CHAPTER 4
“Neil, I need you to stop… now. I’m starving.” Narmada pointed to a small restaurant off of the highway. It was late morning, and the place looked empty. She had hoped for a few more people to be around to attempt a run, but she had to try.
“You will not like this place. You ate less than an hour ago,” he sneered.
“I’m hungry, and I will eat whatever is available here… pull over,” she urged.
Neil growled under his breath but pulled off the highway and slowed down as they got closer to the restaurant. The place looked old, but it was clean. There was a young woman standing behind a desk, and a few men moved around the empty dining area.
Losing all hope of attempting a run, Narmada walked up to the woman and smiled at her. “Which way is the bathroom?”
“It is back there.” The woman pointed to a door all the way on the other side of the dining area.
“Sorry to ask but when was it cleaned last?” Narmada scrunched her nose.
The woman laughed. “It is clean, but it is a common bathroom. You can use the bathroom in my office if you don’t mind walking through the kitchen.”
“Oh sure,” she said cheerfully and turned to look at Neil as he approached them.
“What did you order?” His voice was sweet, and she noticed he put on a good show in public.
“Why don’t you order something for me to eat? I am going to go use the bathroom.”
“It’s that way,” he pointed at the door on the other side of the room.
“You can use that one, sweetheart. I have a special one.” She winked at him, before turning away to follow the woman toward the kitchen.
The woman smiled at her. “You two make such a cute couple.”
Narmada’s heart leaped not because of what the woman said but with another thought. It was the first time she was truly away from under his eyes, the place was empty, and he seemed to be okay with her walking away from him. She needed to take advantage of it.
“He… we are not a couple,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry, the way he looked at you… I thought you were together.” She stopped in the middle of the small office.
Narmada took a deep breath. “He is my kidnapper, and I was kidnapped from my home… I don’t even know when.”
The woman looked at her, in disbelief. “I’m sorry.”
“I know I should be running, screaming my head off, but it’s not going to help. I need help, he is too powerful for me.”
“Did he hurt you?” The woman’s voice was cold.
“No… he is taking me to someone else, and I need to get away,” she pleaded.
“Hang on.” She walked to the door and called out loudly to someone.
“My brothers can help,” the woman whispered.
Two burly men walked into the office wearing aprons and hair nets. “My brothers will stop him, and I can take you to the nearest police station.”
Narmada swallowed but nodded.
“I will take her to the back door.” The woman signaled to her brothers.
“Where is your car?” one of the men asked the woman.
“It’s up front, but I will take the grocery van. Just keep an eye on him,” the woman ordered leading Narmada back into the kitchen.
Narmada’s stomach clenched in anticipation as she followed the woman toward a door on one side of the kitchen. Her heart banged away in her chest like it was opposing her actions. A feeling she couldn’t comprehend loomed over her as she climbed into the back of the van.
“Keep your head down,” the woman suggested.
Narmada fought the knot that was forming in the pit of her stomach and sat on the floor of the filthy van resting her head on the metal side of the van. Her head started to spin, and she told herself it would be a few minutes before the rotten smell in the van would stop making her dizzy.
She had no idea what she was going to do when she arrived at the police station. She didn’t want to go back home, and all she could think about was the freedom she would have for living her life the way she wanted to. She looked at the thick anklets snugly wrapped around her ankles and knew she had to part with them to get started.
The woman slowly drove the van around the side of the building. She could tell the woman was nervous from the way she was breathing. The woman squealed, and the slow-moving van came to a sudden stop slamming Narmada’s head against the back of the seat.
“Where is she?” an overly familiar male voice demanded.
Narmada froze but not from fear, her body was reacting to how upset he sounded… more disappointed.
“She… she is in the bathroom,” the woman’s voice wavered.
Narmada heard his footsteps on the river stones that lined the side of the restaurant as he came around to the driver’s side of the vehicle.
“Narmada,” he called into the van, but she did not move.
“The woman is in the bathroom. I need to go pick up groceries,” the woman pleaded, and Narmada knew she was probably shaken up by Neil’s tone.
Narmada had enough and decided it was a futile effort to run and was about to open the door on the side of the van when the tires screeched on the muddy driveway. The woman had floored the van knocking Neil off to the side.
Narmada watched in horror as Neil’s body hit against the side wall and bounced off the wall to slam his body against the large van as it drove away.
The large, dark tinted window on the side of the van cracked, and she looked at him through the broken glass.
“Stop,” she yelled out. “Stop, please.”
The woman slammed on her brakes, and Narmada pushed open the back door of the van. She stepped out of the van, but her legs were too weak, and she fell flat on the muddy driveway.
“Narmada,” Neil rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms.
Her body shuddered as he held her to him, her face hidden in his chest. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have…”
Narmada’s voice trailed off when she felt Neil being pulled away from her. She watched as the woman’s brothers pulled him away from her.
“Get into the van!“One of the men yelled, but her eyes were riveted on the man who was not fighting his captors. Instead, he had a small smile playing on his lips like he knew she wasn’t going to run.
“C’mon,” the woman shouted from behind her.
