Meggie watched the sunrise from the window. She was still at the police station and had been there for hours. At least they had found some clothes and footwear for her, and they had made sure she got something to eat too.
She was in Florida apparently. The same state she had disappeared from back in 2016. She had no memory of what happened. She had probably been drugged. She woke up in that room where she had spent years with no other company than a tv where she couldn't control the channels and a robotic voice coming through the speaker on the wall every now and then.
"Meggie," Seth said.
The sound of his voice was the sweetest sound she had heard in a long time. She turned around and saw him standing there with a police officer next to him.
"Seth," she whispered.
"Oh my god, Meggie," he said.
He moved over to her fast and pulled her in for a hug. They both broke down crying and heard the sound of the door to the room being quietly closed behind them. The police officer was giving them the room alone.
"Let me see you," he said.
He broke the hug and placed his hands on her cheeks.
"I know I'm a mess," she said.
"That's an easy fix with a trip to a hairdresser," he said.
"I missed you so much," she said.
She moved forward to kiss him but he stopped her. His eyes were full of pain and he cleared his throat.
"We better sit down," he said.
She kept quiet and sat down. He once again cleared his throat before reaching over to take her hand.
"I'm married," he said.
"What?" She asked.
"You gotta understand that you've been gone for 7 years. I thought you were dead. Eventually I decided to move on, and I got married to Becky," he said.
"Becky Lynch?" She asked.
He nodded and she started crying again. She couldn't blame him for having moved on but it hurt like hell. Everyday in that room she had been thinking about him. The thought of seeing him again one day was what kept her sane. She had never stopped to think about how his world had moved on without her in it.
"I can't blame you for moving on," she said.
"And I can't blame you for wishing I hadn't," he said.
He moved his hands to her cheeks and tried drying away her tears.
"Who did this to you?" He asked.
"I don't know," she answered. "I don't remember anything other than feeling weird and needing some air. Next thing I knew, I woke up in that room. They never showed themselves to me. All I had was a robotic voice in a speaker and someone controlling what I watched on tv. The first two weeks they showed the news so I could keep up with the date and how the search for me was going but then it stopped. The light in the room was always on so I didn't know if it was night or day. I didn't know I had been gone for 7 years until today. I knew it had been long but not that long."
Tears were rolling down his cheeks hearing all that. He couldn't begin to imagine the hell she had been through.
"There was an opening in the door. Like a drawer only being controlled from the other side. They pushed food, water, vitamins and clothes through there. I knew they wanted me alive since they fed me vitamins so I decided not to eat. I figured if I starved myself half to death, they would have to either let me die or get me out of there. They were ahead of this idea and played this loud ringing tone through the speaker. I thought my eardrums would pop. It didn't stop until I put food in my mouth," she said.
"They wanted you alive," he nodded.
"Other times I didn't get anything for days. They always pushed extra water and food cans through the opening when they were about to be gone for a while. The channel didn't change during that time either," she said.
"But why all this? Why let you go after all this time? What was the end game?" He asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine," she said.
Knocking sounded on the door and they both looked towards it. The same police officer was back.
"We're about to drop the news in a press conference in an hour. We need to get you away from here before then. This place will be swamped with reporters," he said.
Seth looked at Meggie again.
"I booked a private jet," he said.
"Where to?" She asked.
"Home," he said.
"What about Becky?" She asked.
"It's not ideal but she understands. It's just for now until we can find you somewhere else," he said.
She nodded and he looked over at the police officer again.
"Have you found where she was being held captive?" Seth asked.
"There's a lot of underground bunkers in that area. We're waiting to get a map of them all and then we're going to check them. Chances are that whoever did this moved in and cleaned up quickly the moment they saw her move out on camera. They let her go deliberately so it's doubtful we'll find anything useful," the police officer said.
Seth nodded and looked at Meggie again. It was hard to accept whoever took her 7 years ago would get away with it. For now he had to believe they would find some sort of proof to lead them to the right person.
"Let's go, Meggie," he said.
She followed him without a word. The police officer drove them to the airport and they got on the private jet. Several hours later they landed in Iowa and went to Seth's house where Becky was waiting. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Seth cleared his throat.
"Let's get you settled in," he said.
Meggie walked through the house and stopped in the open door to the bedroom.
"You bought a new bed," Meggie said.
"Because of me," Becky said. "I couldn't share the bed he shared with you. I mean no offence but it felt weird."
"I understand," Meggie said.
"You'll be in the guest room," Seth said.
Meggie nodded and walked down to the guest room. It was hard to accept that she was nothing but a guest in the house that once had been her home. Now it was Becky's home, Becky's bed, and Becky's husband. Meggie was in the way. She knew that.
"I called my hairdresser. She'll open early tomorrow morning to take care of your hair," Becky said.
"Thank you," Meggie said.
"Take her shopping afterwards," Seth said.
"With what money?" Becky asked.
"Her money," Seth said. "We used to share an account. She still has the right to the amount in it that was hers back then."
Seth winked at Meggie to let her know he had this under control.
"We'll give you a moment to settle in," he said.
He closed the door to the guest room and walked over to the bedroom. Becky followed behind and closed the door behind her.
"This is fucking weird, Seth," she said.
"I know, Becky," he sighed. "But what the fuck am I supposed to do? She has no one. Her parents aren't alive and her sister lives somewhere with snow doing her climate job which I still to this day have no idea what actually is. Way above my intelligence. I believe she's in Greenland these days but I honestly have no clue."
He sat down on the bed and reached for her. She walked over and sat down next to her.
"She knows we're married. She knows I moved on," he said.
"That was when you thought she was dead. Now she's suddenly back and I don't know how to feel about it. If she hadn't gone missing, you would still be together. It wouldn't have been us being married," she said.
"You don't know that for sure. We could have broken up for other reasons," he said.
"You don't know that either," she said.
He sighed deeply and took her hand.
"I can't change what happened. I can only focus on the present and the future, and I'm with you. I married you, Becky," he said.
"How long will she be staying?" She asked.
"I don't know," he said. "I promise it won't be long. She just needs some time to get back into the real world, and then I'll help her find somewhere else to live. It's just for a little bit, okay?"
"Okay," she said.
"Thank you," he said.
He leaned in and placed a kiss on her temple.
"I love you," he said.
"I love you too," she said.
"That's all I need to hear right now," he said. "Let's make dinner together. It's been a while since we enjoyed cooking together. I could really use that right now."