Page 9 of Lost In The Dark

Asher and Eli stayed with me, but they seemed as unsure about the whole thing as I felt, and they didn’t talk much other than to check in with me, and to offer water and food.

As Max had told me, the search warrant for the senator’s house had been signed off by a judge, and the police were in the process of executing it. I wished I could remember what had happened to me, just so I could tell them where to look, but I still didn’t remember a thing, and when I tried my head only throbbed harder.

Eventually the pain meds seemed to ease my headache and my vision cleared as the pain receded. I sat up and looked around. Eli and Asher were sat on chairs opposite me, Eli looking right at me as Asher did something on his cell phone. I had no idea how they had gotten the police to allow them into the room with me, but I was kind of grateful they were there.

I looked to Eli and studied him properly for the first time. He was slim, but clearly in shape. His shoulders were broad and muscular under the sweater he wore.

“Our eyes,” I gasped when I looked into his and found a mirror image of my own.

“I know. It’s weird, huh? We look really alike,” Eli agreed. And he was right – we did. We had the same dark coloring, our hair the exact same shade of dark brown, and our eyes the same emerald green color.

I turned my gaze to Asher, but he didn’t look like me at all. He had a lighter skin tone, and his hair was a dark shade of blonde, cut neatly and styled in place, just so. He glanced up at me andI saw he had light blue eyes that seemed to sparkle. I had been right about how huge he was. Even sitting he was an imposing figure, his whole body sculpted with muscle I could clearly make out beneath the dark t-shirt he wore. His legs were like tree trunks and he was obviously even taller than his brother.

“I look like our mom. Eli took after our dad. We’ve never looked alike,” he explained with a gentle smile that set me at ease a little. There was kindness in his face, even though he seemed way more standoffish than his brother.

“You’re older?” I asked.

“Yeah, by three years. Do I look it?” he asked with a chuckle.

“No! I…I didn’t mean…” I floundered.

“It’s okay, Addy. He’s messing with you,” Eli assured me. A shiver raced through me as the air con seemed to crank even higher in the room, and I pulled Max’s jacket even tighter around me. I knew I should give it back, but I was so cold, and at least it was keeping me covered.

“Are you cold?” Asher asked as he looked to me with concern.

“Yeah. I…I don’t think the police like me very much. I th-think they’re turning that up on purpose,” I said as I pointed to the aircon overhead.

“I’ll speak to someone,” Max said as he stood from where he had been working at the table, and headed out of the room.

“We bought you some clothes before we set off. They’ll probably be too big, but they should be warmer,” Eli offered. He picked up the duffel bag he’d brought with him and pulled out a stack of women’s clothes. He set them on the chair beside me, being careful not to touch me.

“You bought th-these? For me?” I asked emotionally.

“We knew you’d need something to wear. I’m only sorry we bought them too big, but we can get more when we get you out of here, whatever you need,” Eli told me.

I brushed my hand over the soft navy sweater on the top of the pile and fought the emotion clogging my throat. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had bought me anything, or even been so thoughtful.

“Thank you,” I told them gratefully as I looked between them both.

“We’ll leave so you can change. I’ll make sure no one can come in until you’re done, okay?” Asher told me as he got to his feet. I nodded as I looked up at his full height. He really was huge. I was no small fry at 5’7, but he would tower over me. I guessed he was around six and a half feet.

“Will you be okay?” Eli asked as he stood too. He was smaller than his brother, but not by a lot – maybe a few inches. It was hard not to imagine what it would have been like to have hulking brothers like that on my side in school. I had been bullied mercilessly, especially in high school, and not just verbally. Would they have stood up for me if they were in my life? Would they have protected me back then as Eli had promised they would now?

“Addy?” Asher prompted and I looked to him and tried to clear my head of my useless wonderings.

“I’ll be okay,” I agreed.

ELI

“Do you think she’s okay? She was so shaky? Maybe we should check on her,” I worried as we stood outside the door of the room we had spent the last few hours in, waiting for Addy to change.

My heart had broken for her when we walked into that room and saw her for the first time. She had looked tiny curled up, and laid across those two chairs. Then she sat up and she looked so thin and frail. Her face was pale and she shook like a leaf constantly. But there was no doubting who she was. She looked so much like me and like our father.

I had always hated the fact I looked like him, and not like our mom, but now, seeing Addy’s resemblance to me, it didn’t seem so bad to resemble the man I hated, because I had a sister.

It was obvious she had been held captive. She was nothing but skin and bone, dark rings around her eyes, and her hair was long, dull, and unkempt. The abrasions around her wrists and ankles were plain to see, the skin rubbed raw by whatever had held her prisoner. She needed a lot of care and love to deal with not just her physical injuries, but the mental ones I was sure she had been left with, and I wanted to give her that care. She was our family and she had no one else. The file Kane made had said so. Her mom had died nine years ago and there didn’t seem to be any other family.

“I’m sure she’s okay. Just give her a few more minutes,” Asher told me, and I nodded, but I was anxious about leaving her alone. She hadn’t stopped shaking during the hours we had been with her, and she looked so frail and weak. What if she fainted?