AFTER YOU SAVED ME // ZESSA

Chapter 20: Escape

Tessa's POV

My stomach churns as I lay on the bare cot in the corner of the dark room – if you could even call it a room. It feels more like a prison, or a dungeon. No bars, but plenty of musty concrete surrounds me as I wait for a sign that anyone is coming to help.

It must be nighttime by now, my increasingly upset stomach being the only indicator, as there are no windows in this closet of a room. Not even a crack of light comes in through the sides of the door. I must be underground.

Turning over, I try to find a comfortable position. I have not eaten since breakfast and the growing hunger in my gut only worsens my "morning" sickness.

I try to concentrate on anything else, tossing and turning, hoping I can fall asleep and avoid the pangs of hunger and queasiness that are building.

After another maybe 40 minutes of lying on the cot, I stand, finding sleep impossible.

However, the second I stand an intense urge to gag overtakes me, and I dry heave violently, nearly coming to my knees.

I groan, shutting my eyes as a cold sweat comes covers my body, and brace for another wave of sickness.

I gag again, my back arching as I press my hands to the wall, trying to move to the corner of the room. I want to avoid getting sick all over the middle of the floor, no matter how dirty this room already is.

Luckily, I make it just in time to spill what little was in my stomach onto the dirt covered ground.

I finish, trying to catch my breath as I wipe my mouth and make my way back to the cot.

Just then, the door shutters, swinging open.

I jump, scooting further back and squinting my eyes, the light behind Dan too intense.

My eyes adjusting, I see him move to the corner where I just puked. What is he doing?

"Why did you throw up?" he asks curtly, craning over it.

"Why do you think?" I say back harshly. Trying to calm down and not upset at the man I know will only hurt me, I clear my throat, which still tastes of bile, and say, "Because I need my anti-nausea meds. Which I don't see in here." I look around the room, trying to make my point, then continue, "plus I haven't eaten since morning. Pregnant women get very nauseated if they don't eat – especially those carrying twins."

I roll over, not wanting to look at him, clutching my aching belly as a hunger pain stabs the underside of my ribs.

"I'll get you some food," he says, before stomping out and slamming the door behind him.

"And water!" I scream, hoping the door is not soundproof.

"Tessa?" a scared voice says, somewhere outside the door.

"Anna?" I yell, sitting up.

"Yes, it's me!" I hear her cry.

I run to the door, a new surge of adrenaline propelling me forward.

"Where are you? What happened?" I ask frantically.

"I don't know. I went looking for you and someone grabbed me in the parking lot. I don't remember anything else. I woke up here," she yells, though her voice sounds only of a whisper from where I stand.

"It's Dan," I shout, "he took us. He wants my babies. I don't know if anyone will be able to find us. He has my phone and... everything," I say hopelessly, pressing my ear to the door.

"I don't think I can get out of here," she says back, sounding just as hopeless. "He took my phone too and already texted work that I quit. No one will be looking for me," she says, the hurt coming through with every word.