Vanished in Chicago (Vanished)

“Go ahead. Yell. Everyone is gone. No one will hear me when I violate your tiny tease bucket.” Ewwww.

“Please…someone…help!!” His hand touches my face and I turn my head away from him.

“Oh, don’t worry little girl. You will look at me.” My shirt rips and the sound is like nails on a chalkboard. My skin begins to crawl when his hands pull my bra down and his fingers touch my nipple.

“Stop. Don’t.” I cry out trying to push him off me. Where is Jak? Is all I can think of right now. Suddenly out of nowhere I hear something crash. He turns to look, and I take the moment to knee him in his balls.

“Chiara!” I run to Paul, tears streaking my face. My body is shaking, wrecked with fear. Within seconds, I hear feet charging the ground and see Morris and Al storming the room.

“Are you ok?” Al asks me as Morris grabs my would-be rapist off the floor.

“I… I don’t…” A wail leaves my mouth as everything that has happened comes out of me in a wave of emotions. It’s not just this. I have been holding in everything, even from the kidnapping. It has all gone at such hyper speed and seems it is now overwhelming me.

I don’t feel Paul lift me in his arms. I don’t register us moving through the school or when we get to the teachers’ lounge, and he sits me on his lap on the sofa. I have no idea how long we sit there, and I couldn’t begin to tell you anything that is happening around me. I don’t hear anything until Jakub's voice penetrates through the fog.

“Where the fuck is she?” I hear him somewhere outside the room and the haze starts to lift. I begin squirming my mind telling myself I need to go to him, but unless I am imagining it, Paul’s grip on me gets tighter the closer Jakub gets. “Who the FUCK are you?” Jak roars when he finally enters the room. “If you don’t get your hands off my woman, you will be missing them by the end of the night.” When my eyes finally land on him, I melt into a puddle of leaky mess. He scoops me from Paul’s arms and holds me against him. “God baby. I am so sorry. I am so fucking sorry. Are you ok? Did he…Christ…did he...” I know what he is asking but he can’t get the words out.

“No. He… almost but Paul stopped him.” I tell him and kiss his neck so maybe he calms down. He says nothing, but he inclines his head toward Paul before carrying me out of the room.

“Paul,” I call his name to get his attention. Jakub stops walking but doesn’t turn around. “Thank you for saving me.” I tell him before laying my head back down on Jak’s chest.

When we make it to the car, he slides in with me in his arms and I hear his heart doing a deathmatch with his lungs. “Where the fuck were you two?” He asks Morris, who is driving us back.

“Sir, we were looking for her. We didn’t see her leave the class. We attempted to use her tracker, but the construction in the building interfered.”

“All I hear are excuses. Your job… your only job is to make sure she is safe. If you can’t do your job maybe I should gouge out your goddamn eyes!” he growls that last part, and it makes me shiver. I don’t hear him like this often, but when I do, it reminds me that the man who took me is a ruthless killer. “Where is he?” I am about to ask who he is referring to when Morris responds.

“Being taken to the barn.”

“No one touches him but me.” Now I know who they are talking about. “Which one of you is going to pay for this?” he asks Morris. He keeps kissing my head and rubbing my back, trying to calm himself but now I am sitting here feeling guilty. I have to say something.

“It’s my fault, Jak,” I say quietly into his chest.

“Don’t ever say that baby. It is never a woman's fault when a piece of shit like that decides to violate a woman.” That is true. But being in that situation is my fault.

“No, I mean the part where Al and Morris couldn’t find me. I…sort of… ditched them.” His grip on me tightens and I know he is mad.

“Why would you do something like that, Chiara? Why would you put yourself in danger like that?”

“I didn’t know I would be in danger, okay. All I could think about was getting to my uncle’s house so I could talk to my sisters. I miss them, Jakub. Can’t you understand that? How would you feel if someone told you that you couldn’t speak with or see your mom and brother?” He has the decency to look sheepish and I feel like I have finally reached him.