Updating now, so I don't forget later. It's ~ 4-pm where I am, wbu?
. . .
Rebecca
. . .
"Ahhhhh!"
My ears are filled with the sound of my classmates' screams, but all I can hear is my own blood thrumming through my veins.
But, unlike my classmates, I'm unable to scream as the world flips until the only thing preventing everyone from crashing into the ceiling is a seatbelt.
Remembering that Kai is next to me, I scramble to grasp his hand, fighting to take oxygen into my lungs.
I'd always been proud of how calm I remained when I was kidnapped. I hadn't been hurt by my captors, but their initial taking of me had left me wary around cars for a while.
Leo and Reese had been patiently accomodating, having me be homeschooled for the remainder of the year since I'd had panic attacks around any and all cars.
I remember it as vividly as any other day. Kai calls out to me, but his voice sounds muffled, almost as if I'm drowning. As I begin remembering, I find myself being dragged so deep into my mind that I'm unable to respond.
. . .
Rebecca (a year ago)
. . .
I pout my lips in the mirror as I apply a layer of watermelon chapstick—Slate's favorite.
I smile as I begin to think about my boyfriend. We've been together for nearly six months, and our anniversary is tomorrow.
Slate is nothing but kind to me, if a little possessive.
"Rebecca, it's time to go!"
Reese, I mean my mom calls to me from downstairs. The middle aged couple had been in New York on a weekend vacation when they realized they wanted a child. As far as I could discern, Reese had been declared infertile, and Leo was shooting nothing but blanks, so the couple had come in, hoping for a small child, but instead chose... me.
I toss my chapstick into my purse, and make a mad dash downstairs, grabbing a banana and home-made granola bar and giving Reese a peck on the cheek as I leave.
Once I'm in the car, an SUV stretch limo of all things, I begin to nibble on my snack, though eventually, I just end up passing the banana to my driver, unable to eat any more.
We're about fifteen minutes from the school, stopped at a red light.
I'm looking out of the window, my watching the fast moving river to my left when all of a sudden another vehicle, a truck I think, crashes into us. The world begins to do somersaults, turning thrice, before landing on its side.
My eyes fly open, though I hadn't remembered holding them closed. I must have hit my head on the seat pretty hard, as my vision blurs.
As I look around, my vision remaining unfocused, hoping for help, my hands fumble for the latch of my seatbelt. I begin hyperventilating, forcing myself not to panic as the limo begins to slide, slipping toward the river. I find that my desire not to panic is pointless as the car begins to fill with water.
Vaguely I hear the grunts of my driver, and I want to call out, ask what's wrong, but I give up, unable to do much more than gasp for air.
The door to my right is being pried open from the outside, causing a loud scraping sound which forces me to realize that the water is nearly to my chest, so with sudden relief, I allow my eyes to close once again, relaxing into the notion that I'm being saved.
. . .
I awake, cold, my body presumably still encased in my wet school uniform. I look around, expecting to be in a hospital, or perhaps in my bed, but find that I am far from either of those places.
There's nothing but pitch blackness in every direction, making me realize that there's a blindfold covering my eyes. I begin to scream, but there's a rag in my mouth muffling the sound.
Knowing within my heart of hearts that this can't—won't be the end, I begin to kick, and pull at my arms, though my atempts are futile, I'm tied down.
"She's awake," a deep voice resonates in the room around me, causing me to cease my struggles.
I force myself to take deep breaths, listening for more sounds. There are mumblings to my right, but I'm not sure what they're saying.
Suddenly the mumbling stops and a person takes shuffling steps until they're right in front of me. "Hello Miss Gold. I'm sure this is coming as a shock, and you're probably quite scared, but rest assured we won't hurt you. We just need you to make a call. Now, I'm going to take out your gag, and no one can hear you, so it won't matter if you do, but I have a bit of a headache so, do you promise not to scream?"
I nod reluctantly, taking note of the faint accent and slight lisp in his voice. Suddenly, the fabric that is filling my mouth disappears and my jaw relaxes.
"What do you want with me?" I whisper, fulfilling my promise of not screaming.
"Well sotnos, your owner has quite a bit of money. We just need a little. Five hundred thousand." This time it's a different voice, though the accent is the same.
"Owner?"
"Leo," he clarifies, carefully pronouncing each of the two syllables.
I swallow, the action nearly causing me pain as my throat is so dry. "What do I have to do?"
My captors let out light laughs, and I can practically hear their slimy smiles. "I tell you what to say and you tell Leo. We let you go. Everyone has a nice day."
