Prologue
Tiffany
was sitting on the computer desk working on her homework, and looking
on her e-mails. When she opened up her g-mail she saw that she had a
new song sent to her by Caiti, her very best friend in the whole
world. She laughed, thinking it was funny and how awesome that Caiti
would send her a song that she wanted. The song she requested was
Dust in the Wind by the group Kansas, and Caiti so generously
downloaded it for her and then sent it to her. As she was typing away
on the computer, her mom came into the kitchen, (which is where the
computer they have is hooked up) but when she looked closer she saw
that her mother's eye's looked puffy.
"Mom,
what's wrong?" Tiffany looked worriedly at her mother,
"Oh
Tiff…" New tears came to her mother's eyes as she paused to
give Tiffany a hug.
"Tiff,
we found out this morning that… that your grandmother, my mom, died
this morning in her sleep." Tiffany put her hand to her mouth, the
tears now coming to her eyes. She saved her homework that she was
doing on the computer, and turned off the song that she had only just
begun to listen too. She took one last look at her mother, then
walked slowly out the door and walked to the park. She couldn't
help all the emotion that was coming to her. Her grandma, Grammy as
she liked to be called, was her best friend in the family. She could
go to her with all her problems. Of course she could go to Caiti, but
she hadn't known Caiti for as long as she knew her Grammy, and so
whenever she couldn't go to Caiti she'd go to her. Hardly knowing
where her feet were taking her, she walked up to a swing and sat down
in it, making her feet move her back and forth softly. Suddenly, her
swing was pushed really high, when she stopped and got off the swing
quickly, she turned around to see that Russell was the one who had
pushed her. She smiled, but that quickly left her face as tears
started to come back.
"Tiff,
what's wrong? What happened?" he said concern clearly written on
his face. She looked into his deep ocean blue eyes, and knew he
really was concerned with her.
"My…my
grammy died this morning."
"Oh
my gosh, I'm so sorry Tiffany!" He said softly then gathered
Tiffany in a hug and she hugged him back. Even though they weren't
dating she was grateful for his concern. When she tried to pull back
he wouldn't let her go very far, but just far enough to where he
was able to look into her eyes. She knew he was about to kiss her,
and she knew she would turn away, but before any of that could happen
they heard someone. When they turned towards the sound, they couldn't
really see who was their, because it was now dark outside, but when
they heard the voice they shivered in fear.
"Wow,
we finally found you!" they heard some other guys laugh at this,
and then before they could do anything the men surrounded them, and
then put them unconscious.
Chapter 1
When
Tiffany and Russell awoke, they found themselves in somewhere they
weren't sure of. Although, Tiffany did had an idea as to where.
"I…I
think we're in a barn." She said a bit confused.
"Why
would they put us in a barn? I don't get what they want with us,
it's really strange," Tiffany stood up, visibly shaking, but
Russell not being able to see it because it was dark, except for the
cracks in the barn. Russell felt for her. When he found her arm he
pulled her into a tight hug. When they pulled back, she felt for the
barn door. When she hit the handle, she tried tweaking it, but it
wouldn't budge.
"Gah,
why are we in this place, what in the heck do they want with us?"
Tiffany was now in hysteria, shaking so hard she was having trouble
standing.
"Calm
down Tiff, it will be alright." Russell came up to her, only
finding her so easily because the light was brighter by the door. He
could feel her shaking, and grabbed her into another hug. She was
crying now, and drowning Russell's shirt in tears.
"Why
me? Why couldn't it have been someone else? I just found out that
my Grammy died, and now I've been kidnapped and have no clue where
I am!"
"Tiffany,
calm down, that's all we can do right now. I promise I won't let
any of those men hurt you." After a few minutes, Tiffany stopped
shaking, but she was still crying a little when he let go of her.
They
stood there for a few minutes, Russell letting Tiffany recover her
composure, and Tiffany trying not to remember her Grammy's funeral
that she would never attend. Luckily her composure was recovered,
because about two minutes later, they heard sounds of the men outside
of the barn. They both backed up into the darkest corner of the barn
where they thought not much light would be able to get them good.
They were wrong. When the barn doors were opened, it filled the whole
barn with the very bright sun, it was so bright Tiffany and Russell
had to squint or cover there eyes just to see who had opened the
door. Tiffany gasped; there was a scar on the guys' face that
entered first. She knew that scar, had seen it when she was just a
little younger.
"I
know you, but how, what your name? how do I know you?" the guy just
laughed,
"Maybe
later when I come back for you, but for now, you'll see what will
happen with ya." He left laughing, and then four of his thugs came
in, grabbing them by the arms and taking them to a street full of
people, and in one particular spot a crowd. They were hauled onto the
stage one by one. The main guy talking put a hand on Tiffany's
shoulder, and then shouted out to the people.
"How
much for the girl? She's in fine shape, and could do quite a bit of
good work for ya! Can I get one hundred? One hundred for you sir? how
about two? Two-hundred, anybody? Ah two-hundred, how about three? Ah
good, three hundred, how about four? Three hundred going once, going
twice,"
"I'll
give one thousand dollars for the girl!" a man in the very back
shouted. Tiffany's jaw dropped. She knew exactly what was happening
now, and as she glanced at Russell she knew he knew too. They were
being sold into slavery.
When
she was taken down the stairs leading off the stage, she barely heard
that Russell had been sold for eight hundred dollars to another guy
(because all of the participants there placing money, were guys, the
women were there just to support the men). Now Tiffany was getting
scared. What would she do without Russell there to help her with her
problems? How would she ever get through just being a slave? She had
so many thoughts in her mind that they were becoming jumbled. A tear
strolled down her face as her "master" took her along with him
towards his truck, the one with hay sticking out of the back. Before
they were able to make it to the truck, a young man approached
them.
"So
pops, I see you found us a new slave." He had a handsome grin, but
in a way it scared her. Behind him were two other girls, giggling at
something the other said.
"Yes
son, I have found someone else. It cost me a lot of money for her, so
you better behave around her." Hearing that made her even more
scared than she already was and wondered what he would do to her.
Soon her body started to shake, not because of being scared, but
because of anger, wondering how this man could let his son to things
to other slave girls. They started walking to the truck, the son
walking on her right side, and the dad on her left holding a chain
that was hooked onto her hands. She tried to walk fast to get away
from the son, but it was no use. Every time she hurried the dad would
pull on the chain and she'd turn around fast looking at them both,
walking backwards a little and then turning around in the normal
position of walking. They made her sit in between them in the truck,
since there was only one row of seats. Sad enough for her, the son
sat devilishly close to her, making her highly uncomfortable. She
squirmed every once in a while when she felt he was way much too
closer then he needed to be, but did pretty well on the way to the
house without throwing up. She looked out the windows on each side of
her, seeing that they were headed to her new "home" that looked
like, to her, that it was in the middle of nowhere when in reality
they were only 5 miles out. Every time she looked out the window on
the son's side, he'd look and her and smile his handsome smile.
She couldn't help that she liked guys with dirty blonde hair, which
is what he has. But there was still something creepy about him.
Finally,
they were there. Climbing out of the tight squeeze of the truck,
Tiffany took in the smell of the recently rained air. Looking around
her, she saw that they had small farm, but the only animals were a
few cows and horses. The son came around the side of the truck to the
driver's side, where Tiffany had gotten out because of the chains
on her hands that the dad was holding. Before they started to enter
the house, the dad turned to her.
"Now,
before we enter the house, I'll need to know your name." His
stare frightened her. Her plan was to be a silent slave, but she
wasn't sure she could pull it off. She tried it anyway, just to see
if they believed she couldn't talk.
"Well
girl, what's your name?" by this time he had shoved her closer,
his frustration growing.
"I
know you can speak girl, the man I bought you from said you could, he
also said you were a stubborn one. So I'd suggest you speak before
you get a beating. I don't want to have to resort to that, but I
will." She could tell that he really didn't want to do it, but
she also saw he would keep his word. So she did what she thought
best, she gave him a name other than hers.
"It's
Nikki." She said it softly but defiantly.
"That's
better, well than Nikki, what do you say we go in and meet the rest
of the family huh? By the way, you shall call me Master Toger!" she
followed Master Toger a little slower than walking right next to him,
and the son just had to walk next to her. She made sure that whatever
he said to her, she would not answer him. Looks like my stubbornness
might be a good thing right now huh Grammy? She said to herself,
trying not to smile, but failing. It quickly left her face when she
saw the son of Master Toger looking at her with a gruesome grin, but
her menacing glare at him, wiped that grin away.
"Gosh,
I never thought I'd have a slave who could do that to me." He
said, the grin now back on his face.
"I'm
Logan, Master Logan to you." She refused to look at him, even
acknowledge him in any way, she wanted him to know that she wasn't
going to let him scare her, and by the look in his eyes, she guessed
he was figuring it out. Finally, and to her relief, they entered the
house. Master Toger shouted for his wife and kids to come and see
what he brought home for them. Gosh he's making it sound like I'm
a dog! Her face flushed with anger, especially when she heard Master
Logan laughing. The mother and two younger kids entered the room, the
kids laughing and playing sword fights.
"Children,
children please settle down." It took them a couple more minutes to
quiet down, and when they did, Master Toger spoke again.
"Lily,
kids, meet our new slave, Nikki!" his hand pointed to her. Her face
turned a cherry red, and the kids laughed at her.
"Nikki,
this is Mistress Toger, and the kids. You shall call the kids miss,
and sir." He turned to Logan,
"Now
Logan, please take her to where she'll be staying." Logan nodded,
took the chain that was hooked up to her hands from his father, and
then led her upstairs. When they entered the attic, Tiffany's face
filled with dread, all there was in the attic was a small desk, and a
bed, with one blanket. While she was looking around the room Logan
said,
"This
is just for the beginning; if you do well with your work my dad might
consider moving you to a better room. But don't worry; I'll get
you a warmer blanket." He smiled and then left the room after
taking off the chains from her hands, but locking the door after it
was shut. Sitting on the bed, she started to cry, the shock of being
sold as a slave and the family she had to live with, made her sad.
Not only that she still had the shock of her grandmother dieing, even
thinking about her Grammy and family made her cry even harder.
Although she didn't cry so loud that the family would hear her.
Lying down on the bed she pulled the blanket over herself, than cried
herself to sleep.
A
couple hours later, Tiffany woke up by a knock on her door, and then
the door opening. She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes
yawning.
"Well,
I see you had a good nap huh?" she glared her eyes at Logan, who
was the one who entered the room.
"Sheesh,
no need to be mad, I just came to tell you that you start working in
half an hour. But first you need to wear this." He handed her a
dress, but it was ragged and worn down. She lifted it up
incredulously.
"Well,
put it on," Logan said. Tiffany rolled her eyes,
"Leave,
so I can get dressed," Logan seemed to have an embarrassed look on
his face and then left. This is the weirdest family I've ever met;
wouldn't they have made me work the second I got here? And why
don't they treat me horribly? Of course there was that threat in
the beginning. Hmmm… this is getting even more confusing. Oh Lord,
Grammy, please help me through this, help mom and dad and Charlie
know I'm ok. She felt the tears coming again, and quickly tried to
regain her composure.
"I
wonder if they've sent word to the police yet." She said softly
to herself. She looked at the dress, and shuddered,
"Man,
I hate wearing dresses, except for Sunday's of course." She
decided to put the dress on over her regular clothes. Satisfied, she
opened the door and was surprised to see that Logan was just about to
open it.
"Oh
good, your dressed. Well, let's get downstairs, we have quite a few
things for you to do." Tiffany sighed, and walked behind Logan down
the stairs. She finally decided to take a good look in her
surroundings. When they got downstairs she noticed that the kitchen
was full of flower and lighthouse pictures. The living room had one
big couch, it was white and from the looks of it, Tiffany assumed
that it was probably really comfy. The carpet was also white, and she
supposed that if she were to get dirty she wouldn't be aloud in the
Living room, only the kitchen, because that had a wood floor, which
is easy to keep clean. The walls were a light purple, which was
really pretty, she couldn't understand how the attic was ugly and
brown, when the rest was so beautiful. Sighing again, she followed
Logan into the Kitchen, where she saw Master Toger; and there started
her day of work. She was first told that she'd be waking up at 5:30
every morning to start breakfast. And then Mistress Toger and the
kids would have things for her to do during the day. This first day
was pretty easy for her. She had to clean the Kitchen, and then the
kids' rooms. Except of course Logan's, they thought it best he
did that himself, which Tiffany found it particularly weird. Later
that night, making sure that nobody would be able to hear her, she
kneeled down on her knees and prayed to her Heavenly Father that
she'd be able to get through this, and then she went to bed,
awaiting and dreading a little the next day.
Chapter 2
The
next morning she was awoken by a knock on the door. Her first
reaction to it was,
"Five
more minutes, and I swear I'll get up!" She turned around in her
bed, her back facing the door. Suddenly, she leaped up in her bed,
her hair disheveled, and realized that Logan had opened the
door.
"Ahem,
you were supposed to be up an hour ago."
"What?"
She quickly unraveled the blanket from her legs and stood stalk
still. Logan then began to laugh,
"You'll
get a break today, but this better not happen tomorrow." She looked
at him amazed,
"How
am I supposed to get up that early tomorrow if I don't even have an
alarm clock?"
"Hmmm…
good point, I'll wake you up then tomorrow." Tiffany suddenly got
a little look of dread on her face,
"Uh,
could you have your dad wake me up instead?" The look he had on his
face then was almost a sour puss face,
"Why
not me?" Tiffany was becoming a bit uncomfortable in trying to tell
him she wasn't comfortable with that, but then decided that she
shouldn't care what he thought.
"Because
I'm not comfortable around you. Now I have to go work, so leave me
be." She walked past him and out the door, leaving him there with a
confused look on his face.
"Ah,
there you are. Nikki we have some things we'd like you to get
done." Tiffany did an inward sigh,
"First,
we need you to go feed and water the horses, and cows out back, than
we need you to clean the fireplace. After that we'd like you to
make our lunch and get the dishes done after. Finally we'll need
you to go downstairs and clean it out. It's a wreck that we've
never been able to get cleaned."
"Yes,
Master Toger." Tiffany said in a quiet voice. Went outside, found
the food to feed the horses and cows with, and then turned on the
hose to fill up the water for the animals. All this took about an
hour, and by then the sun was out, although it was still chilly.
"Man,
why me? Why me?" she sighed again and then walked into the house,
looking at the list she made of what she had to do next.
"I
guess it's off to clean the fireplace." She put the paper back
into a pocket that she had sewn onto the dress the night before, and
then walked in through the kitchen and to the fireplace that was in
the fun room; which was right next to the living room. She crouched
down and looked up into the fireplace, then came out coughing from
how dusty and gross it was. Sighing once more she began to clean it
up and make it look nice. About fifteen minutes later she heard
laughing from the kitchen. It was getting louder and louder until, in
popped Logan and his two friends.
"Oh
look, there she is now. Hey Nikki, these are my friends, Peter and
Amy." Amy laughed again, and Tiffany became red for some reason she
didn't know of. Her look soon became angry and she started to work
on the fireplace again.
"Hey,
say hello back to them, like a good slave should. Otherwise you'll
never know what hit ya." Logan slapped Peter's chest playfully,
and they all started laughing.
"Yes
Master Logan," she then turned to his friends then said,
"Pleased…"
she paused seeming to get a look of grimace on her face,
"Pleased
to meet you," she said quietly then turned back to her work. They
stayed in the room and kept talking; she knew it was about her, but
tried to block everything out that they said but still growing red in
the face again. Finally she turned around and stared at them, daring
what she thought no slave would do in this kind of situation.
"Please
leave." she said her voice dangerously low.
"Hmmm,
looks like we got ourselves a situation here guys. Seems to me that
this slave, likes to talk back. Well, I think we can take care of
this don't you?" Peter and Amy both nodded there heads smiling.
"Actually,
I think we'll do it later, I've got to come up with something
first." Logan's friends seemed to get a disappointed look on
there faces but soon they all left, and Tiffany wiped the sweat off
her face.
"That
was a close call. Too much of a close call, I've got to be better
about this." She went back to cleaning the fireplace, humming to
herself a primary song she learned a long time ago.
"I
love to see the Temple; I'm going there someday, to feel the Holy
Spirit, to listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God, a
place of love and beauty, I'll prepare myself while I am young.
This is my sacred duty." In what seemed like no time, she had
finished the fireplace, and was now on to her next task.
"Hmmm,
what's next? Oh, I have to make lunch." She looked at the clock
and saw that she had fifteen minutes till lunch, so decided to go get
as cleaned up as she could possibly be. Ten minutes later she was in
the kitchen making sandwiches for the small kids, come to think of
it, I haven't even learned there names. Maybe I can ask them what
they are. Finishing the sandwiches, she got out some junk food for
snacks and made Strawberry Punch for them. She went to the kitchen
window, opened it and yelled "Lunch is ready," then went back to
cleaning up her mess, but leaving the window open because she liked
the breeze. The next five minutes were a rush, they came running in,
grabbed the food and drinks, then ran back outside to play with there
friends. She stood there dazed, like she was expecting a thank you or
at least some acknowledgement. But alas, there was none, so she went
to her next task on her list.
"Ok,
I guess I got to do the dishes now…" she looked over at the sink
and sighed with relief seeing that there wasn't much to do. Just
for because, she cleaned up the rest of the kitchen too, which too
longer than she expected because there were things on the table that
she guessed the little kids had left. It was gross but she wanted
them to know that no matter how bad it got, she wasn't going to let
it get her down in the dumps, although sometimes it was hard not to.
About six o'clock she was heading downstairs to get the basement
cleaned up, and make that look nice, but when she got to the bottom
the basement was worse off than the kitchen.
"Goodness
gracious, don't they teach there kids to clean up after
themselves?" shaking her head in disgust, she began the long
process of picking up molding plates, left over roast beef, and all
the toys. She worked as fast as she could, wanting to get done so she
could at least get six hours of sleep. But the more she worked the
more she found that the room was piled with gross disgusting stuff.
There big screen TV was so dusty she didn't think that they would
even be able to see anything even if it was turned on. About five
hours she was done with the mold infested basement, washed her hands
for about five minutes with soap, and then started walking upstairs.
Once she was at the top she realized that Master Toger was home
looking in the fridge (because the stairs start from in the kitchen)
and she came to attention, almost like she was in military
school.
"Ah
good, your done with the basement." He said still looking in the
fridge, and then said again.
"You're
going to have to go to the store tomorrow; we are almost out of
everything now." She nodded, a bit dazed and her eyes sleepy.
"Yes
Master Toger," she added when she saw his look.
"Ok
Nikki, you may get your rest now."
"Yes
Master Toger. Thank you Master Toger." She walked out of the
kitchen, then ran the rest of the way to her room. Changed out of the
ragged dress, and closed her eyes; falling asleep the minute she had
closed her eyes.
Chapter 3
During
the night, she woke up from a horrible dream crying and shaking so
bad she wasn't sure if she would be able to stand up to wash her
face up. Praying, she found the strength she needed then stood up and
walked to the bathroom, having a little trouble getting down the
stairs. In the bathroom she turned on the sink and the cupped water
in her hands, splashing it on her, shaking her out of shaking so
violently. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw that she had
slight bags under her eyes. Touching her face she said to
herself,
"What
has become of my once happy face? I'm not happy anymore, I feel
angry. And I want to know what they did with Russell!" she started
sobbing a little bit in her hands, trying to muffle her crying so no
one in the house would wake up. Once more she said to herself, now
just at the slight cry,
"Heavenly
Father, please help me get through this. Please let Russell be ok,
and let me go home sometime soon. I don't want to go through with
this anymore, I didn't even know they still have slavery."
Sighing a deep sigh she said one more thing.
"And
please help my family to feel peace in knowing that I'm ok, and to
let them worry little." She looked at herself one more time and
then left to fall back asleep in her room. Not knowing that Logan was
listening to her in his room, for she didn't know she had walked
into his bathroom.
The
next morning Master Toger knocked on her door and instantly she was
awake, since the night before after she had woken up she wasn't
able to sleep well the rest of the night.
"Nikki,
it's time for you to get up now. Be downstairs in five minutes."
He shut the door, and was gone. Opening her eyes very slowly, Nikki
groggily got out of bed. Putting on her ragged and now dirty dress,
she slowly went down the stairs, yawing a couple times before she got
there. Seeing that everyone was in the Kitchen, Nikki tried to mask
her tiredness and went straight to fixing breakfast.
"Mommy,
I want some cheese eggs and toast," said the little sir,
"Yeah,
I want some bacon with it too," said little miss,
"Alright
children, why don't you just go tell the slave what you would
like," they nodded and then ran over to Nikki shouting for joy,
then telling her what they wanted.
"Nikki,
I'm going to need you to go shopping today ok?"
"Yes
Master Toger, but um… how will I get there? I don't even know
where it is."
"Oh
that's alright, I've already arranged for Logan to take you."
Tiffany winced at that, but nodded anyway,
"Ok,"
then realized she had made a mistake when she got a glaring look from
Master Toger,
"Ok
master Toger," but still that wasn't good enough, then she
realized what it was she needed to say,
"Thank
you Master Toger." He smiled and then said,
"Your
Welcome," Then walked out of the kitchen. Tiffany handed the kids
there breakfast, and hurried out of the kitchen to get away from
Logan. Unfortunately for her, he followed right after her, and
stopped her when they were in the Fun Room.
"Hey,
if we're gonna go to the stores or whatever we should leave now."
She looked at his hand that was on her shoulder,
"Please
get your hand off my shoulder Master Logan," she moved backwards to
remove it herself but he followed not taking it off.
"Master
Logan," hearing the tone in her voice he got a sly grin.
"Sure,
whatever you say… but we really need to go to those stores,
otherwise this might take us all day."
"Stores?"
"Yeah,
stores. There are tons of them and we have to go to quite a few of
them to get what we need."
"Ok,
well then lets go I guess," she was still walking slowly from being
so tired and soon Logan pushed her to his nice black shining truck.
"Gosh
you're slow today," he said as they started off on the road.
Tiffany stayed quiet and as far away from Logan as she could. When
she looked over at him, she saw that he looked a bit concerned and
deep in thought.
"I
uh… I should tell you that uh… I heard you last night… you were
in my bathroom and I wasn't all the way asleep…" His voice
drifted away and when he glanced at her he saw that she had turned
red.
"Oh
you… you did? What all did you hear?" she was looking straight
out the window, preferring not to look at him.
"Well…"
he looked uncomfortable now,
"I
heard you praying, I'm not sure what either, and I also heard you
crying." Now he stopped the car on the side of the road and then
looked at her.
"Look,
I know you've only known me for like a couple days and all, but do
you think you could tell me why you were crying last night?" She
looked at Logan incredulously,
"How
could you not know what I was crying about? For goodness sakes, I was
kidnapped and sold into slavery! What would you do? Pretend that
everything is alright?" she was breathing heavily now, shaking her
head in disbelief. Logan said nothing and went back to driving into
town to the stores like he had never asked her what was wrong. When
they got to there destination Tiffany opened up the left side door,
jumped out and slammed it.
"Hey,
come back here slave, I have to put these chains on your hands."
Logan said lifting up some chain shackles.
"Don't
bother, I'm not going to run away." Logan ran to catch up to her,
and amazing her by leaving the chain shackles back in the truck,
"You
trust me enough not to put those on me?"
"Well
yes, you said you wouldn't run away and I believe you." Walking
in amazement at how easily he could believe her she asked him,
"Do
you have the list of things your father needs me to get?" reaching
into his pocket he said,
"Yes,
it's right here." He handed it to her and she looked at it, then
instantly looked back at Logan,
"Wait,
how do you know that I can read?"
"I
don't, but apparently you can, seeing as you didn't ask me what
was on the list." Thinking about it for a few minutes she finally
said,
"Ya
know, your family is the strangest family I've ever met. I mean…
you don't even beat the living daylights out of me… not that I
would want you to but… it's just strange."
"Why?"
"Because
I've already done tons of things in these past few days to make it
so you have to punish me…" she drifted off from talking, looking
at one particular man in the crowd of people. Looking harder she
finally recognize, and put a hand up to her mouth.
"Oh
My Gosh no, it can't be." She started to turn around and walk
away when Logan grabbed her arm.
"Hey
I thought you said you weren't going to run away!"
"I'm
not, but we have to go back a little ways I…I think we passed one
of the stores that has something we need." Logan looked on his list
and noticed that when he looked up all the stores they needed to go
to were ahead of them.
"No
there isn't, Nikki what's wrong? You're sweating."
"He…he's
here…"
"Who?
Who's here Nikki?"
"The…the
guy that sold me to you," her voice squeaked, and then she stopped
breathing for a sec, because the second she had looked over at him
again his head turned and saw her, as if he had sensed her looking at
him. He grinned mischievously, like he wanted her to be afraid. But
then in a moment he had turned his attention to what he had been
doing. Tiffany shook her head and then looked in that exact same
spot, and saw no one that looked like the guy. Noticing that Logan
was slightly shaking her she came back to the present,
"Nikki,
what's wrong?" he kept saying over and over again until she
finally answered,
"I
told you already, didn't you hear me?" he looked at her
confused,
"N…
are you sure you're ok? You look pale."
"But…
I told you what was wrong! I did I swear." Tiffany put her hand on
her head feeling a bit dizzy,
"What's
going on? I don't get it." She sat down on the ground, trying to
think everything out when she looked up and then saw…
"RUSSELL!"
She jumped up and ran to him, hugging him tight, thankful for a
familiar sight.
"Tiffany?"
he pulled her back at arms length,
"Oh
My Gosh it is you. Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany, it's so good to see
you! Are you ok, they haven't hurt you have they?" she was crying
and laughing at the same time.
"No
they haven't, they are weird and there are tons of times I think
that something bad should have happened to me, but I'm totally
fine. Oh it's so good to see you Russell!" she hugged him back
and didn't let go until she heard an "Ahem," from behind her.
She turned around embarrassed and red in the face.
"Oh,
heh, uh… Master Logan, I would like you to meet Russell, he's the
one who was with me before I got sold," Russell stared at Logan
almost accusingly, then held out his hand to shake,
"I
don't shake hands with slaves," Logan said coldly. Russell put
his hand back to his side when they heard someone calling,
"Russell,
come one, we have to go!" They all turned to the sound and saw
Russell's master. When Tiffany saw that it was a girl she
immediately became jealous and wondered what Russell thought of her.
She knew that Russell wasn't a good friend, at least that's what
she told herself. But deep down she liked him a lot. Russell turned
to them,
"Oh
uh… sorry, but I have to go… I hope to see you again sometime
soon Tiffany." She nodded then glanced at Logan who was looking at
her confused. When he left Logan asked her the question that she knew
he would ask,
"Your
name's Tiffany? But you said your name was Nikki, how could you lie
like that?"
"Because,
I didn't want your family to know my true identity, because if I
somehow was able to come home I didn't want you guys to come
looking for me, for some odd reason." She started walking towards
one of the stores and said over her shoulder,
"Come
on, we better get those things your dad wants. It wouldn't be good
if we got back late." And for the rest of the time she was silent,
not talking or looking at Logan at all. On there way back to the
house Tiffany fell asleep. It was hard for Logan not to look at her,
he was starting to like her more than just a slave or a friend and he
didn't know what to do about it. This wasn't supposed to happen
he thought, this wasn't part of the plan. Growing frustrated, he
pulled into the dirt driveway to his house and nudged Tiffany
awake.
"We
there already?" she said sleepily.
"Yeah,"
he said. Yawning Tiffany asked,
"What
time is it?"
"Late,
so you better get to bed after we put the groceries away." Tiffany
nodded and got out of the car, pulled the grocery sacks out of the
back of the truck, and then went inside to put them all away, with
the help of Logan of course. Finally when they were done Logan gave
Tiffany leave to go to bed for the rest of the night. As usual she
pulled off the ugly ragged and dirty dress, said her prayers and
thinking about it for a few minutes after, the got in bed and fell
asleep right away.
Chapter 4
It
had been a week and every night so far she had had the dream. She
would always wake up shaking and sweating, but not knowing what her
dream was about. It was really starting to bug her that she couldn't
remember the dream that was making her sweat and shake. But she
didn't know what to do about it either. Sighing in frustration, she
started scrubbing off the kitchen table even harder, not realizing
that it was spotless.
"Hey,
be careful. You don't want to put a hole in the table do you?"
Logan said as he walked into the kitchen, and laughing a
little.
"Sorry
Master Logan." Tiffany threw the wet rag into the sink, then
leaning back on the table, her elbows barely on it.
"Tiffany
is something bothering you?" she winced at him saying her name. She
so wished that Russell hadn't said her name that day. She was
grateful though, that Logan hadn't said anything to the rest of his
family, but couldn't help that it annoyed her when he said it. He
used every chance he could to say her real name, and that was another
thing that totally bugged her.
"No,
nothing is wrong, now back off ok!" she pushed past his bulky
frame that was standing in front of her, grabbed a basket and went
outside to pick fruit from the garden and trees.
"Something
is definitely wrong with you. Come on, you can tell me." Tiffany
ignored him and went on picking the tomato's and then the pears.
