One Autumn Day

Chapter Seven

Sitting in the back seat, I look at the man who is currently driving. He looks as if he is in his mid-twenties. He has black hair, almond-green eyes, a shaved beard, a smokey grey jacket, an opaque-blue pair of jeans, and a black fedora. I don't recognize him.
As my head hits my seat, Chassen flashes through my mind. A tear rolls down my cheek as I say to myself,
"Oh no. Not this again."
The song, "I Won't Let Go" by Rascal Flatts, comes on the radio and I begin to cry. I miss him. I just want to be in Nathan's arms right now. I reach in my pocket to grab my phone, only to find that I don't have it. Oh no. I must have left it at the bridal shop. I have no way of contacting Nathan. Or Johnny. Or anyone.
Who is this man, in the driver's seat? Where did he come from? What does he want from me? Will I ever see Nathan again? Johnny?   Anybody?
I hate this. I just want to live in peace and be happy. But no. This had to happen again. I just want this nightmare to end.
Just then the guy looked in the mirror. The car stopped as I looked out the window. He takes the keys out of the ignition and gets out of the car. We have arrived...wherever this is.
He opens the car door and takes me by the hand. I get out and watch him slam the door shut.
"Alright, angel-face, you're gonna come with me."
Did he just call me angel-face?
"First off, my name isn't 'angel-face.' And second, who are you? Third, where are we going?"
He looks at me and says, "all of your questions will be answered in time. Oh and maybe you should consider not being so sassy, Autumn."
I press my lips together and follow the man, who is holding my hand. I have a lot of questions circling around in my head right now. I am confused, curious, terrified, and worried.
I just want to be at home, cuddled up against Nathan on the loveseat. While watching a movie with Nathan and Johnny. But no, instead I'm here with this guy, who happens to be very touchy.
He leads me inside a building, while still holding my hand. We walk down a dark hallway. We stop at a door and he knocks three times. The door unlocks and he pulls me in. My eyes are closed because I am afraid of what I will see if I open them.
"Good job Armando."
So this guys name is Armando. That voice though. Who said that? It sounds so much like...
"Hey beautiful. I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been, Autumn?"
I open my eyes. It is him. It's Chassen. I take a few steps back.
"It's okay sweetie. I won't hurt you."
He is closer to me now. He looks over at Armando and says,
"Give me a moment alone with Autumn."
Armando then steps outside into the hallway and shuts the door behind him. As Chassen walks towards me, I keep asking up.
He then says, "I've missed you."
I look at him with disgust. Then he pins me against the wall. He kisses me and then I push him off.
"What's wrong, Autumn?"
I look at him and then I say, "are you stupid? One, I don't love you. Two, we aren't in a relationship. Three, you burned me with a blowtorch. Four, this is the second time kidnapping me. And five, I'm engaged."
I hold up my hand, so my ring is visible. Ha backs away and looks at me like I just stabbed his heart. Just then, Armando comes back in the room. I sink to the floor and begin to cry with my head in my hands.
"Armando, I will be right back. I want you to watch her."
Chassen walks out and closes the door. I look up as I feel Armando wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I look him in the eyes and say,
"Armando, please let me go home. Or at least let me call my fiancé."
"Look I want to help you. But if I let you go, he will kill me. Here give me your fiance's number and I'll see what I can do."
I give him the number and then sit back against the wall, as Chassen comes back. Chassen looks at Armando and then back at me.
Then he says, "Armando, I want you to go get us some food."
Armando leaves and goes to get food. Little does Chassen know, Armando is also going to text Nathan and give him the address of this building. He is going to tell Nathan where I am.
Hopefully soon enough I will be in Nathan's arms again. I will be away from this prison cage. I will be able to look into Nathan's mystifying blue-grey eyes. I will be happy. I pull my knees to my chest and cry in the corner, furthest away from Chassen.
"Come here and let me give you a kiss."
I look at him and say, "I would rather kiss Satan himself than kiss you."
I hugged my knees tighter and continued to cry. Chassen looked at me with a fierce fire burning in his eyes. He bit his teeth together ten times harder, which made his jawline more visible. Jesus that jawline. It's so sharp it could cut his own flesh. His lips were pressed tightly against his teeth. His once bright golden-brown eyes looked like they were a deep, charcoal black. He took a few steps forward, inching closer to me.
"I said, come over here and let me give you a kiss." His voice sounded demonic.
"Chassen, stay away from me."
"Wow. Not much has changed about you, Autumn. You're still a stubborn little brat."
