Welcome to my new story. This will be 'M' rated but it'll be some time before those scenes happen. I have to thank my dear friends Eva for all of her help. Give her a round of applause, she really goes the extra mile helping me with my stories. I inundate her with revision after revision and she happily puts up with me.. And Kate for the beautiful cover art that she gifted me with again. I love both of you. I only have the epilogue left to write so I feel safe giving you the first chapter. Buckle your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride. I own nothing but the original characters that you will meet.
Taking Michael by the hand, we very cautiously sneak out of the house. He's just a little boy. What kind of a person would I be if I allowed my fate to fall upon him too?
"Where are you taking me?" he asks, his voice fearful.
Pressing my fingers to my lips, I signal for him to be quiet till we're a safe distance away from the house. Once we're a couple of blocks away, I take a moment to look around.
"Hello Danny," I startle when I hear Mr. Evans greet me. He's one of the few people that I know since I'm rarely let outside of our house. "Who do you have here?" he asks looking at Michael curiously.
"His parents are friends of my parents. I'm babysitting," I tell him, hoping my lie is believable. Seemingly satisfied, he says goodbye then walks away. Exhaling a breath, I take his hand again not letting go until we reach the police station. I'm afraid. Fear is erupting in every cell in my body causing chill bumps to break out on my skin. I do know I can't back out though. I close my eyes and inhale deeply in an attempt to fortify my courage. Biting my lower lip, I squeeze Michael's hand gently. After giving him a long stare, I walk one step at a time, Michael in tow, till we reach the double doors. Once more I take in a deep shuddering breath. Pursing my lips, I finally push the door open gesturing for him to step inside as I follow right behind. When I look around there are Poinsettia plants and holiday decorations adorning the police station. I can almost smell the evergreen trees if I try hard enough. My mind vaguely remembers a time and a place of a long time ago. It was always so exciting to go into the woods with my real dad to chop down our family Christmas tree.
Slowly we walk up to the desk. "Um, I need to talk to someone," I tell the lady officer, my voice shaky.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asks, her voice kind.
"Uh... I don't know. It's about a kidnapping," I whisper. Her eyes widen a moment then she tells Michael and me to take a seat. I watch as she picks up the desk phone, eyeing me while she's talking. Before long, a man in a suit walks over to us.
"I'm Detective Williams. I'm told you have a crime to report?"
"Yes," I whisper, staring into his eyes.
Gesturing for us to follow, I get up, taking Michael's hand and we walk behind him. He motions for us to take a seat then pushes his office door closed. "Do you want something to drink?" he asks, trying to make us relax a little bit.
Shaking my head no, "I just don't want him to go through what I've been through."
"What's your name?"
"I'm Danny. This is Michael."
"Well Danny, why don't you tell me what brought you here today?" he says, looking genuinely sympathetic.
"My dad brought Michael into our house a couple of weeks ago. I don't know where he took him from but he took him."
"What do you mean your dad took him?"
"My mom, she's not right. It's almost Christmas. I heard them talking when they thought I was asleep. She.. she wanted another child. Um they can't have any so dad took him," I say, my voice shaky and fearful sounding even to my own ears. Turning to look at Michael, I urge him to tell the officer what my dad did to him.
"I was at the playground. I went to the bathroom and the man took me. He put his hands over my mouth so I couldn't scream," he says, clutching my hand, his eyes never leaving mine.
"Stay here a moment, I'm going to go to see if we have any missing persons reports on you Michael. Please stay here and wait for me." As the minutes pass, I keep looking at the clock only to see that the hands have barely moved. I feel jumpy and on edge. Unable to calm the butterflies churning in my stomach, I bite my lip wondering what I'll do if they don't believe me. My foot is pounding a steady cadence against the linoleum floor as we wait for the officer to come back. Michael looks scared so I reach over to him with one of my clammy hands trying to ease his fears a little bit although my own are in the stratosphere right now. When I hear Christmas music begin to play over the office sound system, I close my eyes, just listening and hoping it'll soothe my frayed nerves. Maybe twenty minutes pass before Detective Williams steps back into his office clutching a piece of paper while another cop follows in behind him.
"Michael, I made a call to the police station in your home town. They will contact your parents and bring them here. This lady is Officer Jefferson. She's going to take you to another room so I can talk to your friend here," he says, his eyes on me. Once Michael and the lady police officer step out of the room, Detective Williams turns to me.
"Danny you said you didn't want what happened to you to happen to him. Were you kidnapped too?" Grasping the arms of the chair, I look from side to side as fear invades my body anew. "You don't have to be afraid. We're here to help you," he tells me, his voice sincere.
"It took incredible courage for you to bring Michael here. Imagine how his parents are going to feel when they get to hold him in their arms again? What about your parents, Danny? Don't you think they deserve to know you're still alive?" he asks me, taking the seat that Michael held.
"Yes," I whisper, unable to make eye contact. When he reaches over and places his hand atop my forearm, I lift my eyes to stare at him for a long moment. Taking a deep breath, I turn to stare straight ahead of me. "I know my first name is Damon."
I hope you're intrigued enough to review and give me some feedback. 'Nothing Else Matters' and 'Shatter Me' will update tomorrow. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.