Kidnapped By Johnnie and Jake

Reunion

Tara agreed to my idea, and we quickly began to collect our belongings to relocate to the basement. Tara went to the airing cupboard down the hall to grab some blankets to bring down to the basement, while I started on removing our clothes from the wardrobe in Johnnie's room.

Within about five minutes, I was in Johnnie's room alone, just taking my last shirt off the hanger, when the door opened.

I jumped, and saw that it was Johnnie. We both paused and looked at each other for a split second, but then he walked straight past me and started getting something from his cabinet.

I quickly grabbed all the clothes and left the room, not even sparing a second to shut the door behind me.

When I went down to the basement, I found Tara there already, waiting. I dumped out clothes in the corner of the room and joined her on the blankets she'd laid out on the floor.

The basement was so dark and gloomy, and it matched our moods. "I'm so scared," I said quietly.

"Me too," said Tara. "It feels like we're on death row."

"We need to have a some faith in our friends. Surely Kaycee and Sam would do something to protect us before Jake killed us," I reasoned.

"Yeah," Tara whispered. "And maybe Jake doesn't care enough to kill us, anyway."

"True. He's probably forgotten we even exist," I convinced us.

"Well, it's gonna be a long night. And it's scary down here."

Tara was right—it was a long night, but we spent it exercising a little, reading books, drinking, chatting, and, surprisingly, praying. We prayed for our lives. Neither of us were religious, but we both felt like it was worth a try.

"If there's anyone out there, please help us," said Tara, with her hands clasped together.

"Please give us freedom in life. Please help set us free, or, if that's not possible, at least let us coexist in this house with Johnnie and Jake. Don't make them hate us, don't make them wish we weren't here," I added, looking up at the ceiling.

"Please make them love us," said Tara.

I glanced at her sideways. "Please make them tolerate me," I corrected.

"Please make Jake dump that stupid bitch Kaycee," Tara said, which caused me to start laughing...she must've drank a little much.

"Amen," I concluded.

*

When I woke up in the morning and remembered the situation I was in, I felt disappointed. I have to admit, a tiny part at the back of my brain had hoped that Johnnie would've come down to the basement during the night and begged me to join him back in his bed. It didn't happen of course, and I don't know why I wanted that. Maybe I just wanted the safety of knowing for sure that he still wanted me alive.

Tara and I planned on staying in the basement entirely, except to use the bathroom and grab food once a day from the kitchen. We truly thought that that was going to be our lives until we died. Of course, escaping wasn't an option, because then we'd be killed for sure. So, it was living in a basement, or death.

But something shocked me to my core when left the bathroom in the morning after brushing my teeth.

Johnnie was waiting outside.

"Come with me," he said, and he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the house, shoving me into the front passenger seat of his car.

He sat in the driver's seat, put his hands on the wheel, and began driving.

I stared at him, but he didn't look at me, he just faced forward, keeping his eyes on the road.

This was it. He must be about to kill me off. I was useless now. Useless to him, and useless to Jake.

It was silent for a while, apart from the quiet noise of the car on the road.

"What's going on?" I managed to croak, but he ignored me and continued driving, now on the freeway.

A few minutes later, I repeated my question, and he finally answered. "Tate's gang are planning to attack us. They know where we live."

"So...we're running away."

"No. I'm going to get them before they do it."

"And you're bringing me with you?!" I yelled. Why did I have to be involved.

"Shut your fucking mouth," he snapped. "No, I'm taking you to a hotel for safety, in case they reach the house before I get to them."

I began to panic. "But...what about Tara?"

"I don't know, what about her?"

"We have to go back and get her so she can come to safety, too!" I begged, trying to grab his arm, but almost making him steer off the road.

Johnnie snatched his arm away smashed his hand on the wheel. "I'm looking out for you, but you don't thank me—all I get in return is complaints! I shouldn't have fucking bothered."

When he got angry, it frightened me. I put my hand lightly on his arm this time, and he ignored me. "No...no, I'm grateful," I said, tearing up. And I really was. The fact that Johnnie still had a drop of humanity for me left inside him, made me want to hold onto it for dear life, afraid that I would lose his affection once again. "Johnnie," I whispered, moving my hand up and placing it on the side of his pale face. Without saying anything, he removed one hand from the wheel and held it round my wrist tightly. I think that was his way of accepting my physical touch by touching me back, while as the same time keeping his dominance, by making his grasp tight.

"Shit," murmured Johnnie. "They're coming already."

All of a sudden, two cars began speeding down towards us in the opposite lane. It seemed like this wasn't going as planned. Johnnie used the wrist of mine that he was holding to yank me down so that I was ducked down out of the window's view, and then he swerved the car round in a u-turn, now driving in the same direction, but in front of the two cars which were approaching at full speed.

As he continued driving, Johnnie threw me his gun. "Shoot them," he commanded.