He continued to walk towards me as I stood against the wall.
"I can't say the same for you, Chassen. I think you've grown more pathetic. Oh, you also got more ugly than you were before. It looks like the years aren't treating you so well."
He snickered, and then stopped right in front of me. He slammed his hand against the wall, leaving me no room to escape.
"Wow, so many big, angry words from such a small, little girl. Do you really mean everything you said?"
"What?! Of course I do!"
"Oh, well that's too bad."
He then pushed his body against mine. He grabbed me by the hair, holding it tightly in his hand. And then he kissed me. The more I screamed, the harder he kissed. The more I struggled, the harder he pushed himself against me. I could hardly breath and my head started to hurt. My body began to ache and that's when the room became dim.
Suddenly, Armando came in. He put the food down and then glared at Chassen.
"You said you wouldn't hurt her."
"I'm not hurting her."
"Yes you are, Chassen. Let her go. And step away from her."
"Who do you think you are, Armando? Why don't you mind your own business, like a good little Hispanic."
Armando walked over to Chassen. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and then pulled him off of me. He started punching Chassen. He kept punching him, until he was knocked out.
Chassen fell to the floor, like a dead body. As my body went limp, I fell to the floor and Armando rushed over to me.
"Autumn, are you okay?"
My head fell back, against his arm. I couldn't say anything. Armando lifted my head, so that my neck wouldn't snap. My eyes fluttered shut as Armando asked again, if I was okay. As he called the police, he began to cry.
"9-1-1. What's your emergency?"
"Hello? My name is Armando Santiago. I need an ambulance sent to my current address, immediately."
"Okay. Armando, calm down. Can you give me your location?"
"The location is 96 Evergreen Trail, St. Vincent TN 37846. Please, get here fast."
He hung up and put his phone down. As he looked down at me, my eyes rolled to the back of my head. He began to panic. He shook me a little bit as he said,
"Autumn, stay with me. Stay with me. Please don't go. I'm sorry that I brought you to him. I had no idea what he was going to do to you. I'm so sorry. Please don't go. Stay with me Autumn."
The room became dark for me. I could hardly hear what Armando was saying.
Armando then, rose to his feet with my body in his arms. He carried me out of the room and down the long hall. As we reached the exit, he heard the sirens of the emergency vehicles.
He ran out the door with me in his arms. He handed me to one of the paramedics, who then put me on a stretcher. I was put into the ambulance and immediately hooked up to several different machines. Armando told the police that Chassen was in the building. Then he climbed into the back of the ambulance, sitting next to me.
The paramedics are trying to bring back my pulse. Armando is sobbing and frantically texting Nathan, telling him what hospital we are going to. Finally the paramedics found my pulse. Even though my heart rate was slow and I was unresponsive, there was still some hope that I would make it out alive.
We arrived at the hospital, and I was rushed into the Emergency Room. They made Armando wait in the guest waiting room. But they told him what room I was in. They ran a bunch of tests and procedures. And they found a lot of damage.
As the doctor came out, Nathan ran into the guest area. He texted Armando asking where he was. When Armando saw Nathan, he waved. Nathan came running over to Armando, just as the doctor walked up to them. Nathan stood there catching his breath. Armando was the one who began to speak,
"Well, doctor, how is she? Will she be okay? Is she responsive?"
"Sir, we ran a number of tests and procedures. We have found that she has one of the highest amounts of damage, that we have ever seen. She has a broken nose, a fractured arm, and encaved skull, collapsed lung, and a low heart rate. Her damage is of critical ratings."
As the doctor pauses both Armando and Nathan begin to cry. Then the doctor continues,
"It is necessary that we perform an immediate surgery, so that we can lift her rib cage off of her lung. Because as of right now, she is unable to breath properly. But we need your consent."
Armando speaks up,
"Well I am just a friend of hers. This is her fiancé. He will have the say so in these decisions."
"Okay, sir. Do you give your consent for us to perform an immediate surgery on your fiancé?"
Nathan looks at the doctor and says,
"What are her chances of surviving the surgery?"
"Well her chances are better than they are if we don't do the surgery."
"Okay. In that case, yes. You have my consent."
"Thank you sir. I will get back to you as soon as I can."
After that the doctor rushes back to Autumn's room. Nathan crashes to the floor in tears. Armando, senses a lot of frustration, so he takes his leave from the hospital. Nathan calls Johnny, and tells him everything.
Nathan sits in the waiting area, as he awaits the arrival of either Johnny or the doctor. Praying silently to himself that Autumn will survive.