Chapter 24 "Moments & Memories"
.
A/N: (24 October 2016) Again, I so appreciated the kindness of your reads and reviews! This has been another weird week, but the story has taken firm hold again and will not be so slow after this. The story wants to be told, and I want to tell it. I am so glad you are enjoying it! I thank you humbly for each review, each read. Of all the things you could be doing, you choose to read my story. It blows my mind, and I'm grateful.
This chapter is all Danny and the kitten, about 90/10% respectively, because we needed this. Danny is by virtue of his situation not as much a star of the chapters as I would like him to be, so when I get a change to showcase him, here ya go!
Disclaimer: CBS owns Hawaii Five-0, and please go easy on Alex O'L's back, please. And renew the series for Season 8.
.
Chapter 24 "Moments & Memories"
.
(23 December 2016, Wednesday, 2:30 p.m.)
.
Danny Williams had done everything he could that day to make headway on the steel link he was slowly sawing through. The V shape of the end of it was more pronounced than the U it had been at the beginning. Tomorrow he would begin to flatten the end of the V, sawing as before, but running the sharper edge across the side of the metal square to which the tether was bolted. If he alternated between sharpening the V, and flattening it, it would take less time to finally saw all the way through the bolt, and his ankle would finally be free from the metal square. He would still have the tether chain attached to his right ankle, but that was actually useful, because he could use as many of the remaining links as he needed to saw through the door until he had a hole large enough for him to crawl out.
Such was his plan, and he really could not come up with a better one. He had 28 days to finish cutting through the tether's end and the door. He simply could not think about not finishing in that time. There would be no more cat food. He was not going to let his little kitten go hungry.
Danny was in great pain, in just about every way possible. Muscles and joints ached from holding the same cramped position most of the day, while he worked on the link. He was so tired, he needed sleep. And it was time now, because the glow stick was very dim, and he needed to be sleeping before the blackest of darkness hit. He was curled up on the blanket, with Angel snuggled close to him, purring like a monotone lullaby. He was ready to sleep, and too tired to do more than slowly pet Angel with his left hand. He closed his eyes before the light finally dimmed to nothing at all. Despite the pains he felt, the hunger, the darkness was still the worst of what he faced. Yet, he was simply too miserable and tired to think much about it. And all the sleep he would get was around four hours before the Christmas lights came back on, signaling the beginning of a new "day."
Then more sawing and more starving would begin again.
He had been careful to drink enough water, made sure Angel ate the contents of today's food packet, had water, and received lots of love and play. He had cleaned her box again, taken care of his own personal needs, minus anything that resembled a shower. He had wiped his face and areas most needing cleaning, for hygiene's sake, with one of the baby wipes. It wasn't nearly enough, but it was all he could do. He would allow himself to use three of the baby wipes on Christmas, to take what would have to pass for a bath. When he woke up again, it would effectively be Christmas Eve.
Using his left hand, he carefully kept notes on everything he ate, drank, did ….
As exhausted as Danny was, sleep would not come, so he kept his eyes shut and thought about what came to mind. He was so miserable. Everything hurt. And hunger was never-ending. Before curling up on the blanket, he had eaten a small "spoonful" of peanut butter, filled his water bottle, and checked his injuries. He was fairly sure the gash on his knee was not infecting.
He was fairly sure his thumb was. Funny, the gash on his knee was much longer, was going to leave behind an impressive scar. But it was his burned, gashed thumb that was the problem. It had swollen more, and was still blistered and sharply painful, still much too hot. The coolness he had experienced during the afternoon had helped, and he had taken to using his breaks for fanning his thumb with the little paper plate, and a few precious drops of water from his bottle. The bandage came off as he poured the water on it, and fanned it. It was slowly making some difference, while the injury worked in the other direction, toward infection. He knew his only hope was to cool the burn before the fever damaged the tissue beyond what he could save. When he went back to work on the link, the bandage was carefully re-applied.
Long ago, he had read in some book that courage in the face of health was good, but courage in the face of sickness and pain showed more about what a person was made of, because it took so much more out of one to keep going when all was misery. He wondered if that meant he was made of strong steel, because he was determined to keep going until he dropped and simply could not continue. He hoped his thumb did not really become infected, because if it did, he was not going to give up. No matter what, he was getting out of the wretched box, with his kitten, and he would face what came after escape when he came to it, since he had no way to do more than generally plan to find food, water, and help, not necessarily in that order, though. If civilization was near, the help part should include the rest, and it would be nice if he was not far from where there was a town or settlement or city.
Danny had a feeling that whoever had locked him in the box would be surprised that he was even doing what he could to escape. This was supposed to be his end, his coffin. He was not supposed to have figured out a way to release himself from the tether, and thereby make it barely possible to patiently keep sawing at the door wall until he had made a hole he could escape through. With Angel.
He was still stroking Angel, but the little eight-week-old kitten had fallen asleep, so he stopped, and just kept his hand on her, since he could not see her. Maintaining contact was important, but he did not open his eyes. Instead, he felt her breathing expand and contract her ribcage with little rises and falls, covered by soft fur.
Danny wanted to sleep, too. He was achingly tired, and completely awake, even if he had no desire whatsoever to move. He was even chilled a bit, for the air coming from the vent pipe above him was cooler than usual. Perhaps the tropical weather had taken a turn toward storminess. He felt humidity, but little more than usual. But it was cooler than usual, and while his body was not quite prepared for it, his thumb was responding a tiny bit. He reached with his right hand and let his non-thumb fingers touch the metal floor. It was cooler, so he managed to find a way to touch his thumb to it. It hurt, but soon the coolness of the floor was seeping through the bandage, and the pain responded the smallest bit. He had to keep switching where his thumb touched the metal, as it was heating up the metal as much as the metal was cooling his thumb. The two were in a competition, so he moved his injured thumb as often as he needed to to keep the coolness in the Win column.
