Page 34 of Redd

How do you believe, when the hands that supposedly created you, also molded the monster that took you?

But I was saved. . . That has to mean something.

Putting the book back in the exact spot I found it, the thin edge of something white on the wall caught my eye. Dropping to my knees, I pulled the small table out across the carpet and my breath caught in the back of my throat.

Yes! I knew it.

A black cord was plugged into the socket, laying flat against the seam of the wall. Pinching it between my fingertips, I crawled across the carpet and followed the trail. The cord went behind his dresser, coming out on the other side. Tugging it free, I pulled the last few inches through my fingers, and my body went numb.

He didn't. . .

No, he definitely did.

Holding up the cord, the end that should have had a phone was bare. There was nothing on the other end, but deep down I knew there had been a phone there.

He fucking took it.

Redd took the damn phone so I couldn't use it!

My heart raced inside my chest, spitting with black fire. I was back in that hell, warped into a different version of what I had been living. Only this time my captor fed me, he kept me warm, he gave me freedom to move around. . . But he stole my connection to the outside world, leaving me alone in a wasteland of trees.

Redd didn't need walls to keep me in, not when he had nature to do it for him.

Slinking down onto my ass, I leaned against the box spring, tears teetering on the edge of my lids.

I thought he had saved me.

I thought he had swooped in and whisked me away.

But the searing pain in my gut told me something different. . .

Maybe I was wrong.