Eighteen
Nancy couldn't remember the last time she had cried so much as she sat imprisoned in the steel cage, but she did nothing to stop the tears. She didn't even try to stop the sobs as they wracked her body; after all, there was no reason to be strong when no one was there to watch her. She allowed herself this moment of weakness, crying until there were no more tears to shed, only the occasional chocking sob as her body tried to recuperate from the emotional upheaval.
There wasn't one single reason why she was crying—there were many, stemming from when Wesley had taken her three months ago. He'd tortured and nearly killed her, only to come back and rip her away from her life once again. Now, in the course of a few hours she'd been kidnapped, forced to watch another girl's murder, raped, and locked away in a cage as if she was some kind of animal.
So, yes…she allowed herself the breakdown that had been cultivating for months, unleashing all of her pent up emotions in one fell crying swoop. Did she feel weak from doing it?
Hell no.
In fact, she felt better than she had in quite a while. Maybe it was what she needed all along.
Nancy took a deep breath, wiping away the remaining tears from her face with her bound hands. She sat up and her eyes instantly fell on Kate's body still lying splayed out on the table. The smell of death was beginning to permeate the air, the process of decomposition already beginning. She couldn't help the shudder that ran through her body as the memory of Kate's brutal murder flashed in her mind.
It was obvious Wesley had become more heinous with his murders. That was saying a lot, especially since what he had put the women through with his previous murders. They were horrific in their own right. But what he was doing now was simply barbaric.
Nancy could only be grateful that she'd managed to get Ella out of there.
Now it was time to focus on herself. She needed to find a way to get out of the cage before Wesley came back. She wasn't simply going to sit around and wait for him to come back so he could do something else to her. Yes, she was still having a hard time grasping the fact that he had raped her, but it only made her more determined to fight.
And she was going to give him one hell of a fight.
Standing up on shaky legs, Nancy moved around her prison, eyes taking in all of the details of her surroundings. She already knew there wasn't any weakness with any of the bars, but if she could find something to pick the lock with, then she would be that much closer to freedom.
Nancy took her time, letting her eyes fall on every single surface, crevice and shadow. If there was something to be found, she was going to find it.
As soon as her gaze landed in Ella's vacated cage, she found it and her heart nearly soared out of her chest. She was looking at a detective's best friend when it came to picking locks—a bobby pin.
Ella must have had one in her hair that had fallen out. Though she knew it wasn't left behind intentionally, Nancy still sent a silent thank you to the other girl as she bent down and tried to reach for it with her bounds hands. She couldn't hold back her cry of frustration as she came up a few inches too short.
No matter how far she stretched her arms, she simply couldn't reach it. The bobby pin sat there, almost as if it was taunting her.
Nancy refused to give up. If she couldn't reach it with her hands, then she would have to use her feet. While there wasn't much space between the bars, she was sure her leg would fit through without getting stuck.
At least, she hoped so anyway.
Angling her body, Nancy held onto the bars as she stretched her leg forward as far as it would go. "What I wouldn't give to be Inspector Gadget right now," she muttered as felt the tip of the pin against her heel.
Nancy didn't allow herself to get overconfident. She knew she needed to take her time, because one little slipup could be detrimental. And Nancy refused to let her eagerness ruin this for her, no matter how anxious she was to escape from her prison.
Drawing in a deep breath, Nancy focused all of her attention on her foot and the bobby pin. Gritting her teeth, Nancy slowly brought her foot forward, inching the pin closer. She knew she was wasting precious seconds by taking her time, but she didn't care.
She at least had to get her hands on it before Wesley came back.
Finally, after a few more agonizing moments, she finally had the bobby pin close enough where she could reach it with her hands. Pulling her foot out the rest of the way, she turned her body around and reached inside Ella's cage, gripping the pin between her fingers.
"Thank God," she whispered, closing her eyes as she rested her head against the bars. She only allowed herself a few moments to rest before she stood up on shaky legs and walked over to the door. Again, patience was going to have to prevail, and while she was normally not a patient person, she would find the strength to be one now.
Straightening the pin with her bounds hands was awkward, but she didn't let it hinder her efforts and soon, she had the end inserted into the lock, teasing the tumbler. Once again, Nancy concentrated all of her effort into the task at hand, not letting herself become anxious. She focused on Frank and the way his brown eyes sparkled as a smile stretched across his handsome face. What she wouldn't give to see that smile again.
