Jared awoke to the sound of Anthony on the phone, he adjusted his eyes, and licked his lips. They were badly chapped, he took a deep breath and tried to move his hands to scratch at his eyebrow, once Anthony seen what he was doing, he shouted and immediately clicked off.

"You're awake!" Anthony yelled, kissing him on the forehead and cheeks, Jared adjusted in the bed, the light was too bright for his eyes. "Where am I?" He asked him squinting, he tried to raise his hands up. "You're in the hospital..." Anthony cheerfully said. "The doctors said there was a slight chance that you'd never wake up after this surgery... But you proved them wrong." He exclaimed, Jared looked around the hospital room, it was very unusual, the walls were blue, and the floors were an off white. "Where am I?" He said again; This time, furrowing his brow, Anthony gave him a soft smile. "You're at Erebuni Medical Center.. In Yerevan.. You're dad's here as well." Jared nodded his head, he licked his lips again. "Uh.. Excuse me sir? Why are my lips so crusty?" Anthony furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?" Jared licked his lips again, this time he could taste metal, and it stung. "At least Katrina know's how to take better care of me more; The last time I was in the hospital, she made sure my lips weren't chapped..." He huskily said, Anthony rolled his eyes. "Well.. At least I stayed here with you! I could have been at work... In the states..." Jared coughed and gave him a weak smile, but Anthony stared down at the floor. "What is it?" He sternly asked, annoyed that his chest burned, it felt like he hasn't eaten or had anything to drink in a year. "It's nothing.. Nevermind, I'll go get you something to drink." He rushed out of the room leaving Jared alone.

Katrina screamed.

She huffed and blew her curls off her face.

Her hands were zip tied and she was sitting on dirty wet carpet, also; She had been hungry, she tried to move around and wriggle free, she caught up with the time. "It's Thursday... five o clock, I need to get the fuck up out of here, it's been seven day's already." She looked around the small room and tried to stand up. "Smarty didn't think about tying my legs up." She used a desk in the corner to position herself up, it worked; She stood tall, her knees hurt, so she leaned to the side, it was when she heard the door, that she eased herself back down on the floor. She didn't know where she was, all she knew was that she had been transferred to a small room, the door opened, and the badly beaten man walked in. He held a catheter in his hands, his once handsome face shown bruising and swelling, Katrina tried to escape multiple times, and each time they caught her. She adding up the minutes when the men left and came back; She knew when they were in the home, and she knew when they were silent, each movement the men made, she processed in her head.

The steps they took when they listened in on her, and when they were in a larger room.

"I see someone's awake." The man grunted, holding on to the door handle, and stepping to the side, Bryce walked in with a bag filled with food. "Hello gorgeous." He smiled, and came in and sat down next to her. "I brought you dinner." Katrina turned away from him and looked out the taped window.

"You need to eat Katrina, you have to feed your baby." He amusingly exclaimed. "What do you care... You're going to kill me anyways." She thought, aggravated. Bryce pushed the food closer to her. "I was told you love Chinese food... I brought you plenty." He mocked, Katrina scowled at him, she did like Chinese food but it wasn't her favorite. Bryce grabbed her face, and as soon as he cupped her chin towards him, she hawked a loogie and spat, the phlegm landed near his eye. He blinked, and shut his eyes, wiping the spit off from his nose and chin.

"You're a nasty one... Devlin has his hands full with you... Do you spit on him like that?" He curiously exclaimed, Katrina swallowed, and tugged on her cut, she had nothing to say to him. There was no point in trying to have a conversation with the men, every time she tried, they raised their voices higher, or they walked away from her.

She regret wearing a dress too.

When the men tried to lower her in a well.

She screamed, placing her feet on the bricks, which caused her to hurt her knee, it had been sliced in the middle, leaving a bloody cut that bled more than she expected. The men lowered her up, and stared down at her leg. "So much blood... Go grab a towel!" Bryce ordered. "And hurry up!" He yelled. Hershell turned around and scowled. "Do you see what I have attached to my hip asshole?" Bryce scowled back at him. "She's your responsibility, if she dies then you don't have me." Katrina pushed Bryce off of her and fell on to the grass; Holding her knee, she groaned and leaned her head back, it was bad enough that they tried to lower her in a well, she looked up and seen a woman staring at her from her back porch. She screamed for help, but the woman just put her cigarette out and went inside her home.

