THANK YOU to everyone who's reading this story and giving me the great and encouraging feedback that motivates me!! Also – thank you oirishgoddess for your headline! I hope you all enjoy the next part!
– MAC
CHAPTER 21
This is awful. Really. It's like those tabloid magazine headlines at the grocery store. KIDNAPPED AND FORCED TO EXERCISE. It's that ridiculous! After what seems like a lifetime, my ten minutes are up. Tad walks over to the treadmill and – as a man of his word – stops it. I immediately step off and almost fall right down; my legs feel like jell-o.
"Next stop: the pool!" he says, smiling triumphantly at me, as my fear is no doubt evident by the fact that I'm staring at him with my mouth gaping open and my eyes wide as saucers. Because, I mean, he can't be serious. Can he?
Realizing myself, I close my mouth and clear my throat. "Tad, what about a little break before the pool?" I suggest – trying to sound cool and casual. "We could talk! Since we're dating and all, I'd love to know more about you. You know, your history, what your favorite hobbies are, what your parents are like. What's your mom's name?"
"Don't mention my mother!"
"How dare you!"
Taylor and Tad speak simultaneously. Okay – they clearly have an issue with their mother. Given the situation, I probably should've assumed.
"Sorry," I say quickly, trying to do damage control. "I just want to know all there is to know about you."
And buy time for my own well-being, I add silently.
"I was only going to have you do five laps for starters," Tad says, breathing heavily. "You'll do ten now."
I fear the mention of his mother possibly pushed him completely over the edge. What is wrong with me? This is so not how Nancy Drew would handle the situation.
"But… I have no bathing suit," I say.
"So you'll swim in your clothes."
"You can't be serious. Tad, can't we just go out and buy a swim suit? I'm sure there's a Target somewhere around—"
"The name's Seymour. And you'll swim now."
I look at Tad, and realize immediately he's not kidding. Looking at Taylor, I can see that if I resist, I'll end up in the water by force. Burying my fear, I walk over to the steps of the pool and step in before I lose all nerve.
The water's freezing. And the fact that I'm fully dressed does not protect me from the chill that goes straight to my core as I get deeper into the water. I'm soaking and I don't care. Cooper must be close. He must be.
This thought alone is my only strength.
"Well, don't just sit there," Tad says, snapping me from all thoughts of rescue. "Get going – you have ten laps to do!"
I sigh, close my eyes, search for that strength once again, and go. I begin swimming the length of the pool – in my clothes.
The water flows over my head and into my clothes, touching my skin, as I move. I move slowly, lethargically. They're weighing me down, slowing me down. My clothes, I mean. But I keep going. I reach the wall, and turn around. I head back.
Halfway through my fourth lap, I look up and see Tad looking down at me with an obsession in his eyes that's clear as day. A hunger. And… I can't take it.
This is all familiar. So familiar. Me and Tad in a gym. At a pool. An innocent man died because of Tad's overwhelming obsession with… with me!
I stop swimming and stand up, panting.
"You're not done, baby," Tad says.
I splash him – anger winning over, snapping me out of my victim mentality. A man was killed because of this nonsense. There's no way that I'm going down without a fight!
"You're a coward," I say through gritted teeth. "And I'm not playing your game. That day – at Fitness World – you did it. You killed that guy," I say, my voice quivering.
He holds my gaze for a long moment and then a look of indifference flits across his face. He shrugs.
"He liked you too much," he says casually. "He wanted to meet you and talk to you. I couldn't have that."
"You're sick," I say. "That guy was at the gym, minding his own business, and you drowned him. You killed him!"
As I speak, I'm walking toward the steps. Because I'm done. I'm not swimming for Tad anymore. I'm not running on his treadmills. He can try to torture me all he wants. I'm so done giving in and pretending I want him so that I can buy time. I just… I can't do it anymore.
"I had my reasons!" he insists. "I only meant to render him unconscious," he adds. "He wasn't supposed to die. So get back in the pool and keep swimming!"
"No."
I'm on the last step, dripping, and my fists are clenched.
"I'm not swimming in the pool, Seymour. Just like we're not dating and you're not sane."
In a second, he's inches from me, with a vice-like grip on my arm. He's snarling.
Oh yeah, he's mad. My bout of outrage and courage has seemed to unleash his monster. And now, I'm wondering if I should've bit my tongue and kept doing the laps, kept playing the game.
"We are dating! As soon as you're thin again, we're going to be together!"
I look up at him hesitantly. "When do you think I'm going to be thin enough?" I ask. "If you keep doing all this to me," I begin, gesturing to the treadmill and pool, "and you don't let me eat anything, I'm not going to lose weight." I swallow. "I'm going to die."
"That's a risk I'll take," he says, his face now red with anger and the strength of his own obsession.
He pulls on my arm, trying to move me. I pull my arm out of his grip immediately. I mean, he's just admitted that he's willing to kill me on his quest to make me skinny. I am not about to let him drag me anywhere.
"Hey!" he says, grabbing my arm again, harder this time.
Suddenly I feel my legs being pulled out from under me. I look up and see Taylor has joined the show. Angel is by his side smiling.
"Have you said your piece now, princess?" Angel asks.
"I think she needs to be shut up," Taylor adds. "Seymour, did you hear her… she talked about mom!"
"I asked what she was like!" I say. "I didn't badmouth her."
"Well, maybe you should've," Tad says. "She was an awful woman. The most awful woman ever!"
Oh god. I should've figured.
"Okay. Well, my bad," I say. "I won't ever mention her again. Think you guys can all let me down now?"
"Yeah," Tad says. "In there."
Where?
