Lies Inside (15 page)

“We could go up to the lake. Hang out on the beach and have a barbecue.” Everyone agreed with Jack’s suggestion, maybe not enthusiastically, but they all agreed.

They packed up the cars and left, making a stop at the Butler’s for Lucy and Jack to grab some things. Then one more stop, just for Aiden.

Finn thought it very strange watching Aiden be a total gentleman. He walked up to Melanie’s door and even shook her father’s hand when he answered. A few minutes later, he and Melanie emerged hand in hand. He helped her into the car before they drove down to the lake.

The water was still cool with it only being the end of May. Finn and Lucy enjoyed just sitting in each other’s arms. Occasionally, Aiden would bust out his guitar and make Melanie swoon. Then they’d disappear for awhile. Knowing Aiden as Finn did, he was sure Aiden was showing her a good time.

“We need to make some plans, you know.”

“For what?” Finn was wondering if Lucy was thinking about the wedding or just life in general.

“For your birthday, silly. Have you forgotten?”

“Almost.” Finn had been so focused on her turning eighteen, he hadn’t realized his birthday was just a few days away.

“What do you want to do? You name it and we’ll do it.”

“Just to spend it with you.”

“That’s a given. Come on, think.”

He racked his brain for some crazy, off the wall, birthday fantasy. Going out of town was pretty much out of the question right then. A big party wasn’t really his style, but maybe a small one. “How about all of us get together and have a party at the house. Aiden and I can jam. I’ll get Dad to bring out his saxophone. You girls can sing and dance. Just goof off and be totally stupid for a night. What do you think?”

“Sounds interesting, but I’d like to pick out some of the music.”

“Like what?”

“I’d like you to play the songs you’ve played for me.”

“Luce.” He shook his head.

“I want everyone to hear how completely magnificent you are.”

“We’ll have to just wait and see. My hand still might not be up to the task by then.” It was a difficult piece, and even though the swelling in his hand had gone down, Finn wasn’t sure that he’d be ready to play in just a few days.

“Fine, I’ll let it slide...for now. I can’t wait to see Murphy with his sax. Bet he’s really good.”

“Alright. Then it will have to be a small family party with lots of music.”

“Sounds just right, if that’s what you want.”

“That and plenty of these.” He leaned in and kissed her deeply. Her fingers snaked up and down his spine as his played with the ties of her bikini top hanging down her back.

“Okay, Casanova. That’s enough.” Jack decided that they were getting a little too intense and thought it was his duty to break it up.

“Fine, Jack, but next time I see you even touch Rylan, you’re getting payback.”

“We’re thinking about starting a fire and camping out. You guys want to stay?”

The idea of sleeping on the sand wasn’t very appealing to the two of them, and Finn’s hand was starting to hurt a little. He could use something for the pain. “Maybe another time. I think we’re going to head out.”

“‘Kay, but I think the rest of us will stay.”

Finn and Lucy said their goodbyes before driving home.

“I wonder if my dad will like sleeping on the floor of your room.”

“Guess he’ll have to get used to it. I don’t plan on sleeping another night without you.” Finn took her hand and kissed it before enclosing it in his and resting it on his thigh.

“He and Jack can take turns, but Jack snores. Maybe Dad would be better.”

“They should just let Rylan stay with us. It’d be like old times.”

“Not like the bed isn’t big enough for ten people. I’m sure we could squeeze her in.”

Finn laughed and took a big breath. His nostrils filled with a strange scent and he recoiled. “What is that smell?”

Lucy sniffed at the air and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know. Is something wrong with the car? Maybe you better pull o…ov…er.” Her voice waivered before fading out.

Finn saw Lucy slumped over in her seat. “Luce?” He squeezed her hand, trying to get a response. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and shut it off. He tried to lift his arm to check to see if she was okay, but it was too heavy.

“L—Lu—Luce.” The word came out of his mouth uneven and thick, like everything was in slow motion. He tried to keep his eyes open, but they were so heavy. He closed them and slumped back in his seat.

Finn heard the sound of a car coming up behind them and stopping. His mind swam with the hope that their friends had decided to go home. He heard two doors slam and the sound of footsteps coming toward the car. His hopes were dashed as he realized the muffled voices were not those of his friends. He tried to open his mouth and speak, ask what was going on and who they were, but his jaw wouldn’t move. He heard Lucy’s door open, the click of her seat belt, and the creak of her seat. Silence. He tried to scream, cry out for her, but his body didn’t respond.

A million things ran through his mind all at once, but they all converged to form one coherent thought.
Get Lucy!
The terror that rapidly engulfed his mind made him realize he would have to fight with every bit of strength he had to do just that.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the footsteps returned and a crisp chill entered the car as someone opened his door. He felt the release of his seat belt when a body reached across him. His nostrils took in the slightly musky scent of a cologne he would know anywhere. Panic and terror surged throughout his entire body. His mind screamed to react, do something, anything, but nothing happened. He was defenseless, numb while his head lolled against the headrest.

