Page 187 of Chasing Infinity

I finally hit the ground with a sickeningcrunch. Attempting to push myself up, I groan when I realize I can't gather the strength, collapsing to the ground again. The world around me is spinning. My ears feel like I’ve got cotton stuck inside them, my surroundings whooshing in and out like waves. I vaguely hear a woman scream from somewhere in the basement. Still, I can’t focus enough to tell what’s happening.

Pain rackets through me again when someone grips my hair, yanking my head backward. I stare straight into my father’s cold, dark eyes, and all I see staring back is hatred and malice. “Oh, I’m sorry, did that hurt?” he asks, amusement now clouding his expression.

I blink my eyes open and closed a few times, still trying to reign in the dizziness. After what feels like an eternity, my vision clears slightly, and my gaze lands on her.

There she is.

It doesn’t matter that my father has my neck impossibly wrenched back or that I’m pretty sure I cracked my skull falling down the stairs.

All that matters is that she’s here. I found her.

Even if I die tonight, at least I’ll have gotten to see her one last time.

My father grips my hair tighter, and I wince, letting out a growl of pain.

“Well, well,” he says, looking between Addison and me, intrigued as if he’s watching a reality TV show. “About time we have a little chat, don’t you both think?”

Chapter 48

Addison

“Wake up,” a voice whispers to me. I recognize my body being shaken, and slowly I start to come back into consciousness. “Hey, open your eyes.”

I do as commanded and blink away the blurriness clouding my vision. It takes a few tries but finally, everything comes into focus. The first thing I see is a young woman crouching before me. She’s younger than me, looking to be in her early twenties. Her hair is dark but matted into tangles and sticking out all over the place. Beneath her chocolate brown eyes are heavy dark circles, and a bruise resides on her left cheekbone.

She’s staring at me with kindness in her weary eyes, shaking me again, bringing me fully back into consciousness. Finally, when I try to sit up, she breathes a sigh of relief. “I was worried about you for a moment there. You’ve been out for a while.”

I look around, taking in my surroundings. Panic courses through me when memories come flooding back. I reach up and press my palm against the side of my head, hissing in pain at the tenderness. Someone struck me and knocked me out as I was leaving the diner. How long ago was that?

My heart rate picks up as I sit up straighter, my eyes darting across the room.

I’m in a dungeon…or a basement…or a cave?

Wherever I am, there are no windows, and it’s poorly lit by a singular bulb hanging from a wire near the stairs. I move to my hands and knees and feel the coolness of the tile floor beneath my hands.

I look at the young woman in front of me. “Where are we?”

She shrugs her shoulders, “I wish I could tell you. I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.”

I sit back on my rear and press my hand to my forehead again, feeling a blinding headache coming on. “How did I get here?”

She shrugs again. “They brought you in a while ago and then left. I heard them yelling at each other upstairs afterward, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.”

Upstairs.

So I must be in a basement, but how long have I been here. Does anyone even know I’m missing yet? Has Noah returned yet and noticed I’m not there?

I survey the room again, my eyes falling on a set of rickety wooden stairs.

“Don’t bother,” the girl says. “The door at the top is locked.”

I pause, cursing under my breath. And turn back to the woman. “How long do you think it’s been?”

She gives me an apologetic grimace. “I don’t know, a few hours, maybe? Time kind of blends together down here.”

I exhale heavily as I sit down next to her again. “We have to find a way to get out of here. It’s not safe.”

Her eyes fly up to mine and then down at her fingers. “It’s no use. There are no windows down here. The only way out is through that door, but they keep it locked at all times unless they’re down here too.”

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