"I'm on my way," I said before I hung up. I needed to get up to the North Side of town and fast. I hailed a cab, gave the driver the intersection, and told him to step on it. He gave me a funny look before shrugging and heading north. The whole ride, I tried to figure out what would have possessed Liz to go anywhere with someone she didn't know that well, and all I could come up with was drugs. It had to be drugs.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up in front of a rundown apartment building. The driver looked at it then back at me skeptically before asking, "You want me to wait?"
"No, this might take some time," I said as I ran my card through and paid the fare. "But thank you."
"No problem," he said as I got out of the cab and headed to the front door. The neighborhood was shabby, but not completely rundown, and as I rang the buzzer and waited for someone to answer, I saw two young women pushing a stroller covered by a heavy blanket and wondered where they were headed.
"What?" a voice said over the speaker.
"I'm here to pick up my friend," I said, adding, "I talked to you a little while ago?"
"Come up. Third floor," the voice said before buzzing me into the building. I walked into the lobby and was surprised to see an intricate tile mosaic depicting a mermaid deep under the sea on the floor. The walls were painted in a light lavender giving the space a light airy feel. I marveled at the creativity as I waited for the elevator and wondered who'd put such time and effort into the project in such an odd place.
I found the apartment, knocked on the door and was surprised when someone I recognized opened the door.
"Victor, what are you doing here?" I asked. Without saying a word, he reached out, grabbed my arm and pulled me into the apartment, slamming the door behind me.
"Shut up," he said as he squeezed my arm and dragged me down the hallway to a back room.
"What are you doing?" I shouted as I struggled to pull away. Victor clamped down harder on my arm and then wrapped his other arm around my waist and lifted me off the floor. I screamed, "Stop it! Stop it! You're hurting me!"
"Not even close, sweetheart," he sneered as he marched down the hall. "But if you don't shut the hell up, I will."
"Why are you doing this? Where's Liz?" I asked, trying to will myself to stay calm. The tone of his voice told me that he wouldn't hesitate to hurt me if he needed to, but I couldn't figure out why.
"In here," he said as he pushed the door open and threw me inside before slamming it shut again. I heard a lock click and assumed that he'd made sure we couldn't escape.
I looked around the room and saw Liz lying on a dirty mattress in a far corner. There was a bathroom attached to the room, and that gave me a sense of relief that I wouldn't have to beg to be allowed to use a toilet.
"Liz! Liz!" I said as I sunk to the mattress and gently shook her limp body. "Liz, wake up. It's Alex. I'm here to take you home. Liz!"
"Alex?" she mumbled with her eyes closed. I could see that she'd been drugged with something to keep her pliant and quiet, but what I couldn't figure out was whether she'd taken the drugs willingly or not. "Alex, is that you?"
"It's me, Liz," I said as I rubbed her arm trying to bring her back to consciousness. "Wake up and talk to me, Liz!"
"I don't feel so good," she moaned as she rolled over on her side and dry heaved a little. "My stomach hurts."
"I know, I know," I said, smoothing the hair back from her forehead. "We'll get you out of here and to a hospital."
As I said this, I realized that I needed to call for help before they realized I had a phone and took it away. My phone rang as I was pulling it out of my pocket. It was Cam.
"Cam! I'm with Liz at Jarvis and Paulina, call the cops and come get us!" I shouted into the phone. "Apartment 3A! Come find us now! Jarvis and Paulina! 3A! Mermaid in the purple lobby! It's Vic--"
The door to the room burst open, and Victor stormed across the room grabbing the phone out of my hand before I could say anything else. He took the phone and threw it against the wall.
"NO! You can't do that!" I screamed as he backhanded me and grabbed me by the throat.
"You shut the hell up, you stupid bitch," he growled as he looked right into my eyes. "You're going to do what I say, and if you fuck up again, I'm going to kill you and your friend. And I won't lose a wink of sleep over it."
"We didn't do anything!" I sobbed. I felt the air being forced from my lungs as he punched me in the gut and dropped me to the ground.
"Shut the hell up, and don't make me come in here again," he warned before grabbing my phone off the floor, slamming the door shut, and turning the lock.
"Liz, what's going on here?" I cried as I crawled over to the dirty mattress and curled up next to her holding my stomach. "What happened?"
"Don't know," she said in a thick voice. "He took me from the hospital. Said Cam told him to pick me up and take me home. He stuck a needle in my arm. Then I was here."
"This is screwed up," I said as I grabbed Liz's hand and held on tightly. "I hope Cam heard me and comes to find us."