Thursday, December Twentieth, 10:05 P.M…

I don’t know when I was picked up, but at one point or another, I was. It must’ve been Ricky, because he or Ghost would’ve been the only ones tender enough to actually take care of me. Maybe Gabe, maybe not.

My life seems turned upside down. I only had one thing straight: I would take revenge on the Motionless in White boys. All of them.

Maybe, even Ricky.

For he had been one of my kidnappers, despite showing me kindness.

When I opened my eyes, I lay in the back lounge, the door locked. Every nerve in my body was going haywire. I don’t know the voltage of the cattle prod, but it must’ve been high. My muscles seemed to be weak and unmoving. I couldn’t think clear enough to get up.

I heard voices outside the back lounge. They seemed to stand close. Quickly, I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. My thoughts lingered on Jason, who was in a truck following us a few miles back. Oh, would I have stories to tell him.

The door slid open as a pair of people walked in. I could tell because of the two separate voices that whispered back and forth. One was Ricky, and the other was…Gabe.

“How is she?” Ricky asked softly. Gabe knelt down at my side, a hand gently caressing my head. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end…or maybe that was just left over electricity.

“I don’t know. I hadn’t checked on her since you put her in here five hours ago. She hasn’t woken up, though.” Gabe murmured. Ricky took my hand that dangled over the edge of the couch. He held it gently.

“Poor baby. She’s gone through a number. Chris did some damage to her.” Rick kissed the back of my hand, sighing sadly. I longed to reach out and cup his face in my hands, whispering that I’ll be okay. But I remained faking my sleep.

“The poor dear.” Gabe murmured. There was some clicking as I assumed a box opened up. There was more long moments of silence. I couldn’t help but wonder where the rest of the guys were located. The more I listened, the more I heard. Turns out they were all in the Motionless in White bus, talking over some things.

“So you grew attached to her, when she was with your band?” Gabe asked. Ricky sighed, holding my hand to his lips again.

“Yeah, and I miss her a lot. Ghost and I were the only ones that really took care of her. The other boys just mistreat her and abuse her. I feel bad. She has a rough home life.” Ricky sighed, almost as if he was crying.

Wait, rough home life!? Um, no…

“What do you mean? She never told me about that.” Gabe questioned curiously. Apparently we were both unaware of what was going on at home.

“Her parents apparently fight a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got divorced. Her dad had been kicked out of his old job for bad drinking habits. The mom and dad have been trying to hold it together for years, but it’s apparently all falling apart when Oli took her away.” Ricky murmured.

I almost burst out in tears! No! That wasn’t true!

But it is! Your dad arrives from work late every night and goes to bed, passes out on the couch, or locks himself in his office without even saying hello to you…Your mother and father go on frequent trips out of the house, and come back without saying a word to each other for the next hour…Your mother is swamped with bills and cries softly every night, you hear it, but you choose to ignore these things because you can’t face a harsh reality….My mind whispered these to me and I knew it was true.

That’s the thing. I knew they were all horribly, horribly true.

As humans, our brains are programmed to focus on certain things at a time so we’re not overloaded on all the possible streams of info that rushes to us at once. That’s the same for pain. Our brains are made so that we ‘forget’ the things that will cause us mental harm.

And that’s what I’ve been doing all these years. Now, they just have proof that it’s been happening.

“No! That can’t be true!” Gabe gasped. Ricky must’ve nodded, because there was a long silence.

“Oli explained that he and Matt were scouting out for the portfolio when they saw them leave the house. The two followed them to a marriage counselor, and when the mom and dad came out, both looked steamed and were yelling at each other. Their home is falling to shambles. Oliver didn’t divulge the rest, but they overheard them talking about this that had happened in the past. It’s just a wreck.” Ricky explained. I wanted to bolt out of this room. I wanted to push past this and call it a lie, but I knew it was true.

And that was the harsh reality.

It was all true.

“What about the sister?” Gabe questioned.

“Fine, fine.” Ricky simply answered. I nearly sighed in relief. At least nothing bad had happened to her. Someone rolled up my shirt to where the two cattle prod markings were. Cool gel was applied to the burns, easing the sting.

“Rory, baby, you have to behave, sweetheart. I don’t want to see you hurt.” Ricky cooed to me, stroking my hair. Gabe gently tended to the wounds, each working on their own task. Ricky kept on whispering sweet nothings into my ear, telling me that I was beautiful, saying that I didn’t deserve this, explaining that he was sorry. He planted little kisses on my nose, my cheek, the corner of my lips, but I couldn’t move. I felt like I was in molasses.

“I remember when this started out. Oli was the one that started it after he rescued a girl when her family was abusing her. It’s become cruel.” Ricky eventually explained. Gabe looked over.

“Oh really? It didn’t start like this?”

“No, not at all. Oli and Matt and Jordan saw where these girls were being abused and abandoned and they took them in, letting them stay between the bands so that the poor beauties could have a better life. But then it got cruel. And money came in, and everyone just…changed. It’s one of those things, you know? One that you can’t explain, but it just changed overtime to be something more devastating.” Ricky sighed. Oh, so that’s how this business started, between the bands. They “rescue” girls from abusive homes, or ones that are breaking down, and then they just pawn them off.