They begin walking with me in their arms. I can feel Tad's and Taylor's grips bruising me – they aren't being at all gentle. Suddenly, I feel myself being thrown until I hit a wall. And that really hurts. I look up to see I'm in a tiny, wooden room.
I feel a little light-headed immediately. And why not? I haven't eaten in pretty much a full day, I was drugged last night, taken underground, made to run for ten minutes on a treadmill – which I totally fell off of the last time I was at a gym, you know when all of this started – and now I'm being closed into a small room that's pretty hot.
I look around, realizing immediately where I am. The sauna. And the heat is up already. Way up.
I always loved saunas too. I loved getting out of a pool and sitting in there with my friends, when I was younger. They relaxed me. Quiet, small and simple, they removed me from the fast-pace of the world around me. The record industry. The fast-talking, deal-making adults, my mom who suddenly seemed colder and less loving, and more concerned about the bottom line. Yes – I used to love saunas. But as Tad talks to me – and I honestly have no idea what he's saying now – and begins closing the door on me, I start to feel claustrophobic.
Focus on what he's saying.
"—and to accomplish that, I'm going to have to make this room a lot hotter, a lot faster."
Something inside of me tightens. "You can't," I say, my voice small even to my own ears. "Tad – I'm dehydrated, I'm overtired, I'm coming off whatever that was that you injected me with! If you heat this room up, I'll pass out – I'll need medical attention! Then, you'll have to take me to a hospital, and I'm pretty sure they'll lock you up where you belong when they find out that you're responsible for my condition."
He laughs hysterically, maniacally – and then slams the door shut. Waves of heat wash over me. I just came out of a freezing cold pool. And now I'm in a steaming hot sauna. This is so not good for a person coming off of some kind of strange drug and no food for nearly two days.
I hear complete silence now and I wonder how long they're going to leave me in here.
I can't stay in these wet clothes. At least not all the layers. I take off the sweatshirt, so that I'm left in just a tank top. I look around. There is no way out of this sauna from in here.
My whole body aches now. My arms and legs ache from where Taylor and Tad were holding me. My head aches from hitting the wall. My muscles ache from running on the treadmill.
"Cooper," I say, as the tears roll freely down my cheeks. "Where are you?"
I look at my hands hopelessly and notice something. My ring. The ring that Angie put on my finger so I could hear them. I haven't been able to hear Cooper and Barrett or anyone for hours. Could I have switched this thing off somehow? I do tend to rub my hands together and play with my fingers when I'm nervous.
And let's face it; this whole situation's made me pretty nervous.
I immediately begin playing with the diamond – pushing on it, pulling on it, flipping it over. Until I hear it. A rumbling in my ears. Like static from a radio.
My heart flips over happily – hopefully – as I realize that I may soon be able to hear their voices again. His voice again.
"We can't go in there and just shoot the place up," I hear Barrett say.
Yes! I can hear Barrett! It worked! It's working again!
"Cartwright, they have guns, too. They'll shoot you; they'll shoot us all. They're crazy!" Angie says.
"Yes," Cooper says, in a voice that sounds so unlike his own. It sounds so strained. "They are crazy. Who knows what is happening to her right now – or if… if she's even alive. What I do know is that right now, they're not expecting us. They're not ready for us. We go in there ready to fight, we catch them by surprise… and we get her back already."
"But Cartwright, it'd be safer to try to negotiate—"
"It's been two days," he says, sounding completely on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "I'm going in there. Now."
I hear a long silence, which Barrett eventually breaks.
"Plan A then," he finally says.
I can hear commotion in my ears, and hope just swells in my heart, even as I grow dizzier and dizzier. He's coming to get me. They're all coming to save me! All I can say is – Cooper better not get himself shot.
The door opens and Tad peaks in at me. "I'm upping the temperature again – so beware, Baby. This will be good though. You'll lose weight faster."
He slams the door, drowning out the sounds of my protests.
I won't concentrate on the heat. I'll focus on the sound in my ears.
Except – it's totally silent in my ears again. Whatever Cooper's doing – whatever his Plan A is – he's being really quiet about it. Which, you know, is good, I guess, since it's a surprise attack and all.
After a couple minutes, though, I cannot help but focus on the heat. It's making it hard to breathe. My hair's practically dry from it. And my head feels like it's floating, unattached to my body. I try really hard to fill my lungs with air.
But it's just such a thick heat in here. It's like I'm breathing in an out, but getting no oxygen.
I am beginning to see stars. I steady myself against the wall and try to stay strong. It won't be much longer, I know it won't!
Suddenly noises boom in my ears like there are fireworks going off inside my body! Gunshots. Screams.
I can hear the voices of men mostly.
And I can hear fighting. Punches.
They're here. Cooper's here. He's right outside.
And the noises, the gunshots…
He has to stay safe. He's here to save me, and if he dies trying…
The room begins to sway and turn dark, just as I hear another noise – not from the microphone in my ears but from inside the room.
I think the door's opened.
I feel myself falling forward. But, I don't hit the floor. I never hit the floor.
No.
Someone catches me.
"Heather?" I hear an anxious voice say, over and over.
I know that voice. I'm safe with that voice.
I feel myself being carried out of the sauna. Cool air hits my skin and I feel myself being laid gently on the ground. Hands are on me – feeling for a pulse, saying my name, looking for a fever, for external injuries.
Why can't I open my eyes? Cooper – I can hear him. Why can't I look at his beautiful face.
He saved me.
Why can't I move my mouth? Thank him…
I can't move. I can't speak. I can't tell them I'm okay.
I finally give in, and let my world fade to black for the second time today. This time, content in the knowledge that he's nearby… that I'm safe.
Finally.