The smell of ammonia has my stomach turning. Oh god, I’m going to hurl. Yup, I’m going to hurl.
Needing to get up before I make a mess of myself, I crack an eye open but see nothing.
A sea of black surrounds me, my only company the putrid smell and the distant rattling of chains. Fuck, this is some straight up horror movie shit. Where in the hell am I?
I’m almost scared to feel around, unsure of what I’ll find. “You’ve got this, Mel.” I whisper to myself in assurance, even though I’m not sure I should be saying anything out loud. God knows if anyone else is around me. Perhaps a monster lurking in the dark, ready to pounce at the first sign of life.
One, two, three… I reach a hand out and feel the ground beneath me. Cobblestone? What is this, a dungeon? Reaching out further, I feel a dip in the ground and a wetness I wish I hadn’t touched. It’s warm and thick, too thin to be water, but just thick enough to be— “Ahhhhh!”
Something fluttered over my hand as a small squeaking sound rushed past me. “Holy shit! Was that a mouse!?”
So much for being quiet.
“Shhh. Keep it down or you’ll make him come back.” A woman’s voice sounds off in the distance, so faint, I wonder if I even heard it.
“Hello? Anyone there?”
“I said shut it,” she whisper-hisses, making it clear that I didn’t hallucinate her presence. “Do you want to get beat or worse?”
A shiver wracks my body as I remember the last time I got a beat down. Not something I care to repeat.
Even so, I can’t stay quiet. We need to find a way out of here and I can’t do that without getting more info from my new roommate.
“Hey,” I whisper, not wanting to agitate the woman and definitely not wanting to make whoever she’s afraid of come back. “I’m Mel, and I don’t belong here. Neither do you. If you help me, I promise I’ll do whatever I can to get us out.”
“Mel bell.” the woman croaks, making my entire body freeze in place.
There’s only one person who’s ever called me that and she abandoned me a long time ago. It couldn’t be, could it?
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I ask for something I’m too afraid to know the answer to. “I’m sorry. What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t. I don’t. We don’t need names down here. Apples are for trees and girls are for pews and pies.” She starts rambling incoherent phrases I can’t quite make out and I think I’ve lost her.
“Okay… Um, it’s just that, the name you called me, Mel Bell, that’s something my mother used to call me when I was little.” She makes a strangled sound, her incessant chatter finally stopping. “Her name—my mother’s name—it was Olivia.”
“Olivia, poor Olivia.” The woman sniffles, the pain evident in her tone. “She’s long gone. Not here anymore.”
My heart is beating a mile a minute. “Oh my god, you know of her? She was here? They brought her here?”
“Yes. I knew her. But she’s been long gone. Died the moment they took her from her babies.”
My heart cracks wide open, immeasurable pain pouring out of me like molten lava. All this time I’ve blamed her. Thought the worst of her for leaving me and Eric, and she’d been right here, in our town, in this dungeon.
Eric. God, did he do this to her? Couldn’t be, he was also just a boy when she’d left.
“Don’t cry, Mel Bell. If you stop crying, Mommy will give you some of that chocolate chip ice cream you like so much.”
“What?” I choke on a sob. “What did you say?”
“It’s your favorite, just like little Eric.”
I sit up straight, wiping at my tear-stained face. “And how do you know that?”
She chuckles, “Because you used to beg for it every day after school.”
“Momma?” My entire body hums with adrenaline, butterflies swimming under every bit of my flesh as I wait for an answer. It’s her. This has to be her.
“Yes, baby Bell?”
Ohmyfuckinggod. It’s her! Full-bodied sobs wrack me as the realization hits me head on. She never abandoned us. She’s been trapped in this venerable hell hole this entire time. Our poor mother.
“Shhhh. You have to be quiet or he’ll come back. He’ll come back and he’ll hurt us both.”
I shake my head, unwilling to let my brother keep us down here. “Fuck Eric. I’ll take him on myself. Punch him in the nuts and make him set us free.”
“Ha!” A shiver crawls up my spine as a new voice joins us in the dark. “You think that poor excuse of a man would have the balls to follow in his father’s footsteps? Think again, stupid girl.”
“Bruce?” I feel my forehead wrinkle as my brain tries to piece this twisted turn of events together.
