*Notes* FINALLY! Sorry I kept you waiting so long. I'm already working on Chapter 12 so keep your fingers crossed that it won't be as long a wait as this one! Thanks for being patient and most of all- thanks for reading!
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“Whoa!” the man exclaimed as he caught Astrid in his grip. He was just leaving, thinking that crazy witch was…well…just that-crazy. She’d sent him here for a girl and said if she wasn’t there, to wait. He came, he waited. And waited. And waited some more. Just when he’d decided to leave and face being turned into a toad or whatever it was witches did nowadays, this mystery girl had finally fallen over the doorstep right into his arms. Just what he needed. “Well,” he said, “it’s this or eternity as a toad.” Then, he picked Astrid up effortlessly and carried her inside, kicking the already fragile door shut once more.
Astrid was still semi-conscious and realized she was being carried by an unknown man into the dark remains of a forsaken structure out in the middle of nowhere, but she had neither the strength, nor the inclination to fight him. She was off her feet, which in her opinion made this man an angel. She didn’t consider whether he might have been dangerous or what actions he might take next; her brain was too cloudy, too exhausted and much too overloaded to ponder such trivial matters. And the hunger. Who could think over such hunger? He dropped her down a bit more roughly than necessary on the mattress in the abandoned bedroom, causing her side to burst in a wave of unbearable pain. She scrunched up her face, let out a weak howl at the impact and immediately rolled over on the opposite side while clutching her wounded one with both hands. “You’re hurt?” the man asked her brusquely. She could do no more than nod her head a few times as she tried, in vain, to hold back the tears. He gave no apology for his rough treatment. His only response was, “well, that complicates things.”
This set an alarm off in Astrid’s head. On one level, she was glad for the pain. It was just what she needed to fully wake her up, to keep her alert. Now, she started thinking the right things. Who was this man? What was he doing here and what did he want with her? She felt more pressure on the bed as he knelt down beside her and swiftly moved her hands away from her side with no effort at all. Astrid wanted to fight him, but she had very little strength left and was saving it for if she should need to run. He brought out a lighter and began pulling up her shirt. Astrid stopped breathing. Was he going to hurt her? She was just about to punch the living hell out of him when she saw the faint orange glow of the lighter and realized what was going on. He left her shirt sitting just below her bra, ran a hand over her heavily bruised rib cage while the other held the lighter so close to her skin she could feel the little bit of warmth radiating from it. He whistled as if in amazement, quickly pulled her shirt back down and got off the bed. It all happened so fast and when she looked up, he was leaving the bedroom.
Where was he going? Astrid thought if she was going to get away from him, she better take the opportunity while she had it. Some instinct had perked up and was trying to warn her. She began to raise herself off the bed, but the pain in her side felt even more excruciating than anything she’d ever felt before, causing her to be at her absolute slowest. She had little, if any, hope of out running the man and there was no way she was getting out the front door without him hearing or possibly seeing her. There was, however, a window in the bedroom. If she could just get up and get to the window before he returned.
It almost killed her to get up off the bed so quickly, but letting the fear drive her, she managed it. She tip-toed silently to the window, hoping she’d get lucky enough to bypass any creaking floorboards. Luck must have been on her side for those few moments because she made it. Now, if she could just raise it up. She placed both her hands on the bottom of the window, letting her fingers curl underneath the grip. She knew it was going to hurt even worse than getting off the bed had, but she braced herself and pushed upward with all the strength she had left. She thought she would literally die with the effort, but half-way up, she started to become frantic. The window was making noise so she had to hurry. If she could get it up just enough, no matter how badly it hurt her, she was jumping out as quickly as she could. Her plans were ruined when the window came slamming back down with such blunt force that she was almost knocked off her feet. The blow sent splinters of excruciating pain radiating down her ribcage.
“You got guts, that’s for damn sure,” the man said as he reached to steady Astrid before she fell. She sent him the most evil, threatening glare she could muster and attempted to jerk herself away-far less effectively than she might have had she not been black and blue all over- but still an unmistakable signal for him to remove his hand from around her waist. His other hand was still steady on the window sill from where he’d slammed it down as he let her go. After making sure she wasn’t going to fall, he walked wordlessly back to the door where he bent down and picked up a rectangular box off the floor. When he turned around, Astrid was still standing in the same place, staring daggers at him through the darkness. He gestured to the bed as he struck his lighter again, showing her the first aid kit he‘d picked up. “Better sit down, Princess and let me take care of that for you.” Astrid didn‘t move. Trying to convince her, he said, “you‘ll have a better chance of escape if you at least get it bandaged up.” He was laughing a little, clearly amused. “Who the hell are you?” she spat back him. He considered for a moment, eyes narrowed, slowly scanning her up and down, then he tossed the first aid kit back to the floor, stuffed the lighter back in his pocket. “I’m the guy that’s taking you to dinner,” he said confidently as he grabbed her arm and led her to the door.
