Same as before... Lilly has a rough begining and remembers what happened to her. It is dark but I am proud of it. Please read and review... tell me what you think. I am really loving writing this so hang on for updates and I really think I need to get back to Jump Street and let end the other stories soon... LOL!
Anywho, thanks for reading... please review... even if it is to say you hate it. It is still something. Thanks again!
Chapter 3
Dark… it was so dark, but the pain… intensity… it hurt all over. He hurt all over. His head felt like it could explode. Tiny pins pricking and poking at his battered face from the inside. They were cruel as they continued to assault him. They never seemed to stop. They just continued to push and poke, piercing with their miniscule, sharp tips deep into the flesh of his face, head, arms, wrists. His chest and ribs… they were different… broken. Like a sledge hammer to an unwanted brick wall. Pounding away at the surface until it lay crumbled and broken. Like being chipped away into tiny jagged unwanted pieces to be discarded at anyone's earliest convenience. He felt like he was falling apart. Broken into minuscule insignificant pieces… like Humpty Dumpty… HAHA! That's funny;
Mr. Humpty Smithy sat on a wall…
Mr. Smithy had a great fall.
All of Thunder Mountain
Won't be able to put him back together again…
The smallest breath brought agony to his body. Mr. Smith opened his eyes slightly. He started to shift himself to the side. His arms were asleep. They were pinned tightly behind his back. He tried to flex his wrists but nothing. He could hardly feel them due to the ropes tied so tightly wrapped around them. He groaned as he tried to lift his face from the ground but a gag had been shoved into his mouth preventing any of the pained noise to escape.
Oh GOD!
Mr. Smith closed his eyes again as the pounding in his head began again. He was aware of the fact he wasn't alone; there were voices around him.
"Rex is gonna use this one for fun."
"Yeah… he really pissed Rex off letting the little girl run."
"Big mistake. I'm not sure he's gonna kill him too quickly either. I think he's gonna take Shorty here apart one piece at a time."
"He's moving."
"Maybe he's waking up."
"Should we get Rex?"
"No. He didn't want disturbed."
"Lets check him out."
Mr. Smith heard their feet as they shuffled closer to him. He felt the hard steel toe of a boot as it kicked him in the back of his right leg. He groaned lightly again as the sudden movement shifted him igniting a fire in his leg. There must have been a bruise there because it felt like flames jumping across his muscles. He felt two sets of hand pull him to his feet. This time the muffled groan could be heard loudly through the cloth that had been pushed between his teeth and tied off behind his head.
Mr. Smith felt like he could be sick at any moment. The sudden movement was almost more than his body could handle at this moment. His knees turned to jell-o as he collapsed against one of the men holding him up. The other pulled the gag from his lips, slapping his face in an cruel effort to keep their victim conscious. The other holding him up snaked his arm around the smaller mans neck pulling him back to his feet.
"Oh…" Mr. Smith's voice was so small. His mouth was so dry from the gag that he felt like he had been eating a mouthful of dirt. The pain through his body was overwhelmingly evident in his voice.
"What's the matter Shorty… was last night too much for you?" The man holding him on his feet sneered.
Smith's head lowered to his chest as he fought to stay awake. The pain in his ribs was almost too much for him to bare with the pounding in his head and the two goons taunting him. He felt his eyes close again as someone pressed something cold to his forehead. The click of the hammer brought Mr. Smith's eyes open again and stopped the air in his chest. He tried to struggle but couldn't find the strength to fight back. He was dead... well not yet but he was going to be. He had run out on Jeremiah and Kurdy, helped a little girl… a precious little girl who had reminded him too much of his little Rose. Rose… his little angel on earth… he would die and never see her face again. There would be no one to tell her of her father's fate. No one at the mountain knew about her…
"Let him go."
