The Mechanic

Chapter 7

My head hurt. I was lying on a wooden cot that was only three inches from the floor and my vision was swimming with tiny white lights. What the heck had happened to me? I groaned and tried to sit up but felt a hand push me back down. 

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a familiar spoke. I jerked my head to the right and let out a loud gasp. 

"Father?" He smiled at me, his blue eyes twinkling in the dim of the lamplight. 

"Hi, Evie." My eyes burned with tears as I wrapped my arms around his neck, relief sinking into my skin. 

"Where are we?" I asked, finally letting go of him. 

"Nowhere good. I'm so sorry about the fright you had last night. He promised me he wouldn't scare you too badly but I guess he lied." I furrowed my brows and tried to catch Father's eye. 

"Who? Who promised? And what is going on? I haven't heard from you in days, and when I finally see you it's only after someone's broken into our shop and kidnapped me. I want answers and I want them now." I tried to sit up again but was too overcome with dizziness that I had to lie back down on the cushions. Father gave a small sigh and ran a hand through his graying hair. 

"I know how frustrated you must be about all of this, but I promise you that you'll get your answers soon. You'll just need to be patient." 

"Patient? Father, do you realize how patient I've been through all of this? I've tried to convince myself for so long now that you weren't in any danger, and now--" 

"Shhh." He motioned for me to be silent. I opened my mouth to protest but he clapped his hand over my lips and gave me a glare. "I don't want to give him an excuse to see you before he has to." 

"Can you please tell me who 'he' is?" I muttered angrily. Father shook his head sadly. 

"I've got to go. Try to get some rest and I promise I'll be back soon." He kissed my forehead and stood up. 

"Father," I started before he could turn away. He looked down at me. "Can you just tell me if we're going to be okay?" The silence that greeted my words made my stomach flip sickly in my stomach. 

"I don't know, Evie," he said finally and then walked toward the door. 

*************

The room was brighter when I opened my eyes and my head was aching less. I pushed myself up onto my forearms and looked around. The space was bigger than I had originally thought, with long drapes covering the floor-length windows and an assortment of fine armchairs and sofas clustered around the fireplace. Father hadn't returned and my stomach had started to rumble with hunger. 

There was no sound other than that of the crackling fire and the soft whistle of the wind outside. I pushed back the blanket and stood to my feet, only wobbling slightly as I made my way toward one of the windows. 

I had started to push back the curtain when the door behind me was opened and my father walked in. His face grew pale at the sight of me standing up. 

"Evie, get back into the bed! He can't see that you're awake!" I rolled my eyes and let the curtain fall from my fingers. 

"Look, I don't care whether 'he' sees me or not. I have no idea who he is and I don't feel the need to be scared of him. If you just do me the favor of--" I paused at the sound of tapping on the floorboards outside of my room. I ran back toward the cot and had barely managed to pull the blanket back over me before the door opened. I tried to turn my head to see who had entered, but Father gave me the slightest shake of his head and motioned for me to close my eyes.