Rich lies & poor truths

Chapter 17 - Unknown drive

I scream.  I yell. I cry.  I can feel my face harsh and red.  Clammy with stress sweat.  My lungs are suffocating.

“Please stop!” I yell. I look into Stephen’s eyes feeling sorrow. Fat angry tears fall down his cheeks and I want to wipe it away and comfort him. Maybe all he did was protect me.  Protect me from the truth because he knew how much it would hurt me.  How much it would destroy me.

“Run,” he shouts, pain in his voice, “Run Riley.” 

But I can’t run.  I can’t see him so helpless being hit over and over again.  Blood is dripping from his face and I whimper. Be strong, Riley.  So I stand and give the bald man a wicked grin and with the sharp rock resting silently in the palm of my hand I hit him in the back of his head.  And I hit again, for the other two men to stop hitting Stephen and look at me.  The bald man falls to his knees and clutches the back of his hand, smearing blood all over his hands.  Gross.  The man with curly red hair, lunges towards me but as fast as I can I throw the rock at his face.

“Ahhh.” he yells,covering his right eye.  Bingo.  Now Stephen is taking over control and is hitting the man with the long black hair that was holding him.  Well that’s more fair.  The bald man is laying on the ground, speaking in another language, with blood oozing from his head and the redhead is eyeing me with his good eye.

“Riley, run.” Stephen yells again. Maybe it’s now a good time to run, so I turn and run, leaving my school and laptop bag behind.  Where is that uber?  I wasn’t even gone for that long.  My stomach curdles, thinking that the men could have something to do with it.  I shake it off and put everything in my running, stepping hard on the grass and cobblestones. The crunching noise of feet hitting the ground comes from behind me and I see the red head close by.

“Shit.” I mutter and try to run faster.  I can outrun him.  He’s tall and big and I’m light, used to speed in a hockey match.  I can outrun him.  I try to stay positive as I hear his footsteps coming closer.  Trees zoom past me and I choose to turn into the street instead of the park with loads of trees.  It would seem weird for such a big and bulky man to chase me, so he would probably stop chasing me after awhile.

“Get in!” someone suddenly yells, stopping next to me in a red ford.  It’s my uber.  Feeling thankful I jump into the passenger seat, through the door that he already opened for me.

He speeds off, into the busy streets, losing the redhead.

“Are you okay?” he asks with concern .  He would probably want an explanation, that even I can’t give.

“We have to go back!”  I say panickedly, thinking of Stephen. 

“Now why would we want to do that.” he slows the car.

“”Stephen is there, alone with the three men.”

“Okay, so it’s time to talk.” his brown eyes glint with eagerness.

“What do you mean.” I ask, hoping that he isn’t in on this as well.

“I work for Stephen.” I widen my eyes at his words,

“You work for Stephen?” Somehow it feels as if I’m being betrayed.

“Yes.”  he answers looking straight ahead.  I hesitantly bite my lips.  I don’t know who to trust.  I don’t know what is going on.

“Hold up there girl,” he eyes me with a small smile, probably seeing my worried face.  “You’re in good hands.”

“Good hands?”  I challenge, “How should I know.  Everything is so shady around me.”

“I know it must be hard, but it’s for the best.”  

I frown at him, “For the best?”  I push out a chuckle.

“Yes it’s for the best, Riley.” he almost sounds stern.

What a cheek.  But I keep quiet.  I feel my phone vibrating in my back pocket, but I ignore it.  I don’t feel safe, so I must be vigilant and strong for myself.  For mom.

“I left everything at the hospital,” I start, trying to cover for my safety,”My laptop, my phone,everything.” his eyes glint approvingly.

“That’s okay.” he says.

“Where are you even taking me?” I ask, as he swerves in a direction that isn’t home.

“You’ll see.”  

I sigh and turn my body towards the window.  Looks like I won’t be able to get any answers from him so I’ll just have to wait and see. The truth has to come to me.

---

We have been driving for over three hours.  My mind had it’s fair share of vicious thoughts and I feel like a zombie.

“I have to pee.” I state.

He nods, “I’ll make a stop.”

“What’s your name.” I ask even surprising myself with the question.

“Richard.” he replies bluntly.

