The Soldier Next Door

…Matt POV…

If I thought that this day could not get any worse, some asshole has just struck me against the head. I can only think of one man, and god, James, better hope that I never get loose.

But as I look next to me, in a bundle on the floor completely covered in the mud, is Ana lying in complete stillness. So with a pounding head, I push myself off the floor to go over to her.

“Ana, wake up.”

But there is no answer. Once again, I pull at her shoulder.

“Ana, wake up.”

Still no response.

“God, Ana, fucking wake up.”

The dread sinks over my body, has that goddamn monster killed her. But then I hear a loud gasp and a struggle for her to catch her breath.

“Fuck, Ana, I thought you were…”

“Damn, Matty, I nearly thought I was.”

“What the hell is going on here?”

“Matty, I think that Ethan is in danger.”

With that, a suffocating silence fills every corner of the room. As I look into her eyes, I have never seen so much terror in one’s face.

“What do you mean Ethan is in danger?”

“I heard them talking?”

“Who are them? Is there more than one?”

“I could not make out voices clearly, but there were definitely two men talking.”

“God, I just hope my dad is looking for us.”

Just then, I see the tears forming in the corners of her face; they are like a raging river that is about to burst its banks. I lean closer to her and softly whisper in her ear, “Ana, someone will find us. You know that Ethan will not give up until he knows that you are saved..”

I only but swallow my own tears and grind into my teeth to try to hide my very own emotion from her. Somehow even I feel hopeless.

Then all of a sudden, the two men that had us earlier on comes rushing into the room, “Come, we need to move you.”

With that, a new relief sets over my body; someone must be looking for us. They shackle up our hands again, they shove black covers over our face, and lead us outside back into yet another van.

We seem to drive for what seems to be hours; as I manage to see out from underneath the blindfold, I can see we are at a small little white house. There is someone at the front gate. There seems no way that we are getting out of her.

We walk up on a gravel road that soon leads us up to a fair amount of stairs. The air is even colder out here, and I can smell what is possibly a dam or a river that is nearby. The rain has now started to beat down even harder on our skin, drenching our clothes even before we come to a door. Then they swing it wide open, and I am caught off guard by the ghastly smell that seems to become from everywhere.

Then they lead us down an endless hallway; all I can hear is the tapping of Ana’s stilettos that echoes through the empty space that fills the air. We soon find ourselves descend down to what I believe is some basement. With each step I take, the fear and dread seem to cripple my body. I doubt if we will ever get out of here alive.

Then as they finally drop us down on the floor, I hear the one man speaks; it is clearly James, “Your little boyfriend and brother are going to pay for this.”

…Ethan POV…

I find myself waking up in what seems like a small bunker. The stench down here is unbearable, and it has been filling up from the rain that has only but started to drop on a few minutes ago.

The last thing I can remember is standing in the ops tent frantically trying to bet hold of Matty and Ana.

Have we come under attack again? Did I once again let my guard down? But why am I the only one here? God, I hope the rest of the camp is still alive.

But that is not my greatest concern; what has happened to Ana? Her last words to me were help. What could she possibly need help with? Has James done to her what everybody around town has spoken of?

God, if I can only get out of here, then I will find myself back on the first supply plane home.

So I find myself in a far side corner of this godforsaken whole, where I have crawled into a corner that seems nearly dry enough. With each dreadful minute, I feel even more powerless. Will they leave me down here to die? I can feel as every bit of ounce of will seem to leave my body. To worsen the horrid situation, my legs seem to be throbbing. The person that has thrown me down here had no desire to be gentle.

My only wish now is that I could have seen Ana one more time, just once more, before this all comes to an end. Even now, more than ever do, I feel bad for the way that I have treated her. I should have never pushed her away and played the victim when I had so much part to play in the very game.This material belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

I should have thought about my words; I should have thought about how it must have felt for her to be so lonely and away from me, especially after losing the baby. We were such a strong team; how did we become so weak?

With all this in mind, I start to drift off into darkness once again, this time not from someone taking me but from me that is ready to give up on caring.

Has Ana and Matty met the same fate as me? Do they find themselves somewhere in a hole just like me? What has my actions done to deserve the once near me to suffer?

Then next thing, I am ripped awake by the sounds of voices coming from above. Someone is dangling with a lock and trying to up it up with a key. The pure joy sets over my body. Has someone finally found me?

Next, I hear the click-clack of the sounds of someone’s eager feet; in the darkness, I can only make out a silhouette. It is not a man that is standing in front of me; it is very much a woman, and next to her is a man that I do not recognize.

Taking one long deep breath, I sit in anticipation and wait for her to show her face. As the shadow of a person steps out of the darkness, I am dumbstruck by the sight that is in front of me. There is nothing but confusion written all over my face.

“What are you doing here?”

… Ana POV…

God, I nearly thought that I was going to die; if that one man with the blurred voice did not tell James to leave me alone, then I swear that I would have been dead by now. What have I done to Matty and Ethan? Why have I done this to them? My silly need to feel wanted to lead me to a man that was nothing but a monster.

He was nice in the beginning, but then the minute we set foot back in my old town, he changed in an instant. He told me about his big plan to get Ethan what he deserves. He never told me why and where he knows Ethan from. He only told me that if I say anything that he will kill Ethan’s family.

I have done nothing wrong to them, so I rather kept my mouth shut and endured the emotional abuse that he put me through every day. He was hell bend on setting to destroy and bring Ethan down to a punishment that he thought that Ethan was worth of deserving.

I just wish as I sit here that I could have trusted Ethan enough to look after himself and that he would have found a way out of this like he always does. Yet, I am the one that acted like a coward. I should have never gone for that coffee and let James into my life, but yet I think even if I did not, he would have found a way in on his own.

Next, I hear the click-clack of the sounds of someone’s eager feet; in the darkness, I can only make out a silhouette. There are two men that are standing in front of Matty and me.

Taking one long deep breath, I sit in anticipation and wait for her to show her face. As the shadow of a person steps out of the darkness, I am dumbstruck by the sight that is in front of me. There is nothing but confusion written all over my face.

“What are you doing here?”