The Lonely Mile(35)
CARLI FELT AS IF her heart was about to explode in her chest. Her face throbbed where her kidnapper had slapped it, and she was having trouble catching her breath as she tried to stop sobbing and get control of herself. Ahead, the house loomed, creaky and silent. Siding rotted away in places, and long strips of peeling white paint hung from the window frames. The creepy guy’s arm slithered around her waist like some disgusting snake as he led her up the steps to his front door. She wished someone would drive past on the country road just around the corner at the end of the driveway. If she heard a car she would wrench away from her captor and scream her head off and sprint toward the road and she would be saved and—
And the man turned a key in a lock, pushed the front door open, and then shoved her inside immediately after. He stepped through right behind her and slammed the door closed with his foot, then turned and inserted another key in an interior lock on the door. A deadbolt slid into place. And just like that, it didn’t matter if anyone drove by.
He grabbed her again, his hand resting on her butt for just a second before sliding back to its previous location at the small of her back. She tried to be strong but allowed a whimper to escape as the man led her down a dark hallway. He didn’t seem to notice.
“Here we are, my angel,” he said breezily. “Your new home, at least for the time being. You may not be here long, but I will do my best to make your stay as comfortable as possible as you begin the process of learning to please a man.” Carli hoped he wasn’t waiting for a response, because she didn’t think she could form a single word without breaking down.
At the end of a hallway was a kitchen, which resembled her mother’s only in that it contained a sink, stove, table and refrigerator. Her mom’s kitchen was bright and airy, with a floor so clean you could practically see your reflection in it. This one was dark like the hallway, with dirty dishes everywhere and a grimy floor.
“I’m not much of a housekeeper,” her captor was saying, “but I’ve tried to tidy up a bit in anticipation of you joining me. I hope you like what you see.” Carli looked around in amazement, wondering what in the world he could possibly have done to tidy up, and then the man forced her to turn right. He opened a door and led her down a creaky set of stairs to the basement.
If the kitchen was dirty, the basement was just plain creepy. It was mid-afternoon, but the late-May sunshine barely managed to penetrate the dirty windows. A single, dangling light bulb only emphasized the general gloominess of the place. It felt cool and damp after the warmth outside, and Carli shivered.
“This is where you’ll stay,” the man said, pointing to a small bed set up in one corner of the basement. It had an iron headboard and a mattress so thin it might as well have been a sheet of cardboard. Carli felt a sense of doom settle over her. She wondered whether this was the last place she would ever see.
She stifled a sob and realized the man was talking to her. “You remember I told you how special you are?”
Carli nodded. She wondered where he was going with this and whether being “special” in his eyes was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Well,” he continued, “in honor of your arrival, I have provided you with clean sheets on your freshly made bed!” He said it proudly, nodding in the direction of the bed like some demented hotel bellboy.
Carli knew he was waiting for a response but had absolutely no idea what to say. Instead she just nodded again.
“That’s it?” he said. “A nod? You have nothing to say? I open up my heart to you, let you know I see you as my special angel, and you have no response at all?”
“I—um—thank you?”
The man’s face flushed, and he shoved her hard. She stumbled backward, striking the backs of her calves on the bed and tumbling onto the mattress. The back of her head impacted the iron headboard. A bright flash lit up the room, and she fell onto her side, cradling her head in her hands. She wasn’t sure when she had started to cry again but the tears ran down her face, dripping onto the clean sheets the kidnapper was so proud of.
“You’ve got a lot to learn,” the creepy man said, his voice low and shaking with anger. “Since we’re just getting to know each other, I’m going to overlook your lack of enthusiasm for my efforts. I know you’ll try harder from here on out.”
Carli looked up at him.
“Well?” he said.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes…um…I’ll try harder?”
The monster smiled. “I’m glad we understand each other. Now, what do you like to eat?”
She shook her head, not sure she had heard him correctly. “Eat?”
“Yes, eat,” he said, spreading his arms in annoyance. “I want to give you something special. What do you like to eat?”
Carli tried to think, desperate not to anger him again, but the last thing she wanted to think about right now was food. All she wanted was to see her mom and dad again and hug them, and be back home in her room texting Lauren and doing her homework. “Uh…pizza?”
“Pizza.” The man laughed. “Typical teenager. Okay, we’ll have pizza. What would you like on it?”
Carli tried to answer, not having any idea what she was going to say, but instead of words, the tears came again with a vengeance. She flinched as her captor lowered himself to the bed next to her, expecting to be hit again or worse. And it was worse. He wrapped his slimy arms around her and held her tightly, like she was his girlfriend or something.