"What do you think, Eliza?"
Looking up briefly, Elizabeth looked around. A medium-sized cabin stood in front of her, surrounded on both sides by woods. The drive from the motel hadn't been long – at least if felt like it hadn't. Jeremy had blindfolded her, insisting that it would be a surprise.
"What are we doing here?" she asked quietly, her arms coming up to circle around herself.
Jeremy smiled as he pulled a couple bags out of the trunk, his eyes scanning over the cabin. "This is going to be our home. We can stay here for a while before we start traveling again."
Elizabeth shivered. "What about the motel?"
Scoffing, Jeremy pulled on her arm as he walked by, dragging her to the porch. "A motel isn't a home. It's just a room you rent."
Elizabeth's mind went to the room Jason rented above Jake's. It wasn't home for him, just a place where he stayed, but she would give anything to be there at that moment.
The cabin was nothing special. Two floors, rustic, filled with just the bare necessities. It was more spacious than the motel room had been and for that Elizabeth was grateful. Her eyes scanned around the room as Jeremy pulled her around, showing her where everything was.
"Don't think you can escape," he said, as they walked up the stairs. "I'm going to have my eye on you and I made sure that all of the exits need keys to open from the inside… and I'm the only one who has a key."
"You're holding my like I'm a prisoner, yet you keep saying that I'll be happy. How can I be happy when you're treating me like this."
Jeremy's eyes darkened and Elizabeth immediately bit her lip, mentally berating herself for saying anything.
"I'm only doing what I have do," he said through clenched teeth. He pulled on her arm and Elizabeth jerked forward, stumbling. She fell to her knees, her hands scraping against the hardwood floors. "Soon you'll realized that, Eliza… and you'll thank me."
His eyes seemed to brighten a few shades, the darkness fading away. The wrinkles on his forehead faded away as his face calmed. "Go to your room and get to bed. It's late."
He turned on his heel, leaving her on the stairway landing. Elizabeth watched him go for a moment before turning and slowly climbing the steps to her room. It was sparsely decorated, the windows nailed shut.
Heaving a sigh, Elizabeth sat down on the bed. Her body ached with every move she made and her stomach growled angrily. Leaning against the backboard, her eyes flickered to the window; she could faintly see the stars through the dirty glass.
She couldn't even remember how long it'd been since she'd been taken from the PC Gallery. Her perception of time was muddled, and not matter how hard she tried, Elizabeth couldn't get back the lost hours when Jeremy had given her the drug injections.
Rubbing her hand over her arm, Elizabeth looked down at the egg-shaped bruise on her bicep.
A bruise from the needle.
A shiver erupted through her body as Elizabeth settled down into the bed. Her fingers absently brushed over the bruise as her eyes slowly closed.
A noise outside jerked her eyes open and Elizabeth sat up in bed, disoriented. The light was still brightly shining above her bed, but a look at the clock on the nightstand told her that nearly an hour had passed.
"Jason will never find me here," Elizabeth whispered, hugging herself with her arms. "He'll never know where to start looking."
Her eyes drifted to the door and she sat still, listening to the noises coming from the house as her mind thought up a plan.
The house was still as Elizabeth slowly slid off the bed, her feet lightly tapping the floor. She froze for a second, the sound seeming much louder in the silence than it really was.
The stairs creaked under her feet and she eased down the stairs and Elizabeth frowned. She hadn't noticed any creaking before. Downstairs, the cabin was even more quiet and if she listened carefully, she could hear the faint sounds of Jeremy's breathing on the couch.
Elizabeth's eyes scanned around the room as she stepped carefully around the couch. Jeremy's foot was hanging off the edge and she nearly tripped on it, catching herself before she went tumbling to the ground. Her heart stopped for a second and she froze, waiting to see if he'd wake up.
When she was convinced that he was still sleeping, she began moving again, creeping around as she made her way towards her destination.
The telephone.
The low hum of the motorcycle slowly came to a stop as Jason kicked on the kickstand, putting it into place. He sat still on his bike for a moment, letting the faint wind blow against his face as he closed his eyes.
Climbing off the bike, he slowly made his way towards the bridge, the ground crunching under his feet.
The bridge held so many memories for him. Thoughts of Robin… their first meeting, their goodbye. He thought of Michael and how he came to the bridge after the little boy had been kidnapped by Tony.
