A day earlier:
As the night fell, the darkness embraced the room and the chill draft crept back inside. Emilia was sobbing, her hands numb from the increasing pressure of the handcuffs as she struggled to stand up anymore. Her stomach was rumbling. And she was shivering, her teeth chattered violently.
Nothing made sense anymore. She was married to Christopher Hayden. She came to almost accept this part of the story. It didn't matter how ridiculous it sounded, it was still not nearly as bad as being kidnapped by someone who tried to get money from Mr Hayden.
He didn't care enough for her to rescue her. No one cared enough for her. Or maybe he did. The man has said that Christopher paid the ransom.
By the next morning, she had very little strength left. She felt faint and dizzy. The bright sunlight seemed to agitate her. She had an increased thudding headache. She couldn't open her eyes anymore.
Her body rested more and more onto the handcuffs. Her shoulders felt as if they were to dislocate. But she couldn't stand up any more.
Droplets of blood run down her forearm. The heat became unbearable through the day. The sweat fell down onto her eyes, making her eyes more itchy and uncomfortable. No one came back to the warehouse that day.
Her lips started cracking from the lack of water. Her stomach hurt from the lack of food.
That was a horrible way to go.
The night was freezing instead. The shivering burnt any energy she had left and she was diminishing quicker again. No one will come and save her. She was all alone in the world. Her mum was still in the hospital and she was in no state to even notice Emilia's absence. And beside her mum, she had no one. Silent tears escaped her eyes. And that was the last of what she remembered before her body was too weak to keep her conscious.
The following day:
Christopher broke every speed limit imaginable as he drove to the new found location. He was panicking all the way through the forest. He didn't care for the advice given at all.
His heart stopped when he spotted a metal roof above the tree line but that didn't make him slow down, quite opposite.
He left the car with a flashlight in his hand, not bothering to lock it up, and run towards the building through the bushes. There was no other sound than the cracking of branches and leaves under his feet, and his own panting as he run.
The adrenaline rushed through his veins. He forgot all about his tiredness as he reached the door on the side. He pulled in the handle but it didn't nudge.
"Emilia!" He shouted but there was no response. She could be there. She could be dead by now. She could've been harmed. All those thoughts passed through his mind.
He had no patience in opening the door. He took a step away and kicked it with a full force, bending the metal and breaking it off the hinges. The metal caused a racket as it fell onto the concrete floor. He looked around and there she was, a dark figure in the dark, motionless.
Christopher probably never run in his life as he did then. She didn't respond to him calling her name and she didn't budge.
His heart stopped, the loudness of silence buzzing in his ears. It was as if the time stopped. It was as if forever was enclosed in those few seconds of him not knowing. He grabbed her face… "Emilia…" his voice escaped his lips. He started repeating it as he lifted her head. She was cold. She was still unresponsive. "Emilia, please…" he mumbled. He stroked her cheeks gently wishing for any response, even if it were her sending him away. Anything but this. Her demanding a divorce was better than this. Her sending him away was better than this. Seeing her with another was better than this.
Anything but this.