A giant thanks to Miss Femm for her amazing review and to all my readers, I hope you enjoy!
It soon began to pour down freezing sheets of rain, drenching both Alex and Lizzie to the bone.
Alex began to cough and tremble from cold and Lizzie felt his neck and head as if he were a child.
"You're burning up" she muttered with a sigh, looking around in the dark.
They had been walking for miles and hadn't come across a single house, or even a car to hitch a ride in.
"I'll be fine." He shivered and pointed up ahead. "I think I viddy a light up there."
Lizzie squinted in the rain and frowned, "Headlights?"
"Doesn't smot it, more like a street lamp" Alex coughed again, "maybe there's a malenky hamlet up ahead."
Lizzie nodded, "only one way to find out, just a bit further."
They trudged on, Alex's injuries from the beating and drowning slowing him down to a limp.
As they approached the light they found it neither a set of head lights nor a street lamp, instead a brightly glowing sign with the word HOME emblazoning the night.
"It's a path" Lizzie breathed a sigh of the relief, finally someone who could help them. "There must be house just at the end."
The rain grew stronger than before, the force of it nearly knocking them over as they stumbled through what seemed to be some sort of garden that had begun to flood from the excessive precipitation.
As they struggled over stepping stones Alex miss-stepped and stumbled to the ground face first. Lizzie pulled him up, grunting and fighting to support his weight as she half dragged him the rest of the way to the door.
"Hello!" she yelled over the loud rainfall on the roof and rang the doorbell repeatedly as she banged her fist on the door.
"Hello?! Can't someone help us?" she yelled and rang the bell again.
Alex floundered between alert and fog, blinking quickly as his brain cleared up once more.
"Hello?! Is anyone Home?"
As soon as she called again the door opened to reveal a large muscle man in pink workout gear.
"Help" was all Lizzie managed to get out before Alex completely collapsed against her and pushed her down with him.
The large Adonis quickly pulled them both in and looked down at them in concern.
"Thank you." Lizzie breathed and pulled herself up, slinging Alex's arm over her shoulder and half dragging him up. "We need help, we were attacked."
The man nodded and to Lizzie's surprise lifted Alex as if he were a rag doll. "Come with me." He instructed her and Lizzie followed him down the hall and down a flight of wide wooden stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs sat a man in a wheel chair wearing a bright orange robe that only made his white hair and skin seem flushed.
"Frank" The large man called, "I think these two are in need of some help."
Lizzie nodded and the crippled man stared at them in horror. "My Lord, what's happened to you two?"
Lizzie jumped at the chance to explain their situation to a sympathetic ear who might offer some help or at least comfort.
Alexander was now wide awake once more and swallowed, still shivering.
"The police, the ghastly, horrible police…" he trembled and Lizzie nodded in confirmation.
"We were attacked by two policemen, and they brought us out to the woods. They nearly killed Alex, and I just got away before they could come back for me." Lizzie rushed it all out and it was a miracle any of it could be deciphered but judging how the man's face fell he understood perfectly.
"You poor things, however did…." He trailed off as he stared at them, his eyes darting from face to face rapidly and his featured contorted slightly.
"Wait! I know you! I know you both!" He declared.
Lizzie's mouth went dry, afraid he would toss them out as criminals to the mercy of the elements.
"Aren't you the ones in the papers? Are you not the poor victims of that horrible new treatment?!"
Lizzie almost went limp from relief, "Yes! Yes sir, yes we are!"
"Then, by God, you have been sent here by providence!" Frank exclaimed, grinning madly with exhilaration, as if God himself had placed a miracle on his door step.
"Both of you, Tortured by that revolting so called cure, then thrown out on the streets to be tortured by the police!"
Lizzie began to smile hopefully, at last they had found a friend in this world.
Someone to offer them help in this their darkest hour.
"My heart goes out to you, poor, poor children." He nodded "Oh, you are not the first to come here in distress. The Police are fond of bringing their victims to the outskirts of this village. But it is providential that you two…"
He pointed at them both with a trembling, bony finger, "who are also another kind of victim, should come here!"
The man had begun to breathe heavily during his speech, but realization dawned on him quickly as his eyes grew soft with pity for them
"Oh, but you're both cold and shivering. Julian, draw a bath for these two young people, before they catch something."
"Certainly Frank" Julian nodded and Lizzie smiled.
"Thank you sir, we simply cannot tell you how much is means to us to find someone who is willing to help us." She thanked him vehemently. "I wonder if we might trouble you for any medicine however, Alexander already has a fever and I'm afraid it will only get worse."
"Not a problem at all my dear girl!" Frank assured her, "No harm will befall you here, believe you me."
He eyed her, "why, you're covered in blood." He pointed out and Lizzie looked down.
In addition to being stained with mud, rain, grass, and all together filth. The once spotless white dress was also tainted with the muddled red of spilled blood on the sides and her shoulder. The evidence of the many scrapes and scratched she sustained on their journey through the woods and down the road.
"Oh, Not to worry. It's nothing serious" she assured him but he frowned, "all the same you must get warm, and let it dry. Before you to fall ill"
Lizzie knelt down and smiled at him gratefully. "We cannot thank you enough sir."
