Saving Link

Chapter Three

"Rhett, what do you mean? Are you alright? Yes, it's Link, he's changed. He's not the man you once knew, he's gone." Jessie looked down, tears filling her amber eyes. Rhett shook his head. 

"No, he's not gone. That's not him, Jessie! I refuse to believe that the man you are talking about is Link! How can it be Link? He would never do any of that in a million years! Please, I'm not crazy! Something is wrong. That isn't Link." Jessie sighed and sat down in the chair beside her 'delirious' husband. 

"Rhett, just calm down. You hit your head before. You're not thinking straight. It's him. He's different, but it's him. I am so sorry." Jessie bit her lip. "I'm gonna let the boys see you. Then I'm calling Christy to see how they are. She hasn't divorced him yet, but she wants to as soon as she can. She's just afraid and confused right now."

"Afraid of Link?! Link wouldn't intentionally hurt a fly, you know that! That's not him! Something happened. He called me to come over and hang out with him. I get there and he's acting completely different. He had the shortest fuse and wanted to go to a bar with me. That's not Link! You know it isn't!" Rhett started to cry. He didn't know what to think, his heart told him it wasn't Link, but his brain said differently. He just had no idea what to so. Maybe Link was a total scumbag now, but Rhett was never going to leave him. He'd make it his life's mission to help Link and repiece his life back together.

"Rhett, talk to the boys, then we're going. You're just not thinking logically." Jessie sighed and walked out of the hospital room. She soon returned with two boys with her. One was tall and had a mop of wavy, chocolate brown hair. The other had the same hairstyle, but it was blonde and he was smaller. Rhett's sons, Locke and Shepherd.

"Dad!" Locke and Shepherd shouted in unison before hugging Rhett so tightly.

"Oh goodness, careful guys! Don't break me!" Rhett chuckled, his heart was heavy, he was scared and confused. What had really happened to Link? Could that possibly be him? How? How could that be Link? Rhett pondered these as his family visited with him. After about an hour, they were gone. "Link, wherever you are, I'm going to save you. I give you my word. And God, please help Link, and help me save him." Rhett closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

         Christy sat still on the couch of her parents house. She stared at the floor, barely blinking. Her breaths were shallow, her chest barely moved as she drew in each breath slowly. She thought about the things he said. The things he did. The small cuts and bruises he had inflicted upon her children. She didn't know what to do. Deep down, she still loved him, she loved who he was. But at the same time, she hated him. She hated him with a passion, but it hurt. She was too confused to even think straight. Her world was in shambles at her feet. And all because her husband, had blown it all to pieces. Little did she know that was not her husband, that her husband was actually tied up in a basement in California, going through so much pain. The pain was both physical and emotional. 

       James had basically stopped feeding Link, causing his younger twin to get thinner to the point that all his ribs jutted out sharply. He had broken Link's ankles, forcing Link to stay exactly where he was at all times. Only a little bit of water was given to him everyday, and it was usually lake water. It was all Link had to live on. He was always cold, James had taken his shirt to make him colder and so Link could see how skinny and beat up he really was. The basement was oddly cold. Link was pale, skinny, weak, hungry, exhausted, and in so, so much pain. 

"See, I told you, you'd pay. Now you are. Poor Link, your best friend in the hospital, your wife is going to divorce you if she ever gets the courage too. She's scared of you. She hates you. You hurt your children. You beat them. Made them bleed. You are so evil! What's wrong with you?!" James kicked Link's back and the younger man's cracked and bleeding lips let out a single word.

"W-why?"

"Why what? Why am I doing this to you? Poor little you, I already told you. You weren't listening, were you? No, you weren't. Tomorrow was your day to eat a little something, but since you didn't listen, only lake water. And stop gagging all the time. It's so disgusting. That water is your life. Literally. You'll die without it. And you smell! Gosh, I don't know why I haven't killed you yet."

"I smell because I've been tied up for two weeks! You broke my ankles, I can't even move!" Link started to cry, it was all too much. He couldn't hold on. The pain in his heart, and the pain that wracked his entire body was getting to be too much to handle. "I can't- I can't hold on. James, please help me. You don't want the murder of another on your soul. Please, help me. And then help yourself. Change your ways. You should have been raised up like me and I'm sorry you weren't. Why are you angry at me? Mom and dad were the ones that didn't keep you. I did nothing wrong."

"SHUT UP! You did! Your life was perfect! Perfect best friend, perfect wife, perfect children, perfect everything! I suffered my whole life and I shouldn't have! You should now feel my pain! I went through this everyday of my life! Don't tell me that you have it hard! You don't even know what hard is!" James kicked Link's stomach as hard as he could. Link vomited up bile with blood mixed in it. He closed his eyes and passed out.