Chapter 4 4 Alone or not alone

Lisa

Today is the funeral. I don't know how to feel about that. Aunt Bettina, aunt Susanna, my uncles, cousins and grandparents are all at aunt Bettina's house where I have been staying the last four days. They do their best comforting me, but the person I need the most, the person I most want to see isn't here. I need my sister to be here with me. Our parents are dead. It doesn't feel right to bury them without her being here.

I sit outside on the swing without moving. My little cousin Adalina is playing with her dolls on the grass. Adalina is six years old. She keeps me company without talking to me. I'm very grateful for that. I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Just like me, Adalina is wearing a knee length black dress and our blond hair is in a Dutch braid. Dressed for a funeral I really don't want to go to.

'Lisa and Adalina can you come inside please. We are going to leave soon.' Aunt Bettina is also wearing a black dress. Oh god, she looks so much like my mother. Blond, thin and beautiful.

Adalina picks up her dolls and walks towards me to hold my hand. Together we walk inside where the rest of the family is waiting for us. Their silence is hitting me in the face. I get it, we are all sad. Aunt Bettina and Susanna lost their big sister, aunt Judy her brother, my grandparents lost their daughter and my other grandparents their only son.

'Lisa we were wondering if you wanted to say something during the funeral. Some last words maybe. If you're up to it of course.' Uncle Harold is currently the only one keeping it together, I think. He is the only one talking without tears in his eyes. 'Do you want to do it?' he asks.

'I don't know.' I say truthfully. 'I need...' Shit. A single tear rolls down my face. Nova. I need Nova. She is the oldest. I'm not strong like her. I have no idea what to say. 'Nova.' I say as I breath out. Where is Nova? We haven't heard anything from her kidnappers. No ransom, no phone calls or letters from the kidnappers at all. The police didn't find any traces of them. No one has seen a mysterious car in our street. Nova is gone, gone without a trace. And the biggest question is why? If you're gonna steel something, why bother to kidnap someone or kill? It doesn't make sense.

'Just speak from your heart. You don't need anyone. You can do it Lisa.' Aunt Susanna says with a soft smile. She means well. Is she right though? Can I get through this alone? 'We will help you.' she says.

I sigh. Maybe I'm not alone at all. I have my family right here. They aren't going anywhere. Well, I hope. I can't lose someone else. 'Okay.' I say. 'I will do it. As long as you all are with me.'

'Always. That's what family is for.'

Nova

Someone is touching me. No not again, I think. I can't handle another fuck session. I can't. My body hurts so much from last night.

'I won't hurt you.' a man says. And when I whimper, he says: 'Don't worry, I'm not going to fuck you, Nova. If you promise not to scream, I will untie you. Okay, can you do that?'

I nod. It's all I want for the four days I've been laying here. They only brought me to the toilet three times a day and I got to eat only two times a day. They untied me once to tie my hands to my feet, that was it. The rope they used was itching an burning and I've been laying in the same position since I woke up here. First the mysterious hands started to untie my gag from my mouth. He helped me drink some water through a straw. 'Thank you.' I whisper.

'I'm sorry that this is happening to you. It was not my decision to take you with us. I voted against. Just so you know.' The man started to untie my hands and feet. My soar muscles couldn't even move when finally free. 'I'm taking you blindfold off now. Don't open your eyes right away. Slowly blink, let them settle down for a second.'

The blindfold is being removed. The light isn't very bright, so I try to open them slowly, carefully blinking a few times. When my eyes adjust to the surrounding and the light, I can see the man in front of me. It's a man in his thirties with blond hair and stubbles on his face. His blue eyes are friendly and soft. Nothing like those dark hard eyes from my so-called father. Brad.

'I'm Ian.' He is shy all of the sudden and takes a step away from me.

'Hi.' I have no idea what to say to him. I have a lot of questions, but I'm too afraid to ask them.

Ian looks everywhere but my naked body. Then his blue eyes find mine. 'I will bring you to the bathroom. You need to shower. Is it okay if I lift you?'

What other choice do I have? 'Hmm, okay.'

'I really promise not to hurt you.'

Ian seems sweet. Not like the others that only used my body every night to fuck without remorse. They let me drink something disgusting every morning to prevent pregnancy's and don't bother to talk to me at all. He is the first to tell me his name. I only knew Brad's name. Ian carefully picks me up in bridal style. I feel so weak. I hate feeling numb and hurt. I could really use a shower.

