When it rains in the desert

6 Months Later

It was dark, it was so dark, I could barely see my own fingers in front of me. I had to squeeze my hand to make sure they were all still there. I heard the familiar creak of the door. It opened for a split second and then slammed shut.

I didn't know how long i'd been there, I was pretty sure they were just opening the door to tease me, to get to me, to give me hope and then take it away. I hadn't been fed since I'd gotten there. There was a bucket of water in the corner of the room but that was it.

I'd suspected i'd been there for at least three days but there was no way to be sure, I couldn't stay awake long enough to count the hours or the minutes or whatever was going to help me keep track of the days.

The last thing I remember was coming home from work. I was in a great mood. Rosa had called me that day, she'd gotten onto the netball team at school and she'd said she'd been looking forward to telling me.

One minute i'd been unlocking the door to my apartment and the next minute my face was met with someone's elbow. Then I woke up there.

The only way I knew where I was right now was because of Celia's details. Being locked away, with no food or water for days. It was the only thing that made sense. I was in England, and the only reason I could be in England right now was if I was being used to lure Celia out.

I'd had at least three days to think about it. What a way to die, I thought. This was the last way I thought i'd ever die. I mean I didn't of course because i'm sat here writing this for you guys but in the moment I obviously wasn't aware of it.

I could feel myself drifting off to sleep when something was slid under the door. I didn't want to pick it up, I don't think I could've moved to pick it up so I didn't. I fell asleep again.

I thought that my sins were finally catching up with me. It was my fault that Lia had been taken, I should have been watching her, I mean I was her big brother, she depended on me to protect her and I didn't when I was supposed to. And now it was catching up with me. I was getting what I deserved. Celia was gone, Lia was gone and I was here, alone, wishing that they'd taken me instead.

When I woke up, it was to a boot in the stomach. I lurched forwards, guarding my stomach, mainly holding it in pain. It was quickly followed by a second boot, a harder one this time. The boot was bigger, there was more than one person in the room.

I moved, trying to get up, trying to steady myself but once i'd gotten to my knees I was punched in the cheek. There was a ringing in my ear followed by a second blow to the face in the opposite direction.

I clenched my eyes shut and reached my hand up to my face, blood trailing down my cheek. I looked up, furious. I'd managed to get to my feet, still guarding my stomach. My vision was blurred from all the blood but I could make out the figures in front of me.

I clenched my fist and threw a punch to whichever figure was closest to me. I knew i'd hit something when I heard "You little shit-" I felt him move his knee towards my face but before it got there I pushed it back down.

The other figure grabbed on to my hair and pulled my head back so I was facing him, I was sure i'd never heard the other voice in my life, but when he spoke, when the one who was now holding my hair spoke, I felt a chill travel trough my body. I felt goosebumps.

"You feeling a little brave munchkin?"He said to me and as though it was a reflex, when I felt his fingers relax a little at the bottom of my neck, I threw my head forward, straight into his nose.

He took a towel or a hanker chief or whatever was in his hand and wiped my face when I pulled back. "Look at the mess you made"

And then I saw his eyes. I would never forget his eyes. They had no shame, no remorse, no emotion. I tried to mask my surprise but I felt my eyes widen and he noticed it too. "I'm flattered, you do remember me, I've missed you too munchkin"

He dropped me back onto the floor and the both of them walked out. I began to rethink everything. Maybe I wasn't there for Celia, Maybe they'd come back to finish the job. Maybe they'd meant to take both of us and now he was coming back to put me out of my misery because there was no way that he could be related to Celia.

Or so I thought.

I remembered the package that had been slipped through the door and looked back to see if it was still there. I shuffled over to the package and picked it up. It was a brown envelope, covered in dust from the floor.

I turned it over and emptied the contents into my hands. There were Polaroids inside. Hundreds of them. I was afraid of turning them over, I was afraid of what was going to be on the other side. But curiosity killed the cat.

I turned them over and a piece of my heart, maybe even all of it, fell all the way down to my feet. They were girls, 100's of them, all underage, all barely wearing any clothes. They all looked around Rosa's age.

Sweet, sweet Rosa, who called me every week to tell me how she was doing.

And then, as if by chance, horrible, awful chance, there she was. Rosa. Sat in the corner of a room, wearing the same clothes i'd found her in that night. God, she looked so terrified it made me feel murderous. It made me want to tear him apart.

They said they'd found 30 children, but this pile of disgusting photos was just girls, and there were hundreds of them. we'd barely even scratched the surface when we shut down that property.

The door opened again and I dropped the photos to the floor. I turned around slowly and the bastard smiled, He smiled after he saw the pile of photos laying on the floor. "Ah, you like em?" He said.

I found my voice "You bastard" I spat at him. It was making me nauseous being in the same room as him. "You see munchkin, you caused me a lot of problems when you told the feds about my operation in New York" He said, completely ignoring me, sitting himself on the chair that wasn't there before.

I could barely even breathe, I felt anger in places i'd never felt it before. It was coursing through me from my fingers to my toes. I had to knock my knuckles together to stop myself from trying to break his neck.

"But then imagine my surprise when I found out that you were Natalia's big brother." I took a step back, I was so shocked that he was using her name so freely, so causally. Like he wasn't the bastard that took her away from us. "Don't you dare say her name." I said, digging my nails into my palms. "You don't have the right"

But he kept talking like I wasn't even there. " Then imagine my surprise when I found out that you were also the same little shit that was hiding my niece and our daughter"

I was right, this was Rick. This was Celia's uncle. The uncle that had put the blood on her hands and made her life misery. He was stood right in front of me and there was no one stopping me from kicking the shit out of him.

And then it hit me. our daughter. He said our daughter. What the hell did he mean our daughter? Celia had said she didn't know who Rory's mother was. She most definitely did not tell me that she was Rory's mother.

"What the hell" I said, slowly "Do you mean by our daughter?" I thought that I wasn't ready for him to tell me that this sicko had taken advantage of his own niece. I thought it was the most unimaginable thing in the world, but somehow, he'd managed to surprise me.

"Oh, I'm sorry, shall I be more specific? Rory." he said. "Rory is my child" He paused for a second as though this wasn't information I already knew.

"Natalia is Rory's mother."