A  H E A V E N 

O U T  O F   H E L L 

'She's fragile,' he whispered as the men came to take her away. 'Please be careful,' he pleaded, but they all knew what he was really saying – please don't take her away, please just let her stay a few more days, a few more years, a lifetime maybe.
But that wasn't how things went and they all knew that – he'd known to expect the men for what? Three weeks now? Surely that was enough time to say his goodbyes. If he hadn't, that was just parenting. The men glanced at him, disgusted, looking down at this shell of a father, crying for his lost girl.
'It's okay, sweetheart, Daddy's right here,' he cried, although the child couldn't hear, because that's sometimes just what parents do. He didn't really recognizing the voice coming out of his mouth anymore.

'Mr Reynolds, as you have been informed, you are not permitted to follow us. If you or any of your associates are seen–'
'Associates,' Matt murmured, biting his lower lip. Associates, like he was some lowlife criminal who might send his thugs to get her back. 'What is this? I'm a decent man,' he tried, almost begging the men.
But they only shook their heads, sad but firm. He was not a decent man, not in their eyes at least.
'If you or your associates follow us or are at any point present on hospital grounds, your case will be reopened. You will get five years, at the very least.'
He couldn't help but stare back in amazement at this young man, how firm he was, how cold.
'Don't you have children of your own?'
He could hear his voice breaking into pieces in his throat, but he couldn't back off now.
'I'm sorry, sir, I'm afraid you've left us no choice,' the last of the men said, closing the door behind him.
They went out like lightning bolts and he listened to the car speed away in the driveway. He imagined his Allie propped up in the back seat, sedated out of her mind. They'd hurt her, he just knew it, they'd do something to her, they'd break her just like they did last time.

He couldn't let them have her, not after what happened, not now. These were dangerous people, but he had to be careful, otherwise what the man said might come true and then he'd never see Allie again. They'd take him away from her and he could never let that happen, could he?
He'd make his way into the hospital. No, he'd call his lawyer first, because that was the wise thing to do, wasn't it? The lawyer had said so, to call him first, and they'd get everything under control. The lawyer had assured him they couldn't take Allie away, not after what happened last time, when they'd almost lost her altogether. Thank Heaven he hadn't listened to them then either and he'd been there to save her.
'Mr Hannigan's office,' the voice on the other end said.
'Yes, hello, can you tell him it's Matt? Matt Reynolds, looking for him, tell him it's urgent, please.'
The words came flooding out of his mouth, in a torrent of gasps and he heard the woman on the other end sigh, ever so lightly. 'Just a moment, Mr Reynolds.'*
He waited although he didn't want to wait. He had no patience for the soft rock music that came through the speakers as they passed him around.
'Matt,' he heard the lawyer on the other end, after what seemed like an eternity. 'What's the matter?'
'They took her,' Matt said and then finally, his voice broke into tiny fragments, scattering into his lungs, so that for five terrible seconds, he couldn't speak. No words came out of his mouth and he gulped, desperate for something to say. 'They took her,' he said again, tears flowing down his cheeks now.
'Fuck,' the lawyer muttered on the other end. 'I'm sorry, Matt. But you have to listen to me, I know what you're thinking now, but we can't be stupid. You can't go after them or we might lose her forever and we don't want that, alright? You just hang in there and let me think of something, okay? We gotta regroup our troops now.'
And the lawyer's voice was so firm in his ears, so certain and self-assured, that for a moment, Matt Reynolds felt better, only just a little. Someone was in charge, someone was going to do something about it.

Mr Hannigan put down the phone and let out a heavy sigh, recalling Matt Reynolds' face that day in the waiting room when they'd told him his daughter had died. How it was, quite simply, the scariest thing he'd seen in all his life. He hadn't known people could break quite like that, that they could crack from the inside.
And from all the punishments he'd encountered in his career, and there had been quite a few, being trapped in that memory, that wreckage that Matt Reynolds had become, was by far the most terrible.

This is a five minute freewrite, which took more than five minutes, I admit, and was inspired by the word 'trapped'. Do check out the lovely @mariannewest and support the @freewritehouse as you can!

Thank you for reading,

Images: Pixabay with a touch of Deep Dream