“So Oli is still the one that takes them from the broken homes?”

“Yeah. I secretly hoped that she would end up permanently staying with us. I kind of want to quit the band, quit this business. If I did, I would take her away with me, or maybe return her. She wouldn’t have to be tortured ever again.” Ricky sighed. I thought it over, my thoughts freezing.

Ricky really didn’t like this. He wanted to quit, and he wanted to take me with him. But if he did that, would I go with him? Would I go home? Was home really worth going to?

Was home ever going to be a home again, or just another worthless house?

“You were going to escape with her?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah, I was. She suffered some pretty terrible stuff. I want to give her another chance.” Ricky sighed. Gabe rolled down my shirt, gently patting where the gelled bandage was.

“You’ll have the chance sooner than you think.” Gabe noted quietly. Ricky was silent.

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“That kid, our drum tech named Jason, he’s one of the Guides. Rory is his Wanderer.” Gabe explained.

No.

No.

No.

They knew. They knew about Jason. They knew about the plan. They knew all of it.

I was doomed.

Or was I?

“Really!? No, that can’t be!” Ricky gasped loudly. Gabe shushed him.

“He is. I saw one of his texts between a fellow Guide. You know about them?”

“Faintly.”

“The Guides are a group of people who help girls like Rory escape. Every Guide has a Wanderer, one of the girls. Jason was assigned to keep an eye on Rory and even help her escape.”

“NO WAY!” Ricky whispered loudly. The more I became confused, the more I just had to listen to what they were saying.

“Yeah, and I didn’t say anything to him or the other guys. I don’t want to give him away. If they knew…bad things would happen to him and the other Guides. I wanted to give Rory a chance to escape, and they’re planning on her leaving this Saturday.” Gabe explained. I should’ve gotten up, slapped them, and run off. They knew all of it.

Was I worried?

Not as much as I should be.

They kind of sounded like they wanted…to help me escape. As crazy as it sounds, that sounded true.

“So Rory and Jason are leaving Saturday? Or, at least Rory is going to try to escape Saturday?” Ricky questioned, stroking my hair gently as he talked. Damn you, Ricky! That made me even sleepier!

“Jason’s not leaving, only Rory, if she can escape. I don’t know her plan, but I think she wanted vengeance on us first, that’s why she’s been acting up. She’s trying to get back at us before she escapes, a finally hurrah.” Gabe laughed softly. Ricky hummed in my ear. I felt his eyelash brush my cheek as he leaned down.

“I’m sorry about that.”

“No, I’m sorry for you.”

“Why?” Rick questioned, quite puzzled. Gabe took a shaky laugh. I nearly died on the inside. They knew I was hurting them on purpose….but they let me do it anyways.

“When we called you over to help deal with her, I was hoping that maybe seeing you would calm her down. But when you arrived, I knew why she was so happy to have your band come over. Not just because she would see you, but because she was going to seek vengeance on you as well.” Gabe sighed. Ricky kissed my cheek.

“No, really?” He asked weakly.

“Yep. She’s been saving all her rage for your band. I’m afraid that she’s going to direct it at you as well. She’s hurt inside and she want to take revenge at anyone who’s ever held her captive. Rory maybe a tricky one, but she can be read like a book if you get her to let her guard down.” Gabe sighed.

And unfortunately, it was all so true, it hurt more than a cattle prod.

“So what are you going to do about her escaping and plots for revenge?” Ricky finally asked, heavy silence hanging in the pause. I waited for the right moment to open my eyes. My emotions were so jumbled right now, but I needed to have patience.

“Let her, of course. She needs to leave and you know, maybe we deserve some of our own medicine.” Gabe sighed. I counted to twenty before I realized that they weren’t going to talk again. The matter was closed.

They were going to let me escape. They were two people that wouldn’t stop me.

“Ricky?” I murmured as I opened my eyes, trying to keep a straight face, despite wanting to cry and hug them and scream all at the same time.

“Hello, darling.” He whispered, kissing my forehead. He was seated on the ground, right in front of the couch. His hand reached up and gently touched my forehead, brushing stray hairs out of my way.

“It hurts all over.” I whimpered. He looked sad, his face falling.

“I know, baby. I know. I’m sorry, Rory. I wish I could’ve stopped him.” Ricky murmured. I let a stray tear fall, from the pain that coursed through my body. The gel helped a little on my chest, but my neck and head still ached.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I still should’ve stopped him.” Ricky responded slowly. I reached out, taking his hand, eyes closing as the weariness descended over my body. The door closed as Gabe left us alone. Ricky leaned in next to me, running his fingers through my hair soothingly. The last things I heard were him softly singing the words to City Lights in his sorrowfully beautiful voice.

Notes

OH NO! They found out all her secrets, but they're still letting her escape!

What do you guys think of Gabe and Ricky now?

Let me know in the comments!