Sia: Screams in the Night: Windy Haven Trilogy-Book 1

By Diane Chartrand

Jolted awake by the screams of a young girl, Sia froze. The heart-wrenching sounds, a reminder of what happened to her, in the park, at 14. Fearful for the girl, but more afraid of her past.

Sia escaped after four years. Having testified against her captors, she and her family now live in Witness Protection.

  Sia, second-guessing what she heard, and haunted by the fact that no one tried to find her, undertakes an intense search for information from neighbors and police about that night.

A gut feeling. The girl is real and in serious trouble. Only one goal. Find the girl before it's too late.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diane Chartrand
• Release date: Feb 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386048213

Book preview

Sia

Screams in the Night

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Windy Haven Trilogy - Book 1

Diane Chartrand

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my daughter Melinda.  You will always be a special part of my heart.  I love you more than you know.

I am so proud of you for having the strength to carve your own path and become the person you are today.

Copyright Page

SIA deals with sensitive matters.

READER discretion is advised

Copyright © 2019  Diane Chartrand

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All rights reserved. This book or any portion of it may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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Cover Designed by Diane Chartrand

Paperback ISBN 13:  978-1720094258

Chapter One

Shattered

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Startle, Sia jumped up in bed. What, what?  Another piercing scream broke the night silence followed by a young girl begging, No. Please stop, please you’re hurting me.

Sia went over to the bedroom window and raised the blinds.  She looked out into the darkness but saw no one.  The basketball court, which is directly below her second-story apartment, was empty, and the small children’s playground next to it appeared to be too.

She heard it again even louder this time.  The girl’s piercing cries ripped into Sia’s soul.  She could feel every bit of pain the girl was experiencing.  Sia couldn’t pinpoint the girl’s location so went out on her balcony hoping to get a better fix.

The sound seemed to be coming from behind the two L shaped buildings that surrounded the basketball court and playground, separated from the townhouse complex behind it by a small grassy area, a 6-foot fence topped with barb wire, and a row of 20-foot pine trees.

A man’s angry voice exploded into the silence.  This life is your only future Willow.  Now shut the hell up.

Willow’s gut-wrenching cries went on for over a half-hour.  Sia wanted to find and help this desperate girl, but fear stopped her.

Sia picked up the receiver on the phone and was about to call the police when the night went silent.  She put the phone back in the cradle and waited a few minutes to see if the cries started again.

No more pleading cries to stop. No more piercing screams.  No more male voice.  Did someone closer intervene? Did she get away, or was she lying out there hurt, maybe dying?

Sia knew she should go out and see if the girl was okay, but she couldn’t, she just froze near the window. The reflection looking back at her was a wisp of a girl barely five-foot-tall and less than one hundred pounds, no match for anyone.

Sia started to make excuses why she couldn’t go check it out.  It’s so dark, and what if that man is still out there, he could hurt me too.

Unable to fall back asleep, Sia tossed and turned the rest of the night.  So many thoughts kept racing through her mind.  How would she carry on not knowing where the girl was, or if she was injured, or maybe dead?

If she wasn’t there, when daylight arrived, perhaps the man dragged her away and put her in his vehicle. If she died, did he toss her body somewhere far outside of town?

Sia scolded herself.  I should have gone out last night, found the girl and confronted whoever was hurting her.  I should have at least tried.  Sia felt, by the sound of the cries, the girl was possibly being raped again and again just like they did to her.

At nine in the morning, Sia finally found the strength to go outside.  Slowly she went towards the fence that was behind both buildings and walked the entire fence line but saw nothing, not a trace that anyone had ever been there.  She glanced through the fence into the townhouse complex. 

Did it happen over there? Maybe that’s why she couldn’t see anyone because they were on the other side of the fence behind all these tall pine trees. Surely, you’d think, someone closer by would have heard the screams too and come to her aid. But, would they?

Sia returned to her apartment and sat down at the dining room table to drink her coffee.  As she looked out the window, her doubts began to surface once more.  Maybe it wasn’t real.  Maybe it was all just a nightmare about my past?  But, the screams pierced my heart, so it had to be real, didn’t it?

The sound of the screams in her head had Sia spooked.  It brought her back to a world she thought was left behind.  Was she going crazy, imagining things happening that aren’t there?  She immediately dialed her supervisor and made an appointment to speak with her privately.

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Eight years ago, Sia was that girl.  At age 14, after leaving an abusive relationship with an older man, she became the victim of a sex traffic ring.  One night, while walking home from the library, she was grabbed and brutally raped by several men with hoods covering their faces in a park two blocks away from her house.

Her continuous screams either went un-noticed or just ignored by anyone in the nearby vicinity.  After the rapes, and no more voice to scream, she was tied up and dumped into a nearby van.

The man, who seemed to be the leader, drove to a house near the lake a few miles away and left her there under the watchful eye of a couple of dubious looking men.  Still tied up, she was placed in the corner of an empty room except for a lone dirty mattress on the floor.

A couple of days later, she heard the two men talking to someone in the other room.  When he spoke back to them, she recognized his voice.  It was her ex-boyfriend Jaydon, the older man she had just broken up with because he would beat her all the time.  Was he here to take her home?

She called out, Jaydon, please help me.  Shortly after, she heard the door unlock, and he came into the room.

Jaydon, I’m so glad you found me?  Please untie me and take me home?

When he didn’t answer or move she looked up at him confused.  Jaydon, do you realize what these people did to me?

Yes.  My men did what I instructed them to do.  I was there in the park a few nights ago and brought you here afterward.  You are now one of my girls.  From now on you will do as instructed, and with whomever I choose.

Your men?  You, you did this to me.  Why?  Because I broke up with you?  I couldn’t stay when you kept on beating me.

