A TEARDROP IN AN OCEAN - PART SIX

"Tea? Tea!" Todd dropped to the floor, fear rising as fast as a hurricane's tide. He began to shake her, a throttling memory of the past bolting jaggedly through his mind. Gently, he cradled her body in his arms, careful not to damage her fragile limbs. He'd damaged so much already. Lowering her onto the couch, a sweeping nostalgia overwhelmed him. This had happened before, he ravaged. When he'd struck her down. Frantic with painful memories, Todd raked his hands through his hair as though he were reaping his skull for oblivion-oblivion from the aching.
Suddenly, a sparking remembrance flaked quietly down, reminding him that this wasn't the same, he hadn't abused her in any way. Or had he? With an animal-like ferocity, he tore at objects which had succumbed Tea into the frightening slumber. Roughly, his eyes focused on the catch. Photos-they were photos, at least a dozen. But these were unsettling images, pictures which you just wanted to rip into shreds, obfuscate them completely. They were smarmy snapshots of stripped innocence-Starr.
Photo after photo exhibited Todd's sweet little face shrouded in a maniac's evil grip. She was weeping, bruised and unkempt, torture and confused betrayal showing clearly on her face. Rage surged within him, threatening to besiege, to surface. It broke in a wild cry of hatred, burning his singed heart. In a fit of anger, Todd violently flung a vase into the wall, watching as it shattered. Suffering contorted his features as he slumped to the ground. Todd felt empty, devoid of emotion. He stared and felt the wall go up, the slaughtered bricks rebuilding themselves precariously, steadily. Casting his eyes over the wreckage, Todd sighted another of the envelope's discarded contents-a long piece of paper.
Deftly, Todd picked it up, the pasted letters of magazine articles emblazoned over its entire being. Inscripted was the threat of the dismantling of the Mannings, the final test to see which was the victor: survival or emotional death.

"MANNING, I HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER. I DON'T WANT MONEY OR STARR.I WANT SOMETHING GREATER: YOUR WIFE. I OFFER YOU YOUR DAUGHTER IN EXCHANGE FOR TEA. SO TELL ME, MANNING, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS ONE? MAKE OR BREAK THE DEAL."

The phone jangled loudly, snapping Todd out of his terrible reverie. Blindly, he reached out for the phone, not bothering for a hello. Laughter echoed through the receiver followed by the tinny sound of a machine altered voice.
"I've got her. How does it feel, Manning? Is the gnawing beginning? Are you dying yet?"
"Shut up!" Todd shouted. "Just shut up!"
Chortling heartily, the man's voice bordered on insanity. " You want her, Manning? No weapons, no cops, no allies. You even think twice about fetching any of that, you breath a word of this to anyone, I'll blow her f*****g brains all over the floor! Do you hear me? I'll kill her!" Heaving with rage, the kidnappers face soon changed dramatically to serenity. Sweetly, calmly, he said "You and your wife, in the car with your phone. You've got five minutes."

