In the Shadow of His Wings (6 page)

“Sorry, I know that seemed cruel but it’s much easier if you take it off quick and I just knew you were going to pick it off slowly. So, now that I’ve explained the situation to you, do you have any questions?”

“How long?” Laura whispered.

“How long for what?”

“How long do you want me to stay here and pretend to be your sister?” Gerhard, who looked like he was starting to relax, flared up at this question and yelled, “You don’t get it! I don’t want you staying here PRETENDING to be my sister.

I want you to BE my sister! You ARE Christine! Understand!? That’s your name! It’s who you are! Thirty years ago you ran away and I found you and now you are home.

Look around! Do you see anything here with any other name on it? Is there anything here with any other name at all? No! Of course not, because there is no other person staying in this room. Any life you had outside this room is over.
This
is your life now.

Mom is upstairs doing some baking. In a few hours she will be coming downstairs to watch her TV shows. She will be very happy to find that you are down here to watch TV

with her. This is something you can do everyday. Each day I go to the hotel office and you can keep mom company. This will be fantastic! Life is going to be so much better around here.”

Laura couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. She could think of nothing to say at that moment that would make one bit of difference to this deranged man. Her eyes simply filled up and overflowed as the tears streamed down her face. Gerhard softened some when he saw the tears and stopped yelling. He passed Laura a box of tissues and tried to think of something to reassure her.

“Look Christine, it’s not that bad. Mom’s getting pretty old. She’s in her seventies now. Since you left she’s been really depressed and hasn’t been eating so well.

She’s gained a lot of weight and doesn’t exercise. Her health isn’t so good. She’s been to the doctor a few times but she doesn’t like what the doctor says so she stopped going.

To be honest, I don’t think she’s going to live that much longer. When she dies then you can go live where ever you like. In the mean time you can have anything you want.

Remember how mom was so tight before? It’s not like that now. We have lots of money and you can have whatever you want, just write it on that paper and I’ll buy it for you, ok?”

"I’ll tell you what, I won’t tell mom you’re here for another hour or two. Why don’t you lie down and take a nap. You look like you could use one. In the other room there is a small fridge beside the TV. There are some soft-drinks in there as well as bottled water if you want a drink or anything. Just help yourself.” Gerhard backed out of the room and softly closed the door. Laura sat on the edge of the bed stunned. Slowly her situation was sinking in and she was realizing how hopeless it was. It was no wonder she felt so awful about not wanting to go down the basement steps. Now she was chained down here! She got up and walked into the bathroom, over to the toilet and vomited her breakfast.

Chapter 5

Laura knew full well there was no way she would be able to take a nap. She decided to explore her surroundings and see if there was
any
possible way out. Her worst fears were confirmed however when a quick look around revealed no windows. There was another door on one of the walls with the book cases. She hadn’t noticed it when she first entered the basement. It was a thick wooden door and had a couple of heavy duty locks on it. Laura suspected it led to another part of the basement, perhaps a section of the basement that contained the furnace, laundry room etc. She didn’t go up the stairs to try to doors at the top of the stairs. One door she already knew led to the garage and the other no doubt led to the upper part of the house. Both doors would be locked, and she was sure her chain wouldn’t reach that far anyway.

There was another room on the other side of the staircase. Laura checked the door and it wasn’t locked so she opened it slowly and looked inside. She felt for the light switch and the room filled with light. It was another bedroom with a bathroom similar to hers. The wallpaper was an old fashioned floral print. It looked like it might be a bedroom for the mother. Laura found this odd, since she would assume that the mother would have a large bedroom on the main floor of the house. There was a picture on the dresser of two young teenagers. Laura stepped in for a closer look. One was clearly a younger version of her kidnapper and the other must be Christine. Laura had to admit that Christine and she definitely looked similar. She put the picture back where she found it and left the room quickly, rubbing the goose bumps on her arms.
This place is
giving me the creeps.