She briefly turned to look at the woman before picking up her feet from the mud to run toward Neil’s car.
“Neil, let’s get out of here,” she called out and heard the twin thuds as he slammed the two men to the floor.
Narmada mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ looking at the woman who stared at her, a shell-shocked expression on her face.
Neil pulled the car out of the parking lot of the restaurant making the engine rattle. It took her a few minutes to be able to look at him. His profile looked dangerously chiseled, and she gathered all the courage she could before speaking.
“I… I’m sorry… I…” Her words dove into her mouth when she saw a patch of red on his light-colored t-shirt.
“Neil, you are bleeding,” her voice shook with guilt. “I’m sorry.”
“Stop it, Narmada,” he growled.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking…” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked at the growing patch of blood on his shirt. The wound seemed to be on his arm, closer to his shoulder, but it didn’t seem to bother him.
“Neil, please pull over. You are bleeding badly.” It was a plea, and she didn’t know why her heart wrenched at the sight of his blood when she had seen a lot of bloodshed in the past.
“So, you could make a run into the wild?” he sneered.
“I’m sorry, I will not run. I promise never to leave you.” The words rolled off her lips sending jolts of shock through her.
Her breathing was strained when he pulled off the highway to stop under a tree. She heard him curse as he got out and walked to the back of the car. He opened the trunk and pulled a t-shirt out of his bag.
Narmada opened her door and stepped on the gravel with her entire body trembling. “Are you okay?”
He looked her but did not respond. He had his hand pressed to the side of his arm. The spot on his shirt was getting bigger. She took in a hissed breath. “Neil, let me look at it.”
“I’ll be fine…just need to apply pressure.”
She shook away the guilt that threatened to weigh on her and took a step closer to him. She pushed away his hand and attempted to roll up his sleeve to check.
Neil was too fast for her, he held her hand in a strong grip away from his arm. “I’m fine.”
“I just need to look at it,” she snapped.
His eyes bore into hers as he slowly released his hold on her hand and stood still as she reached for the hem of his sleeve. She pushed the sleeve up and felt him wince.
“I can’t see the wound.” She let the sleeve go and lifted the hem of his t-shirt a few inches, her eyes never leaving his.
She pulled his t-shirt slowly over his head and gasped when she saw an angry hole on the back of his arm close to his shoulder. Blood was oozing from a small hole-like wound.
“Neil, how did you get this cut?” She gasped taking her shaky fingers to the reddened skin pressing her thumb to stop the bleeding.
“It’s no big deal. Just put this Band-Aid on it.”
“We need to go see the doctor. The bleeding is not stopping.” She frantically pressed down on what seemed to be a deep hole in his flesh and noticed a few scary looking scars on his chest.
“Neil, what happened?” she ran her fingers over the old scars almost scared to touch them.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she saw more on his upper chest and his sides. She ran her hand over the one on his side. “Is this the one you got when…” Her lips trembled at the memory of the night she witnessed Neil kill a man who attacked her six years ago.
“Narmada…”
“I’m sorry.” She pressed her palm on the wound and wrapped the other hand around him. His skin felt hot on her cheek as she buried her face into his chest.
“Will you let me bleed while you keep apologizing?” he teased.
“Let’s go to a hospital,” she pleaded.
“Not necessary, but I could use your help. Keep your hand where it is.” He instructed reaching for a small pouch in his bag. He rubbed hand sanitizer on his hands and pulled out a surgical needle and thread.
Neil straightened his back and held the needle and thread in his hand. “I think I’ll need stitches.”
“Yes, let’s go see a doctor.”
“No. Can you do what you are asked to do this one time?” He laughed. Relief swept over her when she heard the sound of pure joy.
“Fine, what do I need to do?”
Narmada’s hand trembled as she splashed the side of his arm with an antiseptic liquid and took the needle and thread from him.
“I’ve never done this before,” she confessed.
“You need to run the needle between the broken skin once.” His voice was calm.
“I can’t… it hurts.” She shook her head.
“Narmada, it will stop hurting as soon as you stitch it up.”
“Please, you need a doctor.”
“Either you do it, or we get into the car and keep driving.” Neil sounded impatient.
“I’ll do it,” she blurted.
With trembling fingers, she dug the needle into his skin. He did not move or wince as she expected, but she felt the sting from the needle. She felt suffocated as she dug the needle into the other half of the cut.
She stood facing his back sobbing softly as she splashed some alcohol on the wound and put a bandage over it.
“It was so stupid of me to try to run from you.” She hid her face in her hands unable to look at him.
Neil looked at the woman who sobbed for the smallest cut he’s had in his life and something stirred inside him. He felt miserable about her shedding tears, but a small voice told him those tears were for him. He pulled on a fresh t-shirt and put his arms around her.
Something about her gave him a sense of calm that he had craved all his life. He could have kept her drugged all along, but he wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to see the glow in her eyes, and most of all, the smile that brought him peace and serenity.
“I hate you for making me stitch you up,” her voice was muffled in his chest, but he noticed he liked the feel of her warmth on him.