“Like hell you are!” Astrid protested. Even though dinner sounded good - really, really good - she wasn’t about to go anywhere with this man. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” he asked. He didn’t pause on his way to the door and his grip on Astrid’s arm was so tight that she couldn’t free herself. She was weak and sore, so in reality, he may not have been holding her that tightly, but it felt like a death grip to her. The only thing to do was to keep walking so she wouldn’t fall and hurt herself even more. When she didn’t answer his question, he smiled, satisfied with her silence. Astrid couldn’t see it, but she could hear it in his voice when he spoke again. “That’s what I thought,” he declared. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she argued. He glanced down at her shuffling feet as he led her down the steps. “I beg to differ,” he responded coolly as he continued to drag her along. They reached the front yard and Astrid dug her heels into the ground to slow their progress, trying to make the point that she would not go willingly or without a fight. All the time the pulling was dreadfully painful and it only increased when she resisted. But, aside from making the man pause for a moment, turn and smile broadly at her, her attempts did nothing. He simply picked her up and swung her into his arms, careful not to touch her right side too much.
Before she could begin yelling too loudly, he ran around to the back of the house and slid into his car still holding her. He cupped a hand tightly over her mouth and nose and waited until she quieted to speak again. “Done now?” Astrid was silent, but she cut her eyes at him again and he sighed exaggeratedly. “She could have warned me what a firecracker you are,” he said to himself. He then looked Astrid straight in the eye and spoke to her clearly and seriously as if she were a frightened child. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help and if you’ll promise not to scream again, I’ll sit you down in that seat over there,” he said, gesturing to the passengers side of the vehicle, “and we’ll go get something to eat and I’ll tell you all about myself.” He stopped, thought for a moment and then began again. “Okay, not all about myself, but as much as you need to know. And then after that, you can decide what happens next. If you don’t want my help, I’ll leave. No questions asked. You’ll never see me again.” He paused once more, hand still over Astrid’s mouth, but having let go of her nose. He dropped the serious tone of voice, “I’m sure you’ll be devastated and miss my charm and rugged good looks, but you’ll survive. You’re a strong woman. You did just try to attempt jumping out of a window with a broken rib, after all.” He chuckled, looked Astrid in the eyes and began laughing harder. She was still glaring at him, he could tell even in the dark and something about it was very entertaining.
After a moment, he got a bearing on himself and got back to business. “If I let you go, will you stay quiet? No more screaming? Will you let me explain myself and at least let me take you to get some food?” After a second of thought, Astrid nodded almost imperceptibly. He immediately let her go and she scrambled out of his lap to the passengers seat, ignoring the stabs of pain throughout her body. It was steadily getting worse, throbbing so badly it was a wonder to her that her bones hadn’t burst through her skin. He could tell she was still considering trying to run so he watched carefully for a moment before asking her to buckle up. She shot him another hateful look to which he replied with a gleam in his eye, “it’s not so much for your safety as it is so I’ll have a warning if you try to jump out.” He was having a lot of fun teasing her and Astrid did not appreciate it at all. Aside from being in unbearable pain, she was not in a tolerant mood, nor did she trust the man as far as she could throw him - which, in her condition, was not at all - but the thought of food made her a little more compliant. Plus, the curiosity was overwhelming.
He started the car and began backing around the house to the front facing the driveway. Astrid tried to settle back in the seat in an effort to relieve some of the agony, but nothing helped. She noticed the man looking at her out of the corner of his eye, but couldn’t decide if his expression was one of concern or not. He had yet to apologize for dropping her on her side, scaring her, dragging her, forcefully putting her in his car or making fun of her, so it seemed to her he was indifferent. Only the expression on his face as he watched her said otherwise; if only she could figure out what it was saying - he was so hard to read. “What’s your name?” the man wondered aloud. “What’s yours?” Astrid countered. She wasn’t purposely trying to be a smartass, but ‘I don’t have one’ seemed like a pretty lame way to go with a guy she didn’t even know. She wanted to find out what he was up to before she told him anything.
