Days came and went in an agonizingly slow manner for Brandy. All she knew anymore was pain. Her soul ached for the one person she loved the most. Her body ached from the torture inflicted on her day after day. It was around month three she lost track of how long she had been where Tom brought her, and it was around this same time she found herself becoming numb to everything. She simply gave up, and accepted her fate. She saw no relief in her hear future, and did not realize it would come sooner than she realized...

) ) ) )

Tom had just finished changing into his outfit for the evening, when he heard the ring of his doorbell. Frowning, he made his way to the front door, and when he looked through the peek hole a jolt of panic shot through him when he found two police officers standing there. Taking a deep breath, he quickly regained his composure, before unlocking and opening the door. "Good evening officers," he greeted them with a smile. "How may I help you?"

"Evening, sir, we have evidence of illegal activity going on at this residence, and will be needing to search the premises."

Tom frowned. "What kind of illegal activity, sir?"

"We have video evidence of the unlawful restraint and torturing of a young woman, and the IP address of the computer it came from is attached to this address."

A shocked look came to Tom's face. "I would never do something like that, there must be some big mistake here."

"Do you live with anyone else, sir?"

"No officer, it's just me, but again I can assure you I have never done what you have described."

"That may be, sir, but we still have a search warrant, and we are still legally required to search the property. Now please, sir, if you could let us in, the sooner we get this over with the sooner we can be on our way," the officer replied, and Tom felt a rush of both anger and panic as he stepped aside to let the officers into his home. He silently watched their every move, anticipating when all hell would break loose. Slowly, they made their way through the main floor of the house, on occasion asking questions, and just when Tom thought he might be home free, they came across that one door...

"Sir, do you mind opening this door for us?" one of the police officers asked when he attempted to open the door, but found it locked.

"Oh, that's just a closet. There's nothing in it."

"If there's nothing in it, then you shouldn't mind us checking anyway."

"Is it really necessary? I already told you I haven't done what you are accusing me of. I don't even own a computer. Can't we just call it a day?" Tom asked, trying hard to remain calm.

"Sir, either you open it for us, or we break it down. It's your choice, we are simply trying to do our job here," the other officer stated, clearly trying to keep his patience.

With great reluctance, Tom walked over to the door, and as slowly as possible unlocked it. For a moment, he stood there motionless, and just as one of the officers was about to ask him to move, he quickly opened the door and ran down the steps inside. The two officers quickly followed him down the stairs, where they were greeted to what appeared to be a torture chamber, full of tools and items meant to inflict pain. In the corner of the room sat a desk with a computer on it, and next to it was a camera on a tripod. In the center of the room was Brandy, gagged and chained as she knelt on the floor, and behind her knelt Tom, a gun pressed to the back of her head. "Don't fucking move, or I shoot!" he yelled, and the police officers immediately stopped in their tracks.

"Put the gun down," the first officer commanded, making Tom laugh.

"I ain't doing another goddamn thing you tell me to," Tom spat, grabbing a handful of Brandy's hair and forcing her head up. Weak and confused, she looked at the officers with heavy eyes, not able to comprehend what was going on. "Now get the fuck out of my house, or else I give you a brain shower, you fucking pigs." When he noticed they were slowly moving apart, in an attempt to get closer to him, he yelled as he tugged on her hair, "I said don't fucking move! I swear to God, I will blow her fucking head off!" Finally, the officers stopped once more. His heart pounding wildly, Tom thought hard of what to do. He knew he was fucked, and was not about to surrender. "If I can't have you, doll-face, then no one can," Tom growled in her ear, and pushing her to the ground he aimed to shoot at her, when both officers quickly took fire at him, both of their shots hitting him in the chest. Dropping the gun, he slumped forward, landing on top of Brandy in a heap.

Quickly, the officers rushed over to them, one of them pushing Tom off of her as the other went to her. "Miss, miss, are you okay?" he asked as he gently forced her to look up at him, and shined a light in her eyes when he forced them open. As he further examined her, he saw the blood spreading out on the front of her shirt, and commented, "She has been hit. Quick, call for help." As the other cop ran up the stairs, he looked back down at Brandy, and checked for a pulse, relieved when he found one. "Stay with me, sweetheart," he said aloud, hoping they were not too late in finding her...