Before Logan was able to say anything more, his friends showed
up.
"Ha,
I see that you still have that slave. If she can even be called
that." Said Amy snottily. Peter laughed, but Logan just stared.
"Of
course she does. She's a person too Amy," Amy looked at him
confused,
"Are
you sure, she almost looks like scum to me." She wrinkled her nose
in disgust.
"Come
on Logan, it's a beautiful day out today, let's go to the park."
Amy said pulling at Logan's right arm. He pulled back a little bit
hard, and made her stagger a bit.
"I'm
sorry Amy, but I don't feel like going to the park right now."
Amy looked disappointed, but nodded, glared at Tiffany and then left
with Peter right behind her.
"Look,
I'm sorry about them. I don't know what her problem is." Logan
said a bit weakly. Tiffany just went on with her work, not saying
anything.
Logan
couldn't believe it. The plan was going wrong and now she wasn't
talking to him. He couldn't figure out what he did, but apparently
it made her mad.
"Why
are you mad at me Tiffany?" Tiffany stood there looking at a pear
in her hand. The truth was, she didn't know why she was mad except
for him calling her Tiffany, but he only did that when no one was
around. She looked at him a bit sadly then shook her head and
shrugged.
"I
don't know. Maybe it's because your family took a part in buying
me, actually not just me but any kind of person to make as your
slave. I miss my family, but you don't care. Otherwise you would
have let me go free the first day I got here. Why don't you think
of something Master Logan, wouldn't you be mad too if you were sold
as a slave?" He stared at her for a moment and then she left,
leaving him standing there dumbfounded.
Walking
back into the house, Tiffany was shocked at herself.
"I
can't believe I said that to him. I don't even know why I did.
Why in the heck am I mad at him?" getting frustrated she let out a
big "Ugh" and then went to clean up the children's messy rooms.
She had grown fond of them, not by much because they were a bit of
spoiled little brats. But she liked them all the same. One time when
they were in there room watching her clean it up she asked how old
they were. Little miss is 6 and little sir is 7, and she couldn't
help but think of her own little sister when she saw them. Tears
started coming to her eyes at even the thought of her family, and she
couldn't help but wish she could watch the news to see if they had
told to news people to have people search for her. While picking up
the toys in little sir's room, she heard the doorbell ring and went
to go answer the door. When she opened it up she was surprised to see
Amy standing there. Smiling a small tight grin she said,
"Oh
good, you are just the person I wanted to see." Tiffany just stood
there right in the way of Amy getting into the house, a bit
dumbfounded as to why Amy wanted to talk to her.
"Well,
can I come in?" that snapped her out of it,
"Oh
yeah, sure…" she moved out of the way, and when Amy was all the
way in she closed the door.
"Wow,
this place looks different every time I come in here." Amy said
turning around slowly looking at her scenery.
"What
do you want Amy?" Tiffany asked, tight lipped.
"Oh,
you're not going to call me Master Amy? What a shame. Maybe I
should have Logan change that."
"I
ask again. What do you want?"
"Ok,
you want to know why I came, well here's why I came. I want you to
say away from Logan, he's mine. You hear me? You are not allowed to
talk to him, and if he talks to you ignore him. Don't even look him
in the eye! Got it? You're scum, and you have no right to even be
near him." Amy was now a bit red faced, her pointer finger poking
Tiffany's chest.
"I
said. Do you hear me?" she said low and menacingly.
"Yes."
Tiffany said just the same. Amy straightened her yellow dress as if
is had been ruffled. Smiling she said,
"Good
day to you slave." Opened the door walked out and slammed it
shut.
"I
wonder what her problem is… unless… no way… she likes him."
Tiffany started laughing, but shortly stopped, knowing that Amy
probably had some kind of threat there that she didn't make clear.
Sighing she went back upstairs to finish cleaning.
A
couple hours later, Logan walked in the kitchen door saw her finish
cleaning up the dinner she had made that night and smiled and walked
over to her.
"Hey,
so what did ya make for dinner?" no answer,
"Ok,
well would ya make me something to eat since I missed dinner?" she
nodded but didn't even look at him. Finally growing annoyed that
she wouldn't look at him, not even a glance. He grabbed her chin
softly to make her look at him, and noticed that she kept her eyes
averted,
"Look
at me," he said, and she finally complied.
"I
said, will you please make me something since I missed dinner
tonight?"
"Yes
Master Logan," she then pulled out of his grip and started to whip
something up.
"So
how was your day today…" he looked around to see if anybody was
in earshot.
"Tiffany?"
she shrugged and grabbed some refried beans out of the cupboard and
made him a taco. After having it cooked she put it on a plate and
handed it to Logan, then went up to her room to write in her journal
that Master Toger had let her get.
"Gosh,
that selfish little brat! Who does she think she is ordering me
about? Now I can't even speak to my Master except to say yes Master
Logan." She spat the word Master, and then angrily sat down on her
bed and grabbed her Journal, writing furiously in it. A while later
she heard a knock at her door, it was Master Toger,
"Ok,
good, you're here. I just had to make sure." He smiled a bit
embarrassingly and then left.
"He
had to make sure I was still here? Oh my goodness, I can't believe
he thought I'd run away… well… I could, I've taken karate in
my time. I could fight him or Logan off pretty well. Erg, stinkin'
Amy! Why did she have to ruin my day?" lying flat on her back on
the bed she soon fell asleep, only to go back to that horrible dream,
and for some reason Logan an enemy in it.
Chapter 5
The
next couple of days Logan noticed that Tiffany was being very distant
and quiet. He couldn't figure it out at all, and it bugged him that
she wouldn't talk to him.
"Gosh,
liking someone like her is really confusing." He said to himself.
Sitting at the table he was hardly eating his food, and his eyes were
tired and had bags under them.
"Honey,
is everything alright?" his mother said coming into the kitchen.
Logan shrugged, then looked out the window above the sink, watching
Tiffany pick the fruit.
"Yeah…everything's
just great." He said a bit sarcastically,
"Logan
dear, please tell me what's wrong. You don't look well, and
you'll need too, since you will be starting school in a couple
weeks."
"Oh
yeah, I forgot. Mom I don't feel like going to school anymore."
He sighed,
"I
don't feel like doing anything anymore," his mother smiled
tenderly,
"I
know dear, let me guess, girl troubles?" he half smiled,
"Yes,
it's not very fun either." Sitting low in his seat he started
fidgeting with his hands, becoming all nervous, and then laid it all
out for his mom.
"Gosh
mom, nothing is going right. I'm not supposed to end up liking the
slave. And the plan is going all wrong. I don't think it's going
to work out in the end. I think it will bomb over!" his mom smiled
again.
"I
thought you liked her. They way you hang around her all the time."
Her smile lowered,
"I
don't think the plan will follow through either. I feel so bad
buying that girl. She's not our property, and she has a family. I
don't know what I would do if you were kidnapped or something else
even worse happened to you Logan. I love you."
"I
love you too mom. But what do I do about liking Tiff.. I mean Nikki?"
"Well…
for one, her name isn't really Nikki is it?"
"No,"
"Didn't
think so, well, maybe you should try and talk to her. I've noticed
she's been more distant with you. So it would be a good idea to
found out what's wrong."
"Yeah,
me too, if I can get her to talk that is. She doesn't even look at
me mom. What do you think about that?" his mom thought about it for
a moment.
"Well,
I heard that a couple days ago Amy came by. It might have something
to do with her." Logan's face darkened a little,
"Maybe…"
his mother smiled one more time then kissed his forehead.
Later
that day, Logan found himself standing in front of Amy's house and
knocking on her brown old looking door. He dreaded when the door
opened, because it was Amy who opened it. He wished he had at least a
little bit more time. When she saw him she smiled brightly.
"Oh
hey Logan, come in, come in."
"Uh,
no thanks, I just came to ask you what you said to Tiff… uh Nikki
that day when you came over." The smile faded on Amy's face and
she became angry,
"Why?
Did she say anything?"
"No,
except that she hasn't talked to me since that day, well actually
that morning. What did you say to her Amy?"
"You
really want to know what I said?" Logan nodded,
"No,
I don't think you do. Well Logan I've got things I have to do, so
good day to you." The door was almost closed when Logan's strong
arm held it back,
"Amy,
tell me what you said," he said more demanding. She sighed and
finally gave in.
"Ok
Logan, this is what I said. I said that she shouldn't speak to you
or look at you because she's scum and you're mine. And that she
should stay away from you as much as possible." Logan stood there
dumbfounded, not able to believe that she said that to Tiffany. After
a long pause he said,
"Amy,
I don't want you to ever speak or be near me again. You hear?"
now it was Amy's turn to be dumbfounded.
"Are
you serious? You can't be serious Logan. Not after all that we've
been through." Now her voice was weak.
"Amy,
I've told over and over again, we have never been a couple, and now
never will be. Got it?" her head bobbed up and down slowly and she
closed the door quietly, leaving Logan to stand there furious.
Jumping
into his black shining truck, he sped home, wanting to talk about all
this with Tiffany. Ten minutes later he was at his house. He hurried
and got out of the truck and practically ran into the house.
Breathing
heavily, he looked everywhere for Tiffany, but she was no where to be
found. Then a thought came to him to look in her room, so he ran up
the stairs taking them three by three, not caring whether or not he
tripped and scratched his knees. Opening the door, he found her
kneeling on her knee's then hurried and closed the door, listening
to her presume her talking. While waiting for the right time to go in
he heard some strange things that she said, like being grateful for
the great home she lived in and for the family she was living with.
She also said that she knew she would get home one day, and knew that
she just had to wait for the right time. When she closed her prayer,
which he thought she closed it a weird way, he opened the door to
find her still kneeling on the ground by her bed, thinking he
guessed.
"Ahem,"
he said putting a fist up to his mouth to make it look almost like a
cough. She jumped and then turned towards him, only to turn away
fidgeting with her ragged dirty dress.
"Oh,
uh… hello." She said hesitating a bit. He could see she was
trying to conceal her discomfort but she was failing, miserably.
"Tiffany,
I had to come and talk to you." She looked a bit
surprised,
"Oh?"
"Yes,
I had to tell you that… uh…I found out about Amy and what she did
to you. I'm so sorry, I had no idea. You should have told me."
Now she looked a little angry,
"I
should have told you? I could barely talk to you without knowing that
Amy was probably there watching me. Now she probably hates me even
more. Gosh, I so did not want an enemy, especially in a place where I
don't even know where I am." Standing up stoutly, she
straightened out her dress, then walked over and tried to pass Logan,
but he would not move.
"Please
move Logan, I have more work to do."
"No,
I will not move this time. Stop avoiding me Tiffany, I took care of
the problem, there is no need to worry anymore."
"Oh
yeah? Well that's what you think Logan, this problem is far from
over. Trust me, I'm a girl and you're a guy," Logan put his
hand to his heart smiling a little while saying,
"Ooo,
ouch, that hurt to the core Tiff… right to the core."
"Don't
call me Tiff. Now please move, or else."
"Or
else what?" he was now smiling broadly.
"Or
else I'll kick you hard, and you'll be writhing."
"Oh
yeah? Well ya want to know what I'm gonna do?"
"What?"
all of a sudden he grabbed her face, not too hard but just enough so
she couldn't get out of his grip, and before she knew it, he kissed
her. It took a moment for her to realize what was happening but when
she did she slapped him in the face.
"What
in the heck do you think you are doing?" she asked
incredulously,
"Why
kissing you of course," he couldn't help but smile, seeing her
blushing like that and all, but then before he knew what was
happening she kicked his shin so hard he thought it broke.
"Now,
I have to go finish my work and I don't want to see you again. Got
it?" he nodded now on the floor holding his leg. She pushed past
him and then was gone not caring whether he was hurting or not.
"Gosh
I can not believe he did that. What makes him think he could do
that?" Tiffany was now in the kitchen, furious and yet a little
flattered. No one had ever kissed her before, but she couldn't help
feeling a sense of loss. Grabbing a basket, she hurried outside
before she was told of anything else to do that day. Picking some
pears off of the trees, the tears started to come to her again, she
may have been kissed but she had no one to tell that too, except her
journal, but she wished she was at home face a little red, and her
smiling from embarrassment to her family and telling them all what
happened that day at school. But that wasn't the case; she was a
slave picking fruit in the backyard with no friends. Wiping the tears
from her face she walked backwards to pick the one specific fruit she
saw that looked really ripe and good but then all of a sudden she
bumped into someone.
"Oh
my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you," she
said hurriedly,
"Oh
no, it's ok, really. I should have moved so you didn't bump into
me, so really it's my fault." The girl smiled, and already
Tiffany was starting to like her. She had dark skin, but her smile
was brighter than ever. She also had an African accent it seemed.
Putting her hand out to shake Tiffany said,
"I'm
Tiffany,"
"I'm
Emilia," she said shaking hands with Tiffany,
"So
what brings you out here?"
"Oh
well, don't tell your master, but I saw you and thought I'd
introduce myself, you look like you need a friend." Tiffany smiled
faintly,
"Yeah,
it's just been really hard ya know?"
"Yeah
I do, I was sold as a slave a couple years ago, and it's not a good
feeling, I still cry for my family even now, I don't think it will
ever be better. Except that now I finally have a friend, my prayers
have been answered." Emilia hugged then said a little rushed,
"Well
I better go before you get caught, I live right next to you so we
should try and get out here at the same time." Tiffany
nodded,
"Yeah,
ok, how about lunch time tomorrow?"
"Will
do, see ya Tiffany my new friend." Tiffany waved as Emilia left.
Smiling a little through her new happy tears, Tiffany then finished
picking pears and tomatos.
Later
that day she was in the living room dusting and vacuuming. The TV was
left on from Master Toger earlier that day, but Tiffany didn't
bother turning it off today, because the news was on and right before
they left for a commercial they said something about someone who had
been kidnapped a couple weeks ago. Tiffany instantly turned off the
vacuum and waited for the commercials to turn off, anticipating the
news. Finally it was back on.
"Welcome
back to Fox 13 News, today a family is out searching for there
daughter, Tiffany Klacky, who's been missing for a couple weeks now
and have been hoping that there might be some kind of trace to her
disappearance, Mike Anderson has some more…"
"Thank
you Stacie, Well the Klacky family has put up a lot of posters these
past few weeks, and they are hoping for any trace about her
daughter's disappearance…" suddenly her family was on
screen,
"We
miss her so much we just want her to come home." Her mom and dad
and sister were all in tears by the end. Next they showed her best
friend Caiti who was also in tears,
"I
miss her, she is my very best friend, and I have no doubt she's
alive out there, she just needs to find a way home. Tiffany I love
you, please hurry home," Tiffany was now crying, wishing she was
there, and happy for her friends undoubting faith.
"They
have scheduled to put up bigger posters so more people will recognize
her and be able to contact her. But until then, back to you
Stacie."
"Thank
you Mike. They are also saying that they think a Russell Jackson, was
kidnapped along with Tiffany, but from the looks of it, people think
it could be just teenage love and that they ran off to get married.
We are all hoping for the better than the worse. Earlier this morning
a house was set on fire…" Tiffany shut the TV off, not caring
about anything else that was on,
"Well,
that was interesting." Tiffany jumped then instantly turned
around,
"What…what
was?" she said a bit hesitantly,
"I
saw the whole thing Tiffany, you don't have to play dumb, but don't
worry I won't tell anybody you paused in your work to watch the
news." He smiled and then started walking towards her. She noticed
that he was limping a little,
"Hey
sorry about kicking you, but you had no right in doing what you did."
He stopped a couple feet away from her.
"I
didn't? well I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself, I just…well…
never mind," his face began to turn red,
"You
just what?" she said suspiciously,
"Oh
never mind, I have to go, and you probably won't see me the rest of
the day. So I'll say this in advance, g'night." He slightly
waved then turned and left. She couldn't help but think he looked
good in what he was wearing, but that's just the way she was.
Especially when his hair made the slightly baggy pants and baggy hair
made it look even better. She shook her head out of her reverie, and
then began vacuuming again, her head in a big jumbled heap of clouds
the news the kiss and how good Logan looked in what he was wearing
today.
Chapter 6
Tiffany
wasn't able to see Emilia the next day or the day after that. It
seemed harsh to her, but she was so busy the next two days, because
the little miss was having a birthday party, and for some reason
Mistress Toger wanted her to get things ready for it. Looking around
the basement that was covered in balloons and confetti she couldn't
believe that it took two days just to get a party ready. But she did
it, although she was dead tired. By 6 o'clock that night Tiffany
was yawning every second, not being able to hold back her tiredness.
The kids were upstairs just barely getting here but already she could
hear there screams. Sighing she got up out of the old grandma like
chair, so she could be out of the way of the kids and so they
wouldn't make fun of her. Standing in a dark corner in the back of
the basement away from the fun, she fell asleep standing up. The next
thing she knew, she was in her bed with Logan sitting in a chair
right next to her. He smiled at her,
"Oh
good your awake,"
"How
long have I been asleep?"
"Well,
you slept through the whole party, and… it's now day time."
Instantly Tiffany shot up out of bed, then heard Logan laughing at
her,
"What
are you laughing at?"
"Don't
worry, it may be eleven, but I convinced my mom to give you a break
from work, and she convinced dad. So you can sleep as long as you
want." Tiffany sat back down on the bed, still a little tired.
"Why
would you do that for me?" she asked turning to look at Logan and
surprised to find that his face was red.
"Well…
uh…" he pulled at his collar,
"The
thing is… uh… I like you," he was now even redder then he's
ever been in the face.
"What?
But… how can you? You don't even know me!"
"I
know enough to like you." He smiled shyly, and she sighed,
"I'm
sorry but if that's why you asked for me to have the day off then,
I'm gonna go to work." She got up, grabbed her dress and went
into the bathroom to change. Soon enough, she heard Logan's knock
on the door,
"I
didn't get you the day off just for that, I got you the day off
because you have been working really hard these last couple days to
get ready for my sister's birthday party. Please don't take it
like that, and just take the day off, you really need your rest."
Tiffany inwardly sighed,
"Fine,
but I'm not going to do nothing the whole day." She opened the
door and saw that Logan had backed away from it. She went down the
stairs, and then headed out to the backyard deciding to make the best
of it, when she heard an "Ahem" from behind her. Turning around
she saw Logan,
"What
do ya need?" she said,
"I
was instructed by my dad to follow you wherever you went, he doesn't
trust that you won't run away although I know that you won't."
Tiffany half smiled,
"Ok…"
she shrugged and then went up to the garden,
"EMILIA!"
she shouted and her friend popped up from behind the fence separating
the two different backyards. Emilia smiled brightly,
"Oh
hey Tiffany, how are you? I didn't see you a couple days ago, what
happened?" Tiffany smiled,
"Oh
I got caught up in a lot of stuff these past two days, mainly a
birthday party, I was exhausted to the core, it wasn't fun," she
laughed, and Emilia right along with her.
"Oh
man, even though we didn't talk much Emilia, I've missed ya
girl."
"Yeah
same here." They hugged and Tiffany helped Emilia with her chores,
laughing at things the other said.
Logan
waited on in the background, letting the girls talk, although he
couldn't say he wasn't surprised when he saw Emilia pop up from
behind the other side of the fence. But he didn't mind, as long as
Tiffany didn't know he was watching her he was just great. Sitting
down on the grass, listened to the chatter, and loved the feel of the
breeze on his face. Smiling, he couldn't help at how good Tiffany
looked. He knew she had been putting the dress on over her regular
cloths and he admired her for it. When she told him to think about
being a slave and if he'd be mad too, well, the truth was that he
probably would be. He would try and get out as fast as he could.
Looking at Tiffany he saw a strong girl, who could do remarkable
things, but sad enough for him, he was part of the plan. She wasn't.
Noticing that Tiffany was now coming towards him, he quickly got up
off the ground.
"Uh,
Logan, do you think we could go into town to the stores?"
"How
come?"
"Well
because…" her eyes kind of drifted in different places when she
said that, and he thought he knew why.
"Well,
I'll go check with my mom, so I'll be right back," he turned to
Emilia,
"Make
sure nothing happens to her, and make sure she doesn't run away."
Emilia laughed and nodded her head yes, Tiffany looked incredulous.
Walking
back to the house he kept getting more and more jealous every time he
thought of why she wanted to go. How could she do that? She knows how
I feel about her. He shook his head, face going a little red. Walking
into the kitchen he saw his mom there,
"Mom,
I'm taking Nikki to some of the stores in town ok?" His mom was
doing bills and so when he asked she just waved her hand dazedly and
nodded.
"Ok,
we'll be back in a few hours, and I have my cell."
Jumping
out of the car, him and Tiffany went to some clothes stores. He
thought it'd be nice to get her some regular cloths, because for
one, she needed new regular clothes and two because he wanted to see
what she'd look like in some of his favorites he liked to see on
girls.
In
one of the clothes stores, Logan saw a tank top shirt, pulled it out
and handed it to Tiffany for her to put it on.
"What
is this?" she asked,
"Uh
well, it's a shirt for you to try on."
"Well,
I can't wear this, it's too scanty! I need something with
sleeves," she went looking around at some other clothes and found a
shirt that had half sleeves and was long, she smiled and went into
one of the changing rooms. When she came out, Logan was a bit
disappointed, it wasn't as tight as he would've liked, but she
looked good in it.
He
smiled and complemented her,
"You
look good Tiff, why don't you try these pants?" he said handing
her some pants, she took a look and then said,
"These
won't fit me, they are too small, where'd you get these from?"
He pointed to the rack right behind him,
"Well
no wonder, these are for girls a size 0 gosh! I'm a size 6!"
she shook her head rolling her eyes half smiling. Coming back out of
the fitting room, she was smiling broadly in the new shirt and new
pants, the pants he noticed were a little loose,
"So,
how do I look?" she said blushing,
"You
look…amazing." He meant it too. Deep down he was thinking at how
hot she was, and wondering what she would do if he ever kissed her
again.
"Thanks,"
she shook her head laughing, then went back in to change. Coming back
out she said,
"I'd
like to get these."
"Wouldn't
you like to look some more?" she shook her head once more,
"No,
actually, I'd just like to get home," she swayed a little on her
feet and he hurried to catch her,
"Are
you all right?" he said looking at the beautiful girl in his
arms.
"Oh,
uh… yeah… I just feel… a little dizzy…" she fainted then
and there in his arms. He set her down gently, then ran and got a cup
of cold water splashing it on her. Watching her face so close that
when her eyes fluttered open she screamed, shocked.
"Oh
my gosh, sorry, you… you scared me!" she was breathing
heavily.
"Well
you freaked me out too." He sat on the floor now with her, laughing
a little,
"Well
we better pay for those clothes eh?" Tiffany nodded, shaking from
fainting and the shock of seeing him so close to her.
"Phew,
I'm glad we didn't draw a crowd either, that would've been
bad," He helped her up from off of the ground, and then they went
to the check stand ready to pay for the items.
"It's
$25.50 sir." He handed her the money and then they walked out of
the clothes store, that was purple.
As
Tiffany walked out of the store she still felt sick from being dizzy.
Looking among the crowd she saw a familiar face. Looking closer she
could tell who it was,
"Russell,"
she yelled,
"RUSSELL!"
she started running, with Logan right behind her. Hearing his name
being shouted, he turned in the direction of the sound. Seeing her he
stopped whatever he was doing and ran to her. They met in the middle
hugging each other tightly,
"Oh
Tiffany, I've missed you so much," he kissed the top of her
head,
"I've
missed you too Russell," she looked up at him, and then broke
away,
"How
are you?" she asked,
"Well,
I've been good, I've missed my home and family, but… I am a
little used to this." He half smiled, and when she looked in his
eyes, she saw sadness there.
"Russell,
what's wrong?" right after she asked that, she heard a sound from
behind,
"Russell,
come on, we must be back to the house otherwise daddy will get
worried," with her hand on his right arm she tip toed and kissed
him on the lips, then he began to become red. Tears forming in her
eyes Tiffany asked,
"Russell…
how could you?" he looked at her softly,
"I'm
sorry Tiffany, but… I love her…" Tiffany backed away and
started running for Logan's Black Shining Truck, jumped in and then
shut the door fast. Logan only a few paces behind
her.
When
Tiffany had shouted Russell's name, a large form of jealousy formed
in his stomach. He wished that Russell would just get out of his
life, and that Tiffany would stop liking him. But he knew that wasn't
possible, she liked him and as long as Russell was here, he wouldn't
have a chance with her.
But
he was wrong, standing right behind Tiffany while she hugged and then
talked to him, he couldn't believe what happened next. His master
kissed him. She kissed Him, and He let her. He was so furious that
when she ran away he punched Russell in the face,
"How
could you hurt her like that?" he said angry,
"I
didn't mean too, it just happened that… I love… my master…"
he said the last part quietly.
"You
rude jerk," Logan said looking down on Russell who was on the dirt
ground. Running, he followed Tiffany back to his Shining Black Truck,
and winced when she slammed the door, but knew she had a good
reason.
Tiffany
cried all the way back to the house, she couldn't believe it, he
loved someone else. She felt like no hope was left for her. She
wanted to sink down so low that nobody would be able to see her in a
dark corner, but she had work to do, and knew that tomorrow she'd
have to wake up early again to do her slave work.
Sighing
she went into the house, fixed dinner as it was now dinner time, and
then did the rest of her chores, wishing that she'd have bigger
hope that'd one day she'd get home. Oh she did still have a
little, but she didn't think that was enough. Sighing she said to
herself,
"I
guess I'll have to pray every hour on the hour, maybe that'll do
much better good." She finished the vacuuming the basement, getting
rid of any sign that a party had happened. Finally at about 11
o'clock that night she finished cleaning, went upstairs
exhaustedly, and flopped down on the bed falling asleep, not noticing
the clothes in a sac at the bottom of her bed.
Chapter 7
Three
weeks passed, and Tiffany had been down in the dumps every day. Sure
she tried to be happy, she concealed it pretty well in front of the
family, but even then they knew something was up. She could tell
Logan was worried for her, but even then she just didn't care. She
was tired, sad, frustrated and just wanted to go home even more than
ever. She could just imagine what would happen today, she'd be in
her kitchen doing homework, listening to a recently sent song to her
by her best friend Caiti, and talking to the guy she liked a lot in
high school. She laughed at the memory but that quickly faded
remembering her position now. Tears streamed down her face as she fed
the animals out back, she'd been crying since the night before,
well actually since she found out about Russell, she just couldn't
keep the tears from coming.
Wiping
the tears from her blotchy face, she quickly took the food to the
animals and then did the water for them. Now that it was summer the
mornings felt so good. But in the daylight her dark brown hair would
become all sticky and wet, and stick to her face. It annoyed her
greatly, but she was becoming to not care a bit whether it looked
pretty or not. She could just hear her mother now saying, "Honey,
if you feel sorry for yourself you'll never have a good life. Do
you want to be miserable all your life? I didn't think so!" she
could also see the smirk on her mother's face right after she said
that, it must mean that she felt sorry for herself a lot, although
she didn't feel like she did now.
While
she was walking back to the house from feeding the animals, she heard
an unexpected voice say,
"Well,
well, long time no see." The person laughed evilly. Tiffany turned
around so fast she almost tripped, she knew that voice, and it wasn't
a happy one.
"Amy,"
she said devilishly low,
"Well,
at least you have a good memory, I'm amazed you even remember my
name ha, ha, ha," Tiffany already annoyed turned and started
walking back to the house.
"Hey,"
Amy said putting her hand on Tiffany's shoulder,
"You
don't leave until I say so, remember? My threat to you about
staying away from Logan is still good. So you better leave him
alone." Now it was Tiffany's turn to laugh,
"Amy,
stop fooling yourself, he hates your guts so live with it and get
your hand off of my shoulder." She started back to the house again,
but once again, Amy was persistent,
"I
promise you scum, if you ever talk to him again, I'll kill you, and
don't think I don't have ways to watch you, because I do, so stay
away from him." Tiffany, being sick and tired of Amy's ridiculous
threats, she turned around and shouted,
"Leave
me the heck ALONE." With her hands in fists she walked faster to
the house but Amy still behind her, finally having enough of the girl
she turned around and punched her, knocking Amy on the ground. Crying
Amy said,
"Just
you wait till Logan hears about this." She got up and ran as fast
as she could, her Pink flowery dress now muddy. Muttering Tiffany
said,
"Fine,
what do I care?" annoyed at herself for stooping to such a level
she cleaned the house and the kids rooms faster than usual. About
dinner time at six o'clock she was finished, and then ran upstairs,
and not coming out until it was time to clean up dinner.
Logan
came up to Tiffany while she was doing the dishes, scrubbing
hard,
"Tiffany,
what's wrong with you today? You look…more angry than usual."
Turning towards Logan she answered,
"Yes,
in fact I'm furious, you wanna know who I saw today?"
"Who?"
"Amy,
yeah, and ya wanna know what else? I punched her. She's gonna be
coming over here to tell you that I punched her." Huffing, Tiffany
realized that Logan was laughing,
"What
are you laughing about?"