“Alright.” He sounded both amused and defeated. “Name’s Vince. I’m a lawyer.” Astrid took another look at Vince. He didn’t look like a lawyer. He was wearing a black leather jacket, loose blue jeans, steel-toed boots and even though his hair was short, it looked to be very unkempt. None of those things screamed lawyer in Astrid’s opinion. He looked more like a convict. He saw the doubtful look on her face. “Really. I am. Do you need to see a degree or something for me to prove it to ya? Sorry, Princess, but I don‘t carry that stuff around in my wallet.” Fabulous. More jokes. “Would you stop calling me princess,” Astrid asked him wearily. He had only said it twice, but it was wearing on Astrid‘s nerves - she was far from a princess. “So, I guess that’s not on your top ten list of names then?” Vince threw her a handsome half-smile, which she answered with another glare. She was getting great at those these last couple days.
“What do you mean my ’top ten list of names’?” “Just that you should start thinking about one.” Astrid looked at him, confusion and fear written all over her pale, dirty face. “I told you I was here to help. I’m going to give you a whole new identity.” She pulled her expression back together to one of near indifference and sluggishly, Astrid responded. “Why do I need help from a man that likely pulled his degree out of a box of lucky charms?” Ooh, Lucky Charms-that sounds good. “Ouch. Wheaties, actually. At least pick a manly cereal,” Vince scoffed. “Can you be serious? Ever?” “What? Just because I’m a lawyer, I’m supposed to lack a sense of humor? I don’t know what happened to you, but I hope you aren’t like this all the time or my next couple of weeks is really going to suck.” Astrid didn’t say anything as she was stuck on the fact that he‘d said ‘next couple of weeks‘ as if he was going to be around her that long. “Are you?” Vince interrupted her thoughts, truly curious. He sounded a little scared, too. “Like this all the time?” She paused. Her face grew pensive and then she answered, a little sadly, “I don’t know.”
Astrid wanted to think that it was just her recent experiences, the hunger and the constant throbbing throughout her frame that were causing her to be such unpleasant company, but she had no way of knowing if this was normal behavior for her or not. Besides, why did she need to be pleasant company anyway? After all she’d been through, she figured she was entitled to be a little cantankerous. “You never answered my question. About why I need your help,” she pointed out quietly as the car turned a corner onto a busy street lined with businesses lit up by glowing, neon lights and street lamps. “I think that’s pretty obvious, Princess. The question is why you would think you don’t.” “Why do you keep talking like you know everything about me? If you do, just spit it out already,” Astrid retorted. “And stop calling me princess.”
Vince pulled up to an Italian restaurant where he shut off the car and turned to face Astrid. It was the best look he’d gotten at her face all night and likewise, the best look she’d gotten at his, too. Astrid, however was too distracted by the increasing pain to notice much about Vince. She did observe as he started to speak again that he had nearly perfect teeth. “I don’t know everything about you”, he told her seriously. He was studying her face with an expression that looked disgustingly similar to pity, no doubt taking in the black eye and all her other cuts and scrapes now that they were finally in some decent light. He was quiet for a few moments more, studying her entire body - taking in the abuse that he could see on her exposed skin - with several emotions playing rapidly across his face before it finally hardened and he continued. “But I’m going to.” He turned and opened his door, got out quickly, but almost immediately turned around again as if he‘d forgotten something. He leaned down and asked Astrid what she wanted from the restaurant. She hesitated, trying to make sense of what just happened. One moment, he actually looked compassionate and then the next he looked murderous. Now, looking up at him from where she sat, Astrid saw that Vince had gone back to his usual flippant manner, all traces of any previous emotion wiped clean. Misreading her expression as one of hurt, Vince explained, “I‘m sorry, but I can‘t take you in there looking like that- all banged up. You can have whatever you want and we‘ll go somewhere a little more private to talk.” At these last words he chuckled. Shaking his head, mumbling to himself, “somewhere more private to talk. Can‘t believe I just said that to a beautiful woman and meant it.” Astrid rolled her eyes, but otherwise chose to ignore him. “I‘m not picky so whatever you get is fine.”
