Silent Care

Chapter 4. Hidden, Scared and Alone

    "William!" Shouts a man. Dad stops what he's doing and looks back. I open my eye's finally breathing now that I've been saved. "William that can wait, we have the police right behind us." Dad jumps off of me. "Shit!" He yells. Then he turns back to me. "Put your clothes back on! " He shouts at me. I do as I was told, as he jumps out of the van and  starts worriedly speaking to the man that stopped him from going any further. "Okay," Dad says. "Alright, Come on Care." He says reaching out to me. I slouch walk over to him. He holds on to my arm as I step out of the van. My cheeks are still wet from my tears so I felt a small breeze. I was in an ally. They pull me into another car and drive away in the opposite direction. My father get's back in the other van and drives the opposite of us. I watch out the window for something familiar, anything. but there is nothing. I only see fast moving street lights wiz by the window. I think about school. Am I ever going to get back to it's safe walls? Will any one even wonder where I've gone? I think about my mother. What is happening to her right now? Is he there? Is he hurting her? No, I don't think Aden would let that happen to her. I may not like the guy but for now I am going to have to trust him...with my mothers life.

     "Hey you okay back there?" Asked the man. I look at him from the window from the rear view mirror. He looks young. maybe twenty eight. And... he had my accent. "Care did you hear me? Are you alright?" He asks me. I shake myself out of my thoughts and nod. "Did he do anything to you?" He asks me. "Why do you care?" I ask him. He stays quiet for a moment before saying. "You know that wasn't real?" He tells me. I look at him questionably. "The police thing it wasn't real." I scoot back getting a little comfortable. "What are you saying?" I ask him. He doesn't look up from the road. "I told him that so he wouldn't hurt you." He says finally. I hold my breath and until we hit another red light things were quiet. "Who are you?" I ask him. "Your Fathers friend." he simply tells me uneasily. "Where are you taking me?" I ask him. He doesn't answer my question. He turns into a driveway where I also saw the van my dad took me in. "He's here." I whisper to myself. "No! Don't take me in there." I scream. He gets out of the car just as my father comes into view. He throws open the door and grabs my arm, tugging me inside. "You are not leaving me." He tells me. "Where's my mother? What have you done to her?" I ask him as he pulls me into the house. "Don't be ridiculous I don't care about her right now. Nor does she matter right now. She is not taking my daughter away from me." He says through his anger. That man looks back at him in a death glare and my father lets go of me. "Will have a drink, Care come with me." He says. I see my father sit on the couch against the stair case uncapping a beer. I look back at the man and with kind eyes he looks back me. "Come on." He says. I follow him into the kitchen where I saw a bowl of roman noodles. "You hungry?" He asks me. I nod my head. For some reason I feel the reason that I could trust him. I sit at the table across from him and eat my soap slowly. He looks at me with a small smile, but it was only gentle not satisfying. There was something about him that just seemed off.

~Aden~

     "Where? Where would he take her?" I ask Sarah walking up to her after running halfway down the block. She looked in shock. "He took her." She repeats to herself a couple times. "Sara! Listen to me. Where do you think she is?!" I shout at her finally getting her attention. "I don't know. I wasn't allowed to meet any of his friends." I shake my head walking back into her house. "Sarah this has come to far, we have to call the police." I say grabbing the phone. "It's not going to work." She says closing the door behind her, her voice almost too soft for me to hear. I pick up the phone and begin to dial until I heard the disconnection tone. "Seriously?" I say slamming the phone back on the receiver. "Why?" Sarah asks me quizzically? "Why what?" I ask. She takes a step closer to me. "Why do you want to find her so badly?" She asks me. "I care for her." I say. She only rolls her eyes. "You better get on home before your mother begins to worry?" She says with a small smile. I look back at her. "Your not at all concerned for your daughters sake?" I ask her. After a split second I regret it because I made it sound like she doesn't, but she looks at me softly. "Of course I do. But think about it. He's her father, He wouldn't do anything worse than what he's done now." She says. "Right now All I have to do is wait. He's probably coming back for me soon anyway." She says this like it happens everyday. I can imagine. "Would you like me to stay this night?" I ask her. She smiles softly. She knows I would even if she said no.

