Forced (1st book in The Forced Series)

Thirty Eight

"When you lose sight of the light, look to your heart."-Natasha Clemetson

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Thirty Eight

Hazel couldn't tell if it were day or night. She knew that it had been hours since she was attacked, but with no windows she simply didn't know if it was light out or not. She was mostly unconscious too. What with all the blood she lost, plus the last time he attacked her.

It had been when he was talking to Van. What ever Van had said clearly got him angry for he dug the iron he had heating outside into her side. She didn't know what happened after that. All she knows is that she passed out.

Her body was beginning to shiver and the hair stood up on her skin. Inside was cold, as if someone turned down an air con unit. Her breath created a fog every time she exhaled into the dim room. Something smelled really bad; rancid even. Hazel feared that it was her blood that still dripped down her side.
Her head was foggy with fear. She tried really hard to stay positive and think of some way out, put she could only think of Van.

She could hear his mischievous laughter whenever she closed her eyes, and see his structured face and pink lips. Her chest ached for him, wondering if he was handling this. Wondering if he even cared that much.

Pain sprang to her side again, and she clutched it, feeling her blood trickle out and over her hand.

My baby!" Hazel shrieked again.

It was in vain as the only answer she got was the sound of her own horrified voice echoing off the walls,"My b-baby."

She began to cry again, her tears hot against her cheek. She ducked her head, folding more into herself, hoping to keep her baby safe, and began rocking in place. A lullaby, that she vaguely remembered came to her lips as she begun humming softly to herself. Her tears continued to pour down her cheeks as her brain got groggier and body ached. And in some distant part of her heart, she called out for Van.

×forced×

Van goth paced the length of Zash's apartment living room. His heart raced at every sound her heard, praying that the phone would ring. China was huddled in a corner, rocking and staring out in to space, both obvious to the other's presence but both thinking of the same person.

China felt like crying, in fact she was crying, except her tears had dried up. She'd never been that lucky with having sincere people around her, but it was different with Hazel. She made things fun. Meeting Zash Steinfield was one of the best things to happen to her. Now she was having fun and was in love, even if she hadn't exactly admitted it to herself yet. Then there were the friends that came along with it. Van goth Steel was almost too good to be true; sincere, humble and nice. And Hazel- oh God Hazel- just when China thought she'd finally gotten a family to call her own, someone comes and snatched up her best friend- her sister. She couldn't begin to imagine how Van felt. Losing a friend is horrible. Losing your lover, the person you intent to make your everything, was horrific, terrific and then some.

"Why hasn't he ca-" Van began, just as his phone rang out.

He gripped it tighter, answering with shaking hands.

"Yes?"

"Such hostility. Tsk, tsk, don't worry Vanny boy, follow my instructions and you'll see your bitch again."

"What do you want? Why are you doing this?"

"Now now, don't ask questions you already know the answer to. And for my riddle. Listen up."

Van could feel his throat constrict, anticipating the next words,"Riddle me this, riddle me that, my first letter is a stick, my second I you see, the third obvious and fourth not too notorious. You've got thirty minutes to figure it out."

The line went dead as Van scrawled the last words onto a scrap of paper. He stared at it, then met the other pairs of eyes in the room.

"What is that supposed to mean?! He's got us on a treasure hunt?!" Zash growled.

"Shut up. I need to figure this out."

"Van-" China began.

"I said-"

"Van! It's lion. The answer is lion."

"What?"

"He said my first letter is a stick, l, my second is i you see, i, third is obvious, o, and fourth not too notorious, n. It's lion." China half screamed at him.

Van eyed her nervously for a long while,"Are you sure? Because -"

"I'm sure, but there must be something more to this than lion. Think! Reference that word."

They fell into a thick silence, trying to understand. Understand what exactly, was a mystery. Van simply couldn't think of why that psycho wanted him to think of lion of all words. It was a word simply removed from society in the city. A lion?

"Van, man. What if he's talking about Lisa Lion? Remember, the girl that died last year when we had that building collapsed. People thought it was our fault, that we didn't make sure that building was built properly."

Comprehension dawned on Van, his eyes clouding up with the memory. Van had felt responsible for what happened, after all, he was in charge of that building. But after going over some papers, he realized that something was off. There was no way he would have noticed the inconsistent data if he were not looking directly at it. That whole thing cost the company over half a million, between making sure that her family didn't have to worry about burial, that her son was taken care of and to get a new building and do an enquiry into the whole matter. Several persons were fired.

"Do you think...that it's one of the persons that were fired?" Van asked, gulping.

"Yes...maybe but why now?  They all confessed to it. No one was wrongly accused."

The silence that followed enveloped them completely. Van could feel his throat constrict, making it hard to breath. The tingle in his chest was nothing like the feeling he got when he wrapped Hazel in his arms; it felt like a whole galaxy was sinking further and further into his chest. He was terrified, to say the least.

"Do you call? Or...does he?" Zash ventured, stroking China's hair again.

Zash couldn't bare to watch his girl breakdown, nor could he stand to see his friend look paler than paper. For once, he felt completely useless. How was he to be there for China, and help Van at the same time?

"H-he calls." Van grit out, balling his fist.

His hands were shaking uncontrollably. Sweat beaded on his brow and he wanted nothing more than to go hurl. Nothing more than getting his taciturn wife back that is.

Minutes later, the phone rang again,"I'm glad you've decided to leave the cops our of this; trust me, it's for the best. Now about wifey- meh, she passed out again. I can't think why though, it's not like I burned again."

A cruel shrill went up; this demented man's laughter,"I'm going to kill you. You hear me? I'm going to kill you!"

"Now now, should I wake her up? I didn't think so. What's your answer?"

Van glanced at his friends,"Lion, Lisa Lion."

"Good boy. Now that was some something. You damaged someone's life there, Mr. Steel." the sneer made his skin crawl,"So I'm going to take revenge. Next riddle! Riddle me this, riddle me that-"

''''''''''''''''''''''''

So I'm not good at this whole riddle thingy so I'm skipping out all oh this drama. Most of y'all will want it though so meh! I'll try to write it in as a bonus chapter or two at the end of the book (depends on the response) Please comment! I'd really like to hear what you guys think. *sniffles because I'm sick and it's like 1:09 am*

Love...
Ambi♥