Page 2 of Triple the Secrets
Both girls nodded and didn’t waste time rushing into the bathroom. There was no knowing the last time either of them had bathed. Scarlett hadn’t bathed once, and she was aching to scrub the grime away, but she wouldn’t until she was one hundred percent certain they were safe.
She moved to the hallway and shut the door behind her. She walked back towards the kitchen and saw the man, Lewis, putting a pot on the stove. He glanced back at her, then turned away and said, “I’m making you some soup. You want to tell me the story now or later?”
Scarlett watched him silently for a moment, and then looked around the cabin. There was nothing she could see out in the open that would indicate he was anything other than a man living in the middle of the woods, alone. She saw a rifle over the mantle of the large stone fireplace; an axe was propped up near a few small logs nearby. It wasn’t cold this time of year, so no fire was going in the hearth, but at least she knew there were weapons around she could grab.
“You feel safer holding one of those, you go right ahead,” Lewis said from his position by the stove, but he wasn’t looking at her. “I imagine you ain’t too trusting, and I don’t blame you. Can’t help you, though, if you won’t talk to me.”
He had a point. So she said, “I was taken three weeks ago from my home. They moved me around the first couple of days. Then I was brought here, somewhere, and thrown into a cage in the depths of a long tunnel. That’s where I met the girls. They were there for two years before I got there.” He growled low in his throat but said nothing. “They planned on selling the girls and then me, but we escaped. We ran through the woods for a very long time before we saw your cabin.”
“They’ll be after you,” he mused, not that he sounded afraid.
“Yes. I can’t let them find us or we’re as good as dead. If you can’t help me, then please, at least help the girls. They’re only twelve.” Her throat clogged with emotion at what they had suffered. She had suffered as well, but not like them.
“I’ll be helping all three of you,” he promised. “Those bastards show up here, they’ll be getting a surprise.” He turned and looked at her. “Go and get washed up. Lock the door and put a chair under the knob if you want. When you’re ready, come back out, and get something to eat. We’ll make a plan.”
She slowly nodded. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“No thanks needed,” he grunted. “I’m a former Marine, and we don’t take too kindly to these fuckers. I have some people that will help, but for tonight, you need to eat and rest. You leave the guarding to me.” He gave her a direct look and promised, “You are safe here.”
Scarlett felt her knees go weak with relief. She believed him. She nodded, turned, and made her way back down the hall to the bedroom. She did as he suggested and locked the door, then put a chair she found in the room underneath the knob before making her way to the bathroom. Both girls were dried off and had grabbed what looked like sweatpants and t-shirts. All were far too big on them, but they were clean. “The door is locked with a chair under the knob,” she told them when they looked at her expectantly. “I’m going to shower, and then we’re going to talk to Lewis. He’s a former Marine, and he’s going to help us.”
Neither girl looked relieved by that statement. “You think we should trust him?” Sarah asked. Fully clean, Scarlett could make out her strawberry blonde hair, and that she was far too skinny. So was Sam, for that matter. Both girls had honey brown eyes, and cherub features. For being twelve, they certainly didn’t look it. They looked hardened, and the shadows in their eyes were enough to make Scarlett want to cry.
“I think we should,” she finally said. “But I’ll make sure to keep an eye out. If we need to run, you run, don’t stop or wait for me. I’ll hold him off.”
“He looks big and scary, but his eyes are kind,” Sam finally said softly.
Scarlett nodded. “I thought the same. If he can help us, we’re going to go as far away from here as we can, okay?”
“We can stay with you, right?” Sam asked timidly. “We don’t have anywhere to go, and I’m not going into the system.”
“You’ll be staying with me,” Scarlett promised them. “I can’t go home, so we need to start somewhere new.”
“Hopefully somewhere warm,” Sarah joked.
Scarlett smiled. “We’ll see what we can do. Now, I want you to wait here until I’m done, okay?” Both girls nodded and she hurried into the shower.
When she emerged, she felt a little more like herself again. She found a pair of sweatpants and a large t-shirt in the drawer and sighed a little bit when she put them on. After wearing nothing but their underwear for the past three weeks, this was a luxury she would not take for granted.
They made their way out to the main room where Lewis waited. He nodded at them, then indicated for them to help themselves. “Bread, soup, and some fruit there if you want. Eat as much as you like, but be careful not to eat too fast so you don’t get sick. I’ll make more if needed,” he told them.
“Thank you,” Scarlett said to him, ushering the girls forward.
Once the girls were at the table and eating, Lewis moved into the kitchen and leaned against the counter, watching them. “We’re going to get you out of here and somewhere safe,” he told the girls. “I’ve already called a friend of mine to come help, and he’ll be here tomorrow.”
“You’re a Marine?” Sarah asked him, watching him carefully.
He nodded. “Been out for about five years, but once a Marine, always a Marine. What’s your name?”
“Sarah,” she finally answered when she looked to Scarlett for permission, who gave it with a quick nod.
“I’m Sam,” Sam added.
“Twins? Identical?” Both girls nodded. “You won’t be going by those names anymore, so I suggest you put your heads together and think up new ones. When we get you out of here, you’re going to start a new life, and that includes new names.”
“We can do that,” Sarah said, looking almost excited at the idea. “Where are we going to go?”
“Not sure yet, but we’ll get you far away from here.”