     You were a mistake! My father shouts at me. He punches my stomach. "You were never supposed to happen!" He hits me again knocking me to the ground. "Jason!" My mother screams from behind me. I can see him approaching her. I don't want her to get hurt so with the strength I had I stood up and stood in front of her just then, he slaps my face. She shrieks with the blow that never comes. "Jason, this has to stop! Leave him alone!" She yells in my defense. "I'll  teach you to yell at me woman." He says grabbing her arm. He drags her out of my room. I hear her screaming. Doors slamming. Him yelling It was all to much and when I got up off the floor everything stopped. I stepped out of the door to find my mother walking down the hallway with a suit case. "Mom?" I call out to her. She looks back at me. "Aden...I'll..." She tries to find the words. "I'll... be back. I'll come back for you." She says leaving. "Promise?" I say before she left. She looks back apologetically and leaves. I didn't know what that meant. Just when my father comes to block my view. "Forget about her Aden. She's not worth it." I push past him and run outside after her. There's a cab and she's climbing into it. A tear goes down my face as she looks at me. She waves then she's gone.

     "Aden." I hear my name. "Aden!" They shout. I open my eye's that were moist with tears. "Wake up honey." I hear. My mother was in my face. I sit up and hug her tightly. "Don't leave again." I whisper hysterically. "No Aden, never again. That was a big mistake I should have never left." She says stroking the back of my head. I hang onto her a little longer. Then we awkwardly let go of each other. "Their getting worse." I say. "They seemed to be getting better." She thinks out loud. She hugs me again. "Things are going to get better I promise." She says. I'm seventeen crying into my mothers arms. "I don't want Care to go through what I did. We need to find her before--" "Shhh." My mother holds my head against her chest. Even to this day her heart beat calms me down.  "She'll be back. We'll find her. It's okay." She tells me. I sit up. Sarah comes into the room in a robe. "What's going on are you okay?" She asks me feeling my forehead. "Nightmares." I tell her. She sits behind my mother. "Care has nightmares. But sometimes she's hurt so badly I can't wake her up." She says regretfully. "Aden has nightmares about his father too. It's been about three years since they put him in jail." She tells her. "Please Sarah." I ask her. "Can you think of anything, anywhere she could be." She sits and thinks for a second. "I'm sorry." She finally says. I bury my face in my hands. "She's hurting." I whisper to myself.

Then there was a knock on the door.

~Care~

     "Care come here!" I hear from upstairs. I walk upstairs to the guy. "You can sleep here." I hear. I walk in to find a nice full sized bed covered in nice white covers and pillows. I was about to say thank you when my dad jerked me back. "No! You will never sleep on something like that. The only thing your good for is sweeping the floor with your back!" He spits in my face. "I'm sor--" He punches my mouth. "No! Shut up!" He grabs my hair and drags me to the basement. There he hits me over and over again until I was about to pass out when he started to climb onto of me when I fell completely unconscious. Tears, swell in my eyes.

     Why does he do this. I think through my sleep. Why wont he stop? Who is that man? I don't even know his name. once those thoughts were pushed to the back of my head I dream.

~

I'm walking through school. I don't know what period it is. I don't know where I'm going but as I turn the corner I see everyone is entering the cafeteria. It's lunch. I walk in and sit at an abandoned table in the farthest corner of the room. "Need some company?" I hear. I look up and see it's Aden. I shake my head. His expression changes to a determined confused look. "You're going to have to stop hating me at some point you know." He tells me. I look away from him. "Where are you?" He asks me. I turn back to him with lowered eyebrows. "I'm right here." I say. "Care where are you?!" He yells alittle louder. I wave my hand in front of his face. He looks right through me, then all around like I've vanished into thin air. He drops his tray on to the floor with a crash. "Care!" He shouts. "Care tell me where you are!!!" He screams. His face looks scared. "I'm Here!" I shout standing in front of him. "Care!" He screams pleadingly, "Care, please tell me where you are!" He shouts. "I'm here! Aden I'm right here!" I scream at him. What's going on why cant her hear me or see me. Every thing around us was all of a sudden getting darker and darker. Aden spins in circles and runs out the door screaming my name. I run after him. "Aden I'm here! Help me! I'm here!" He stops running and starts taking deep breaths like he's been crying. "Aden," I say noticing I've been crying to, "help me... Find me." I say right behind him. Then he turns around and stares me dead in the eye. A small smile crept across his face. "I will."  He says. Then I wake up.

~

It wasn't until that moment when I truly realized, I need him.