Moments pt 27
Day ten
Don was still at the cabin, refusing to leave seeing as this was the last place Meryl had been where he knew she was safe, for some reason that knowledge gave him a great deal of comfort, even in light of the events that had unfolded in the last several days. He had gone through the entire cabin at least twice now and came up with nothing. Deciding to read through the books she had bought on memory loss, hoping it would get his mind off of what was happening to her for just a little while.
He started reading at a feverish pace, finding some of it quite fascinating. He was shocked when he looked up at the clock and saw it was two in the afternoon, he had been reading for three hours. He began to wonder if the books had worked if maybe she had remembered something, anything good about their life together.
Was that why her things were in the car?
Why the cabin was locked up?
Had she remembered and decided to come home but Jack got to her first?
Just than the door opened and his son in law Ben was standing there.
Ben looked at his father in law from the door way and hated how broken and sad Don appeared. He had been with Mamie for over 5 years by this point and he had grown to love Meryl and Don like they were his second set of parents. He had tremendous admiration for their relationship and the way they had brought up their children in light of Meryl’s very public professional life. Very few couples in Hollywood had been as successful as they had been in terms of a personal life and seeing that he could only hope that he and Mamie would be as lucky.
“Don I brought you some food.”
Ben made his way into the cabin and sat down next to Don, placing the bag of food on the table. The two men sat in silence for several moments before Ben asked.
“How you doing?”
Don, sitting on the sofa, leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. He was exhausted but he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking the worst. It had been 10 days since Meryl had gone missing and no information had appeared as to where she was or is she was even still alive.
In what could only be characterized as a whisper he answered his son in law’s question. “Not good.”
Don had kept his word to not hold anything back from the kids, they knew everything he did. Even the own team of investigators he had hired to assist in the search for Meryl had come up with nothing. It was almost as though Jack had disappeared from the face of the earth and along with him so had Meryl. There had been no ransom note, no demands… nothing.
Progress was being made with tracking Jack’s bank accounts, however it appeared there had been several of them throughout the country and a few in Canada. One account had been closed out in Kansas the night before Meryl went missing, an account that had several hundred thousands of dollars in it, which gave Jack the luxury of not having to withdraw money for some time, the car he had in his name was found abandoned off of a highway in Kansas.
The authorities believed he purchased a new one in cash which meant there was no paper trail for them to follow, and if they were right in their belief that he had been planning this for some time, they believed he registered the car in a false name which kept them at square one in locating Jack’s whereabouts.
“There hasn’t been a word out of Jack, no one knows where he is, not even his mother. I gotta tell you Ben the more time that goes by the more I start thinking the worst. What if she never comes back? What if he kills her? You know the last time I talked to her I didn’t even tell her I loved her, how am I supposed to live with that?”
Listening to Don talk about what he had been thinking, about all of the doubts he had that Ben was sure he hadn’t shared with even his children he felt his heart going out to the older man, even more than before.
“Don listen to me, she knows you love her, you’d have to be blind not to know that. They’re going to find her I refuse to believe anything else.”
-------------------------------
Back in New York the kids were holed up in their parents apartment. Tempers were short, emotions were raw and information pertaining to their mother was anything but plentiful.
Henry was talking to his uncle Dana, who like his father hadnt slept for more than a couple of hours at a time since receiving word that Jack had taken her from the cabin and no one knew where she was.
“Do you think it’s time we make a plea to the media? Maybe someone will see it and be able to help us find Jack. I mean this is ridiculous everyone knows what mom looks like, but how many of them know what Jack looks like?”
Dana had to admit Henry made a good point but he knew how reluctant Don was to make all of this public knowledge. The press had a way of taking things ridiculously out of context and since the press had gotten wind of Meryl’s accident along with her memory loss the vultures had been swarming, this may however be just the thing that would make an already unpleasant situation unbearable.
But if it meant finding his sister before it was too late he thought it would be worth the risk.
He called the cabin and told Don, the two discussed it for some time finally reaching an agreement that it may be their last resort.
Don called Masson once he was off the phone with Dana. Masson knew that if they took the information public they would be dealing with countless false pleas especially if a reward was involved but maybe, just maybe, they would get a lead they could run with, because as of now they were dealing with very few leads and information at this point could only serve to help them.