"You…(laughs)
you punched her? All right, high five." He was laughing so hard now
he couldn't put his hand up for her to give him a high five, and
soon Tiffany started to giggle a little bit at the thought too.
Noticing that Logan stopped and then cheered for joy,
"Yes,
I made you laugh my day has now been fulfilled." He hugged her, and
then let go, slightly blushing, he wanted to kiss her so bad but he
knew this was the wrong time.
Being
totally oblivious to his blushing she laughed right out loud,
"Oh
really? Well I'm glad I made your day, but… mine isn't
fulfilled, it hasn't been for a long time." Logan sobered
up,
"Well,
I wish there was something I could do Tiffany, I really do. Oh man I
wish I could tell you…" he sighed then smiled,
"But,
I'm glad you haven't left yet, it still gives me time," He
didn't realize he said it out loud and then looked in Tiffany's
eyes to find she looked a bit curious,
"Time
for what?" she asked,
"Oh
never mind it's nothing, really." He turned away and got out of
there as fast as he could so she wouldn't ask him any more
questions.
Think
to herself she thought, Hmmm… that was weird, especially for him, I
wonder what he's waiting for! Shrugging, she finished cleaning the
dishes, now much more calm then she had been for the past 3 weeks.
Slowly
going up to her room, she smiled finally thinking that maybe it
wasn't so bad here.
Late
that night, she had the dream again, this time she was able to notice
something. There were men surrounding her, laughing and snickering,
but the thing that bothered her most was one of the faces she could
see very clearly, it was Logan's. They started coming at her saying
"You're dead" over and over again. They were getting closer and
closer when…
"NOOOOOOOOOO,"
she screamed sitting up in bed panting, sweating and breathing
heavily. Looking around herself she found that she was back in her
small room, and all its familiar surroundings, except one thing
wasn't there. In the corner by the window she noticed that her
journal was missing.
"Oh
no, not my journal, where'd it go?" she jumped out of bed and
looked in every inch of the room but it wasn't there. She couldn't
believe it, she was freaking out.
"Where
did I put it?" she whispered to herself,
"Please
be here somewhere, please," but she had no luck. Sighing, she sat
on her bed now very sad.
"What
will I do without you journal? You're the only thing I have to
express my feelings in…" Sighing once more she laid back down on
the bed, desperately wanting to fall asleep but her thoughts kept
interrupting her. A few minutes later she heard someone open her
door,
"Tiffany,
you okay?" Logan said concerned,
"Yeah…"
she said slowly, "I'll be fine, don't worry,"
"Ok
you better be, I heard you scream from my room, and I had to make
sure you were alright." Tiffany nodded her head, then closed her
eyes, not noticing Logan shutting the door.
Two
hours later she was woken up by Master Toger,
"Nikki,
you need to get up, its 5:00 a.m. time for chores."
"Ok,"
she mumbled and got up groggily out of bed, rubbing her eyes. As she
looked around the room it began to sway, her eyes hurt, and she
couldn't keep them open. Pressing on her head she said quietly to
herself,
"Man,
my head hurts, it's pounding so hard…" she laid back down on
the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
It
was now 6:00 a.m. and Tiffany still hadn't come downstairs. His dad
was getting really angry now and so Logan hurried upstairs to see
what was wrong. When he opened her bedroom door, he was shocked to
see she was sound asleep. When he got closer to her he saw that that
wasn't the case, she was sweating and trembling and crying. He felt
her head and gasped, she had a fever,
"Uh,
DAD!" he yelled,
"I
Think We Need a Doctor Up Here." He grabbed a chair sat down right
next to Tiffany and then grabbed her hand saying,
"You're
going to be alright Tiffany, everything is going to be ok," then he
heard his father yell up the stairs,
"Why
Do We Need a Doctor?"
"Because
Nikki Is Really Sick," he yelled back, then felt Tiffany's head
again, wincing at how hot it was. Then next thing he knew his dad was
up there checking to see if Logan wasn't lying, and upon seeing
Tiffany on her bed as sick as she was, he quickly called a doctor.
Soon his mother and brother and sister all came up the stairs to see
how Tiffany was doing.
"What's
wrong?" his mother said,
"She's
sick mom, really sick, I don't know how but… hmmm…" he got
thinking, "I wonder if this had anything to do with that…" he
mumbled to himself,
"You
think this had anything to do with what?" his father asked after
finishing calling the doctor.
"Oh
well… today when we were at the clothes store, she became dizzy and
then fainted, it was pretty scary. Luckily I caught her before she
fell and hit her head really hard." He blushed a little, the looked
back at Tiffany. Ten minutes later there was a knock at the
door,
"I'll
get it," his father said and soon Logan heard his father saying the
door was for him,
"Tell
the person to come up here," he yelled back down,
"They
want you to come down here and hurry," Logan sighed and then left
Tiffany,
"Who
is it dad?" he said skipping stairs as he went down. At the bottom
when he looked up Amy and Peter were at the door.
"Oh,
hey guys." His face darkened as he looked at Amy,
"Logan,
we need to talk, you'll never believe what that scum of a slave did
to me today,"
"Oh
I already know, she told me earlier today."
"When
she wasn't sick," he added,
"What?"
Peter asked,
"Oh
nothing," Peter scratched his head,
"Logan,
what's up with you? You never hang out with us any more! Is it that
slave girl?"
"Yes,
actually it is. Especially right now I can't hang out with you
guys, right now I just need to get upstairs because she's really
sick right now."
"Oh
poor baby," Amy said sarcastically,
"Amy,
this is exactly why I don't like you," Logan said angrily, then
said to both of them,
"Well,
I have to go back upstairs, if this is the only reason why you guys
came, then goodbye." He almost had the door closed when peter
stopped him,
"No,
that's not the only reason why, we came to tell you that… uh…
Amy and I… we are dating now," Peter began to go red in the
face,
"Oh,
well, that's good…" Logan said awkwardly, then closed the door,
letting them leave,
"I'm
sorry guys, but you aren't really that important to me anymore,
Tiffany is the only one who is now." He said to himself as he
walked up the stairs and then sat by Tiffany's bed the rest of the
day.
Soon
the Doctor arrived to analyze Tiffany, but made them all leave the
room so he could do it. The whole time Logan paced back and forth as
best as he could up on the stairs, finally his dad had had
enough,
"Logan,
it's alright, she's going to be okay, and it's just a
fever."
"Dad,
fever's can be serious, what if she DIES?" his dad chuckled,
"I
don't think this is the case, trust me." Sighing Logan finally
complied,
"Ok
dad, if you say so," but in his head he still worried, and wanted
to pace even again.
Finally,
after what seemed like forever, the doctor came out looking a little
grave.
"What
is it doctor? What's wrong? Will she be alright?" Logan said
anxiously,
"Well,
she'll be alright, but she's been working too hard, if she keeps
working as hard as she does she'll keep getting sick like this,
then one day it might just be too much for her… she also seems
really stressed about something, do any of you know what it might
be?" Logan nodded,
"Yes,
a friend that she cared about deeply, betrayed her a couple weeks
ago, she's been really down since then."
"Well,
maybe if you could get her to forget that, then that would be better
for her. She's much too stressed, please don't take this
lightly," the doctor added after seeing there faces.
"I
won't doctor I promise," Logan said, and the doctor smiled, left
it at that, then gave Logan's dad the bill. Looking up from the
bill he said,
"I
guess we shouldn't work her as hard, what happened to her a couple
weeks ago to make her sad like that?"
"Oh
well, it's not something I like to talk about or even remember."
Logan said quietly. His father nodded and then they went into
Tiffany's room. Logan stayed by her side all day long, and well
into the night, taking care of her, waiting hoping that she'd wake
up sometime soon. But until then he hardly got any sleep.
Chapter 8
During
her fitful hours of being sick, Tiffany dreamed quite a few things.
The first was a scary dream which had Tiffany sweating and shaking
like crazy. Again the dream had the evil men in it, coming closer and
closer to her, and again Logan's face was the most vivid. She saw
compassion and tears in his eyes, like he had committed a terrible
sin. He was coming towards her, arms open wide, but she rebelled from
him. In her dream she felt like she hated his guts, not even able to
stand being near him. And yet, she knew he was sincere. Sincere about
what she didn't know. All she knew was he was coming towards her
protectively, while men in the background held swords and guns
shooting and slicing. Suddenly the dream changed. Next, she was in a
dark brown room, tied to a chair. Someone was talking to her, she
couldn't hear him though. Next thing she knew she was
hyperventilating and her breathing was ragged. Remembering her health
classes she counted to 100 listening to her breathing, trying to calm
her nerves down. Then her dream changed again. This one was much more
calm and happy. Although, she was a little weirded out by it. She was
in a small room, light brown, a bed and a desk. Then she was in the
bed, lying down on her back, Logan right next to her. He was so close
to her face she could feel his breathe, and then he kissed her. A
tingle went right down to the tip of her toes. She couldn't help
but think she was starting to like him. She didn't want that to
happen though, and yet she couldn't help it. After a few seconds,
the kiss stopped, and the dream ended to become shear darkness. And
then, her eyes fluttered open, and she looked to her right to see
that Logan was asleep. Half way on her bed holding her hand. She
pulled out of his grasp and tried sitting up, but feeling way too
stuffy, and sweaty and shaky. Suddenly, Logan was awoke with a jump,
closing his hand that had held hers in a fist, he realized that it he
wasn't holding it, then looked over at her. Seeing that she was
awake, tears came to his eyes, but quickly he wiped them away
embarrassed that he was caught at such a touching moment.
"You're
awake. Oh thank heavens. I… we was so worried."
"Why?"
she said tiredly,
"Because
you've been asleep for 5 days." Hearing that, Tiffany was
instantly awake,
"5
DAYS. Oh My Gosh, are you kidding me?" he shook his head, his lips
frowning ever so slightly. Tiffany jumped up out of bed and then
instantly laid back down feeling light headed and very, very
weak.
"Hold
up Tiffany, don't get out of bed for another hour or so, you need
to eat something. You haven't eaten anything except for some scraps
of bread and water that we gave you, but even then it was hard to get
you to chew. So I'll be right back and get you something to eat.
Actually, a Lot to eat. You'll be better in no time." He got up
fast and hurried down the stairs. Tiffany sighed and let her head
rest on the pillow. She kept thinking about the dreams she had, or
dream, she wasn't totally sure. That last one though, that was in
her head very vividly. She couldn't get it out or her mind. Logan
kissing me! That's not possible. He wouldn't do that while I'm
sick. She shook her head baffled. That definitely wasn't real. It
was just my dream, nothing more. But something kept telling her that
it was real. The next thing she knew, Logan was back in her room,
handing her apple sauce, water, Chicken legs, salad, and tons of
Jell-O. She laughed at him for bringing her so much food, but then
stopped, the effort too much.
"I
don't know if I'll be able to lift my hands up, they feel so
weak…" she lifted her hands to pick up the chicken, and they
started badly shaking. When she looked at her hands they looked pale,
and her usually kept nails were much to long for her.
"I
would feed you… but that might be a little weird," Logan said, a
little pink in the face.
"Yeah,"
Tiffany said breathily.
"Look,
I told my mom that once you woke up I'd help her around the house,
so you better finish all of what's on your plate. I'll be back in
like maybe two in a half hours." He took her hand and kissed it,
then left the room. Blushing, she pulled back her hand and rubbed it,
but smiling nonetheless.
Sure
as his word, Logan was back in two in a half hours to check on
Tiffany. Knocking on the door she answered him,
"Come
in," the door squeaked,
"Oh
good, your almost finished," "Yeah, it was harder than I thought
it would be. I don't think I'll be able to finish this either…"
Logan laughed,
"Truth
is, I didn't really expect you to eat all of it." Tiffany looked
at him with one eyebrow raised.
"Oh?"
"Yup,
it's true. I just did that so you'd eat at least almost all of
it."
"Oh,
well, thanks?" Logan smiled smugly,
"Your
welcome," he scratched his head a little embarrassed by what he was
about to say,
"Um,
I was just… worried ya know?"
"Ah,
I see, well thanks for being worried but I don't think you had
anything to be worried about."
"Are
you kidding me Tiffany? You could have died. Luckily we got a doctor
over here. He said you might be sick like this because of all the
stress that you've had over these past few weeks and days. So, from
now on my family and I won't be asking you to do so much
stuff."
"Thanks
but no thanks. There's nothing you could do… except maybe…ah
never mind." Logan watched her face, and thought he knew what it
was she thought they could do,
"Tiffany,
I would Love to let you free, but it's not up to me. I can't
stand the thought of you working like a slave it bothers me that I
can't do anything to help you." Logan was pacing the floor
now.
"Logan,
if you can't do that then… I'll just keep on working."
"No!
You will not Tiffany! I absolutely forbid you too work too hard."
"Oh?
And what if I do work hard?"
"I'll
make you stay in your room."
"Ooo…
I'm so scared," Tiffany said half smiling.
"Okay,
now you're just messing with me," Logan said, also smiling,
"Oh,
and what if I am?"
"Then
I shall do this," he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.
Tiffany's first reaction was to move, but decided that she liked
the feel of his lips on her, and so she didn't do anything to him,
until a few seconds later she pushed him back gently then said,
"I'm
sick remember, I'm not going to get you sick, and besides, I'm
not ready…" there was disappointment on Logan's face,
"Oh,
I see,"
"I'm
sorry Logan,"
"No,
no, it's fine. Look, I better go and get back to my chores. I'll
come see you in a bit."
"Oh,
alright, see ya then." She said. He waved slightly goodbye then
left the room.
Tiffany
sighed, but smiled a little, thinking about how she liked they way
his lips felt, and how he cared for her so much. Shaking her head out
of daydreaming, she realized that once she left his home, she'd
never see him again. Snap out of it Tiffany, you can't start liking
him, he doesn't know the real you and besides he doesn't believe
in the same things as you do. She told herself over and over again.
That was the most important thing to her, was that she had to marry
someone who was also a Mormon like her. It saddened her, that she
couldn't like Logan, but she knew it wouldn't be any good to if
she couldn't get married in the temple with the one she loved.
Sighing, she closed her eyes, and feel back asleep, dreaming of
Logan.
When
Tiffany had woken up out of her "coma" Logan was very startled,
it had only been a couple of hours since he had…well… he didn't
really like to think about it, because I didn't want to think of
what Tiffany would do to him. But then, he was confused at what had
happened right before he left. He thought that when he kissed her,
she would slap him and yell at him, he was prepared for that, he
wasn't prepared for her to kiss him back, it totally shocked him.
He wondered if that meant she was starting to like him. But then the
thought left his mind. She would never like me, not in a million
years, maybe she just felt bad what she did the first time I tried to
kiss her and decided it'd be better if she didn't do it this
time. He shook his head and finished vacuuming the Fun room. Five
minutes later, he went in the kitchen to find that his mom was making
dinner.
"Wow
mom, you're making dinner? Nice!"
"Oh
yes, it's not something I do often, and I thought that since Nikki
was asleep, I would make it, and besides, I think I like to make
dinner. Maybe I'll take this job away from Nikki,"
"Ha,
ha, that'd be good mom, then she couldn't do anything about it.
It's like the doctor said, don't make her work too much," his
mother laughed,
"You
are so right my boy. So tell me, do you think you might love Nikki!
To me it seems like you are pretty dang close to that," instantly
Logan's cheeks flared red,
"Well,
certainly I like her, but I'm not sure about love, I don't even
know what it's like to love someone. Except you and dad and Little
Mark, and Little Stacie." His mother smiled,
"Tell
me, does your heart pound hard when you see her?"
"Yes,"
"Do
you get butterflies in your stomach whenever you see her?
"Yes,"
Logan thought he knew where this was going,
"Do
you think about her none stop throughout the day?"
"Yes,"
"Well,
by golly gee wiz son, I think you're in love," his mother laughed
softly,
"Wow,
maybe I am," Logan laughed too, but then frowned again,
"But
she's not in love with me, I already know that for sure, and
besides she even told me today that she's not even ready for a
relationship." He sighed, stopping for a second of washing off the
table,
"Are
you sure honey, maybe she's just scared."
"Maybe,
but I doubt it," Logan shook his head and finished wiping the
table. He then remembered that Tiffany probably needed something, and
so he hurried back upstairs to find that she was asleep. Smiling he
went and sat down right by her. He looked at her face, loving the way
it was shaped, thinking her lips looked so soft and tender he wanted
to kiss them again, to feel again what her lips felt. And so, he
leaned over and kissed her. Hoping that she wouldn't wake up while
he was. Luckily for him she didn't, and he sighed with relief for
both reasons.
A
couple minutes later, while Logan was holding Tiffany's hand, she
woke up. Startled, Logan instantly let go.
"What
were you doing?" she asked sleepily,
"Oh
uh… nothing, it was nothing." His face turned red, and she rolled
her eyes.
"Obviously
you did something your cheeks are so red."
"Ok,
maybe I did, but is that a crime?"
"Only
if it has to do with me and especially if you won't tell
me."
"Well,
don't worry…" he said a little uncertain.
"Are
you sure?" he nodded,
"Positive?"
"Yes,
positive, look, you just rest here for the rest of the day, and
tomorrow we'll get you up when we think necessary, ok?" Tiffany
sighed,
"Fine,
but if you think I'm gonna stay in bed the rest of the night, think
again."
"Well,
I'd rather you did, incase you fell or something especially while
I'm not up here to make sure you're ok, but… if you feel it's
necessary, than… ok! Get well soon Tiffany, and see ya tomorrow,"
he smiled, and then left the room.
Oh
boy, that was a close call. Logan thought as he was going slowly down
the stairs. Thinking about everything that happened in the past day,
he started whistling, feeling good for the first time in days.
Chapter 9
In
the next few days while Tiffany recuperated, none of Logan's family
would let her work too hard. It bugger her immensely, but she decided
that this was an improvement on there part.
"Wow!
I didn't know you guys cared so much about some dumb slave."
Logan scratched his neck nervously.
"Yes
well, it's like the doctor said, we can't let you work yourself
too hard." Tiffany looked at him suspiciously,
"I
think it may be more than that…" realizing she said it out loud
she put her hands on her mouth and spoke again,
"Oops,
I didn't mean to say that out loud." Instantly her face blushed
up and Logan laughed.
"Well,
you may be right! There may just be more to it!" Logan walked out
of the kitchen
where
Tiffany had been wiping off the counter.
"Hmmm…
that was weird. I wonder what else it could be," she shrugged it
off and went
back
to washing the counter top, and the dishes. When she looked in the
fridge, she noticed that they were almost out of
everything,
"Goodness,
they need more food. Sheesh, they go out of food fast." Shaking her
head laughing a little she went looking for Master Toger, and found
him outside working in the garden.
"Ahem,"
she said with her fist up to her mouth. Looking up and seeing who it
was, Master Toger said,
"Oh
hey Nikki, how are you this morning, not doing much work I hope."
Tiffany laughed,
"Unfortunately
no, nobody will let me work as hard as I want too! It's really
starting to bug me." Master Toger laughed right out loud at that
comment,
"You
want to work harder? Now that's crazy talk. I would think that
you'd want to work less."
"Well,
I've got nothing better to do around here, except maybe hang out
with… a never mind, I would just like to work as much as I want,
and when I want." She thought for a second,
"I've
always been an oddball, always. I was never like any of the kids in
my school." She shook her head in a little disbelief for
herself.
"Well,
I guess I'll go and see what I can do… Oh wait I just remembered
why I came here. Master Toger, you guys need more food, your pretty
much out."
"Hmmm…
that's weird. I could have sworn I bought groceries yesterday. Ah
well, Nikki, why don't you go to the store, tell Logan to take
you."
"Oh,
ok sure," she turned hesitantly, and then walked back into the
house to find Logan.
Looking
everywhere she could, Tiffany could not find Logan. She looked
downstairs, in the Fun room, in the kitchen, the dining room, the
living room, the rooms upstairs and still she could not find him.
Sighing she went up to her room, needing to rest her feet. When she
opened the door she was surprised to find that Logan was in her room.
"What are you doing in here?" she asked,
"Well,
I'm not sure. I just… well… I don't know how to say it."
His face became red in embarrassment.
"Never
mind. I'll just be leaving now." As he was about to slightly push
her out of the way of the door, she held her hand fast on the door
knob and the edge of the wall.
"Not
so fast, I've been looking for you!" Logan looked surprised,
"You
were?"
"Yes,"
"What
for?"
"Well,
I am needing to go to some grocery stores, you guys are almost out of
food," Logan answered back, disappointment clearly written on his
face.
"Oh,
ok then, well let's get going, we don't want to be out too late,
seeing as it's already five o'clock."
"Yeah,
that wouldn't be good."
On
there way to the main part of town, it became immensely hot for
Tiffany, and when she tried to open a window, dust flew into her
face.
"How
come you guys don't have cement roads? All this dust is killing
me!" she said sputtering out some more dust. Logan laughed,
"We'll
get you some water when we get to one of the grocery stores ok?"
"Ok,
that'll be good." Feeling happy, Tiffany hummed the rest of the
way to the grocery stores, not knowing that Logan was enjoying every
moment of her humming.
As
they were walking out of one of the stores, Tiffany remembered
something that they had forgotten,
"Oh
my gosh, I can't believe I forgot." She hit herself on her
forehead.
"What?
What did you forget?"
"Oh,
it's… nothing, I can wait till next time to get it."
"No,
what is it?"
"Well,
my journal, it's disappeared, I can't find it anywhere in my
room."
"Are
you sure that my little brother or sister didn't take it?"
"Yes
I'm sure, it was there when I went to sleep, and I had a bad dream,
and when I woke up in the middle of the night that night my window
was open and my journal was gone."
"Oh
really? Well, I'll have to tell my dad that. In the meantime I'm
going back in to get you another journal, ok?"
"Uh…
ok, but I really don't have to get it right now, it's getting
dark and your dad will be wondering where we are soon."
"No,
no, it's fine really. It won't take me long to get one, and I
trust you enough that you won't run off, but you can't tell my
dad I left you alone by yourself." He smiled and winked, then
hurried back into the store before Tiffany could say another
word.
"Well,
that went mighty well don't you think boys'?" Tiffany whirled
around, finding herself face to face with her original kidnappers.
Her voice shaking and her body trembling Tiffany said,
"What
do you guys want? I'm sold as a slave like you wanted, now just
leave me alone."
"Well,
if you don't recall, before you were sold as a slave I said I'll
be coming back for you. And look, here I am!" they all laughed, and
started to close in on her.
"And
if you don't remember, I asked you how I know you, but you never
answered me."
"Well,
let's just say it's not the right time yet. Maybe later, but for
now we need you for some… sentimental reasons." The leader of the
group smiled, showing his golden and rotten teeth. Tiffany shivered
in disgust,
"Well,
Logan should be out here any minute. So you guys best be on your
way."
"I
don't think so missy, you see, Logan partially knows us, he's
only met us a few times, but enough to know not to mess with us when
we are doing business."
"What?
How would he know you?"
"You'll
find out soon enough. Boys' take grab her and bring her with us."
They closed in closer to her, she fought tooth and nail, punching,
kicking, screaming, but there was just one too many of them. If there
had been two less than the ten of them, she knew she'd be able to
get away, but she had never been taught to fight off this many people
at one time. They dragged her across the road, with her almost
getting loose, but eventually she lost. When she looked at the
grocery store that she had been standing by, she saw Logan come out
of the store, and then heard her cries for help. But when she looked
in his eyes, all she saw was sadness there. Anger quickly grew, and
she couldn't help but wonder why Logan hadn't come after her, not
remembering what the leader of the group had said about him sort of
knowing him.
Before
she fell totally unconscious, she saw Russell in the street, trying
to see what all the ruckus was about, and saw that when he saw who
the person was they were capturing, worry was evident on his face.
When
he had walked into the store, he had seen the evil men. But as was
part of the plan, he couldn't interfere. Then, to come out to find
that it was Tiffany they had taken, he almost started to bawl, he
couldn't believe they wanted her so soon. He thought he'd be
months into his school year before they came for her. But again, he
was wrong. Seeing her leave, his heart almost tore out, he couldn't
help but cry, especially when she had looked at him for help. She'd
probably hate him for the rest of his life and he didn't care about
that. As long as she was ok, and nothing happens to her!
Sighing
he left to his Shining Black Truck, and drove home slowly, not caring
how late it was. When he got home, he walked straight up the stairs
and too his room. His parents knowing instantly that something was
wrong when they didn't see Tiffany walk in behind him or in front
of him. Walking into his room, Logan slowly shut the door and slowly
walked to his bed then sat down. Putting his hands to his face, he
did what he hadn't done in a long time, he cried. Suddenly, before
he new it, somebody knocked on his door,
"Honey,
can I come it?" he heard his mom's muffled voice from behind the
door say. Quickly wiping his face he said,
"Uh,
yeah sure." His mom hurried into the room and shut the door, then
quickly came and sat right next to Logan on his bed,
"Honey,
what happened? Where's Nikki? Your father is already furious! So
please tell me the truth."
"She's…
she's gone… they took her," Logan felt the tears coming to his
eyes again,
"The…
the men who… who are the leaders of… of the plan." Logan was
now gasping in air as he tried to talk. When he looked at his mom he
saw she had a very serious look on her face, although she was rubbing
his back lovingly,
"They
weren't supposed to come and get her so early. Logan, did they talk
to you?" he shook his head.
"Hmmm…
I just can't figure out why they would take her now… unless…
Logan, your not giving her privileges when you're alone with her
are you?" he slightly blushed,
"Well,
not much. I just left her outside of the grocery when I went in to go
get her a journal" he lifted up the Journal he bought for her,
"Oh,
Logan dear, that was a bad move."
"Why?"
"Because,
don't you remember what they said when we ended up getting into
this plan of there's?" his mother quoted them,
"Do
not give her any privileges what so ever. She doesn't deserve any.
Not one tiny shred."
"Well
yes I remember that but… she does deserve privileges. Lots of them.
Ugh, this just bother's me that we got into this." His mother was
now stroking his hair.
"I
know dear, me too. I was against this whole thing from the very
beginning." She sighed, as did Logan.
"Mom,
I don't know when I'll see her again, maybe never!" He began to
cry softly, and then his mother left the room after giving him one
more loving hug.
Chapter 10
Tiffany
couldn't believe it. She was kidnapped AGAIN. Even worse, she was
in a room with one window, but 2 stories up. Around the room were
some bookshelves and a desk with some paper's and a book on it. The
room looked like it was naturally green, but painted a covered over
with a brown color. It was ugly but she could live with it. Walking
around the room to see what books were on the shelves, she passed by
the desk only taking a glance at it. The glance was just enough to
make her notice the book. It looked exactly like her journal. Picking
it up she gasped. This is my journal! She thought they stole my
journal!
"Ugh,
I can't believe this," she said aloud, "How dare they steal my
journal. My journal, with My personal writings in it." She was so
mad she wanted to punch one of them, but instead she counted to one
hundred.
Suddenly,
she heard a voice from behind her,
"Your
journal? Well it was Your journal that we could get the best
information."
"What
are you talking about?"
"Well,
you wrote a lot about Logan, and that's the kind of information we
needed." Tiffany's face became red with anger,
"Those
are my personal feelings and thoughts, you had no right to read my
journal unless I gave you consent, which I didn't. You are a jerk
who doesn't deserve to know anything about what's going on in my
life, or Logan's."
"Wow,
you speak mighty powerful for a girl of age 17!"
"So!
All of it's true, and you know it. You're just a sleaze bag who
doesn't care what you do to someone else! How can you live with
yourself?"
"You're
right. I am a sleaze bag! And I don't care what you think, or what
I do to people." He grinned that horrible grin,
"Ugh,
you disgust me."
"Why
thank you madam! You are too kind," he laughed then left the room.
Tiffany grabbed a book of the shelf and threw it at the door. Calming
down once more, she sat down on the desk chair,
"I'm
going to go crazy in this place, how am I supposed to get out?"
sighing, she looked at the window,
"Hmmm…
it's so crazy it just might work." She walked over to the window
and looked down, then laughed,
"These
hoodlums are so dumb. They didn't even put bars on the window."
Devising a plan, she began to pace the floor.
The
next day was school, and Logan and his mom were doing last minute
shopping. Although Logan couldn't help that he didn't want to go.
He and Amy had almost every single class together, because that's
what Amy had wanted. He detested it from the day he found out they
would be in almost the same classes.
Suddenly
he came out of his thinking by his mother's talking.
"Logan
dear, you're going to have to get over Nikki. I know that you loved
her, but you can't risk anything with those evil men. Actually, I
think you might just see her again. They are having a group meeting
in a few days. And you are supposed to be going to it."
"Really!"
Logan said with hope,
"Yes.
But honey, please don't go ballistic when you see her, okay?"
Logan sighed,
"Mom,
I wasn't gonna go ballistic, I was gonna think of a plan to get her
out of there." His mother smiled her loving smile,
"That's
good dear. I'm glad. Because I know with out a doubt, she is your
mate, although neither you nor her may know it." Logan smiled,
"You
think so?"
"Well
yes. I do think so. You are nineteen, and she's… what seventeen
eighteen? It's almost that time for you both, and I can tell she
really likes you."