The two men stopped as Mr. Smith closed his eyes again to the blinding pain coursing through his head. He had felt the fluid start to rise in the back of his throat. He tried to stop it. He tried so hard to stop the foul fluid as it pushed itself up his esophagus. It burned the whole way as it violently erupted from his lips. He hadn't eaten anything in a while so there wasn't much to bring up but the brutal bile and blood. Painfully he was dropped onto his knees as the two who had been toying with him realized what was happening. There was nothing to support him as he dropped, bending forward to release the liquid to the earth. The fluid fell onto his dirty blood stained trousers and shirt before hitting the ground. It was soon followed by empty dry heaves. They pushed and shoved trying to shoot his insides out of his mouth. He heaved heavily and finally they began to relent. It was then he realized his heavy winter coat was gone. He had been cold before but just too out of it to notice his coat was missing. It didn't take long before he was completely finished and ready to drop. His head felt like it was swimming as he tried to hold himself up. He slowly looked up to the three men standing over him. Inside he wished someone would end his suffering or show him some compassion and help him. He winced from the brutal backlash his body had punished him with. His face was aglow with perspiration dripping along his cheeks and temples mingling with the blood and grime covering his visage. Involuntary tears streamed down his cheeks as the morning sunlight cut across his face before his eyes closed and he fell to the ground unconscious again.
--
Kurdy looked over at where the fire had once burned happily the evening before. The red hot embers still glowed, but the leaping and crackling of flames were long gone. He ran a hand along his chin while looking around the campsite. He thought long and hard about a hot cup of coffee. He noted Jeremiah still sleeping across the glowing coals from him. His head resting comfortably on a baseball glove, it was very likely he was also using the baseball for a head rest. His eyes then crossed over to where Mr. Smith should have been sleeping. Should have been…
"Oh shit! Jeremiah…"
Jeremiah sat bolt upright. He looked at Kurdy wiping the sleep from his eyes. His five o'clock shadow was starting to look more like the start of a grizzled beard on his chin. Blinking his deep brown eyes Jeremiah surveyed the scene around him as he looked back at Kurdy.
"He didn't come back."
Jeremiah felt the same fear that Kurdy had. They were close enough to the place where the murders and disappearances had taken place that they could have gotten Mr. Smith. He felt his stomach rising to his throat as the color drained from his tired face…"They got him."
Jeremiah and Kurdy scrambled to get their stuff together and finish extinguishing the fire. They dropped Mr. Smith's back pack in the Rover and scrambled into the woods to find their missing friend.
--
The wind blew through her matted blond hair as Lilly opened her eyes slowly. She was tired. He little body ached all over. She had almost forgotten where she was as she opened her bright brown eyes. Sitting up she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She then ran her hand gently across her nose making sure it wasn't bleeding again. She sucked a deep breath in through her teeth as her fingers brushed over a deep purple bruise across her cheek. She furrowed her brow as she looked around at the forest. Her eyes came to rest on the tattered remains of a brilliant purple scarf. Her eyes sloped downward as visions of an attack began to creep up on her.
"Mommy…"
She leaned forward and picked up the long frayed scarf rubbing it against her face. She felt the weathered softness of the yarn against her skin. Her mother had worn this scarf… that day. Lilly had thought everything from then was gone. Her fathers watch, her mothers necklace. All had been stolen for trade or the greed of… them. They had killed her mother and father and taken her. She was told if she was good they might let her go later. She had tried to be good. She had done everything Rex had told her to do and he still hit her. He would hit her so hard. Then that night... last night the angle came to save her. He had saved her from Rex but where was the angel. Rex had hurt him.
Lilly plucked the leaves from the scarf and then wrapped it around her neck for the little warmth it would offer. She gingerly rubbed the spot on her chest where the rope had bruised her. She let out another cough as she spotted two men rounding the corner and starring straight towards her.
--
Fear gripped Lilly as the two men stopped dead in their tracks.
"Oh my GOD." Jeremiah squeaked as he made eye contact with the child.
"Jeremiah it's… a little girl." Kurdy whispered. "Do you think she saw Smith?"
