Big Black Car

Chapter 3

The next morning, sunlight slipped through the bay window in the large guest room where a girl was currently rubbing her eyes from sleep.

She felt like she had been hit by a speeding train. Her body ached and felt sensitive to touch, and her head was splitting and fuzzy. She couldn’t seem to sort out who or where she was.

Running a hand through her blond hair, she grimaced from the greasiness. As she looked around the room, trying to decide what her first reaction should be, her eyes fell onto a piece of paper laid at the foot of the bed.

Picking it up, she unfolded the letter and began to read.

“Um, so, I don’t know your name, but don’t be afraid. You haven’t been kidnapped or anything, and you are perfectly free to go whenever. I found you in an alley, you had been hurt. I took you to the hospital but then they released you and I didn’t know where else to take you. You didn’t seem to know who you were. Anyway, you’re at my house in Hollywood Hills. I hope you’re not afraid of me.

Hope you are feeling slightly better. You can take a shower and I left you a change of clothes. I have breakfast in the kitchen when you are ready if you wish to join.
--Adam”

Even though the note said not to be afraid, she couldn’t help her heart speeding up in response to his words. She forced herself to calm down and looked at his letter again.

Might as well have a shower until she could reevaluate her situation.

Meanwhile, Adam was making waffles. He’d already choked back two cups of coffee in preparation for the day ahead; he figured he’d need all the alertness he could muster.

He opened the waffle maker, but as he reached in to pull off the delicious breakfast food, he knocked the lid closed, snagging his index finger as he pulled away.

“Mother—“ He started to cuss when he looked up through the kitchen cutout and saw her. She was looking at him, her gaze curious and hesitant, her damp hair pulled coming down in waves across her shoulders. Adam’s insides filled with dread. The time had come.

“Uh, sorry. Burned my finger,” Adam said, forcing a small smile.
Her curious gaze remained, as if trying to assess him.

“You’re the lead singer from Maroon 5, right?”

He smiled despite himself. “Yep. I’m Adam.”

“I’m Annik.”

Annik. Unusual. He mused on that for a few seconds.

The moments of silence ticked on until Adam felt compelled to say something.

“Where does that come from?”

“It’s Swedish.”

“Oh.”

“I have waffles. You want some coffee?” She nodded yes and then looked around her, questioning him with her eyes on where to sit.

“You can have a seat in the living room. Make yourself at home.”

Okay, she thought, I guess I’ll play your game, Adam Levine.

After he brought them both some coffee and waffles, Adam sat on the wooden chair beside the couch. He’d always hated this chair, he thought as he tried to quell the feeling of dread rising in him.

Annik kept gazing at him, her gray eyes unblinking. It was unnerving him, honestly. She looked strong, but surely she would be crushed when she remembered.

“So, uh, it was nice meeting you and all… but why am I at your house?”

Adam cleared his throat, avoiding her eyes. “Do you remember anything?”

Annik remembered panting, running to the end of the block…. then nothing.

“I was running. I stopped at a corner…after that, it’s just blank.” As she finished this statement, her heart started to beat a little faster. Why couldn’t she remember? What had happened? What was going on?

Adam could see the confusion on her face, the slow sort of panic beginning to sink in.

“Tell me, Adam.”
He straightened up, gathering the strength to look her in the eyes.

“I was running, too, when I heard screams.” Adam started. “Your screams.”

Annik began to feel a stronger sense of anxiety.

“And then?”

“They were beating you. Pushing you against the wall. Yelling at you.”

“…and then?” She forced herself to ask.

“I ran to you and picked you up and took you to a private hospital. You recovered there for a few hours…while they worked on you. Then I brought you here. I couldn’t leave you in the hospital alone. I hope I did the right thing…” Adam trailed off.

She nodded, blinking back tears. Disbelief was attempting to numb her from the pain – both physical and mental. She was afraid to ask the last question. Her lower body throbbed in pain as if trying to remind her of the night.

“Was I…was I?” She couldn’t say the word, could hear her breath starting to come in gasps. She was trying to regain control but couldn’t seem to grasp anything….

Adam drew a deep breath. Best to rip it off…like a band-aid. “Yes. They…raped you.”

She stood up automatically, waffle sliding to the floor, arms wrapping around her stomach protectively.

“No—I—You’re lying.”

But the tears were already starting to come.

Annik ran, sprinting as fast as her broken body could carry her toward the bathroom. She slammed the door shut and looked in the mirror.

Her eyes were streaming, everything was blurry. She ripped off all her clothes and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked at the angry red marks on her arms, her stomach, her hips. The bruises on her face, her neck.

The memories flooded back. Her screams as they shoved inside her. The feeling of being ripped apart. Adam’s arms picking her up, taking her to safety.

It was too much. The bile rose up in her throat, and she threw up in the toilet, heaving even after there was nothing left.

A soft blanket wrapped around her shoulders, covering her. Adam was holding her hair back as she continued to heave, rubbing circles on her back. When she stopped throwing up, she continued to sob as he wiped her mouth with a towel.

She clung to him, feeling like a child. Wishing she was a child.

Adam pulled her back slowly so that they were leaning against the ocean blue walls of her bedroom, Annik’s arms wrapped around his stomach, head on his chest. Her sobs seemed endless to him, and before he knew it, he was crying to. The tears streaming silently down his cheeks and into her pale hair.

He looked at their reflection in the mirror, at the broken girl whose sobs were slowly quieting as she seemed to be drifting to sleep. He hadn’t cried since he was a child, but here he was, breaking down for a girl he barely knew.

He couldn’t help but feel like his life was going to be inexplicably changed. Maybe it already had.