All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) (50 page)

Mom?
Mind flip.

Epilogue (Two weeks after
the abductions)

Anna

Opening swollen eyes, I realize I’m
laying face down on a filthy floor. I scan the enclosed area and
notice that condensation is dripping down the slab walls matching
the sheen of sweat layered over my grungy skin. There are no
windows so no natural lighting adds to the small flickering flame
coming through a tiny portal on what appears to be a steal door
sealing me inside. I lift my face from the musty dirt floor beneath
me and try reaching up to dust it off, but discover that my hands
are bound behind my back.

“
What the freak?” My voice
echoes off the cavernous walls and I hear a feminine chuckle behind
me.

Twisting my head around, I glance over
my shoulder and find a shadowy figure crouched with its back
against one of the slimy walls. Uncertainty hits the rewind button
on my memory to reveal how the heck I wound up in a crappy,
underground tomb. Unfortunately, I can’t remember how I got in
here.

“
Nice nap?” A voice
matching my friend Waverly mocks at me. “I know you hate cussing,
but seriously Anna, what the fuck is acceptable here, don’t you
think?”

Excited that I’m not alone, my voice
squeaks, “Waverly? Oh, ugh. My head feels like water sloshing in a
toilet bowl on the back of a tour bus.”

“
Yeah, that’s about how I
felt when I woke up too.”

“
I feel loopy headed.”
Leaving my head down, I twist my body so that I’m facing her
direction.

“
They drugged us.” She says
so casually, like it’s no big deal.

“
What?” I on the other hand
freak the heck out and blurt, “I can’t be drugged. I’ve never taken
drugs in my life. I
hate
them. Waverly please tell me that you’re making it
up. I can’t deal.” I wiggle my way up and sit on my
knees.

“
No, Anna. I wish I was
making this shit up. But the effects we are experiencing are the
same things I’ve seen people suffer with the next morning after
they partied on Ryske.”

A shriek bursts from my chest, “Ohgod
no. Not Ryske. Breesan almost died from that stuff.”

Sliding along the rocky floor, I make
my way over to Waverly. I sit with my back against the wall beside
her and feel a pinch in my wrists as my restraints
tighten.

“
What happened to us?” I
ask, noticing her hands aren’t tied up.

“
I’ve been playing it over
and over in my mind for the past hour, but it’s like something is
blocking me.”

“
Darn it, that’s exactly
what Breesan said after she was attacked and drugged at Toxic. How
did you get untied?”

Remaining quiet, she does a twirling
motion with her finger, indicating she wants me to turn
around.

“
Yeah, forgetting shit is a
side effect of Ryske. Either you have this wall blocking every
recent memory or your memory is phenomenal and there are other
signs.” Pausing, Waverly says, “I can’t remember shit. What is the
last thing you remember?”

“
Ouch.”

I feel a digging stab in my hand and
then a moment later I’m free from my restraints. Sitting down
again, I slid my thumb around the marks left behind by the
binding.

“
Let’s see. I remember the
shooting at the Walker mansion, holding onto Tristan and being at
the hospital with him.” Painful memories of that night force out my
tears and she remains silent while I cry.

I sniff a few times before continuing,
“Um. Oh. Yeah, Breesan came to the hospital…and did you know that
we’re best friends?” I ask, happy that I can remember that very
important detail.

Her eyebrows shoot up to the sky
before she says, “Just tell me what the hell you
remember.”

“
Okay, just hold on. You
don’t have to be so snippy,” I state. She growls and I add, “Hush
up for a minute so I can remember everything. You were there and
you were upset. Wait What the hell?” I smirk about using the curse
word. “Elise is going to marry Morgan. I’m sorry did I hurt your
feelings bringing that up?”

Glancing at her pained expression I
rush my words, “You ordered me to remember. Do you remember that?”
I rub my hand over my forehead like it will bring the memories back
faster. “Anyway. What else? What else? What else? Oh yeah, three
guys. One of them was flirting with me.”

