Page 55 of The Bones We Break
“So. Ana obviously gets into her car and drives down the same way back as how she arrived. Then, I managed to find her car on another traffic cam.” Eli lifts his hand and gestures to the change in camera, this one from a birds eye view of her passing through a set of traffic lights before turning down a side street. The camera flicks again as it follows her down the quiet street before she pulls onto the highway. “Now, she didn’t take this route from here to the coffee shop so I’m not sure what made her change her mind.” Eli says as he flicks through various cameras to follow Ana’s car. Did something spook her? Did she just fancy a different drive? Surely something sent her down this different road and I can’t stop my brain from thinking the worst. My eyes stay glued to the screen as she picks up speed down the highway, the sky darkening behind her. The road is fairly quiet apart from the odd car flying by so I can’t understand what went wrong. It’s a straight road with barely a handful of cars and she’s definitely not driving erratically.
“This is what I needed to show you, Dean.” There’s no humour in Eli’s voice, it’s sharp and straight to the point andI turn my head to face him. His face is stoic. “What is it Eli?” I ask, my voice full of trepidation. He stays silent and presses play again and my soul fucking breaks, it cracks straight down the middle before shattering into shards that bleed me dry from the inside out. The black SUV that Eli told me about, the very same one that followed me home from work drives up the side of her, essentially pushing her into the closest lane to the barrier in the middle. She swerves the car then picks up speed to get in front of the SUV but it soon catches up with her again, this time getting right behind her, almost touching the bumper of the Chevy. The camera continuously flicks through each intersection that she passes, the SUV right behind her now. My vision begins to blur and I think it’s from tears. I don’t remember the last time I cried but now I’m absolutely ready to break the floodgates. She must be so fucking scared and I wasn’t there to protect her, to keep her safe like I promised. I close my hands into a fist, the skin turning bright white on my knuckles as the SUV clips the back of her car and she fishtails down the road but manages to pull it back, quickly switching lanes. The chase feels like it goes on forever but it’s all over in a matter of seconds as the SUV rams right into the back of Ana’s car, and this time she can’t keep control, the back end whips erratically and smoke begins to plume from the tires as she applies the brakes. The whole scene plays out in front of me in a matter of seconds. One moment Ana’s car is up right, the next it’s flipping down the road, sparks flying from the metal scraping along the tarmac. A noise that I can’t even describe falls from my lips, its pure agony at watching the woman I love flip over and over down the road until everything just stops and I’m sure my heart stops at the same time.
The pain that’s firing through me is something I’ve never ever felt before, not even when my parents used to abuse me or whenI found them dead. This right here, is hell on earth.
“Do you need a minute, man?” Eli asks quietly but I grit my teeth and shake my head. “No.” I clear my throat. “No. I need to see this. I need.. Just finish it. Please.” My voice breaks as I watch the SUV pull up behind Ana’s wrecked car, white hot steams billows from the crushed bonnet and there’s glass sprayed all over the asphalt. I’m not even fully convinced that Ana has survived this. I mentally scold myself for thinking the worst but the scene before me is horrendous. It’s chaos, it’s messy, it’s hellish. I struggle to take my eyes away from the Chevy, but I manage it as a man who’s the size and shape of a literal mountain exits the car. He’s bald with black wrap around shades on and a black suit. I can’t make out any prominent features or any form of identification. I’ve never seen this man before, as he steps closer to Ana’s car and yanks open the warped driver’s side door before pushing his arm into the car, but I can’t see anything else as he dips behind the frame of the car.
Is he checking on Ana? Is he looking for something? A million questions and theories bounce around my head and I have to push my fingers into my eyes to ease the impending headache. Myself and Eli sit in dead silence as we both watch this bald fucker drag Ana’s lifeless body out of the car with her arm. Her raven hair that I love to run my fingers through covers one side of her face, her clothes are shredded to pieces, strips of material splay open to show her bloodied and battered skin. The scene alone causes me to let the dam break, hot tears stream down my face and my whole body shakes with boiling anger and frustration. I stand to my full height and slam my fists into the countertop until my skin splits and bleeds, because I deserve every ounce of pain that I can bring onto myself. It should be me who’s being dragged across glass, being sliced to pieces, not her.Not fucking her! I bring my arms up again to slam them down until Eli grabs a hold of them, putting a stop to the self inflicting abuse.
“Dean, Dean! That’s enough. Stop.” His voice warps in and out of my mind as I let the rage filled haze take over my body. I open my mouth to speak, to scream, I don’t fucking know anymore. “Dean! Pull yourself together!” Eli’s grip tightens around me, and I admit defeat and drop my head to this shoulder, tightly squeezing my eyes shut. My fist finds his shirt and I wrap the fabric tightly in my grip. “This.. this is my fucking fault Eli- I should have done more to protect her, I should..” My voice breaks and cracks as I pour my heart out to my best friend. “This isn’t your fault and you know it isn’t. You need to get your shit together so that we can fucking find Ana.” Eli’s voice is harsh but I know he’s right. I can’t find the love of my life in this messed up state. I swallow the tears away and pull myself away from Eli to stand in front of the laptop again. “I’m sorry.” I say and Eli places a firm hand onto my shoulder. “There’s nothing to be sorry for man.” He simply says and presses play on the laptop, the feed continuing. As much as I want to look away I need to take in every minuscule detail of the video, and watch as Ana is dragged across the rough tarmac, then carried into the trunk of the SUV before it speeds away.
“I tried to track where it went but the traffic cams stop after it gets off at the next intersection. I’ll do everything I can to find this fucker, I promise. I’m also gonna run the plates again to see if it shows up anywhere else. I refuse to believe they’re untraceable.” I don’t have the words to give Eli at the moment as I watch the now empty screen, my own worn down reflection looking back at me, so I just nod instead. “We’ll find her man, I promise. She’s a strong woman. Don’t lose faith.” I try to hang onto his words the best that I can. Anaisa strong fuckingwoman and I know that whatever happens to her, and wherever she is, she’ll fight with everything she has until I can bring her home, and that’s the one thing I’m certain of, is that I’ll bring her the fuck home and Ricky De Rossi will die by my hands.
Where am I? I need help. Everything is hurting and I don’t know where I am. What’s that smell? I can’t open my eyes, why can’t I open my eyes? Please. Someone help me. Dean, where’s Dean? I.. want. I’m so tired. Why is everything hurting? Someone is here. It’s Dean, it must be, he’s.. He’s here to help me. I think. It’s so dark and I’m so tired. Why is everything moving so fast but so slow?
I think I’m tired. It’s dark and I’m sleepy. Please, someone help.
“Welcome home,sweetheart.”
To be continued.