50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Sixty

    "Four kids?" Aubrey repeated, blinking his eyes. Only...when he closed his eyes, he was standing in an exquisite master bathroom. When he opened them, he was staring up at wooden rafters. Confused, he turned his head.

    The bathroom, the beautiful master bedroom suite, all gone. Destiny, in all of her nurturing glory, also gone. He was lying on a concrete floor with his hands tied behind his back and his ankles tied together.

    "No." He tried to sit up, which was difficult when he didn't have free use of his hands to help steady himself. Hoisting a gaze around the dank basement, he could feel tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. "But...I had her. I had her, and I was with her. I was right there. Fuck...don't do this to me."

    The powers of the universe, unfortunately, didn't respond to his pleas. The only sound he could hear was the sound of heavy footsteps on the floor above him, pacing back and forth.

    He was surrounded mostly by darkness, the only source of light coming from the top of the stairs. There was about an inch of space beneath the basement door. Down here, even the shadows had shadows. With how dark it is, maybe I can force myself to go back to sleep, he thought. He didn't care that he was now aware that it was all being some strangely realistic dream. All he wanted was to see her again. Them again. He lowered back down to the floor and closed his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing.

    Sleep didn't come to him, which was odd. With how little food he was given and the complete lack of entertainment he was provided with, sleep came at him sporadically throughout the day. The one time I actually want to sleep, is when I can't fall asleep. He raised his head off the floor, then let it fall again, an action born of frustration and helplessness. If his hands were free, he probably would have punched the nearest wall. Then again, if his hands were free, he wouldn't even be in this mess.

    His first week down here, he'd hopped around the basement looking for something, anything that could help cut the zip ties binding his wrists. No luck. These days, it took too much effort for him to even try to stand, much less expel energy hopping around the room.

    I have to find a way back, he thought. Even if it's only a dream, a hallucination, I have to find my way back. She was my wife. We had a family. A family...kids... The images of their faces were still fresh in his mind. He blinked back tears. Since he couldn't sleep, he spent the night trying to figure out why the experience with Destiny and those beautiful children felt much more like a memory than a dream.