"What in the hell?" Katrina thought, swallowing tears.

She had no idea where she was, and the men fighting and arguing made her extremely anxious, she balled her fist in her hand and managed a punch to Bryce's face. Bryce scooted back from her and tugged on his nose, he got up and grabbed her by her hair and lifted her up. "What is wrong with you? You crazy woman!" He forgot that she was pregnant, and lessened his grip on her. The first day; When she awoke in Bryce's arms, she bit him, punched him, and scratched at his eyes, she kicked him hard on the groin a couple of times too, her goal was to leave a mark, and let them know she wasn't playing with them. And she succeeded, because the next day, he had deep scratches and a bruise near his lip, they even stopped talking to her like she was their friend.

Everything went dark after that.

Bryce put a dark cloth over her head, and that aggravating pinch on her arm, immensely pissed her off, she drifted off into another peaceful sleep.

Katrina touched her cut, her stomach rumbled.

She couldn't turn down food today, she needed to be healthy. "I don't accept food from strangers." She shoved the food away, Bryce pursed his lips. "Alright.. Well, I'll just leave this here in case you do get hungry." He stood up and left the room, slamming the door behind him. "Some water would be nice!" She shouted after them, she thought about it... It was unusual for them to offer her food; The day's that she grew hungry and upset, and had asked them for food, they refused to give it to her, she felt like she was going crazy, she thought she knew everything, counting the hours that they would leave and come back. But then the three day's when she didn't see them alarmed her; She thought that they had completely abandoned her up until now, that raised a question in her head, for if she should eat the food or not? "They probably are too afraid to kill me and thought of it this way... By putting it in the food." She scowled and threw the food against the wall, pieces dropped on the floor, she picked up a chow mein noodle, it was cold, and it didn't smell appealing. "I knew it... What do they take me for? This food is cold as ice, they think that I'm going to eat this crap?" She threw the noodle back on the floor.

"Rat bastards.." She pushed herself to stand up again using the same desk.

Her knees popped.

She sucked in a painful breath, and silently cursed.

It felt like she had arthritis, she bent her knee's back and looked around the tiny room, there was just a desk, and a small window that had been securely duck taped. She quickly went over to the desk to search for anything, she moved quietly; Making sure the wooden drawers didn't make too much noise, finally, she found a pencil and furrowed her brow. "What am I going to use a pencil for?" She was going to drop the pencil, and then an idea popped up. "The next time he gets too close to me or touch me, I'm going to stab him." She dropped the pencil in her dress pocket, and kept searching.

Nothing else.

She sighed, and with her arm, wiped the sweat from her face, looking at the window again, she slowly walked over to it. It was small, and there was no way of squeezing her thick self through it.

She gritted her teeth and looked back at the door.

"He didn't lock the door this time?" She happily thought.

She proceeded to head towards the door, but stopped herself. "It's a trap... They want me to walk out that door so they could kill me." Katrina pushed the thought out of her head, if she was going to die, then she at least wanted to go out fighting. She decided today would be the last day she tried to escape, she couldn't take it anymore, the rusty wet floor, the awful animal smell, she was going crazy in that tiny room. She daydreamed about Devlin a couple of times, and had evil thoughts fill her head. "This is some straight BS, no one has found me yet... Devlin probably hired them to get rid of me, so he could start a new life with whoever the hell he used to date." She fidgeted with the door handle and opened it slowly, her heart pounded, the hall was small. "Where am I?" She opened the door wider, and held in a breath, she slowly creeped out of the room, she was glad the door didn't make any noise, she's never heard it when they would leave. There were two rooms to the side of her, she didn't dare open them, she knew they had to be rooms or a bathroom. "This place is so tiny." She moved forward; Flies flew around her and she swatted at them, the halls were too narrow, and she could see the living room and kitchen from where she was.

She realized she was in a mobile home.

A very dirty and unkept one.