"Do
you really think so?"
"Oh
yeah, she's definitely got it bad for ya! At least from what I can
tell,"
"I
don't think so mom, she hardly acknowledged me," his mother
laughed, bending down to pick up some refried beans on the bottom
shelf.
"If
you didn't notice her journal, I took a peak once…"
"Mom!"
"I'm
sorry, I couldn't help it. And besides, she wrote a lot about
you!"
"Really?
What'd she say?"
"Well,
that's for me to know, and you to never find out!" his mother
laughed then turned into a different isle with the basket she was
pushing.
"Mom,
that's so not fair, you've gotten me curious," Logan said
catching up to his mother.
"Well
dear, I'm sorry, you'll just have to ask her if you ever want to
know." Thinking of asking Tiffany made Logan sad,
"Yeah
well, I would if I could but I can't. There's just one problem,
she's not even here!"
"Well
when you go to that meeting, you'll see her, and then… once
you've got her out. You ask her."
"What
if she runs away?"
"I
don't think she will."
"Hmmm…
I sure hope you're right mom." He laughed, and then they finished
the shopping, and headed back home.
When
Logan walked in the door with some grocery's in his hand, his
father stepped in front of him.
"Hello
son."
"Oh
hi dad, what do you need?"
"If
you think I don't know about Nikki, I do!"
"Well…
I thought mom had told you!" his mother called from behind
Logan,
"Sorry
dear, I didn't get a chance to tell you."
"Oh
well… that's ok, but do you think you could tell me now?"
Logan's eyes began to mist up,
"Sorry
dad, you'll have to ask mom that…" he walked slowly to the
kitchen, set the groceries on the table, and then went up to his
room.
Gosh,
what's wrong with me? Why didn't I go after her? He threw one of
his pillows at his wall and then laid on his back on the bed. Stupid,
stupid, stupid me! Why, why, why? Ugh, I've definitely got to get
her back, no matter what it takes! Logan fell asleep on his bed, and
didn't wake up 'till the next morning.
Pacing
in the room she was in, Tiffany was interrupted by the head leader
walking into the room.
"What
do you want?" she said evilly,
"Well,
if you must know… I want you." Tiffany's eyes narrowed,
"What
are you talking about?"
"Well,
you're beautiful, and you look good." Tiffany slowly made her way
behind the desk,
"Stay
away from me you creep."
"Oh,
Tiffany, you know you want me more then that Logan boy."
"Oh
really? Then wouldn't I have written about you in my journal?"
the leader was now in front of the desk, looking her in the eyes,
"Oh
come on Tiffany," he grabbed her arm, pulled her away from the desk
and almost had a kiss on her when she kneed him in the stomach.
"Stay
away from me you sick jerk." Standing by the door now bending over
a little he said,
"I'll
be back for you." Then he left. Tiffany was shaking so bad she
could hardly stand. Sitting cross legged on the floor she said to
herself.
"Now
I really got to get out. That window is looking more and more good
for escape." Crying a little, she got up off the ground, and walked
so she was directly in front of the window, but enough space to run
and jump.
Chapter 11
Standing
there, looking at the window, Tiffany had almost actually jumped
through it. But she chickened out at the last second. That and she
heard someone coming up the stairs. Quickly she ran, and sat on the
floor by the desk, hoping they wouldn't suspect anything from her.
Suddenly
the door was slammed open, and one of the leader's thugs came in
smiling grossly.
"The
boss would like to have a word with you." Immediately Tiffany's
body began to visibly shake, and the thug had to come and help her
up, doing roughly as he did so. She pulled her arm out of his grasp
saying rudely,
"I
can walk. I don't need your help." She walked down the old brown
stairs, her legs wobbly, but she forced herself to stay standing,
because she really didn't want the thug's hands touching her. It
made her skin feel vile and gross, so she decided to withstand
falling as much as possible.
Laughing
the thug said,
"You
are a tough one. But not someone the boss can't break." She
turned around so suddenly that the thug almost fell,
"What
do you mean he can break me?"
"You'll
just have to find that out for yourself now won't you girly?" he
laughed, and the pushed her, making her fall down the rest of the way
to the bottom.
Landing
on her side, Tiffany cried out in pain, holding her arm. Breathing
heavily, she got up slowly, still tending to her arm. Looking at the
thug with honest disgust, she followed his instructions of which way
to go. First they turned on the very first door after the stairs on
the right. They walked down a long hall, and then the thug pointed
and said to turn left. The third door on their left, from after
turning left, was the Leader's room. She opened it slowly, her arm
still throbbing. Seeing her come in, the Leader with the scar smiled
sickeningly,
"Ah,
there you are. I've been needing a talk with you."
"Oh
really? About what?" she said smoothly but low.
"Well,
about earlier." He stood up out of his chair, wincing a little, and
hands on the desk in front of him.
"I've
been thinking. I made a bad approach, and almost deserved what I got.
But that doesn't clear away what you did. You shall be punished,"
he looked at her arm that was now swelling, "And I see that you've
already started to get your punishment. Good, but, let me warn you
now. Be Prepared for Pain!" Tiffany gave him a confused look,
"What
more pain could you cause? You've already caused enough pain on me.
Leave me be, I have done nothing to you!"
"Oh,
that is where you are wrong dear girl. We have met once before."
"Ha!
I don't think we have. I would've remembered meeting someone as
sick and gross like you."
"Oh
trust me, there was no way you'd be able to remember."
"Well
then, why don't you tell me now?"
"Because,
now is not the time. And I haven't caused you enough pain. No,
especially when you have caused me even more. It's your turn to
pay."
"How
am I gonna pay?" The leader clasped his hands, smiling evilly.
"You
shall see dear girl, you shall see!" He laughed his sickening
laugh, and then waved his hand for the guards to take her back to the
room she was staying in. Wincing in pain and tears streaming down her
now blotchy cheeks, they pulled her along, taking her to her room,
which seemed to take a life-time to Tiffany.
They
threw her into the room, and she landed on her right arm her hurt
arm. Crying out in pain she slowly stood up, feeling dizzy, and then
she fell back to the ground, this time avoiding her right arm, but
landing on her back. Her breathing growing shagged, she fell into
unconsciousness dreaming of horrid things pertaining to both her
kidnaps.
Logan
and his mother were in Tiffany's room, seeing if maybe they could
find clues as to who had stolen her Journal. Logan remembered she had
said that it was stolen, but she was kidnapped before they were able
to interrogate the situation further. Logan felt a deep sadness
inside his heart. He couldn't believe he had just let her get
taken! Every time he thought about it he would get sick to his
stomach, wanting to just hurt himself. He yearned for Tiffany, missed
her, wanted to hold her and keep her safe. But he knew that if she
never ended up feeling the same way as him, he'd never be able to
protect her. Just being in his room, he felt a deep pang and
guiltiness against his heart. I could have done something! He said to
himself why didn't I do anything? But he knew the answer as to why,
he was scared. Scared that if she knew he was part of the plan, that
she would dump him, scared that he would be killed if he had done
something. He wished he was brave enough to face the leader, but deep
in his heart he was a coward. Tears welding up in his eyes, he sat on
her bed punching it mad at himself. Suddenly his mother wrapped her
arms around him, hugging him tightly saying,
"Logan,
everything will work out the way it's supposed to. Don't worry!
I'm sure Tiffany will be alright, she knows how to take care of
herself." His mother smiled softly then kissed Logan's forehead,
then grabbed his face in her hands.
"Please,
don't worry, you make me worry." Now he smiled slightly,
"I'm
sorry mom, I don't mean to worry you, but I can't help but worry
for Tiffany, what I did was wrong! Erg! Why do we have to be involved
in this stupid plan?" His mother stroked his messy hair
slightly,
"It's
not your fault Logan, this is your father's fault!" now she was
crying and Logan couldn't figure out why,
"Mother,
why are you crying? You've got no need."
"Oh
honey, I warned your father we shouldn't have gotten involved in
this, but he didn't listen. And then, he was in too far and there
was no way out! I would've left the house, but…" his mother was
crying softly now, "But, he was in so far, that we got stuck in the
process, I couldn't leave! No matter how hard I tried, I just
couldn't leave!" they were hugging each other now,
"Oh
mom, It's not your fault!" they let go of each other, and she
said to him while looking in his eyes with her wet teary ones,
"I'm
so proud of you Logan, I hope you know how much I am!" he nodded,
and then she went to the door. Right before she closed it he said
suddenly,
"Oh
and mom…" she opened the door wider,
"Yes?"
"Thanks
for holding me back a year! If you hadn't done that…I don't
think I would've ever met Tiff… Nikki." She smiled,
"Your
Welcome son," then she left.
Sitting
there on Tiffany's bed, he finally got a good look of her room. It
looked different than it had when she first moved in. Then he figured
it out, the place wasn't dusty. She had dusted it, and made it her
own special place. He laughed then said to himself I bet she probably
wouldn't want to move into a different room now. He looked at his
clock and then noticed what time it was,
"Man,
I must've stayed here longer than I meant too!" He stood up, took
one more look around, and then made his way out the door to get ready
for the meeting he was to attend and leave right away.
"Mother,
I have to leave now. This may be my only chance to save Tiffany!"
Logan said to his mother after once he was in the kitchen after
getting ready.
"Ok
dear. Now please, whatever you do, don't get hurt!" he
laughed,
"Me?
Get hurt? Nah!" he swooshed his hand laughing trying to make his
mother relax and it worked, slightly.
"Logan
dear, I'm serious! Please don't get yourself into harm!" Logan
grabbed his coat, then hurried out the front door of his house and
into his shining black truck.
Tiffany
woke up from lying on the hard cold floor to find out that she had
been crying. Sitting up, she wiped her tears wincing as she forgot
that her arm had been badly injured, and sat up. Her hair was frizzy
and messed up, going in directions this way and that. Standing
shakily on her feet, tiffany had a look around her room. Memories
came flooding back, and she remembered the leader's threat. Even
thinking about what he might do to her made her light headed, and
soon enough she was on the floor, trying not to hyperventilate.
Breathing in and out she said to herself,
"It's
going to be ok, everything will be fine. The lord will make sure of
that." Remembering the lord, and that he could help her in times of
peril, she got on her knees and prayed. Prayed that no harm would be
placed upon her by the vile leader's hands, and prayed that somehow
she would get enough courage to jump out of the window and be able to
run to safety.
Shaking
less now, she stood up, awaiting her punishment that was soon to
come. But unfortunately, or fortunately (she couldn't decide which
one it was) the Leader never came for her that night. But the next
day, while she waited nerve recklessly, the Leader of the men came
for her at noon. Coming into the room, he grinned that grin of his
again, and Tiffany shuddered in disgust, then glared at him,
"Oh,
don't glare at me! I haven't done anything to you." She rolled
her eyes,
"Yes
you have, and you know it! You've done lots of things to me! Why
can't you ever just… leave me alone?" he laughed at her
enthusiasm,
"You
have got just the spunk that I need in a girl!"
"What
do you mean?" she said her voice becoming shaky,
"Oh,
well… you see, I have my posy coming in for a meeting today and…
let's just say you'll be the highlight of the night!" He
laughed evilly, then started to leave when he turned around suddenly
and said,
"Oh
and one more thing, don't get too comfy tonight!" he laughed
again then closed the door, locking it on the other side from which
Tiffany was in. Tears came to her eyes, and she shouted,
"Mom,
I miss you!" she fell to her knees bring her fists to her eyes,
even though her arm still hurt she couldn't help herself but hold
her eyes, crying out.
Logan
hurried fast to get to the Leader's house, but it seemed almost
forever to him. It was an hour away, and Logan was sure he'd miss
his chance to save Tiffany, and driving fast was all he could do.
Secretly in the back of his mind, he was afraid that when Tiffany saw
him there with the group she'd become mad at him, and hate him
forever. So he was shaky as he drove to save her.
About
an hour later, he drove into a rather large drive way that led to a
rather large white and blackish house. As he looked up at the house
he shivered, knowing that Tiffany was somewhere in there suffering
from the cruelties of the Leader. Eyes growing narrow, he hoped that
his Leader didn't do anything to harm her, other wise he would go
ballistic.
Slowly
stepping out of the car, Logan headed towards the door walking the
small twisty path and then up the three stairs. Right as he was about
to knock somebody answered and said quickly and quietly "Come in"
and he entered. Taking a look around, he noticed that inside the
house had a log house feeling, and it made the house darker than it
would've been if it had been white walls or any other bright
color.
Shaking
he looked every which way in the medium sized room that he walked
into. He saw that he was one out of two other's who had arrived for
the meeting, and he knew there were more to come. So he went and sat
down on the chair to his right, and then rubbed his eyes. He couldn't
believe that she was here, in this very house, and as he took a good
look at his surroundings. Seeing the dear head's and vile pictures
he was fearful for her more than ever. Soon he stood up and began to
pace, thinking that he was going to go nuts if he didn't find her
soon.
"Logan,
glad you could make it. What's the rush?" Logan spun around, his
pacing stopped, to find the Leader standing there watching him,
smiling his evil smile.
"Oh
uh nothings the rush, I am just, uh, just nervous about the meeting
and what's going to take place tonight." Logan couldn't help
his voice shaking; after all he was standing right in front of the
most dangerous person he had ever met. The Leader grinned,
"Don't
worry Logan, I know why your nervous." He patted Logan's
back,
"But
don't worry, I've got your back." He laughed and then left
Logan, who was standing there stunned.
Logan
sat back down in his chair and tried not to fidget, but he couldn't
help but think what the Leader meant when he said he'd have his
back. But that soon left his mind for a few minutes as he realized
that the rest of the group was there. The Leader, formally known to
this particular group as Deraj, yelled to get every ones attention.
"Well,
as you all know, I had captured Tiffany, the girl who had ruined my
life so long ago, and she's here for payback. She's upstairs at
this very moment. And let's just say, we are going to have our fun
with her!" When he said that last part he stared right at Logan,
who gulped with fear at the thought of what Deraj had in mind for
Tiffany.
"Well
men, shall we be off upstairs to have some fun?" All the guys in
the room laughed and shouted, raising there beer's that they had
picked up off the table in the room that was sitting against the wall
directly across from Logan. Standing up, Logan still shook with fear,
and was becoming sick to his stomach. As Deraj led them up the stairs
on the left of the Chair Logan had been sitting in. Now, as they
headed up the stairs, Perspiration began to fall down his face, and
his thoughts were going a million miles especially one's about
Tiffany. What will she say when she sees me? I hope she doesn't
hate me for the rest of her life. Then, as if he had been hoping for
it, peace filled his heart like nothing he could ever explain. All he
knew was that his worries about Tiffany were gone. He sighed, as if a
weight had lifted his shoulders, and he knew that everything would
work out.
Later
in the day, the Leader of the men came up the stairs, unlocked the
door and walked in hurriedly, and quickly got straight to the point,
not giving her a chance to get up off the ground.
"Well
my dear girl, my men are showing up now for the meeting. Well,
technically it's not much of a meeting when there's a girl
involved. Except for the fact we'll be discussing you." Sniffing
and wiping her eyes, Tiffany said,
"What
are you talking about?"
"Well,
mainly it's about payback! You'll get exactly what you deserve
tonight! And there won't be anything you can do about it!" He
laughed like the villain he is, and then said one more thing, hoping
to have an affect,
"Tonight…"
he looked her up and down,
"The
boys' and I are going to feel you up, if you catch my drift." He
winked loving the shaking reaction he got. "Oh and tonight, you'll
learn why this is happening to you!" then he rushed out, the door
slamming as he went. Shaking, all she could do was pace around,
waiting for the moment to come, except for the fact that she kept
becoming lightheaded she was still able to stand on her feet.
Vaguely
she heard voices below and began to realize that if she didn't get
out of the horrid place fast, then something horrible was going to
happen to her. But before she was even able to make a move to jump
out the window, she heard there footsteps and shouts, so she hurried
and hid behind the desk, trying as much as possible to keep away from
the men that are sure to come. Her grip becoming strong on the desk
she watched as three men entered the room, making her confused. The
Leader turned towards her, saw her surprised face then said,
"Oh,
the rest of the boys will be coming in, in a few minutes; I just had
to get you ready in here." Tiffany's eye's narrowed,
"What
are you talking about?" The Leader snapped his fingers and his two
men each grabbed one of her arms. Shouting, she struggled to get them
to let go of her, but it was no use, they were too big for her.
Frightfully and shaky she asked,
"What
did you mean earlier when you said you guys were going to…to feel
me up?" she closed her eyes and gulped waiting for the answer,
"What
I said is what I mean; we are going to feel you up. None to
comfortably on your part I might add." He gave a sly grin then
walked to the door and opened it saying,
"Boys,
come and see… Tiffany!" they all shuffled in, and as Tiffany
counted she stopped after ten because she noticed Logan. Logan was
here! Rage beyond belief filled her body and soon she was going to
make her move. Glaring she noticed that Logan looked at her with sad
worried eyes, and she faltered almost letting the men take on her
full weight. What's up with him? She thought why's he acting all
innocent and stuff? He confused her, but she decided that she
couldn't think of that now, that she had to keep her focus on what
she was about to do… after she learned why she had been kidnapped
in the first place.
As
she looked around the room she glared at each and every one of the
fifteen guys (she had counted them all over again), even Logan who
seemed to wince. Then she turned towards the Leader of the
group,
"So,
you ever gonna tell me why in the heck you kidnapped me? Twice?" he
laughed at her spunk then said,
"Why
yes, of course I am. Let's see… where do I begin? Oh yes, it all
started out when I was in my office coming up with this brilliant
plan to steal money that I needed very much when on my way out I ran
into you. You said that you were there to stop me, like some mighty
heroine. Well guess what! My posse and I here kicked your trash! And
then once you were unconscious we erased your memory, but… that
wasn't before you called the cops on me! After your memory was
erased, I was taken to Jail, and tried for attempted murder. Which is
half true, and soon I was ordered guilty. So, for oh say about… 5
years I've been in Jail! No thanks to you! So now, I'm getting my
payback, and that's where my boys' come in," he turned to them
and smiled at them,
"Boys
what I've gathered you here for is her…" he pointed towards
Tiffany,
"Go
have some fun with her boys!" he laughed evilly, and as the boys
began to come towards Tiffany she did something totally unexpected,
she stomped on the left guys foot, and then kicked him in the
stomach. Once he had let go of her she quickly punched the other guy
before he could attack her, using of course her unhurt arm. Then she
noticed that the other men were coming towards her. So quickly she
pushed her way through the men and towards the window, taking one
more deep breathe she ran the short distance and jumped. When she hit
the glass instantly pain exploded in her arm, but now she couldn't
turn back. Fear backed up with excitement went through her body as
she was "temporarily flying" but soon, she realized her situation
and she went into survival mode. Getting in the position to land, she
ended up doing a Land and Roll. She landed on the ground, and then
instantly she rolled so as she wouldn't break any kind of bone, or
break her hurt arm especially. But soon enough she ran into a tree,
which was the only one around for miles. Shaking her head to get back
to reality, she realized what position she had now put herself in. So
quickly and painfully, she got up off the ground and began to run.
Pain filling her arm, and tears welding in her eyes, she ran as fast
as she could. Soon, she noticed a black shining truck coming up.
Somehow they had seen which direction she went in and followed her.
Uh oh she thought Father who thou art in Heaven; please don't let
them catch me, please… As she thought the last thought, the truck
came moving up beside her and in it was Logan, and only Logan.
"Tiffany,
please get in the truck. Hurry!" she stopped, and so did the truck.
Glaring she said,
"How
can I trust you Logan? You were with them!" she paused for a sec.
"How
could you Logan?" he just sat there in his truck, window open, arm
halfway hanging out of the window, staring at Tiffany. Finally he
said,
"It
wasn't my fault Tiffany. I had nothing to do with what happened.
Please, just trust me. And besides, if you keep on running they will
catch you, if you come with me they won't. I'll take you
somewhere to hide so they won't find you, just please come with
me!" his voice was desperate and she could tell he was sincere so
she complied. As she was getting into the truck she winced, having
trouble getting up onto the seat. Logan, noticing her struggle and
her lack of the one arm he said,
"Tiffany,
are you ok? What did they do to you?"
"Nothing,"
she grumbled. Logan turned to look over at her since he hadn't
begun to press the peddle to get the truck going.
"Tiffany,
I know you better than that. What did they do?"
"Oh,
and like you don't know!" Tiffany folded her arms wincing as she
did so but determined not to let Logan see that she wasn't ok.
Logan touched her arm and a tickle went down her spine.
"Please
tell me Tiffany. Please," he lowered his head, "I didn't want
to be in this, my father was the one who got involved and then we
were taken along with the ride. Soon we weren't able to back out
and we were trapped. We still are…" his voice drifted off into
nothing, waiting with intensity for Tiffany's answer.
"Look,
you may not have wanted to get involved, but you did Logan! And at
the moment, that's all that matters." Tiffany turned to look out
the window, and Logan started the truck and they started moving,
neither of them talking. Tiffany looked into the side view mirror,
angered at herself and Logan when she noticed a car coming upon them
fast. Hurriedly she turned towards Logan and said,
"Logan,
press on the gas! We've got company." Logan took a quick glance
at her then went back to driving.
"No
way, if I start speeding then they'll know for sure that you're
in the truck with me."
"And
if you stop for them, then they'll see I'm in here and you'll
have no way of getting me away!" he thought about it for a sec,
then coming to a conclusion he stepped on the gas and soon they were
racing (or so it seemed to Tiffany). Her heart racing Tiffany turned
to look at the car behind us, and she saw the Leader. Trembling, she
turned back around in her seat,
"Was
it bad?" Logan asked, and Tiffany nodded.
"Oh
yeah, it's the Leader of your pack…group… whatever you want to
call it. But he's following us, and if you stop, I'll be taken
again and…" She paused, trying not to cry,
"And
if he gets me, he'll do something worse than what he was doing when
you came." They both shuddered, and both for the same reasons.
"I'm
sorry Tiffany, so sorry," Logan suddenly blurted,
"For
what?"
"For
not helping you when you were in your time of need. Please forgive
me," Tiffany gave a small smile,
"Of
course I forgive you Logan," he sighed in relief,
"I'm
glad, I would be very sad if you hated me…" Tiffany looked at him
then put her hand on his shoulder,
"Look,
I don't hate you, or anyone! I'm just… I don't know, sad that
you would let them take me. If you really cared for me you wouldn't
have let them do that." She took her hand off his shoulder and
faced forward, both her hands on her lap shaking. She couldn't help
but be afraid, and as she looked over at Logan, she saw him shaking
and knew that he probably was also afraid. Feeling a little remorse
she said,
"He's
not going to catch us, as long as you keep on goin' as fast as you
are." But in her mind she thought I hope he doesn't catch us that
would be an even worse nightmare then it already is right now.
Shaking her head she couldn't help but feel the blood in her veins
pump faster, her heart rate go up and her breathing become ragged and
shorter. Suddenly, a nightmare worse than she could imagine was
coming up shortly. As she looked ahead of the truck, she saw they
were coming upon a bend, or a curve. She held onto the car armrests
so tight that her hands were turning white, and seeing as fast as
they were going she came to the conclusion that they would begin to
turn the curve and the truck would overturn and BAM, they'd be
dead. Dieing didn't really scare her, it was the part when extreme
pain would explode throughout her whole body. Shivering once she
turned to look behind and saw that the Leader was still on there
trail. Then she noticed a few other guys in the car, and before she
knew it they were poking out the windows, and pointing a gun.
Straightening back in her seat she felt a peace fill her bosom, and
she knew her and Logan would be alright, and after she had that
feeling the gun shots came. She and Logan both screamed, Tiffany
ducking down, and then she felt the swerve. Butterflies and fear
instantly filled her stomach and for a second she thought they had
fallen over the side. But soon she noticed they were still moving,
and when she turned around to look behind them, the Leader wasn't
following them anymore and she feared they had befallen the fate she
thought her and Logan would. Saying a silent prayer for them she sat
quietly for the rest of the ride back to Logan's house, thinking
and determining in her mind that she was going to leave that night to
go back home.
For
Logan, hearing Tiffany's screams in the room made him fearful, and
be began to become very uncomfortable. Especially, when he went in
the room, and saw her being held by the arms from two separate men,
that cut deep. He could see she was hurting and he wanted to punch
the living daylights out of those two men, but he refrained, holding
back his anger. Then when he heard Deraj say that to get her back,
they were going to feel her up. His blood was almost to boiling
point, his fingers clenching and unclenching. But then something
totally unexpected happen, Tiffany clobbered those men. It surprised
him so suddenly that he forgot to grab Tiffany and get her out of
there. He never got his chance, because soon he saw her jumping out
of the window two stories high. His adrenaline pumping, he feared the
worst when he looked out the window with all the other's, then
noticed that she had actually deflated the devastating blow with a
Land and Roll whoa, I've only seen that move done in the movies he
thought and then hurried down the stairs to his truck. When he tried
to start his truck he was shaking so bad he almost couldn't get the
keys in the ignition, but luckily they were in faster then he thought
and soon was on the move towards the direction of Tiffany.
He
saw that she hadn't gone too far but far enough away that it took
him a minute to catch up to her in his truck, and when he did he used
all his persuasive power to lure her into his truck and get her to
safety. And just when he thought that they were off the hook, she
told him that Deraj was behind them and a tickle of fear creped down
his spine, then thinking that if he kept going the pace he was going
that Deraj wouldn't know Tiffany was in his truck, but then she
persuaded him to go faster in telling him she would be in even more
danger if Deraj had made them stop. So pressing the gas peddle, they
sped on, and even though Deraj was in his dinky little wagon, he had
made it get some serious miles.
Noticing
that Tiffany was very scared, he tried to calm her down, but wasn't
doing a very good job of it because his voice was a little shaky.
Sighing soft enough for her not to hear he kept his pace even trying
to go faster, he saw the curve and prayed that they would be alright,
and when the shooting happened he was sure that one of them would get
hit, and that was the end of it. But they rounded the curve safely,
and Logan kept his pace up, hoping beyond hope that Deraj and whoever
else was in the car fell. Soon enough he found out they did fall and
he slowed the truck's pace to thirty mph.
Finally,
after an exhausting night, they were at his house relieved that they
had made it. Logan stepped out of his truck, legs a bit wobbly and
hurried and opened Tiffany's side door, concerned of her arm that
he feared might be broken.
"Here
Tiffany, let me carry you inside." She shook her head,
"No,
I can do it. I'm fine, really." But when she planted her feet on
the ground her knees buckled and Logan grabbed her arms before she
was fully on the ground.
"Thanks,"
she said meekly, although wincing from the pain in her arm. Logan
decided to take a shot at carrying her to the door, and she didn't
refuse. She was lighter than he had expected, almost, and so it was
pretty easy for him to carry her inside. But she wouldn't let him
take her upstairs, determining that she could do it herself, and
still struggled a bit.
Logan
ached to help her in any way possible, but she wouldn't let him. He
didn't know how to tell her he was falling in love with her,
especially when she was just seventeen and he was nineteen. Shaking
his head he wearily went into the kitchen to find that his mother was
sitting on the counter, along with his sister and brother and
dad.
"Hey,"
he said quietly,
"How'd
it go?" his mother asked, and he got a sly grin on his face,
"I
got her. She's upstairs right now." His mother laughed and gave
him a hug from where he was standing, he himself crying a little.
"I
think she her arm is hurt pretty badly. We'll have to have someone
look at it." Before his mother spoke his father put down his coffee
he was drinking and said.
"Look
son. I know you care for this girl very much. But we don't have the
money to pay for her arm to be fixed. Well have to set it ourselves
and wait and see how long it will take to fully heal…" he was
then cut off and they all turned at the sound of Tiffany's soft
"Ahem". Turning towards her Logan said,
"Hey,
I thought you were supposed to be getting some rest. You've had a
very stressful day."
"I
know," she said tiredly,
"But
I came down here to tell you guys something…" Logan held his
breath.
"I've
decided that…" she blew in her breath, "I'm leaving, and
going back home."
Chapter 12
Hearing
the news of Tiffany leaving, left him heart sick. He couldn't
figure out why she decided to just leave, it made no sense at all.
Especially when she still didn't know… shaking his head, he
listened to what the doctor was saying. Although he couldn't help
but think back to the conversation they had with his dad, it wasn't
all too pretty but he felt that it had to be done.
The
day before when Tiffany announced that she was leaving his dad almost
blew his mind. He was furious, although Logan didn't really feel
his father had a need to feel furious, it should have been him, Logan
who probably should have felt it, except all he felt was sadness. But
he knew that holding her back would just drive her away more, so he
had said to her,
"Are…are
you sure?" and then she nodded silently, Logan had heaved in a sigh
and then said to her,
"Well,
at least let us get your arm fixed and find out what's wrong with
it… please…" his voice seemed like it had pleading in it and so
Tiffany, not being in the mood to fight anymore said,
"Alright,
but only for a day then I'm leaving." Logan had nodded dumbly,
and then he walked past her going up the stairs.
Today
when he woke up, Tiffany was already up and about in the house.
