Breaking the Chains

Chapter Twenty Three

The car ride was pretty quiet unless the owner needed to ask for directions. Unfortunately for both of the teens, they had no idea where they were and whenever the owner told them what town they were in, they both got confused. At one point, Eli wanted to scream at the man but he held back his temptation and instead asked for his cell phone. The man easily handed it to him and when Eli unlocked it, he was confused for a moment on how to use it before he opened a folder and clicked on the phone icon. Riley was watching him put in random numbers that he knew by heart before he put the phone to his ear. The owner continued to drive, but not anywhere specific. It was almost as if he was circling the town. 

And then someone answered the call.

"Hello?" A voice said on the other line. Riley smiled in the slightest when she heard the voice from the loud speaker.

"Nona," Eli breathed out and closed his eyes immediately. "I've missed you so much." There was silence before the woman replied.

"Eli?" The boy nodded before he realized that Nona wasn't there to see the movement.

"Yeah, it's me," he smiled brightly as tears formed in his eyes. He closed them gently as he continued to listen to the voice on the other phone.

"Where are you?" She asked sternly, which made Eli take a slow breath before quietly asking the owner again where they were. Eli breathed out the name of the town the man had told him to say. "That's five hundred miles away from here, Eli." She huffed out some air. "What would you be doing way over there?" There was a pause and another break before she gave up. "Okay. I'm on my way. I'll call this number in about four hours."

"Okay, Nona," Eli said gently.

"I love you," Nona said softly. Eli said it back before they both hung up at the same time.

"So what's the plan?" The man asked curiously as he was handed back his phone.

"She's going to be coming here," Eli said quickly and turned to look toward Riley. He took her hand and smiled at her with care before he spoke in a whisper, "We will find your family." Riley nodded as she closed her eyes gently. Eli saw just how tired she was even though she had gotten a fair amount of sleep that night. "I won't leave you," he said quietly and again, she nodded as she kept her eyes closed. "I promise."

Riley didn't understand what was happening until she was placed in a hard plastic seat in a building. All she smelt was food as she slowly opened her eyes and looked around. From what she could tell, she was inside of a McDonald's. She would have complained normally but she was starving. Eli was sitting beside her with his fingers entertwined with her's. It seemed to relax her, but whenever she thought back to the torture or the dream she had, she'd tighten her grip on his hand.

The owner came back with three burgers, three french fry containers and three large drinks after three minutes. Eli and Riley separated their hands once the man grabbed one of the burgers. He easily unwrapped his burger and took a bite. Riley felt a little off about it but eventually, she grabbed the last burger left on the tray and unwrapped it. Eli had already half finished his the moment she took her first bite after saying the quickest prayer in her head.

"Awh, is good," she said with a full mouth as she closed her eyes. Eli nearly laughed but instead he just wrapped his free arm around her bruised waist as she stuffed another bite in her mouth. "Cun I eat dis everyday?" This time both the owner and Eli gave a little chuckle as they watched Riley sink into her chair happily.

A few hours later, the cellphone dinged continuously. The owner immediately gave the phone to Eli, who answered it without even looking who was calling. "Nona?"

"Eli," she said quickly. "Alright, I'm about fifty miles away. Where are you?"

"At a motel down," he looked toward the owner who mouthed the street name slowly, "MacKenzie?"

"Alright, thanks. I'll see you shortly." The phone on her end disconnected and so Eli hung up before handing the phone back to the owner. It was just the two of them watching a little bit of hockey that was on the mini flat screen. Riley had went back to the room and fell asleep on the bed in less than two minutes. Eli almost joined her but decided against it when he remembered he had his Nona's phone call he had been waiting for.

"She almost here?" The owner asked as he handed a bottle of water to Eli. Eli nodded before he took a long gulp of it. The owner had a bottle of weak beer but Eli felt repulsed by the smell of it so when he was offered some, he tried his best to politely decline.

"Yeah," he took a breath and smiled at the man who had watched over them for a while. "Thank you so much for helping us," he let out a gentle breath. "Without you, we'd probably be lost on the streets and down in Mexico, for all I'd know." The owner shared a light hearted laugh with the boy before very gently patting Eli's shoulder blade.

"What's the point of living if there is no show of love?" The man said with a smile. "Long story short, you kids are what keep me young." Eli grinned at that. "I'm sixty three years old and that means I eat chicken noodle soup three times a day, every day." The man chuckled as he lightly shook his head and brought his hand away from Eli's shoulder.  "And to be fair, your lot was the first group to walk in the door in the past few months. I almost missed taking care of guests."

"Most of them will probably stay here for a while," Eli took a breath and glanced in the direction of the room. His imagination took him back to when he was chained up while water was being poured on him. He balled his fists before shaking the memory away.

"I know that," the man said and a worried smile crept on his lips. "Do you want a muffin or something?" Eli shook his head and gently smiled.

"No, I'm fine," Eli said calmly. He glanced back toward the room. "I think I'm going to go check on them." The owner nodded in an understanding way as he went back to the other side of the entrance desk. 

"I'll get you if the phone rings or someone comes into the door," the man said with a smile.

"Thank you," Eli replied. He let his feet take him back toward the room where Riley was.

Riley was still sleeping. She wasn't dreaming of anything but she was out like a light. Her body was trying it's best to recover from all of the things that had happened to it recently. Whenever Riley moved to change position, she'd hiss quietly from the pain and hold in screams as she slowly woke up to change position better. But eventually Riley found a comfortable position on her side and she stayed there as she fell asleep once more.

Eli walked into the room quietly, seeing everyone in there still sleeping. Some of the survivors were snoring in the smallest ways. Eli was sad seeing how badly beat they all were as he passed them to get to Riley, who was one of the three people in the room dressed. One of the men had already changed but had passed out right after.

Eli climbed onto the bed where Riley was. A small girl was curled on the other side of the queen mattress but she wasn't shivering. She was probably the loudest one in the room who snored. Eli smiled at Riley as he gently ran his fingers down her hair. It was messily tangled and filled with grime and blood, but it was still beautiful. He carefully pecked the top of her head as she slept. Then, he wrapped his arms gently around her and carefully pulled her back into his chest in a way where he didn't hurt her. She winced but not terribly.

"Eli?" She asked tiredly.

"It's just me," he said gently and kissed her cheek. And then the two of them waited for Nona to come.

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Guys...guys....THERE WAS A BIT OF RLI MOMENTS!
I'm sorry that it's not insanely long but I really hope you guys enjoyed it!
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Peace out Secrets and God bless you all!

-S