Chapter 7.
Mike had managed to fall asleep. He must have been exhausted because when he woke up again, it felt like he had sleep for quite some time. He tried at once to go back to sleep, but he wasn't tired enough and was in too much pain. He hated not knowing what time it was.
Hours must have passed when they returned. He had gone through his conversations with Harvey and was undeceive on who to think of next, maybe Jessica or Rachel, but neither felt like it would help him at the moment. Louis was out of the question. He couldn't think about his grandmother either, or his parents. That would be too painful. He would feel worse if he started doing that. He wondered what his father would think about him if he saw him like this.
"Hey!"
Someone pulled the blanket off him rather violently. Mike curled up the best he could and didn't look up at them. He saw the guy throwing the blanket on the ground, out of his reach. He could only see their legs. One of them was wearing white sneakers.
"The ransom we demanded for you has been paid. We'll let you go tonight."
Mike didn't react. He didn't know what to think. One of them said something in their language. The others laughed and someone replied with something Mike didn't understand. It sounded like they were joking with each other. Was this just a joke to them? Did they joke about the ransom as well? Did they play some kind of prank on him?
He wished for the blanket back, he felt so exposed without it. He didn't ask though. It was better to just keep silent. They started to leave again. One of them kicked at Mike's legs when he walked past him. It hurt.
He stayed as he was on his side. It hurt his shoulder. He wanted to go back to sleep. He suddenly felt so sad. They had said that they were letting him go. He didn't believe it. Why would they let him go? They had never made any efforts of concealing their faces for him. Why would they just let him go then? Or were they going to kill him?
An hour or so passed. He hadn't moved an inch. His stomach was hurting, he was so hungry. He wished his arms were free just so he could press them towards his stomach. He just wanted all of this to end now. He didn't want to lay here in the dark and just wait for them to come back. He almost found himself wishing that he would just fall asleep and not wake up again. He would be fine with that at this moment.
But that thought scared him. It brought tears into his eyes. He didn't want to die. Not like this, bound on some floor, from starvation or whatever. He didn't bother holding back this time. He didn't care anymore. He wanted it to end. Why wouldn't it end? He tried again to think about Harvey or Donna. But this time it didn't work. He couldn't understand why they hadn't found him. Why they weren't helping him? They liked him, right? Or wasn't he worth it? Were they even glad to get rid of him? They wouldn't have to worry anymore about his secret getting out. Maybe it was best this way. Maybe this was what he deserved for making all the choices he had made. He was just a fraud, nothing else. Why would Harvey help him?
But he had been loyal to Harvey. He had done everything in his power lately to make Harvey see that. And they had a good time, didn't they? Harvey sometimes laughed or smiled when Mike joked around, or when they bantered with each other. Harvey liked that, didn't he?
And Harvey had been nice to him last night. He had let him go home early. No. That wasn't last night. He wasn't sure when it had been now. It was days ago. He hadn't eaten in days. Except for that sandwich, which had been on the floor. It was strange that he hadn't gotten sick from that. He felt rather sick now when he thought about it though. He didn't think that he would be able to stand up right now, for example. He was just too weak for that.
What if he wouldn't be able to walk when they came to rescue him? What if they would leave him behind then. He felt his eyes tear up again at the thought of that. They would leave him. He cried a little again. He felt so confused. He wanted to call for help, but he didn't do that.
He had no idea of how much time had passed when he woke up again. He didn't know if he had fallen asleep or if he had passed out. Nothing had changed though, so it didn't matter. He didn't move. He wanted to sleep again, but didn't get his wish.
For hours he just laid like that. His mind wouldn't leave him alone, it was tormenting him. Thoughts flew around in his head, changed between the other night, him being taken, Harvey and his first case, Donna giving him a cup of coffee, them hitting him, the last time he hugged Grammy, himself crying under the blanket and then back to the other night. It was awful. Once he even lifted his head with the intention to hit it towards the floor, but he chickened out. He couldn't do it.
He felt ill and dizzy. Weak. His stomach still hurt.
Then they returned.
It was all four of them, when his eyes had gotten used to the light, he saw how they all walked up to him. He felt how he was starting to breathe faster. What were they going to do?
"Sit up!" Someone yelled.
Mike ignored the command. He wasn't sure he could do it anyway.
"We are leaving. Sit up!" The man stepped closer to him and Mike wanted to shrink away, but he didn't have the energy. He was kicked in the stomach.
Pain exploded and he thought that he would either throw up or pass out. He did neither. What he did do though was to start crying. He could stop it. It just hurt so much, and he felt so freaked out about this. What were they going to do to him?
They talked and laughed at him. He felt so humiliated. So exhausted.
He yelped when two of them bent down and grabbed him and made him sit up. Someone held on to him hard to keep him upright. He moaned when one of the men in front of him grabbed hold of the ropes around his legs with one hand, in the other he had a knife.
Mike tried to heave himself backwards, but he was stopped. They yelled something at him, and he stayed still. The guy started cutting the ropes off his ankles. He screamed when the ropes where pulled of and the guy separated his legs from each other. It was like they burned. He could barely feel his feet, it was only the burning. He couldn't move them.
"Stand up. We are leaving." A voice to the left of him said. Mike ignored it. He couldn't stand up right now. He thought that he was sobbing, or just breathing fast. Someone pulled at his arm and yelled at him to stand. Mike couldn't.
They yelled again at him. Someone slapped him over the cheek. He didn't have any control on what was going on. He just felt so scared. He didn't understand.