Nancy let out a surprised gasp as the lock finally turned over, the door swinging open, nearly causing her to lose her balance. At first, she just stood there, not willing to believe that freedom was right in front of her. She quickly let go of that niggle of doubt and stepped out of the cage, her eyes instantly lighting upon a knife.
Picking it up, Nancy carefully cut away at the leather straps around her wrists, letting out a hiss as they snapped apart. It hurt like a bitch as the circulation rushed back into her hands, feeling like pins and needles repeatedly being stuck into her flesh.
Still clutching the knife in her hand, Nancy cautiously made her way up the staircase, hoping the door wouldn't be locked. It would really suck to get this far, only to have the door be locked. Thankfully, luck was on her side as the knob turned easily in her hand.
Nancy wasted no time as she opened the door and stepped out into the dark hallway. Silence greeted her from every direction, not even the normal creaks of a house piercing the quiet. It struck her as a little odd, but then again, she learned to expect the unexpected when it came to anything that pertained to Wesley.
She made her way towards what she thought was the garage, needing to get to her car. It didn't matter that she didn't know where she was. If she just started driving, she could find some kind of landmark, or the local police station.
That was her goal—find help and get back home.
When she opened the door, Nancy found that she was in fact, in the garage. But what greeted her made her stomach drop. The garage was empty.
Her car was gone.
"Why can't anything be easy, just for once?" Nancy muttered, running a hand through her hair. She didn't expect it to be easy at every single turn, but why did it seem as if the world was constantly at war with her?
She didn't let herself dwell on her thoughts for long. Her first option may be a bust, but that didn't mean there weren't others. There had to be a phone somewhere in the house. She knew that landlines weren't as common anymore because of cell phones, but she really hoped that Wesley was one of the few who held on to one.
Nancy stepped back into the house, but this time it felt different. It was still eerily quiet, but there was something else now, like an additional cloak of darkness—an evilness that had been missing minutes before.
Wesley.
Heart hammering in her chest, Nancy turned around only to collide with a warm wall of resistance. Her eyes widened in horror as she slowly looked up to see Wesley smiling down her. A scream tore from her throat as she pushed against him and took off blindly in the opposite direction. Wesley had her at a disadvantage since she didn't know the layout of the house, but Nancy prided herself on being a quick learner.
She needed to find somewhere to hide.
And a phone.
"Imagine my surprise when I walked down to the basement to find that you were gone, Nancy," Wesley's voice called behind her, his footsteps slow and deliberate. "It was quite a shock, I assure you."
Nancy ignored him as she quietly made her way down the hallway. There were several doors on either side of her, but she ignored the first two, thinking Wesley would assume she went in either of those rooms. She also didn't dare go into either of the last doors, since that would be just as obvious. All she needed to do was either find a phone or distract Wesley enough so she could get to the front door and run.
"You should know by now that I love the chase, Nancy. I get off on it, actually." Wesley chuckled, but it held no humor. "How about as soon as I catch you, we head back to the bedroom? I'm up for round two if you are."
A chill raced down her spine at his words. There was no way in hell she could let him catch her again, put his vile hands all over her. It took everything in her to hold back the sob that threatened to escape her throat as she opened the door and positioned herself behind it.
Please, don't let him find me. Please, just let me get out of here.
Wesley's footsteps echoed loudly against the hardwood floor, each step sounding like the beat of a drum. "Don't bother looking for a phone. The only one in the house is resting comfortably in my back pocket."
He could be bluffing, Nancy thought to herself. She couldn't trust anything that Wesley said.
One by one, the doors opened with a loud bang, Wesley not bothering to be stealthy. He wanted her to know exactly where he was. It was like he'd told her—he got off on it. Nancy knew that without a doubt. She held her breath as the door to the room she was in opened with a loud creak and Wesley stepped inside.
The darkness didn't even deter him as he moved further into the room. Nancy slowly eased out of her hiding spot, inching her way towards the open doorway. She turned her back on him for just a second, but that was all it took for Wesley to grab her as her feet brushed the threshold. Nancy let out a terrified scream as she struggled to tear herself out of his bruising grip.
