Page 45 of Vow of Vengeance
I move slowly so that Soren can find her footholds based off my proximity, so that I'll be here to catch her if she stumbles.
"See anything?" Khan calls after us, as if we've even had a chance to look around us.
But when we get to the bottom, we do get a chance to look around. Not that there's much to see.
The roof is low over my head, intensifying the claustrophobia tickling the base of my spine.
The lights of our cell phone bounce around the barren room as we both search for anything of note, anything at all.
Our phones don't illuminate much, so I find the light- a single, bare bulb hanging from the ceiling just over my head.
Soren turns behind me, searching the walls for a light switch. But there is none, because the electricity down here was very clearly not professional. The swinging bulb I can reach out and touch is proof of that.
Reaching up with the bulb in one hand, I find the socket and twist it in, glancing away as the light floods the space.
"What the fuck?" Soren whispers.
I have to blink a few times to clear the dark spots from my vision as I turn to her, wondering why we're whispering now.But the look on her face is horrified, and it says all that I need to know.
I follow her gaze to the chair in the corner, the foot holds in the air that tell me exactly what kind of examination table it is. I've never been to a gynecologist myself, and the one I took Soren to didn’t look like this, but I'm not a fucking idiot.
I watch her press her hand over her mouth, like she's trying to combat a wave of disgust. And I don't fucking blame her. A quick glance at the thing shows it's been modified with thick straps to cross the center, and I think anyone with half a brain could guess what they're there for.
My mind flashes back to the photos and video clips I found when I searched for Soren's husband, the obviously fucked up things he was into. And he did them right here.
"Come on," I tell her, wrapping an arm around her back to try and guide her away from the corner before the horror can settle any deeper. "Let's explore the rest of the room."
Soren wrenches out of my grasp so fast you'd think my touch has burned her.
"Don't touch me." She gasps, bending over a little to try and catch her breath.
"Ren..." I reach for her, to ground her, but she slips away from me with betrayal in her eyes.
It's not betrayal for me, but it's fresh all the same. Knowing what her husband did, seeing it on film, and seeing where he did it are all entirely different things.
I watch her carefully as she approaches the chair, looking at it like she may find some sort of clue as to where her best friend went.
But if Marissa was here, she isn't anymore. She may not beanywhereanymore.
The concrete ground is stained russet in spots, some larger than other, and I don't have a single doubt what that blood is from.
"Dec-" She chokes, shaking her head.
Soren was married to a fucking monster.
She slept beside him every night for years.
It's going to take a long time for her to contend with that fact.
"Come on," I tell her, wrapping my arm around her again, firmer this time. And this time, she doesn't jump away from me but lets me lead her away from the torture setup. I don't let go of her as we walk the room and look at what else remains in the space.
It's not much.
The only stuff down here is too big to have been brought down that staircase, and similarly too big to be taken back up it. There's a barren table, knotted and covered in watermarks and scuffs, a single twin mattress in an opposite corner of the room, and an empty galvanized steel trough in a third. The fourth corner appears to be empty, but as we approach, I notice the slip of rope hanging from the ceiling... a noose.
"Declan- " Soren's voice is small and somehow distant. I feel surprisingly faint, until I look down and see her ashen face and parted lips. "I can't- "
Breathe.
