Page 87 of Two Daddies for Little Jenna

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Michael said as he squealed in excitement, shifting his gaze between us as everyone leaned forward. "If they're the same person, he knows where she lived in the cult. He visited her window at night often. He said he wants to punish her, so he knows very well what Jenna's scared of, which is being locked up in basements. He locked her up in her own basement! It's his crazy idea of punishing her. She feared dying in there, and now he's going to make her relive her worst nightmares by making her worst fears come true."

"Wait, so you're saying we'll find her in the basement of her home?" Clark asked.

"How do we find her home?" I asked when Michael nodded.

A smile crept on Michael's face as he raised his head in pride looking at how proud his Daddy seemed at his skills. "Detective Michael comes to the rescue once again. She once told me they had this giant oak tree in the backyard, that it was so close yet so far, since she wasn't allowed to leave home. She liked to stare at it through her window. Now, there don't seem to be any oak trees around, so if we drive around to find one in a backyard, we find her home."

"Michael, you're such a good boy!" John scooped his boy off the floor and put him on his hip as he gave him a quick peck on the lips, causing him to giggle. "You're getting ice cream for breakfast for one month straight."

Michael hadn't giggled ever since Jenna disappeared, and it was unsettling to watch him so serious all the time. It was so relieving to hear him giggle again. It gave me hope that we'd find Jenna soon and everything would be back to normal, except this time we'd love her twice as much.

"Let's get our babygirl back," Clark said as he stood up, catching the keys I tossed at him. "No one's gonna stop me from breaking every bone in that stalker's body. And no, Nick. I don't want you to remind me that it's best left to the authorities."

"Oh, I'll be right there with you," I said as everyone followed him out the door. "Some crimes are just too big to be justly punished by the law."

Chapter 38: Jenna

So this was the punishment, a slow and cruel death. When I'd surrendered myself to save my Daddies, I expected to be stabbed to death, but instead, the masked man taped up my mouth so I wouldn't call for help, led me outside, and blindfolded me before driving me for an entire day. I was scared like a lamb being taken to a slaughterhouse, but it gave me time to think. My biggest regret was not getting to say goodbye to my Daddies. I just hoped they didn't think I had abandoned them.

I was still blindfolded when I'd been led into a house and into its basement. I had begged him to not lock me up in the basement. It was my worst fear but no amount of begging and pleading was going to change his mind. He slapped me around before uncuffing me and taking my blindfold off. I'd run after him crying, falling at his feet hoping he'd have mercy as I continued beginning for a different punishment. But he was a heartless monster, kicking me and locking me up after saying I deserved it for what I'd done. At first, I'd been desperate in my attempts to claw at the door and push against it. I felt like I couldn't breathe and my heart raced so fast I was afraid I was going to have a heart attack. But then I remembered my Daddies' teachings, their loving faces telling me to take deep breaths and showing me how.

It had been three days since I'd been taken, and the darkness was just as scary as all those years of being locked up cruelly. There was no food but plenty of water. He wanted me to starve to death, but he wanted me to suffer first and die a slow death, hence the abundance of water. My initial plan was to not drink any water so I'd die a quick death, but soon the hallucinations had begun like they always did. The mind came up with its own reality when it lacked visual and audio sensations. But this time the hallucinations were different. I was out on a warm summer afternoon and it was bright outside as my friends chased me around the cabin in the woods. I could clearly see my Daddies holding hands as they came up to me, asking me to stay hydrated. How could I ever say no to them? They weren't real and yet I knew it was exactly what they would've asked me to do. They were asking me how could I give up on life when I knew they couldn't live without me. And so I drank to my stomach's fill, drank when my stomach rumbled from hunger and drank when I needed their warmth, drank when I needed to tell them they loved me, and drank when I was scared. Water was the only real thing that kept me sane and still in reality.

Self-loathing soon turned to fading hope. My Daddies had promised me I would never have to spend another day locked up in a basement again, and yet here I was. There was no way they could know where I was, or who my kidnapper was. I decided to spend my last days reminiscing my happy days. Despite all the promises of growing old together, I'd never get to see my Daddies again but I had to remember every single detail of my time with them. As long as I kept them in my memories, I could continue to be the brave Little girl they always called me. The truth was that I was scared, but remembering them was the only way I could die being my Daddies' brave girl.