In the arms of Ian, I finally can look around and I know now what they meant with camper. It's literally a camper. Two bunk beds with brown curtains, a small kitchen and a table with a couch and the bed I was laying on. It looked old but cozy. On the ground lay a lot of empty beer bottles, cigarettes and empty pizza boxes. Men. But I couldn't keep my eyes of one thing. There were three electric guitars hanging on big hooks on the wall. They seemed new and totally out of place in this old camper.

'You play?' Ian asks when he saw me staring, bringing me back to reality and away from the guitars.

'I had music lessons ever since I was four. I can play piano, bass, violin and guitar, but I never played an electric guitar.'

'I will teach you. I mean, if your father allows it.' The door to a small bathroom is being opened by Ian with his foot. The bathroom is brown and looked like it was last cleaned five years ago. The smell wasn't much better. Ian placed me on the toilet and he told me to pee before shower. So I did. It wasn't really awkward for me. I have been peeing in front of these men for four days now. They all saw me naked. I was glad Ian looked the other way while I was peeing.

I had to ask Ian one thing that is on my mind ever since they took me. 'Is he, my fa.. Brad, your boss? Are you in some form of a gang or something? Is it mafia?'

Ian laughed out loud. While laughing, he let me sit on the floor and took the shower head of the wall. 'You think we're from the mafia?' He wiped away some tears from his eye. 'You saw the guitars, right?'

'Yes... So?' I ask confused. What did guitars have to do with everything?

'Nova, we are in a rock band. That is why we travel with a camper all around America.' Ian now turned on the shower, away from me. Making sure it was warm water instead of cold.

'A rock band killed my parents. Great.'

'You don't believe me?'

Of course I don't believe him. 'I don't know you.'

'That is true. But I mean what I said. We are all in a rock band, we travel around America in our camper. And I'm not going to hurt you or fuck you.'

'You already did. You raped me, remember?' I didn't forget even if I wanted it to.

Pain and regret flashed in his eyes for a second, before it went back to fun. 'You know what? I am going to let you shower for five minutes and during that time, you can ask me anything you like. Get to know me a little better.'

I agreed. After the shower I felt a little better. My muscles were warmed up, it felt great sitting up again and my hair was finally washed. I learned Ian wasn't from Orlando, but he moved a lot as a child. He was an only child and he lived with his mom and grandma until he went to college to study rock music. He was the youngest of the rock group. Ian just turned thirty-one years old, while the others were all in their forties. My questions about why I'm here or where we were he didn't answer. Other questions about my father or the band neither. I didn't mind. I will find out sooner or later. But for now I was happy I had someone to talk to. I wasn't alone.

After drying myself with a towel, Ian gave me a shirt to wear. It was one of his shirts. It smelled like him. It was long, almost till my knees like a dress. He brought me back to the bed and gave me a peanut butter sandwich to eat. While slowly nibbling on the sandwich, the door of the camper opened. Five men walked in one by one. They didn't even notice me sitting there and went their separate ways, doing what they were about to do. One was taking something out of the fridge, another sat down at the couch and looked on his phone, while another laid down on one of the bunk beds. I make myself as small as possible against the camper wall, hoping they wouldn't look at me.

A man with a balled opened a can of beer when he looked me right in the eyes. 'What the fuck?' His eyes went from me to Ian and back again. 'Ian what have you done?' Now all heads turn to him. 'Nova.' he said, pointing at me.

That turned all the attention right to me. Six pairs of eyes were looking at me. Some looked surprised, Ian looked scared, but the angry eyes came from him: Brad. He looked at me like he could kill me. I wouldn't mind if he did. All better than getting raped by him every night.

'Well, that is a surprise. Ian, you let the whore see us. Don't tell me you care for her, now do you?' Brad asked. Anger dripping out of his mouth.

'No, I just think Nova can do better things than lay in bed all day.' Ian dared to say back. 'She can clean the camper for example. Maybe she can cook for us. I don't know. I don't want to eat pizza every day.'

'I agree to that.' A man with a large tattoo on his arm said. 'No more pizza.'

'Can you cook?' the bald man asked me.

I slowly nod. I love to cook actually. Mom was a great cook and I always helped her when I could.

'See.' Ian said. 'She can start tonight with making us dinner.'

A loud growl echoed through the camper. 'Fine.' Brad said. 'But she better not burn this place down, otherwise I'll kill both of you.' He was pointing towards me and Ian. 'For now, just tie her ankle to the bed. I don't want her walking out of here. You make any sound and I will kill you.' His dark eyes told me enough.

This man was going to kill me, just not today.