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Amanda's Freedom (conclusion)This story may contain adult content. |
| Written by Amie Kerlin | |
| Thursday, 26 June 2008 | |
 Sitting in his car a half block from where Jeremy was keeping Mandy hostage, Kenny sat with his hands on the steering wheel holding it so tightly that his knuckles were white and he was beginning to lose feeling at his fingertips. His thoughts were racing a mile a minute trying to figure out how he managed to not notice what Jeremy really was. Nine months ago Mandy was a normal 19 year old girl. She had loved to go shopping with her friends and she liked her part time job at a clothing store in the mall. Kenny would never forget the day she came home smiling from ear to ear and gushing about the new guy she'd met that day at work. She described him as clean cut because he wore slacks instead of jeans, and button up shirts. She was excited because he had asked her out for that following day. Kenny wanted Amanda to tell him everything about Jeremy before he went anywhere with his sister. Oh if he only knew then what he knew now. He would know that Jeremy was not the pre-law student he said he was nor was he the 'clean-cut' guy he claimed to be. It was all just an act to get them to trust him enough to let Mandy go with him to 'the city' two months after that first date to work for the law firm where his brother was an associate. And he had succeeded. He fooled them all- even Kenny. How he blamed himself for not ever being there to meet him in person! Amanda seemed so happy when she had told him and her mother that it would probably be a couple of months before she got settled, but then she would call. She never called. Instead they got a type written letter telling them that the job at the law firm fell through so she was working as a waitress instead. The letter said she was still with Jeremy and things were going great and that he was taking good care of her. That was it. No return addresses, no phone number, nothing. The letter came three months after she had gone. Kenny had heard from his friend Jake about this place in the city's downtown area where there were girls practically stolen from their families and forced into prostitution. He had heard about it when he was out bar hopping. He had overheard some other guys talking about finding it and having a good time. Jake got really pissed at that statement and had gotten into his first bar fight. Nobody knew where that place was exactly but in his heart Kenny knew that's where his sister was. There was no other explanation for why they hadn't heard from her and the more time passed the more aware Kenny was about the small things he'd heard about Jeremy that didn't seem to add up. Like how Amanda had never been to his room at the University or how his mother described him as all hands. At the time, he figured his mom was being old fashioned and maybe Mandy didn't want mom to know she'd been to his room. But now after the little meeting with Jeremy and with Amanda he knew Jeremy was slime. He sat there in the car for over an hour just watching the steady stream of men going in and coming out of the basement level of the apartment building. After seeing what these men were doing to his sister last night he'd had to stop on the way to the hotel and vomit on the sidewalk. He was as determined as ever to get her out of there. He'd made the calls to Derek and his buddy Jake who'd originally told him about this place. They were on their way and Kenny just had to wait a little longer before he could get his sister safe at home with him. Fifteen minutes later he spotted Derek, Jake, and two other men he didn't recognize walking down the street toward his car. Stepping out of the car, he waved them over and they let Kenny in on the plan. It was pretty straightforward. They were going to walk in and cause a commotion with some of the girls down in the lobby while Kenny went up to retrieve his sister. Kenny told them that he'd only seen three men besides Jeremy running the lobby. The two men Jake brought with him, Mike and John, were armed so if it came down to it they would be on even ground with Jeremy's cronies. They were going to go in twenty minutes later and Kenny was to go in five minutes after that. ******
Walking closer to the door twenty minutes later, he could hear his friends start to get loud inside. They were starting to argue over one particular girl and then he heard glass breaking. That was his cue. He walked in, like he had business there and went straight for the stairs. The man who made a snide remark about his sister last night tried to block his way to the steps but Kenny punched him between the mouth and the nose and down he went. Rushing up to the floor where Amanda's room was he passed people peeking out of other rooms curious about the noise downstairs. One look at Kenny's determined face and they quickly retreated and closed the door. When he reached Amanda's room, he declined to knock and threw open the door. What he saw enraged him to the point where he saw nothing but red. Amanda was laying limply on the rumpled covers covering her face with her hands while a man in his late forties was raping her, seemingly indifferent to Amanda's cries. Kenny grabbed the man by his neck and violently ripped him off of his sister, threw him on the floor and just began hitting him over and over and over until he heard Amanda scream, "Stop! Kenny stop! He's dead already!" She was staring at him with wide eyes that were red rimmed from crying and her mouth freshly bruised. Kenny looked down at the man and vomited at the damage he had done to his face. He gestured for Mandy to get dressed then he headed for the door. Amanda joined him only a minute later and they began their break for freedom. Downstairs things were about to come apart at the seams. They were hoping that Jeremy wouldn't put up too much of a fight for Amanda, but they were wrong. Jeremy took one look at Amanda and Kenny coming down the stairs and he rushed for his gun and pointed it in their direction. ******
At the sight of the gun, Amanda squeezed her eyes shut. All she could hear were shots firing all around them and then something heavy smashing her onto the ground. Someone was screaming... was it her? Finally it stopped and she opened her eyes. She saw Jeremy on the other side of the lobby with blood all over his chest. He wasn't moving. Then she tried to stand, but there was still something heavy on her. It was Kenny! Amanda shoved him off of her so that she could see if he was ok. He wasn't moving and he had blood on his head, but it didn't look like a gunshot wound. Crying, she started to shake him and finally he started coming around. Three other guys started walking toward her and Kenny and she held on to Kenny's arm and shouted "JUST LEAVE US ALONE!" "It's ok Amanda; it's me Derek from the old neighborhood." Recognition flooded her face and she heard Kenny whispering, "it's ok Mandy, you‘re safe. You can come home with me now. It's ok." Amanda smiled to herself then. She knew she was finally free. Copyright 2008 Amie Kerlin |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 July 2008 ) |
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