Although he could tell she was in some pain, she was still determined
with all her might that she'd get everything done. So he went up to
her while she was turned away and touched her shoulder, then felt her
jump slightly,
"Oh…
you scared me." She said pulling some of her chestnut brown hair
behind her ear,
"I'm
sorry, I didn't mean to. I just came to tell you that you don't
need to work today; you've got a hurt arm! And not only that
you're…" he swallowed, "Your leaving to go back home…" he
sighed then said once again, "but before you leave I'm taking you
to the hospital!" Tiffany had nodded then went up to the attic to
her room.
While
she was up there, Logan's father and him had a big discussion about
it.
"She
will NOT leave!"
"Dad!
She can leave, we have nothing to hold her back!"
"She
will Not leave! I paid for her fair and square, and the only way
she's leaving is when I release her!" Logan stared at him with
his jaw open,
"Dad
are you losing your mind? We never paid for her! In fact do you
remember that this whole "slaves" thing is all an illusion? I
cannot believe that you are acting as if you really do own her!"
his fists were clenching now and his father's face went into a
state of shock then suddenly stood up off his chair, making it crash
to the ground,
"How
dare you speak to me that way. I paid for her, and I Will not let her
leave! And that's Final!" Both Logan and his father were
clenching fists, but his father was breathing heavily. That's when
his mother interfered.
"Honey,
why don't you remember? We never actually paid for her, remember?
It was just what we were ordered to do. Pretend that we actually
did." His father looked from him to his mom. He looked confused as
if he was just barely remembering,
"I…
I do remember…" he walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs
massaging his temples, then went to his room and quietly closed the
door.
Logan
looked to his mother and she shrugged then sighed, he knew then that
Deraj did something to his father, but he wasn't sure what. Then he
heard a sound coming from upstairs and saw that it was Tiffany with a
sad look on her face, and I blushed,
"Did
you hear everything?"
"No,
just your father yelling…" I sighed and then waved my hand at
her,
"Come
on, we best be off and see what's wrong with your arm." She
nodded, then walked down the stairs dressed in the same clothes as
when she had arrived.
Now,
as they were at the hospital waiting in the X-Ray room, Tiffany
asked,
"That
leader guy didn't really explain everything to me… you know about
kidnapping me… why did he just have me sold, and then leave me
along for a couple months? Why couldn't he get me when he actually
needed me?" tears were pricking her eyes,
"I'm
sorry Tiffany, so very sorry. He didn't need you when he kidnapped
you but when he did need you it would be right then and there. He had
something else planned for you yesterday, but he never got to it."
Tiffany looked at him strangely,
"What
else was he going to do?" this is where Logan gulped,
"Well
uh, after we all got done… uh ya know, with our business for you,
he was going to take you downstairs and give you an offer. He was
gonna give you two choices…" he hesitated even more,
"What
were they?"
"One,
you could marry him and uh… have his children, or two… he would
kill you if you didn't accept it." Tiffany sat there in the wheel
chair they brought her in to X-Ray, looking stunned then said to
Logan,
"And
you were… going to comply with this plan?" she squeaked,
"What?
Are you kidding Tiffany? I was going to try and get you out of there!
But you sorta foiled my plan when you got yourself out of there."
He smiled proudly as if he had taught the trick to her, and she
laughed lightly,
"Well,
I was in a state of shock, I still am, I couldn't believe you just
let them take me…" Logan's smile then left his face and he
looked down at the ground from where he was standing,
"I
know… I'm so sorry Tiffany! I would have but… I was afraid of
Deraj…"
"Who?"
"Deraj,
the name of the leader, anyways I was afraid of what he would do to
me although I should have thought more of what he was going to do to
you…" he kept his face down in shame, not able to look up at
Tiffany,
"Oh
I see…" then the doctor came in,
"So
doctor, how bad is it?" he put up some pictures on the special wall
and then pointed the spot out,
"Well,
it looks like you have a fractured elbow so you'll need to wear a
cast for about 3-4 weeks. Come back in about three weeks from now."
Tiffany hesitated,
"Um
well, the thing is, I won't be here." The doctor looked up from
the paperwork he was looking at,
"Well
if that's the case, go to a hospital near you and have them look at
it, and tell them that you were looked at, at the Millstone
Hospital." She nodded and Logan shook hands with him, waited for
the doctor to put the cast on Tiffany's arm, then they left the
Hospital and entered Logan's Black Shining Truck.
"Logan,
there's one more thing I've been meaning to ask you, but I always
kept forgetting… where the heck are we? I mean, it looks to me as
if we are in the middle of the desert."
"Well
the truth to that is, we are. We are in the desert in Utah."
Tiffany almost chocked on her own spit.
"What?
You mean… we've been in Arizona the Whole time?" Logan nodded
gravely.
"But…
but if we are in Arizona, then… why was I sold? They don't have
slaves in the north."
"The
thing is… Deraj gathered up some people forcing some to join along,
and we built a small town in the middle of the desert." Tiffany
just sat there and "Unbelievable," was all she sad, but it was
said with amazement. Logan glanced at her the looked back at the road
concentrating at driving and listening to her,
"What's
so unbelievable about it?"
"Because…
I live in Utah!" she put her hand on her forehead shaking; "I'm
closer to home than I ever imagined! Man! Why didn't I just run
away when I had the chance? I could have been home, home with my
family…" tears began to fall down her face,
"I'm
so sorry Tiffany, I really am, but… I'm glad you didn't run
away I would have missed you… more than just a little," he said
quietly, "I don't really understand what your going
through…"
"No,
no you don't! You've got no idea!" she sniffed, wiping at her
face which didn't help seeing that her tears wouldn't stop
coming.
"Man,
why am I crying? I've held them back, held all my sad feelings
back, not wanting to show… why now?"
"Tiffany
it's ok to cry, in fact it's good for you,"
"Logan,
I've kept all my sad feelings pent up and hidden even from myself,
refusing to let them show themselves, especially around you… so why
now? Why?" she sat there crying trying to wipe away her tears with
her one arm but failing miserably. Logan couldn't handle it, he
couldn't handle seeing her crying, he wanted to hug her and make
all the sad feelings go away, he hated seeing her like this.
"Tiffany,
is there anything that I can do right now?" it took a few moments
but finally tiffany answered, still sniffing,
"Just
take me to the train station, so I can buy a ticket and go home…"
she said quietly. Logan nodded, and neither of them spoke the rest of
the time.
An
hour later, they arrived at the train station. Coming to a stop in
one of the parking spaces close up, Logan said,
"Here,
let me give you some cash so you will have enough money to get the
ticket and maybe some food if you get hungry," Tiffany took the
money not noticing how much it was until a few seconds later,
"Logan
I can't take this, this is too much money!"
"No,
you must take it! $200 dollars is about what you'll need, and
besides it's a gift from my mom. She wanted you to have it."
Tiffany sighed and said quietly,
"Alright,
I will take it…" Tiffany said unwittingly, then she opened the
door, struggling a little to get out but handled it well. Before she
shut the truck door Logan almost yelled out,
"Hey
uh, I told my mom I might be going with you, so it would be alright
if I came along to make sure you got home safely." She shook her
head,
"I'd
rather that you didn't, I can get home safely now that the Leader
or what ever his name was isn't alive anymore," Logan looked at
her seriously,
"We
don't know that for sure Tiffany, he may have lived. There's
always a chance," she rolled here puffy red eyes,
"More
than likely he did die. Please don't worry Logan, I will be fine!"
Logan sighed then answered in a small tone, almost as if he was about
to cry,
"Alright
Tiffany, I'll try not to worry, but I can't guarantee that I'll
succeed." He bowed his head, and then said one more thing,
"Tiffany
I… will I ever see you again?" Tiffany shook her head although
his head was still bent and couldn't see,
"No
Logan, I don't think we will…" Now it was his turn to cry, and
he did, not caring whether she saw or not which he thought that she
probably did even though she didn't say anything except "goodbye"
and the shutting of the truck door.
For
a long time after he watched her go into the train station, Logan sat
there in his truck thinking about all that was said, especially the
very last thing. He didn't want her answer to be no, in fact he was
hoping it might just as well be a definitely, and she didn't even
give him a maybe. Feeling depressed, he started the truck and left
for home.
She
couldn't handle seeing Logan cry because it made her doubt that
maybe she shouldn't go home, but then reality settled over her and
she realized that… she was going home! She was so excited that she
was anticipating waiting for the train to come. That is, after she
had gone into the building and down some stairs and bought her ticket
at the box office, she couldn't help but pace back and forth
nervousness and excitement in her stomach. Although she couldn't
help get the feeling that something was wrong, that when Logan had
mentioned that maybe the Leader guy, whatever his name was, was still
alive she began to think it might be true.
Shaking
her head to get rid of her thoughts, she heard the train coming.
Hurrying fast, she ran up near the tracks waiting for the train to
stop so she could get a ride home. Unfortunately, although she was in
Arizona, the train didn't take her all the way to where she needed
to be to get home. It was about halfway to where she needed to be.
First she had to stop in St. George, then she had to take the next
train all the way up to South Jordan, and then… on to home. Finally
the train stopped, and she huddled on with just the clothes on her
back and the one hundred and seventy-five dollars in her pants
pocket. Breathing in and out deeply she sat there on the train not
able contain her excitement bouncing her legs up and down, making it
look to everybody else around her that she had some sort of disease.
Then, another thought came to her mind, she had forgotten to get
Russell and tell him the truth! She contemplated going back but
decided otherwise knowing that he'd probably decide to stay there.
Anger surged through her veins how could he do this? She thought how
could he abandon me and leave me for another girl? I don't know
what I did to deserve that, everyone in school even knew that he
liked me so why so sudden the change in girls in so short a time?
Unwavering tears fell down her cheeks, but it didn't last long for
she didn't want anybody on the train to notice her. So she sat
there quietly in her seat, looking out the window since she sat by it
and kept to herself not daring to talk to anybody. Until, a very
young man sat down next to her. He was handsome, had short dark brown
hair that was clean cut like a Missionaries, his cloths were nice
looking and very modest and he looked to be about 20; if she didn't
know better, she'd say he was a Mormon like her. She couldn't
help but glance at him, it wasn't that she was starting to like him
or anything like that but she could have sworn she'd seen him
somewhere, like in school or on the street or something. Noticing her
stares at him he turned and smiled then put out his hand while
introducing himself,
"Hello
there, my name is Kent." She took his hand and shook it,
"Tiffany,"
she said giving him a fake smile.
"It's
nice to meet you Tiffany." He stared at her for a second then
said,
"Excuse
me but um… have we met before?" she looked at him
surprised,
"Well,
I don't think so, but I can't deny that I was thinking the same
thing."
"Huh,
weird, I wonder why we would both think the same thing," she
shrugged,
"I
don't know, it's a mystery to me too." As she got thinking
about it, she started to become more and more certain that she had
seen him, but where is what she couldn't figure until a scene in
her mind played out in the "town" she went to with Logan.
Snapping her fingers she looked at him again, now more serious,
"The
town, that's where I've seen you, you were there when I first
visited it. But, how could you have been there," dawning clicked in
his eyes,
"Yes,
that's it. The town, you were there with… with Logan." Then
amazement flounced in his eye,
"You're
that girl that Deraj wanted! But…he was going to kill you if… if
you didn't subject to his proposal. How did you escape from him? I
was lucky enough to get away; I would have thought that you wouldn't
have been able to,"
"Yeah
well… you see my arm? One of his men fractured my elbow, and then I
ended jumping out of a window two stories high. I'm lucky to even
be alive!" His face was bowed in respect,
"I
would have done something but… I would have been killed even going
near that place because I wasn't a part of the group he had
organized, just part of the citizens." Tiffany shook her head in
amazement and wonder,
"Well…
it's ok that you didn't do anything, and I don't blame you for
not coming, and maybe it's a good thing that you didn't because
the guy who claims to like me said he was there to get me out, but he
said he never got the chance because I jumped out of the window,
that's an experience that I'll be telling everybody for a while."
She laughed slightly and then frowned, inwardly sighing.
"Well,
I'm sorry for what happened to you, but maybe we can keep in touch
as friends." She smiled and then said,
"Yeah,
that'd be cool," he nodded his head, got her e-mail address and
then nodded off to sleep.
Soon,
she did the same thing and fell asleep, her head lolling to one side,
and when she woke up, she found that it was her stop. So she quickly
got off the train, saying a quick goodbye to Kent and then walked out
into the train station filled with people. When she walked out of the
train station, she found herself on the streets of a town near South
Jordan, except for one problem, it was dark.
Darkness
scared her at perilous times like this, so she quickly looked in a
phone book that she found in a near by store, and looked up addresses
for Hotels, and noticed that there was one close by, about twenty
minutes away. So she called for a taxi and he drove her there. Paying
him twenty-five dollars from the one hundred and fifty she had left,
and walked into the hotel, and luckily for her, it was only nine
o'clock and this certain hotel closed at 10:00, so she was able to
get a room for the night. The hotel wasn't too fancy, but it had
its perks, the room wasn't really something to bother telling about
but it had a bed and sheets, and that's all she cared at the
moment. Huddling into the bed sheets she quickly fell asleep, to
await the new day, and the looks of her family when they saw her.
Sitting
up in bed, Tiffany realized that she had overslept, so she scrambled
to get out of the bed and get the sheets unscrambled over her legs.
In the process she ended up falling off the bed and landed with a
thud,
"Ow,"
she muttered rubbing her elbow and forehead. As she looked around,
she noticed that the clock said 10:45 a.m., and she was supposed to
be out of there by 11 a.m. so she quickly grabbed the room key then
ran out the door pretty much slamming it behind her. Fixing her hair
quickly so it didn't look like she had just woke up, she went down
the hall on her left, and stopped at the elevator a few doors down,
pressed the main level button and waited for the elevator to get to
it's stop.
Then
something unexpected happened, the power went out. Tiffany fell on
the floor and began to hyperventilate,
"What
am I gonna do?" she squeaked out loud tears beginning to prick her
eyes,
"How
will I get out of here? Who knows how far down this goes!" she felt
her way to the doors of the elevator and felt for the middle. Prying
her fingers in between the crack, she began to pry the door open. The
process was slow, and her strength weak especially when she could
only use one arm, but she managed fairly well. Hardly soon enough for
her, she got the door open and almost fell.
"Whoa!"
she yelled, and quickly caught her balance, then wiped her
brow,
"Phew,
that was a close one," shaking her head she looked down and found
out that she couldn't see anything at all, shaking a thought came
to her mind, Yell and that's just what she did,
"HELP!"
she screamed,
"PLEASE,
SOMEBODY HELP ME!" she did that for an hour at the most, and just
when she was about to give up…
"Hello?
Is somebody stuck up there?" she made her way to the halfway opened
elevator doors and looked to see that she could see someone,
"Yes,
I'm Up Here!" the guy pointed his flashlight up and saw her
waving her hands furiously,
"Hold
on! We'll get you out of there in no time!" Tiffany nodded
shakily then sat down on her butt. A few minutes later she
heard,
"Ok,
we're putting a ladder from here up to the elevator, try and climb
down it while we hold on!" Tiffany nodded then turned her body
around, her face looking inside the elevator, and then put one foot
on the latter, and then her other foot on the step below that and so
on and so forth. Then just as she was about to hit solid ground, the
ladder lost its balance and she fell, but luckily for her she twisted
her body to face the opening and right before she fell down any
further she grabbed hold of the floor with her only good hand. But it
didn't last long for she began to slip when her rescuer's grabbed
her arm and pulled her to safety.
Gasping
in and out for air and to get her bearings back together, she looked
gratefully at the three men who helped her,
"Thank
you guys so much, I really appreciate the help, I don't think I
would have gotten out of there any time soon," they all smiled and
the guy in front put a thumbs up while winking,
"No
problem miss, just glad to help out a customer," then they started
to get back to their jobs when thunder cracked outside, and since it
was right above them they felt the rumble, and then not five seconds
later, the lightning lit up the entire hotel, briefly showing
everyone as clear as day,
"Wow,
that's some powerful thunderstorm out there isn't it?" one of
the guys asked,
"Yeah…"
Tiffany nodded numbly,
"Anyways,
I was just on my way to check out of the hotel," she checked her
back pocket for the key, grabbed it and handed it to one of the guys
who took it and then nodded her to follow him to the front desk,
"I
can't check you out by the computer since the power is out, but
I'll write it down that you've checked out, what's your
name?"
"Tiffany
Klacky,"
"Ok,
thank you very much, you are now officially checked out of the
hotel," he smiled at her and she smiled back liking the guy
already. But her smile soon left when she walked to the doors to
leave. It was pouring rain outside,
"Oh
great, just my luck, how am I ever going to get home now?" she
muttered, then she had an idea, and ran up to the clerk at the
counter,
"Um,
excuse me, may I borrow a phone?"
"Sure,"
he answered then handed her the phone behind his desk. Quickly
grabbing a phonebook near by, Tiffany looked up the number for taxi's
and had one come pick her up from the hotel. It arrived half an hour
later, and she ran out to the car to be as less wet as possible.
"Driver
please take me to 3364 w. Indy Way," he nodded and then drove
off.
About
another half an hour later (because of the rain) The Driver drove up
to her house, the rain had just barely stopped pouring, and so she
didn't have to run to her the front door of her house. Giving the
taxi driver twenty-five dollars, she stood there on the grass,
sniffing the freshly rained air, loving the smell. Then she began
walking towards her front door, and deciding that she'd like to
surprise them really big, she knocked. Soon she heard people coming
down the stairs and watched as whoever it was, open the door…
The
guy wasn't anyone from her family in fact he wasn't even part of
her relatives. Shock and disappointment was on her face, and then she
mumbled,
"Oh
sorry, I must've gotten the wrong house,"
"No,
you didn't… Hey Everyone! Come See Who's At The Door!" a
puzzled expression came upon Tiffany's face,
"What…?"
suddenly she heard noises from behind the guy, and saw shadows coming
down the stairs right behind him,
"Who…?"
and then she heard somebody gasp,
"Tiffany?
Is that really you?" and then her mother emerged from behind the
guy crying softly, and tears began to flow in her eyes as
well,
"Mother?"
she said her voice shaky. Her mother nodded the tears flowing down
her cheeks, and she gave tiffany a big bear hug saying,
"Oh
my daughter, my dear, dear daughter is home! I can't believe it
you're here!" her mother kept pulling her back at arms length and
then hugging her, over and over again she did that process disbelief
in her eyes,
"Mom,
I'm so glad I'm home, I've missed you so much!"
"Me
too honey, me too!" then she saw her dad behind her mother,
"Dad?"
He nodded too, tears coming down his cheeks also. Then she saw her
sister, who had also begun to cry, and then she waved them over and
they gave each other a big group hug, laughing and crying at the same
time, and all getting wet by the pouring rain. Then all of a sudden,
Tiffany realized that there was another family waiting just inside
the house.
"I'm
sorry to break up this happy reunion but… could you by any chance,
tell me what happened of Russell?" it was his mother, and she had
sad tears in her eyes. Suddenly, Tiffany became very serious,
"I'm
sorry but… Russell… he stayed behind because… because he found
someone else that he… he loved," Tiffany wrenched out. She
supposed that she still had feelings for Russell but those were
decapitating quickly,
"What
do you mean?" Tiffany sighed,
"What
I mean is, Russell fell in love with his master… and just…
totally blew me off in my time of need, I'm not sure if that sounds
selfish but… he didn't look too disappointed… I'm sorry that
he's not here, but he's probably figured it out already that…"
then realizing where she was getting into she stopped mid-sentence,
fearful of what might happen if she told so soon,
"Figured
what out already?" Russell's mother asked,
"Look,
I can't really speak of it right now, can we go somewhere where we
won't be over heard?" his mother nodded and went back into the
house, crying soft tears of pain. Tiffany sighed then turned and
looked at her family and smiled,
"Well,
shall we go and celebrate for the few minutes we have?" her mother
and father both smiled and nodded,
"Of
course honey, today is your day!" her mother said quietly but
happily. She smiled, and then gave them all one more big hug, when
suddenly the guy who opened the door said to them,
"Um…
excuse me, but um, I was wondering if we could film you guys and your
happy reunion?" Tiffany looked at him strangely,
"Are
you kidding, at the moment, my family is all I want to concentrate
on," That and I have to tell Russell's family what happened of
him she added to herself, then walked into the house past the news
guy and up her stairs then sat on the sage brush comfy couch that
looked to her like it was just bought. But her amazement at the couch
soon disappeared when she saw the looks on Russell's family's
faces,
"So,
will you please tell us what happened of our son?" the mother said
shakily,
"Yes…"
but before she went on any further, she kicked the news people out of
her house and locked the door to make sure that they couldn't get
back in, then sat back on the sage brush couch, crossed her legs and
put her hands in her lap like she was in royal presence,
"Russell
is back in Arizona, in the middle of the desert, where we were sold
as…(gulp) as slaves. For a while he was glad to see me, then as
time passed on and we didn't see each other often, I saw him and
hugged him as if he were the only hope I had left, but… he broke my
heart by saying that… that he loved his master… the one who
supposedly bought him…" her head was bowed by the end of what she
had to say,
"So…
you mean he's still back there? With his slave master?" Tiffany
nodded her head slightly,
"Yes
he is but the thing is… I don't even know if he knows that it was
all a trap and a trick set up for me! He wasn't really sold into
slavery, and neither was I… it was all an illusion that Deraj, the
leader of the guys who kidnapped us, portrayed because he had some
"unfinished business" with me…" he voice drifted off into
oblivion, and waited in anticipation for Mrs. Jackson to reply.
Finally after what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes she
said with new tears coming down her cheeks,
"If…
if you weren't sure if he knew or not then… why didn't you go
back and get him?" Tiffany sighed,
"I
was on the train by the time I remembered, and my ride had long gone,
there was no way I would have been able to tell him, and then try to
convince him and then be back here by this time… I know that I
probably could've waited a little longer but… the thing is… I'm
not sure I could!" she sat there shaking, hoping that Mrs. Jackson
wouldn't get horribly mad. And she was right, Mrs. Jackson did
nothing but nod then stood up,
"Well…
I suppose we should head on home… don't you think dear?" she
said to her husband who was sitting there the whole entire time. Then
he stood up nodding his head emphatically and then as soon as they
were in there talking, the two were gone, leaving Tiffany and her
family to sit there in amazement and utter confusion.
"What
just happened?" Tiffany asked anyone who would answer,
"I'm
not sure honey, but… I think that you hurt them deeply." Her
father said, she smiled to herself he always has wise words! She
thought but it didn't last long because she couldn't keep her
mind off of Russell. I should have gone back to get him she thought
angrily to herself he would be here happily with his parents and
family! Oh why oh why didn't I go back and get him? But in her
heart she knew. She was afraid to face him again, afraid that he
wouldn't want to come back, and afraid that he would just hurt her
emotionally even worse than he already had, so she didn't go back
and she left him there.
Then
determination filled her soul,
"I
MUST go back!" she said aloud and finding herself standing up off
the couch. When she looked at her parents they had disbelief on there
faces,
"No
honey! You can't go back! You just got here! Please, don't leave
us again!" her mother begged, making Tiffany laugh tiredly,
"Mom,
I won't be going alone! You guys will be coming with me!" she
looked at all three members of her family,
"Right…?"
her mother sighed then said,
"But
honey, look at you, you have a hurt arm!" the look of surprise came
upon Tiffany's face as she remembered that her elbow was fractured,
and as if she had been on medication and the effect was wearing off,
her arm began to hurt,
"Oy,
I forgot about my arm," she said wincing a little.
"Honey,
you should have that looked at, what if it's broken?"
"I've
already had it looked at…mm… my elbow is fractured! It kind of
hurts." Her parents just looked at her with wide eyes,
"Oh
honey, how could that have happened?" Tiffany looked at her
watch,
"Can
I explain it all later? We must go and get Russell right now!" her
mother sighed,
"Ok…
go get your coat Charley you will want to be warm," Charley got a
puppy dog look on her face,
"But
mom, it's going to be hot in Arizona!"
"Well,
have a coat for on our way! It's not going to be warm here you
know! It's raining cats and dogs out there!" Tiffany laughed,
loving being back, and loving her mothers sense of humor, then a
thought came to her mind,
"Mom,
let's go to the train station! Because I forgot that I don't know
how to get there driving! I think I'll know better on the train!"
her mother stared at her for a second then smiled softly,
"Ok
dear, I guess we'll go to the train station! I just hope the cost
isn't too high!" she smiled a gumpy smile and Tiffany
laughed,
"Mom,
your crazy!" she shook her head then said once again, "Well,
let's go, I want to get home as soon as possible! But at least
there's a bright side to all of this,"
"What
is that?" her father asked,
"I
don't have to speak to reporters or policemen any time soon!" her
parents laughed, but her sister just rolled her eyes,
"Let's
go!" Charley said, and they were soon in the car and on there way
to the train station and headed to Arizona.
After
Tiffany left, things were dreary in Logan's house. Everybody seemed
to have some sort of gloom on there faces, making it seem that they
were only truly happy when Tiffany was there. And although Logan
didn't know it, that reason was pretty much true, but pretty much
for him. When she left everything went to the way it was, him hanging
out with Peter and Amy, although Amy didn't talk much anymore (and
neither did he), but he didn't mind, he didn't like her that much
anyways, but in the back of his mind he kept thinking about Tiffany,
like she was always in his head, especially the very last sentence
she said to him, telling him that they'd probably more than likely
never see each other, it had made him pretty depressed. Every time he
thought of her with great depth, tears would start to form in his
eyes but he never let them pass all the way down his cheeks.
The
next day at school (school had started a week ago) everybody kept
asking him what was wrong with him, but they never got an answer
because he just ignored them, even the teachers who he thought were
asked by students to ask him how he was doing. And yet still he
didn't answer them, because the main reason was he couldn't stop
from daydreaming, mainly about someday seeing Tiffany again.
Finally
during his 6th period class, calculus, Amy who sat right next to him
asked,
"Logan,
what's up with you today? You have hardly said anything all day!"
but her answer from his was a shrug. Sighing in frustration she shook
her head muttering and went back to the assignment they had for the
day, but every once in a while would glance at Logan.
After
a long day, school finally let out. When Logan got home, he went
straight to his room and lay on his bed with his eyes closed and he
ended up falling asleep dreaming.
In
his dream, he dreamed that he was floating along a cloud. It was
floating him places, or scenes of people, and a couple scene's in
particular that he remembered happened in real life, the others he
had no clue as to where they came from. The first scene he saw
himself meeting Tiffany for the first time, and he saw the look in
her eyes the seemed to him to be pure hatred and defiance. The second
scene was of Amy and Tiffany, Amy picking on Tiffany and telling her
never to speak to him again. The third scene was of Tiffany with her
family and the happy reunion and, he saw, that her elbow was broken.
The fourth scene was of him and Tiffany being happily married in some
sort of building which he couldn't figure out what it was. The
fifth scene was of Deraj standing up out of the ditch that they had
fell into when the cars had swerved, and watched him looking at the
car grumpily and muttering to himself. And finally the sixth scene
was of him and Tiffany along side each other, and then it showed
there children, and there children's, so on and so forth. Right
after the last scene of his dream ended he woke up in his house to
find that it was nearly dusk and that someone was knocking on his
door. He soon found out who it was,
"Honey,
are you ok? You've been in there all day since school got out!"
his mother said worriedly,
"Yes
mom, I'm fine. I just fell asleep." Logan practically yelled,
then heard his mom sigh,
"Ok,
well… I was just checking in on ya." He heard his mother leave,
and then a few minutes later she came back, once again knocking on
his door,
"Yes?"
she opened it and poked her head in,
"Honey,
your friends have come over and said that you haven't done any
talking at all. Now it's not just them that have noticed it, I have
and so has your father. Honey, we are worried about you, are you sure
you're okay?"
"Yes
mom, I'm fine, really. I've just been a little depressed since…
well… you know…" he stuttered out, not able to say Tiffany's
name. His mother sighed,
"Yes,
that's what I thought this was all about. Look dear, you don't
need to worry, you'll see her again someday!"
"Mom,
you were there when we said goodbye! When I asked her if we'd ever
see each other again, she said probably more than likely not."
Sighing, he rolled over on his stomach, "I hate feeling this way!"
his mother gave a small smile behind his back,
"I
know you do son. That's just what it's like when you're in
love." He looked at his mom curiously,
"Are
you sure mom? I mean… how do you know for sure that this is what it
is?" she smiled softly,
"Because
this happened to me once, well, not the same way it has for you but
it's somewhat similar," she and Logan both laughed a little, then
Logan gave her a hug feeling a little better,
"Thanks
mom. For everything,"
"Your
welcome honey," she kissed his head then right before she left his
room she turned around with her hands on her hips and said,
"Clean
up this room! It's a mess!" she smiled then left the room.
