A Long Way From Home

part 4

She woke up in the same position, on the bottom of the stairs, that she was thrown into hours earlier. She laid there, in the dark, thinking various thoughts that were not complete. Her mind, as well as her body, craved adequate rest, food and above all, a hospital. She was in sever pain as she struggled to sit up on the bottom step. She continued to lay there because her muscles were dying from their constant fight against her cuts and scrapes. She was weak. The girl went to pull her arms behind her, to prop herself onto a higher step, when her arm touched the glass that was numbing her entire side.

Cautiously, she felt the glass that was sticking out from her side as it sent pain throughout her entire body when touched. Gritting her teeth as hard as she could bear, she strived to get a tighter grip on the glass. When she did, she yanked it out from her skin as fast as she could while screaming through her teeth. In a instant, blood began to flow freely from the open wound. She tried desperately to stop the blood with her hands by adding pressure but all it did was create more pain. Feeling hopeless, she sat up into the fetal position, buried her head in her knees and cried herself to sleep.

She awoke suddenly when she heard loud movement and yelling echoing throughout the basement. Something was happening upstairs. She tried to understand the male voices as she struggled to stand up on the bottom step. The light around the basement door was flickering as someone frequently rushed past it. The girl stood there, eyes glued to the door, knowing they were coming for her. This time she will be ready. That’s when she realized she didn’t retrieve the piece of glass after she pulled it out of her. She dropped to the ground, patting the stairs for the glass but it was too dark and all she found were dead bugs and gravel.

The basement door made a terrible squeak noise as the young man opened it. He was about to step into the basement when the older man took his attention away by saying something behind him. As they exchanged words, she took the time to step higher up on the stairs and looked into the kitchen. A few feet behind the young man, she could see the older man talking as the young girl smiled while wiping dirt from his face. Then the older man took off his right boot and slid off his sock before tossing it to the younger man, who was still holding the basement door open. The young girl started to adjust his clothes before she began to clean herself off.

The girl paid no attention to the young man rushing down the stairs and towards her. She was too busy being confused as she watched the young girl comb the older mans hair with her fingers, smiling and humming a tune. When the young man reached the girl, he got behind her, stuffed her mouth with the mans sock before he closed her mouth with one hand and held her stomach with the other hand. With no weapon and no strength, she was forced to cooperate. As the older man bent over to unlock the young girls ankle chain, he realized the basement door was still open and slammed it shut. The girl and younger man were left in darkness, both shaking in fear.

The house became extremely quiet until the front door opened inviting a man with a husky voice in. She couldn’t understand the words of the men but the tone of their conversation was calm. A few minutes later the voices appeared into the kitchen where the girl could hear them clearly. The husky voice complimented the cleanliness of the kitchen in which the young girl thanked him and offered him water that he respectfully declined. Since they were close to the basement, the young man walked the girl backwards into the darker depths of the room. The farther back they got, the less they could hear the men in the kitchen conversation.

Then the basement door opened and they could hear the husky voiced man ask for the basement light but since there was none, he took out his dim lit flashlight and headed down the stairs. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, she could see his uniform and tried to speak through the young mans fingers but her voice was too hoarse. Not even a mutter came out. The older man was right on the cops tracks, leaving the young girl in the kitchen, asking him questions and the reason he was there. When the cop turned around to inform the older man about the elderly woman’s claim, the young man moved a little farther back placing his hands over her eyes and mouth. He held her head tightly to his chest, ensuring she wasn’t going anywhere.

The cop turned his attention back to the basement and swayed his light over the room but without moving from the bottom of the stairs. The dim lit flashlight was no match to the darkness that concealed the young man holding the girl in the back. Seeing nothing wrong, he walked back up the stairs and shut the door behind him as he put his flashlight back into his holster. In the darkness, the young man released his grip on the girl as he told her to be very quiet. With all her might, she elbowed his side and went to run for the stairs but tripped over the chain producing a loud noise.

The men were still in the kitchen talking about all the houses he had to go check, when the Husky voice asked what the source of that sound was. The older man assured him it was their dog and to prove it, he whistled for the dog who coincidentally came out of the doorway by the basement. The young man hearing no extra noises, picked her up from the ground and stumbled to sit her on the stairs. She began to cry and to comfort her, the young man wiped her tears with his sleeve and rubbed her face as he stared at her. Believing the older mans response, the cop turned to the young girl to say goodbye as the older man walked him back to his car.

The young man heard the voices leave and raced back into the house, temporarily blinding the girl from the sudden brightness of the kitchen. This was her chance. She crawled up the stairs one by one and trembled to stand up in the basement door way. The young man was hovering over the kitchen counter as she tried to tiptoe past him. He couldn’t hear her because of all the noise he was making, opening and closing the wooden cabinets. She limped towards the living room while using the wall as leverage. Entering the living room was difficult because she had to manuever past the junk but she failed and collapsed from the tremendous pain. She laid there on the filthy floor between the couch and table filled with junk, to weak to move, as she stared out the open front door.

She saw the older man wave goodbye to the cop car leaving towards the sun and through the forest. She tried to scream for him but her voice was going in and out which made her struggle to breath. The young man found her on the living room floor as the older man turned around to walk back to the house and saw her. Before he could get to her, the young man grabbed her and carried her back into the basement and sat her on the bottom step. He begged for her to be quiet and showed her the cup of water and sandwich he made for her. He forced a weak smile to show her it was okay when the older man walked in the house and yelled his name.