Chapter Text
I remember that night when it all began. The Boston air that took my breath away the moment I inhaled it... The fog in my head, the spinning in my head, the tiny bumps on the bricks that cut my hand as I tried to move forward by holding onto the wall... If I could go back to the moment I left the club to get some air, I would have stayed seated on those disgusting leather chairs without moving my ass. Rose was right. I should have waited for her. We should have left together; she should have stopped me from wandering around outside like a stray dog, practically sniffing out trouble. But goddamn it, I was too drunk to think straight. Maybe I was even looking for a hole to throw up in without making a mess.
So I went into that damn alley. The street was empty, but the alley was even more frightening than the street I had just wandered down. For one thing, it was pitch black, and it smelled really, really bad, like piss. The moment I smelled it, I wrinkled my nose. Even now, thinking about it, I realize what a huge mistake that was, but at the time, like a complete idiot, I collapsed next to the large trash container and started retching.
A sharp scream stopped me from vomiting and made me quickly look up. It was as if the sound had bounced off the walls, which were very close to me, and scratched my ear. I tried to take deep breaths. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me. The smell of urine that filled my lungs with every deep breath didn't help at all.
Then I heard another sound.
Thud.
It was the sound of metal striking flesh. A dull, bone-crushing sound. I sat up with a sudden reflex and looked in the direction of the sound. My legs were shaking from standing up so abruptly, my vision was blurring. The veil before my eyes lifted a few seconds later, and I saw a pair of blue eyes staring at me and a body lying on the ground just ahead, at the other end of the street. Eyes as bright as the moon, reflecting the liquid spreading rapidly around the body...
Everything happened so fast. The owner of the blue eyes stood up from where they were crouched and started taking big steps toward me. This was no time to stop, Shane. Red alarms and sirens were going off inside me. I turned toward the direction I had entered the street and started running with all my might.
Unfortunately, even though I couldn't even stand straight, I stumbled on my second step and fell onto the wet asphalt. My hands, knees, and the underside of my chin began to ache slightly. But at that moment, I was in such a bad state that I couldn't think about any of that. Fuck, it was going to kill me.
— I swear, I stammered. Then I sobbed. I hadn't even realized I was crying.
— I swear I didn't see anything. I swear. I'm very drunk... My friends are coming to find me, they're here. Please let me go.
My whining, the warm wetness of the tears streaming from my eyes, even my pleas were useless. The moment I left the club, I was dead.
Whatever he had in his hand came down on my head in seconds, and I could only hear the sound.
Thud.
I passed out before I could even feel the pain of what hit my head. I say I passed out because if I had died, I wouldn't be able to tell this story. Well, I would have preferred to have died that day.
—
The only reason I went to Boston was Rose. She had just finished shooting a new movie, and the crew had treated her very badly. She needed someone. She needed me. To drink and let loose, to pour her heart out, to dance in someone's arms, to take a taxi back to her hotel in the early hours of the morning, and to get on that damn plane the next day and go to Michigan.
That's why I came from Montreal as quickly as possible. I didn't even have a change of clothes with me. Our plan was to have a little fun with strangers at a crappy club and then return to her hotel room in the early hours of the morning. We would sleep, wake up, have a nice meal, and say goodbye. But now she was looking for me at the club, and I was floating in limbo. My stupidity, my regret, and the fear of what was coming were destroying me. For a moment, I thought I was dead. But in the blink of an eye, my consciousness returned.
The first sign was a terrible pain in my head. It was so intense that my ears were ringing. Then I felt my legs and the movement of the ground beneath them. When I tried to put my hands on either side of me in fear, I realized my hands were tied...
No matter how much I blinked, the darkness wouldn't go away. Then my nerves kicked in, and I accepted that my eyes were also covered with some kind of cloth. Trying to make a sound was futile because I had already tasted the fabric in my mouth.
Shivering with fear, I thought I was in a half-lying down position, but the ground shifted again and I fell sideways. When my head hit something sharp, that restless sleep returned to me.
—
When I woke up, my head was throbbing unbearably. This time, I sensed I was sitting up. The ground wasn't moving; it was steady. There was no blindfold covering my eyes. In fact, I could say I needed it. The light source above my head was so intense that it burned my eyes even through my eyelids.
I involuntarily opened my eyes. Meaningless murmurs came out of my parched throat. I didn't even understand what I was saying. God, my head hurt so badly that I couldn't even focus on my thoughts. I tried to close my eyes tightly and rest my head on the chair. At that moment, ice-cold water splashed on my face, my whole body shivered, and my eyes opened involuntarily. I stared in fear at the plastic water bottle swaying in front of me.
“Water.”
I looked at the tall man standing in front of me with his thick accent. He was dressed entirely in black. The only thing I could see through his ski mask were his bright blue eyes. God, it was him!
— Please! I murmured. Please let me go. I swear I won't tell anyone anything. I don't even live here. I'm Canadian. I promise I won't even get in your way.
The water bottle swayed in front of me again.
— Drink.
I realized then that my hands weren't tied. My trembling hands grabbed the bottle and brought it close to my face. I could see the rope marks on my wrists more clearly then. Like a Bedouin in the desert, I began to drink the water from the bottle thirstily. The blue-eyed, well-built man who snatched the water bottle from my hand in seconds stepped back a few paces.
— Don't make a sound, rest.
I realized I was in a cell surrounded by gray-painted walls when the blue-eyed man closed the iron door behind him and disappeared from view. There wasn't even a ventilation hole. God, I was going to die here. Mom, Rose? Had they noticed I was gone? I missed them so much. Damn it, I was going to miss Hayden's kids' hockey game on Thursday. And they didn't even know. Unless Rose noticed I was gone and told someone. They would rescue me, right?
Damn it, I didn't even know where I was. I hadn't even taken my phone when I left Rose. My phone...
I quickly brought my arms up to my eyes. My Apple Watch was gone. Damn it. Was it in this building? Or had that blue-eyed man gotten rid of it too?
Soon my headache subsided and gave way to an intense feeling of sleepiness. There was something in the water I drank, I was sure of it. Only a madman could sleep in a place like this. I thought about shouting for help, screaming, but it wouldn't do any good.
— Please, God, please help me.
I wasn't normally a believer in God. But right now, I needed him so badly...
Then slowly my eyelids grew heavy and fell over my irises.
— Что ты наделал? Блядь, зачем ты его сюда привел? (What have you done? Why did you bring him here?)
I heard a woman's voice. I didn't understand a word she was saying. I hadn't even realized they were speaking another language. Then I heard that deep voice again.
— он все видел. (He saw everything.)
As the voices faded into a buzzing sound, I felt my head fall forward and my world went dark again.