Fragile

Chapter 33

I was delirious as I laid tied up on the king sized bed. Seth had stepped out not too long ago. I was slipping in and out of consciousness, losing periods of time. I didn't know how long I had been locked alone in this room, but I wished they would just kill me already. This was way worse than anything I had ever experienced; even the basement would be better than this. Here, there was no way out. 

I had given up on Noah finding me. Rationally, I knew he wouldn't be able to. He had been searching for the missing girls for months without success, how was he supposed to find me? What if he didn't even want to? 

My lips were beyond chapped and dry, and my necklace was in an awkward position that tugged on my neck. My clothes were dirty and I was in desperate need of a shower. The blood from the dead man still caked on my clothes. Even though Seth had cleaned up the blood on my skin, I could still feel it as if it had burned a scar there. 

Hours seemed to pass before Seth returned with a shit eating grin. "Long time no see, sweetheart," he drawled. I let out an involuntary whimper and tried to scoot away, even though it was futile. He still strode over and trapped my jaw with his long fingers. "Sorry for the wait, love. Your present took longer than expected." 

Just kill me, I wanted to scream. The thought of whatever torturous gift Seth had prepared made my skin crawl. What kind of torture methods did traffickers use? Were they planning on selling me? Was I going to be shipped into slavery? Did someone already buy me? 

"Oh, baby, no need to be frightened," he cooed in a sickly voice as he wiped the fresh tears on my cheek. "I really think you'll like this present, hm?" 

I shook my head frantically, squeezing my eyes shut. I willed my mind to dissociate, to give me a way out of this, but my brain refused. My entire body was weak and trembling. I knew I had nowhere else to go. I wondered if there was a way I could fall off this bed and hit my head just the right way to kill me. I wondered if I could run fast enough to throw myself out one of the windows. I even considered running towards the dresser across the room and slitting my throat with a letter opener. I wasn't strong enough to handle this. I wasn't going to make it. I wished I could just die before my soul was tainted too. 

There was the sound of cussing and banging outside the door. I flinched as the yelling got closer, but Seth didn't seem fazed. In fact, he looked bored. He snapped his fingers at one of the guards in the doorway. "What's taking so long?" 

The man stammered an apology and opened the double doors. In walked in a man being dragged by two guards with a black bag over his head. The strange man's hands and feet were bound, but he still thrashed and kicked at whatever he could. His voice was muffled, but I had a feeling he was cursing everything and everyone he could. 

But as they ripped the bag off of the man's face and shoved him into a chair, my breath caught in my throat. I suddenly recognized the boy who was covered in bruises before us, ruffled brown hair, and two matching dimples when he grimaced at the blinding lights. He scowled at Seth, a gag in his mouth, but his eyes intense with hatred. However, he locked his eyes on me, and I watched as they immediately softened. 

Seth grinned. "Like your surprise, sweetheart?" 

With a wheezy, unused voice, I gasped out, "Noni." 

Noah's eyes widened from the chair. My voice had been quiet, but I was sure he heard me. The way we looked at each other was more than enough. He looked at me with guilt. You remember, they said. 

My vision faded, and I knew I was about to faint again, but I tried to focus on his eyes one last moment. I remember, my eyes said. 

Then I found myself fading into my mind. 

I could now remember just how much little Noni and Noah resembled each other. It was hard to see at first, maybe because I had suppressed it for so long. But strong, capable, hard ass Noah was the same twelve year old Noni that hid under a dome and ate my cookies. He was the boy who was rumored to be abused by his alcoholic father, the boy everyone called a monster, the boy parent's told their kids to stay away from. I remembered all of it. 

"You need to stay away from that boy," My mother had yelled at me after picking me up at school one day. My teacher had told her that I was skipping class to see Noni. Maybe the teacher thought she was complimenting my mother on raising her daughter to be so kind, but my mother didn't take it that way. My mother didn't like when I had friends, because people were dangerous and not to be trusted.

"But momma-" 

"Boys are dangerous, my little fairy," she knelt down to hold my arms, but it was anything but comforting. When momma had a crazy look in her eye, it meant she was getting sick again. Papa always called it 'Manic' but maybe I was too young to truly understand what that meant. "boys will try to take you away from me." 

Papa knew about the boy named Noni. Even if he never explicitly said it, he snuck extra snacks in my lunch and always encouraged sharing with friends. He made my lunch everyday, along with my brother's. He was always the affectionate one, even when momma wasn't sick. Even though I knew momma didn't approve of  me making friends of any kind, I couldn't help but rebel when it came to Prince Noni. 

In the last days before I was taken, Noni no longer hid inside his dome. Instead, he would hover around it and wait for me each evening. The first time I saw him smile was the day I was taken. He had the cutest dimples and his eyes had lit up in laughter for the first time. I didn't even remember what I had said to make him laugh so beautifully, but I remembered thinking I wanted to make him smile with his cute little dimples for the rest of my life. 

The night of the car accident, we had received a phone call on my father's phone, but it was a doctor. My mother had made a huge scene at the hospital and was screaming like a crazy person. Because of her erratic behavior, we weren't allowed to see their bodies. The doctor was seconds from calling child services when my mother became eerily calm and had dragged me out of the hospital. That night, she had started frantically packing. I was scared, so scared. I wanted my papa and I missed my baby brother. I didn't understand why we couldn't see them, or why my mom was frantically trying to pack our life. 

I ran away that night. I ended up sleeping in the dome, waiting for Noah to arrive. We usually only met in the evenings, but to my surprise he was there already, sleeping inside the dome. He didn't smell the greatest, nor did he say anything, but he didn't object when I crawled inside with him and burst into tears. He stayed with me all night until early morning, tentatively rubbing my back. Back then, he probably hadn't known it was his father who had killed mine. 

He probably didn't realize that when my mom came and eventually dragged me off the playground into her car early that morning, we wouldn't see each other for 10 years. He probably didn't realize I would forget who he was, or that he would be in this situation with me now. 

Why did he come after me? Why did he let himself get caught? Why didn't he tell me the truth?  Why did he decide to find me after all this time?

What happened to him after I disappeared?