Quiet as death

“I want to break her arm in thirty places,” the man in the backseat said, breathing noisily, excitedly. “Then maybe my headache will go away.”

“Hey, we have a lot to do. We have to keep control, remember?” the girl called back to him, sounding very impatient.

The man grumbled a reply.

The car slowed to a stop.

“Where are you taking us?” Reva blurted out. “What are you going to do?”

“Hey, it speaks,” the girl said sarcastically.

“We told you to shut up!” the man growled at Reva.

“This cord is cutting my wrist,” Reva complained.

“Boo-hoo,” the girl replied coldly. “You’d better shut your trap, Reva.”

“I just want to know what you’re planning to do,” Reva insisted.

“Say one more word and it’s all over,” the girl told her flatly.

Pam bumped Reva hard, signaling for her not to say any more. Reva choked back her questions and sank into the seat.

“Pull the car back there,” she heard Pres instruct the girl.

“You checked this all out?” the girl asked him skeptically.

“Yeah. As soon as I got back,” Pres told her. “There’s no guard back here. You’ll see. Park it over there. Away from the lights.”

The car lurched forward.

Pam leaned hard against Reva. She had stopped trembling, but Reva could hear her frightened, shallow breaths.

“No mess-ups this time,” the man beside Pam muttered.

“Hey, no way. I’m back now,” Pres said lightly. “What could go wrong?”

The car slowed to a halt. Reva heard the girl shift into Park, then turn the engine off. “Less talk, more action,” she muttered.

“Aye, aye, captain,” the man replied sarcastically.

“Pull them out,” the girl instructed.

Car doors opened. Reva heard the kidnappers climb out.

“Where are we?” Reva whispered to Pam.

“I don’t know,” Pam whispered back. “It seems like we’ve been driving for a long time. But I think it’s just because I’m so scared.”

“Shut up! Both of you!” the man snarled. “You’re giving me a headache.”

He yanked Reva out of the car. She stumbled, then caught her balance. Her shoes scraped against hard pavement.

A driveway? she wondered. Some kind of parking lot?

So this is what it’s like to be blind, she suddenly realized.

The air felt cold and refreshing on her face. She took a deep breath, then another.

If only her heart would stop racing, thudding so hard in her chest.

She could hear Pam being pulled from the car. Then car doors slammed.

Reva listened hard.

Where are we? Where?

It was so quiet. Quiet as death.

She shivered.

Someone shoved her hands up roughly against her back. She cried out as the tight cords dug into her skin.

The man shoved her arms up again. The pain shot through her entire body. Then he pushed her forward. “Which door?” he called to the others.

“That one,” Reva heard Pres reply. “With the light burned out.”

Reva could hear Pam close beside her. They were both being pushed up steps.

Where are we? Where are we? Where are we? The question repeated in Reva’s mind.

She could hear traffic muffled in the distance. The sound of a car honking, far away. The only other sound was the scraping of their shoes on the hard pavement.

“Oh!” Reva suddenly stumbled and fell. With her hands tied behind her, she couldn’t break her fall. She landed hard on her side. Pain shot up her back. “Ohh.”

“Don’t pull any funny business,” the man growled angrily.

“I can’t see!” Reva wailed.

He grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her to her feet. “There’s nothing to see,” he said. “Just walk.”

Reva’s knee ached. She uttered a low sob. “Help me!”

The man laughed scornfully.

“Hurry up. Someone will see us,” the girl cried sharply.

The man shoved Reva forward. “You heard the lady. Move it.”

A second later they had gone through a door and were walking across a silent room. From the way their footsteps echoed, Reva could tell it was a large room.

She coughed loudly. The cough echoed all around.

A very large room.

The floor was hard. She scraped her sneakers as she walked. Not smooth. Not linoleum or tile. Concrete, maybe.

Into another room.

“Stay to your right against the wall,” Reva heard the girl urge.

Reva took a deep breath. They were walking quickly. The man had her arm, squeezing it painfully, pushing her forward.

Reva took another deep breath, trying to remain in control, trying not to fall apart.

She realized what she was smelling.

I know where we are, she thought.

I know where we are. And I don’t believe it!

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20