Laughing, Logan looked around at his room, with the clothes on the
floor, the small indent by his window where his bean bag chair sat
and the TV right by it, the ladder leading up to another part of his
room, which in retrospect, was practically near the attic, where
Tiffany had slept. Then he glanced at his walls, they were a dark
blue with a lining of green. As his eyes swept all the walls he came
upon a picture of Tiffany outside in the backyard picking fruit. He
had taken it without her knowing, and he cherished the picture
dearly, but alas he didn't think he'd ever see her again. Sighing
he fell on his bed, trying to fall asleep again but not getting
there, so he went downstairs to occupy himself until a thought came
to him,
"Mom,
I'm going to walk around the shops, I'll be back sometime today,"
he told her once he was in the kitchen and saw her in there cleaning.
She turned to him,
"Ok
son, but please be careful! Oh and One more thing, now that Deraj is
gone, and Nikki is gone, we have to move back to our real home. Ok?"
he sighed then said,
"Ok
mom, I guess so. I don't understand why we can't just live here,
but ok. Oh and mom, Nikki's real name is Tiffany!" his mother
smiled and had a glow in her eye. Then he left to go walk around all
the outsides stores.
While
walking around he noticed some of the girls shops, and remembered the
time when he took Tiffany shopping at one of them and how she… No
he thought I will not think about her! It's too painful. Shaking
his head he went on, looking about the shops and stores, not really
noticing anybody, even when his friends saw him and started to talk
to him, he still didn't respond, in fact he didn't really
actually see them. His mind was clouded and he could hardly think
about anything except the one person he didn't want to think about.
Until an image came across his view, he quickly spun around to see
the person passing him by and recognized him as…
"Russell!"
upon hearing his name, Russell turned toward Logan. When he saw who
it was that was calling his name his face instantly became
angered.
"What
do you want?" Russell said almost snottily,
"I
wanted to talk to you," Logan said,
"Oh?
About what?" Russell said, a little accusingly while folding his
arms in the process which made Logan begin to become uncomfortable,
"Well…
about Tiffany," surprise registered on Russell's face then
sadness,
"What
about her?" Russell said now slightly confused,
"Well…
didn't she come and say goodbye to you?" now the confusion on
Russell's face was more vivid,
"What
do you mean?"
"Well…
um, don't you know?"
"Know
what?" Russell said truly confused and Logan sighed,
"Tiffany
is gone, she went back home." The shock of it was so sudden that
Russell's knees went weak,
"What
do you mean? She couldn't have gone home, you're her
master,"
"Technically…
I'm not, and neither is your master actually your master…"
"What
are you talking about? Of course she is, her family bought me for
heaven sakes!"
"No,
they didn't! It was all an act Russell!" sighing and growing
frustrated Logan practically yelled,
"Forget
it," then was about to walk off,
"Wait!
How is Tiffany? I mean… is she ok?" Logan's eyes grew into
slits,
"I
thought you didn't care about her anymore," Russell bowed his
head,
"Truth
is… I… I miss her so much it's painful to think about her. I
don't know how I could have thought I loved my master, but I don't…
I… I think I love Tiffany…" now shock surpassed Logan's
face,
"What?"
he said his voice pitchy,
"You
heard me… I made a big mistake thinking that I loved my master…"
anger fell upon Logan's face,
"Do
you have any idea what you put her through? She was sick for more
than a week!" concern filled his eyes,
"I'm
so sorry, I just wish that I could tell her that, but… if she's
not here than… I guess I can't…"
"Look,
I'm not sure I should even be telling you this, especially after
what you did to Tiffany! But, the thing is, you can go home. You
don't have to stay here because you aren't really a slave, and
you don't really have a master, it was all pretend!"
"What?"
"Yeah,
it was all pretend because the Leader who did all this wanted to get
back at Tiffany, and you just happened to be in the wrong moment at
the wrong time." Russell stared at him with wide eyes,
"What
did they want with Tiffany?" he asked suddenly all
defensive,
"Nothing,
it's too hard to explain, just… pack your bags and go." He left
it at that and soon turned around leaving Russell to wonder.
About
an hour later, Logan decided that he was bored and went home, to mule
on his thoughts of Tiffany and what Russell had said. Rubbing his
eyes he thought how could Russell just change his mind like that? Now
I'll never ever have a chance with Tiffany! No matter what happened
in my dream. Man oh man, why did he have to say he still loves her?
It took him a while to fall asleep, but he eventually did, and it was
a night of tossing and turning, and waking up almost every hour.
As
they entered the train, Tiffany looked at the map and found where
they needed to go.
"This
is where we need to go!" she said pointing to the spot on the map
to her family,
"But
Tiffany, that's a long ways away. Are you really sure about this?"
her father said, and Tiffany nodded her head vigorously,
"Yes,
I'm positive." Her father sighed,
"Ok,
if you are sure." Then they found a spot to sit.
Tiffany
was pretty much quiet the whole way to Arizona. Her thoughts were
absorbed on thinking she might see Logan again, and what she would do
if when she saw Russell again. What am I going to do? She thought, I
can't face Logan again after I told him we'd never see each other
again. She put her head in her hands sighing as she did so. And then,
before she knew it, she had fallen asleep and an hour later she woke
up with neck pain. Rubbing the back of her neck with her palm she
looked at her family member's to find they were asleep.
Laughing
to herself, she looked around at her surroundings. As she was doing
so she passed by someone standing near the doorway with a grin on his
face staring at her. At first she couldn't believe her eyes, until
she stared at him for a few minutes and was pretty sure that he was
there, then she shook her head and he was gone.
"Honey,
what are you staring at?" her mother asked and so Tiffany tried to
put her hand on her mother's shoulder but it was shaking so bad
that it took her a few times,
"He…he's
here. I saw him, just over there! He survived the crash! But… he
couldn't have…" Tiffany began to breathe in and out heavily,
"Tiffany,
calm down. I'm sure it's just your imagination. You'll be
fine." Her father said in a soothing tone,
"No,
he's here! I saw him. But I don't understand how he could be
here. He fell off the edge in the car! He couldn't have just got up
and walked out! It's not possible!" Feeling scared, Tiffany
just sat and stared off into space tuning out her father's
comforting arm, and her mother's comforting words. Then before she
knew it, she woke up to find she had been sleeping on her dad's
lap, who was sitting next to her, the whole night and just as she sat
up she heard the Train blow it's enormous horn.
"Well…
it looks like this is our stop." Her mother said, and they all
stood up. Tiffany rubbed sleep from her eyes, then walked off the
train and into the busy station packed with people.
"It
looks like we are almost to our destination."
"How
much farther do we have to go now Tiffany?" her sister Charley
asked,
"Well…
I would say about forty-five minutes to an hour, unless we speed
drive, then about a half an hour." She laughed, and rubbed her
sister's head,
"It's
so great to be back!"
"Yes
it is it is so great to have you back. We missed you a lot Tiffany,"
her father said hugging her,
"I
missed you to dad," she answered hugging him back,
"When
we get home though, I've gotta call Caiti, I haven't talked to
her in so long," Tiffany said as they began walking out of the
train station. Her mother smiled,
"I
think Caiti would appreciate that. You two are such great friends,"
then suddenly as if Tiffany's brain had been clicked back on her
face became grim,
"Mom,
dad, was the funeral for Grammy good?" every smile left their
faces,
"The
funeral was great honey, although it was really hard not to have you
there, we were going to have you be a speaker because we know how
much Grammy meant to you. It was so hard to go on with that funeral
knowing you were gone," a tear came to her mother's eye,
"I
was so afraid you might be dead, but the Lord kept telling me that it
wasn't true and that everything would be alright. Every time I felt
you were dead I went to him, he helped me not to lose my faith, and
did what I was told and… he brought you back home to us... alive."
Tiffany smiled at her mother.
"I
know…" she punch her dad playfully, "See, I told you if I took
karate it would pay off!" her father grinned wide.
"Yeah
I guess so." He laughed and shook his head, then they all stopped
outside of the front doors heading into the train station.
"Well…
now all we need is a car," Tiffany answered there unasked question,
then she thoughtfully thought of the money Logan had given her, she
still had some left,
"Mom
dad, how much does it cost to rent a car?" Her father thought for a
sec,
"Well…
I would say about… Fifty Dollars," Tiffany smiled,
"Well
then, what do ya'll say we go rent ourselves a car eh?" she
grinned, then saw a phone booth and looked in the Yellow Pages for
car rentals. But she soon found that the place was farther than they
could walk in a day,
"Well…
there goes that idea," Charley said. Tiffany raised an
eyebrow.
"Maybe,
but we can still call a taxi." Charley rolled her eyes while
smiling,
"Yeah
I guess so," Tiffany rubbed her sister's head,
"You
are a weird one. Ya know that?"
"Yes!"
Charley said proudly. Tiffany laughed,
"I
am so glad you are my sister." They kept walking on, Tiffany
chuckling and trying to push Charley, and Charley laughing then
pushing Tiffany back.
"You
two are unbelievable." Tiffany's dad said,
"Well,
that's our job dad!" Charley chimed,
"Yeah
dad, ya better get used to it! Although I don't know why you
haven't yet!" she winked and then waited for Tiffany's mom to
come back from calling a taxi.
About
ten minutes later, the taxi arrived, and they all scrunched in.
"Where
too?" the taxi driver asked,
"Um…
uh… well… can I just give you directions?" The taxi driver
raised an eyebrow but nodded his head.
Finally
they were off to there destination, with Tiffany giving the taxi
driver directions, and instead of it taking forty-five minutes to an
hour, it took about an hour in a half. But finally they made it to
the town that was so familiar to Tiffany,
"Boy,
I promised myself I'd never come back here. But here I am,"
Tiffany said, shaking her head amazingly,
"This
is new, I've never been here before," the taxi driver said but
shrugged it off. They got out of the taxi, and Tiffany paid the guy,
then he drove off, never to see them again.
As
Tiffany took a look around she thought she saw people she had seen.
Wow, this is so weird to be here, even though it's only been two
days since I left, it's… weird. She thought kinda like I've
been gone for a year or so. Shaking her head she decided to
concentrate on what was going on in front of her, instead of thinking
tons of thoughts, but that didn't last long for she saw someone she
had vowed she'd never see again. It was Logan. As she looked at him
closer she saw he had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in
a long time. The more she thought about it the more she couldn't
help but think it was her fault he was acting like this. I thought
that if I left he'd forget about me, and move on. I didn't really
think he meant it when he said he loved me… Feeling guilty she felt
that she should go talk to him, but just couldn't bring herself to
do it. So she shifted her gaze to some place else, hoping that Logan
would see her and yet not wanting him to see her.
Then
as if her half dream had come true, she heard her name being called
out by none other than Logan. But instead of turning around and
saying "Logan, it's so good to see you," she didn't look back
and kept on walking. Her mother glanced at her than asked,
"Is
that Logan that's calling your name? If it is I think you should go
see him," Tiffany sighed,
"Mom,
I can't go see him, I told him we'd never see each other again!"
her mother raised an eyebrow,
"Haven't
you ever heard that whenever you meet someone you'll always see
them again later on in life?" Tiffany gave a mock laugh,
"You
don't really believe that do you mom?"
"Why
of course I do!" her mom said offended,
"How
do you believe that? It's just superstition!"
"Nah,
it's not superstition, and ya wanna know why?" Tiffany
shrugged,
"Sure,
why not,'
"Well,
it's because it's happened to me before! I met someone when I was
oh say… eight years old and then… when I turned sixteen, eight
years later, he moved into my neighborhood! And now look what
happened… we're married and had two beautiful children!"
Tiffany's eyes went wide,
"You
two didn't see each other for eight years and then one day by
chance dad moved into your neighborhood mom? Now that's pure luck!"
she laughed shaking her head then jumped as she felt a tap on her
shoulder and then,
"Tiffany?"
instantly she froze up. It was Logan who was right behind her, and
feeling his touch on her shoulder gave her chills. Turning around
quickly she gave a quick small smile at Logan then began to say very
nervously,
"Uh,
Logan… Hi… How are you?"
"Tiffany?
What are you doing back? I thought you went home!" Tiffany turned
and looked at her family,
"I
did. As you can see my mom, dad and sister are here with me!" still
confused Logan asked,
"Ok…
if you went home, why'd you come back?" Tiffany looked at him
strangely, thinking there was a tone of excitement in his
voice,
"Uh…well,
because we came back to get Russell! It was rude of me not to get
him, his mother was so very sad and crying when I got home, I just
had to come back and get him." Logan's face through Tiffany's
whole sentence went from anger to sadness to relief. Tiffany gave him
a weird look after finishing what she was saying then asked
again,
"Do
you know where Russell might be? I need to find him!" again Tiffany
saw the look of anger come upon Logan's face again,
"Yeah,
yeah sure. I don't see why he needs to go home except for his mom
but whatever…"
"Logan,
what's gotten in to you?" Logan looked past her and at her family
who were all staring at them,
"Can
we go somewhere private and talk?"
"Uh
ok…!" He grabbed her arm and walked off although Tiffany made
sure she was able to see her family while they talked.
"Ok,
so what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Tiffany,
I saw Russell a few days ago and…" he blew in his breath as if he
was afraid to say what he was going to say, "And, he said that…he
loves you!" Logan flinched saying the word Love, but then waited
for Tiffany's reaction. Her reaction was that of pure shock.
"What
are you talking about Logan? Don't even joke about things like
this!" Logan grabbed her shoulders than looked in her eyes,
"Do
you really think that I'd be joking about something like this?"
he sighed then let go of her, "I also have some other news that I
need to tell you pronto!"
"What
is it?" Logan hesitated for a moment,
"Well…"
"Yes…?"
"You
see… Deraj… well… I don't think he's dead! I think he
lived," fear creped into Tiffany's eyes,
"What?
But… he can't be alive! We saw him go over that cliff!" Logan,
now exasperated, answered with a deep boom in his voice,
"I
know that! This is definitely something I wouldn't lie about! I…
I care about you too much to do that to you Tiffany! Why can't you
see that?" tears formed in her eyes,
"Logan,
I… its just way too sudden! I'm only seventeen! Well almost
eighteen, and… I've still got to go to college and all that
stuff, anyways… I'm rambling and freaked out and amazed all at
the same time and…" she looked in his eyes now,
"And,
all I have to do right now is find Russell and go home." She turned
and was about to walk away,
"I'm
so sorry Logan, but… even if you did love me and I loved you I
wouldn't be able to marry you…" confusion set on Logan's
face,
"Why?"
"Because
I want to be married in the Temple,"
"The
Temple…? What's a Temple?"
"It's
a place where people of my religion go to get married and to be
sealed for all eternity! You'd have to talk to missionaries of my
religion to get more information."
"Really?
Well, where can I find these missionaries of your religion? What's
your religion anyways?" shock was evident on Tiffany's face,
"Why
are you suddenly so interested in my religion? It's not just so you
can marry me is it?"
"Well…
that may be part of it…" Tiffany put her hands on her
hips,
"Well,
if that's the only reason Logan, then don't bother taking the
discussions with the missionaries!" She turned and began to walk
away when Logan grabbed her shoulder,
"Wait!
I didn't mean it like that it's just… well… it's only some
of the reason because I really truly do love you Tiffany! I've been
miserable these past two days knowing what you said to me! I just
don't understand why we can't be together!"
"I
already told you Logan. But if you really want to take the missionary
discussions on my religion then… give the missionaries a call! Oh
by the way, my religion is Mormon!" surprise came upon
Logan,
"Mormon?
I've heard of them! Don't you guys practice Polygamy?" suddenly
out of no where Tiffany began to laugh,
"Are
you kidding? Hahaha! That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!
Of course we don't practice that! In fact my religion is totally
against it!"
"Really?"
Logan though for a moment, "Well, why don't I just give those
Missionaries a call! Oh and one more thing Tiffany,"
"Yes?"
"Please
be careful! I just know that Deraj is out there looking for you, and
I'm pretty sure he won't hesitate to kill you!" Tiffany nodded
then left, going back to her family who was watching her
intently.
"So,
what happened?" Tiffany's mother asked,
"What
do you mean?"
"Well,
it looked like you two had a pretty good discussion, what was it that
you two talked about?"
"Mom!
Let's not talk about this right now ok?" Tiffany said laughing a
little,
"Alright,
but you better tell me later on!"
"Hehe,
ok mom, I will!" then all of a sudden Charley blurted out,
"Tiff's
got a boyfriend, Tiff's got a boyfriend!"
"Aw
shush up ya weirdo!" Tiffany said ruffling Charley's long brown
hair with Charley laughing.
Then
all of a sudden, Tiffany heard a voice coming from behind them,
except this time it wasn't Logan's voice, it was another one. One
that she recognized from a long time ago,
"TIFFANY!
Hey Tiffany Wait Up!" Tiffany and her whole family turned around to
face,
"Russell?"
Tiffany stood there in total shock,
"Russell,
how did you find me? I mean… I was looking for you…"
"I
know, Logan saw me and told me you were, at first I didn't believe
it then he pointed in this direction and… I saw you!" tears were
starting to fall down his cheeks,
"I
thought something bad might have happened to you Tiff," he hugged
her, but she instantly pulled away,
"What
are you doing Russell? What about your Lover?" she spat the word
Lover, annoyed at Russell, mainly because of the disturbing news she
heard from Logan about Russell,
"Oh
her? Er… well… you see, we didn't exactly end up liking each
other. I thought I loved her, but really I was duped into thinking
that I was! Tiff, I love you!" suddenly out of no where Tiffany
slapped Russell's face,
"Don't
you dare say you love me! Not after what you did to me! I became sick
because I thought you loved someone else and left me in the dust! You
are a jerk Russell!" She turned around and began to stomp away
leaving Russell to stand there stunned looking at her family, when
she suddenly turned back and passed them saying,
"Excuse
me, but we have to take you back to your family! That's the only
reason why we…I came back Russell! Nothing more!" then she
stomped ahead of them, leaving them feeling awkward while walking
behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, Tiffany thought she saw
Deraj, the leader of the scary group of people, but shrugged it off,
and kept on walking, keeping her distance away from Russell.
Chapter 14
Walking
away from Tiffany was one of the hardest things Logan had to do. When
he saw her a feeling inside his bosom was so strong and radiant he
knew that Tiffany was the girl he was supposed to marry, but he knew
that it'd be harder for her to feel that way. Sighing in agony, he
began to ponder what little she had told him about the Mormons, her
religion. He had heard of that religion before and heard rumors that
they practiced polygamy. When he found that out he became flustered,
and angry that this religion could teach them that it was ok for guys
to marry more than once. Although he probably wouldn't mind having
more than one wife he was still disturbed especially knowing that she
might have been able to have more than one husband. But then when he
heard her say that they don't practice it, that made him
relieved.
As
he was walking he bumped into someone he never wanted to see. It was
Russell.
"What
do you want Russell?" he seethed,
"Where's
Tiffany? I have to find her! I need to tell her something!" Logan
lifted an eyebrow glaring at him, hoping to draw a hole in Russell's
tiny little mind. He pointed behind him,
"She's
back that way. She was also looking for you." He saw hope in
Russell's eyes,
"Thanks!"
he patted Logan's shoulder then ran the way Logan had pointed.
Grumbling, Logan watched him run, a tad bit more then slight jealousy
climbing his stomach.
"Why
I otta…" Logan mumbled, beginning to walk again. Suddenly he
heard a voice,
"Logan!
Hey Logan wait up!" he turned around knowing the voice the instant
he heard it.
"What
do you want Amy?" he answered almost rudely. And she gave him a
quizzical look,
"Well…
I was just wondering. Now that Tiffany is out of the way, what do you
say me and you hook up?"
"Hook
up?" Logan said as if it was foreign to him.
"Yeah,
ya know. Be boyfriend and girlfriend." Sighing in exasperation he
told her forcefully,
"No
Amy. I will not be your boyfriend. I've told you once before, I
don't like you like that. I Love Tiffany!" startled, Amy's eyes
began to fill up with tears,
"But…
you, you said that after this was all over… we could hook up…"
her lip began to tremble.
"Amy,
I never said that. I said that it would depend on if I felt something
for you after this was over. Now that it's all over, I don't like
you like that, because I love Tiffany." Sighing in sympathy he put
his hand on her cheek,
"I'm
sorry Amy, but the things you did to Tiffany while all this was
happening just… turned me away." He kissed her cheek, then turned
around walking the way he was going before she had called his name,
not wanting to see the tears silently fall down her cheeks.
As
he walked, he couldn't help but feel lonely. The girl that he loved
most didn't want to be with him, and the girl that he disliked kept
trying to make him be her boyfriend. His head felt dizzy thinking
about all these events, but he knew that most of his sad days were
over. He was so happy that he had talked to her, but still sad that
he wasn't going to see her for a long time. For all he knew by the
time he saw her again, she'd probably be married with kids leaving
him feeling hopeless in the dust. Sighing Logan noticed that while in
his slight daze his feet had taken him to his truck, so he jumped in
started it and began to drive home when he noticed a familiar face
pop out of the crowd; one that made him gasp and tremble knowing that
Tiffany's life was in danger once
again.
Marching
her way towards their car, Tiffany fought back the impulse to slap
Russell again. She knew though that it would be harder to do it this
time because one: he would probably move out of the way and two: she
had a broken arm. The broken arm made it hard for her to maneuver
easily, and bumping into people was painful. Then every time she
looked back she'd see Russell looking at her with sad eyes. What am
I going to do about him? She thought, he is acting like his heart is
shattered but that couldn't be, he said to my Face that he loved
her, and now he's saying he doesn't? Shaking her head in
disbelief and confusion, her mind occupied from thinking, she wasn't
watching where she was going so when the crowds got heavier as they
were walking into town, she didn't notice someone coming straight
towards her. All she heard was "Tiffany! Look out!" and then the
next thing she knew, she was on the ground in pain and shock.
"What
happened?" Tiffany quietly asked waking up a couple minutes later,
"You
were knocked unconscious." Her mother replied scared for her
daughter,
"Unconscious?
But winces how?" she softly replied as she sat up,
"Some
man ran into, and by the looks of his face it looked like he was
deliberately trying to do so." Shock suddenly came upon Tiffany's
face,
"Deliberately
trying to knock me over…" she mumbled, then her eyes grew
wide,
"We've
got to leave Now!" as soon as she said that the realization of who
had knocked into Tiffany came to Russell (because he had been behind
everyone, he wasn't able to get a clear view of the guy).
Suddenly,
everything went in fast motion for Tiffany. She was quickly picked up
by Russell, and then he ran to the car with the others trailing
behind him not caring if people were being knocked over as they went.
"What's
going on Russell? Tiffany?" Mrs. Klacky demanded once they were in
the car,
"The
guy who pushed her over was the same guy who kidnapped us." Russell
announced, and after he said that it was as if everyone in the car
could feel the scare that came upon Mr. and Mrs. Klacky.
About
fifteen minutes later they were at the train station, ready to board.
There was only one problem,
"What
do you mean you are out of tickets for that train?" Mr. Klacky said
almost yelling to the Clergymen,
"What
I mean sir is exactly what I told you, there are no more tickets
headed that way." And without another word the man closed the
window leaving everyone feeling hopeless.
"Now
what do we do?" Tiffany, who was sitting on a bench, asked.
"Well,
we find another way to get back. Either that or we wait till
tomorrow. Surely they'll have more tickets headed back to Utah
tomorrow." Mr. Klacky answered,
"Who
knows," said a trembling Mrs. Klacky, and Russell looked at her
with sympathy,
"We
have got to find a way back tonight! Tiffany cannot stay here!"
Russell said the last part with such force that both Mr. and Mrs.
Klacky were very surprised.
"Russell,
there is no way we'll get home tonight so…" Tiffany started
saying when suddenly an idea popped into her head, "hey, why don't
we go over to Logan's temporary home? I'm sure he will let us
stay at his house! And I've been there so many times I know exactly
where he lives."
Instantly
Russell's head was shaking,
"There's
no way we're going there, it's probably where He is at waiting
for us!"
Tiffany
laughed,
"Nah,
I don't think he's that smart and besides, where else will we
go?"
"A
hotel,"
"Hmmm…
a house where it'll cost nothing; or a hotel where it'll cost us
quite a bit. I say the house,"
"I
agree," said Mr. Klacky,
"I'm
not so sure if we should go, I mean… Russell has a point. What if
that guy is there?" Mrs. Klacky stated,
"Mom,
I agree with Tiffany. The house would be better than a hotel!" said
Charley in a stubborn tone.
Mrs.
Klacky sighed,
"Alright
then, I guess we'll go to Logan's house to see if we can stay
over for the night. Are you sure they have places for all of us to
sleep?" she directed towards Tiffany,
"I'm
positive!" She said with a smug smile, then they called for a taxi,
drove into town and that's where Tiffany gave the directions
towards Logan's house.
It
came as a surprise to Logan's family when they heard a knock on the
door. But, more then that is was a huge surprise to see Tiffany and
her family plus Russell the one's knocking on the door.
"What
are you doing here?" he asked Tiffany,
"Um…
we were just uh… wondering if… you would let me and my family,
plus Russell, stay for the night. It seems that the train station is
out of tickets heading towards Utah…" Logan's eyes slightly
widened,
"You
want to stay here?"
She
nodded her head slightly, "yes, we would. That is… if it's ok
with your parents,"
"Well,
of course it's ok dear. We'd be delighted to have you," Logan's
mother answered, over hearing the conversation, "I'm sure the
young kids would love to have you back here for a night." Tiffany
blushed at the compliment,
"Thanks."
Afterward, her family shuffled in and was shown where they all could
sleep. Everyone except Tiffany ended up sleeping in the basement.
Tiffany slept in the same room she had stayed in when she was a
"slave".
In
the middle of the night Tiffany woke up from a nightmare that shook
all the way to Logan's room. He instantly bolted out of bed and ran
upstairs to her room. Slamming the door open, he practically
yelled,
"What
happened? Are you Okay?"
She
nodded her head, shaking a little bit,
"Yes,
I'm fine…" she mumbled. Logan gave her a quizzical look, then
turned in time too see Russell bursting into the room. Instantly
jealousy filled his insides.
"What
do you need Russell?" Russell looked past him and at Tiffany
completely ignoring him, and anger along with jealousy surged through
his veins,
"Tiffany,
how are you? Are you ok? I heard you scream." His eyes searched
her, and she gave Russell a small smile,
"I'm
fine Russell. There's no need to worry. Especially since it was
just a dream," Russell hesitated then turned and walked to the door
saying,
"Ok,
well… I'll see you in the morning then…" he then left, with a
glance at Logan.
"Why
do you like that creep?" Logan suddenly blurted,
"What?"
Tiffany, half asleep, said confused,
"Er…
never mind." Logan said quickly then shuffled out of the room
before she could make him repeat what he said. Wiping his brow, he
wondered how he could have ever said that out loud to her. He chided
himself for being jealous when he knew there was probably nothing to
be jealous about. So he went back to his room, got back in bed and
fell asleep thinking of Tiffany and chiding himself for being jealous
of someone he shouldn't even be jealous of.
The
next day proved to be a happy one for Logan. He woke up feeling
happier then he had in quite a while. Whistling to himself, he walked
downstairs into the kitchen to find his mother cooking pancakes on
the stove; talking to him without looking over her shoulder she
said,
"Good
morning son, did you sleep well?"
"Sure
did!" he chirped,
"Well…
someone sounds happy," his mother softly laughed,
"I
sure am mom, I sure am!"
Suddenly
they were interrupted by the sound of Tiffany coming down the stairs
yawning as she did so,
"Hi,"
she mumbled sleepily and Logan instantly walked over towards her
almost grabbing her arm,
"Hey,
how are you doing?"
"Good…"
she mumbled, yawning again.
"You
look tired, why aren't you in bed?"
"I
couldn't sleep; had too much stuff on my mind,"
"Like
what?" Logan asked, glancing at his mother and noticed her watching
them which made him blush,
"Just
stuff…" she said hesitating,
"Hmmm,"
was all Logan said then went to help his mother with the cooking;
but, finding that she didn't need any help sat down across the
table from where Tiffany was now sitting, and watched her closely.
She had her eyes closed, leaning back on the chair, and head resting
on the back of the chair; her breath moving in even strokes. He
couldn't help but think how gorgeous she looked, with her hair
slightly messy, flowing over her shoulders. He ached to kiss her. Not
some forced kiss but one that was passionately shared by her too.
Every time he touched her he would feel some sort of tingle walk down
his spine; it felt so right whenever he was around her. He watched
her face a bit more, then noticed that she had fallen asleep. Logan
got up out of his chair walking towards Tiffany. He picked her up out
of her chair, and felt that tingle again, but even more then that
when she wrapped her good arm around his neck, his heart pounded so
hard he thought she might wake.
As
he walked up the stairs he heard some of the other's popping into
the kitchen from downstairs, and could feel one of them staring at
his back. He had a feeling of who it was but ignored it and didn't
even look behind him, and kept on walking until he entered Tiffany's
room. Setting her down on her bed he watched her, staring, wishing
she could be his, but knew nothing of the sort would happen soon.
Feeling sadder then he had when he woke up he took one more glance at
Tiffany then walked down the stairs and back into the kitchen,
noticing that her whole family was now sitting around the medium
sized table. He sat down next to Tiffany's mother and examined the
room. Everybody seemed to have this cloud hanging over them, so he
tried to brighten things up; ignoring Russell who was glaring at
him.
