This Can't Be Love

Chapter 19: The Storm

Samantha wakes up in a daze. Her hair is tied up into a pony tail and her dry skin, even though still naturally pale, is smooth and clean. She is wearing a black set of mens pajamas and seems to be confused about that.

"Where am I...? What the hell am I wearing?"

She looks around at the brightly lit space she is in. Her squinty eyes are almost questioning the level of neatness and luxury that surrounds her. She sees to her far left the glass wall that conceals a hot tub and restroom are, and to her far right, a mini bar for mixing drinks with bottles and glass cups behind the counter, complete with two bar stools. Next to this bar, are the steps that lead to te outside. A few feet directy in front of the bed she lies in, is what resembles a living room; a couch, a love seat, and a recliner that surround a small coffee table in front of a flat panel TV that is on the wall. A couple of feet to te right of this living area, in the middle of the room, is a spiral starcase that leads upstairs into the main floor. To her immediate left is a nightstand and to her immediate right is a dresser drawer.

"Is this... In Aaron's house?"

Samantha checks her wrists and notices she is not shackled as she previously was, only slight bruises from the chain are present. With shifty eyes, she frantically kicks away the bedsheet that covers her lower legs and checks her feet. There are no shackles around her ankles. She chuckles with a nervous smile.

Meanwhile, at the manufacturing plant where Aaron previously held Samantha, Detective Fuller kicks open a door and walks into a hallway with his gun in his hand. Detective Jenkins walks in after him but with no weapon drawn and in an unguarded carefree strut.

"Fuller, this is an empty facility, you can relax... Besides aren't we just here to look for clues?"

"Precaution, Jenk... We don't know what kind of maniac we may be dealing with so we must be alert and ready for the worse."

"Well, it's not like this is a drug bust or an arms dealer... It's a guy whose friend is missing. I'm pretty sure there aren't any henchmen around."

Detective Fuller slowly walks forward with his gun still drawn. Jenkins just shakes his head and continues to walk behind him. They enter a large empty room now but it is too dark to see anything so Jenkins clicks his flashlight. Fuller begins to feel the walls for a switch.

"This was one of the rooms circled in the blue print."

The spotlight from Jenkins' flashlight sees a desk and some file cabinets, but none seem out of the ordinary. Fuller finds the light switch he was looking for and the room becomes bright.

"There must be something in here."

"Nothing, Fuller. Unless you call neatness something."

"And I do... This part of the building is buried and has not been accessed in years. So why is it so clean? I think someone's been down here recently."

"Would you listen to yourself? So what if someone came down here and cleaned up? Is that a crime?"

"Come look at this..."

Jenkins walks to the middle of the room and joins Fuller in inspecting a pole that extends from within the floor to the wooden ceiling.

"Hmm... Bolts bent at the base, ceiling patched up at the meet... What do you think happened here?"

"I think someone tried to hide something up there. Gimme a boost."

Jenkins helps Fuller up as he begins to strike away at the weak wood in the ceiling around the pole.

Back at Aaron's house, Samantha now sits on the bed but hears the dragging of chains as she moves. She looks around and double checks herself but sees no chain, so she gets up. As she stands, she hears the clink of the chains movement again.