Page 16 of In The Darkness

“Promise?”

The word came out of her mouth before she knew it, and for a moment, she felt foolish. How much could any promises made in a situation like this mean? She wasn’t a child. She knew how this would very likely end, with or without this man’s help.

Nick crouched down in front of her. With a look of utter sincerity in his eyes, he answered her question. “Persephone, I promise I’m going to get you out of here.”

He reached down to pick up the gag and then gently pushed it back into her mouth, looking away as he did so he didn’t have to face her while he did it. She understood he had to so they continued to pretend that he was one of the militia and she was still a prisoner.

That didn’t mean she liked it, though.

But she wanted to believe with all her heart that Nick, this man who appeared out of nowhere and promised to help her, would be the person he pledged he would be and not just another one of those awful men outside that room who looked at her like everything about who she was filled them with hate.

He touched her tenderly on arm as he moved to leave. “I’ll be back in a little while. Don’t worry.”

A few hours later, two men came into the room where she sat, but Nick wasn’t one of them. They forced a burlap sack over her head, thrusting her into darkness, and grabbed her roughly. But she didn’t fight them, desperately praying to God that she’d hear Nick’s voice at any second telling her everything would be okay. Still gagged and her hands and feet still bound, she was carried out to some kind of vehicle and tossed into the back. Her head slammed off the hard metal floor, and moments later, she faded into blackness.

***

Persephone opened hereyes but closed them quickly to avoid the light all around her. Slowly, she lifted her eyelids and tried to focus on her surroundings. Where was she?

The room she now sat in had tan walls and curtains with brown and white geometrical patterns on them. The windows were blacked out like at the other place they’d held her, but this looked more like someone’s home and less like just somewhere to hide a hostage. A twin bed sat along the wall in front of her, and above it on the ceiling hung a poster of some sports team’s cheerleaders.

She looked down and saw they had tied her to a metal kitchen chair with a plastic red padded seat. Far more comfortable than the last one, it at least gave her some cushion on her behind.

Persephone’s head throbbed, although she couldn’t remember why it would hurt so much. Had they beat her at some point after they moved her here? She tried to remember the details of how she’d gotten there, but her mind drew a blank.

She remembered the two men throwing her into a vehicle and then nothing. At least nothing until that moment when she opened her eyes.

The urge to cry out came over her, so even though the gag still made it impossible for her to actually say anything clearly, she screamed the best she could and hoped Nick could hear her. Then a thought crossed her mind that terrified her even more than being trapped in that unfamiliar room in that unknown place.

What if Nick wasn’t there anymore?

She didn’t know why the thought suddenly popped into her head. She barely knew him, and even though she wanted to believe he would help her escape, she couldn’t honestly say she could trust him. He’d given her hope, though, and for that, she prayed to God he was still with the militia group.

Her throat hurt, but she screamed until no more sound would come out. Still, no one came. Persephone wondered if the others had found out that Nick had been nice to her. Had they uncovered who he really was? Her mind raced with terrifying ideas of what they’d done to him and what they’d do to her now.

Her only hope to escape gone.

As she thought of him no longer there and then thought of him no longer alive, her emotions spiraled out of control. For two weeks, she’d existed in that chair as an object of hate for those men, threatened and demeaned by every one of them except for Nick. She hadn’t believed he could get her away from them so much as wanted to believe he could, but now that meant nothing.

Now she was truly alone again with little hope of ever finding a way out.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried not to think of what would happen next, but it was no use. Her mind raced with scenarios of what they’d do to her. Sobbing, she begged God for deliverance and bargained anything she owned for just one more chance to feel the warmth of the sun on her face again. One more chance to hug her parents and sisters and tell them she loved them.

One more chance to live her life.

She cried until she had nothing left inside anymore. After two weeks of being held hostage, nothing they’d said or done to her had broken her spirit. What broke her was the realization that there was finally no hope left for her to get away.

That hopelessness settled into her heart and mind and took over every inch of her until nothing but sadness filled her. She didn’t know why they hadn’t killed her yet, but she knew it didn’t matter much anymore. They would soon, and when the time came, she’d be alone in whatever room they held her in, nobody there by her side to comfort her as she took her last breath.

Behind her, she heard the twist of the doorknob, but as the bedroom door opened, there was no squeaking noise like before. The person closed the door until it quietly clicked shut, and then she felt footsteps fall on the carpeted floor beneath her. Holding her breath, she waited for the sound of the person’s voice to let her know what to expect next.

“Persephone? Are you awake?” a man asked, sounding genuinely interested in her and if she’d awakened yet.

The familiar voice registered in her brain, and she looked up to see Nick staring down at her with concern in his eyes. They hadn’t killed him for being kind to her. He was alive!

He hurriedly pulled the rag from her mouth, and even though she didn’t know why since she barely knew this person, she couldn’t stop herself from crying tears of joy. Nick crouched down in front of her and softly touched his fingertips to her cheeks to dry them.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be here when you woke up. I checked over and over, but you stayed out for a long time. How do you feel?” he asked as he used his sleeve to dry the last of her tears.

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