"Did you really think I was that gullible, Nancy?" He made a tsk sound in her ear. "You really should give me more credit than that."
"Let me go!" Nancy screamed as she clawed at his arms, but he only tightened his grip as he dragged her out of the room and into the kitchen. He pulled out a chair and slammed her into it before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of handcuffs. Jerking her hands behind her back, he snapped them on and closed them tightly.
Wesley crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at her. "Care to tell me how you got out of the basement?"
"Kiss my ass, you son of a bitch!"
"Gladly," Wesley said with a lewd smile. "As soon as you tell me how you got out of there."
"Maybe you're not as clever as you think you are."
"And maybe you're more clever than I gave you credit for." Stepping away from the counter, Wesley reached into a paper bag and pulled out a box.
Nancy instantly recognized the box—a girl was flashing a blinding white smile, her dark hair shiny and full of life. She'd seen those boxed hundreds of times but had never been tempted to try it herself.
It was hair color.
"I've been meaning to tell you that the grey was starting to show in your hair," Nancy said, smirking. "Maybe it's the stress of killing all of those innocent people."
Wesley chuckled as he opened the box and pulled the items out. Pulling on a pair of latex gloves, he began the preparation for the dye. "This isn't for me, Nancy. If you're going out in public with me, we're going to have to do something about that hair of yours. As gorgeous of a color it is, it's highly recognizable." He flashed her a dazzling smile as he shook the bottle , mixing the chemicals. "Besides, I've always had a thing for brunettes."
There was nothing Nancy could do as he approached her with the bottle of hair dye. She had never been afraid of something so innocuous as a box of hair dye in her life. But she knew what it meant—there was no way in hell Wesley was about to kill her anytime soon. To do something like this meant he had a plan.
A plan she surely wasn't going to like.
Nancy let out a gasp as he grabbed a section of her hair, the cold liquid sending shivers down her spine as it touched her scalp. "Please, don't do this, Wesley. Just let me go home."
"You are home," Wesley murmured as he continued to saturate her hair. "We're going to have a very long life together, Nancy."
"My life is with Frank."
Wesley gave a violent jerk to her hair, turning her face up to look at him. "You will not mention his name again, do you understand? You're with me now, Nancy. And you might as well get it through that thick skull of yours that I'm not letting you go—ever."
Nancy stared up at him with tears in her eyes, but she refused to let anymore spill for Wesley. He'd already taken enough of them from her. "I don't understand why you're doing this, Wesley."
Letting go of her hair, Wesley applied more hair color, gently rubbing it in as he finished with each section. "What don't you understand, Nancy?"
"Any of this. Why haven't you killed me like the others? I know it pissed you off when I got away from you the first time, so why are you going to all of this trouble for me?" Nancy cut him off before he could say anything. "And don't say it has anything to do with love. I know you don't really love me."
"Don't presume to know my feelings, Nancy." Gathering her hair up to the top of her head, Wesley shucked his gloves and threw everything into a trash can. Then, he grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the faucet before returning to her side and wiping away the excess dye from her skin. "After all, I let Ella go for you, didn't I?"
Nancy swallowed hard, trying not to flinch from his touch. "Did you really?"
"Do you not believe me?" Wesley asked. "You don't see her around, do you?"
"That's not what I mean, Wesley. Did you hurt her?"
Wesley said nothing as he finished wiping away at her face.
Nancy felt as if she'd been punched in the gut. His silence confirmed her fears. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy. "What did you do to her?"
Wesley smiled. "I couldn't very well just let her go unharmed, could I?"
"You son of a bitch!" Nancy screamed, struggling against the metal cuffs. She wanted nothing more than to wipe the smirk from the bastard's face or take one of the knives and carve into him the way he'd done to Kate. "You said you would let her go!"
"And you never said anything about her being unharmed." He shook his head in mock disapproval. "You really should be more specific with your requests, Nancy."
"I hope you rot in Hell. How's that for specific?"
"You're so beautiful when you're angry."
Nancy gritted her teeth, refusing to say anything more to Wesley. She couldn't believe the amount of rage racing through her body. She couldn't remember a time she had been so furious in her life. This was all a game to Wesley—that's all it was. He didn't care who got hurt or killed in the process as long as it was played by his rules.
