Seeing Black (31 page)

“Who else knows this?” Josef asked.

“N-no one.”

“Jillian.” Her name on his lips were terse and
impatient.

“I swear. I found out recently, while I was here
with you and Rocco. Paul told me, and he doesn’t have any family,”
she lied. She couldn’t allow Raquel to be hurt. “And I haven’t
left. You haven’t let me leave. Who could I tell?”

Josef seemed to think about this for a moment and
then told her to continue.

Her head was swirling. Her body ached so much she
wasn’t sure how much longer she could talk. “Then my mother found
out about the research more or less at the same time she found out
she was pregnant. She was scared about you and Rocco using me as a
guinea pig and ran away. Then the plane fell, and that’s it, well,
until now. I met Rocco, and he convinced me he wanted nothing more
than to get to know me, and I’ve been here ever since.”

“What do you know about how Rocco and I got our
money?”

“I don’t know. I figured you were wealthy from being
professors and doctors.”

Without hesitation, Josef leaned forward and
backhanded Jill across the face so hard and so sudden that her
chair flipped forward under her and she fell to the floor. With
tears and quivering lips, she covered her cheek with her hand.
“Wh-why? Wh-why would y-you d-do that? I told you the tr-uth. I
swear. I don’t know anything else.” Jill retreated back, using her
butt to scoot away from Josef. When her back was against the wall,
she sat with her knees to her chin, trying to make herself as small
as possible,

“I’m giving you one last chance. What else do you
know?” Jill’s mind whirled. It was spinning out of control. She was
Alice, stuck in Wonderland with no way out. Everything seemed
surreal. Out of her control. Strange. Confusing. She had no idea
what he was talking about, but the fact that he was so serious
meant she could only imagine how big the secret must have been to
compel her father and Josef to actually imprison her for
months.

Still holding her hand over her inflamed cheek, she
sobbed. “I swear. “I s-swear. I don’t know what you’re talking
about. I’ve told y-you everything I know.” Had Paul not been
killed, most of what she said, she would have kept a secret for
fear that Paul would be discovered. But it was too late for Paul
now, and she had said all she knew. Paul must have left something
out. Perhaps he didn’t know himself, but Josef was hiding something
big, and she couldn’t for the life of her tell him because she
didn’t know what it was.

Josef reached down and pulled her up by her hair.
The hair pulling was nothing compared to the excruciating pain that
scoured her body. Luckily, the aged man didn’t have enough strength
to inflict any further pain than just tugging on her hair. Even
though he was ten years younger than his now-deceased brother,
Josef was still old and not strong enough that he could overpower a
healthy Jill. Luckily for him, she was worn out, injured, and weak.
Awkwardly, she stood. Josef grabbed her elbow and yanked her out
the door and back to her room.

Even though he was older than she was, she was no
match for him in her current state. Parts of her body felt sprained
and battered, and she bled from different places and ached
everywhere.

“W-wait. What are you doing? Please don’t hurt my
friends. My family. I swear I told you everything I know. Please.
Please!” Jill yelled as Josef lugged her forward into her room and
shut the door from the outside. Jill banged on the door. “Please.
Please. What do you want from me? What do you want me to tell you?
I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please!” She sobbed and
slowly slid down, her forehead against the door as she continued to
rasp against the door.

Not ten minutes had passed, and the nightmare
continued. She first heard the rattle of keys on the outside of her
bedroom door and then the fumbling of the lock. She slid back
slightly so that whoever was about to open the door wouldn’t
trample her. A man she vaguely remembered walked in. Mid-thirties.
Strong. Body-builder strong. Ogre strong. She had to look up and up
and continue up to see his face, which was at least six and a half
feet away from where she sat on the floor. A strangely
hideous-looking face with short hair that contained a scar on the
left side, almost to his ear, stared back at her. He had a chain
that hung from the loop of his belt into his pocket. His fingers
were fat and his knuckles, hairy. He wore jeans and a black t-shirt
with a familiar-looking logo of an old rock band. Immediately, the
eighties party she had thrown for the twins came to the forefront
of her mind. The memory was foggy and seemed as though it had
happened too many moons ago to really recall the details of the
evening. But the shirt caused her an immediate sense of
recollection, and that recollection was like a knife sliding
straight through her heart.