Vince gave her a smirk before he disappeared through the door. If he wanted her to hide out in the car, why didn’t he just take her to a drive-thru? She couldn’t really blame him, though. Astrid was sure she looked repulsive considering the fact that she was wearing torn, dirty clothing, she had abrasions all over the little of her skin that was exposed and despite the fact that she had that cold bath a couple days previously, there was no soap so aside from rinsing off an accumulation of dirt, she wasn’t really clean. Her hair must have been an oily, jagged, tangled mess and she didn’t even want to think about what she smelled like. Whether she wanted to think of it or not, it came unwelcome into her mind as she sat in the quiet darkness of the lawyer’s car. She immediately became acutely aware of the fact that she was about to be, once again, crunched up in a tiny sports car with a man whose last shower was probably taken that morning when she probably smelled strongly of mud, blood and sweat. What if she smelled like sewage? Astrid rolled down her window and slumped back into the seat feeling increasingly dejected. Twenty quiet minutes later, Vince was back with a white plastic bag in his hands. “Hold that, will ya?“ He sat it in Astrid’s lap as he positioned himself in his own seat. It was hot and the contents smelled divine, though Astrid was a bit overwhelmed to suddenly be bombarded with such tantalizing scents when she’d gone so long without eating. On the other hand, at least the smell of the food would cover her stench. Hopefully.
Vince didn’t ask about the window as they drove the short distance to a little park, complete with picnic tables and a lake just down at the bottom of a hill. It was a beautiful little place that would have been romantic for a date or a nice place to go if you just wanted to relax and think. Vince chose this spot because it was dark and private. They both got out, Astrid much more slowly than Vince - who offered his help - but Astrid vehemently refused. “I’d think you’d be a little more grateful. That’s a fifteen dollar meal in there, Princess. It’s not that far if you want me to take it back.” “No,” she breathed, her voice barely controlled, almost deadly sounding. Vince chuckled, “down kitty. It was just a joke. You could play a little nicer, though, huh?” “Sorry,” was all Astrid said as she carefully placed herself on top of a table over-looking the lake below, with her feet sitting down on the bench. Vince handed her a Styrofoam container, and a plastic fork. “You‘re welcome,” he said, when she neglected to say ‘thank you’ and she heard the note of seriousness in his voice. Finally, he wasn’t joking and it was over something as simple as two little words. Of all the things that could bother him, he was a freak about manners?
Instantly, Astrid felt contrite. She had all this aggression and anger piled high on top of the confusion and her physical pain, but it was no reason to behave so unkindly to someone that she could finally see was genuinely trying to help her. She was still suspicious as to why he would want to help her and how he even knew that she needed his help, but now she was more willing to listen and ease up on the attitude a bit. She apologized, sincerely this time, and thanked him. It earned her a small smile from Vince and he nodded for her to go ahead and eat. He knew she was famished and wanted to get her fed and have her wounds taken care of as soon as she’d let him.
That first meal was indisputably the most divine, heavenly thing her taste buds had ever been blessed enough to encounter. It took all she had not to toss the fork on the ground and dive in head first to inhale the entire contents of that container, but Astrid still had a fraction of dignity left and felt she’d much like to keep it. She grasped the fork as tightly as she could while she devoured the deliciousness Vince had brought to her, feeling it was the only connection she had to that tiny little sliver of dignity she was determined to hold on to. Don’t start licking the plate…don’t start licking the plate, she told herself over and over again when she had every last speck of food gone. Vince had barely touched his because he was so busy watching Astrid. He wondered, not for the first time, just how long it really had been since she’d had anything to eat. Once finished and conversation resumed, both Astrid and Vince noticed the improvement in Astrid’s temperament. She wasn’t without sarcasm and a little attitude here and there, but she was considerably more open and grateful.
“And long conversation short, Vince explained how he knew about me - which is still a bit of a mystery to both of us - and that he just wanted to help me get my life back. It took me a long time and a lot of interrogations and arguing to agree, but when I finally did, the first thing Vince did was take me to a friend of his who was a doctor a couple towns over and got my injuries treated. It appeared that I really had been beaten and the injuries were far more extensive than I‘d thought, but I‘m not any closer to finding out what actually happened. While I was healing, Vince and I planned to build a whole new everything for me. New name, new social security number, new background, family history- everything. He even got me a passport and helped me get that crap-ass house back in order once I was healed enough to work on it,” Astrid finished.
