Forced Marriage: Escaping Her Monster

In a dark place that was filled with a putrid smell, Scarlett opened her eyes. Her mouth was closed with s duct tape. She couldn't make out much, but she could see a distant exhaust fan that was the only source of light in this dark building.

The concrete pillar against her back made her shirt wet and she shivered. She looked up to see some holes on the roof leaking water that dripped down the pillar. She tried to get her hands untied but the duct tape was wrapped very tightly around her wrists. Her head hurt like it is getting hammered and something warm trickled through the bunch of hair behind her ear.

That's right! I was hit in my head by… that guy!

That morning Bobby was still in bed and she wanted to leave early since she got a call from the office. She left a note for Bobby and she readied Cia as usual and left. Cia was in the backseat in her car seat as usual.  She had a bad case of morning sickness and she stopped the car on the way and threw up on the side of the road, just outside Peyton.

When she washed her face and was about to enter the car, she felt something sharp pressing against her back. And there was this weird voice of a man that was familiar but unrecognizable who asked her to get in the car.

When she got in, she saw these big bags in the backseat near Cia and she was stunned. She didn't even realize how they got there. "Drive," he commanded and she followed through. The phone she kept in the center console was switched off by that man and he kept the phone in the glove box.

Through her peripheral vision, she tried to figure out who that is. He was wearing dark sweatpants and a black hoodie. He had pulled up his hoodie and she couldn't even see who it was. But this didn't seem like a normal robbery as there is no need for him to load those heavy bags in.

Maybe a psychopathic serial killer? Are those bags filled with the dead body of people he killed? Why did he target me? Whatever it is, I cannot do what he says.

She knows whenever someone is getting taken away by someone with a weapon, it is better to not go where they are taking them. Because facing death right there would be less cruel than whatever is waiting for her in the secondary location this criminal is taking her.

But Cia…

She tried to get the gun she keeps in a holder attached under her seat, but the guy pulled out a grenade. "Try anything b&tch! I will blow everyone up!"

Scarlett had to abandon the idea. She started pleading for her daughter's life. "Just let me leave my daughter by the roadside… I will take you wherever you want. Just let my baby go… I won't tell anyone. I'll leave her under a tree with her car seat and-"

"Shut the f*ck up!" the man pressed his screwdriver on her hip.

She looked to the front to see Charlie's car approaching. And she had hope. Surely Charlie would recognize that there is something wrong. But the guy beside her ducked down. With the screwdriver still pressed on her hips, he ordered her to smile and wave.

"Going somewhere?" Charlie asked winding down his window and Scarlett couldn't say anything. With words stuck in her throat considering the safety of her daughter while knowing she needed to ask help for the sake of her daughter, she smiled. That guy almost pulled the pin from the grenade.

She just did what this guy asked her to from then on. Her car was parked in the airport parking spot. The luggage was taken and they went inside the airport. He then asked her to enter the bathroom and she blacked out after that.

And now she is here.

Cia! Where is Cia?

She looked around but she could not find Cia anywhere and it made her heart clench. She couldn't even breathe as she felt as if something heavy is pressing on her chest. She felt lost and hysterical. She is pregnant and losing blood from her head, and her baby is nowhere to be seen. She tried to scream but no voice came out of her.

She heard footsteps approaching and she closed her eyes. The footsteps neared her and when the cold surface of a latex glove made contact with her arm, she almost winced. A tourniquet gripped around her arm. The guy held her hand and started tapping around the inner part of her elbow, like how a nurse would tap to find a vein to draw blood for tests. A sharp pain followed and she opened her eyes slightly to see this guy injecting something into her veins.

"Where is my baby?" she asked and he didn't answer her. "What are you giving me?" she shouted for that guy to stand in front of her in silence.

She didn't have to wonder long as she felt the sense of euphoria rising inside her. She was very familiar with the feeling.

Heroine…

"No… No…" she mumbled as tears started to fall from her eyes.

I am pregnant… My miracle baby… My Cia… Why is he drugging me? What can I do?

"Aren't you enjoying it?" the guy let out a snigger. "Don't worry... There is a lot more!"

The familiarity of the snicker that had conceit and pride with no empathy…The way he pronounced certain words… That voice… she identified that guy.

"It's..." she mumbled under her breath.

"What?" he asked and she closed her eyes reeling into the dark rhapsody that was all too familiar for her. And even in that state, she knew that telling him that she has recognized him won't end well for her.

She was in the heroin high for some minutes and after that, she fell into a slump. She didn't know how much time passed and ended up sleeping.

-----

"Bobby, how do you know Scarlett has left?" Jerlina asked. "Did you check her parent's home? Or at the clinic? She might be at-"

There is no way Scarlett would have picked up Cia and left. There is no way!

"She left a letter and packed her stuff, Chippy… When I woke up, she was gone... She's been weird these few days and... she left me..." Bobby's voice was filled with despair.

"That's impossible, Bobby… That's just…" Jerlina couldn't even believe it. "I'll find her!" she ended the call. The next moment she dialed Gordon.

"Do you know where Scarlett Milroy, Bobby Milroy's wife is, Gordon?" She asked. "I know you know where she is Gordon! Tell me before it is too late... She is pregnant for heaven's sake!" Jerlina shouted as she didn't hear anything from the other end.

She by now was sure Gordon knows where Scarlett is.

"She is my friend and what are you doing to her when my husband is arrested?" She screamed. "Do you want me dead?"