“No, it’s the boogie man. Of course, it’s me. Who else do you think could pull something like this off? It sure as fuck isn’t your brother.”
“But that night in the bunker, there were two of you. I thought that… I thought…”
“You thought… you thought. You can’t even string a sentence together, what in the hell makes you think you could figure out who my partner is? I’ve been running this operation for El Jefe’s cartel for a good twenty years and to this day, nobody’s been able to figure me out.” He chuckles, and it’s just as well. I need him to keep talking so I can find us a way out of here. I’m feeling around on the ground, searching for something, anything, I need a weapon and I need it now.
Oblivious to my plan, Bruce continues on his rant. “It’s a pretty sweet gig if you ask me. I get first use of the girls, getting them nice and ready for transport, and besides, I get to hold on to your momma. I do love her; she’s just never learned her place.”
It’s my turn to laugh, but it’s dry and full of sarcasm. “That’s not love. It’s obsession.”
“Love, obsession. It’s the same thing.” There’s a rustling sound and I hear another woman groan. Jesus, how many of us are there down here? “Either way, it’s something your brother didn’t have the balls to handle so I’ve had to do this all on my own with the occasional help from my silent partner.”
This makes my brows furrow; I could’ve sworn it was Eric. “But I saw him. I saw my brother.”
“Well, you sure as shit didn’t see Eric. That puny asshole doesn’t have the stomach for this.” I hear footsteps get closer and I know I’m running out of time. There has to be something I could use. “I tried to teach him when he was little. Show him what a man’s supposed to do to his woman, but he just threw up all over his momma. Pathetic little shit.”
Just then, a bony hand bumps into mine, the small touch almost making me jump. It’s Olivia. I know it is. She must’ve made her way to me while Bruce was taking us down memory lane.
With a little nudge, she’s handing me something, and as I feel for it in the dark, I can sense that it’s a homemade shank of sorts. My god. She’s giving me her weapon.
“Mel Bell. My Mel Bell,” she whispers while pushing the blunt edge of the shank into my palm.
“Momma.” Closing my free hand over hers, I press mine against her fragile one. God, I need to get us out of here.
“Awe. Isn’t that sweet. I see you found the woman who baked you.” There’s some shuffling and a dim light shines through the cavernous space, the vision making me throw up in my mouth.
Bodies. Countless of them. All women, lined against a wall. “Oh my god. Are they…”
“No, child. They aren’t worth anything dead. They’re just… asleep.” Bruce kicks one of the women and she doesn’t even flinch. Shit. How drugged does he keep them? “They all come and go, but your momma, I keep her around. Service my needs.” He licks his lips, and the sight alone has me pitching over to the side, nothing but bile splattering against the dark stone floor.
“Ha! Looks like you and your brother are made of the same cloth. Little bitches. Can’t stomach shit.” Bruce takes a step closer and Olivia whimpers. My poor mother.
No more. As he steps forward, I brace myself, sitting upright and securing the shank I’d hidden underneath my body. It’s about time someone put this asshole in his place, and I’m more than happy to be that person.
“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s keep it in the family.” Bruce’s lecherous smile has more bile crawling up my throat, the idea of being with this man in that capacity turning my blood into sludge. “Come and show your father a good time before I send you off to Raul. Turns out you’re good for something after all.”
Bruce reaches down, fisting my hair as he pulls me up off the ground. This is it. Now or never, baby doll.
Maneuvering the shank, I slide the tip between my closed fist and repeatedly punch this sick asshole right in the throat. One, two. One, two.
“Sorry. I don’t do fathers. Only Daddy’s.”
“You fucking bitch!” Bruce gargles as he grabs at his throat, blood spurting out meanwhile Olivia’s hysterical laughter sounds off behind me.
Fuck, yes! Spurting blood means I must’ve hit an artery, and it’s only a matter of time before he bleeds to death, I just need to make sure he doesn’t kill us before then.
But I’ve spoken too soon, because with a speed that shouldn’t be possible, Bruce’s hands wrap around my throat and squeeze. I’m trapped, unable to move as he crushes my windpipe, cutting off all air.
I’m thinking all is lost as my vision blurs and I’m gasping for breath, but right then, I hear the sweetest sound—Bruce grunting in pain.