She went back into her own room and began to explore it in greater detail. The bed was a double four poster bed. The dresser and night table matched. She opened the doors of the closet and saw that there were a few dresses and blouses hanging there. She noticed something odd about them and stepped in for a closer look. All the sleeves were cut up the sides all the way to the collar and had Velcro closures. It took her a moment to figure out why that would be but then she understood. It was so she could get dressed with the hand cuff on. Both sleeves were done on every garment. Obviously this was so the cuff could be worn on either hand. If one wrist got sore, it would be no problem to move the chain to the other arm. How convenient!

Laura felt her stomach churning again as she backed out of the closet. She checked the drawers of the dresser and found a variety of undergarments, socks, some sweaters with the same alterations done to the sleeves as the blouses and dresses. She didn’t even look at the sizes of the clothes. She didn’t want to think of staying here long enough to need them. She went over to check out the desk in the corner. Sitting down, she checked out the contents. It contained items one might expect to find in a teenagers desk. A bulging pencil case with magic markers, colored pencils, and a few packages of binder paper. A tape player with head phones and a few tapes of bands that were popular thirty years ago. Some colored candles, incense and stickers that would glow under a black light. In the book shelf above the desk was a set of encyclopedias, some paper back novels, and a few old high school text books. Several books that looked like journals, as well as a high school year book. All looked slightly yellow around the edges.

As if they had been sitting there for thirty years, and she supposed they had.

Looking around the room she saw a poster of a kitten hanging from a limb with a

“Hang in There” caption.
Well that’s appropriate!
Another poster with David Cassidy and the Partridge family hung beside it. Just like her kidnapper had said, she saw a shelf with several horse figurines on it. Another shelf contained a variety of stuffed animals. A few of them looked well worn and quite used while others looked more recently purchased, like they had never been handled. On the bedside table was a lamp with a sunflower shade and a matching alarm clock. On top of the dresser was the note pad and pencil that her kidnapper told her about. Beside it was a piggy bank shaped like a teddy bear. It was empty.
I guess Christine took every penny with her when she ran away!

Laura went into the bathroom and began to explore the contents of it. A linen closet that was well stocked with an assortment of top quality towels and linens for the bed, was to the right. The shower stall was a large one with a glass door and even a place to sit down. The cupboard beneath the sink contained a variety of hygiene supplies. She checked the cabinet above the sink and it found an assortment of cosmetics.
Wow! This
guy really tried to think of everything. There is even some eye shadow and mascara.
Her stomach churned again and she couldn’t imagine wanting to bother with getting fancy with her make-up when she was being held prisoner.

Laura went back into the bedroom and sat on the bed. She put her head into her hands and began to cry again.

“Help me Lord. I have no idea what to do here. I need you desperately. Please send help, send the police. Do something Lord. Lead me out of this place and get me home. I don’t want to meet the mother; I just want to go home. Father, I ask You to give me Your strength because there is no way I can do this on my own. Give me Your wisdom so I will know what to say to this insane man. Help me to reason with him Lord.

Help me to ….” Laura was overcome with tears and could find no more words to say.

She knew that words were not necessary and God would hear her heart. She trusted Him.

No matter what her situation, she trusted Him.

Laura curled up on the bed and cried until she fell asleep. It seemed like just five minutes, but was actually two hours later that a very excited Gerhard woke her up.

“Wake up Christine; mom is coming down in a minute with some cookies and milk for you. She’s very excited to see you. I told her to give you a few minutes to freshen up. So you should get moving.” Gerhard went to the closet and pulled out a dress that looked like it would fit.

Laura opened her eyes hoping it was all a bad dream but at the sound of Gerhard’s voice she knew it was not.

“William, do we have to do this? Please think about what you are doing. It’s not too late. If you let me go home I won’t even call the police. I’ll just go home and we can pretend that this never even happened.” begged Laura.

“Oh I forgot to tell you, my name isn’t William, its Gerhard. Now come on, get up and wash your face or something. Mom will be coming down the stairs any second.