"Call me Frank."
"Yes sir, I mean Frank." She corrected herself and the man smiled at her in an unsettling manner.
"No worries my dear girl, now follow Julian and he will tend to you and your friend."
She nodded and thanked him once more before going to find the large muscle man who stepped out of a bathroom and closed the door.
"Hello?" she greeted him uncertainly. "You must be Julian?"
He nodded and offered her his hand, "I am."
"Lizzie, Borden." She shook his hand, "Thank you so much for your help, I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't let us in."
Julian shrugged modestly, "I couldn't very well leave you out there to freeze"
"All the same, thank you."
"You're welcome, now follow me. The second bathroom is this way." He beckoned her to follow as he strode down the hall.
He left her in a small water closet with simple instructions,
"Right is hot, Left is cold, Towels in that cupboard."
Lizzie thanked him and sighed after he left. Quickly turning the right knob almost as far as it would go she sat on the tile floor, the coldness chilling her skin.
She stripped the sullied dress off her body and carefully folded it into a neat square, along with her under garments before retrieving a towel from the cupboard under the sink.
It seemed their luck was turning around, but even if they had earned a brief reprieve from these hellish events, this was just a pit stop.
What would become of them after this?
Neither had any money, nor support system, or even friends other than each other.
Lizzie at least had a quality education, but Alex was practically a drop out.
And with this blasted treatment still underway, they were practically as incapacitated as that man in the wheel chair.
No free will, no way to defend their selves.
Lizzie didn't think it would have been the best idea to jump off that bridge, but at this point, it didn't seem like the worst idea either.
As she turned the water off, she hissed and slipped into the scalding water, welcoming the burning sensation.
Soon the sting wore off and she relaxed in the water fully, taking the time to let her mind go completely blank.
There was no treatment.
No dead parents.
No Police.
Hell, there wasn't even Alexander.
There was just Lizzie and the water, and a blank void where her thoughts would usually be.
Oh to live in this state of being, to be utterly empty between her ears.
Perhaps ignorance really was bliss.
However a distant melody drew her out of her stupor, echoing faintly through the walls.
"I'm siiinging in the rain, Just siiinging in the rain. What a glorious feeling, I'm hap-hap-happy again."
She smiled a tiny bit.
Alexander was back to his theatrical self.
"I'm laaaughing at the clouds, so daaark up above. There's a song in my heart! And I'm ready for love!"
What a ham Lizzie thought with a small shake of her head.
Alexander was like a punching bag, no matter how hard you hit him he seemed to bounce right back at least for a moment or two. But it was a great relief to hear him so lighthearted.
Listening to Alexander sing, she sighed and stretched every muscle with a groan.
A knock came from the other side of the door, "Miss. Borden, Frank would like to see you in the parlor when you're finished." Julian called and Lizzie nodded, all though he could not see it.
"Of course, I'll be right there." She informed him and pulled herself out of the tub.
Drying off quickly and redressing in the now, semi-damp dress she unplugged the tub, exited the bathroom and made for the parlor where Frank was sitting at his writing desk, a twisted look on his face.
"Miss. Borden, I hope you are feeling well."
"Oh much better sir," she assured him. "Thank you very much sir."
He smiled a little bit but it didn't look right on him.
"You do look a bit sickly my dear." He informed her as Julian came from behind her, "Perhaps you had better go lay down, and rest."
Lizzie smiled a little. "I thank you for your concern, but I feel just fine."
Julian frowned and pressed the back of his muscular hand to her forehead, "Frank is right, you do have a bit of a fever. You ought to rest before it gets any worse."
Lizzie shuffled, not wanting to offend their saviors. "Well, if you really think…"
"Oh yes, yes my dear. You may rest in the guest room. Julian will show you the way and I will make you a strong cup of tea to stave off the cold."
Lizzie felt a strange sense of darkness surround them but so desperate was she to stay on the man's good side she agreed and followed Julian to a small guest bedroom with a small single bed and dresser in it.
"Thank you" she nodded and Julian closed the door, but returned soon with a steaming cup of tea.
"This will keep you warm." He handed her the cup and waited, eyeing her expectantly. Lizzie realized he wasn't going to leave until she drank the beverage and quickly finished off the drink to get him to leave.
Julian took the cup and left, and as the door closed Lizzie could have sworn she heard a click of a lock.
Sitting on the bed she listened for Alex's singing, which was still going on faintly. But being closer to the bathroom she could hear him more clearly and laid back on the bed, listening.
She soon felt suddenly very tired, and she labeled it a delayed stress reaction. Perhaps it would help to get some sleep.
She slipped between the duvet and the sheets and quickly feel into a deep, deep sleep, content to work out all of her problems when she was mentally prepared to face such a difficult task, unaware of the eyes watching her from the key hole.
"Nail it shut." Frank instructed Julian firmly, a mad glint in his eye.
Julian nodded and went to fetch a hammer and nails as Frank rolled down the hall clutching a bulky, glass pill bottle with the words Mandrax (Methaqualone) printed across a paper label.