An agreement was reached, a million dollars for any information that would lead to the safe return of Meryl. Masson told Don he would call a press conference and release the information along with the reward information.
Before the call ended Masson made Don understand that while this plan may increase the flow of information it would also decrease the flow of information that was accurate, and would also increase the time it took to locate her because they would have to follow up on any lead they received, no matter how ridiculous it may be.
-------------------------------------
Meanwhile Meryl was laying in her bed becomingly oddly familiar with the chains that kept her arms chained to the pipe above her head. She had been able to loosen the pipe extensively the one day Jack left the house, but not enough to break free, at least not yet. Thinking back on the last several days, at least that was how long she had assumed she had been Jack’s prisoner. She couldn’t help but relive the number of times Jack degraded her and made her feel like a hunted animal.
She couldn’t pin point the moment but she no longer felt anything when he started whatever form of torture he deemed appropriate for her, she didn’t feel disgust, shame, fear, nothing. It was like she came to the belief that this was the way her life was going to be for the duration and it would be a lot less painful if she removed herself as far away from this room and Jack as possible and so far so good.
She was an actress after all and had the ability that all great actors had; the ability to remove ones self from an uncomfortable situation and think of more pleasant things, and that ability alone was the only thing currently keeping her sane.
Just than the door opened and Jack came down with a box of food and several items of clothing in hand.
“Hate to do this to you Meryl but I’m leaving for a few days. I have to go up to Canada to see me mother keep up appearances, you know how it is. Anyway this should be enough to make sure you’re comfortable till I get back.”
In that moment she broke her vow of silence. She had to try to appeal to any sense of decency he had left
“You’re going to leave me chained to this pipe for days while you’re off with mommy? Come on Jack I can’t get out of this room anyway, please, just until you come back?”
He thought about it and decided she had a point. Upon further inspection of her wrists and arms he could see they were turning a shade of purple from lack of circulation and he knew permanent damage could be done if she didn’t get some relief. Deciding to give her this one and hoping it may further her willingness to cooperate he unlocked the chain and allowed her some relief.
Going further with her line of questioning she asked the question that had plagued her since he had taken her from the cabin “Jack why are you doing this?”
Looking at her with what could only be called shock; shock that she still didn’t get what she had done to him all of those years ago when she had left him. “You made me fall in love with you Meryl and then you left me like I never meant anything to you. You took up with John and almost immediately after with Don. I have never stopped loving you and if you’re here long enough you will love me.”
This time she was the one who was surprised. She couldn’t keep the look of absolute shock from her face. “You can’t honestly believe that?”
“You’re going to have no choice because no one is going to find you, it’s just the two of us now and the sooner you accept that and let go of this absurd belief you have that someone will find you the better.”
She couldn’t believe how deranged he was, he hadn’t pressed further into what she remembered or didn’t remember since bringing her here and she was beginning to wonder why but she wasn’t about to let on, it may be the only form of defense she had left.
Just as Jack was about to leave the room he turned around and walked closer to Meryl. She hadn’t eaten a thing in almost 2 weeks and it was beginning to show. “Eat something while I’m gone will you?” and with that he was gone.
She couldn’t help but laugh at loud to his request. Maybe he was right and no one would ever find her but she would be damned to eat a thing while she was with him, it would only make him happy and there was no way she was going to make this any easier on him.
Minutes later believing Jack was gone she began to explore her room. In the box of things Jack had brought down for her she found a flash light and decided to take this opportunity to see if there was an area of the room that he may have overlooked while he was preparing it for her arrival.
She had days and for the first time in, she didn’t know how long, days perhaps weeks she could move beyond 5 feet of the pipe and she wasn’t about to waste it. If she couldn’t find her way out now she knew this was it for her. This would be her life and if Jack was right, if no one was looking for her, if it really was just the two of them, she had to know she tried everything humanly possible to escape.
TBC…
I know it’s been a while since the last update and I hope this was worth the wait.
As always, please, let me know what you think, all comments are appreciated.
Also, thank you to those of you who sent me happy birthday comments yesterday, it was very sweet and greatly appreciated.
