The Trials of November

Chapter Thirteen

Victoria felt as though all of the air had been knocked out of her. She felt as though she was drowning and struggling for the surface, only to push herself further down.
She tried talking, but only a jumbled mess of mumbles came out. She started seeing black spots everywhere. How could this have happened? She kept thinking to herself. She knew that something bad would happen. This was her fault. Anne was gone. And it was her fault.
"Victoria." Ben said, putting his hand on her arm. "This is not your fault." He said as though he could read her mind. He wanted her to feel better, but he did not know how to ensure that.
"Anne is missing." Victoria said, as though she was trying to convince herself that it wasn't true. She fell back into the side of the couch. "Do the police know?" Victoria asked. There were hundreds of examples of missing children who were found as long as the police knew and were able to conduct a search immediately.
"Yes. They know." Ben said. He seemed surprisingly calm about the whole thing, which only frustrated Victoria more. His sister was missing. Victoria's stalker had kidnapped Ben's little innocent sister. He had taken her from her bed in the night, and Ben was calm.
"How the hell can you be so calm about this?" Victoria asked, unable to conceal her frustration for any longer. Anger and fear were bubbling out of her, consuming her from the inside out. Ben smiled. He SMILED.
"Honey. It is okay." He said. "We just need to let the police do their jobs. If the man who keeps breaking in to your house is the one who took her, then he does not want to hurt her." Ben stated, holding Victoria's hands in his.
"You don't know that!" Victoria raged. "How could you know that? She is so little! He can't hurt her! I would never forgive myself." She continued, beginning to cry. She could not handle all this.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. The pair both flinched. Ben gestured for Victoria to stay, but of course, she did not listen. Victoria followed Ben to the door.
A gentle snow started outside, almost like it was trying to calm Victoria down, but of course it did not work. They opened the front door to find nobody standing there, but a package at their feet. Ben picked it up without hesitation.
"Victoria" is all the package read.
Victoria's mind went wild. Was it a bomb? Was it some other device to hurt her or track her? Was it one of Anne's severed body parts? Victoria wanted to cry even at the thought of finding that.
She grabbed on to Ben's arm, completely terrified and assuming the worst, per usual.
Ben took the package to the kitchen, put it on the counter, and took some scissors out of a drawer. He cut open the package.
Inside the package was an envelope. Ben opened the envelope and inside of that, there was a note. It read.
"Dearest Victoria,
So as I am sure you are aware by now, little Annie is now in my care." Victoria's heart skipped a beat. "Don't worry. She is fine, of course. However, little kids need food and water or else they die pretty quickly. I am offering you something, though. You for her. Leave me a message of where and when you would like to meet me. Once you meet me, we can make sure that little Annie makes it back safely. Think about it. Oh, and don't tell the police. I'll know, and it will be much much worse for the little girl.
XX
-David"
It took a few moments for it all to sink in. David had Annie. And he was going to hurt her.
"There is no way you are doing that." Ben said. "You will not be giving yourself to that guy. There is no way." Ben grabbed Victoria's arms sternly, forcefully.
"Ben. I have to. This is Annie. I have to do this." Victoria replied. She had some force to her voice as well. There is no way that Victoria could leave Annie with that man. She would die. She couldn't handle it. There is no way that she could possibly live with herself.
"Vic. Listen to me. There is another way. There has to be another way." Ben tried convincing her, even though he knew that it would take much more than a little persuasion to change her mind.
"No." Victoria insisted. "There is not another way. This is it. I am much more likely to be able to escape than little Anne would be able to. I have a much better chance at survival." Victoria said. She never thought that she would ever be put in a life or death situation. She did not know that she had it in her to be this bold and brave.
"Victoria please. Do not do this." Ben said, holding her close. "I love you. Please, Victoria. Do not do this to me. I will fall apart without you." He said, burying his face into her hair, trying to conceal all of the intense feelings that he was experiences at that moment.
He could not bear to be without her, though he really really admired his girlfriend's bravery. Ben had no idea that she was capable of that. But there was no way that he would let her do that. He would try to find Anne himself if he couldn't bring the police into it. There had to be some other way of solving the problem. Anything but that. Anything.
"Okay." Victoria caved. "Now can you please leave?" Victoria asked Ben. "I need to get some homework done," Which was totally a lie. "I have to do some yoga to get my stress levels down," Lie. "and I have to take a shower and take care of my body some more." Another lie.
She felt bad lying to the love of her life, but she needed some time to herself to think about things.
"Oh, umm okay...?" Ben said like he was confused, clearly hurt and taken aback, which only increased Victoria's guilt more. He had never been kicked out of Victoria's before. They had always done everything together, and it was so strange that suddenly she wanted to be alone. It hurt Ben's feelings more than he would care to admit to her. She couldn't even look at him straight in the face. Victoria folded her arms over her chest, putting up a tough front.
Ben slowly got his shoes on and walked out the door, trying to hide his hurt. Before he walked out the door, he turned, looking at the floor.
"I... I love you." Ben said softly. Victoria nodded. Ben seemed even more hurt than before. Victoria suddenly felt a lot of regret for kicking him out, and she opened her mouth to ask him to stay, but the door shut too quickly, and Victoria did not go over to open it again. She felt terrible.
Victoria knew in her heart that she had to take Anne's place. Anne was little and helpless and so very sweet. She was innocent. Not only that, but little Annie probably had no idea what is going on. She was probably hungry and confused and lonely. Anne did not have the sense that was necessary in order to help herself get out of the situation, and Victoria did not know how she could help Annie any other way. David said not to go to the police or he would hurt Anne, and there was no way that Victoria would ever be able to take that risk. Not at the cost of Anne's life.
Victoria hated David. She hated him with everything that she had inside her. She hated him for putting them in this situation. She hated him for trying to hurt Anne. She hated him for wiggling his way into her and Ben's otherwise perfect life together. Victoria hated David, and she did not even know him. She wished that it did not have to come to that, but it did. She wished she could ignore what was happening, but she couldn't. She wished that she could fix everything quickly and get back to the rest of her life, but she couldn't.
There was only one thing for her to do. She had to go meet him like he wanted. Victoria knew that if David would actually trade her for Anne, that Victoria would have a much better chance of getting out alive. Especially because of how little Anne was. Anne could never even fight back. Victoria wasn't much better, but at least she had more of a chance.
She then decided that she would have to do the right thing and go after him. Ben would never be able to change her mind. She had just formed a bond with Annie and anything that could be done to save it, simply needed to be done.
Victoria walked out of her house and looked up and down the street for Ben, just making sure that he wasn't still lingering, and he wasn't. She walked to the sidewalk and looked down at the perfectly white snow.
She bent over and used her index finger and her middle finger to write a message to David in the snow. It read:
"I accept. The Pier. 8:00 Tomorrow."