As Jaydon came closer, Sia shrunk back tighter in the corner.

We went out, so I could prepare you.  I had to strip down your high and mighty upbringing to proceed to the next step.  I couldn’t let a young beauty like you, who‘s worth a fortune, get away.  You, my dear, are the prize of my stable of young girls.

She remained silent as Jaydon untied her and stripped off her clothes.  As he began to rape her, he whispered in her ear, Always remember, I am the boss and if you disobey me I will not hesitate to either kill you or someone in your precious family.

With her spirit broken, she no longer fought him.  When Jaydon was done, holding her by her hair, he walked her naked by the two men in the other room to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

Get yourself cleaned up.  Your work starts in an hour, and I don’t want my customers to see or smell your filth.  Oscar will bring you some appropriate clothes to put on.

My work?  What work are you talking about Jaydon?

One of my men will take you to a motel room where several customers will arrive, and you will do whatever they ask of you.  Oscar will be outside the door so don’t get any ideas of running.

She was forced to do many vile and disgusting things over the next four years and was given drugs, so she would be compliant and obey.  Whenever she tried to fight back, Jaydon would beat her severely, one time even putting her in the hospital.  During that time, she never said a word to anyone for fear that Jaydon would kill her or someone she loved.

One day, after a severe beating, Jaydon left her unchained and alone in the room to reflect on her actions.  Sia hadn’t heard the door lock and quietly made her way over and opened it. Making her way into the main room, she discovered the house was empty.  No longer able to continue, she gathered her courage, went down the path to the lake and ran.

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Over the last four years, since entering the Witness Protection Program, Sia worked hard to fit in.  She went back to school, obtained a College Degree in Social Services, and was now working at a Rape Crisis Center trying to help other young girls get out of dangerous situations. 

Sia tried to think of ways she could find this girl called Willow.  Maybe a quick chat at the police station to see if anyone called about a disturbance in her area last night.  She could do that before her 11 o’clock appointment with her supervisor.

As Sia got closer to the police building, she became overwhelmed.  After taking a few deep breaths, she walked through the double doors still trying to calm her nerves.  How was she going to approach this matter?  Would the person at the reception desk think she was a crazy woman?

As Sia remembered the fact that no one offered her help until after she ran, she knew in her heart it was her duty to try and find the girl.  She gathered her courage and followed the signs to the reception desk.  There was a short line ahead of her and a sign to take a number.  The name tag on the desk was Sergeant J. Broad. When Sia’s number was called, she walked up to the desk to tell her story.

Good morning Sergeant Broad.  Something strange happened last night outside my building around 1:30-2:00 a.m.  I heard a young girl screaming over and over for more than a half-hour.  They were blood-curdling continuous screams.  When I went out on the balcony to look, I couldn’t see anyone near the back fence where the screams were coming from.

Your name and address please?

Sia gave her all the information she asked for and the officer wrote it on a sheet of paper.

Could you tell me if anyone called in to report this?  I was going to call myself, but then it stopped.

Did you hear anyone else there with the girl who was screaming?

A couple of times I heard a man’s voice but couldn’t make out what he was saying to her or maybe someone else that was there.  One time though, I did hear him say a name.

Can you tell me exactly what he said?

This life is your only future Willow.  Now shut the hell up.

Okay.  I don’t have any calls from last night on my reports from that area, but we’ll check it out.

Disappointed, Sia walked out of the station and headed to her meeting.

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Mrs. Colt was waiting for her in the lunchroom.  She got up and indicated they go into her office where it was more private.

What has got you so upset Sia that you needed to see me right away?

Something terrible happened last night near my house, well I think it happened.

Tell me about it, and we can figure out together whether or not it was real.

Sia told Mrs. Colt everything from what woke her up last night and how it was affecting her even now.  She also explained what happened when she went to the police station to make a report.

If your recall is correct, we at least have a first name to try and find this girl.  I believe you heard this happening and it wasn’t a dream.  We can work together to find her and get her side of the story.

It makes me feel better that you believe me and want to help.  As you are one of the few people who know about my background, I fear she may be in the same situation.

Sia had told Mrs. Colt about being raped and used, but she was never to tell anyone the true happenings or her real identity for fear of being found.

You go home and try to get some rest.  I will work out a plan for us to follow and when you come in for your next shift, it will be in the top drawer of your desk.

Sia made her way back to the apartment complex.  She sat down and began to write her own plan of action to find Willow.

Chapter Two

The Plan

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Sia’s first mission was to find out the exact location of Jaydon and his crew.  She needed to be assured whether they were all still in jail, or if any of them had been released.  They could be out looking for her.  When she testified, they gave her another identity and place to live for protection, but Jaydon is clever, and one of his people still could find her one day.

Sia knew there were many more people involved in the sex traffic industry than the few who were her captors.  She was told that the industry was set up in several states.  Before she and her family members were relocated, Sia lived in Michigan.  Her real name was Stephanie Johnson, but everyone called her Effie. 

Sia’s entire family had to be relocated, for their own safety, to several different states.  She will never be able to tell them she is okay.  Each will have a new identity, address, social security number, and telephone numbers. The trials were closed, the files sealed, and her family had been told that Stephanie Johnson was found dead at a house in Seacliffe Harbor.

As Sia was being taken away, she wished her mother had not died during her birth.  Her father would feel so alone having to be away from everyone and everything he has known his entire life.  This along with grieving the loss of his only child would be devastating and make the transition more difficult.  At least if her mother were still alive, she would have gone with him to wherever that relocation would be, and they could grieve their daughter’s loss together.

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Going back to the house in Windy Haven, a part of Seacliffe Harbor, was a long shot and could jeopardize everything, but something so strong was drawing her there.  It could be found out that she was still alive.