Unwarranted Abduction

“Help me Lord. Please give me the strength to get through this. I need my husband and children. I need to see them one last time to say goodbye. Please, help me,” Diane thought.
She tightly squeezed the dirt she scraped from the cellar’s floor in her bloodied fist. Her nails were broken and sharply ragged making them prick deeper into the palms of her hands. Thankfully, the chains bolted around her heavily weighed legs and wrists had started to numb the swollen, torn skin.
Ridden of pain, Diane propped up to glance around. The darkness and smell that reaped all around her hung close in the air. The only sound was heard faintly in the distance above the tiny room.
“Help! Help me somebody, please!” She barely yelled as she tried many times before. The weakness has taken hold.
Diane refused to cry. She refused to let them beat her down. At least they fed her somewhat. The well water she drank once a day was gritty and metallic but it kept her alive. For now.
She soothed her slightly swollen abdomen that cradled her unborn child. It made her sick to think of how hurt Kenneth would be when they presented him with the autopsy report. She did not tell her husband yet that she was having their third child. Diane had planned on telling him in private when he got back from his trip. She could see his proud smile as he took her in his loving arms. Silent tears would fall from his eyes as done twice before when she announced the wonder news of life.
Diane felt different with this pregnancy. The effects were different than the other two. She could be carrying the son Kenneth has always wanted. The son he would never have. At least not with her.
“No. No. I can’t think like this. I won’t let that happen.” She shook her head side to side denying the inevitable.
“Bring it on Bastards. I’m here. Come down and get me. I have something for you!”
“Why is this happening to me?”
Diane had always done everything right. She was a good child growing up. She had always gotten A’s and B’s on her report cards. She was honored nationally in high school. Diane was top ten at University of Maryland and graduated top five from Maryland Law School.
Diane worked for the DA’s office before Johanna was born. She put away hardened criminals for a living.
“That’s it. Someone I put away got released. It has to be. Who are you? What are your names? What do you want, revenge? I’m here. Come and get me!”
Diane fell to stillness as she listened for a response. Still only muffled sounds could be heard.
Defying sleep, Diane sang a tune and imagined putting her girls to bed. She could feel the embrace of her wonderful daughters and the smell of shampoo recently rinsed from their fine, damp hair.
“Buffalo Gals, won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight. Buffalo Gals, won't you come out tonight and dance by the light of the moon.”
Diane laughed. She does not know why Johanna and Louisa like that song so much. It really drives her crazy.
“Crazy. I’m going nuts down here you bastards! Screw you and your mothers!” Her breath was shallow.
Tired. She was getting tired again already. She just woke up. She had to stay awake and get her thoughts straight…..she had to be ready.
Light. Diane needed light. She would dig down deep and find the extra strength to crawl all around and explore. There could be sticks around the edge of the room or buried below the surface. She could chew the ends and make weapons. Rocks would hurt someone if she aimed forcibly at the head. Rocks might even work to break the chains.
Diane had to set a plan in motion. If they actually came down when she was awake, she could do harm. She could play dead. That might work.
Diane knew they came down when she was out because the trash from the day before was always gone. The water bottle seemed to be reused every time. During the day she could see sometime if she woke for a short time and if the sun hit the right way.
The wooden trap door creaked open letting shards of light and sound enter the small room. The man climbed down four steps of the wooden ladder. She never could see his face.
“Nobody can hear you, you bitch. Shut-up or we get your children too.” The man with the strong accent laughed and he really meant business. Diane had been in the company of many politicians before from abroad, but his dialect could not be placed.
“As long as we have you alive, we won’t need them. Here, eat your food and keep your mouth shut.”
“Leave my girls alone! I’ll do what you say. What do you want? My husband will give you anything you want,” she begged.
“You better pray he does or more people will die.”
Diane saw him toss the plastic bottle and bag from above. She heard the plastic bounce a few times. The room went dark and quiet again. She managed to get on all fours and swept the black floor with flinging arms and hands. Chains clinked and tangled her arms, but she managed to find her savor. Food and water.
She knew the drill now. She knew what would happen next. Diane swallowed the cold burger and fries and drank the horrific water, guzzling fast. Stuffing her face made her stomach ache making her hold her hand over her mouth so the contents would not come back up like the few times before.
Moments ticked by. Diane blindingly scoured the small room and found the corner where the bucket and lid was stored. At least they had the decency to supply toilet paper. The makeshift toilet was never rinsed out, just emptied every night. She lifted the cover and held her breath long enough to relieve herself. Quickly recovering the pail, she crawled hurriedly back to her spot. Yes, she had a spot. A place to call her own.
Diane curled up in the embedded outline of her body on the cold ground and covered up with the wool blanket. Again, she tried to think back to that day. She tried to think of how long they drove.
Once she was conscious in the trunk of the car, Diane recalled moving for approximately an hour before they stopped. Both men had ski masks on so she couldn’t identify them. Seeing she was awake, the one man put the cloth over her nose and mouth making her groggy again.
She recalled the sun was almost fully set and she could see a lot of land. She remembered the paint peeling off of the old sun-bleached farmhouse. The shutters were once blue, she could tell. She remembered the faded sign hanging alongside the door with a carved number 15 and the name of…..what was the damn name on the mailbox? Diane could not remember.
Now, the drugs were taking effect like it did every time she ate. Diane prayed for the safety of her unborn child growing in her womb. She knew starving herself and not eating would be more harmful to her little one than the sedative that coated the burger.
Diane fought off the wooziness and tried to gather her thoughts before she fell asleep.
“Come on, Diane. Think. Think hard.” She strained trying to conceive.
“Anna. Please hear me tonight. Please see what I see.”