Forgotten

Elizabeth's POV

The nurse walked towards me with a note in hand. "We found you address." She said. "You live in Brisbane." I tentatively grabbed the note from her and opened it slowly.

11/17/17
We have your husband. If you want him back please call this number- 4537-3245-2341 -and we will come to a mutual agreement as to what you owe us to get your husband back.

"This was almost a year ago?! Who is my husband?!? Where is he! We have to call this number. Luke. We have to!" I said to the nurse and look. Both looking slightly shocked at the letter.

"Beth, I don't think it's in your best interest to call this number. You still don't remember anything. What if they ask you personal questions about him. You don't even know his name." Luke said, trying to come closer to comfort me.

"I don't care if that is really my husband I HAVE to help him. Have to." I said with a sense of finality in my voice.

"Unfortunately I am going to have to agree with Mr. Hemmings on this one. I don't think it's in your best interests to call. At least not right now." The nurse said.

Ashton's POV

I grabbed my dinner as they passed it through the hole in the door. "You have 30 minutes." He said gruffly. I quickly set the tray down and grabbed the knife and slipped it into my shirtsleeve. I ate as fast as I could so that I could have time to begin my plan. 10 minutes later I set my tray back on the hole in the door and knelt down next to my bed and pulled the small nightstand next to it away to reveal an ever-growing hole in the concrete wall. I had realized when being taken to the showers for the billionth time that that my room backed into a supply closet with an air vent in the top. I don't know where we air vent leads to but it has to be somewhere other that that room. I had been slowly chipping away each meal I had with a knife until one day when they forgot to give me a knife, when I returned the tray with no knife they asked where it was, I said they had forgotten one. I then realized that after a few weeks I could do the same thing but keep the knife this time, and not have to be confined to just trying to escape during meal time. I was so close to getting through the wall. And once I broke through the concrete it was easy enough ti chip at the sides until the hole was big enough. The only problem I had run into was that someone could ee the hole in the supply closet, which is why I made the executive decision that once I broke through, I would wait until nightfall and open the hole throughout the night and escape. It was fool-proof.

I heard the footsteps walking down the hallway and I quickly gathered my shower stuff and stood by the door waiting for them to come and retrieve me.

"Where's the knife?" He asked

"You didn't give me one. Again." I said bluntly.

"Shut up and don't talk to me like that. Let's go. You know the drill. Five minute.."

Five minute cold shower, then seven minutes to get ready for whatever else. I thought mockingly in my head.

Elizabeth's POV

I snuggled up against Luke and settled down for the night closing my eyes and was gone within minutes.

"Are we flying home tomorrow or Tuesday. I'd really love to spend one day just the two of, well three of us I guess." I said placing a hand on my stomach. He smiled.

"We are flying out on Tuesday, so the three of us," he winked, "Have all day tomorrow just for ourselves." He said chuckling. His eyes closed ever so lightly and I admired he laugh. I turned my head to face the road and saw two lights headed straight for us.

"Ashton! Watch out!" I shouted.

I woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily. Luke sat up next to me. "Elizabeth? Are you okay?"

"Ashton." I said in between breaths.

"What?" He asked me.

"I'll be back." I stood up and walked out of the room towards the NICU. I nodded gently to the nurse on call and sat down at the station next to my sleeping baby boy. "Hi baby, you have a daddy. His name is Ashton. I don't know where he is baby. But I can call people that know where he is. I am going to call them tomorrow morning." I said before drifting off to sleep again agaisnt the plastic crib.

"Mrs. Irwin?" I opened my eyes to see my nurse and Luke standing in front of me slightly confused. "Are you okay? Mr. Hemmings said you woke up panicked last night."

I nodded slightly. "I remembered something. His name. His name is Ashton."

"That's great, this is a good sign." She smiled lightly. No I'm not telling her that I am going to call them. She'd probably still disagree.

Ashton's POV

It was 4:30 in the morning and I knew that they would be coming at 5. I could almost fit through the hole. I needed to take off a little more that half an inch on the circumference. I began to chip away as fast as I could, the faster I got out of here the more time I had to get away before they saw I was gone. 4:57 the clock in my room read and I could hear the heavy footsteps. I was so close, but I had no choice but to swiftly climb back into bed just as they walked up to the door. "Up. Let's go. You're copying them again. Lunch is at 11 today, then you'll have an hour long break." I stood up and quickly pulled on a pair of pants and followed him to the dark room where they had me and two burly men counterfeiting money. I knew that my only chance to get out today was going to be during that break, otherwise someone might see the hole, I was panicked enough as it was that someone might see, I wouldn't be able to last until night time.

~~6 hours later~~

They brought me back to my room with a lunch tray saying that they would be back to pick it up in 15 minutes. Then they leave me to do whatever I please for 1 hour. I ate my lunch quickly and plotted my escape route. It was going to have to be fast because at the end of the hour when they came back they were going to have people looking for me. And I could not be found. He came back and grabbed my tray and walked off. As soon as his footsteps disappeared I fell to my knees and chipped away as fast as I could. 17 minutes later I had squeezed my way through the small opening and pulled the small nightstand back in front of it. I stood up and quickly looked around. It was a small room with a few stacks of items on each wall and a large air vent on the left wall above a stack near the ceiling. I glanced around for a screwdriver to unscrew the vent before noticing it was simply latched on. I didn't know what time it was or how much time I had left, but I knew it couldn't be much more than half an hour. I gently climbed up the stack and reached up to unlatch the air vent. It was going to be a squeeze, but it would have to work. I shimmied my way up into it and began to crawl forward.

Unknown POV

"I'm going to get him. You two, back to work." I looked at the clock, 12:13. I began to leave the room when the phone rang loudly.

"Hello?" I said gruffly.

"Hello, my name is Elizabeth Irwin. I am calling because I received a note saying that you have my husband?"

"Ahh, hello Mrs. Irwin. We have been waiting a long time for your response to that letter. It is so nice to finally hear from you." I glanced at the clock again. 12:18, he can wait.

"Uhm, okay. Listen, I am prepared to give you anything you want."

"That is very nice. Are you fit? Good in bed?" She scoffed.

"I'm sorry, you must have misunderstood. Anything with a monetary value. I have a full bank account." 12:22, he is probably sleeping anyways.

"Of course, I just need someone to satisfy darling."

"Well, it isn't going to be me. Now, what do you want?"

"I'm thinking upwards of $2,000,000." She paused and only her breathing could be heard.

"$1,750,000 and you've got a deal."

"$1,800,000." I contradicted.

"Fine, but I want to hear his voice." She said. I took another look at the clock. 12:29. It seemed like as good a time as any to get him. Might as well wake him up to this, maybe he'll work harder. I held on to the phone and opened the door.

"Of course."

I walked down the hallway and turned to his cold metal door, grabbed my keys and swung open the door.

"Fuck!!" I shouted and dropped the phone.

Notes