The Unspoken Truth

Eight

Stella,
Although I'm uncertain about the time, I believe it has been a few days since Professor Hamilton last visited me. Was Professor Hamilton arrested? Oh, my god I hope not because I will never get out of here. I will be stuck here for the rest of my life.
My parents, sister, Mac, Kai, and the other guys are people I will never see again. I finally got my life back after the attack before I had to come back here and now, I'm going to die in some cellar and my family will never know where I am.
I hear footsteps coming down the hall. It's hard to believe, but I'm grateful he's returned.
The door swings open and Professor Hamilton looks really mad. "Did you miss me, little bitch? He slurs at me?"
Oh crap, he is drunk. I notice as he comes through the door that he didn't clothe it. That might work in my favor.
"Come here," he commands me, and I want to buck and flip him off. "I said, come here he yells at me." I walk over toward him slowly because I know what he is going to do to me.
As I halt in front of him, he roughly pulls my hair to draw me closer, and then he places his disgusting mouth on my neck. "Did you miss me, Stella?"
"Y... yes, I whimper." It took everything in me to say the words. He moves his hands over my body, and it takes everything in me to not shiver.
When he's distracted, I act. I move my hand to my back pocket and find the fork I hide back there. With haste, I remove it from my back pocket and forcefully plunge the fork into his neck. Hamilton backs up, putting his hand on the fork. "You little bitch... what did you just do?" He slurs and stumbles to the door."
Crap, I have to get out of here before he can get the door shut. I run over to the door and shove him hard. It has him stumbling to the ground on the outside of the door. I don't have time to get him back into the cellar. Because I don't want to take any chances of him getting the upper hand and putting me back into the cellar, so I just run as fast as I can.
I make it to one door and yank at the doorknob. Thank god, the door wasn't locked, and I yanked the doorknob to open it.
I run out the door but then I come to a halt... crap, which way do I go? After standing for a moment, I hear Professor Hamilton shout my name, and I run, hoping it's the correct path to town. I keep running and running until I just can't run anymore. I didn't hear Hamilton behind me so far, so I sat down for a minute. I look around and see that I am deep in the woods. I will never make it out of here before dark. I can see it coming up on me fast.
I get up and start walking into the woods a little further. I try to find somewhere to hide... that way, if Hamilton catches up to me, he won't see me and hopefully I will hear him coming so I can get away from him. I cannot go back to that house again because he will not let me out of there alive this time for sure. As I continued walking, I discovered a cave-like structure downhill. I investigate to make sure it's safe. It's pretty dark in there, so I just take my chances with the cave. Because I really don't have any other choice ... it's either the cave or risk Professor Hamilton finding me.
I walk into the cave, and it's so cold in here I instantly start shivering. I have no way of blocking the cold, but I curl up in a corner and put my arms in my shirt. I try to get my body to warm up so I might sleep a little before morning. But my body never warms up and before I know it... it's daytime, so I climb to the edge of the cave to look out the hole to make sure he's not there. Once I see there is nobody there, I climb out of the cave and start walking again. There's been no sight or sound of Professor Hamilton or anyone else, so I assume he went the other way. Some small animals like rabbits, deer, or squirrels made me scared for a moment, but they were just passing by.
I'm parched, so I make my way to a creek that's flowing. Once I get down there, I cup my hands together and scoop up a couple of hands full of water and drink it. Then I wash my face. Once I'm done, I get to walking again.
It's getting dark again, so I find another place to lie low for the night. This time I found a place that's not so cold so I'm able to sleep a bit, but it's not long lived because an animal scares the crap out of me. Once I'm awake, I can't go back to sleep, and the sun is rising anyway, so I walk again. I have been walking for two days now, so I should get close to a road or at least another house by now.
A little way into my walk, I hear something that sounds like a motor coming my way and about two minutes later; I hear him yell my name.
Oh, my god no. I run a little way down from where I am. There is another cave down the way, so I jump down the rock I'm on and run into the cave and make my way as far into the cave as I can go. The cave is one of those that has different ways to go, so I take the right. Maybe there is another way out this way, and hopefully it leads further out of the woods. I escape the cave and spot a cabin nearby.
I run over to the little cabin and when I open the door and walk into the house... I stop and look around in horror. Crap, this is his cabin. I run back out of the cabin, then I run the opposite way that I came from.
I run, and run, and run forever it feels like. It feels like it's the first day I ran away. I have to find a road this time. This has to be the way to the main road... right, the other way was just woods.