“Let my baby go!” Olivia’s laughter dies out, replaced by a battle cry of sorts. I don’t know what she’s doing, but whatever it is it has one of Bruce’s hands dropping, giving me the small reprieve I need to stay just shy of death.
Taking the moment for the gift that it is, I lift my knee and crush it against Bruce’s nut sack, effectively making him drop the other hand as he bowls over and howls.
Again, he surprises me, recovering way quicker than he should for a man that’s bleeding out and on the verge of keeling over.
Like some super freak, he’s stumbling toward me, but I’ll be damned if I let him catch me or Olivia. Rushing to her side, I lift her off the ground, noticing she’s even more frail than I thought. She’s skin and bones.
“Come on, momma. We gotta get out of here.” I rush past a blinking Bruce, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he starts to convulse. Finally, Jesus. It’s about damn time the blood loss caught up with him.
“The keys, baby Bell. He has the keys.” Olivia mumbles in between bouts of laughter. Damn it. She’s right.
Looking over at the flailing man I see that he’s clutching onto his throat with one hand meanwhile hanging onto a ring of keys with the other. Bastard. He may be dying but he knows full well we need those to secure our freedom.
With the little energy he has left, Bruce crawls himself to a drain, his intention painfully obvious. Oh, hell no. He’s going to throw the keys down that grill, locking us in here until we all die right along with him.
“Not a chance, asshole.” I lean Olivia against the wall before I’m flinging myself at my father, my body colliding with his as I reach for his extended hand. “Got it.”
I’ve got it, but Bruce isn’t giving in easily. Even in his current state, he’s still giving me hell. “Mistake. You were a mistake, stupid girl.”
His words hit me deep one last time before there’s a loud blast behind me. Olivia!
In my haste to reach her, I lose my grip on the keys, the slick metal ring dropping between the slots and disappearing forever. “Noooo!”
Bruce’s gargled laughter is the last thing I hear before gunshots ring off and I see his body jostle upon impact. He’s done. Gone. Never to shame me or degrade me again.
I should be looking for gunfire, I should be looking for Olivia, but I’m in a trance, staring at the man who did more damage to my soul than all of my other life experiences combined.
Shuffling feet mix with groans play the soundtrack to my entranced state, the fog only breaking when I hear someone shout behind me. “They’re sedated!”
No matter the commotion, I’m still lost in this daze, and it isn’t until strong arms wrap around me that I’m detaching my sight from the man at my feet.
“Baby doll, come back to me.” Hunter whispers behind me and I finally fall apart, letting everything go in his arms because I’m safe. Safe with a man that’s willing to risk his own life and happiness just so I can have my own.
I get it now. Why he’s always wanting to carry the weight for those he loves. But too bad for him, I won’t let him carry it alone.
Turning back in his arms, I look up into his whiskey-colored eyes and smile. God, he’s gorgeous. My man. My Hunter. “Hey, Daddy.”
He softly chuckles while shaking his head. “There’s my girl. How about we get you home?”
I nod, my eyes finally taking in the rest of the room and seeing that there’s a slew of people tending to the multiple bodies. Yes, the sight is tragic, but there’s one in particular that makes my eyes prickle and nose sting.
Eric. He’s found Olivia, his arms wrapped firmly around her in an embrace. “Momma. I’m so sorry. I should’ve stopped him. I should’ve kept him from hurting you.”
A knot forms in my throat, the sight too much to bear. I’m shaking now as full-bodied sobs are wrenched from my chest.
“Shhh, baby.” Hunter presses his lips to my forehead, trying to calm my nerves, but there’s no soothing that’ll take this pain away. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get her home. Promise.”
I nod against his mouth, not wanting to detach from this man for a second. There may be no cure for the ache I feel, but this man’s touch is the closest thing to it and I’m not planning on letting him go. “I love you, Hunter Crown. So damn much.”
“I love you, too, baby doll. You’re my world. My everything.” And in true Hunter fashion, the man of my dreams picks me up, carrying me bridal style out of this dungeon from hell and into the light, the irony of it all not lost on me.
Three years ago, he did the same. Pulling me out of the darkness I’d been under and carrying me into the light of awareness and enlightenment.
This man has saved me more than once, but it was that very first time that set our destiny in motion, and for that I will forever be grateful. Grateful for my very own feral Buddha.
