An Unexpected Gift Part II

Chapter 6- 'Can you hear me?'

For you, I would walk a mile  

To see the world through your eyes

To feel life through your skin 

To express my love from deep within

I glanced again towards the doorway but he was gone, a sigh of relief.

My gearbox was turning, my wheels were in a constant revolt. What was I gonna do? I couldn't get the father of my children involved or they could die. My mind went through a thousand scenarios at once! What is wrong with me? Did I get away from this man only to get pulled back in?

Ryan was the love of my life or so I thought. We met in college, He was athletic and I was a rebel. We met in my 2nd-year lunch room when he didn't stop staring at me. He was perfect and we had a whirlwind romance. Inseparable! He proposed his final year because he feared he would lose me seeing that I had another year left. I ignored the possessive & abusive red flags as a defense mechanism for my heart. I said yes without even thinking about it but life set in after college and his possessive obsession became worse, 3 years later we parted ways and I built my carefree life.

Now he's trying to end me for finally seeing his red flags.

I searched the room as if looking for a sign but it was just me and my thoughts. One things for sure and two things for certain imma get my heartbeats back! But how? Without alerting Demetri? If I go missing he'll know; SIGH. I face-planted in my palm as I contemplated every possible way this could go wrong but I couldn't involve anyone else I cared about, I won't!

Where was he hiding? Was he in my area? How is he maintaining the babies? HOW DA FUCK DID HE SURVIVE!?

The place was charred, and smelt like ash and death, it reminded me of a dark place in my life. The walls showed a sad scene of discoloration and desperation. I shuddered at the sight of being back here. I hugged my chest while stepping over burnt debris and dismantled scraps. There was complete silence fitting for an eerie atmosphere.

I reached for the door when I heard a little chuckle coming from the opposite direction. Curious, I made a complete turn and headed toward the sound. It led me up a worn-out flight of stairs then through a hallway, and the sound stopped. I froze trying to remember the last direction. I turned into what seemed like an empty room, I used my hand to lift a translucent plastic film that was hanging from the ceiling and I saw a girl crouched.

"Hello? Who are you?"

She seemed so familiar but I couldn't place her, She jumped! It seemed I startled her, she spun to look at me and then hurried through the adjacent door. I followed her cautiously allowing my eyes to adjust to the musty atmosphere and when they did my heart sank.

She didn't know I was behind her, she never knew I entered the room, and she had no idea what my motives were. I saw her in the corner bending over. What is she doing here? Is she alone? Is she the chuckle?

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

I stepped closer bending with my hand stretched to signal I wasn't a threat. She pulled closer in the corner pulling her feet to her chest but she seemed to be hugging something. I was curious so I inched closer, slowly; she looked so timid, so frail. She glared up through dirty-looking hair and slowly loosened her grip on the sweater she clenched so tight, it fell open and instantly my eyes watered, I fell to my knees, staring and dumbfounded. I froze...

Call it instinct, call it intuition but the minute her sweater fell open and I saw the little angelic face nestled against her chest. My knees felt weak! That baby couldn't be hers. With tears in my eyes, my arms stretched towards the little human, she looked up at me and then started to push the baby forward, was she high? Was she on drugs of any kind? Why was she here, especially with a baby? She let go of the little meat sac in my arms and it was a girl, I started crying instantly! Was this my little angel? Where was the other one? Was this the chuckle I heard? I broke the trance and stared up at her once more.

"I need you to help me, ok, there were two babies. Where is the other one?"

I had tears streaming down my face at this point. She twitched and looked around the room as if she couldn't focus to respond.

"Where is the other baby!"

She seemed so unfocused, her eyes were wide, her pupils seemed dilated, and she was twitching and gripping her clothes, this was getting really dire. I can see that she was duped up on something so I tried to stay calm even though my heart was racing and I was scared shitless!

"Ummmm hi... look at me..look at me! What's your name?"

She seemed scared of my touch as I reached out to touch her shoulder while cradling the baby in the other, was she being abused? I pulled back my hand

"I'm not gonna hurt you... Tell me your name"

She looked up through her messy hair as if she understood, I watched as her lips parted to answer

"Help me!"

Help me? What the hell was that her first, last, or middle name? Beginning or end? Why is my sarcasm on point in a time like this? Was I right? Was she locked up in this old burn-down building? I was so confused looking at this hot mess.

"Help me to help you! Where is the other baby/"

She rocked back and forth, I was getting really impatient. The floor creaked under the pressure of the wind and roamed through the halls, humming along the way. I stopped in front of her as a sign of surrender and asked again in desperation.

"Where is the other baby? Please tell me"

You can hear the trembling in my voice. She locked eyes with me once more and then they fixated with tears building but why was she crying? Did I make her cry? Was she that terrified of me? Her fear grew into terror as she started pulling herself into a ball with her knees to her chest and mumbling. I couldn't understand what she was saying so I inched closer and placed my ear within hearing distance, I could hear her rapid breathing. Then she went quiet and said in hushed trembling tones.

"He's behind you!"