Chapter 48 Rise and shine
Chapter 48 Rise and shine
Chelsea
✦
The sun is coming up.
I know it without seeing it.
The darkness in the room has shifted from pitch black to a dull gray leaking through the cracks in the boarded windows. Enough light to tell time is moving. Enough light to remind me that an entire night has passed.
An entire night.
And we’re still here.
My head throbs from exhaustion.
My throat feels like sandpaper.
My stomach has been growling for hours.
Livia sits beside me, tied to the same rusted pipe, her shoulder pressed against mine. Neither of us slept. Every time one of us started drifting off, a noise from the house would jerk us awake again.
A creak.
A distant thud.
The wind rattling something loose outside.
We’ve spent the entire night whispering.
Trying to figure out where we are.
Trying to figure out who took us.
Trying to figure out how to get out.
None of those conversations got us anywhere.
The ropes are still tight.
The windows are boarded.
The door is locked.
And we’re still trapped.
Livia’s head rests against the wall.
Mine does too.
We’re both so tired that even sitting upright feels impossible.
Then—
A sound.
Both of us freeze.
Footsteps.
Heavy.
Coming from somewhere in the house.
My heart immediately starts hammering.
Livia’s eyes snap to mine.
No.
No no no.
The footsteps get closer.
A door slams somewhere.
More footsteps.
Then—
The front door opens.
The sound echoes through the house.
My stomach drops.
The footsteps are louder now.
Closer.
Coming straight toward us.
A second later the basement door swings open.
Light floods down the stairs.
I immediately squint.
Two figures appear at the top.
The same men.
The same massive men from last night.
Masks covering their faces.
Dark clothes.
Gun belts strapped around their waists.
I can see the pistols hanging there.
Real.
Not pretending.
Real.
Fear crashes through me.
One of them flicks on the basement lights.
The room explodes with brightness.
I blink rapidly.
The man laughs.
“Rise and shine, ladies.”
My breathing immediately speeds up.
The second man steps closer.
Then stops.
His eyes narrow.
He notices.
The tape.
Gone.
“Are you kidding me?”
The anger in his voice makes me flinch.
Before I can react he’s crossing the room.
Fast.
Too fast.
His hand shoots into my hair.
Pain explodes across my scalp.
I cry out.
He jerks my head backward.
Tears instantly spring to my eyes.
“Thought you were clever?”
I struggle instinctively.
It doesn’t matter.
He’s so much stronger.
The roll of duct tape appears in his hand.
“No.”
The word barely leaves my mouth before he slaps the tape across it.
The adhesive sticks hard against my skin.
I make a muffled sound.
Humiliation burns through me.
Fear.
Anger.
Helplessness.
Beside me Livia struggles too.
The man grabs her hair the same way.
She cries out.
A second later tape covers her mouth again.
The room falls silent except for our panicked breathing.
The man crouches in front of us.
His eyes are cold behind the mask.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
I stare at him.
My heart pounding.
“If I walk in here and see that tape off again…”
He lets the threat hang.
He doesn’t have to finish it.
The message is clear.
The other man steps forward.
Much calmer.
Much worse somehow.
He looks us over like we’re objects.
Like we’re furniture.
Like we’re not people.
“We’re taking some pictures today.”
The words make my stomach twist.
The first man laughs.
“Hopefully we get a buyer.”
Buyer.
The word hits me like a punch.
Buyer.
For a second my brain refuses to process it.
Buyer.
No.
No.
No.
My chest tightens.
I look at Livia.
Her eyes are already wide.
Terrified.
Because she understands too.
Buyer.
Sold.
The room suddenly feels too small.
Too hot.
Too hard to breathe.
My pulse roars in my ears.
This can’t be happening.
This can’t be real.
People don’t get sold.
People don’t disappear.
People don’t—
My thoughts crash into reality.
The ropes.
The masks.
The guns.
The abandoned house.
The fact that nobody knows where we are.
A buyer.
Oh God.
Oh God.
They’re talking about us.
They’re talking about selling us.
A strangled sound escapes me.
Tears immediately spill down my cheeks.
I can’t stop them.
I don’t even try.
The panic is overwhelming.
I think about Alex.
His smile.
His laugh.
The way he kisses my forehead.
The way he tells me he loves me.
The future we’ve talked about.
The life we’re supposed to have.
The wedding jokes.
The house.
The kids.
Everything.
Everything suddenly feels impossibly far away.
What if I never see him again?
The thought breaks something inside me.