In the hall, were dirty stuffed animals and broken toys, broken dishes were piled in a corner, she spotted leaves from the woods on the floor, and trash filled the hall walls. She spotted an old condom stuck to the wall and curled her lip. "Is this where they live?" It smelled like mold, and pine. A different smell from the room she was in, she held her back to the wall, and sighed. She could see a clear view of the kitchen.

It was dirty.

The wall sticker had a seventies touch to it and was peeled off, the junk had been hoarded into a pile in the kitchen, Katrina bravely peeped at the living room. Surprisingly, the only clean space was the living room. "Why is it so clean in here?" It was empty; The light from the window beamed onto the old brown carpet, she realized that there was no one in sight, so she quickly rushed to the front door and paused, she felt like a mouse running away from it's predator. She couldn't hear anything from the outside, she looked out the window, all she could see was another mobile home next to this one, she didn't see anyone out there.

She slowly opened the door and stepped out.

She looked to the side of her, no one in sight.

She looked to the left and could see the woods, her heart pounded, she ran over to the woods and stopped, looking back at the door wide open. "If they come back and see this door open, it would give them more of a head start to find me." She ran back and quietly shut the door, she heard a truck pull up, and she quickly ran into the woods.

Devlin wiped his eye, and glanced at his watch.

There was a burning sensation in his chest, and his heart rapidly pounded, he clutched his collar, and moved his hand on his chest. He was inside of D.I His mother had ordered him to go back to work.

Not just his mother; But his friends, and Katrina's family.

They raided Hershell's house and found nothing but his mother sitting in a chair, she was shocked at them all bursting inside of her home like a squat team, he angrily bawled his hands in a fist and shouted a curse word. "Get out of my house!" The woman screamed at them, hearing Devlin angrily yell scared her, she remembered when he went to prison for murder and she began to scream for help. His mother was thin, and had long gray hair curling down her legs, her tanned skin rustled over each layer, and her eyes were ghastly blue, she had no teeth, and had clown makeup on. She held a pipe in her hand and dropped it on the ground. "Nice..." Ivan exclaimed, motioning towards the bag of weed on her lap.

Devlin's heart felt like it was beating out of his chest.

"If she isn't here, then where is she?"

"What are you looking for? There's nothing here... Now get out! Before I call the police!" His mother shouted, as she stood up and spilled everything on the floor. "Look what you made me do you assholes!" She frantically searched everyone's faces, until she came across Jude and Ivan's. "What is goin on Jude? Ivan? How could you let these people inside of my house? Get them out!" She screamed, finding a sandal and throwing it at Mark, who was standing the closest to her. "Hey what kind of a mother names their kid Hershell?" Jude asked her, annoyed that she brought up the police, and that she was high.

"You two could stay, but the rest of you's gotta go! And stop making fun of his name dammit! You know it's from his father." Devlin stood his ground; Ivan and Jude had known her since they were little, out of all the people in the town, they couldn't believe that she was the one on drugs. "Is this about Hershell?" She began to get worried for her son. "What's wrong? Is he okay? Is.. Is that why you came here?" His mother smelled like meth and pine, Devlin scrunched his nose, he didn't smell it before, until she opened her mouth.

"Ya he's fine.." Devlin said through gritted teeth.

"Wot d fuck Mark?" He snarled, Devlin knew it wasn't Mark's fault, he just wanted to punch someone, Mark shook his head and widened his eyes. "Devlin, you're the one that wanted me to call him, he may be older than us, but he's not dumb." Hershell's mother suspiciously eyed Devlin, as she tried to grab her pipe off the floor. "And don't think I don't remember you.. You grown.. Piece of sexy action.." She purred at him, he gave her a disgusted look, and turned away. "And... Now you want me?" He sighed and cracked his neck. "We need to get out of here now..." He muttered, he furrowed his brow at her, Ivan smirked, and nudged Jude.