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Tea moaned softly, a compressing shadow pounding beneath her eyes. Touching her hand to her cold forehead, the only thing she could think of was the pitting rage inside her skull. She narrowed her eyes, furrowing her brow as she thought I don't think I really hit the floor that hard. Gazing upwards, her eyes traveled to the shards of a broken vase lying hollowly on the floor. A quick revelation took over: Starr!
Tears stung her eyes as she tried desperately to fight them. Rising noiselessly, she was greeted with the haggard form crumpled on the ground. Those disgusting photos were strewn haphazardly around Todd, sealing him in a circle of ruin. Kneeling down Tea placed a tentative hand on Todd's shoulder. Her husband immediately jerked away, pinning Tea with sadness and frustration. Todd looked up, but the fire, the passion that had burned there only minutes before had descended into the ashes and embers of a dying fire. He picked himself up and strung raw fingers through his tangled hair, all the while chuckling dubiously.
"This is just a joke," he laughed. "Someone's out to get the town pariah of Llanview. That's nothing new but this is really funny. OK guys, the jig is up. Come out come out wherever you are!" He chortled deftly, milling in the ecstasy of nirvana. The laughter died in his throat as Tea angrily screamed "Wake up, Manning! Don't you get it? She's gone!
"She's gone!"
A fierce animosity shook his very core, shook him because it was reality. And she-his wife-had taken it away from him. A delightful wrath took over as he leaped upon her, forcing her body to the wall. Heatedly, he snarled "You shut up! You're lying, you're lying, that's all you've ever done! You've betrayed me over and over-you just lie and lie over and over!"
With a wrath equal to his own, Tea shoved Todd away, her chin raised defiantly. Quietly, she battled his denial with her intelligence. Speaking in a low tone of voice, Tea began. "Don't you ever do that to me again. I am your wife and-"
"My wife!" he cackled. He stepped closer to her, his utter loss of reason reverberating like a flashing neon light. "Listen to me. No two-bit whore like you is ever gonna tell me what to do. I'll do whatever the hell I want and no one is going to take her away."
Violently, Tea hauled off and slapped Todd clear across the face. Stabbing a finger at his chest, she hissed "What are you getting off on? If you EVER talk to me in such a way again, I will make sure that you die, Manning. And I'm going to be the one to stab that knife, that same knife you've twisted my heart with, and you'd wish you'd never met Tea Delgado." Backing off, she pulled and hand to her face, the tears rushing fast. With the most heart-broken look she'd ever perceived, Tea whispered "I gave you all of me. I trusted you with something I've never even trusted myself and you treated it as if it were some tawdry, tedious scrap of nothing!" Looking away, Tea grasped a chair's sturdy helm, supporting both herself and her fears. Speaking quietly, she continued "I can't deal with this now." Drawing a deep breath, she asked "What does he want?"
Confused, Todd questioned "Who?" He blocked away the anguish of Tea's beheading speech, but it seared right through Todd like a shoddy bullet. It hurt him, yes, but what ached more was her. She drove herself into him, provoking a feeling he couldn't squelch. And now it hurt, it pained, it ached. Her flesh burned him, branding him with a fiery tattoo. Shaking himself of the grief, he forced himself to comprehend her question. Confused, Todd questioned "Who?"
"The-" Tea gasped involuntarily, but choked out the words. "The kidnapper. What does he, or she, want?"
Eyes that lacked prevalent flair stared up at her. Coldly, almost humourously he muttered "You."
Tea wretchingly felt the whip of her breath being knocked out of her lungs. Unbelievingly, she admonished "That's not funny, Todd." But slowly, the realization hit: he was serious. Immediately, a defined aura of determination swirled about her, causing an uncertain flicker in Todd's eyes.
"Tea, no," he growled menacingly. You're not going."
Smiling sadly, Tea responded "Oh, Todd, yes I am."
Grappling with both fear and panic, Todd lashed out, waving his arms around angrily. With an utter loss at what he could do to stop her, to control her, Todd shouted "Don't! Don't you do that! Don't you dare try and be the strong woman, Tea! I can't handle it when you-you-you-"
"When I what, Todd? When try to be the person-the woman-I am?" Tea pleaded with him, offering her heart, her mind and her trust. Bright in her eyes, the constant dread of rebuff shone through. Asking him for more than the words she uttered, Tea whispered "Please, Todd, let me go."
Todd connected with her, understood and it made him uncomfortable. She trusted him? Why would she do that? An interlocking consternation rumbled tirelessly from within him. Exasperated, he barked "What do you want me to do then?"
Straightening her body, Tea concluded "I want to get Starr the hell away from that psycho."
They stared at each other, feeling each others thoughts and emotions. Contempt and pride mirrored their own, they were one half of each other but were incredibly different. This is why they fit, this is why the linked. They completed each other. Silently, the two did the only thing they knew how: Todd and Tea began a mission. The mission that would forever change everything they called their own.

TO BE CONTINUED