She missed the twins so much it physically hurt.
Alexander was out there somewhere, possibly with someone else. She
was now an ex. She never thought she’d be an ex to Alexander. An
ex-girlfriend. An ex-lover. An ex-friend. But that vision unveiling
a naked Alexander with Miriam, who had admitted being his
girlfriend, truthful or not, now seemed real, very real, even
though she did see him suffering. Sad. Heartbroken. She had no idea
how long ago that had happened. Her visions didn’t necessarily
happen in sequential order. The romantic in her thought maybe he’d
mourn their relationship, possibly even worry about her, but now he
had moved on. If he hadn’t been dating that Miriam person before
she’d gone missing, he was most likely dating her now. Could she
really blame him? How long could he be expected to wait for her? It
had been over half a year. Seven long months.

Well, that’s bullshit, she thought to herself.
For Alexander, I’d wait forever.

She sighed. The tears seemed to be never-ending.
Between the physical and emotional pain, she didn’t know how long
she would last. She didn’t know how long she’d have it in her to
survive. She knew she was supposed to be strong. She was supposed
to fight, but the pain was too much. It was utterly unbearable.

She remembered all the times Paul had come to her
room to help her, risked his life for her. Then she remembered him
lying dead on the floor upstairs. Paul Black. She’d survive for
Paul, who had given his life to help her. She owed it to him to
escape, to let the world know what had happened in Wonderland, what
Josef and Rocco had done to countless children. Wait. There was
something else: the way Josef was determined to find out what she
knew about their wealth struck her as something important that
could possibly change things. Leverage.

Paul. Beautifully misguided, heroic Paul. He was
dead. That’s the last thought she had before Ogre-man picked her up
none-too-gently and unceremoniously walked her out the room and
back into the white room, the surgically clean and pristine white
dungeon that now smelled of bleach and cleaners. Any sign of her
blood had been wiped clean. As soon as she saw the spiral staircase
and plastic ties, which someone had exchanged with the painful
twine, her instinct to fight, because flight didn’t seem to be an
option, kicked in. Jill began kicking her legs, but Ogre-man just
held her tighter as he made his way across the room. “No. No!
Please!’ She punched and kicked, but he didn’t so much as flinch.
The man was made of steel. She continued flailing and then
remembered something she’d once seen on television. Talking was
sometimes helpful. Having your captor know you are human could
possibly tug at his heartstrings. “W-what’s your name?” she asked,
but Ogre-man said nothing. “Y-you don’t have to do this, you know.”
She continued speaking even though she was panting. The crack in
her lip had begun to bleed again, and her cheek from the new
assault was now throbbing against her already injured-shut eye. “My
name is Jill. Jillian Stone. I’m in law school,” she rambled.
Something had to click. He would surely be affected by something.
Anything. “I-I don’t want to die. Please. Look.” She held out her
wrists to Ogre-man to show him the raw skin, but he didn’t look.
Instead, he forcefully grabbed her hands and tucked them behind her
back. She yelped with pain. He pushed her down on the floor,
crouched down behind her, and began using plastic ties to tie her
up. The twine had been bad, but the plastic ties, if possible, were
even worse. They dug into her skin. Ogre-man was a soldier
following orders. Unwavering. Robotic. “Are you listening to me?
Hello! Please. Please, sir. Don’t do this.” She continued to cry,
scream, and beg. When she was secured in the same painful position
she had been that morning, he stood up and left the room. It was as
simple as that. There was not one word, no eye contact, nothing. He
was a complete robot.

One thing Jill discovered during the time, time
which she lost track of, was that a person just didn’t run out of
tears or pain. She’d seen in movies and read it in books how pain
morphs into numbness and you just stop feeling. How many times had
she heard those words? Well, she discovered that it was all
complete and utter bullshit. The pain never stopped. It never
dulled, not the emotional pain and definitely not the physical
pain. Her eye felt as if it would pop out of its socket any moment.
Her jaw hurt so bad that she was scared she’d never be able to open
it again. Her raw wrists hurt so much that she thought at some
point the plastic would completely eat away at her skin and through
her bones and her nerves and her wrists would just fall right off.
It was a welcome feeling at the moment. She’d be handless, but
free.