“Well nice to meet you Richard.” I say, faking my friendliness.  If we are going to be together for long the I might as well try to get on his good side.  Maybe to unravel secrets.  Maybe I should tell him all that I know and I’ll get more answers on that. Maybe I should  tell him about the videos.  The video of me.  The video about me.  My heart sinks and it feels as if I’m drowning.  I don’t want to think about it.  I don’t even want to know about it.  Actually I don’t even know about it.  I just saw it.  I swallow, but it feels like steel running down my throat.

“Nice to meet you too, Riley,” Richard answers.  He turns into a gas station and I take a deep breath.  Everything will work out, I’ll just have to stay true to myself.

“Okay, so this is how this is going to work.”  he starts and stops the car on the side of the gas station where it’s mostly empty.

I grit my teeth, trying to listen to him.

“You’re going to keep this phone with you,” he takes out a small phone from the back.  It’s old and out of our time, “You’ll keep it on call and I’ll listen.  He points at the white earbuds in his ear.  He sniffs and looks at me while I’m just nodding.

“If something happens or someone’s here for you, I’ll be able to hear.”

I scrunch my face in confusion.  There’s more.  Why would there be someone here for me even?

“There’s more?” I ask and he nods raising his eyebrows.

“Don’t be scared or anything, I don’t think they’ll be here.”

“Who?” I ask hoping that this time he’ll even give me a small clue to a real answer.

He gives me a sideways glance and opens the door without saying another word.  I try to pe my door but it’s kiddies locked and I give a deep panicked breath.  He goes to the back, busying himself in the boot and I quickly take out my phone from my back pocket.  I fumble the sleeve of my hoodie over my cast and push my phone through the small open space inside.  I hiss in pain, pushing harder to make it fit.  My face heats up and drops of sweat form on my forehead as I try to not scream in pain.  When my phone is fully in, I put my sleeve back over and try not to show the remaining agony coming from my wrist. He opens my door looking at me suspiciously and I force a smile.

“Thank you.” I say and climb out of the car. I can see him scanning my body, probably to make sure I have nothing on me. He takes hold of the small phone that he gave me.

“I’m going to get us food.” he says and it feels like we’re on a mission, “Be vigilant.”  he hands the phone back to me and I can see it a call.  I take a deep hitched breath and follow towards the entrance of a small shop.  A few people are entering and exiting making my nervous system increase with power.  Stay calm.

“Hi, where is your bathroom?” I ask an eldery man behind the counter.  He points at the back with an irritated snarl and I nod, speed walking towards the back.  I suddenly feel very self conscious, knowing that Richard would be able to hear me pee.  I enter the stall, sit on the toilet and pee, while taking out my own phone.  Suffering tears wants to escape my eyes, when the phone is in my hand.  I swallow, seeing four missed calls from Lisa and an unknown number.  I frown and remember the number that messaged me.   It feels illegal to be on my own phone. I rush towards Chase’s contact.

“You okay.” I almost yell in fright, hearing Richard’s voice through the little phone.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I mutter and with a little bit of hesitation I send Chase a live location.  I hope I can trust Chase.

I quickly push my phone back in my cast, gritting through all the pain.  I pull up my pants, flash the toilet and exit the stall and my eyes fall on the open window leading to the outside.  I look outside to see the street with rushing cars. MaybeI should climb out and wave at the cars for help. No.  I can’t trust anyone.  Stephen’s words, that I shouldn’t trust the police comes in my mind.  But what if the police are the only people I can trust?

“Riley, you done.” Ricards asks through the phone.

“Yes, I’m coming.” I say and with a deep breath I exit the bathroom to see him waiting for me inside, in front of the door. I follow him as he walks  towards the car with a plastic bag in his hands. He opens the door for me and whilst he closes it behind me, I know I’m locked up again. No way of getting out, with the kiddies lock on. He goes to the back, making noise in the boot, but I do not dare to look at him, feeling scared. My eyes blink when I shut the boot and enter the driver's seat, holding a plastic container with a sandwich in.  He hands it to me and start the engine.

“You should eat.” he says and I nod, taking a big bite out of the sandwich, tasting ham and cheese.  I fill my hungry stomach and with the last bite I notice some white power smeared on the ham. I frown, becoming queasy.  I look at Richard, unbothered. Maybe it’s him who put it on.  I gulp my gathered spit and close the container, waiting for what’s about to happen to me.