They sat in silence, Wesley staring intently at her and Nancy refusing to look at him, until he stood up and unlocked the cuffs from the chair. Pulling her up to her feet, he brought Nancy over to the sink and pushed her head under the faucet, turning the water on to rinse the dye from her hair.
Nancy tried kicking back at him, but he quickly saw what she was doing and stepped behind her, fitting his body flush against hers. She couldn't help but whimper as she felt his bulge press against her, causing him to chuckle.
After her hair was rinsed clean, Wesley wrapped a towel around her head and led her back towards the bedroom she'd been in earlier. Walking past the bed, he ushered her towards the bathroom and sat her down on the edge of the tub before grabbing a brush and the hairdryer.
"I can do that myself," Nancy muttered as she watched him.
"I know you can," Wesley said as he removed the towel from her head. "But such an intimate moment should be shared between two people, don't you agree?"
"No."
Wesley ignored her as he pulled the brush through her damp hair, removing the tangles before proceeding to blow dry her hair. Out of the corner of her eye, Nancy noticed the dark brown color and her heart sank. He was taking everything away from her, turning her into a completely different person—one she was sure she wouldn't recognize before long.
And that scared her much more than she cared to admit.
After a few minutes, Wesley turned the hairdryer off and moved around to stand directly in front of Nancy, fluffing out her hair. "Beautiful…" Pulling her up, he moved her in front of the mirror so she could see her reflection. "What do you think?"
Nancy couldn't help but choke on a sob as she saw herself. Her hair was dark—almost a shade darker than Frank's brown hair that she loved so much. It made her blue eyes even brighter, but she felt as if she was staring back at a stranger.
"Don't cry, Nancy. There's no need for tears."
"Just leave me alone," Nancy whispered, closing her eyes in defeat.
"Maybe you just need to sleep on it for the night," Wesley said softly as he led her out of the bathroom and towards the bed.
Nancy didn't even fight him as he forced her onto her stomach once she was on the bed. She was utterly exhausted—emotionally and physically. She watched numbly as he reached into the nightstand and pulled out several lengths of rope.
"This may be a little extreme, but I'm afraid I can't trust you not to try to get away," Wesley said as he began wrapping a length of rope above her elbows before bringing it down to wrap around her wrists, trading it out for the handcuffs. Taking another length of rope, he wound it around her ankles before bringing them up to meet with her wrists, tying them off together and leaving her in a hogtie.
Nancy tried to find slack in the ropes, but she had to admit, she didn't give it as much effort as she usually would. There just wasn't anything left for her to give at the moment. As much as she feared to close her eyes, she just wanted to sleep and forget about everything.
Wesley turned her over onto her side, making her a little more comfortable before covering her with a blanket. He knelt down beside her, brushing the hair away from her face. "By the way, I should let you know that I saw Frank tonight. He didn't seem too happy to see me."
For the first time, Nancy noticed the bruises marring Wesley's usually handsome face. A flutter of excitement went through her body as she realized that Frank had done that to him. She couldn't help the small smile that flashed briefly on her face.
"I wouldn't be smiling, Nancy. Before I left him with a few parting gifts of my own, he wanted you to know that he said hi." Wesley chuckled darkly at the look of fear that marred her features before rising to his feet. "Sweet dreams, Nancy. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
I want to first thank everyone for their words of encouragement and condolences. Unfortunately, my uncle did pass away on August 22nd, and while it is heartbreaking, at least I can be content with the fact that he is no longer suffering. And as fate would have it, on top of dealing with that, I am now battling a nasty cold and laryngitis.
Much like Nancy at the moment, I simply cannot win.
Since I am pretty much running on medication and fumes, I won't be able to reply to each review like I usually do. But I still want to thank everyone for their reviews for the last chapter: Angelvie S, misslady92, Caranath, Michelle Gallichio, max2013, pen4lew, Cupcake, Abz, SC15, FreshKicks, Xdaisy chainX, Jabba1, dolphingirl7, Lady Emily, VerityD, Guest, and MinecraftDanny.
Again, thank you so much for your kind words and support. They have really helped me in this difficult time.
I apologize for any mistakes and please, let me know what you think.