“Get his feet,” a male voice whispered.

He felt two hands grab his legs and lift them out of the car. One set of arms carried his feet and another set gripped under his arms. He tried to hold on, tried to listen to everything around him, but he couldn’t fight the darkness. He slipped into a deep tunnel, not even a thought of Lucy comforted him. Unfortunately, it was a very familiar feeling.

Finn heard the music before he knew where it was coming from. The sickeningly sweet lullaby pulled him out of the nothingness. His eyes slowly opened and he squinted as a dark ceiling came into focus.

He tried sitting up, but his body felt as if a boulder were pressed on his chest holding him in place. He could just barely turn his head toward the only light in the room. The flickering glow and music seemed to be coming from a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. The pounding in his head worsened as he tried to focus on the screen. Slowly, the images cleared.

The first one was a picture of Lucy and him. It was the night of Prom, and they were walking from his house, getting into his car. There were pictures of the two of them in the school parking lot, and to his embarrassment, some were taken through the window of his room. There were even pictures of them sitting around the fire on the beach on spring break. Before he turned away, he saw a picture of himself sitting on his front porch, holding a letter, and another picture of Lucy crying with that same letter in her hands.

He had to turn away. The anger of such a violation prickled his skin. He had come to accept that his life had been under a microscope for years, but his stomach churned, knowing that this violation now included Lucy. He felt an overwhelming need to move, to see if he could find her.

The television in the corner provided the only source of light, bathing that end of the room in its soft flickering glow. He knew he was lying on a large bed with the head and the left side pressed up against walls in the corner of the room, he assumed. He peered into the dark, trying to see the other side of the room. There was another bed, but he could barely detect it or anything else in the room. He managed to pull himself up and slide his legs over the side of the bed. He felt a sharp pull on his left ankle. That’s when he realized he was shackled, attached to a chain that went somewhere beneath the bed. The bed covers on the other side of the room rustled. He saw her face come into grainy focus by the flickering light. The most beautiful mess Finn had ever seen—her cheeks stained with tears, her eyes red and puffy.

“Lucy.” He tried to walk over to her, but the chain on his ankle brought him crashing to the floor. She crawled off the bed and down onto the floor. She reached out as far as she could. He could see that her right ankle was shackled like his left one. They reached for each other, but the chains just weren’t long enough. Mere inches separated their outstretched fingertips.

“I’m fine. Are you alright?” His voice was etched with pain.

He could see she wasn’t alright, but he needed to hear her speak. He needed something other than that insipid music in his ears. He needed the one thing that could calm him. Her voice.

She pulled at her hair, twisting it around and letting it all fall behind her. “Physically, I think I’m fine, just sore.”

They were separated by only a few feet, but it might as well have been a million. Since Finn and Lucy had reunited, there was hardly a moment when they were together where he wasn’t touching her. Her arms pulled her knees into her chest and he could tell she was feeling the same pain. The thing he wanted most in the world was right in front of him, and he couldn’t even touch her. It was pure torture.

A light from the ceiling slowly brightened until a soft glow lit the whole room. That’s when Finn could tell exactly where they were. Things had changed a little. The color of the walls was a softer white. There were now two beds instead of one. He didn’t see any instruments anywhere, but there was no doubt about it; he was in the room where his darkest nightmares had come true. He swallowed hard several times as he felt the blood pounding in his veins. He didn’t want to believe that he was in that room again. In the back of his foggy brain, overwhelming dread raged forth. Visions of his torturous years assaulted him with every breath. In that single moment, pain shot straight through his chest as the thought of Lucy sharing that same horror came to the forefront.

“I think the lights must be on a timer or something. They’ve been going on and off every hour.” Her eyes averted from his to the clock now visible on the wall.

“Is that eleven in the morning or eleven at night?” His voice was shaky as he attempted to gain control of his breath.

“I don’t know. When I came around and was able to see it for the first time, it said it was three.” She looked utterly exhausted as she wiped a lingering tear from her cheek.

“You’ve been awake all this time?”

“I’ve been concentrating on watching you breathe. I’ve even been counting, anything to keep me from watching that.”

Finn turned his attention back to the screen. The pictures had changed. Gone were the disturbing photos taken of Lucy and him, and in their place was something worse—close-ups of him and parts of Viktor. He suddenly felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Up to that point, Lucy had never seen those pictures, and he had prayed she never would. His devastating shame coursed through each tear that began to fall. Those pictures were the one thing Finn thought he could save Lucy from in all of it. The weakest periods of his life displayed in front of them in living color. He prayed she wouldn’t be as eternally haunted by them as much as he was.

“Finn, please, baby, don’t cry.” Her voice trembled as she tried to keep her own tears at bay.