The little bit of light that penetrated from the
sliver underneath the door and through the black-out curtains
slowly faded until it was pitch black. Sleep wouldn’t come. She
prayed that she would just fall into unconsciousness. A coma.
Anything. But it was just conscious pain.

And then a miracle happened.

Or a dream.

Or a vision.

She wasn’t sure.

A noise came from the door. She scooted back as far
as her restrained wrists allowed. Jill brought her knees up to her
chin, the beat of her heart thrashing in her ears. If only she
could wish herself invisible. The noise came closer. Footsteps?

Then a mumbled voice.

And then Heaven.

***

“Jillian?” he whispered so low she struggled to hear.
Then the warmest, strongest, most familiar hands cupped her face.
She smelled his soapy scent.

Alexander.

Definitely a dream.

It was too dark, and one eye was out of order, so
all she saw was the familiar form and heard the familiar voice.
“Love?” he asked.

“X-Xander,” she croaked.

“Oh God, baby.” He held out a little LED light.

The dam broke, and she began to sob uncontrollably.
Her entire body shook.

“You have to keep quiet, okay?” he whispered. She
nodded as he held the light to her. She saw his beautiful face
immediately cringe, and she felt his body tense. She must have
looked as bad as she felt.

“Fuck. Fuck. Jill, baby, fuck.” He used the back of
his hand to lightly caress her bruised cheek, but even the
feather-light touch hurt. She didn’t think she’d ever see him
again. It was all too much, and everything that was her just
plummeted. Her body continued to shake. She was still tied, and her
body sagged forward. “No, love. No. We have to get you out of here.
No crying. Okay? No crying. You have to get a handle on things so
we can get you out. I need you to be strong for me. You listening,
Jill? I need you to be strong, love.”

She gasped a few times and nodded.

Alexander forced a smile. “That’s my girl. Come on,
let’s get you the fuck out of here.” He moved behind her, causing
her an immediate sense of loss. Even though he was right there, it
still felt like a dream. Something cold, possibly a knife, brushed
her skin for half a second, and then her hands were free, but
bringing her arms forward, or moving at all for that matter after
being in the same position for so long, seemed an impossible
feat.

“Let’s go.” He stood up first and held his hand out
for her as he looked back towards the door. When she didn’t
immediately follow, he said, “Hurry, baby. We have to go.”

Using all her effort, she tried to stand but
couldn’t. She felt him move down to her level. “You can’t, can
you?” She still didn’t say anything, not because she didn’t want to
but because it hurt to speak.

In one swoop, he picked her up and set her on her
feet. She wavered for a few seconds, but he held her forearms until
she felt steady. This was not a dream. He was really there. She was
being rescued. Then the tears started again.

“No. No. No. Pull yourself together. We have to get
out of here now. You can cry all you want when we’re out. I’ll sit
by you and hold you for as long as you need, but, Jill, not now.
Now we have to leave.”

“O-Okay.” He released his grip, and she immediately
grabbed onto his shirt, terrified of losing him again.

“I’m not going to leave you. I swear. But I can’t
carry you out of here. There’s too many small spaces we have to
crawl in and out of to get to my bike. You have to stay close to me
and follow me, okay?”

She nodded.

“You can do this, Jill,” he said as he gently took
her hand and guided her to the door with his small flashlight.

“Wait!” she whisper-yelled. “Paul. Murdered. Dead.”
It hurt too much to say full sentences. But he’d get the gist.

“Fuck,” he drawled out in a whisper. “I figured
something happened when he didn’t call me back.”

“Rocco. Dead. Too.” She said, breathless.

“Good.” He answered and began to walk, but Jill
stayed put.

“Wait. Saving me. Paul was trying to save me. Can’t
let you—”

He placed his hands on her shoulder. “Listen to me.
I’ll be fine. I’m going to get you out of here. Paul gave me the
layout of this place. We’ve been in contact for the last month. I
can get you out, Jill.”