Time passes and I make the call. Leo informs me that the limo was found, and so was my driver—alive thankfully—but someone had managed to hack the traffic cams so that they couldn't even see who'd taken me. After ensuring there were no cops on the line, they agreed to the ransom, in a surprisingly fast manner.
Hearing how quickly he and Reese agreed to give up half a million dollars for a kid who wasn't really theirs removed any reservations I had about calling them mom and dad.
So we wait, as soon as the money is wired, I'll get chloroformed and dropped off at the nearest park.
I hope.
My blindfold is still on, but my gag is still gone, not that I'm making any use of my first amendment rights, however my loss of sight causes me to rely on my hearing.
Suddenly a door opens, a loud screech that sounds like the tearing of aluminum, and my captors give the same exclamation, though they're out of sync. "The fuck are you doing here?"
There's lots of loud movements, and several heavy thuds before my eyes are uncovered.
It takes me a second to focus my vision before finally I can see, and what I see causes tears to spring to my eyes.
There stands Slate, my wonderful, saviour. He holds a bloodied bat in his hands, but drops it as he begins to untie me. His face is bloodied, and although I'm wary at first, fearful that the blood isn't his, I see that there's a gash, large and running directly over his eye.
It's already begun to swell, as though the blade used to hit him was dirty, or poisoned, and at the realization of what I'm seeing, I can't be in his arms fast enough.
"You saved me," I sob, wrapping my arms around his neck once they're free.
"It's okay. You're okay."
"I thought they were gonna kill me."
Slate grips me tighter, pulling me from the chair and leading me out of what is revealed to be a warehouse. "I'd never let that happen. I need you."
. . .
My flashback comes to an abrupt end, revealing that I am now outside of the bus, sitting in an ambulance with an oxygen mask on.
Kai sits at my side, with my EMT glaring at him for being in the way, his hand clasping mine gently, his thumb tracing over my knuckles.
"What happened?" I ask, pulling the mask off of my face, no longer needing it.
Kai tries to put it back on, but retracts his hand when I glare at him. "You stopped breathing for a second there, babe. You okay?"
I nod, not finding it too unbelievable. Certainly more believable than the explanation for the bite mark permanently etched on my shoulder.
"I'm fine. Is everyone else okay? Are you?" I bolt up from my seat, patting his body furiously as I search for signs of injury.
Kai grabs my hands as they land on his shoulders, pulling them around the back of his neck. "I'm fine. Bus driver's a little shaken, but everyone's okay," he murmurs, brown eyes boring into mine. "We're okay."
I nod, feeling a wave of relief wash over me. It had been a while since I had more than three people that I cared for at once, and my worry for Kai, Heaven, Max, and for what would become of Reese and Leo, had taken it's toll.
Exhaling loudly, I allow myself to basically collapse into Kai's arms. I can practically feel a fever starting at base of my spine, a tiny droplet of warm sweat trailing down the length of my back. "I wanna go back to our room."
Kai wraps his arms around my lower back. "Okay."
. . .
I sit like a child on Kai's lap, as he finishes up an essay on his laptop. I'm wearing my thin Hello Kitty pajamas from my first night here and Kai wears only a pair of fuzzy blue pajama bottoms, leaving his torso completely bare.
My shopping bags sit beside the floor, having survived the crash without breaking anything inside, but I've made no move to pack away their contents.
I just lay against Kai's chest, his body temperature warming my cheek, my legs dangling over the sides of his computer chair whilst I wait for him to email his essay to our teacher.
"I quite like you in this position," Kai murmurs, placing a kiss on my forehead. Beneath mine, his right leg bounces with unvoiced anxiety, and although I should be worried for him, but I'm unable to focus on much else save for how his rhythmic motion causes my core to rub over his clothed erection.
I'm turned on, but I refuse to voice it until Kai is done with his essay. Rather than telling him to cease his tapping, I simply snuggle deeper into him, turning my head so that my ear is over his heartbeat and I have a clear view out of the window and into the courtyard.
There isn't much activity, given that most of the students are a bit shaken by the bus accident. Thankfully no one was hurt beyond a few bruises. Of all things that could have hit us, it was an old lady in what I could only describe as a monster truck.
I continue to watch the people who do linger outside, much like I had when the man at the mall had a heart attack. I frown at the memory, and snuggle closer to Kai, needing more of his warmth and reassurance, but find myself jumping from my seat when I see my father in the courtyard.
He works here, and occasionally sleeps here, so in any other circumstance he wouldn't be such a shocking sight, and he isn't.
It's who accompanies him who has my attention.
The boy, fair skinned with hair so black it appears blue in the sunlight, cerulean eyes, vivid and visible from even this far, and an equally visible scar running through his left eye.
Slate.
😊✌🏽