Don was still at the cabin, refusing to leave seeing as this was the last place Meryl had been where he knew she was safe, for some reason that knowledge gave him a great deal of comfort, even in light of the events that had unfolded in the last several days. He had gone through the entire cabin at least twice now and came up with nothing. Deciding to read through the books she had bought on memory loss, hoping it would get his mind off of what was happening to her for just a little while.
He started reading at a feverish pace, finding some of it quite fascinating. He was shocked when he looked up at the clock and saw it was two in the afternoon, he had been reading for three hours. He began to wonder if the books had worked if maybe she had remembered something, anything good about their life together.
Was that why her things were in the car?
Why the cabin was locked up?
Had she remembered and decided to come home but Jack got to her first?
Just than the door opened and his son in law Ben was standing there.
Ben looked at his father in law from the door way and hated how broken and sad Don appeared. He had been with Mamie for over 5 years by this point and he had grown to love Meryl and Don like they were his second set of parents. He had tremendous admiration for their relationship and the way they had brought up their children in light of Meryl’s very public professional life. Very few couples in Hollywood had been as successful as they had been in terms of a personal life and seeing that he could only hope that he and Mamie would be as lucky.
“Don I brought you some food.”
Ben made his way into the cabin and sat down next to Don, placing the bag of food on the table. The two men sat in silence for several moments before Ben asked.
“How you doing?”
Don, sitting on the sofa, leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. He was exhausted but he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking the worst. It had been 10 days since Meryl had gone missing and no information had appeared as to where she was or is she was even still alive.
In what could only be characterized as a whisper he answered his son in law’s question. “Not good.”
Don had kept his word to not hold anything back from the kids, they knew everything he did. Even the own team of investigators he had hired to assist in the search for Meryl had come up with nothing. It was almost as though Jack had disappeared from the face of the earth and along with him so had Meryl. There had been no ransom note, no demands… nothing.
Progress was being made with tracking Jack’s bank accounts, however it appeared there had been several of them throughout the country and a few in Canada. One account had been closed out in Kansas the night before Meryl went missing, an account that had several hundred thousands of dollars in it, which gave Jack the luxury of not having to withdraw money for some time, the car he had in his name was found abandoned off of a highway in Kansas.
The authorities believed he purchased a new one in cash which meant there was no paper trail for them to follow, and if they were right in their belief that he had been planning this for some time, they believed he registered the car in a false name which kept them at square one in locating Jack’s whereabouts.
“There hasn’t been a word out of Jack, no one knows where he is, not even his mother. I gotta tell you Ben the more time that goes by the more I start thinking the worst. What if she never comes back? What if he kills her? You know the last time I talked to her I didn’t even tell her I loved her, how am I supposed to live with that?”
Listening to Don talk about what he had been thinking, about all of the doubts he had that Ben was sure he hadn’t shared with even his children he felt his heart going out to the older man, even more than before.
“Don listen to me, she knows you love her, you’d have to be blind not to know that. They’re going to find her I refuse to believe anything else.”
-------------------------------
Back in New York the kids were holed up in their parents apartment. Tempers were short, emotions were raw and information pertaining to their mother was anything but plentiful.
Henry was talking to his uncle Dana, who like his father hadnt slept for more than a couple of hours at a time since receiving word that Jack had taken her from the cabin and no one knew where she was.
“Do you think it’s time we make a plea to the media? Maybe someone will see it and be able to help us find Jack. I mean this is ridiculous everyone knows what mom looks like, but how many of them know what Jack looks like?”
Dana had to admit Henry made a good point but he knew how reluctant Don was to make all of this public knowledge. The press had a way of taking things ridiculously out of context and since the press had gotten wind of Meryl’s accident along with her memory loss the vultures had been swarming, this may however be just the thing that would make an already unpleasant situation unbearable.
But if it meant finding his sister before it was too late he thought it would be worth the risk.
He called the cabin and told Don, the two discussed it for some time finally reaching an agreement that it may be their last resort.
Don called Masson once he was off the phone with Dana. Masson knew that if they took the information public they would be dealing with countless false pleas especially if a reward was involved but maybe, just maybe, they would get a lead they could run with, because as of now they were dealing with very few leads and information at this point could only serve to help them.
