“Colin!”
As if to prove to me for definite that there was no one in the house, when Billy’s voice screamed out, it echoed across the walls and found me with an additional bass behind it. The townhouse was definitely empty. I made my way back down the stairs that had led me up and exited out onto the front steps. Billy was standing there with the original neighbor who’d approached us, and another, tall man had joined the fray.
“She’s not inside?” the male neighbor asked.
“No.” I was out of breath from running through the house.
The neighbor put his hands on his hips. “It’s a crying shame. I saw that girl going in and out of that house. I knew she was too young to be going there alone. I called the police a couple of times, but whenever they showed up, the girl claimed she was just here for tutoring. I told them it was risky business, but they said that until they have evidence to suggest something’s wrong, they can’t look into it.” He shook his head like a disappointed father. “If it were up to me, I would have cuffed him first and asked questions later.”
If only they had. “Please,” I begged. “Do you know anything else that could help us? Do you know where he might have taken her?”
Both neighbor’s heads turned to the sky as they thought on it. Finally, the woman clapped her hands and went running towards her house across the street. We could see as she stood in the doorway sifting through something near the door. Finally, she pulled a piece of paper, holding it triumphantly above her head, and then came running back.
She handed the paper to me with shaking hands. “I forgot! Last year he told me that his mother died. He decided not to sell her house and I know he spent some time there after her passing. He got in touch with me after being there a couple of weeks to say he was staying longer and asked me to forward his mail.”
It was like gold in my hands until I read the address. “Colorado Springs.” The words whispered out of me and Billy drew closer to me and looked over the address with his own eyes.
“Fuck. That’s like five hours from here.” Billy looked up at the neighbors, and I could hear his voice like the distant hum of an air conditioner. Much louder was the blood coursing through my ears, beating against my head with fear that we were already too late. “Colin?”
A gentle shake knocked me just loose enough to focus. “Yeah?”
“I said we have to call the Colorado Springs police, right?”
The same fear that gripped me an hour before took hold again. The neighbor’s retelling of the police continuously not caring about Tatiana’s well being spun into the thought of Val thinking that the police were coming to take Tatiana away forever; he’d kill them both for sure.
“We can’t.”
Billy stepped away from me and looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “What?”
“We can’t call the police. Val was willing to do all of this because he didn’t want to let her go. He’d packed his bags in there, he was already prepared to do something irreversible.” As I spoke, the female neighbor brought her hands to her mouth. “If we call the police, he could flip out and kill her and then maybe even himself.” I didn’t like saying the words out loud, like they cemented them into the fabric of reality. “We have to go.”
“No.” The male neighbor waved his hands. “I’m not putting up with this anymore. You’re kids. The police need to step up and do their fucking jobs.”
I wasn’t sure when I’d started crying, but I was. I wished more than anything that my parents weren’t gone. If they were still with me, they’d know what to do. “Please,” I begged, my voice barely audible. “Please don’t call them. I don’t… I can’t…” My chest was so tight I expected my ability to breathe to cease any moment. “We’ll go, so please…”
The neighbors stared at me with the same conflicted eyes Coach Nash had stared at me through back when I first told him about Val and Tatiana. I knew what I was asking them. I was asking them to go against their better judgements as adults. To trust in the hands of children what men and women trained in whole academies to take care of. None of that mattered to me. I just needed to get to Tatiana.
“Come on, Billy. We have to go.” I gave the neighbors one final, painful look, hoping it would sell my case for me because I was out of both carrots and sticks. “If you call them, she’ll die. I hope you can live with that.” Billy followed me without hesitation, which I was pleased for, but even as he climbed into the driver’s seat, I could see his hands shaking. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back out. “You navigate. I’ll drive.”
27
Tatiana
My head hurt. It felt like I’d chosen to settle it against some sharp rock that was continuously stabbing into the spot where I’d been struck. My eyes remained closed, probably for the fact that I was afraid of what I’d find when I opened them. The stale, unknown stench of a place I didn’t recognize floated around me, blended with the faint and distant smell of a cologne I knew that Val wore. I shifted my body to one side, and the feeling of a bed beneath me might have been comforting if I hadn’t simultaneously realized my arms and legs were restricted from movement. My eyes flew open, taking in the foreign bedroom around me. My gaze went up to where my wrists were bound to the posts of an extravagant, though extremely outdated bed frame. It followed the twisting of a rose and vine pattern on the musty bedspread down to where my ankles had met a similar fate. I was stuck.
“Help!” I fought against my restraints, hoping to break myself free. “Help me! Help!” The rope that had been used to tie me was a thickly bound cord, made for the purpose of keeping someone from accomplishing exactly what I was attempting to. “Someone, please! Help me!”
My voice was throwing into hysterics, and as I flailed I caught a glimpse of the sky through the slit in the window’s curtains; it was night, and not new night, but a deep blue. How long had I been gone? How stupid was I letting Billy know I was safe before I got home? Why would I turn my back to Val when I had been smart enough up to that point to protect myself? Why had I allowed arrogance and fear to control my actions and lie to me that Val wouldn’t hurt me, he was just hurting? Colin’s calm face, still sleeping in my bed spoke across my brain and tears started to roll down my eyes.
At least I got to see him one last time. At least he knew that I loved him.
I said a silent apology to my parents. They trusted me to be responsible. They’d always tried to be open with me and ask that I do the same. How did I repay them for how wonderful they’d been to me? By dating a psycho and getting myself kidnapped and probably killed.
I rattled the bed again. “Help me!” The door to the bedroom flew open and Val came rushing inside. The sight of him filled me with dread and started to shake my head and make every attempt to back away even though I knew I would fail. “No! Get away from me! Help!”
Val dropped to the bed, using a knee to prop himself up, and threw his hands over my mouth. “Shh, shh. It’s okay. It’s okay, baby. Shh.” I was whimpering under his hands, part of me wishing he would just skip to the final step and spare me anymore torture. He started to stroke my hair softly. “It’s okay, my love. You’re safe. I know it’s a little scary being tied up, but I just didn’t want to lose you.” He was speaking with a warm, soft voice as if it was going to convince me that he was just doing what any rational, caring lover would do. “I didn’t want to do this to you, you know? I tried to warn you. I love you and want you to be only mine forever. I love you more than anyone ever will. You know that. You’ve seen it. I’m the only one you can be with.”