She made your favorite cookies too, chocolate chip with raisins! Do you still like chocolate milk? We don’t have any right now, but if you want, we can get some later. I know you probably have lots of new favorite foods. Just write down what you want on that pad of paper and I’ll be sure to get them for you.” Gerhard pulled out a pair of scissors and came towards Laura. She gasped with fright wondering what he was going to do.

“It’s ok, don’t be scared. I just have to cut your sleeve so you can change into this dress.” He then proceeded to cut her sleeve from the wrist to the neck hole. Laura grabbed hold of the front of her shirt to keep it up. He then snipped her bra strap so she could change out of it as well, explaining there was some specially altered undergarments in the dresser. Gerhard gently pushed Laura into the bathroom, passed her the dress, and closed the door as far as the chain would allow. Laura leaned over the sink and moaned.

Obviously, she was about to meet the mother. She splashed some cold water on her face and then ran a brush through her hair. She didn’t really care how she looked for this woman so she barely looked at herself in the mirror. All of a sudden, she had a very scary thought.
What if this woman was crazier than Gerhard was? What if she was
mean and cruel? Help me Jesus! If I wasn’t scared before, I sure am now!!
Christine gripped the edge of the sink and tried not to start crying again and trying to calm her nervous stomach. Gathering her courage she changed out of her clothes and put on the dress Gerhard had picked out for her. It was a bit loose but not too bad a fit. She turned and opened the door and walked out.

Gerhard was standing outside the bathroom door with a very stern and serious look on his face. Laura felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as she took a step backwards. She tried to retreat back into the bathroom and close the door but Gerhard grabbed hold of the door knob.

“I just wanted to warn you about one thing.” growled Gerhard, “Mom thinks you are Christine, so for her, you ARE Christine. At no time are you to tell her that you are not Christine. For years she has lived in hope that she would see her daughter again. If she found out that you were not really her daughter it would kill her. So I’m warning you right now, if you tell her that you are not her daughter, then I will go to your house, and I will kill YOUR daughter. Do you understand me? Have I made myself perfectly clear?” Laura’s knees went weak as she almost fell to the floor. This was a threat that she had not expected. She didn’t even have the strength to answer him so she could only nod her obedience.

Like Jekyll and Hyde, Gerhard changed his mood instantly and prepared to unite mother and daughter and excitedly led Laura out into the living room where his mother was waiting eager to see her daughter Christine.

Hilda stood in the center of the room waiting to greet her long lost daughter.

Laura nervously entered, stopped a few feet away from Hilda, waiting for her reaction.

Hilda didn’t smile and throw her arms around Laura as one might expect but she looked Laura up and down very carefully, obviously inspecting her closely to see if this really was her daughter.

“You’ve been gone a long time. Where have you been?” She walked around Laura as she talked. Hilda felt Laura’s hair and squeezed the flesh of her arm. Laura didn’t think Hilda was actually expecting an answer so she kept silent. Her whole body was trembling but if Hilda noticed she didn’t say anything.

“Well you’re rather thin, you obviously haven’t been eating much. Sit down and have some cookies. I made your favorites.” Hilda said this as a command not an invite.

They all sat down and Gerhard breathed a sigh of relief as it became obvious that his mother accepted Laura as her daughter Christine. Laura took a cookie in her hand but her mouth was so dry she didn’t see how she could possibly eat it. Hilda didn’t seem to notice.

“It’s good that you’re back, but don’t expect any fancy welcome home parties.

You really hurt me when you ran away.”

Hilda sat in one of the reclining chairs. Her stomach hung over the sides of the chair. Her gray hair, wild and uncombed, her plump face rather pale and there was a trace of perspiration on her upper lip. It was clear the trip down the stairs was a chore for her. She was wearing a large, flowery dress that had no shape to it, and large slip on shoes. Laura just sat on the couch holding her cookie with one hand looking down at the hand cuff and chain not knowing if she should speak or not. Gerhard sat across from her in the matching love seat, grinning. Clearly he was happy with the situation.