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Unlike the day before, Anna brought a tray to me for dinner. I was grateful to eat away from the dining room, and scarfed down the sandwich and salad she had brought me, so hungry that I only gave a fleeting thought to the fact that the Reverend could have easily put poison in it.
I didn't hear from anyone until the next morning. The silence was maddening as my mind concocted various horrors that the Reverend was preparing for me. My fragile nerves were put more on edge by Anna's demeanor when she came to get me the next morning.
Anna was twitchy. Her eyes glancing nervously at me and then away, as if she had something to say but was too afraid to get the words out. After a silent breakfast in the dining room, I was led back into the study to sit again directly in front of the Reverend while he worked on his sermon.
Unlike the day before however, the Reverend only wrote for a few hours before standing up abruptly.
"I have errands to attend to," he announced to us, his eyes shining gleefully for some reason.
I thought he would have Anna lead me back to my bedroom, but immediately tensed when he pulled the same pair of thick silver cuffs from before, out of one of his desk drawers. He walked over to me, and fastened my left wrist to the side of the chair. The metal chafed at my skin, and I gave him a furious look.
"Don't fret my sweet," he said to me. "I'm allowing you to stay out today as a sign of my trust. Anna will be reading several sermons to you today to begin your church education."
He gave me a perfunctory kiss on my cheek which made me gag once again, before striding out of the room without another word or a parting glance at his wife.
Chapter 26
Anna walked to the window, watching as the Reverend drove away. She stayed there for about ten minutes until she turned to me swiftly.
"You need to go," she said urgently.
I stared at her dumbly, unsure of why she was saying this now.
"He kept the key to your lock, I'm going to have to find a way to pick it."
She ran out of the room briefly, before returning a minute later holding a pin. She began to jab it in. She obviously had no experience picking locks with the savage way she was attacking it. I finally woke up from the stupor her sudden change of heart had put me in, and motioned for her to hand me the pin. I set about trying to trip the lock like I had in doors before. Unfortunately, this handcuff seemed to be specially made, and I couldn't figure out how to do it. Anna was pacing by the window, wringing her hands. She looked over to me.
"Is it working?" she asked anxiously.
"No!" I said, panic starting to thread through my voice as I saw my window of opportunity to escape rapidly disappearing. Anna was now chewing on her fingernails.
"Do you have any other tools you can think of?" I asked her.
I looked down at the chair I was in. The Reverend had brought a wooden kitchen chair into the living room because it was easier to lock me to it than the padded furniture that comprised the rest of the room. The spindles of the chair didn't look that sturdy. I wondered if I could maybe break them. I began to yank as hard as I could on the rod, only succeeding in spraining my wrist in the process.
"What about a saw of some sort?" I gasped out, my voice going raspy with excitement at the idea.
Anna nodded and ran out of the room. I heard a door open somewhere in the house. I wondered if she had gone in a garage or something. She came back holding a large saw that was rusted with age, perspiration lining her brow. I looked at it shakily. There was no way that I could hold that with one hand. I was going to have to trust Anna that she wouldn't cut one of my body parts off while she attempted to cut the chair.
Anna hustled over to my chair and sank down on her knees. She began to move the saw slowly, careful to stay out of range of my hand which was dangling by the chair where it was connected by the cuff. It became obvious to both of us that cutting the chair was going to require a lot more force than she was using now. She looked at me worried, and I nodded my head, gritting my teeth for the off chance that the saw slid and she cut me instead.
She began to saw faster, sweat dripping profusely from her brow now. Anna was a small woman, much shorter than me, with a slight build. I'm sure that moving the giant saw was very difficult for her, and I admired her effort. Every so often Anna would stop, and we would both listen worriedly for the sound of a car announcing the Reverend's return.
After Anna had been sawing for a few minutes, I began to start pulling on the cuff to help try and break the wood. It still held on strong though, and I had to stop for fear the cuff was going to break my skin and I would start bleeding. Beckham had said that I didn't have hemophilia, but that my blood probably held power instead. I wasn't ready to test that theory in this situation.
Anna continued to saw, making very little progress as the saw seemed to be very rusted and dull. I began to panic. I felt like the Reverend was going to be back any time now. I pulled again on my cuff anxiously, and this time was pleased when I heard a cracking sound, like the wood was splintering under the pressure. This seemed to spur Anna forward, and she started sawing feverishly. I jumped multiple times as the saw came very close to nicking my wrist.
Finally, after one more pull from me, the wooden chair leg broke. I was free!
"Hurry," Anna cried, pulling me off of the chair and pulling me out into the hallway.
She led me through the kitchen where there was a back door. She stopped us at the door, and grabbed a bag that had been half-hazardly stuck in the space between the fridge and the cabinet.
"I packed some food in here for you," she said as she gave me the bag. "It's not much, but it will hopefully last you until you find a phone and can call someone. I don't have a phone to give you. The Reverend doesn't let me have a cell phone, and I haven't been able to find any phones anywhere in the house."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, slightly suspicious of her motives.
"He has something terrible planned for you," she answered. "Something that is surely a sin against God."