Kidnapped…
But most of all, the bridge reminded him of Elizabeth. If he closed his eyes, he could remember exactly what had been said on the bridge the night he'd found her waiting for him in the alley behind Jake's. He knew she had been wearing a red shirt that night, and that her hair had been short, just barely brushing by her chin, but no matter how hard he tried, his mind couldn't form an image of her that night inside his head.
He heard her words though, loud and clear.
"What do you like?"
"I don't understand…"
"Painting, ice cream, going fast?"
He knew that she had smiled when he said that and for the first time, a picture of her came into his mind, her smile lighting up her face as the wind blew a piece of her short hair into her face.
"Going fast."
Sighing, Jason quickly walked back toward his bike. He climbed on, ignoring the helmet that sat secured to the back seat.
Elizabeth's helmet.
He revved up the bike as loud as he could before looking up towards the sky.
"This is for you, Elizabeth."
And he sped off, getting lost in the roar of the bike, never once hearing the ringing that came from the cell phone in his pocket.
He had taken the Cliff Road back to town, riding the turns as fast as he could. The wind roared in his ear, keeping him from hearing anything and everything else, but it didn't feel right.
It felt empty without her.
She wasn't behind him to squeeze him extra tight when he turned tight curves and she wasn't there to yell into the wind when he sped up. He felt the wind on his back instead of her warmth and it didn't feel right.
Jason slowed the bike as he wheeled it into the garage of the Penthouses.
He walked up to the Penthouse, opting not to take the elevator. His legs were tired and the muscles burned as he climbed the stairs but he ignored it all, finally making it to Sonny's door.
"Boy is he mad at you," Johnny muttered as he opened the door to Penthouse Four, granting Jason access. The second Jason stepped through the doorway, Sonny pounced.
"Where have you been? Why haven't you been answering your phone?"
Heaving a sigh, Jason rubbed his hands over his face. "I took a ride."
Sonny shook his head slowly, waiting for Jason to explain more. When the younger man said nothing, he sighed heavily, dropping his arms to his sides. "Jesus Jason, what if we had found something and couldn't get a hold of you? It's nearly two in the morning. What were you doing riding out so late?"
Jason's shoulders sagged slightly as he leaned against Sonny's desk. "What does it matter? I know you didn't find anything because if you had, you wouldn't be standing here lecturing me."
Sighing, Sonny ran his hands through his hair. "Go to bed, Jason. Take one of the guestrooms… you can keep functioning on no sleep."
"I slept this afternoon."
"Resting your eyes for ten minutes doesn't constitute sleep," Sonny countered.
Shaking his head, Jason rubbed his hands over his face. The cell phone in his right coat pocket rang and he slowly moved to answer it.
"Ignore it," Sonny said, walking towards the stairs. "Whoever it is can wait until morning. Anyways… it's not like you don't have practice ignoring calls tonight since you ignored all of mine."
Ignoring his friend, Jason held the phone in front of him. The number on the LCD pad was unrecognizable to him and he frowned. Only a select few had his cell number.
He motioned to Sonny as he cautiously put the phone to his ear. The older man stepped down from the stairs, moving closer towards Jason.
"Who is it?" Sonny whispered.
Jason shook his head, clicking his phone on. "Hello?"
There was silence on the other end and Jason's frown deepened. "Who is this?"
"…Jason?"
The one word was soft and barely audible but Jason recognized it immediately. "Elizabeth?!"
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sonny's head jerk up in surprise. "Elizabeth… talk to me. Where are you?"
"Jason, I'm scared."
His heart broke for her at the sound of her hushed whispers. He could hear the slight waver in her voice and he knew she was doing everything she could to be strong.
"I need for you to tell me where you are… do you know?"
She paused for a second and for a moment, he thought he had lost her. "In a cabin… surrounded by woods… in Rochester." Her voice took on a more frantic tone as he breathing labored slightly. "Jason, he's crazy… Jeremy… I had art class with him. He thinks he loves me…"
Jason closed his eyes. "Elizabeth, we know all about that… there's more."
It was faint, but he heard her breathing catch for a second. "What do you mean?"
He took a deep breath. "Jeremy Barker… His real name is Thomas Jeremy Baker, Jr."
Jason held his breath waiting for her response. He heard the phone drop on her side and a muffling sound. "Elizabeth?"
He could hear a voice, and although he couldn't understand what was being said, he knew it wasn't good. His hand clenched tighter around his cell phone.
"Elizabeth!"
He heard a scream and the line went dead. Jason's eyes bore into Sonny's as he clicked off his phone, his grip tightening to the point where his knuckles turned white.
"We need to get to Rochester and we need to get there now."