of water.  Daemon remained standing silently beside me.  I
wouldn’t look him in the eye, still too embarrassed at my cowardice in defining
our relationship.  His stare was palpable. All I wanted was to look up
into those crystal blue eyes, but my stubbornness and embarrassment kept my
eyes trained to my hands. 

“How
are you feeling, Paige?”  He spoke softly, but there was an underlying
note of anger to his tone. It was obvious he was struggling to maintain his
composure, to not reveal what it was he was thinking. I couldn’t keep my eyes
from his any longer and I looked to him in question when I recognized his mixed
emotions.

“I’m
fine.” 

His
shoulders slumped forward and he huffed out an exasperated breath. His eyes
glanced to the floor before he trained his gaze back to my face.  “You’re
fine…” A humorless laugh escaped him. “Your roommates and you were assaulted,
you were almost…” He reconsidered his words. “You were hurt.  And you tell
me that you’re fine.”