He made an attempt to stand up, but he couldn't get up. An order was given, and hands grabbed Mike under his arms, and they lifted him up to standing. His legs folded underneath him right away. They started dragging him then. His head hung and his feet dragged across the floor. He didn't resist. His shoulders were killing him. They held on too hard. He was going to get bruises. What was happening right now? Were they taking him somewhere to kill him? He couldn't let them do that! He needed to do something.
He screamed and tried to get out of their grip. He succeeded and fell on the ground. They swore at him and grabbed at him again, he jerked to the side into the legs of one of them. The man stumbled to the side and yelled something. Mike tried to get up on his feet, but it was hard without the use of his hands. If he only could get up and run away from them!
He screamed again when hands grabbed a hold of shirt and pulled. He felt good when he was able to squirm to the side and get out of the grip.
Then pain exploded in the back of his head. They had hit him with something. He blinked and swayed. Everything got blurry and it felt like time slowed down. He tried to blink but the room got darker as he passed out. No.
He was laying down again when he came to. This type of floor was somewhat softer and warmer. He realized that he was on the floor of the van.
"You are awake." A voice said.
The guy who Mike considered the leader was sitting next to him. He maneuvered Mike up to sitting and pushed his head up to lean against the wall. Mike had trouble focusing his eyes on him. When the guy let go of his head it fell forward again, so the man pressed it back against the wall again and kept his hand over Mike's forehead.
"Listen to me now, Mike." He said then. Mike briefly met his eyes, he didn't answer. His head throbbed and the back of it felt strange. He wanted the man's hand gone.
"Good. We are going to drop you off with Harvey now. Do what we say when we say it and you will be fine. Understand?"
Mike opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He tried again. "Yeah…"
"Good." The man said again. He released Mike's head, this time he was able to keep it in place.
"Here." The man held up a water bottle towards him. He helped him to drink. It felt awesome against his throat, even though it wasn't cold. He got tears in his eyes from the feeling. He had been so thirsty.
"More." He uttered when the bottle was pulled away from him.
"You will get sick if you drink like that." The man said. But he got to drink more, almost half the bottle before the man pulled it away and it was gone.
"Okay. I know you won't like this." The man said. Then he pulled out a roll of tape. Mike didn't like that at all.
"No…no, please. Please don't. I'll be quiet." He found himself saying. The man ignored him and pulled off a piece of tape and threw the roll to the side. He grabbed Mike's hair and then pressed the tape over his mouth. Mike yelled behind it and tried to get lose. The guy shook his head a little by still holding on to his hair.
"Shut up and stay still." He said. Mike decided to do that. He tried to breathe deeply through his nose. He was on the verge of panic. He needed to push it down. He could do it.
Nothing else was said. They drove for a while before slowing down and eventually stopping. Mike's heart was hammering in his chest, but he had managed to stay somewhat calm. Were they really dropping him off? The leader guy went over to the door to head outside. Mike saw how he gave something to the other guys from a bag. He realized that it was guns. Some of them went outside, leaving Mike sitting there on the floor. A minute or so passed before they came to get him.
The leader had a gun in his hand as he got on his knees next to him. He held the gun towards him. Was this it? He should feel more panicked, but he didn't. At least it would end soon.
"Your boss is here. You will do as we say, or we will kill you in front of him. Then we'll kill him. Do you understand?"
Mike nodded. He did understand.
They pulled him outside, this time he was able to stand up. It looked like they were on a parking lot. He looked around and saw that another car was parked in front of them. A man was standing next to it.
It was Harvey.
Relief rushed over him. Harvey had come for him. Harvey was here! He wanted to jerk away from the guy holding on to him and just run over to Harvey. But there was three men with guns pointed right towards Harvey, so Mike remained where he was even when Harvey called for him. He needed to do what they said, then they would let him go. Just do what they said.
He couldn't meet Harvey's eyes because he was afraid that he would break down. Also, he now felt humiliated all of a sudden. He didn't want Harvey to see him like this. He felt like he was about to start crying at any moment. But Harvey was here. Maybe it would be over soon?
They were talking but he couldn't really make out what they were saying. Someone held on to him, but then started to drag him forwards, towards Harvey. They were close when the man pushed him hard. He stumbled and knew that he would go down.
Harvey caught him. Harvey wrapped his arms around him and held on to him hard. Mike could see over Harvey's shoulder how his kidnappers hurried towards the van, got inside and drove off. He saw the taillight turn around a corner. They were gone.
Harvey told him that he was alright. He told him that it was over now. It felt like something inside him that had been bound just as tightly as his arms were, suddenly cut lose. He started to cry hard as he buried his face against Harvey's shoulder. He just leaned into Harvey and cried. He could barely believe that it was over, that they had left. He had thought that they were going to kill him.
For a moment he felt embarrassed about how he was behaving, he felt humiliated, but then he let that thought go. He couldn't care about that right. He was leaning into Harvey; he was the one holding him up right now. He had trouble keeping his knees locked and was pretty sure his legs wouldn't be able to carry his weight.
He was so relieved to be in this position; he hadn't thought it would happen. He had wished for it so much though, that now it was so hard to take it in. It felt like it had been too easy. What if they came back?
Harvey held on to him hard. He had one arm wrapped around his body and the other over the back of his head. That hurt some, but Mike ignored it. It felt so good to be held like this, he felt safe. Harvey would protect him. He didn't want Harvey to let him go. He needed Harvey.
-SUITS-