I scoff loudly, “As if? Oh, and then
some guy put his hand on Breesan. Do you remember that? Wait, did
all of that really happen? Or is that an effect of the
drugs?”

“
That is exactly where the
wall is blocking me. I remember you stalked me out to the hospital
garage. From there it all goes fuzzy.”

My mouth drops open at her thinking my
attempt at helping her was hostile before I say, “Yeah, well…I
don’t stalk, I friendly follow. Anyway, I was only trying to help
you after what happened with Morgan’s mother and Elise. That was
vicious and you were really upset.”

She glares at me like I better shut up
now. Not wanting to get punched in the face by her, I go back to
the memories. “Okay, so while we were talking two guys approached.
And you spoke with the one who flirted with me.”

“
Hell that could have been
anyone. I’ll bet you think every guy flirts with you.” She crosses
her arms over her chest and smirks.

The beootch smirks at
me
!

“
What the heck is your
problem? You know, for someone who seemed so broken up one minute
over the guy she loves breaking up with her, the next minute you
were
very
chummy
with those guys. Not in a hobag kind of way, but like you knew
them. And you say I’m flirty? Whatevs,” I say.

Pulling her knees up to her chest, she
props her elbows on them and then drops her face into her palms,
“Dammit Anna, you are giving me a headache.”

“
Well, join the club. That
stuff they gave me has mine hurting too.”

She snorts, “Yeah, well at least once
the drugs are out of your system, the headache will go away. Looks
like I’m stuck in here with mine, indefinitely.”

“
You know you don’t have to
be so hateful to me. None of this is my fault. I certainly didn’t
ask those creeps to drug us, tie us up and leave us underground for
who knows how long.” Fear begins to flutter in my
stomach.

Oh gosh, my parents are
going to freak
.

“
What do you think they are
going to do with us, Waverly?”

Lifting her face from her hands, she
leans her head against the wall and turns to look at me,
“Honestly?” Even though I am really afraid of what she is going to
say, I bob my head up and down slowly. “I really don’t know Anna.
It could be many different things. If I were to guess…”

She trails off and for a moment my
mind wonders to all the possibilities that she could be hinting at.
Out of sheer terror alone I need to know if her ideas match
mine.

“
Please tell me. I am
freaking out here just thinking about what the reasons could
be.”

“
Anna, let’s just wait and
see what happens. I hope it’s none of the reasons I’m thinking and
hell I’ve most certainly been wrong about shit in the past,”
Waverly sighs, ending the discussion.

In this dark, silent tomb, nightmarish
suppressed memories of my horrific childhood flood my mind and my
body begins to tremble uncontrollably.

Please God, don’t let it
happen again,
I hear a frail child's voice
say mentally.

A sob escapes my throat and
I bury my face into my hands. My tears are unstoppable as the
memories of that physically repulsive night, when I was six years
old, loops repeatedly. I try to block out the onslaught of horrific
pain that is tagged onto the memories, but apparently this drug is
magnifying them to the point that they feel like they are currently
happening
.

I cry harder remembering a
hand touching my thigh. It begins to stroke slowly and I muffle my
voice from fear of angering him, but with my eyes I beg for him to
stop. The hand moves to my hair, digging fingers into it bringing
my face up to meet his and I can’t take it anymore.

“
Don’t touch me. Please
don’t hurt me again.”

“
Oh sweet Anna Banana, you
like when I touch you like this remember,” h
e says instead of asking, while roaming his hand over my arm.
His touch stops being tender at this point, it is rough and
painful, his sharp fingernails nearly breaking skin.

I stifle another cry as he
continues touching me inappropriately. My mind shrieks out in
protest, but his previous threats to kill my mommy keeps the sound
lodged in my head.

