Chapter 23

 

 “Why hasn’t she called?” He asked himself out loud. He finished up putting away the clothes, and headed down to the lobby. He thought maybe he’d meet me on the way down, or perhaps she’d said something to Josh about where I was going today that I hadn’t remembered to tell him. He had no clue where I’d be. He got off the elevator at the lobby, and walked over to where Josh was sitting by the door, at his small desk. Upon his approach, Josh stood and moved to the door.

“Hello Josh,” Thomas greeted him. “You don’t by chance know where Amy was headed today do you?”

“No, she just told me she was happy, and that she had to get going she had some things to do today, and hurried out the door.” Josh told him. “I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful. Why is there something wrong with Miss Wynn?”

“I don’t know, she’s late, even for her.” Thomas shrugged, “she said she’d only be a couple of hours, she was dropping her classes and then going to sell her books back.” Josh looked at him with concern.

“I don’t know where she might have gone, her usual places on campus would have been her classes and the sports center,” He said, as he placed a hand on the door handle. Though unsatisfied by Josh’s answers, Thomas turned, going back to the elevator. He reached the third floor, going back to the apartment.

Thomas grabbed the phone off the charger, and tried my cell phone again, again no answer, it went straight to voice mail this time. Something was up, he knew that if it had gone straight to voice mail, either my phone was dead, which he doubted because I’d just taken it off the charger this morning, or it was off, again doubtful, i never turned her phone off, I may not answer if I was busy, but it was never off if I had it on me. Thomas began to grow concerned that something might have happened to delay me which would throw off all his plans for the afternoon.   Thomas thought that maybe Nick or Andy might know where I might have gone. He took the phone with him in case I returned his call, and walked across the hall to their apartment. He knocked, Andy answered the door.

“Hello?” Andy said, not really recognizing Thomas, standing with the door only partly open.

“Hello, I’m not sure you remember me, I’m Thomas, Amy’s fiancé.” Thomas explained. “I was wondering if you or Nick had heard from, or might know where Amy would go on campus.” Thomas sighed heavily. “She was going to drop her classes today, and sell back her books. She said she would only be a couple of hours, but that was almost four hours ago, and I haven’t heard from her, and she’s not answering her phone.”

Andy stepped back fully opening the door and inviting Thomas in the apartment, Nick was moving around, getting things ready to go to work, he was on duty at seven tonight, until seven tomorrow morning, but had a department meeting to be at before then.

“I haven’t heard from her in a couple of days,” Andy stated. “Since you’ve been around she doesn’t come talk as much as she used to. I guess you treat her better than James ever did. Before, she was always over here, talking about how bad he was to her, or nursing some new bruise or injury.” Andy quickly covered his mouth with his hand. “I’m sorry, I’ve said too much, like I always do; please don’t tell Amy I told you anything about it.” He begged Thomas.

“What do you mean?” Thomas asked. Andy shook his head.

“No, I really can’t, she asked me not to say anything to anyone.” Andy glanced nervously at Nick. Nick gave him an exasperated look.

“Why, why do you always open your mouth and talk, and then think about it afterwards?” Nick asked Andy. Andy just shrugged. “She was probably headed to the registrar’s office if she was dropping any classes, and the campus book store if she was selling books.” Nick about half yelled from the bedroom as he finished getting things around and getting ready for work. “You might try the sports center as well, from the sounds of it she was dropping out of school?” Nick asked.

“Yes.” Thomas replied, standing a bit uncomfortably still at the door.

“Then she probably had to clean out her locker there as well.” Nick replied. The shower came on; nothing else came from the bedroom. Andy looked at Thomas and shrugged.

“That’s what I would think as well” he said.

“Well thank you; I’m not sure what to think at this point.” Thomas said, “I had made plans for us to go look at the house and start the loan paperwork this afternoon, but Amy has come up missing.” Thomas turned, opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, going back to my apartment.

Thomas was starting to grow even more concerned, with everything that I and now Andy had told him about James, and the fact that Emerald had already tried once to hurt me in a Spelldream, he began to wonder if I might be in some sort of real danger. It was only a half hour until their appointment at the bank. Thomas decided he’d better call and reschedule the appointments he’d made for the day, right now his biggest concern was finding out where I was and if I was ok.

James stopped, “Hello Amy,” He greeted me. I looked up at him.

“Hello James,” I replied, “How have you been?” I asked trying to make small talk, hoping this would be over soon.

“I’m surviving, if that’s what you mean.” He said sarcastically. “Nice ring,” I looked down and moved my left hand out of his view.

“Thank you,” I responded even though he hadn’t meant it as a compliment, I was trying at this point just to keep it civil.