Reliving memories was the only thing one could do when locked up in a pitch-dark basement with nothing to do. Soon my mind was turning memories into reality as a coping mechanism. I was no longer in the basement as I felt myself move from one memory to another. One moment I was being approached by Daddy Clark in rain after running away from him, being called a friend for the first time by Michael in another, and in a different one I had my head in Daddy Nick's lap as he showed me his secret spot in the park, saying it was now mine too. Memories were such a strange thing. Sometimes they were the only bridge to a past long gone. As much as I hated to admit it, I knew I wouldn't get to hear Daddy Nick sing me his famous lullaby or Daddy Clark scold me not to run in the house. All those times I'd been defiant about not wanting to eat veggies and taking revenge on Kristen when that time could've been spent telling them how much I loved them.

I was beginning to realize I was going through stages of grief. First, there was denial and disbelief that I would never get to see them again, then came anger, followed by acceptance of my fate through reliving the happy memories. Part of acceptance was that I wouldn't have done anything differently. If I could go back in time a thousand times, I would sacrifice my life every single time, for it meant ensuring my Daddies' safety. They might hate me for going against their wishes for the rest of their lives, but at least they'd be alive.

Now I groped around in the darkness, finding one of the dozens of water bottles lying on the floor. It was funny how people took light and sound for granted. How I'd do anything to be outside running around in the woods again, hearing my puppy Nico's bark or my Daddies' laugh.

Just as I took a sip from the bottle, the door to the basement flew open. Being blinded by the sudden light, I covered my eyes with a hand, slowly peeking from the tiny gaps between my fingers. Like Gods descending from heaven, there were my Daddies rushing down the stairs, the brightest smiles on their faces.

"Oh, my sweet Daddies," I said quietly when they came up to me and just stood there, as if in disbelief. "I know this is just a hallucination, a coping mechanism for how much I miss you. But it's the most real one yet, and so I'll tell you my goodbyes. You want me to be strong, but I can't do this anymore. I grow weaker with each passing day and I'm constantly scared. I love you, Daddies. But I'll never get to see you again, and I'll have to die knowing that. So goodbye now. It was fun while it lasted."

"We love you too," Nick said, taking Clark's hand who looked like he would burst into tears any moment. "But this isn't a hallucination, darling. Your Daddy and I are here to save you."

When they threw their arms around me in a hug, my eyes widened realizing the warmth from their bodies didn't feel like a hallucination. They lay soft kisses on my head and it was all it took for me to begin sobbing.

"Daddies, you're really here?" I looked up at them through tears blurring my vision. "I'm not going to die alone here?"

"No, sweetheart." Clark rubbed at his eyes and took a deep breath. "You thought your Daddies were going to stop looking for you? We were devastated and had lost hope, but your friends helped us find you."

"Everything in the world might as well be fake and a hallucination," I said as they caressed my face, tears running down my cheeks. "But your love for me is real, and it's all that matters. I've missed you so much."

"No more crying, sweet bunny." Nick wiped my tears. "You're back where you belong, the safety of our loving arms. No one's going to hurt you now."

"Come, we must hurry and get you to safety." Clark took my hand as the rest of the group of friends hurried down the stairs.

"Jenna!" Elijah yelled as he threw his hands up in the air, charging towards me with Michael by his side. "Michael's a genius. He was the one who said you must be here. You should've seen him going into detective mode, analyzing the clues like a real detective."

Seeing the basement in light rushing through the door, I realized I was in the basement of the home I grew up in.

"Thanks, Michael," I said as Michael blushed. "I always knew you were smart."

"Pish posh." Michael waved a hand in the air nonchalantly as his cheeks turned red. "A lucky guess was all it was. It was more of a group effort. You look like you haven't eaten in days. Here, have an energy bar."

"Alright, Littles," uncle John said as I chomped on the energy bar. "You can catch up on our way back home. Like your uncle Clark said, we should get her to safety first. You never know when the masked man might return to check up on her."