I need to slow down because I've been running for so long. I bend over, putting my hands on my knees and I just start crying. Why is this happening to me? Haven't I been through enough already? I just want to go home. Please let me find the road before he finds me.
I stand up straighter... wipe my tears and get to walking again. About thirty-five minutes into the woods I see what looks like a road, so I run towards it and thank the lord that is what I was seeing. I make it onto the road and see a car coming from up ahead. I walk toward the car that is coming and waving my arms for them to stop.
"Thank you so much for stopping." I tell them when I get the door open.
"It's not a problem, young lady. It looks like you have been walking for a while. Did you get lost in the woods? The gentleman asks me."
"Not exactly, sir. Professor Hamilton kidnapped me, and he- brought me out here somewhere to a cabin. He held me captive for a couple of weeks in a cellar. He came into the cellar drunk a couple of days ago and I stabbed him with a fork I hid one time he fed me. Then I ran out of the cellar, and out of the house, and into the woods, but I ran the wrong way, so I was in the woods for about 3 days just walking. I found a way out of the cabin by jumping into a cave and running away in the opposite direction. Fortunately, it brought me to this road and to you. Can you please help me get home?"
"Yes, ma'am, we will get you home... it's Stella Savage, isn't it?"
"How- how did you know my name?" I ask him?
"You are all over the news, sweetheart, and Professor Hamilton has a warrant out for his arrest in connection to your kidnapping."
"He does!"
"Yes, ma'am."
"So, he never showed up to court those weeks back?"
"I don't know the full details of what's going on. But no, I don't think he did, so now everyone has been out looking for you and the Professor."
"How did you know to come down this way?"
"I didn't... ma'am; I live just a few roads down. I was heading home."
"Could you take me to the police station, sir?"
"Yea, I could, but I'm not going to."
"I'm sorry?"
"Did you think I lived here all these years and did not know what's going on around me? Kevin and I go way back."
"Kevin?"
"Professor Hamilton to you."
"What are you going to do to me?"
"Oh, I will do nothing to you. I'm just going to take you back to my house and wait on Kevin to get there, then I'm sure he will take you back to his house and do whatever he does to you girls."
"You girls?"
"How many girls has Professor Hamilton done this to?" I ask the guy?
"Over the years, about 20."
"What does he do to them?"
"I don't really know. I assume he kills them after he's done with what he wants out of them."
Oh god. I need to get out of this truck somehow.
The guy slows the truck down to turn. I opened the door and jumped out of the truck. I stumble and fall at first, but I get my footing back under me and take off running into the woods back the way we just came from. It's imperative that I distance myself significantly from those two men. So, I can try, and get to town, and back to my parents. I keep running deeper into the woods, hopefully further away from the man and his house and Hamilton. It's getting dark, but I don't want to stop running this time. I want to get the heck out of this area of town.
It's been hours. It feels like in these woods. It's getting darker and darker. I finally ran out of the woods and onto a main highway. Oh, thank the lord. There are a few houses and a convenience store in my sight. I took my chances with the convenience store after what happened with the guy in the truck. I don't want to take any chances.
Thankfully, the store is a 24-hour store, so I rushed in and asked the clerk if I could use her phone to call my parents because my car broke down.
"Of course, honey." The clerk says and hands me a phone from over the counter. I have my mom's number memorized, so I dial it right away.
It rings about 5 times before my mom's sleepy voice comes on the line.
"Hello."
"Mom!"
"Stella... oh Stella, is that you, sweetheart?"
"Yes, momma, it's me."
"Baby, where are you?" Mom asks.
"Ma'am, where are we?"
"We are in Seattle."
"Oh god that's four hours from Spokane."
"I'm in Seattle, momma."
"Bastard mom curses."
"Okay here's what you are going to do, Stella. Call the cops, have them come and get you from where you're at. They will take you back to their station, then dad, and I will be on our way to get you okay."
"Okay."
I hung up with my mom and called the police. I let them know I'm at the- stop and go on Ashley street.
They take about 15 minutes to get there and once they do; they take my statement. I also told them about the guy that picked me up today.
He was driving a red four-door F-250. He was gray headed, tall... I'd say about 6'3 250, give or take.
"Can you remember the name of the street you were driving down..." one of the officers asked me?
"Yes, I remembered it because it had a weird name. Apple Bottom drive."
"That's great, Ms. Savage, " the officer tells me. "You're doing great. Do you think you could go with us and show us the cabin the professor was in?"
"Yes, I think I can..." I told him.
We make our way out to the officer's vehicles. We have been looking for you for so long, Ms. Savage. "You are a brave little girl." The officer tells me once we are in the car.