“So you’ve bedded him, and in less than a week you’re going to marry him?” A smirk crossed his face. “He must be damn good at something.” A cynical laugh came from his lips. “So tell me Amy is he better in bed than I am, does he make you moan in pleasure over and over like I did?” James said, acting very full of himself. “Does he?” James grabbed my arm hard, almost twisting it, “You haven’t answered me, does he turn you on as much as I used to?” he moved behind me, breathing on the back of my neck, forcing a kiss in the most sensitive part of the bend of my neck, I started to scream, only to find James’ hand covering my mouth, he kept a hold of my arm, he was hurting me, he forced me into his car. He got the door shut behind me, and started to go to the other side, I opened the door and jumped out, running from him in the parking garage. It was like one of those bad dreams where you’re running, but no matter how fast you run it’s like running in slow motion. He caught me, and threw me to the ground.

“James, why are you doing this?” I said through sobs, I was scared, so scared that he would truly hurt me. He smiled, it seemed to please him that I was fearful of him, I didn’t dare let the magic loose, I couldn’t control it yet, and the last thing I needed or wanted was to hurt him.

“Because you’re a worthless b***h, and it’s how you deserve to be treated, that’s why.” His voice dripped with contempt, a smile crossing his lips.

He drug me higher and higher in the parking garage, the higher we went, the less cars where around, I just wanted it all to be over soon, I knew or at least thought I knew what he was going to do to me, I screamed, but there was no one around to hear me. We reached a floor where there were only a few cars, and most had a long term sticker on their windows, he threw me to the ground again, straddling my body with his legs, I screamed and fought, hitting him in the chest, this earned me a right cross to the jaw, I felt bone break under the force of the punch, and felt it start to mend almost instantly, slowly but instantly. He tore at my shirt, exposing my breasts, a wave a panic washed over me. I tried to reason with him, convince him that it wasn’t worth it, I wasn’t worth this. He only smiled, as he moved down my body, undoing my jeans, and sliding them down. I felt dizzy and nauseous, I wanted to throw up. I wanted him off me; I wanted this to be over. He held me down, pinning my hands, I felt his fingers slip up between my thighs, the he forced them inside me roughly, I cried out in pain. He smiled; he was getting some sort of perverse pleasure out of this. Fear balled in my throat, muffling my screams, they came out as almost silent cries, as he slid down keeping me trapped under the weight of his body, he undid his pants, pulling out his manhood.

“Touch it!” he ordered, I shook my head no, so he took it upon himself to force my hands to touch his member. I pulled back quickly. “Suck it!” he commanded me, I again shook my head no though the tears, he forced himself in my mouth, I bit at him. He backhanded me, causing blood to come flowing from my temple. “B***h, I will make you bleed more if you don’t cooperate.” He laughed, as he dug his hand deeper into my shoulder causing me pain. All of this was very exciting to him; he became more and more aroused. He slid between my legs, forcing himself inside me, it felt like I was going to tear apart, deeper and deeper he forced himself, it hurt, I could feel the blood starting to ooze as he tore at my insides, forcing himself deeper yet. I cried out in pain. He punched me, after that I don’t remember anything. I tried to make it all go away.

Thomas glanced over at the clock, I was more than late, he was beyond concerned to flat out worry and fear what might have happened. It was five and still I hadn’t checked in or come home, he was beginning to wonder if he should do something more to try to find me. What could have happened to me ran through his mind as he thought about all the possibilities. It was after all New York, and he’d heard the horror stories of muggings, robberies, rapes, and kidnappings that took place almost on a daily basis in this city.

With it being late September the sun was already setting, and it was growing dark. Thomas decided he would try his hand at some magic to see if he could find me, though his skill with it wasn’t up to par, he knew the spell but it wasn’t something that he’d practiced much. The worst part about it was it might only take him to someplace I had been in the last few hours, not necessarily where I was, but he thought maybe he could pick up my trail from there.  Thomas took down a newspaper clipping carefully folding it so that all that showed was my picture, and slid it into the back pocket of his jeans. He then set to working the spell to find me. He spoke the words of the spell which made it more than evident that it wasn’t a spell that he used often; soon a trail of bright yellow smoke that only he could see appeared. The spells duration wasn’t going to last very long and the spell was very exhaustive, so he had to go and go now, if he was going to get close to finding me, because he couldn’t take the strain of casting the spell again for at least twenty four hours.

The fact that Thomas had to walk in order to follow the trail hampered his efforts, he followed the smoke up to the door of the NYU Administration building, where it intersected with another path leading away, following the second path he found himself in front of the Campus Bookstore, where there was yet another intersecting path. The trail was beginning to fade, he had to hurry. Thomas broke out into a run, as he followed the third trail to the front of the sports center and then all at once the smoke blew away in the wind, leaving Thomas standing alone, with no clue which way I went after that. Thomas was totally wiped out, he was tired, worried, terrified and at a loss of what to do next, should he call the police, or should he contact one or both of the grottos and ask for help. He hailed a cab, and went back to the apartment. He went to his backpack in the closet, where he’d stowed it away, and pulled the silver bowl from it, still wrapped in the black velvet cloth that it had been covered in when it wasn’t being used. Thomas went to the kitchen and filled the bowl with water and sat down on the sofa. He debated for several minutes if calling his father was the right thing to do, maybe he should try the human police first. Either way, he knew he might have to reveal my identity to find me, a chance he wasn’t sure he could take, not and keep me safe.