Chapter 7

-12 hours earlier-

The feeling of a knife to your throat is foreign to Meredith. It's cold. It's sharp and it's already causing a little bit of pain. But when he orders her off the couch, she forgets how the blade feels against her skin. She begins to focus on her heartbeat and how her skin releases water. Her mind is clouded with fear as she comes to the realization of who has her. The first thought that flashes through her mind is how to escape. Her eyes dart across the room. She doesn't see anything within immediate reach she can use to defend herself.

"I said get up," he grunts, pushing the knife slightly tighter against her throat.

"Ok," Meredith says, her voice shaking. She begins to slide to one side of the couch. It proves difficult for him to hold the knife against her throat while she gets off the couch. She weasels her way free from his grip and pops up from the couch, toppling her purse onto the floor. She stands for a moment, trying to see his face but the glow of the TV does not provide enough light to see his features. She instinctively reaches for the close possible weapon: a lamp. By the time the lamp is securely in her hand, he is beginning to lunge for her. She quickly raises the lamp up and smashes it on his head. He falters and falls to the ground, but is still conscious.

"You stupid, Bitch!" he hisses as he stumbles to his feet. He reaches for his head to find a trickle of blood coming from a tiny gash just millimeters from the edge of his hairline.

Because he is blocking her way to the front door, Meredith turns direction and runs upstairs to her bedroom and locks to door. She proceeds to her bathroom and locks the door behind her. She turns on the light and goes to the cabinet under the sink where she keeps a suture kit and a scalpel. She knows the two locked doors will not hold him for long so she stands, waiting for him. She hears him come through the first locked door with ease. Then she hears the jiggling of the bathroom doorknob as he proceeds to pick the lock.

The fear in her is so strong that she does not hesitate swinging the scalpel at him when he comes through the door.

By the time he sees the scalpel coming, it has already pierced his flesh. The scalpel digs its way into his left side on the ribs, immediately causing it to bleed and drip on the floor. He winces in pain and drops his knife as he covers his wound with his right hand. He looks at Meredith with fire in his eyes.

Being a surgeon, Meredith quickly realizes that although he's wounded, it is not deep enough to stop him. She swings at him a second time but he quickly grasps her wrist with the scalpel in squeezes her wrist so hard that she is forced to drop the scalpel. In a rage, he hits Meredith across the face, creating a small laceration below her eye.

She screams, lifting her hand up to her face and turning to her stalker. For the first time Meredith looks into his eyes. Her eyes widen as the realization that she knows him comes to mind. She begins to take shallow breathes, never breaking eye contact with him

He breaks eye contact and kicks the scalpel and it lands just behind the toilet out of reach. He bends down and grabs his knife. He grips his hand on Meredith's upper arm and violently forces her out of the house and into his trunk, tying her up with rope he has in his vehicle.

-Present-

The basement is dark and cold. It offers no feelings of safety or warmth. As the hours pass, it takes that much more hope away from Meredith. Her voice is hoarse from the hours of screaming for help. Her wrists and ankles are raw from struggling against her restraints. She has no idea how long she has been stuck in the basement but it feels like eternity.

To keep her mind from foretelling her future, Meredith thinks about Derek and Zola. She can't help but wonder if anybody knows she's missing. She never called Derek so surely he got worried about her. Realistically, there's a good possibility that Derek knows she's missing and is looking for her now. But the scared side of her wonders if he has noticed. She is anxious, scared, and exhausted. All the fight in her has nearly dissipated. But there is a flicker of hope when she realizes where she is.

As her eyes scan the basement, she begins to notice and recognize things in there. It has something that has not registered in her mind until now because it has been so clouded with fear and worry. She sees her dollhouse when she was little girl shoved in the corner to her far right. Boxes of old clothes and knick-knacks are stacked next to the stairwell directly in front of her. Just beyond them are the washer and dryer. To her left is the furnace. She used to be terrified of it when she was a little girl until it became her only comfort at night when her mom was at work. Four small windows align the basement wall.

She is in the house she inherited from her mother.

Since she moved into the house Derek built for her, Alex and April have been living here. Hope rises in her. All she has to do is scream until one of them gets home. But being surgeons they may not be home for days. She begins to worry that He will come back before them. And even if she hears somebody come in, she has no way of knowing who it will be.

At that moment, she hears the faint sound of the doorbell.

xoxo

Derek eagerly rocks back and forth on his feet. He is standing on the front porch of Meredith's house. He just rung the doorbell and is waiting for someone to appear. He wanted to come here, where he and Meredith started. The crime scene investigators and police made a mess of his house while trying to gather evidence. He dropped Zola off at Bailey's before coming here. Although he loves Zola to death, his mind is on Meredith and Zola needs more than that right now. He cannot fathom a life without Meredith. He knows that she is somewhere in the world, scared and alone. This thought terrifies him even more.

He sees lights on in the house but there is no sign of anybody actually being home. He assumes Alex and April are at work and decides to let himself in. He pulls out a key to the house that Meredith gave him and begins to unlock the door. But before he can, he hears somebody calling to him. He turns around and finds Scott Pierce jogging up the driveway towards him.

"Hey," Scott says, reaching the front porch.

Derek shoves his hands in his pockets. "What's wrong?" he asks. "Did you find her?" Hope rises.

Scott shakes his head. "No," he says.

Derek stares at him for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

Scott laughs. "Right, sorry," he says. "I need you to come to the station with me for a few more questions." He looks at Derek and sees a quizzical look. "I thought I'd find you here," he adds.

Derek sighs. He doesn't question Scott presence. "I'm not going anywhere tonight." He pulls his hands out of his pocket and begins to insert the key in the lock.

"Wait," Scott says with an edge in his voice.

Derek stops and looks at him.

"I can ask you inside if you'd like."

Derek thinks for a second. When he gets the door open, he motions with his head to go inside. Once inside, he notices a cut on Scott's forehead. It's right at the edge of his hairline. "Where'd you get that?" he asks.

Scott points to his cut. "Oh that?" he asks. "It's nothing. Just bumped my head in the shower."

Derek nods and shows Scott into the kitchen.