I stopped while I remembered my feelings and the song and the admiration of both Rick and Amanda.
“Rick said that I sang like an angel.”
“Later he suggested that I might like to take part in an experiment and you know how much I love experiments… anyway… we ended up in his bedroom and about to remove our clothing when he was called away. Sometimes I feel as though the whole universe conspires to keep me a ‘re-virgin’.”
Michael and Lu both laughed; that was nice.
“Hey, are you guys holding hands? If you’re not holding hands, please do. The connection is stronger when you’re united. You can really help me out by sticking together as much as possible. There seems to be more of the reconnect garnered for me when you’re together, understand?”
I waited for acknowledgement from them and a promise that they would work at being together.
“Si, I promise Elena,” Lu said.
“Michael?”
“Of course, Baby, we’re together right now. You’re right we both feel better. I promise, too. We’ll work at staying together for all of us.”
They filled me in on what was happening with their new house and the visions from their telling contributed to a longing again. That time I knew I’d be with them soon in their new home in a country far away – another adventure.
We expressed our love multiple times and set 4 p.m. the following day as our calling contact time before we regretfully said good bye.
The following day I went to the city to meet Amanda for lunch. Since Rick was away at a meeting somewhere down town and wasn’t expected back until 2 p.m. we weren’t in a hurry to get back. During lunch Amanda confessed that her preconceived notion of me was wrong and that she had been surprised and then impressed by me a number of times. She didn’t leave off saying that she thought that Rick would be getting the better woman if he got me.
It took some doin’ to convince her that I’d like to see them get back together and that I was using Rick in hopes of having some sex. Then came the work of making her see how much Rick wanted her. She wanted a commitment before she’d give it up so to speak. Of all people, I understood where she’s comin’ from and I respected her personal decisions.
On the walk back to the office we talked about design and the next time we got together that I’d bring my portfolio; that she could come to my house and learn how to make patterns. Our friendship was already an easy alliance.
We were in the outer office for only a minute when Rick came through the door. He actually smiled at us. He looked at me and said, “Give me a minute, then come in.”
We waited the minute in the outer office and then I confidently walked into his office and pulled Amanda along with me. Rick was puzzled. As explanation I said, “Rick, can you and Amanda give me about 10 minutes of your time, please? I believe that someone is acting falsely on your behalf. At least I hope it’s someone else.”
“Why do you need Amanda to be here?” Rick asked.
“I believe in the fact that 3 heads are greater than 2 heads. I am bothered by this scary turn of events in my life and how our lives have somehow been linked publicly.”
In a quick five minutes I basically told them what had happened to me with his name backing the process. All of the offers that were extended had been withdrawn and all videos were gone from You Tube and the Internet. Even the short Wikipedia page that was there a number of months back had vanished. People had been warned not to help me or risk losing their careers.
“That’s crazy,” Rick said. “I’d never do anything like that.”
“I can vouch for that, Rick would never be vindictive like that.”
Amanda knew Rick was abrasive but she also knew him to be a good man.
Rick went into his apartment and came back a few minutes later as he was finishing up a phone conversation.
“I’ll be waiting to hear so make this a priority and top secret, understand?”
Just catching the tail end of his conversation gave me confidence that he could take care of the injustice that was happening in his name without his consent. Taking the lead like that had always been a turn on for me and for those moments when he took swift action to investigate I was captivated and enthralled. When I relaxed out of my own need, others became the spot light of my focus and I saw that Amanda was just as taken by Rick’s command of the role of the leader using a respectful yet demanding tone while speaking to subordinates.
Walking in the underground parking structure from the elevator to my car, I thought about talking to Michael and Lu and giving them the news that Rick was not the one behind the whole ‘ruin Helen’ campaign.
I couldn’t wait to talk to them and smiled to myself when the phone rang while I was thinking of them. I inserted the key into the car door lock and answered the phone at the same time.
“Helloooo,”
While opening the car door, I got an inkling of the reconnect. My body at first felt the presence of another in the nearly dark garage and then collapsed; brought to my knees by a searing pain that burned and zinged into my tendons and torched my nerve ends as all of my muscles cramped and constricted at the same time. Losing conscientiousness was a blessing.
When I awoke I struggled to understand what was happening to me. I was face down on the floor of a moving vehicle with my arms confined behind me. There wasn’t much light but I could see that there was blood all over the front of my pretty white blouse. There was pain in every muscle and mercifully I passed out and into a dream like state again.
While asleep, I felt a sense of protection like I was in an altered universe. An out of body experience allowed me to watch myself from a close distance and to detect danger as I watched. There was an eerie silence that settled in the air all around the van and the sense that I was alone and vulnerable in the world loomed over me like a death sentence. I feared for my safety and wanted to cry.
For what seemed to be hours I laid face-down in a very uncomfortable position on that dirty floor trying not to think of never seeing my kids again. Panic was not an option. Being asleep was helpful because the pain came back when I was conscience.
The vehicle made a slow turn and then everything got darker like the shades had just been pulled allowing no light in. I heard the sound of the driver’s door as it opened and closed; I was left there on the floor of that van with the smell of raw gasoline and rubber burning my nostrils. The blood had dried up on my face and created an infuriating itch. When I tried to scratch the itch by rubbing my face on the floor, my nose began to bleed. I had to breathe through my mouth.
Time passed and I was chilled to the bone. I drifted off every now and then and slept long enough to dream disturbing dreams of loss and sadness. The sound of the van door opening brought me out of my sleep.
“The room’s ready now.” The voice was soft and quiet.
The feel of large strong hands gripped me by my arm and tugged me to the edge of the door and then brought my feet around to the opening and pulled me to a standing position just outside of the van. The man was big, much bigger than me. He put me over his shoulder like a bag of laundry and then closed the door to the van. It hurt my stomach as he lumbered to the end of the garage to a door located there.
The room was nearly bare. He set me down fairly gently on a small cot that was against one wall of the 14’ x 14’ room.
He backed away from the cot and I got my first good look at him. He was a round kind of man, pudgy and soft, but strong. He was six foot four and probably weighed 300 pounds, maybe more. But honestly he had a kind looking young face that made me want to be his friend and pinch his cheeks. That’s what I felt even though I knew he had hurt me, pretty sure my nose was broken and my pants were wet from blood that came from a yet undiscovered source