"We need to get out of here." She huskily mimicked and smiled. "That voice... You sound just like Arnold, even has the muscles-." Devlin cut her off. "Where does he usually hang out at?" He asked her annoyed. "You three know where he hangs out at, why? What did he do this time? When he came over here he was all fucked up, so I had my man take him to the hospital, and.. And.. And we couldn't do nothin about it afterwards.." She exclaimed, seeing Tevan eye the needles and heroin, she hid them deeper into the cushion. "It's not mine." She quickly yelled out. "Anyway's.. I don't care about that idiot... He's cost me all my dang money from his medical bills.. He-here take whatever drugs you need... Hey? You got any money? Can I have some money? Remember? I used to feed you kid's Rock O's when you were little, you owe me my money back for those times." She stated, scratching at her back. "I wos not a part of that?" Devlin told her, sighing. He grew agitated.

"Don't care... Those two then, you owe me money."

"I guess?" Jude uttered, then looked at Ivan for help, Ivan just sighed and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "Twenty damn dollars?" She took the bill and held it up. "Those kid meals were more than twenty dollars.." She muttered, stuffing the bill in her pocket. "And five minutes ago, you were going to call the police on us?" Ivan exclaimed. "So I think we're even." She scoffed. "Because you barged into my damn house!" She shouted, the three began to argue. "You never used to do drugs like this? Why now?" Jude asked her, she used to be like a mom to them; He used to call her mom in high school, she never did any drugs or drank back then, she scowled at him. "I am not your mommy... I don't have to answer to a damn thing, I'm sixty-four years old!" Jude rolled his eyes at her.

"Carol... Why are you doing this to yourself?" Ivan finally asked her annoyed; He picked up the pipe and weed from the floor, and then went over and grabbed the needles. "These are dirty, you can't reuse these..." He looked down at her arms. "You've been reusing these haven't you?"

"That's how you get HIV!" Ricky exclaimed.

"It's my body.." She shouted at them, Ivan wanted to keep her weed, but knew it wasn't worth it. He set it back down, but held the needles. "Give those back to me." She exclaimed, Ivan frowned. "No... These will kill you." He knew from his own family the result of reusing an old needle. "I don't care... Look at this shithole of a town that we live in! Do you think I care?" She exclaimed, Ivan shook his head and looked back at the men and swallowed.

Devlin's had enough.

He stalked out of the home, and looked around the housing complex, they were like Katrina's, except this was more family oriented. He wondered if her neighbors knew that she is a drug addict, Devlin felt like he was running out of time.

"I'm calling the police." He tiredly admitted.

Tevan grabbed his shirt and stared him down.

"It's time for you to go home."

He went to work instead.

He couldn't concentrate being at home; His father was dying, and then that would be all he could think about, his father's voice was raspier, and his breathing shortened, so they put him on oxygen again. Devlin knew this time was it, he was officially declared bed ridden, he cracked his back and stalked to his office, quietly shutting the door. "Is it possible to have a heart attack at this age?" He heard a soft knock and ignored it, he was sick and tired of Jasmine trying to hang around him like a flea.

"Devlin... I need to tell you something.. It's about Katrina..." She yelled, he opened the door, and scowled down at her, she seen his eyes instantly turn black, she hated being around him when he was this angry. "Wot?" He said, his voice was deep, people from their cubicles grew quiet. "I.. I need to tell you in private."

"No." He growled. "Tell me here."

She looked back at the others, a woman scoffed and began to silently giggle. "Really Devlin? You gone do me like this?" She growled.

Devlin gritted his teeth and sneered down at her.

"Whatever you have to say, you could say it here."
Jasmine swallowed and turned around, everyone was staring at her. "I can't." She whispered, knowing they could still hear her, Devlin opened his office door to let her in, she tried to shut it, but he held the door handle with his hands.

"Say what you have to say; Then get out."

He went over to his desk and sat on it. "When Katrina texted you... I deleted the messages." Devlin sat in silence with his arms folded, he looked at his watch and blew out, an angry tear came out of his eye.

Ten minutes went by in complete silence.

He angrily shoved everything off his desk. "How could you be so stupid!?" He snapped, he snatched his watch off and threw it against the wall, and angrily gritted his teeth. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't, he placed his hand over his eyes instead.

"Devlin?" She silently said.

Jasmine took a few steps back, she had no idea he was this violent, she wondered what happened to him in prison.