When All Hope Is Lost

-chαptєr thirtєєn: thє вlσσd-

Chapter Thirteen- The Blood

"Are you Tabby? Tabitha Montomer?" I questioned with excitement, placing the lantern down and waiting for her answer. With a nod of her head she replied, making me smile down at her with happiness. "Your brother has been looking for you! Him and I have been looking for you!" I cheered, as her eyes lit up as well and she picked herself up from the ground into a sitting position.

"Toby? My Toby?" she questioned, smiling weakly to me as well. "And you? You and Toby?" she asked once more, making me nod with pure joy. "Renn told me no one was looking for me. He told me that Toby moved to another state to start a new life," she whispered, her voice slowly losing its edge the longer she spoke.

"No one moved, Toby and I have been searching for you ever since I escaped here before," I said, making her look to me with wonder as if I was some sort of alien.

"You escaped?" she asked, making me nod.

"But I was captured again and now here I am," I finished, looking down to the hard cement ground in agony. I was glad that I had found Tabby, but in no way did I like being where I was.

"Did you find my baby? Addie? Renn took her from me when I gave birth, I don't know where she is," Tabby asked after, making me look up to her softly and shake my head.

"Toby and I found her dead. I'm sorry Tabby," I whispered, watching as she locked her hands together in her lap and closed her eyes. Tears dripped down her face slow, but they didn't have to be going any faster for the pain to still linger. Whether she was raped or not, it was still her baby and I couldn't imagine what she was going through.

"I didn't think Renn would hurt her..." she hesitated, looking back up to me angrily. "I hate him," she spoke with clear diction, not a word to be confused.

"I hate him too." I spoke back, grabbing her hand in mine and squeezing it tight. "But you will be alright, I won't let anything happen to you now that I'm here-"

"Alright girls!" I heard what sounded like Dee call down, before the cellar door opened above us and light streamed in. Holding onto Tabby's hand, I watched as Dee climbed down the wooden stairs that he inserted into the cellar and landed down with us. "I see you're having a moment, but I need Tabby," he harshly noted, coming over and pulling her up.

"No, please! Don't take her!" I screamed, coming over and trying my best to tear his hand off her arm. With a shove I was thrown back into the wall, my head becoming dizzy as I felt blood trickle down into my mouth. "Stop, stop," I tried screaming out again, but it was useless...I was passing out and there was nothing I could do. Watching as Tabby tried kicking her way out of Dee's arms, I fell to the ground in a heap and passed out as the cellar door closed and darkness surrounded me...

"Stay away from me!" I screamed, as I kicked the person beside me over and over again.

"Woah, woah, Hope calm down," I heard the person groggily say, as they carefully grabbed me in their arms and held me tight so I would stop kicking. It was then, I realized I was being held by Toby, who I had just woke up from kicking. 

You fell asleep here last night, I called your mom to tell her that and she said it was fine," Toby told me, as he rocked me back and forth in his arms. I relaxed completely then, as I took a deep breath in and apologized for kicking him. "It's okay, why don't you get some more rest," he whispered, as he lowered both of us down onto his bed completely and wrapped me up in his arms.

"I don't know," I whispered, moving my way out of his arms and sitting back up. I liked having him comfort me, but in all honesty, it just seemed a little too out there tonight.

"Hope," I heard, Toby whine behind me, as I turned to face the opposite direction of him. "Hope," I heard him once more, making me groan and slowly turn to face him.

"What?" I asked, noticing the way his eyes seemed to sparkle in the moonlight that now shined through the windows. He didn't say anything in response, yet looked at me and smiled, before pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Toby..." I blushed, looking away a bit and hoping he couldn't see the deep red my cheeks were turning. That one gesture sure meant more than anything he had ever done before and I knew that this time it wasn't just a friendly remark, yet something more.

Right then, within the second of thinking that, Toby gently pulled my face back to look at him and kissed me ever so carefully on the lips.

"I'm falling for you," I heard Toby whisper after his warm pink lips left mine, leaving me to stare back at him in pure and utter shock...

"Hope, Hope! Are you alright?" I heard someone cry out, sending me to awake from whatever state I was in before. My head immediately shot with pain as I awoke, and I groaned out as I rolled over on the ground to face who was talking to me. "I'm so sorry I couldn't come back sooner," the person said again, before they came closer and I realized it was Tabby all along.

"What do you mean you couldn't come back sooner? I didn't pass out that long, did I?" I wondered groggily, sitting up and holding onto my head with my hands. Tearing off a bit of her pink and blue dress, that I only noticed then, she dabbed the wound on my head.

"It's morning now Hope. I spent the night with Renn upstairs, he wouldn't let me check on you," Tabby told me, making me shake my head in frustration as to how long I had passed out.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you, I'm sorry I passed out," I whispered to her, as I watched her sit before me with a caring look on her face.

"He hurt you, there was nothing you could have done," she responded, patting down my cheek to wipe off some of the blood.

"I need to get you out of here," I responded, gently pushing her hand away from me and standing up shakily.

"Hope, there's no way out. There aren't even stairs for us to climb out. Dee puts a ladder down whenever he needs it and takes it back up when he doesn't," Tabby told me, making me walk over to the cellar door above us and groan. Tabby was right, there was no way out.

"Then we have to ambush Dee when he comes back down here. I can distract him, you can escape," I told, turning back to her still sitting where I once was before.

"I can't let you do that for me. We are in this together," she told me, coming over to my side and holding onto my hand. "We will both get out of this...together."