For an entire day, all I did was knock on my door and yell for someone to let me see Thomas. I was fed, given a clean set of clothes, but no one would come and speak to me. I wanted so badly to burn this whole place to the ground. I was furious, confused, lost, I wanted to know what the hell was going on! I sobbed, thinking that whoever was holding me and Thomas hostage was keeping him here because of me. Because of the child growing inside of me. I sat on the floor, directly in front of it, criss-cross applesauce style, blankly staring at it while eating grapes and pasta someone had delivered to me via the flap under the door. With every footstep I heard, the more my hopes would raise, and when they vanished, my hopes would crash back down.
"Ella Fray?" someone from the other side of the door said.
I got up and rushed to the door. "Yes! It's me."
"Move aside, in five seconds we're opening the door." I did as I was told and they opened the door a couple seconds later. I was gestured to come with them, but I received no handcuffs or form of restraint. Why? The two men escorting me were both wearing heavily armored black suits, except for their head. It was completely exposed. Both of them were brunettes, but I named them Green and Blue, from their eye color. Green was gentler than Blue, he kept me on his side the whole time, while Blue supervised and walked like a robot, not making a single form of contact with me.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked Green, hoping to receive an answer.
"This way," Green said, pointing to the right, grabbing my arm and taking me towards that direction. Blue followed, but he sighed in frustration. I guess I'd hate my job too if I were keeping people hostage.
"Well, yeah, but where's this way?"
We stopped right outside a metal door, where he knocked twice and jiggled the knob. It was code for something. The door opened, revealing another armored man, but he had a helmet on. "You wanted to see Thomas?" Green asked. "You have five minutes. Go." I rushed in the room and the man with the helmet stayed in the corner, taking out his phone and minding his own business. He reminded me that I'm being timed by pointing at the time on his phone's lock screen. In the other corner, was Thomas. He laid in bed, and looked weak and defeated. I rushed to him, and sure enough, he was awake. He was just... weak.
"Ella?" Thomas asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here?" He sits up and looks at my stomach, his eyes widening and his jaw dropped. "There's no way. But Arthur said -"
"What?" I asked. Thomas knew about my pregnancy. He knew about everything we'd done together - our little vacations, our trips together, our romance, he knew everything. For Pete's sake, he was the one always teasing about how I'll be a Curry any day now. "What did Arthur tell you?"
His eyes looked glassy as he said the following. "Arthur said you'd gotten an abortion."
I don't know what I felt more intensely at that moment. Anger, betrayal, a form of sadness I couldn't pinpoint? "Why would he say that? I didn't get an abortion. Clearly! I wouldn't do that."
"He said that's why he didn't come back to you. He was going to, but Diana said she looked at your medical files and saw that you've gotten an abortion, that you'd moved and started a new life in Florida." Now, I figured out my main emotion: anger. Was Diana the one that split us up? Was it her fault all of this is happening?
"Diana lied to you," I said angrily. "She lied to all of us! Yes, I moved to Florida. But it wasn't because I wanted a new life! I moved because I received a promotion and I had to move for it if I took it. I also thought Arthur didn't want anything to do with us," I rubbed my belly. "So I decided that Florida would be a nice place to raise my baby."
"If it means anything, I'm so happy to see you, Ella. And you," he nodded towards my belly. "I'm so happy to see the both of you. Have they hurt you?"
I shook my head. "They've been treating me like royalty. I don't understand why they've captured me if they just wanted to feed me fancy cheeses."
Thomas smirked and lifted his shirt, revealing his torso. It was bruised and beaten. His core looked like a spotted banana. I cringed. He smiled, but his eyes were hurt and tormented. "They haven't been hurting you because of me," Thomas started. "They said if I fought them, they'd fight you. So I don't resist when they beat me."
"Thomas, why? Why are they doing this to you?"
"You still don't know?" He asks, his eyes now glistening.
"No, clearly!"
"My dear Ella, they want to know where Arthur is. He isn't dead."