Shards of Glass

Andrea shivers next to me. I shiver too. I knew this and still those words are chilling.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I was all upset and now I realize! My poor best friend!” she gives me a big hug and it looks like she’s about to cry too. I hug her too and nod my head. She looks up and looks a bit more serious. “Did he… did he rape you?” she asks. I avoid her eyes as the flashbacks of the third, the fourth, the seventh, the ninth, the eleventh and the twelfth day.

“Yeah,” I whisper. “Six times,” I whisper. I remember each time. It’s one of my purest memories and the one that haunts me most nights.

“Oh god,” she whispers. I just close my eyes and think about Daniel. Oh, how I miss Daniel. He is an easy subject to think about. There is no pain in thinking about Daniel.

“We need to figure out what we’re going to do,” Rodriguez says, breaking the awkward silence. I wasn’t quite sure what our options were.

“My mom needs to be here,” I say. Rodriguez shakes his head.

“There are already too many people here as it is. No more,” he says. He sighs and looks around. “There isn’t much we can do other than wait. We have agents out everywhere looking for him. Kid, can you tell me everything you remember about the car?” he asks, looking at me. I close my eyes and recall.

“It was a black truck. Big and high off the ground,” I whisper, remembering. My eyes are still closed as I picture it over and over. I picture the car being pulled over and policemen tackling that sick man to the ground and carting him off to jail. “It only had two doors though. It wasn’t one of those trucks with the big back seat. You know, with the doors inside the other doors,” I say. I open my eyes and look at Rodriguez. He understands, nodding his head as he writes it down.

“Anything else?” he asks. I shake my head and lean against Andrea. She looks exhausted. As if reading my mind, Rodriguez says, “Maybe we should contact Andrea’s family as well. Call in Gail and tell her to stop by and reassure her parents she’s okay, in police custody. Tell them she’s not in trouble and she’ll be home, safe and sound as soon as we can.”

“Okay, Rod,” Garrett says, pulling out his phone.

“Can we sleep?” Andrea asks from beside me.

“Of course. There is a big king bed in the back room. Anna will sit with you guys,” Rodriguez says. Andrea and I stumble to our feet and head into the room. I pull off my shirt and jeans and shiver from the cold. Andrea stands next to me in the same attire and covers her exposed arms. Her tank top is purple polka dotted and I laugh when I see a familiar stain. A small, red spot stains that shirt from when we were fourteen and we decided to have a glass of wine. And I spilt that tiny amount of wine on her favorite shirt. And she’s kept it ever since. That memory makes me smile.

“Nice stain,” I smirk. She laughs and climbs into the bed. She looks to be asleep before the lights even go off.

We wake up in chaos. Anna throws the sheets off and I hear Andrea’s groan of annoyance. I bring my legs up to my chest as I feel the cool air touch my hot skin. I look over at Anna and she’s fully dressed and looks like she’s slept a full twelve hours, though I’m sure she slept no more than three hours, maybe none. Her hair is combed back in a ponytail and she’s wearing her usual attire of work pants and a semi-nice shirt.

“What?” I groan.

“Get in the bathroom,” she says, almost growls at us. I look at her and know she’s completely serious. I see she has her gun in her hand and that fierce, assassin look in her eyes. I grab Andrea’s arm and pull her into the adjacent bathroom. Anna sits us on the ground under the sink and looks at us.

“He was spotted in the woods. We just want to make sure he won’t get to you,” she says. I shiver as he enters my mind.

“Don’t let him get to me, Anna. Please,” I beg as my hands start to shake. Andrea puts her arm around me as an effort to console me. It had no effect.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen. Even if I have to kill him myself,” She tells me with a strong look. I close my eyes and pray for this nightmare to be over.

“Anna! Is she in the bathroom?” Garrett’s voice echoes through the house.

“Yes!” she yells back. I pray to god that he won’t find me.

Andrea, Anna and I wait in anxious silence for what seems like hours. She is poised with her gun toward the door and a cautious eye at the window. Andrea and I are in the corner, pressed up against each other in the dark room. The sun is just starting to come up and I know it’s only around seven in the morning. Exhaustion is pressing on my body and Andrea’s eyes are drooping as well.

And then, it’s not quiet anymore. Garrett’s yells break through my ears, plus three gunshots. And then we hear another three consecutively. I shudder as I picture one of those six bullet’s piercing Garrett’s shoulder. I can just see it. It’s one of my worse nightmares. He’s my hero.

Anna looks like she wants to go to his aid, but she stays put. She looks ready for anything.
But she isn’t. She isn’t prepared for the ambush. A man slams open the door and shots three rounds into Anna. Another man is already in the room, pulling me by my arm. Andrea pulls me to her and I grasp onto her arm. Her fingers dig into my arms as she screams at the men and pulls me. I struggle away from this unknown man, but I am weak and tired and Andrea is just a small girl. I am ripped from Andrea’s grasp, her nails scratching my skin.

“No, please!” Andrea screams as the man pulls me into his arms and then hauls me over his shoulder. I am crying and screaming and thrashing around to no avail. I take one last look around and see Anna on the ground. She’s alive, but bleeding. She looks at me, pleading with me to forgive her. She’s reaching for her gun. Her hands close around the gun, but the other man sees. He picks his foot up and smashes it down on her hand. She lets out a small yell of pain and I know her hands broken. She held back that scream.

And then I am pulled from the house and the men walk into the woods. All the while, I am screaming and thrashing and making no impact.

When we reach a car, chloroform is pressed over my mouth, much like the first time and I am out.