Danny knew he had been missing two whole days now, and was heading into the third soon after the Christmas lights came on. That was two whole days that his friends had undoubtedly spent trying to find him. That they had not already come knocking on the box told him a lot. Whoever had locked him in here had covered their tracks well. Nobody in Five-0 was a slouch at following clues and putting two and two together. And they had the means, methods and contacts to work fast. Two days was a long time to everyone who wore the Five-0 badge.
They were having problems finding him, possibly even finding who had done this to him. He had a feeling that was not exactly the case, because if two days passed without Steve, Chin, Kono and Abby at least having a pretty good idea who was responsible, it was unusual. But knowing and finding were two different things. Knowing and finding and getting the person to talk were three different things.
And then there was the real possibility that the person had been killed trying to evade capture. Danny knew his friends would try not to kill whoever it was. But there was an ugly truth out there, called "suicide by cop", and if that had happened, well, he would just have to keep working on his escape plan.
They expected him to try his best. He expected himself to try his best. They were trying to help him, of that he was sure. And he would return the favor by doing his level best to help them, by continuing to work at escaping.
Danny thought about what the person who had locked him in the box had expected him to do. Wait quietly to die? Wait unquietly to die? Eat the kitten? Bang his bald head against the wall until he was so concussed, he lost consciousness and gave in to despair? Scream or cry himself hoarse? Believe the note? Stare at the word "COFFIN" painted on the pantry wall until it became true? Pour out the water, dump all the food (or eat it and be sickened by it) so he would only have to suffer for three or four days, the time dehydration would kill him?
He felt encouraged, because whoever did this to him did not know that none of that was going to happen. He was a fighter. He was smart, and he had a lot to live for. He thought about Grace, and hoped someone was remembering to take her to see Becca for that checkup on her arm. He thought of Charlie and his newfound fascination for all things that had anything to do with Police. He was still enthralled with anything remotely to do with Fire fighters and their equipment and trucks, but ever since he and Officer Kai had become friends at the Thanksgiving dinner barbecue at Steve's house, he could not get enough of Police. Danny's job didn't count; he didn't ride in a police car, or wear the blue uniform Pua Kai did. He was Five-0, not "po-weese", which everyone in the universe but Kai was automatically correcting to "Police" since Charlie could say L's when he concentrated. He was at that age where baby talk was giving way to the right words, most of the time. He was hanging on to "po-weese" as a means of not wanting to grow up, where most of the time he did want to.
Kids growing up was a slightly painful topic for Danny, because he wanted Charlie to retain his innocence for just as long as he could. Grace had been forced to lose some of hers, seeing the things that had happened to her dad throughout the years. Plus, she was a new-minted fifteen. That age alone meant a lot of new challenges would present themselves: drinking, drugs, using bad language, peer pressure to be mean (since very little peer pressure had anything to do with being nice), lying, sneaking out, never-ending texting, and worst of all, sex and boys. Young men. Grace had never shown interest sexually in girls, but she had begun to notice boys. She and Danny had had the most awkward talk ever about young men and young ladies, and how one should act toward the person they had those wretched hormonal feelings towards. She had asked her father if she could use the pill, "because she could pick when she had her 'euphemism' and avoid cramps," and it had shocked Danny into forgetting to wonder why she had not had this talk with her mother. But he was flattered (and flabbergasted) that she had chosen to have it with him instead.
He had refused her request for birth control because of the toll it would take on her body's chemistry if she began using the pill so early in life. She had accepted his decision, after doing some research, and talking to Nurse Becca about the subject, after she broke her arm. Danny wanted his daughter to make an informed choice, and to know the facts, not just her father's decision. It had not been made lightly, but with her best interests at heart.
He had also reminded Grace of the Purity Ring she wore, which was a promise between father and daughter that Grace would hold herself chaste until she found the right guy, and her Purity Ring would be exchanged for a Wedding Ring.
He thought back to that Thanksgiving party, just before she broke her arm. Grace had asked Danny to give her some space, which had stung even if she had put it nicely. He had watched while her eyes followed Steve's young friend, Nehele, with that look that could only be called "first crush".
And Danny also remembered, after Grace noticed Nehele, and Nehele sortof noticed Grace, that she had chided her father for breaking his own "purity promise" with his girlfriends with benefits. Danny had begun thinking about that, and since meeting Becca, he had been working on what to finally do about Melissa, and their "off again" relationship. There hadn't been any benefits for awhile, and yet there was still that possibility. She was almost living with Danny, before the plane crash anyway, and the liver donation to Steve, and her flight away to hide in New York City.
But now, Danny knew he was going to talk to Grace about his own decision not to do the benefits thing with the women he met. He had fallen hard for Becca, and she didn't even know it yet. Danny wanted to ask Grace if he could ask Becca out, and keep things on the same moral standard he had asked his daughter to have. He had been a bad example for her, and he wanted to right that wrong.
But first, he had to get out of the box. There was so much he could not do, and needed to do, because he was locked away.
And then it came to him: if he never did get out, and was not found, he could still tell everyone what he wanted to tell them. He had paper and a pencil. He was going to spend Christmas Day writing letters to those he loved. Someday, those words would be found, and read, and they would know he loved them and what he had hoped to say to them.
Danny shifted a bit so he could cover as much of himself as he could with the second half of the blanket. He was getting too chilled. Angel cooperated and snuggled against him after rousing with a squeak of protest, only to purr for less than a minute before she was again sleeping. Danny finally found sleep, too, and some peace.