The Gifted

Chapter 16

For the next half and hour we continued down the dark road until Rivers pulled into a small, sketchy motel on the side of the road.

"Is it safe here?" I asked River glancing from him to the flickering light above the front entrance.

"For tonight, yes," He said jumping out of the car and walking over to the door.

"Great," I whispered to myself as I followed behind him.

As we entered the cement building the strong smell of mold overtook my senses. Scrunching up my nose, I watched as an old man rounded the corner to came stand behind the front desk.

"One room," Said Rivers in a monotone voice.

"fifty five dollars," was all the man said.

Handing over the money, the old man gave us a key with a plastic tag that had the number 12 engraved in it.

Nodding to the man we left the office and walked down the creepy, cement pathway to the door that held the number 12. Pushing the door open, the room was what I had expected. A bed sat on the left wall that faced a TV and door which I guessed let to a bathroom.

Closing the door behind us River immediately closed the curtains and switched on the light. I glanced from the bed to him, however, Rivers already had his eyes on me.

"I'll take the chair," he said nodding to the chair in the corner of the room. The chair was old and the once blue fabric was slowly disintegrating.

As much as I hated Rivers right now, I knew that he wouldn't sleep a wink in that chair. "It's fine, we'll share the bed." I said avoiding his gaze.

"Are you sure?" He asked turning to face me.

I gave him a nod as I went into the bathroom to shower. As I turned on the dull, yellow light, I waited for the water to warm up. Eventually the water warmed and I washed and clothed myself. The only pj's I had packed was a cropped singlet and a pair of shorts that were a bit too small, thinking that I would be by myself.

Pacing back and forth I built up the courage to leave the bathroom. At a steady pace I slipped into the bed, hoping that Rivers hadn't been looking.

Sitting up my eyes were drawn to the man in front of me. He slowly pulled off his shirt, leaving nothing but his tanned skin. His back was defined and I could see the muscles in his arms as he moved. Before he could catch me drooling I lay down and closed my eyes.

I could feel the sheets rising and the bed dipping as Rivers lay down beside me. I could feel the heat radiating off him and all my thoughts were consumed with wanting those arms to hold me.

"Good night," Rivers whispered.

"Night," I replied.

As the hours slowly rolled by, my thought wouldn't stop, leaving me with not a blink of sleep. Eventually I could see the sun trying to peak its way through the curtains, looking at my phone it read 6:30am.

Getting out of bed I changed into a pair of black, distressed jeans and a white t-shirt. Glancing one last time at Rivers I left the room to go find food. Entering the office I was hoping that I would find the old man from last night, to no avail. To the right of the desk was a hallway that held one door. The sound of my stomach rumbling encouraged me to walked towards the door.

Quietly I cracked open the door and peaked a look into the room. It was nothing but a storage room, closing the door I pouted. A loud bang rang through the building causing me to cover my ears. The noise had come from the back of the motel. I wasn't stupid but my curiosity took the better of me and I ventured towards where the sound had come from.

I moved along the side of the building until I reached the corner. Slowly turning the corner I found nothing but a dumpster and a back door. Continuing out into the open something caught my eye. Just behind the dumpster I could see something that looked like shoes. Creeping closer my heart picked up its pace and my hands went clamps.

Horrifying ideas plagued my mind as I moved closer. Taking the final step a round the dumpster the sight before me caused me to gag and stumble back, hitting a a couple stacked crates. Falling to the ground the back door swung open and a man in his late 30's dressed in black, marched towards me. Trying to regain my footing I stumbled even more, trying to crawl away a hand latched onto my back pulling my in an up right position.

The man pulled my head back by my hair and I let out a yelp in pain.

"Who sent you?" Roughly asked the man, pulling tighter on my hair.

"No one sent me, I just heard a noise," I stuttered out not wanting to let the man know how much pain I was in.

"No one like you stays in a place like this," The man said breathing down my neck. "Now, tell me who sent you?"

"Nobody, please just let me go," I cried out, hoping that Rivers was awake and could hear my cries for help.

"Fine we'll do it the hard way," He said picking me up and dragging me inside. Glancing behind me before the door slammed shut, I saw the dead body that was bloody and bruised. That image would forever be burnt into my mind.

I was roughly thrown in a storage room, hitting many parts of my body as I fell.

"The boss will see you soon, so no funny business," The man ordered as he shut the door in front of me.

Jumping up I winced in pain, looking down at my leg I saw blood gushing from a deep cut in my knee. Hobbling over to the door I tested the handle but it wouldn't budge. Scanning the room my eyes landed on a small window that hid behind a shelf. I gave the self a good push but it was too heavy and in my condition, it wouldn't be moving anywhere.

Slumping down on the wall I hit the ground harder than I anticipated. A clinking sound came from my pocket, pulling out my phone a spark of hope shot through me. Pressing the home button my lips immediately dropped, I had forgotten to charge it last night.

"Yeah, she's in here," the man said to someone on the other side of the door.

There was the sound of keys and then the door creaked open. The man from before stood there in his leather jacket and another man I had not seen before stood his front of him. He was a large build and could probably snap me into two if he wanted to. Cowering into the wall I prayed that the men would understand and let me go.

"So I've been told you're not cooperating?" The larger man said with a dark gleam in his eyes.

I paused back harder into the wall of that was even possible as the man moved closer.

"I swear I done have anything to do with you guys, just let me go," I begged the man.

The man roughly pulled me up and shoved me against the wall, wrapping his hands around my neck. Slowly the world around me faded into blackness as my body fell limp to the fall.