"I don't feel brave... I told her. I'm so scared he will get me again."
"You are safe with us," she tells me and I just nod my head.
We drove out to the area I told them I was at, and it didn't take as long to drive as it did to run out of those woods.
I could lead them to the professor's cabin with no problem. He wasn't there, and his car was still in the driveway, so the officers stayed with me while the other officers and dogs looked for him in the woods.
The officers lock me up in the car and they stand post outside the car with their guns drawn.
The sun started rising by the time we were making our way out to the property, so it's daylight by this time.
I'm exhausted... I must have fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I know, the back door is being opened, and the officer asks me to step out.
When I do... I freeze. They have a body on a stretcher and a sheet over it.
"Oh, my god is he,"
"Yes, ma'am he is. We need you to identify him. We need you to confirm he is your kidnaper..." one officer explains to me.
"Did I kill him when I stabbed him with the fork? Will I go to jail for murder?"
"No, sweetheart, you didn't kill him. He had a four-wheeler wreck and fell down a cliff."
"But it could have been because of the blood loss because I stabbed him."
"We can never know that. The officer tells me." Then leads me over to where the body is laying. When they remove the sheet, I gasp.
No, this can't be.
"That's not the professor. It's the guy from the truck."
"Are you sure, the officer asks?"
"Yes, I'm sure I say shaking everywhere."
"Fuck," I hear one of the officer's whisper.
"What's going on?" I ask them.
"He got away again. We have been chasing this man for quite some time now. You are not the first girl he has done this too, but you are the first to survive his attack, so we thought just maybe we had him this time."
"Let's get you to the police station before your parents get there, so they can get you home and away from here."
"That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day," I tell them.
"Alright..." the female cop I rode with laughs and gets me back into the car and we head out to the police station.
"So, Stella, what are you going to do when you get back home?"
"Well, the first thing I'm going to do is take a hot shower. Then I'm going to beg my parents to go back home to Hawaii. Then when I get there, I'm going to kiss my boyfriend, sister and friends."
"That sounds like a wonderful plan. But I also think you, and your mom should go to the hospital and get yourself checked out. You have been gone for some time. Even though you look healthy on the surface, there could be things wrong with you," the officer says.
"You know what he did to me, don't you...?"
The officer just looks at me through the mirror but says nothing else for the rest of the car ride.
"Oh, my god. It happened to you, too. You're the other survivor, aren't you?" I blurt out.
She nods her head. "I was about 16 when it happened. I went to a party just like you. He came to talk to me. The hottest teacher wanted to talk to me and asked me to get food with him. I just thought he's just trying to be a friendly teacher and get a kid away from a party... where there was drinking involved, so I agreed to go with him. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a basement chained to the floor."
"So, he didn't take you to the cabin?"
"I'm not sure he had it back then. See, that was back in 1999. I was 16, so he was maybe 21."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I did... they didn't believe it could have been my teacher."
"But he kept doing it, so why didn't they believe you after that?"
"Because the bastard was smart... he took girls from different states. They were still missing. Stella."
"Did he stock you before he took you?" I asked the officer?
"Yes," she shook her head.
We made it to the police station about the same time my parents made it. As soon as I'm out of the police car, my parents gather me up in their arms and hug the crap out of me.
"Oh, Stella honey.... are you okay, mom cries?"
"I truthfully don't know, momma, I whisper."
"Let's get you home," dad says.
"Actually, first I need to go to the hospital and get checked out. I'm sure I have his DNA all over me."
"You didn't take my daughter straight to the hospital after you picked her up?" Mom asks the officer.
"No, ma'am... we had her show us where she was being held captive in hopes we could find Professor Hamilton."
"It's okay, mom. I wanted to help them find Professor Hamilton to get him off the streets."
"Well, did you..." dad asks.
"No, sir... by the time we got there, he had already got away."
"Well, fuck." Dad growls.
We headed to the hospital. Once we are there, a nurse comes in and asks me a few questions. Then does an exam, and brings me some clothes to put on, so she can take my clothes for DNA testing.
When she comes back in, she lets me know she will call me in a few days with the results of the test she has run. She assures me I'm not pregnant. "Thank goodness for that. It never really crossed my mind that I could be pregnant." I tell her.
Once we leave the hospital, we head back to our motel. I walk into my room to get a shower, and I'm surprised when I see Kai and Dakoda standing there, waiting for me. I run up to them and give them an enormous hug. "What are you guys doing here?" I ask them.
"Did you think we were going to let mom and dad have all the fun?" Dakoda asks me.
"Of course not."