"I don't know." Jeremiah's heart broke as he sized her up and down. She was small. Her clothing hung in tatters around her. Her bright purple scarf hung from her neck to the earthen floor. Her eyes were so frightened. She frowned at the sight of the men while furrowing her brow, her little rose colored bottom lip poking out. She looked like she was being punished by the way her features expressed sadness and fear. She backed tightly against the tree behind her.
"Stay here." Jeremiah whispered to Kurdy.
"Maybe…"
"Kurdy… she's a scared little girl. Just stay here until I know she's gonna talk to us." Jeremiah whispered back.
Jeremiah patted Kurdy on the back as he approached the little girl digging deep into his pocket. He pulled out a piece of candy a young girl had given him back at Thunder Mountain for teaching her how to tie her shoes. He looked down at the hand made sweet wrapped in cellophane to protect it. Bits of white powdered sugar fell to the ground as he unwrapped it placed it in his hand for the little girl.
"Can you help us?" Jeremiah asked as he squatted down in front of her.
Lilly continued to watch in fear as Jeremiah soon sat down on the ground. He crossed his legs Indian style and smiled warmly at her. The little girl blinked her wide brown eyes as Jeremiah held out the piece of hard candy.
Kurdy squatted down behind Jeremiah and watched his partner with the small child. His first thought was how amazingly his friend dealt with little children. They seemed so important to him. His eyes then turned to the tormented, painfully shy little girl. He couldn't help but notice the blood streak on her face. She was skinny but pretty. Her eyes were so stressed and tired. She had already seen so much… too much.
"What's your name?" Jeremiah asked softly.
Lilly looked down at the candy in Jeremiah's hand. She looked so much like she wanted to reach across and snatch the sweet from his hand. She looked up again at Jeremiah and then back at Kurdy behind him. For a painstaking minute her eyes bounced from his hand and the candy to the men in front of her.
"It's alright." Jeremiah cooed as he watched her inner struggle.
What has she been through?"
Lilly swallowed hard as her little fingers reached across the divide between her and Jeremiah. He gaze was now fully on the piece of candy in his hand. The rumble in his stomach was a reminder that she hadn't eaten in the better part of a day. Her fingers were dirt covered and blood stained. She had calluses and on her fingers along with tiny cuts. Jeremiah's heart sank as he looked at her hand and waited patiently for her to take his offering.
Lilly took the candy gently from his hand. She looked at it. It was red… it almost resembled stained glass if not for the powdered sugar used to keep it from sticking to its wrapping. She put the small portion of candy into her mouth letting the sticky sweetness dissolve on her tongue. It was strange but tasty to her. Her expression warmed as she crunched the hard surface between her teeth and then swallowed the sweetie.
"Thank you." She whispered to Jeremiah.
"You're welcome." He smiled back.
--
"We're looking for a friend of ours." Jeremiah began softly. "He had a dark green… well almost brown coat on. He's short… I mean… shorter than me. He has dark curly hair and green…"
"Rex hurt the angel." She said softly as she looked squarely at Jeremiah.
Jeremiah wrinkled his nose as he looked back at Kurdy.
"Angel…" Kurdy wrinkled his brow.
"Rex… the angel came to get me. GOD promised me the angel would get me. Rex hurt him for getting me. He told me he wasn't an angel… but he would help me." She answered softly another tear sliding down her face. "He was really nice."
Jeremiah licked his lips as he watched her face. He watched her as she coughed a little more and wiped her swollen nose with her tattered sleeve. A trickled of blood came from it. Kurdy handed Jeremiah a handkerchief.
"Thanks…" Jeremiah sat forward reaching a hand out towards the little girl who instantly recoiled. "It's okay. You're bleeding. I wanna help you." He gently reached out again. This time he crawled slowly over to the little girl. This time she let him gently wipe the blood away. It took only a few seconds for the bleeding to stop. That was when the tears came.
"Hey…" Kurdy crawled over to her this time. His eyes softened to her falling tears. The two men sat comforting a young girl taking turns dabbing her tears and rubbing her back.
It was between hic-ups she told the story of her mother, father, the bad men and the angel… Mr. Smith.
Thanks again... now please! Do your part!