My trembles are now
convulsions that are physically painful, hard and continual. I feel
my body rolling to the side and a hot, cigarette scented breath
whispers against my ear telling me to do things to him. It’s
followed by a voice that I can’t remember being there that night.
This voice is filled with concern and compassion, unlike the evil
vile putrid voice of him.

Suddenly that tender loving voice
dominates his and my body relaxes at the reassurance that the voice
offers. Hearing her say I’m okay and no one is going to hurt me
seizes me out of the nightmare. I open my damp eyes and find
Waverly, holding my head against her chest and rocking me while
softly pleading for me to calm down.

“
Anna, it’s okay. Ssh, we
are going to be okay,” she takes a breath. “We just need to stay
strong and we’ll get through this. Okay? Can you hear
me?”

I nod my head against her
chest.

Waverly sighs, “Maybe they took us
because they want money. You’re family is loaded so that could be
the reason. Whoever brought us here will come back and if we work
together maybe you and I can figure out what they want or perhaps
we can convince them to let us go.”

Waverly’s confidence reassures me
enough that I slowly gain control over my mind and body again. I
sit up and lean my back against the wall.

The flooding of rapid fire memories
begins to recede, but not before I relive how terrible I was to
Tristan the night before the graduation party. I wanted to have sex
and he turned me down again. Feeling unwanted and unworthy, I crave
a physical relationship with him, and that is what spurred me into
threatening him.

I told him that if he wouldn’t make
love to me then he couldn’t possibly love me as much as I loved
him. Rage consumed his features, but he didn’t say a word. He
allowed me to finish and with no verbal objection, I dictated our
future plans to him. Not giving him a say, I decided that I would
be moving to Paris in the fall. He didn’t argue. Except for sex,
Tristan has never denied me anything, ever. Knowing that it gave
him the excuse to get out of going to California so he can follow
his dreams of playing college football and then later on becoming a
law enforcement officer, I didn’t feel completely in the wrong; but
now? Now I want that moment in time back so I can tell him that I
was wrong.

Sighing through the all consuming
guilt, I say with an emotionally scratchy voice. “Thank you,
Waverly.”

“
Don’t mention it,” she
replies through a yawn, standing up and stretching her arms above
her head. “I wish I knew how long I was out. I am still so weak and
exhausted. And not being able to remember anything freggin’
sucks.”

I sigh, “I wish I couldn’t remember
everything.”

Waverly glances over her shoulder at
me with a questioning look. She turns around, walks back over and
kneels in front of me.

“
What just happened to you?
That wasn’t because of being locked in here. Was it?” She asks
softly.

I stare into her tired eyes briefly
before lowering mine to my intertwined fingers, lying on my lap.
Swallowing hard, I release a ragged breath and try to get the words
out.

“
I - I was remembering
something…something that happened a very long time ago. It was
something that my parents sent me to a professional for and it was
supposed to…stay buried. But I think that this drug made it
resurface. I really don’t want to talk about it.” I glance up at
her again, “But, thank you Waverly, for helping me through
it.”

“
Oh.” She stands and
resumes her position by the steel door again. “Anna, there’s
something you need to know.”

I remain silent waiting for her to
continue, but become anxious with each passing second. The tone in
her words makes me think that it isn’t something I’m going to want
to know or maybe it’s something that she really doesn’t want me to
know.

“
I don’t know how much
we’ve had or how many days it has been since they took us, but if
they keep giving us this drug more of the same things will happen.
And…”

She trails off, turns around to face
me and I see uncertainty lying in her eyes.

“
Anna, I don’t want to
scare you, but Ryske can also make other things happen. It’s a mind
manipulation drug. Unlike the other drugs that you may have heard
of, it doesn’t just hype you up or mellow you out. It literally
fucks with your mind. I’ve seen the different effects it has on
many people who are hooked on it and the variations are staggering.
What you experienced a few minutes ago may just be the tip of the
iceberg with your repressed memories since it’s opening them back
up. But for me…”