“But, how did he know about you? You never explained that part,” Lalita pointed out. Astrid took a sip of her newly re-filled coffee and gathered her thoughts again. “Like I said, neither of us is totally clear on that. He told me that a woman, who called herself Taryn, came to him and said she ’foresaw’”- Astrid used air quotations here - “my arrival. She told him that it was essential that I get the help I needed and even told him where I would be and that if I wasn‘t there, to wait. Oh, and she said something about keeping the whole thing a secret. Vince thinks that my being beaten is more than likely connected to why she wanted his help and her real identity to remain a secret. She actually threatened him with some kind of voodoo magic,” Astrid scoffed. “He thought she was some cracked out witch wanna-be, but when she gave him a boat load of money to help me…well…he reconsidered. He did some research on her, of course, to find out whatever he could - make sure she wasn’t some kind of criminal, that the money wasn’t stolen - all that sort of stuff. But he never found anything on anyone named Taryn that fit her description. Five days after that encounter, he came to find me. He didn’t think he’d actually find anything, but he was amused and curious so….that’s that.”
Astrid waited nervously to be bombarded with more questions and was not disappointed. “So, you don’t know anything about her, why she wanted him to help you, where she came from, where the money came from, why she didn‘t come find you herself and explain…nothing?” Astrid could tell Lalita was in complete disbelief. “Just add it to the big bag of mysteries in my life. Vince has even tried running my fingerprints to see if there was any information on me, but I wasn’t in any system anywhere. For a long time, there was no one who knew anything about me except for this witch woman that no one can seem to find. I can‘t figure out how we‘re connected.” “You’re still looking for her?” “Well, Duh. Vince has been looking since before we met, but he and I spent so much time together coming up with background information, fabricating family and friends and a whole history for me- we became good friends- and so he decided to keep looking to try and help me fit some more of the pieces together.”
Lalita’s eyes sparkled and her blond head perked up even more as she smiled, “are you and the lawyer…..” she trailed off suggestively. “No! He’s handsome, but no. No.” She could barely find words. Astrid, unable to visualize herself being romantic with Vince without laughing, almost spilled her coffee everywhere as she bowled over in a fit of hilarity. Once she had semi-composed herself, she began speaking again. “He’s a nice guy and I’m grateful to him. I really, truly like him, but only as a friend. He’s far too annoying for anything else. Everything is a joke with him and he’s so easily amused and he analyzes everything! He’s cocky and arrogant, but somehow has an obsession with manners and he’s a hypocrite when it comes to women. It drives me insane and if we ever tried anything….like that…together…it would just be….not pretty.”
Astrid could barely keep her thoughts in order. She’d never thought of Vince that way. Not even once. She’d only ever thought of Alex romantically. Alex. She always came back to Alex. When thoughts of her absent boyfriend, came unbidden into her mind, it was sobering. She began to worry about him, but then remembered she was pissed at him and promptly cast the worried thoughts away. “Yeah. So. Moving on,” Astrid said crisply. Lalita was confused and suspicious about the abrupt change in the atmosphere, but had other things she wanted to discuss so she complied easily with Astrid’s wishes and moved on.
“Name. What name did you choose?” Lalita asked. She was tired of not knowing what to call her old friend and was sure calling her by her given name would have confused the hell out of her that first night at the bar. Lalita was grateful that, growing up, they had never called each other by their names much, choosing other endearments instead. All through school, Lalita had called her ’Doll’ so it was natural to keep calling her that. It was a hard habit to break. Names were a topic Astrid was happy to discuss. She’d been waiting for the chance to tell someone why she chose Astrid and also saw it as an opening to get to the discussion she really wanted to have- the one where she was the one asking the questions and finally, finally getting the answers. “I searched and searched for names forever, it felt like. I found names that I liked, but they just never seemed to suit me. I didn’t want to give myself a name that meant something crazy like ‘lady with three nipples’, but I also didn’t want to choose something that would convey I thought too highly of myself. Finally, I was reading through a book of names that Vince got me - he highlighted Princess in pink, by the way - and I found Astrid. The meaning in the book was listed as ‘divine strength’. I liked it because that’s something I knew I’d need if I was ever going to make it through this. It’s what I wanted, but didn’t have so…I gave it to myself. Metaphorically anyway. Cheesy, huh?”
“A little,” Lalita admitted and smiled. “But I like it. Astrid.” Lalita tried the name out. “It suits you.” Astrid was just getting ready to ask her what her real name was when Lalita interrupted, “last name?” Ready to get to everything else, Astrid kept her explanation short and sweet and delivered it quickly, almost in one breath. “I was reading Harry Potter. Fawkes is a kickass phoenix who’s reborn from his own ashes when he dies. It reminded me of my situation a little. So, there you go…Phoenix.” Before Lalita could ask anything more, Astrid pressed on impatiently. “My turn.” She settled in and got comfortable while she prepared to launch into her interrogation.
Keep reading? Go to CHAPTER 12
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