21. Ticking

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The door busts open. I could hear my brother yelling, footsteps running towards us.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Jordan pulls our father away from me. I gasp for air immediately, trying to grasp my breathing again.

"I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her!" He shouts in a fuss. I quickly sit up with my hands on my chest.

The room was a mess. I noticed, until now to see that this room was abandoned. The paint on the walls were chipped, the ceiling was practically falling off. The corners of the room where filled with mold, and the floor was just plain dusty. 

I could see them wrestling each other, until Sam grabs a brick by the corner of the room and hits my father in the back of the head.

The squirming stops. My father lays flat on the ground with a small wound on his head.

Sam pants quickly, staring down at him as Jordan looks at the drops of blood coming out of his head.

"Did I- did I ?" Sam widens her eyes, tossing the brick away as if she had just killed a man.

"No, he's still breathing. Who knows how long he'll be unconscious." Jordan runs towards me, staring directly at my neck.

"I'm- I'm okay." I gasp, trying to control myself. Jordan sighs in relief as he looks back at our father.

"We need to tie him up." He points at Sam. "Get the rope from his desk." He demands. Sam quickly runs out without question.

"We should kill him." I stare at my vulnerable father in hatred.

"We can't. We need him for your testimony." Jordan takes out his phone and places a call. The phone rings for a while, until I hear a familiar voice pick up.

"Logan! Logan, you need to listen. You need to come as soon as possible. My father is unconscious, I don't know how long I can hold up a lie." Jordan whispers in a panicky tone.

"I'm getting into a private plane. You need to tell me your coordinates, your ship number at least." I could hear Logan's faint voice from the phone.

"00981, that's the ship's number. I don't know, I don't know the coordinates!" My brother places his hand on his forehead as he paces back and forth.

"Stay on the line, is Sam there?" Logan questions.

"No, she's getting the rope to tie my dad up." Jordan tries to inhale and exhale deeply.

"I need you to calm down. Tie the son of a bitch up and place him in a closet." Logan continues to type on a keyboard.

"I will." Jordan looks back at me and clears his throat. "Ariel is here, she's awake." He nervously walks towards me.

"Put her on the phone!" Logan demands. I could hear him shout from my bed as my brother passes the phone to me.

"Logan!" I couldn't help, but yell his name in relief.

"Ariel, are you okay?" Hearing his voice sent my heart skipping beats. I couldn't contain such happiness.

"I-I'm fine..." My sudden smile fades as I try to suck up my tears. "I'm sorry, I just can't hold it." I begin to cry like a baby for his mother. "My father- he tried to kill me!"

"Listen to me, you'll make it out. I promise, you'll make it out of there." His reassuring tone sends comfort to my mind and body.

"I know, I know because it's you saying it. You had me safe in your home, you can do it again. I know you can!" I wipe away my tears.

"I..." There's a sudden pause from his side of the line. He then sighs heavily. "I care about you, Ariel." Logan confesses.

"I care about you too." I add. My heart pounded faster while I said those words. I could feel hope again by the sound of his voice.

Sam runs back inside the room with wires. "I couldn't find the rope, only this." She places the wires on Jordan's hands.

"Sam's here. "I wave her over. "I'll pass her."

Sam takes the phone and begins to speak to her brother. Jordan grips onto our fathers hands tying them up tightly on his back.

"I love you." I hear Sam say trying to contain her tears.

This woman was a stranger in the beginning, but now I love her like a sister. We had gone through so much together, we bonded without even trying.

I could just see us getting out of here, living together with Logan. That has been my fantasy ever since I got stuck here again. Somehow, I have feelings for him, I love him, but I can't say the same about him. This is his job after all.

My fantasy has brought me comfort when I'm alone and afraid. I guess it's a defense mechanism, I don't know.

"Guys! He's tracked the ship! He told me he's on the way!" Sam shouts, snapping me out of my trance.

That's when I felt at peace. I felt hope again.

I couldn't help, but cheer for excitement as Sam joined me. We threw our own five second parade of pre-freedom.

Jordan stayed silent, finishing tying up our fathers legs. "Help me, put him in the closet." He grabs the man's upper body while Sam grabs his legs. They toss him on the opened closet next to me.

Jordan grabs the duck tape from the nightstand and tapes our father's mouth with multiple rolls.

"That should keep him shut." He sighs, brushing his hands off, shutting the door behind him.

"You need to get up and try to walk. Once Logan gets here, we need to make a break for it." Jordan extends his hand towards me.

I hold onto his hand as he pulls me on my feet slowly. I manage to stand up for a few seconds, until my legs start to wobble. Pain shot through all my wounds making me sit back on the bed.

I could see the disappointment in my brother's eyes, but I could tell he felt bad for me too. "How long did he say he would take?" Jordan looks at Sam for an answer.

"Three days, the least. The ship isn't close to India yet." Sam rubs my shoulder as if it was okay that I couldn't walk yet.

"Come on, I have to walk again." I try to get up. Jordan grabs onto my arms while Sam lightly holds onto my waist. "I have to do this. I don't want to be a burden." I wince.

"It's okay, just take it easy." Sam calmly says in support.

For thirty minutes I manage to walk from the bed to the end of it. We repeated the process, until I got the hang of it. I had three days to learn how to walk again, time was ticking, so was life.
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"Come on, come on. Pick up the phone!" Philip whispers in a cramped, dark space.

His calls were automatically sent to voicemail. "Boss, it's me. Pick up the phone! Logan is on the way, I'm on the plane with him without his consciousness. I need you to be ready for an ambush."

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