"Tiffany
is upstairs sleeping. She was awake for a moment and came downstairs,
but ended up falling asleep again so I took her back to her
bed,"
"That's
very kind of you Logan," Mr. Klacky said,
"Yes,
it was very nice of you to take her back to bed, and that your family
is so generous as to let us stay here." Mrs. Klacky answered,
"Oh
it's not a problem, we have plenty of room," Came Logan's mom
up behind him, looking straight at Mrs. Klacky, all the while Logan
was staring at Russell, who was glaring right back,
"So
Russell, you anxious to see your family again?" he asked, and
Russell just glowered even more, resenting Logan but answered in a
happy voice to disguise his hatred towards Logan,
"Actually
yes I am. I haven't seen or heard from them in a long time, I want
to know if they are all ok."
"They
miss you terribly Russell. It's good you're going back, your
mother has been blubbering along with me. And even worse when Tiffany
came home but not you," a sad look then came upon Russell's face
as the thought of his mother crying her eyes out came to his
mind.
"What
about the rest of my family? How are they handling it?"
"They
were devastated when they found out you were missing. But I'm sure
they are feeling a little better knowing that you are alive and that
Tiffany has come back to get you." Mrs. Klacky said. Russell stewed
over that for a few minutes then sighed, 'That's good' was all
he said and then an uncomfortable tension followed in the room when
Mrs. Toger asked everyone,
"So,
who wants pancakes?"
Tiffany
awoke to find herself back in bed and she had no clue as to how she
got there. She remembered sitting on a chair with her eyes closed,
and remembered she could feel Logan staring at her, but then… she
didn't know what happened after that. Pressing her hand to her
aching head she slowly stepped out of bed, but only to fall back
again; not feeling too well. My head hurts too much she thought
pressing her hand to her head again. She lay back down on the bed
breathing in and out slowly, taking deep breaths, until she heard
someone open her door. She thought about pretending to be asleep but
thought otherwise and was surprised to see Russell entering the
room.
"Can
we talk?" he asked,
"Sure,"
she answered wishing he would just go away so she could recuperate
from the headache.
"Tiffany…"
he began,
"Yes?"
"Um…
well… I was wondering… why did you really come back to get me?"
he stuttered,
"Why?
Well… I thought I had already told you… I came back to get you
because your mom was devastated that you hadn't appeared there with
me."
"Is
that really it? Or are you just pretending?"
"What
do you mean?" at this comment from her Russell grabbed her hand in
both of his,
"Don't
you feel anything for me Tiffany? Anything?" now she realized what
was going on,
"Honestly…
I don't know. I mean, you've confused me quite a bit Russell. And
I think that right now, I have more feelings for Logan then I do for
you." Russell's face fell,
"I
see," he said quietly still holding her hand,
"I'm
sorry Russell, I really am but… you just messed things up. Sorry to
say it like that but, it's true." He nodded his head slightly
then pulled his hands away from her,
"So…
that's it? I've lost?" he asked slightly trembling. She stared
at him for a few moments the finally answered him,
"Yes
Russell… you've lost," He shuffled out of the room, his head
lowered, feeling glum but deciding that he was gonna do everything in
his power to win her back!
Tiffany
stared at the closed door, ignoring her pounding head until it became
unbearable and she had to sit still, then move into another position
and keep still to keep her head from hurting even worse. Finally, she
was able to drift off to sleep, not a peaceful sleep, but sleep
nonetheless; and when she woke up she remembered that in her dream
there was a scarred hand. And in that scarred hand was a gun, and
suddenly… the hand pulled back on the trigger and fired a shot;
making her scream and jump awake. Suddenly there were tons of people
in her room, all of which included Russell, Logan, her parents,
Charley, and Logan's parents. She didn't know where the little
miss and sir was though.
"What's
wrong?"
"What
happened?"
"Are
you all right Tiffany?" people from different angles practically
yelled at her; she laughed a little, even though she felt tears
falling down her cheeks,
"I'm
fine. Really, there's no need to worry,"
"There's
every reason to worry!" her mother stated,
"Yeah,
you just screamed at the top of your lungs! What happened?" her
sister Charley asked,
"Oh,
well… it wasn't a long dream but… it was scary… I remember a
hand. No, a Scarred hand with a gun in it; and then it fired. That's
all…"
"What
was that?" Logan asked, "We couldn't hear you. Would you repeat
that?" fearing the sensation, the feeling, and the images would
come back into her mind, Tiffany shook her head and closed her eyes
then noticed that they were all leaving the room. That is until she
felt a hand on hers' and she opened her eyes once more.
"Oh,
hi Logan," she said quietly,
"You
look sick. Are you alright?"
"I've
got a bit of a headache, but I'll be fine."
"You're
not just saying that are you?"
She
smiled weakly,
"I'm
not, I really will be fine. I just need to sleep for a bit."
His
hand tightened on hers,
"Tiffany,
you can tell me if you aren't feeling well… I mean, I'm your
friend right?"
"Sure
you are, but I really will be fine!" she hoped. He sighed,
"Fine,
if you really think that… well I must be off back downstairs. I
have work to do."
"Oh!
Now that I'm gone you guys have to feed the animals huh? Sorry…"
she mumbled,
"No!
It's ok, I promise!" he answered surprised, then kissed her hand
and left the room, leaving a very red faced Tiffany to stare at the
closed door.
Walking
down the stairs he noticed that the vibe in the room was thick once
he stepped in it, and then noticed that Russell was the only one in
the kitchen, glaring at him. He turned his eyes away from looking at
Russell and went to get a drink.
"I'm
going to win," Russell suddenly said,
"What?"
Logan said confused,
"I'm
going to win her love back," he repeated,
"What
makes you think that? And what makes you think she doesn't love you
anymore or even did?"
"She
told me," he said simply.
"Told
you what?"
"That
she doesn't love me…"
An
excitement bubble suddenly gripped Logan's stomach,
"Who…"
gulp. "Who does she love?"
"Like
I'm going to tell you," he said, low voiced and walked out of the
room almost stomping.
Logan
just stared after him, not knowing what to think, and an even harder
grip pulled at his stomach at the thought of who Tiffany might
actually love. He sat down, trying to gather his thoughts and to
loosen his stomach when his mom walked into the kitchen slightly
frowning. Logan had to stare at her for a moment for the thought to
enter his head,
"You
heard what he said, didn't you?" he asked and she nodded,
"Yes,
and I thought it was very rude of him."
"I
think that too but… what can we do?"
"You
can give him the talking of his life is what you can do! It's
obvious that you are the one she loves Logan. That boy is just
jealous of you."
Suddenly,
Logan laughed,
"You
don't think I already knew he was jealous? It's very obvious by
his actions. I just, don't get why we can't work this out as
civilized people."
"Maybe
it's because you were Tiffany's 'Master'," his mother said
quietly, and Logan had to stew about that one. What if she's right?
What if he really does hate me because I was Tiffany's "master"?
If she loves me, why won't she say? What's she holding back for?
For some reason, the thought entered his head of her religion. Why
would it be her religion? Is that what's keeping her back? He shook
his head confused and then realized that while he was thinking about
all that stuff his mother had left the room.
Shrugging
his shoulder's he got up off the chair and walked into the
backyard. Looking at a tree he remembered one of the times when he
had to come and watch Tiffany, and remembered watching her laugh and
talk to her friend that she had ironically made. He laughed out loud
himself remembering when she asked if they could go to the store, and
then felt his face burn up in shame when he remembered what he had
picked out for her to try on. Sighing, he slowly began walking the
long trip back to his house, when he noticed footsteps that weren't
his own.
What
the…? He thought who coulda made these... and then suddenly the
thought entered his mind, he's back! She's gone! It happened so
suddenly he had to blink his eyes and shake his head to try and get
the thought out but again, he heard he's back and she's gone! He
quickly raced back into the house and ran up the stairs, his heart
beating so quickly he thought it would rip out of his chest. He ran
as fast as he could up all the stairs and into the attic room. He
slammed the door open hearing the loud THUD as it slammed against the
wooden wall. And, when he looked around the room and spotted the bed,
his heart dropped down into his stomach so sour that he thought he
was going to throw up. She was gone.
Chapter 15
It
happened so fast, Tiffany almost couldn't even remember everything
that happened. She was lying in her bed, pretty much asleep and
thought that the footsteps were in her dream, until she felt an
extremely cold hand upon her mouth and nose, cutting off the
circulation in her throat, and a gun pointed at her head. She started
to sweat, and felt the gun pressed against her head even harder as
she shook with fear, and about to pass out from air not getting in
her lungs. As she looked at her kidnapper, her eyes grew wide it's
him! He's here! But how did he know where I was… wait hello, he
designed this place! He probably…she thought back on when she got
pushed over in the crowd it was him! He knew all along where I was!
He was following us! All this thought processing went through her
head in a blink of an eye and soon she heard him whisper in her ear,
"make one sound and you're a dead girl!" she shuddered, but
silently got out of the bed, her headache practically gone from
freight.
He
led her to the window in her bedroom and pretty much laughed when she
saw the ladder,
"You
really expect me, ME with a broken arm that one of YOUR men made, go
down that ladder?"
"Shut
up and climb down or else you're a dead girl! And don't you dare
try to run away or else I will shoot you" he growled with the gun
pointed at her back,
"Ok,
ok," she mumbled and began climbing down the ladder, maneuvering
out of the window very awkwardly. She found that once she was out of
the window she was able to climb down easier, but not quite so easy
because she was shaking like a hawk.
Finally
to her relief, she was at the bottom of the ladder, along with Deraj
right after her. As she looked, she could see that no one was
outside, and that no one was in the kitchen… or was there? She
looked closer and saw someone's back to the kitchen window, and as
she looked she saw that it was Logan. Turn around! Look behind you!
Please! She begged inside her head but no response came from him and
she silently cried as Deraj grabbed her good arm and pulled her away.
Stumbling, she almost fell to the dirt ground, but with his firm grip
on her arm she was merely dragged a couple feet and then caught her
footing.
"Why
are you doing this?" she finally choked out when they were about a
mile away from the house.
"Because,
you have caused me much trouble, and I intend to make you pay for
what you have done even worse!"
"What
worse have I caused you?" she trembled,
"This!"
he seethed out, practically yelling as he did so, then showed her his
hand with which wasn't holding her arm tight. She gasped when she
saw his hand, it was badly scarred. Just like in my dream! She
thought staring but not believing what she was seeing. Deraj saw her
shocked face and asked,
"What
is it? What do you see?"
"Your…
your hand… it was in my dream," she whispered still staring. By
now they had stopped and Deraj did nothing to get them moving for a
moment and watched her as she stood there with her mouth open wide.
Finally getting frustrated, Deraj began to make her move her legs
again and asked lowly,
"How
was my hand in your dream? What was this dream of yours about?"
"Never
mind…" Tiffany said feeling very awkward. He grabbed her arm and
pulled on it very forcefully,
"Tell
me now! Tell me what the dream was about that had my hand in it!"
Trembling
and a little annoyed Tiffany finally succumbed,
"All
I saw was a scarred hand with a gun in it and the hand fired the gun!
That's all!"
"Don't
get snappy with me missy!" he growled, and she almost retorted back
when she realized that he still had the gun in his hand and she was
in very real danger.
What's
gonna happen to me? She thought with fright how will I ever get away
from him again with a broken arm? She shuddered at the thought of
never seeing her family again, and even the thought of Logan briefly
entered her mind. His family is so nice and were even kind to me when
I was there "slave" even Logan could be kind at times. She sighed
inwardly Please Heavenly Father, let me get out of this alive with no
harm to me she prayed that over and over again as she was being
dragged even further away from everything she knew and into the
desert away from the fake town.
It
had been an hour and they were still walking. Finally Tiffany became
so dizzy from not having water or any kind of beverage in that hour
that she fainted for a brief moment,
"Get
up!" Deraj snapped towards her,
"What?"
she mumbled confused as to what had just happened,
"You
fainted! Now get up, we are almost there!" he replied snottily
annoyed with her, so she quickly stood back on her feet and swayed
for a moment.
"Ready?"
He asked impatient,
She
nodded her head "Yes," and they were off again.
"So,
remind me why you have kidnapped me for the third time?" she asked,
feeling the headache already burning her mind,
"Because
you have caused me a great deal of grief and I am finally gonna make
you pay for it!"
"What
are you going to do to me?" she asked afraid,
"Oh,
I don't know. Cut off your fingers until you are in so much pain
that you are begging me to stop. But I won't stop because I hate
you now more then I have ever hated anyone! The next thing I'll do
is cut off your feet, so you'll have stubs and won't be able to
walk ever again! And after that… I'll cut all your hair off---"
"Ha,
ha, my hair? It'll just grow back! Cut my hair off for all I
care…"
"You
won't be laughing when you have no fingers or feet," he snapped
towards her. He was trying to make her quite frightened and it was
working. Tiffany began to fear for her life, and feared the pain she
knew was going to come soon.
"Why
do you wish to see me in pain?" she asked softly, a tear falling
down her cheek. Still keeping up a fast paced walk with a tight grip
on her arm Deraj answered,
"Because
I've told you a thousand times already, you have caused me more
grief then any girl should have caused me, so therefore I want you to
pay for what you have done and I intend for it to happen!" She
never answered him and they were silent the rest of the way, mostly
because They had been walking so much that it was hard to stay
focused and they had to keep their breaths for walking. So, Tiffany
finally got the unwanted thinking of her destiny and how horrible it
was going to end when suddenly she felt incredibly calm; so surprised
at that calmness that she practically gasped. She suddenly wasn't
scared anymore and knew that her Heavenly Father was watching over
her, and knew that she was in great need of his comfort and help. For
some reason, the thought wouldn't leave her mind that she was going
to be saved because her time to leave wasn't yet; and that made her
considerably happier.
"What
are you smiling about?" Deraj asked,
"What
do you mean?" Tiffany answered confused,
"What's
with that little smile on your face?"
"I
have a smile on my face?"
"Yes,"
"Oh,
I didn't know."
"So,
why were you smiling?"
"I
already said you--- I don't know why I was smiling." Deraj
thinned his eyes at her, as they were coming upon a large building
out in the middle of nowhere,
"What
were you going to call me?"
"Uh,
nothing," she said a little bit too quickly,
"Tell
me… now," he seethed, hating her more then ever,
"I
was gonna call you mumble, mumble" she mumbled the last part,
fearing his gaze,
"What
was that?"
"I
was going to call you a nitwit. There, ya happy now?" suddenly a
hand lashed out and stung her face. She stood there, shocked, not
knowing what else to do but stand there dumbfounded (for they had
stopped in their tracks when he asked her what she was about to call
him).
"You
dirty little skank! How Dare you!"
"Well
I didn't say it did I?" she retorted,
"No,
but you were about to!" he retorted back,
"But
I still didn't say it!" she shot back,
"Ugh,
shut up you stupid girl. I've had enough of you!" Deraj said
angrily, and pulled her into the medium sized house.
If
you've had enough of me, why did you kidnap me in the first place?
Tiffany thought to herself, finding it better that she stay silent
the rest of the time. As she walked into the medium sized house, she
saw that it looked rather homey which was incredibly odd, and rather
uncomfortable. She was about to ask Deraj why it looked this way when
she thought about what happened just a few moments before and decided
it'd be best to stay silent.
Deraj
dragged her up some stairs, and into a small room. The room had no
windows, and the only kind of furniture in the room was a chair; a
plain, brown, wooden, almost small sized chair. He pulled her towards
it and made her sit down, and when he found he couldn't bind her
hands behind the chair, he just decided to tie some rope around her
shoulders, and then tied her good hand along the side of the chair so
tight that her wrist began to bleed; and after that he tied her feet
together, not tying the rope as tight as tight as he did on her
wrist.
"What
are you going to do with me?" she finally got up the nerve to
ask,
"Well…
I'm going to put you through so much pain you'll be begging me to
stop. Remember?" he chuckled to himself at what he was going to do
to her then left the room, all the while she began to feel that fear
trickle up her back, and into her chest, wishing that the calm
feeling she had earlier would come back to her. Then she remembered
why it wasn't there, she needed to pray. She closed her eyes and
began the prayer in her head. Please Heavenly Father, don't let
this evil man give me such excruciating pain that I won't be able
to take it. Don't let me die tonight, let me live. Live and
prosper. Please… please. She pleaded this prayer with all her
might, and repeated it over and over again. Finally, she closed her
eyes letting all of her tears of everything bad that happened to her
in the past, roll down her cheeks and into her lap, not caring a bit
about it.
Around
dusk she noticed that she had fallen into a dream state. Not quite
asleep but not quite awake either, when suddenly the door to the
pitch dark room was slammed open. She feared Deraj to the point where
she was visibly shaking, and saw that he ran towards her, his gun in
hand, with the light piercing her eyes. More tears streamed down her
face, and she knew this was the end. This is it, she thought, this is
where I'm going to die, oh why do I have to die right here? There
is so much I could be doing in this wonderful world, and I so need to
say my goodbyes to my family and friends. She prayed in her mind that
her family would find the peace of knowing she would be in a better
place, when she realized that Deraj himself was shaking. Shaking from
what? She opened her squeezed tight eyes and saw two more figures
standing in the doorway, and when she saw who it was, she was more
certain then she had been of dieing that she was going to live. For
the two figures in the doorway were Logan and Russell.
Logan
couldn't believe it. She wasn't here. She was gone. He rushed
down the stairs as quickly as possible, and ran into the living room
where everyone was visiting. As soon as his mother and Tiffany's
mother saw him they immediately knew something was wrong.
"What
happened?" they both asked at the same exact moment,
"She's
gone!" he answered stifling a cry in his throat. As quickly as he
had announced it, Tiffany's father and Russell both jumped out of
their chair's screaming the word,
"WHAT?"
"How
could this have happened?" Tiffany's mom asked in horror.
"He
took her!" he cried, "He took her and I have no idea where to
look for her," he sat down in with his hands in his face, all hope
of ever marrying this girl dashed.
"We
must find her." Russell said, "We can't give up!"
"I
haven't got the slightest clue where to look," Logan replied
still crying, "Who took her?" asked Mrs. Klacky,
"The
one who had kidnapped us in the first place," Russell replied
quietly, and Mrs. Klackys' body visibly shook in fright,
"I
may have an idea where he may have taken her…" Logan's father
announced to the room,
"How?"
Mr. Klacky asked, noticing that her youngest daughter was
crying,
"I've
been there before, it takes about half an hour to drive there, and an
hour to walk. Well… when you're walking fast that is."
"Why
have you been there before?" Russell asked confused,
"Because…
that's where this whole mess got started. Which I'm very sorry by
the way." He the last part added as a side note,
"Do
you think you would be able to lead us there?" Logan asked almost
too quickly, and his father nodded his head,
"Yes,
but if we want to find her by tonight, I suggest we leave
immediately; because it'll be harder for me to find the place in
the dark."
"I
wouldn't have thought otherwise," Logan replied and they were
off, letting Mr. Toger lead the way to their destination. Every
single one of their heart's beating as they left, except for Mrs.
Toger who, even though desperately wanted to go, couldn't leave
because her two youngest children weren't home, which made the men
come to the conclusion that Mrs. Klacky should stay home too, just in
case things became horrible.
It
turned out that through some grumbling and a little fighting on Mrs.
Klacky's part, she decided that it'd be best to stay home because
of the danger involved and complied with the guys,
"I
don't see why it's any safer for you to go." She said as they
were leaving,
"It's
not, we are just being protective honey," Mr. Klacky smiled at her
and gave her a quick kiss on the lips then closed the door behind
him. Logan saw the look on Mr. Klacky's face and saw the love he
had for his wife. Logan knew that if they were to be son-in-law and
father-in-law that they'd be great friends, but he also knew if he
didn't win Tiffany's heart before Russell did… he'd have no
chance of ever being with her. So he decided that he must save her
before Russell did, so she would know how much he cared for her. He
didn't really believe it when Russell said he loved Tiffany, it all
seemed fake to him. Almost like a guy who is marrying the daughter
for her parents' money. He shivered at the thought and hoped that
wasn't what the reason was. As they began to walk, Logan showed
them where he found the footsteps, and when he got there he saw that
it wasn't just the one pare, there were two sets of feet on the
ground and it was then Logan knew for sure he had her.
"We
must hurry before it gets dark, we can't let anything happen to
her." he announced to his dad, Tiffany's dad and Russell,
"Well
duh, of course we have to hurry. She's in Danger!" Russell
snapped. Logan just glared at him. Then an idea popped in his
head,
"I
have an idea." He turned to his dad, "Dad, where are our
four-wheeler's?" his dad thought for a moment,
"They
should be in our Garage. Why?"
"I
think we should use those. We'll get to the place faster then
walking."
"Yes,"
his dad nodded in agreement, "We would definitely get there
quicker, but you have to know that it will still take us about an
hour or so."
"Whatever,
we'll go as fast as we can. Let's hop to it!" Logan answered,
and then ran to the garage apart from the house. When it was open,
they pulled out two four-wheelers.
"I'll
ride with my dad, and Russell… you ride with Mr. Klacky." Russell
nodded, happy with the arrangements. Both the father's hopped in
front and turned the four-wheelers on, while Logan and Russell hopped
on behind them.
"Let's
get these babies crackin'!" his dad yelled and they were on their
way; Mr. Klacky following behind them.
It
took longer then they expected because Mr. Toger temporarily forgot
where the house was.
"Dad,
do you have any idea where we are?" Logan yelled over the roar of
the four-wheeler,
"Yes…"
pause, "No, I can't seem to remember which direction it is."
Logan groaned,
"Dad,
are you Sure you can't remember?" another pause from his
dad,
"No…"
he looked around from side to side then said again "I think I
remember how to get there again," he turned a little to the left,
and went straight. Logan closed his eyes, praying that Tiffany would
be ok, and hoped that nothing bad had happened to her. It took every
ounce of his strength to sit still on the four-wheeler and not scream
at his dad to go faster, because 30 miles per hour was as fast as
they would go and he knew his dad was trying his hardest to go faster
then that, so he didn't push it.
It
was nearing dusk when they saw the house. It looked medium sized,
with black wood, and shingles for the windows and roof. There were
pieces of it falling off the roof, which made the house look like it
was beat up. Logan shivered for two reasons. 1- Tiffany was in that
house. And 2- Tiffany was in that house! It was crazy he knew to be
excited that she was in there yet scared because she was in there,
but he couldn't help himself. Knowing that he might be able to save
her again was more thrilling then he could bear.
"Do
you think you could speed up dad?" Logan asked excitedly,
"No,
this is as fast as this puppy will go! Sorry!" Logan's
disappointment was shown but no one saw because they were all
concentrated on the house right in front of them, in the middle of
the desert. Finally, after what seemed to take forever but more like
fifteen minutes, they were stopped at the house, staring at it; that
is until Logan jumped off the four-wheeler and ran towards the door
and stopped in front of it, hesitant to enter. Then Russell showed up
beside him also hesitant. He looked at Russell, and Russell looked at
him, they nodded at each other and Logan grabbed the door, then
pulled it open.
They
looked around the room, it seemed to have the living room, then lead
into the kitchen. As they walked in the kitchen they noticed that by
the old yellow fridge was a door. The door led to steps leading up
the stairs.
"I'm
betting Tiffany is up there." Logan whispered,
"No
duh," Russell whispered back,
"You
know, you Could try and be a little nicer,"
"Why?"
"So
we can find Tiffany and get out of here Alive!"
"That's
right, you better listen to him so you can get out of here alive."
A voice said from behind them. Instantly Logan's heartbeat shot up
the roof, he knew that voice. They both whirled around to find Deraj
staring at them, glowering.
"What
have you done with her?" Logan seethed,
"Why,
whatever do you mean?" he asked in an all too innocent voice,
"You
know Exactly what I mean!" Logan glared, Deraj shrugged,
"Whatever
kid, look, just leave my house and all will be good."
"Not
without Tiffany," Logan seethed. Deraj's eyes' opened up in
mock surprise,
"Oh
you came for her? How sweet,"
"Where
is she?"
"Tiffany?
I thought you had guessed that already,"
"So
she is upstairs?"
"Oh!
You thought she was upstairs? Ha, ha no sorry… that's not right,
she's not up there," Deraj answered with the slightest bit of
fear in his voice; Logan thinned his eyes,
"I
think your lying to me,"
Deraj
was starting to sweat now, which surprised Logan. Why's he freaking
out? He thought this isn't like him to act like this. What's
going on? In his confusion he had forgot what was happening and all
too soon Deraj grabbed out his gun,
"Get
away from the door, or else I'll shoot you." The sudden change in
Deraj's attitude abruptly made Logan and Russell put there hands up
as if they had been caught by the cops.
"Move
over there!" he demanded towards them making his gun sort of swift
to the right. They moved the way he pointed while he was growing
closer to the closed door. Suddenly, Deraj made a break for it and
ran as fast as he could up the stairs. Immediately Logan and Russell
followed after him going up the stairs two at a time but not before
they heard the voices of there dad's. Logan arrived at the top of
the stairs first and saw Deraj turn to the right into another room,
and then saw that door close. Logan ran towards that door, and
figured that it was locked. So he turned to Russell who seemed to
know exactly what he was thinking and nodded his head. They both
turned towards the door and kicked it open. When they looked in they
saw Tiffany, sitting on a chair with her wrist bound to it, her feet
tied up, and Deraj behind her with a gun pointing at her head.
"Go
away or else I'll kill her!" he practically screamed,
"Deraj,
you don't want to kill her. Put the gun down," Logan said with a
shaky voice,
"No,
I do want to kill her! You have no idea what kind of grief she has
put me in! She Practically Killed Me!"
"No…
if you don't remember, it was me driving that truck. And you
practically killed yourself because You were chasing after us!"
"If
She hadn't run away, I would never have chased after and I would
have never gotten this scar!"
"That's
your own fault Deraj. You can't blame other people for your
stupidity."
"My
stupidity? MY STUPIDITY? She is the one who ruined EVERYTHING for
me!"
"When?"
"That's
none of your concern," he snapped and pressed the guns muzzle
closer to Tiffany's head. Both Russell and Logan could see her
wince in pain as it began to cut her skin slightly it was pressing so
hard. Logan couldn't bear to see her in this condition, and soon an
idea popped into his head. He almost smiled but knew that would be a
bad move, so he sat down.
"What
are you doing?" Deraj asked, a bit confused.
"Yeah,
what Are you doing?" Russell wondered,
"Sitting
down,"
"Why?"
Deraj asked,
"That's
none of your concern," Logan snapped while taking his shoe off,
"Yes
it is! Now tell me what you are doing!" Deraj demanded when
suddenly the shoe was thrown and hit his head. Alright! Logan
thought, a perfect throw! It was just enough too for Deraj had moved
the gun away from Tiffany, and Russell immediately ran and punched
Deraj in the face, making him drop the gun. Logan instantly stood up
off the ground and ran towards Tiffany, who was now shaking so badly
you could see her fear. He untied her hand first and saw that it was
bleeding, then untied her feet.
"C'mon,"
he whispered in her ear and grabbed her hand pulling her out of the
room, careful not to grab her wrist. Russell was still trying to beat
off Deraj and was having a tuff job with it, and feeling bad for
leaving him Logan turned back,
"Tiffany,
you go outside. My dad and your dad will be waiting for you. I'm
going back in to help Russell before anything worse happens to him."
She nodded her head and began to move out the door the rest of the
way when suddenly she, Logan, and Russell heard,
"Nooo!"
Suddenly, and all too quickly, they heard a gun shot. It happened so
fast that Logan couldn't understand how it happened. First Russell
had Deraj pinned to the ground, and the next thing he knew, Tiffany
was shot. Tiffany was shot! It all seemed to register into his mind
very quickly, and soon he was bending over Tiffany who was lying on
the ground, moving the hair that was now in her face. He looked over
and saw that she had been shot in her stomach. Crying he was saying
softly over and over again,
"You're
going to be ok Tiffany. You're going to be ok."
Russell
walked over to them, having finished the job with Deraj by knocking
him out cold. Logan could feel him looking at them but at this moment
he didn't care. He didn't care what would happen to him, as long
as Tiffany was going to be ok.
"Tiffany,
Tiffany please… please be ok." He pleaded then heard her grown
with agony and saw new tears forming in her eyes. Hope filled his
soul as he wrapped her wound then picked her up with great care, and
carried her downstairs; but not before he had Russell tie up Deraj
and bring him down there with them, telling him that if Deraj woke up
just to knock him out again.
When
Logan walked out of the door with Tiffany in his arms her dad nearly
flipped.
"What
happened? We heard a gun shot!" Mr. Klacky said,
"She
was shot," he said simply for there was no other way to put it.
With tears in his eyes, Mr. Klacky took Tiffany who was now
unconscious from pain and put her in his lap, immediately pulling out
his cell phone from his pants pocket, and called 911. Then after he
had answered all the questions, he carefully sat down on the
four-wheeler with Tiffany in his arms and Russell sitting behind him
and drove off. Logan and his father right behind them.