Fresh tears slide down my face.
Beside me Livia is crying too.
Silent tears.
Silent terror.
The men don’t care.
They barely even look at us.
One of them checks his phone.
The other adjusts the gun on his belt.
Like this is normal.
Like this is just another morning.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Please.
Please find us.
Alex.
Please.
Somewhere out there I know he has to be looking.
I know he won’t stop.
I know he won’t give up.
But as the men start discussing whatever comes next, and the morning light grows stronger beyond the boarded windows, a horrible realization settles into my chest.
We don’t know where we are.
We don’t know who these men work for.
And every minute that passes feels like we’re running out of time.
Before I can even process what he said, the second man is back.
He doesn’t ask.
Doesn’t hesitate.
His hand clamps around my arm and yanks me up like I weigh nothing.
I stumble, my legs weak from exhaustion and shock, but he drags me forward anyway.
“Move,” he mutters.
My bare feet scrape against the cold floor as he pulls me out of the basement and into a narrow hallway I didn’t even realize existed.
The air changes immediately.
Brighter.
Less damp.
Too clean in a way that doesn’t feel right for a house like this.
He pushes me through a doorway.
A room.
And it’s set up.
My stomach drops.
There’s a cheap lighting rig in the corner.
A plain backdrop—gray, wrinkled fabric hanging from a rod.
Like something from a photo studio.
Or a setup.
My breathing stutters.
No.
No, no, no.
He positions me in front of it.
“Stand there.”
His voice is flat.
Controlled.
Like he’s done this before.
My feet don’t move at first.
So he steps closer.
And I move immediately.
Instinct.
Survival.
I stand where he points.
My hands are still bound. My mouth still taped. My hair is messy and tangled and I can feel dried tears on my cheeks.
“Look at the camera,” he says.
There’s a phone on a tripod.
Not even a professional camera.
Just a phone.
Something about that makes it worse.
I stare at it.
I don’t know what expression I’m supposed to have.
I don’t know what he wants.
So I just… freeze.
A statue.
A body.
Not a person.
The camera clicks.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each sound feels like it carves something out of me.
He steps back, looks at the screen, adjusts his angle, and takes a few more.
Then he walks behind me and pulls me out of the room without a word.
I don’t resist.
I can’t.
My legs feel disconnected from my body.
The hallway spins slightly as he drags me back toward the basement.
Livia looks up the second I reappear.
Her eyes lock onto mine.
Mine lock onto hers.
We don’t need words.
We both understand.
This is real.
This is happening.
The second man doesn’t even look at us as he goes back upstairs.
The first one stays.
Leaning against the wall like this is just another job.
Like we’re not sitting on a dirty floor tied up in an abandoned house.
A few minutes pass.
Then Livia is pulled up too.
Same process.
Same room.
Same lights.
Same camera.
I hear it through the walls this time.
Click.
Click.
Click.
When she comes back, her face is paler than before.
She sits down beside me without speaking.
Her shoulder presses into mine again.
We stay like that.
Silent.
Shaking.
Waiting.
Then the first man finally speaks again.
His tone is casual.
Like he’s talking about the weather.
“Here’s how this is gonna work.”
My entire body tenses.
He shifts his weight.
“You’re gonna obey everything we say.”
Silence.
“Everything.”
He pauses just long enough to make sure it lands.
“And once we get a buyer with the best offer…”
My stomach twists violently.
“…you’ll be bye-bye.”
The words don’t feel real.
They don’t belong in real life.
They don’t belong in anything I’ve ever known.
My breathing turns shallow.
A ringing starts in my ears.
And then he adds, almost offhand:
“Before transfer, you’ll shower. Clean up. Look presentable.”
That’s when something in me breaks.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just… quietly.
Like glass cracking under pressure.
A sob escapes me.
Then another.
I try to stop it.
I can’t.
My whole body starts shaking.
Livia makes a muffled sound beside me, her own tears falling now too.
The man watches us for a second.
Then looks away like it’s inconvenient.
Like we’re inconvenient.
Like this is just paperwork.
I can’t breathe properly.
My thoughts scatter.
Alex.
Alex.
Alex.
I cling to his name like it’s the only thing keeping me anchored to anything real.
Please.
Please find us.
Because if he doesn’t…
I don’t let myself finish the thought.
I can’t.
Not here.
Not now.
So I just sit there on the cold floor with Livia pressed against me, both of us shaking, both of us crying silently into duct tape and fear and disbelief—
waiting for a future neither of us can see past.