“I think he’s scared,” I smiled.
“Come on, Uncle Corey.” He held his hand out to him. “You don’t need to be scared. She won’t make you play the games. Let’s go play in my room,” he said, his eyes looking behind me and widening as the kitchen door swung open. “Quick! Before she makes me play those games again!”
He dragged him through the door and up the stairs, talking the whole way. I stood and watched them, wishing that Kay could see this. This was something that I knew she had been looking forward to and she was missing out on it because of that scumbag.
“Son?” Dad said from beside me. “Made any progress?”
“No.” I walked away from him, the smell coming from the kitchen reminding me of Kay. Every time I came home, she always had something cooking or something in the oven being baked. It was a smell that I’d gotten so used to that it was too much to smell things like that while knowing that I wouldn’t be able to walk into the kitchen and put my arms around Kay.
Everywhere I looked in this house, it reminded me of her. The table that she sat at, or the corner of the sofa, her favorite place to sit. Even her favorite painting that she would stare at for hours. It was just too much.
I walked straight through the kitchen and out the sliding doors, ignoring my ma and dad, there pleas for me to come back, falling on deaf ears. I couldn’t go back there. Without her there, that house was just a shell. Kay made it a home.
My feet took me through the woods and up to the clearing. Kay came up here all the time, she said it helped clear her mind.
There was so much that I wanted to say to Kay, so much that I should have already said to her. It was times like this that I realized I hadn’t even told her that I loved her. I did. I loved her more than anything in the world.
Why hadn’t I shouted that from the roof tops?
I should have told her as soon as I knew that’s how I felt but I was afraid that she didn’t feel the same way or that it would be too much too soon.
I vowed that as soon as I had her back in my arms, I’d tell her exactly how I felt.
I wouldn’t keep another thing from her, I’d tell her the good, the bad and the ugly.
Sitting down at the picnic table, I looked out into the trees. This was her favorite place, and although it still reminded me of her, I felt at peace here. She was right, it did help clear your mind and this was where I felt the closest to her without it being too much for me.
My thoughts turned to what I should have done to keep her safer. It was my fault that she was taken. I had all these security measures in place and the one person who meant the most to me, I hadn’t been able to protect.
I’d put everything in place to keep her safe but that still hadn’t been enough. I should have done better; I should have found Max sooner.
I should have done a lot of things differently but thinking like this wasn’t getting me anywhere. Lifting up off the bench, I took one last look at the clearing.
The next time that I would be here, Kay would be stood by my side.
The days passed in slow motion. With only one window to tell when it was day or night, we counted the days and if my calculations were right, I’d been here four days.
My thoughts constantly drifted to Eli and Ty, I was trying to stay strong for them but it was so much harder than I originally thought and each day that passed became harder and harder.
Max had come in everyday, each time ‘teaching me a lesson’. Both of my sides were covered in bruises now. He hadn’t touched my face and each time I thought he was about to lose control, he’d pull back and leave.
He was getting good at controlling himself, something I thought he’d never be able to do.
I was in constant pain, just enough to make it hurt but not enough for me to pass out. I wished he would make me pass out but it was as if he knew that’s what I wanted and deprived me of it.
Yesterday was the worst, after he’d taught me my lesson, another man came into the room and dragged Lindsey out. She’d kicked and screamed, fighting her way from their holds but it didn’t matter what she did, she couldn’t get away. Max had made sure that I couldn’t get up to help her, he must have seen it in my eyes the moment he stepped in the room, knowing that I’d fight for her.
The other man knocked her out and she went limp in his arms and then he carried her out. They still hadn’t bought her back and I was starting to get worried.
It was just me and Ava now. She’d leaned on me most of the night, her sobs the only sound in the room. I’d put my arm around her and tried my best to comfort her but it was hard when it hurt every time I moved.
When the sun shone through the window, brightening the room, she seemed to perk up a little and even had a small smile on her face. She must have needed a good cry. I was a firm believer that a good cry every once in a while, was a good thing.
I was so bored, sat in this room with nothing to do and just waiting for Max to come back was driving me insane so I decided to try and get to know Ava a little more.
“How old are you, sweetie?” I asked, unable to stop the question before it came out of my mouth.
“Seventeen,” she whispered. She never talked above a whisper and I didn’t know if she physically couldn’t or if that was just how she chose to speak.