Two hours into the interrogation and I was starting to lose my motivation to keep my mouth shut. Everything ached. I could barely see out of my left eye, and the man had broken most of my ribs.
"You still not talking, missy?" He grabbed my chin and tilted my weary head up to look at him.
"Go to hell."
He pushed a gun to my shoulder, this time pulling the trigger. The pain that followed had the force of a sledgehammer. I cried out in agony and barely held onto consciousness.
"I told ya, I ain't playing. Now talk!"
"You'll have... to kill me first." I spoke through the thick haze of pain, "And you know... you can't do that. I'm more... more valuable alive."
"He'll decide that, missy," A television on the wall buzzed to life, I hadn't noticed it before. I watched it as a man sat down. The image was heavily pixelated, I couldn't make out the figure.
"Hello, Lola," The voice was disguised, "How are you? I hope these goons didn't beat you up too bad. They just got a little excited, that's all,"
"What...do you...want? Are you...Smoke?"
He laughed, "Me? Not quite, but I am in charge. It's fun being at the top, you ought to try it some time," His tone was smug and I couldn't help but feel that I knew it from somewhere.
"Maybe you should rest, Lola. You can't go saving the world with a bullet in your shoulder, can you?" Two men with a gurney appeared. One came over to me and untapped my hands, the second prepared a hypodermic needle. "My men will take care of you, we wouldn't want you dying on us now, would we?"
The one with the needle injected a clear fluid into my arm. Seconds later my head starts spinning and my limbs are as heavy as concrete. 'This is all just a bad dream,' I tell myself, 'I'm waking up now. Everything's fine.'
I barely feel the gurney under my body, can barely see the bright white lights going past as the men take me away. I'm vaguely aware of entering a room, the walls stark white. A man in scrubs and a mask tells me to count back from ten. He sounds like he's in another room.
"Ten... nine... eight... se... seven... six... six..." My world starts to fade, " Five..."
Sleep.
~*~
"Lola," A silky voice whispers. "Lola, I want you to wake up now,"
My eyelids fluttered open, light flooding my vision.
"That's it, sweetheart. Wake up," My forehead starts tingling. A slender finger is stroking my face, "Wake up my darling," I turn to face the voice.
"Frank," Confusion fills my aching head, what was he doing here?
"Yes. I'm here to rescue you, you need to get up." He pulls me up into a sitting position, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "Come on," He lifts me off the gurney. On the floor I see the men who brought me into the room lying in growing pools of blood. Their throats had been cut.
Frank stepped in a pool and cursed. He carefully carried me to the hall and sat me down on the cold floor. As he shut the room's door I gazed down the passageway. A light was broken and flickered at random.
"Alright, lets go," Frank picked me up, put me over his shoulder and started running, his red footprints chasing us down the hall.
~*~
We made it outside. Jeff was waiting with the car a block away. Now we just had to get to him without getting shot at.
"Can you walk?" Frank asked.
"I can try," I woozily slogged past each run-down house, Frank's arm around my waist. When we finally reached Jeff his face filled with relief.
"Thank God you're alive," He hugged me so hard I winced.
"Barely," He let me go and we got into the car. "How did you guys find me?"
"Look in your shoe," Frank told me.
In my shoe I found an almost undetectable tracking device.
"It was Jeff's idea. He thought it might be a good idea to keep an eye on you,"
"And boy, was I right," He turned the key and the engine sputtered to life.
"Let's get out of here,"
~*~
We met Freddy at the hospital and they talked while I fell asleep while being wheeled to the OR. My dreams were filled with images of my mother, my father, and Frank . I dreamt that I was home in the shower. The hot water burned my scalp and pulled all my worries down the drain. I turned off the water and wrapped myself in a towel. I laid myself on my bed and stared at the ceiling. My dad called me from downstairs, saying someone was here to see me. I threw on some jeans and a sweater and walked down the stairs.
Frank was sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table.
"Hey, Sweetheart,"
"Hi. May I ask what you're doing in my house?" I was confused why he would come here. I didn't invite him, was something wrong?
"I came to see the one and only Lola Hart." He stood from the couch with ease and stepped close to me. "The one, beautiful, lovely Lola Hart." I couldn't tear my eyes from his. They were a different color than normal. Instead of being blue they were light gray, nearly white.
"What's up with you?" I said blankly.
"I missed you," he brought his lip crashing onto mine. I cried against them, his kiss felt like acid. When he had let me go I asked why he missed me.
"You were gone for a very long time, don't you remember?" I shook my head. "Oh, Lola. Silly, naïve Lola. You left, remember? You ran away."
"What?"
"You left us, you little monster. I'm sorry to say that Jeff didn't make it out. He was counting on you, you know? You betrayed him."
My heart dropped. "He's dead?" Frank nodded.
"I killed him, remember? You didn't even try to stop me. You ran, you were scared."
I couldn't speak, my body was frozen with horror. Frank killed him?
"You saw me kill him, which makes you a witness. You know I don't like leaving witnesses, so either you promise not to tell..." He smiled wickedly, "Or I kill you, Sweetheart,"
I didn't answer, I couldn't answer.
"I would really like it if you would just forget this ever happened. Then we could live like before, back when you loved me. Do you remember way back then?"
He had cornered me into the wall and was towering over me. He brushed some hair out of my face and pressed his forehead to mine.
"Say yes, Lola. I only want to hurt you, not kill you. My war isn't with you. Just say yes, and I will let you come with me." He lowered his head to my shoulder, "Come with me," He kissed my neck. It tingled at first, but then the sensation grew. It grew into a burning sense of agony. I cried out in pain.
"Say yes, Lola. I can take your pain away. Just say yes,"
My knees gave out and I crashed to the floor. I writhed and trembled against the constant flow of agony invading every cell. The edges of my vision were blurring, and I finally gave up.
"Yes!" That instant the pain fled. Frank kneeled to the floor where I had fallen, curled into a ball.
"Thank you,"