An agreement was reached, a million dollars for any information that would lead to the safe return of Meryl. Masson told Don he would call a press conference and release the information along with the reward information.
Before the call ended Masson made Don understand that while this plan may increase the flow of information it would also decrease the flow of information that was accurate, and would also increase the time it took to locate her because they would have to follow up on any lead they received, no matter how ridiculous it may be.
-------------------------------------
Meanwhile Meryl was laying in her bed becomingly oddly familiar with the chains that kept her arms chained to the pipe above her head. She had been able to loosen the pipe extensively the one day Jack left the house, but not enough to break free, at least not yet. Thinking back on the last several days, at least that was how long she had assumed she had been Jack’s prisoner. She couldn’t help but relive the number of times Jack degraded her and made her feel like a hunted animal.
She couldn’t pin point the moment but she no longer felt anything when he started whatever form of torture he deemed appropriate for her, she didn’t feel disgust, shame, fear, nothing. It was like she came to the belief that this was the way her life was going to be for the duration and it would be a lot less painful if she removed herself as far away from this room and Jack as possible and so far so good.
She was an actress after all and had the ability that all great actors had; the ability to remove ones self from an uncomfortable situation and think of more pleasant things, and that ability alone was the only thing currently keeping her sane.
Just than the door opened and Jack came down with a box of food and several items of clothing in hand.
“Hate to do this to you Meryl but I’m leaving for a few days. I have to go up to Canada to see me mother keep up appearances, you know how it is. Anyway this should be enough to make sure you’re comfortable till I get back.”
In that moment she broke her vow of silence. She had to try to appeal to any sense of decency he had left
“You’re going to leave me chained to this pipe for days while you’re off with mommy? Come on Jack I can’t get out of this room anyway, please, just until you come back?”
He thought about it and decided she had a point. Upon further inspection of her wrists and arms he could see they were turning a shade of purple from lack of circulation and he knew permanent damage could be done if she didn’t get some relief. Deciding to give her this one and hoping it may further her willingness to cooperate he unlocked the chain and allowed her some relief.
Going further with her line of questioning she asked the question that had plagued her since he had taken her from the cabin “Jack why are you doing this?”
Looking at her with what could only be called shock; shock that she still didn’t get what she had done to him all of those years ago when she had left him. “You made me fall in love with you Meryl and then you left me like I never meant anything to you. You took up with John and almost immediately after with Don. I have never stopped loving you and if you’re here long enough you will love me.”
This time she was the one who was surprised. She couldn’t keep the look of absolute shock from her face. “You can’t honestly believe that?”
“You’re going to have no choice because no one is going to find you, it’s just the two of us now and the sooner you accept that and let go of this absurd belief you have that someone will find you the better.”
She couldn’t believe how deranged he was, he hadn’t pressed further into what she remembered or didn’t remember since bringing her here and she was beginning to wonder why but she wasn’t about to let on, it may be the only form of defense she had left.
Just as Jack was about to leave the room he turned around and walked closer to Meryl. She hadn’t eaten a thing in almost 2 weeks and it was beginning to show. “Eat something while I’m gone will you?” and with that he was gone.
She couldn’t help but laugh at loud to his request. Maybe he was right and no one would ever find her but she would be damned to eat a thing while she was with him, it would only make him happy and there was no way she was going to make this any easier on him.
Minutes later believing Jack was gone she began to explore her room. In the box of things Jack had brought down for her she found a flash light and decided to take this opportunity to see if there was an area of the room that he may have overlooked while he was preparing it for her arrival.
She had days and for the first time in, she didn’t know how long, days perhaps weeks she could move beyond 5 feet of the pipe and she wasn’t about to waste it. If she couldn’t find her way out now she knew this was it for her. This would be her life and if Jack was right, if no one was looking for her, if it really was just the two of them, she had to know she tried everything humanly possible to escape.
TBC…
I know it’s been a while since the last update and I hope this was worth the wait.
As always, please, let me know what you think, all comments are appreciated.
Also, thank you to those of you who sent me happy birthday comments yesterday, it was very sweet and greatly appreciated.