Chapter 16
Tiffany
awoke to find that it was nighttime outside except she wasn't out
under it, in fact she couldn't figure out where she was; until she
saw the beeping noise of the heart rate machine, she realized then
that she was in a hospital. She looked around the dark room to see
that her parents were both asleep on chairs near her, both of them
red eyed.
It
took her a while to figure out what had happened; and when it did,
the pain settled in. She felt her stomach, feeling the stitches
holding it together, fear settling in remembering what had happened
how ever long ago it was. Watching her parents sleep she decided it'd
be better not to wake them so she took the opportunity to look around
the room and upon seeing that the sun was just barely showing its
brightness, she was able to notice that there were a couple flowers
and card's to go along with them. Confused and frightened a little
she spoke her parents' names,
"Mom,
dad?" she croaked, surprisingly enough to herself.
Her
parent's immediately awoke instantly looking to see how she was
doing,
"Tiffany!"
her mom cried, "Your ok," Mrs. Klacky picked up her hand and
kissed it, caressing it over and over again.
"Yeah,
I'm fine," her voice cackled, "Is there water around?"
"Yes
dear, it's right over here." Her dad quickly announced, "Hold
on, let me get it." He stood up out of the over slept in chair,
picking up the glass of water next to himself, and rushing by her
side; handing the cup to her delicately,
"Thanks,"
she whispered, then drank the glass of water; finishing half of it in
a few seconds.
"That's
better. Thanks dad," she closed her eyes suddenly feeling very
weak. The next thing she knew, she woke up to find that her parents
weren't in the room at the moment, but two unexpected visitor's
were there, watching her. Feeling self conscious she softly
laughed,
"Long
time no see eh?"
"Yes,
it's been quite a while since we've had the chance to talk to
you." Logan replied, watching her intently,
"What
do you mean?" she asked,
"He
means that you've been asleep for the past three days and finally
woke up this morning around sunrise." Russell answered for Logan,
who slightly glared at him.
"How
are you feeling? Is your stomach alright?" Logan pressed,
"I'm
fine. A little sore but fine." The two boys seemed to sigh in
relief,
"That's
great Tiffany. We've been so worried." Russell
said,
"Why?"
"Because
you almost died! It was very frightening. Especially when you were on
the four-wheeler; it seemed like your dad couldn't stop the
bleeding, and when the ambulance finally came… it almost seemed too
late. In fact, for a while they tried to convince us that it'd be
better if you died. But Logan here wouldn't hear of it, and neither
would I or your parents."
Shock
seemed to settle in on Tiffany's heart,
"I…
almost died?"
Solemnly,
Logan answered,
"Yes,
it was one of the most frightening times of my life." Russell
rolled his eyes to the cheesy line,
"We're
very glad your ok; the doctor's say that you can leave in about two
weeks or less. I was going to stay the whole time, but your parents
seem to think that it'd be best if I went back to my family." He
quoted the last part with defiance in the words.
"Yes,
that'd probably be best that you went back to your family. Your mom
was so worried." Russell couldn't believe his ears, and all Logan
did was smirk.
"I
also think…" she paused a few moments, "that you should also go
back to your family Logan. I'm sure they are worried about
you."
"Nah,
my dad was there with the rescue party. He even took me to the
hospital to make sure you'd be ok and bring back a report to them.
I've been here practically since as long as you've been here and
will be until you are out."
Tiffany
shook her head,
"No
Logan. You need to go back to your family. Tell them I'm fine,
really. Same with you Russell, but you won't have to tell them if
I'm fine or not unless they ask. Now, no protesting you
two,"
"But—"
"Tiffany—"
the two boys said at the same time,
"No
buts. It's final you two. You both are to return to your families
immediately." With that she felt like her strength was zapped, and
decided not to talk any longer; soon falling asleep once the boys'
were gone.
She
awoke again two days later feeling slightly better. The room was
empty though and by how bright it was she guessed it was about
mid-day so she just lay there on the bed, and slowly ever so slowly
began to cry. All the things that had happened to her over the past
few months finally caught up to her, and she could hardly contain
what she was feeling now. She thought about the night she was
kidnapped… how she felt when she woke up somewhere in the middle of
nowhere. How safe she had felt whenever she saw Russell and then…
his betrayal. That alone had ruined their relationship, and she
figured that to ever like a guy again would be more then she could
bear so she decided not to like anyone; but then… along came Logan.
Perfect and wonderful in every way and yet… she couldn't like
him, she just couldn't. It hurt too much to think of ever having a
good relationship; one where the guy didn't hurt the girl, or the
other way around. Of course… she never thought this way before she
was kidnapped.
Suddenly
the reality of what had happened that exact same night she was
kidnapped she cried even harder. How could this have happened to me?
She wondered in her haze, teary eyes and blotchy face. She couldn't
think of what else she could have done to change things. None of it
mattered now though, she had been kidnapped… it happened… and now
she was sitting in a hospital with a broken arm and stitches in her
side where she had been shot. She winced as she fixed the position on
her bed, sniffling as she did so, then sighed and wished things would
go back to the way they used to be. Her thoughts of sadness made her
want to cry even more which she didn't want to happen just in case
her parents came back so she decided to think of the good things to
dry her tears.
Half
hour later, when her parents finally arrived back in her room,
Tiffany was feeling much happier then she had been before and forcing
the smile for her parents wasn't as hard as she thought it would
have been.
"Hey
honey. How are you feeling?" her dad asked slightly rubbing her
shoulder.
"I'm
feeling a little better then before…" Pause.
"Well…
that's good dear. I'm glad you are feeling a little better.
That's always an improvement." Her mother smiled at her.
"Where
are Russell and Logan?" Tiffany asked,
"Oh,
we made Russell go home and wouldn't hear of him staying because
his family needs to see him again and Logan, he's still here,"
the last part her mother said quietly,
"Why?
How come he didn't go home?"
"Because
well… he wanted to make sure you'd be ok the rest of the time
your here."
"I
told him to go home."
"He
refused. Russell had a reason to go home. Logan doesn't."
"Yes
he does. His family is at home!"
"But
his family knows where he is! Russell's family didn't!" her
father replied back a tad bit sharply; making Tiffany gasp at his
sharpness.
"Dad,
Logan has a family to go home too. He needs to be with his
family."
"Well…
he also needs to be with the one he loves… right?" her mother
asked,
"True,
but the one he loves isn't here."
"Tiffany!
How can you be so blind as to think that?" her mother asked rising
her voice a little,
"Because
it's true!" Tiffany said in the exact same tone; then sighed
knowing this wasn't gonna get them anywhere.
"Mom,
I don't think Logan's found the one he loves yet…" she
whispered although in her heart she wished he loved her and yet…
was afraid to admit that he might love her and she back.
"Honey,
he loves you. We know you know that. Why are you pushing him
away?"
"Because…
I… don't love him…" her voice trailed off and her parents
looked at each other in disbelief.
"You
don't mean that… do you?" her mother asked breathless,
"Yes…
I do." Tiffany answered becoming more confident with it and that
ended their conversation. After that, her parents left the room only
to have Charley walk in with a bunch of flowers and a card in
hands.
"Logan
wanted me to give these to you," she said giggling,
"Oh
he did, did he? Well… tell him thanks for me." Tiffany smiled
taking the flowers and not bothering to read the note while Charley
was in the room.
"Aren't
you going to read the note?" she asked anxiously,
"No,"
Tiffany said smiling, "Why would I do that while you're in the
room?"
"Well
gee Sis; glad to know how much you love your sister's Curiosity
enough to bother about what she's curious about." She laughed
along with Tiffany,
"Well…
I don't wanna be embarrassed just in case he says something
embarrassing! Don't worry… I'll share with ya what he said
later." She promised to her sister,
"Ok
then, you better keep that promise! Otherwise you owe me ten bucks!"
Rolling
her eyes and smiling Tiffany answered back,
"Whatever,"
then suddenly… a knock was at the Hospital door,
"Come
in," Tiffany called and Logan walked in looking a bit awkward while
Charley giggled then left repeating one more time to Tiffany with a
smile on her face… "Remember, you promised," then left the room
leaving the two by themselves.
"Uh…
how's the arm?" Logan asked a little awkwardly,
"It's
doing better. I think its healing fine now, although it still throbs
a bit."
"You
should have the doctor's look into that then,"
"Maybe…"
she said then listened to the quietness of the room.
"What
are you still doing here?" she finally asked,
"Well…
I couldn't leave you here while you are still hurt."
"Logan…
I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me anymore—"
"But
that's just it Tiffany! I do have to worry about you because…
because I care for you a great deal. In fact I care for you so much
that… I love you Tiffany."
"Logan…"
"What
I need to know is… do you love me?"
A
rush of emotion suddenly splashed Tiffany's chest as she thought
about the answer,
"I…
uh…I… don't," she finally managed to get out glancing away,
not wanting to see Logan's reaction.
"Oh…"
was all Logan said then he stuttered out,
"I'm…
I'm going to go now…"
"Ok,"
"Bye,"
he said then finally left the room after looking at her one last
time.
As
soon as he left, Tiffany felt another urge of tears starting to fill
in her eyes. How could I have done that? She wondered he's so nice
and kind and he loves me. That's what I wanted to hear from him,
but why'd I have to say I didn't love him back? She cried into
her sheet covered knee's, all the while being cautious as not to
harm her arm any further. She soon fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming
of Deraj and his loonies.
Logan
had given Charley the flowers with a little note to give to Tiffany
in hopes that she would read it and realize how much he loved her.
Until he eves dropped on Tiffany and Charley's conversation and
realized that he would have to tell her himself in person so walked
in only to find them smiling. Although he knew what they had said he
kept quiet pretending he didn't hear a word.
When
he found out that Tiffany didn't love him like he loved her, he
couldn't find any of the right words to say after that. It had
seemed that she felt the same way as he did but…guess not. So here
he was in the hospital waiting room, staring at nothing, and thinking
of only Tiffany. In all that they had been through he had thought
he'd seen the love she had for him in her eyes, he thought that
once this was all over they could finally hook up, date for a while,
then one day getting married; but now it seemed as if those dreams
were a gazillion miles away. He silently closed his eyes trying to
hold back the tears but failing miserably and ended up leaving the
hospital and sitting on a bench near the doors leading into the big
building.
Why?
Why did she have to say no? Everything was going perfectly how come
everything is messed up? He couldn't bring himself to say why, and
left the questions unanswered in his mind. Standing up he walked to a
nearby phone booth and called his parents and said he'd tell them
the story on the way home.
"So…
what happened?" his mother asked half an hour later as they were
driving home.
"Well…
I told her I loved her with as much sincerity that I could muster
and… she said she doesn't love me back," he whispered so low
that his mother almost couldn't hear him,
"What?
She said no?"
No
answer,
"I
don't believe it," His mother said again, breaking the silence.
"I
know… I can't believe she doesn't love me either," Logan
answered,
"No,
I mean… I don't believe that she doesn't love you."
"What?
Why don't you believe her?"
"Because,
I've seen the way she looks at you and how her eyes glow when she
sees you. Well… that is… before she got kidnapped again…"
"yeah…
until she got kidnapped for the last time I think she had loved me…
what I don't get is why she doesn't anymore."
"Well…
I don't know if I'm right but, I think she's afraid,"
"Afraid?"
"Yes.
I think she's afraid to love you,"
"Why
would she be afraid?"
"Because
she already had one person in her life she loved suddenly change his
mind, twice! She's afraid of the hurt and pain that comes with
that. She doesn't want to go through with that again."
"But
I would never do anything to hurt her. Never!"
"You
may know that but she doesn't."
"How
am I supposed to show her I lover her with all my heart?" his
mother just shrugged her shoulder's,
"I'm
not sure how. You'll have to figure that out by yourself." She
then winked and they drove into the driveway. Logan never got out but
stayed and pondered about the things his mother had said. He couldn't
understand why Tiffany would be afraid, he understood that she was
hurt but he couldn't understand why she would think he would hurt
her like that. He shook his head and finally jumped out of the car,
and went into the house and in his room, where he laid on his bed
hardly comforted and fell into a troubling sleep.
The
men were after her. He was running as fast as he could but he
couldn't reach her. It seemed that as fast as he ran the farther
Tiffany got and the closer the men were to catching her. 'Tiffany!'
he yelled out, holding out his hand, hearing her scream for his help
to stop the men, to get them away from her then… suddenly him and
Tiffany were standing in a dark room pitch black with nothing around
them but the blackness, and as he stared at her kept saying how much
he loved her and wanted to be with her, but she was crying, and began
to fade away into the darkness not even waving bye…
"Nooo!"
Logan suddenly sat up in his bed sweating and shaking. He sighed then
lay back down on the bed, putting a shaking hand up to his
forehead.
"I've
got to do something. I can't just stay here and dwell upon
something I don't know for sure. I hope Mom's right… she better
be lying otherwise I'll be hurt in the same way, if I'm not
already," sighing again he sat up, let the blood start working
properly through his body then walked to his bathroom and took a
shower to wipe off all the weariness he felt.
After
taking a shower he went downstairs and found out it was nearly
bedtime so he hurried and grabbed something to eat then went back
upstairs and sat there on his bed for nearly an hour before his eyes
became so tired he could hardly keep them open. When he was finally
asleep he dreamt of nothing which he was so grateful for.
In
the morning, he awoke to the sounds of cooking downstairs and the
smell of eggs filtered through his nose, making his mouth water; but
instead of going downstairs and eating he went downstairs, kissed his
mother on the cheek then said,
"I'm
going after, and I'm going to find out the truth; to see if you
were right mom." She smiled at him,
"Alright
dear; be careful."
"I
will mom," and then he was off. He hurried towards his black
shining truck, hopped in and sped to the Hospital; so instead of the
normal half an hour it took him only fifteen minutes and feeling
lucky no cops were around. After he arrived, he ran to Tiffany's
room and opened up the door…
"Tiffany?"
Logan said the feeling of dread coming upon him. The room was empty
and the bed was made as if no one had been in the room. He left the
room then passed by a doctor and asked about it,
"I'm
sorry, they left yesterday. We transferred them to a hospital down in
Utah." After that comment Logan stood their, not able to move a
muscle.
Chapter 17
Logan
stood still for that few moments, until he realized that the doctor
was walking away from him and on to another patient, so he ran to
catch up to the doctor,
"Wait,
how could you have just transferred her? Tiffany had been shot! She
needs time to heal without interrupting things." He said a bit
breathlessly,
"Well
normally we don't transfer patients, but these people insisted that
they be moved back to Utah because that's where they live."
"Oh
I see…" Logan said, "Well… could you tell me what Hospital
she was transferred too?"
"Yes,
follow me." He led Logan to the receptionists' desk, and Logan
waited for the lady at the desk to come up with Tiffany's file on
the slightly old computer.
"She's
been transferred to the Davis Hospital."
"Thanks!"
Logan said quickly and hurried out to his truck.
The
next thing Logan knew, he was parked in front of his "house".
Running, he nearly broke the front door off as he collided with his
mother,
"Be
careful son. You could put an eye out," she said teasingly, but
Logan ignored it,
"I'm
going to find her mom."
"What?"
"I
know where Tiffany's at! I'm going to look for her!"
"You
can't—"
"You're
saying that I can't go after the love of my life?" he questioned
her,
"Well…
no but…"
"Mom,
it's the right thing, I must go find her."
Sighing,
his mother finally gave in,
"Alright,
but your father won't be too happy about it,"
"That's
why I'm leaving now. I'll go upstairs, pack my things and head
off to Utah. I'll call you when I get there,"
"Alright
honey. Please be careful!"
"I
will," he kissed his mother on the cheek then ran upstairs to his
bedroom and threw a suitcase on the slightly tousled bedspread, and
hurdled clothes into it, finally headed to get Tiffany once and for
all.
Tiffany
woke up to find herself in another hospital bed and her best friend
Caiti sitting right next to her.
"Caiti?"
Tiffany spoke quietly.
"Oh
Tiffany! You're awake! I'm so glad, I was so worried." Caiti
answered back happily. Tiffany smiled her happiness,
"I'm
glad I'm awake too. Where is everybody?"
"They
went to go get some lunch. Oh Tiffany! It's been so long! You must
tell me everything from the very beginning!"
"Of
course I will. Just…not at the moment."
Caiti
laughed,
"Well
of course not right now. You still need time to recuperate. And
besides…I'm sure you'll wanna share your story to the world
first."
Confusion
set on Tiffany's face,
"What
are you talking about?"
"Well…
there's news people outside. They are all wanting to talk to you
and ask you questions. But not before the police talk to you first."
"Oh
great," Tiffany said with exhaustion, "This really stinks."
"Yeah
I bet it does. You'll just have to do your best though
right?"
"Right.
They won't get to know everything though. There are just some
things I won't share."
"Oh
really?"
"Yes
really. They don't need to know everything." She said defiant to
her friend,
"Will
you tell them to me?"
This
time Tiffany got a small smile on her face even through her
exhaustion,
"Oh
yes. You will definitely get to hear the stories I don't tell."
"Oh
good," Caiti Smiled, "but it's only if you are able to handle
telling me; because if you're uncomfortable with it then you don't
have to tell me."
"Oh
don't worry… I will be able to handle telling you them… just
not right at this moment," Tiffany said with reassurance until the
thought of Logan entered her mind. The smile left her at that moment
for Russell entered the room.
"Hey,"
he said weakly and Caiti, noticing the tension suddenly in the room,
decided she'd leave,
"Well,
I'll just go. Have fun you two and don't do anything I wouldn't
do!" she teased then ran out of the room to avoid the small pillow
that was suddenly thrown by Tiffany.
"So…
how are you feeling?" Russell asked tentatively,
"Good,"
Tiffany replied,
"That's
good." He answered then all was quiet for a few minutes in the
room. "So um… are you ready to go back to school?"
"No,"
"Me
either. It seems like we've been done with school for a long time."
"Yeah,"
An
awkward silence was between them now, neither knowing what to say
until Russell finally got the nerve to speak up.
"Look,
I know we've had it rough and that I was a butt hole down there
but… can't we just start over? Can't we date?"
"Russell…
it—"
"Don't
say no… please."
"It
just won't work out between me and you. You have no idea how badly
I was hurt! And even if I wanted to give you another chance… how do
I know that you won't do what you did down their?"
"Tiffany…
it… I was delusional. I was totally out of my mind. You can't
blame me for being that way… can you?"
"I
can Russell. You could control your actions how ever you wanted…
but to turn my way… you chose the wrong actions. There are no we
between me and you anymore. Maybe before any of this had happened
but… it did happen and you did what you did and so now it's over
and done with. End of story. No ifs ands or buts. I couldn't… I
can't handle being hurt anymore Russell."
A
tear flew down one side of Russell's cheek,
"Tiffany.
I won't ever hurt you again. Please believe me."
Tiffany's
heart burned with a fierce hope that Russell was telling the truth;
but every time she thought of them dating a bad feeling dotted her
chest and she couldn't escape it.
"I'm
sorry Russell… but there's just no way… no way," she repeated
the last time mostly to assure herself.
"But...
but Tiffany you, you… you can't just say no like that you… you
gotta give me a chance!"
"I
can't Russell. There's just no possible way," she paused for a
moment, "Please… just go."
Holding
back tears, Russell walked the short distance to the door and took
one final look at Tiffany, pleading with his eyes for her to change
her mind, then left the room, closing the door softly behind him.
Holding back tears of her own Tiffany sighed; trying to calm herself
down, wondering what was to happen next.
The
next few weeks went by quickly for Tiffany. It seemed to her as if
the world was spinning around so fast that she hardly had time to
breathe. A ton of news crew and policemen came and investigated her
the first two weeks, trying to get interviews with her which made her
tire quickly. All the drama was too much and she began to grow bags
in her eyes and yawned more then usual; any medicine that was given
to her to help her sleep only lasted for so long before she had bags
under her eyes again. Finally, the Hospital got a clue and kept the
news crews away from her so that she could rest more then she had
been resting (even though the doctor's gave her plenty of rest, she
still ended up always tired).
So,
to end the tyrant of news crews and policemen, Tiffany's parents
locked her door and waited until all was quiet outside. Of course,
the news crews were tricky and stayed in the waiting room until the
door was unlocked and suddenly would reappear again at the door.
Finally, the nurses made everyone leave to let Tiffany recuperate
which Tiffany was very grateful for; but ended up not really noticing
the last few days because they gave her medicine to make her sleep
and basically the only time she was awake was when they were giving
her food.
Being
so delirious and not able to focus very much, there was a point when
Tiffany thought she was dreaming. In fact, she was sure of it. She
was looking at the wall, feeling incredibly bored when a knock came
at the door; she weakly replied for the person to come in and then
gasped when she saw who it was. It was as if her eyes were failing
her, because she had to keep rubbing them in order to see if her
vision was clear. Standing in the doorway was Logan, perfect Logan.
Staring at her with such… Love? Is that what she saw? She wasn't
quite sure but, all she knew was that he stood there for what seemed
like forever, then he smiled and slowly had walked over towards her.
Sitting
beside the bed, he stared at her intently, not talking for the
longest time, and when he did speak it felt like music to her
ears,
"Tiffany.
I am so glad I found you!" he seemed to be choking back tears,
"Yes
Logan. I am so glad you did too." She couldn't figure out why she
was saying what she was saying, but she figured she was saying this
stuff because of the delirium,
"I
don't know what I would have done if I didn't find you Tiffany. I
can't even bare the thought of it."
"I
know Logan, I know." Tiffany answered softly, tears prickling at
her own eyes. She reached out with her left hand to try and touch
his, but when she couldn't reach it she had started to pull back,
Logan instinctively brought his hands to her hand.
"Tiffany,
I know I've said this before, but I have to tell you again…"
Logan paused a little trying to hold back his emotion, "I love you
Tiffany. I always will; no matter what,"
Tiffany
smiled at the comment, feeling content, loving the way he touched her
so gently then softly she replied,
"I
love you too Logan," then she closed her eyes for a moment, and
when she opened them up again, he was gone. She smiled to herself,
wondering what it would be like if that dream was real; but she
couldn't fathom that Logan would come after her again, not after
she had left once and practically crushed his heart. So she decided
she'd forget the dream, and get back with what was happening here
and now.
It
wasn't as easy as she thought though. During the times when she was
awake, she'd see his smiling face looking at her, and every time
she did that, she melted. Her heart pounded so hard, that the
fierceness of it surprised her; not to mention made her weary of what
she had done. Then something unexpected happened, it happened when
she was talking to her parents about her dream,
"It
was the most wonderful dream I'd ever had. Logan had come and
visited me, and told me he loved me and… oh it was just wonderful."
Her parents had given each other glances before her mother spoke to
her,
"But
honey, that wasn't a dream. Logan really did come and visit you."
A small gasp escaped her mouth just like in her dream, but this time
it was real… that is it seemed real; until she woke up.
She
nearly screamed at the process of going through two dreams at once
and not even realizing they were just dreams. She rubbed her eyes
furiously, wishing she could go back into dream world when she heard
someone say her name,
"Hello
Tiffany,"
Logan
was sitting in a corner, watching Tiffany sleep, memorizing every
feature of her face. She looked distressed, as if she wanted to cry
out but couldn't, then he noticed that she must be awake because
she began to rub her eyes, so, instead of scaring her out of her
wits, he decided he'd better speak up before she saw him and freak
out.
"Hello
Tiffany," he said to grab her attention. She jerked her head in his
direction and he smiled softly at her,
"Logan?"
Tiffany asked, blinking her eyes,
"Yes,
it's me Logan."
"But…
but how? How are you here? Why are you here?"
"Don't
you remember?" he asked, wondering if she was too delirious
earlier, "Don't you remember our last conversation?"
"Um…
no," she answered, confirming his unasked question,
"I
see. Well no matter then, it doesn't really matter. I just had to
come back here to see you. I needed to see your face again."
"Logan
I… don't know what to say,"
He
laughed,
"That's
ok. I just thought I'd better speak to you before you yelled
because you thought I was some random person watching you,"
"I
see," she said slowly. He watched her intently, trying to memorize
her face, coming to a conclusion he thought he'd never do in his
life time but suddenly knew it needed to be done,
"Tiffany,
I uh… I have something to tell you."
"What
is it?" she asked him tiredly, her eyes half-way closed. Logan
cleared his throat then began to speak again,
"Well,
I have come to a conclusion that I think you will be happy for. I've
decided to leave you some space so… I'm leaving off to College…
in New York City…but only if I make it," he mumbled the last part
and his voice trailed off as he saw her expression,
"You're…
leaving? For good?"
"Well
now, I don't think it will be for good but, it'll be long enough
just so that you will be able to settle things in your heart. I want
you to know though that I'm going to start taking the missionary
discussions. I've thought about it a great deal and want to know
more about it. Not only for your sake though, I'll have you
know."
"That's
good," she said, yawning largely,
"Well
I see that you are tired Tiffany, so I will go now. I just thought
I'd tell you to know what I'm going to do, so you won't worry
whether I'll be suddenly showing up at your doorstep demanding
anything of you." He watched her a moment, and upon noticing she
was peacefully sleeping, he went to her, then bent down and kissed
her forehead for a full five seconds, then stood up straight again
and walked out of the room.
Closing
the door softly behind him, Logan struggled to keep the tears away
but let one slip down his left cheek. He slowly walked down through
the hospital, and out into the car parking lot not noticing anything
going on around him, until he heard someone calling his name,
"Logan?
Is that you?" the familiar voice called out. He turned
around,
"Mrs.
Klacky? When did you see me?"
"Just
barely."
"I
see. Why did you follow me?"
"I,
well… I just wanted to tell you something."
"Ok,
go for it," Logan said mildly,
"I
wanted to let you know that Tiffany really does love you. Even if she
may say she doesn't… she really does. Don't give up on her yet
Logan,"
He
smiled at her then replied back,
"I
know she loves me. She said it herself to me when I was talking with
her last time, but, I've decided to stay out of her life until
she's ready for me. She doesn't seem to want me to stay here with
her so I'm going back where I live."
"Where
is it that you live?"
"I
will not say that right now. But in time I'll send Tiffany a
letter… that is, if I can have your address." Logan pressed,
"Oh
sure," Mrs. Klacky responded then hurriedly grabbed a pen and a
paper from a notebook in her purse and quickly wrote down the address
of their home.
"There
you go, Logan," she said sadly handing him the piece of paper. He
took it then stuffed the paper in the front right pocket, grabbed
Mrs. Klacky's hand; kissed it, then turned around and walked the
rest of the way to his black shining truck, leaving a stunned Mrs.
Klacky standing where he left her.
Chapter 18
For the next few months, Tiffany had the hardest time adjusting to everything. She felt this loss in her heart that she knew no one could fill except for him. She couldn't even say his name anymore without the tears forming in her eyes, so she reverberated to the word "him" for a purpose. She shook her head, knowing thoughts of him were coming on and knew she did not want that to happen; so instead she concentrated on the homework in front of her.
She was sitting in the kitchen on the black stained chair that sat in front of the black stained table, trying to figure out how to do a stupid math problem when suddenly her sister Charley came in with a sly grin on her face and a letter in her hand.
"What's that?" Tiffany asked with thin eyes, Charley giggle,
"Oh nothing; just a letter from... Logan!"
Tiffany instantly grabbed for it and just stared at it, there in her hands. Shaking, she slowly ripped it open and began to read the letter that had an odd, but yummy, smell to it. The letter read:
My Dear Beloved Tiffany,
I'm sure you are wondering what exactly happened to me; and I'm most certain that your mother told you where I was hoping to head. Well. I made it into that school I was hoping to get into, so I am dwelling there for now. My plans for school are well thought out, though I won't share them with you for the moment.
I am sure you are wondering about the smell that's on this envelope. Well, I was walking along the school grounds and saw the most beautiful flower that reminded me of you. That flower was a lilac. So I decided, since it reminded me so much of you, I would put the smell on the envelope. It will never begin to show the beauty that I see in you; because you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen Whenever I think of you and all the stuff you did, I laugh. What am I laughing at you wonder? Well… let's just say it had to do with a high quality punch. ;) I'm sure that you are laughing now, and I can just imagine that laugh of yours; of course your real laugh is much better but, for now, imagination will have to work.
At this very moment I imagine you and I, walking along in the park, hand in hand. It's a wonderful image. Though, I know you get distraught when I talk about things like this so, I will write you another time, another hour, another continuum. Until we speak again my love, I will always be thinking of you; forever and beyond.
Love,
Logan
Tiffany sighed happily after finishing the letter, letting her laughter die down. He had written her! After all these long months he finally wrote! The excitement she felt was so hot that she thought she would explode. She read it again and the excitement she felt died down a bit. He didn't tell her exactly what school he was in or what city it was at and for some reason, he thought she didn't want to see him again or think of them being together. He didn't even put a return address. Tiffany sighed again, heading back to her room and put the letter back in the envelope; took out one of the shoe boxes from her room that had things that reminded her of Logan and set the letter in it. She ran her fingers over the letter delicately then put the shoe box away on a shelf in her closet.
Walking back into the kitchen I noticed my mother doing some cleaning.
"Can I help?" I asked. She smiled,
"Of course honey. Will you sweep the floor for me?"
I nodded,
"Sure."
