Forever Mine (Joe & Ella 2)

“Sure, lead the way.”

I followed Colin down the back stairs to the car park at the rear of the building. He seemed quiet but then he was never the chattiest person.

As we exited the building he pointed to his silver Volvo parked in the corner by the trees. I should have guessed that Colin would drive a Volvo, he was so sensible, it suited him down to the ground. He clicked the doors open and motioned towards the back door for me to open up and retrieve whatever it was he had back there. I opened the door and peered in…nothing.

“There’s nothing here Colin, are you sure you didn’t put it in the boot?”

I didn’t hear a reply, all I felt was a sharp sting on my neck and the world began to swirl like a kaleidoscope, sounds became distorted, my sight was fuzzy and weird. I couldn’t speak or move, all I felt was my body go limp and crash onto the leather of the back seat of Colin’s car. The last thing I saw was Colin’s face looming over me, a hideous, stomach churning grin on his face as he stroked my hair and muttered something inaudible to me. Then black ….

Joe

Having Ella out for the day gave me the perfect opportunity to put some of the wedding gifts I had in mind for her into action. She was so nosey I’d have never got away with keeping anything a surprise for long but I was going to use the time to get some things into order. Max was on board and would keep any paper work at his place. Sam was keeping an eye on Ella, so I was free to do my own thing.

I wondered if she’d got the flowers I’d sent her yet. I checked my phone but no missed call and no text. It wasn’t like her not to respond straight away, she always had in the past. She was probably having too much fun or being totally monopolized by Chris to get two minutes to herself to message.

I was in between appointments so I headed over to Max’s to pick him up. He was going to come with me for the next viewing. I wanted his input seeing as he knew Ella almost as well as I did, but not quite. I was lying back with my feet up on his coffee table playing his x box whilst he finished getting ready when my mobile rang, Ella was facetiming me.

“Angel, you okay?”

All I could see was her eye then the screen blurred onto what looked like a ceiling light then nothing. The sound was muffled too.

“Ella, did you ring me by mistake? I can’t see you baby, hold the phone up properly.” She was bloody hopeless with technology that woman.

Suddenly every nerve in my body jolted in fear as a man’s deep voice came through the phone. “Is this better Joe?”

I froze, my mouth went dry and the sheer terror I felt in that instance was indescribable. The only word I could conjure up for my position at that very moment was helpless. Crippling, nauseatingly helpless. Max came into the room, and seeing my reaction he came behind me to see what was going on. What I saw on the screen that day would live with me until the day I died.

38

I started to come around slowly, I was cold and shivering uncontrollably lying in just my underwear. The smells and sounds around me were more prevalent than my sense of sight at first. I could smell damp, wet, dirt and rust circling in the air. Particles of dust invaded my nose making me want to sneeze, but I could feel something wound tightly around my face stopping me from talking or making any noise other than the pitiful whimper I was making right now. I listened intently as metal clanged against metal, fingers tapped on a keyboard and the buzzing of some type of light overhead maybe a faulty lighting tube that flicked, clicked and buzzed on and off.

It was my sense of touch that I noticed next. I was lying down, some kind of metal restraints on my arms and legs tying me to what felt like a mattress. A dirty old mattress with a few springs sticking out and poking into my bare skin. The restraints were brutally tight and pinched my ankles and wrists making any movement painful, almost impossible. On my face I had a gag, the dusty vile material soaking up any moisture in my mouth and making my throat feel dry and scratchy. It was tied so tightly around my face that it hurt the sides of my mouth, digging into the flesh and forcing me to keep my lips slightly ajar. The fact I was only in my underwear made me feel especially vulnerable, too exposed.

Once my sight returned I found myself wishing it hadn’t. I was able to move my head from side to side but I felt so groggy from whatever had been injected into me that it felt like a million knives were piercing my skull whenever I did, so I used my eyes to gather as much information as I could. I was lying in what looked like a disused warehouse of some kind. Old metal machines and apparatus which must have been useful in its day stood deadly still, covered in years of dirt and rust and dripping in water, rain water from a hole in the high roof where the tiles had slipped away. No one worked here, no one came here judging from the state of the place. This was a forgotten place and I would soon be a forgotten person.

I looked to the right and saw Colin with his back to me. He was typing away on a laptop. There was another similar laptop set up at the foot of the bed and as I looked down I could see the mattress was on some

type of camping bed or cheap bed frame. Next to the laptop at the end of the bed was a metal table. What was on that table filled me with horror. Knives, scalpels, a drill, a hack saw, every tool you could think of for torturing someone was there. I wanted to throw up and whimpered through the gag, but I knew I had to keep my head clear, it wasn’t just me lying on this flea ridden mattress, I had my little miracle to think about too. I had to stay in the game and think a way out of this. I had to play smart.

“You’re awake. Good, the fun can start.” Colin leered over me and then picked up what looked like my mobile phone. He pointed it right in my face and dialled. When I heard Joe’s voice I knew that this was the ending he had said was coming. Little did either of us realise that the ending would be quite like this…brutal.

“Angel, you okay?” His smooth voice was like a balm to me, a reminder of how much I had to lose. How much I needed to stay focused. I tried to speak but all that came out was a muffled grumble.

“Ella, did you ring me by mistake? I can’t see you baby, hold the phone up properly.”

Colin lifted the phone up to the ceiling and grinned down at me like some demonic lunatic and then stood back and showed Joe where I was, tied to a dirty filthy bed in my underwear and gagged, my eyes full of fear and begging him to save me.

“Is this better Joe?” Colin sneered at me as he spoke. I could hear Joe start to lose it at the other end, calling out ‘no, God please, no.’ Colin just laughed manically.

“So I guess you’re wondering why I brought you here Ella. I think Joe already knows but let’s enlighten him shall we? Humour me Joe, I think Ella needs to know why she’s being sacrificed today…don’t you.” He winked at me and I wanted to kick out at him but I was incapable of moving. I struggled in my restraints all the same mumbling as I did.

“I swear to God you’re gonna pay for this you son of a bitch.” Joe spat down the phone. “I’m going to find you and give you the slowest most painful death you deserve mother fucker.”

“So angry Joe. Shouldn’t I be the angry one right now? I mean you’re the one in the wrong here not me. I’m the innocent party just exacting my revenge, as I believe is my right. It’s only what you deserve.” Colin was pacing up and down now, the phone facing the floor as he spoke.

“Don’t listen to him Ella, I’m coming to get you baby, stay strong I love you.” Joe called to me.

“Oh how sweet. What a shame you’re not always so truthful with her though. It doesn’t bode well for your upcoming nuptials does it? Not that you’ll get to that now I have her.” Colin sat on the edge of the bed a look of pure evil behind his eyes.