Witness

•CHAPTER 20•

I fell to the floor and expected to feel pain, but I felt none.

"Get on the ground!" I heard someone say and knew they weren't talking to me. A gun clattered to the floor and I leaped to my feet and ran out the door.

"Hey!" I heard someone shout behind me but ignored them.

As I reached the white van, the guards weren't there and neither were the girls.

"Kyle!" I spun around and saw Ashley wrapped in a blanket near a police car.

"What did George do to you? Are you okay?" I asked while running over to her.

"H-he drugged me. He bruised me." I reached out to touch her but she pulled away. "Don't touch me." She warned.

With my adrenaline wearing off, I suddenly felt exhausted and desperately wished there was a chair nearby.

"Don't be afraid." I coughed. "George is down. It's over."

Ashley just glanced at me.

"I will tell you something important," more coughing. "As soon as the time is right."

Just then the doors swung open and George came out in a straight jacket.

"I'll kill you." He mumbled and one of the SWAT people kicked him. He grunted and kept walking towards a car.

Doors slammed and footsteps ran towards me.

"You jerk!" Ricky yelled and appeared in front of me. His mood lightened when he saw how hurt I was.

"What happened to you?" Ricky asked. "An ambulance is coming."

Suddenly, my legs collapsed and Ricky grabbed onto me and kept me from falling. Wrapping an arm around him, I felt dizzy.

"Ashley, she's hurt too." I whispered.

"Just stay focused, Kyle. Ashley is being taken care of."

I struggled to free myself from Ricky's grasp, but it made my ribs feel like they were exploding. "George ruined her life! She might never be okay!"

"Kyle, stop!" Ricky said and spun me around so I faced him. "I'm not losing you again."

A SWAT member approached us both. "An ambulance is on its way." He said. "I'm Jadon, the leader of this rescue."

"Thank you." Ricky replied. I think he expected me to reply, but I didn't care about that right now.

I searched the scene frantically; police everywhere, guards laying on the ground with guns pointed at them, girls being confused and scared, cars pulling in, and on top of that, it started to rain.

I didn't know what to say to Ashley next time I talk to her, to be honest. I don't know if she will trust anyone form now on. Her life is ruined; she has no money, no job or house, no other clothes. And what if she gets back into sex trafficking just to make money? Maybe I didn't save her... but she doesn't deserve it.

No one does.

The ambulance had finally splashed through the rain and up to the station. Paramedics pulled out a stretcher under the roof of the station and rolled it over. Gladly, I took it; relieved to sit on something comfortable. And to rest.

Just as the ambulance doors were closing, a hand popped through the opening in the door. A man climbed in and it took me a second to recognize him. But as he sat next to Ricky, it finally clicked; he was the clerk.

The one paramedic in the back signaled the ambulance to start moving and then began tending to my injuries.

I lay flat on my back as he cut off my sleeve.

"How long have you had this bullet wound?" He asked.

"Since I was kidnapped." I mumbled.

"It's still in there."

Ricky swore. "Kyle, your infection has spread up your arm! Aren't you in pain?"

As if on cue, I coughed and some specks of blood stained my skin. Pain ripples through my ribs and wracked my whole body.

"Get the bullet out!" Ricky commanded and the clerk just watched. Why was he here again?

"I can't, sir. I don't have the surgical tools and if I put medicine on it now, it will infect it even more."

The medic grabbed something off a portable table and held it up. An IV.

Without warning, he stabbed it into my wrist and taped it on. That tiny pain from my wrist was nothing compared to the rest of me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and for once, was comfortable. No thoughts of my dad, only Ashley and her beauty. And her pain.

Exhaustion finally won and I slipped into a deep sleep.

"I'm not done with you, Kyle." Came a voice. I was surrounded by darkness, the only light being on me. A voice echoed in the dark.

"Who are you?" I called, but only echos greeted me.

"You know who I am." A shadowy figure appeared in front of me and took the form of a middle aged man. A man I new too well. "Don't think you saved the day. Ashley didn't want to be saved, yet you saved her." He stepped closer, a grin on his face.

"Ashley did want to be saved!" I tried to convince even myself. "She was being killed with you! Drugged everyday, sex, a price put on her!"

He laughed. "You're such a fool! Now she has nothing and is nothing! Her life is worthless!"

"You're wrong!" I yelled. "She-she..." I stumbled to find the right word.

"Admit it, Kyle. She has nothing. Her life is over!"

"She's priceless."

The image of George faded away and I was left alone in the darkness. After finding that no one was coming, I knelt on my hands and knees, and wept.