That night the wind howled in anger and thunder boomed down around the house, I awoke in a state of shock and tried to slow my breathing, such a horrifying sound would startle those in comas, surely, but alas I was the only one alive with motion that night. I quietly made my way up the gloomy corridor to where Justin, my angel, slept, he was sure to comfort me. I went in and woke him up gently, he turned and smiled as he opened his eyes to see my face, he sat up and stared at me, I just cower as thunder and lightning crashed around and he held me in such a way I felt protected, I felt as if nothing could ever get me, not ever again.
An hour after we had both gone back to sleep another noise woke me, this time it was not thunder, nor lightning, but smashing and screaming. I ran out my room full of terror wondering what was going on, the blood curdling screeches were coming from the room of the pretty brunette that had answered the door earlier. The pretty brunette had turned out to be Justin’s sister and she was a very kind and delightful teenager, at the age of 12, but for her to be screaming like that meant something was horribly wrong. I started to approach her bedroom door, the noise had stopped and tears were streaming down my face, all I wanted was to open that door and see her sat up telling me it was just a bad dream, but in this situation, I had no such luck.
I reached her door; it was open. I pressed my hands up against it and gently pushed it open, fearing the worst, but before I could get an inch further Justin came and pulled me back from the door. I looked at him and wondered why he had done so, but realized that he would not have an iron bar in his hand if he was going to let me open the door. He burst in and started beating one of three men to a pulp while the others dragged his sister out of a window. At this sight I leapt to my feet and sprinted to, not the man getting out of the window, but the man next to go hauling the poor petrified girl. I threw myself on him, trying to make him drop her, but all my attempts failed and she passed her down to the man now running towards a van. I started to lose my grip in defeat and noticed that the man Justin was hitting had thrown his iron bar out the door and held him up against a wall punching him repeatedly, I screamed at him, begging him to stop until the man I had jumped on shut me up with a blow to the head, I layer unconscious, bleeding, and as Justin saw rage filled his veins and he let out so much force he knocked both men out in one go.
The next morning I woke up in sweats of terror screaming for her, pleading for her and it startled three in the room all but one who ignored my traumatic flash backs and continued to gaze out of the window, as if he was expecting the villains to come back for someone else, it was a saddening site and I felt his pain. I spoke to him as the others left but he did not answer, he acted as if she had just died and he had just watched her drown in agony, thankfully she was still alive or at least we hoped she was. I got up and stood next to him, softly whispering comfort that was thrown back in my face as he gave me a scorned and broken glare and walked away. I called after him to wait and he swung round, not with a look of sadness but with a look of anger, he shouted at me, screaming at me, telling me how I didn’t know how it felt to see something bad happen to someone so close, but as he finished and saw the hurt look on my face he calmed his tone and tried to reason, I was to upset to listen and burst out with one sentence, be thankful you didn’t watch her die, and with that, he took it in and suddenly realized what I had told him not too long ago.
He could do nothing but repeat his sorries and hold me close in comfort, he had remembered that I too once had a sister and he knew that what he just went through was not as bad. My sister was 4 and I was 6 when we went to the hospital with our mother and father, they had gone for check ups and we were left with a doctor, he told me to go get a glass of water for my sister for she would need it before she took the medicine he was going to give her for her sore throat, by the time I got back the door was locked and there was no one around, eventually I found a way in through the room next door to the one the doctor and my sister was in, I went in and hid under the table for what I saw terrified me, the noises that I had heard that day, my sisters screams and the doctor laughing, it was horrible and they haunt me, almost every night, I find it hard to sleep and worst of all I was blamed for this incident when they found my sister raped and stabbed repeatedly in the heart, the scissors still protruding when they found her, I was blamed for leaving her alone but I knew she was far from alone.
He held me until I replied to his pleads to be forgiven for memories he had unearthed but I just sit there in his arms silent and lifeless, I guess you could say I looked like I had just died and in a way I guess I did die for a moment; inside that is. He stood up defeated in futile attempts to get me to move and speak and went to walk out the door when he heard me say, sorry...I know how you feel, he turned and spoke in a mellow soft tone to me, I couldn’t concentrate on what he said but the way he said it was good enough to make me forget, for now.
When we finally came hurdling down the stairs to see what was going on we found only morbid men, sitting round a table letting there drinks go cold, it was a depressing site but they had full reason. We joined them with our own drink and sat there in silence thinking about different things, like who took her? Where did she go? Why did they take her? Whats going to happen to her? But our thoughts were interrupted by a phone call, without answering we knew who it was. Everyone was too scared to answer the phone but someone had to do it, they all looked shocked, Justin more than the rest when I stood up and answered the phone, I said hello and just listened.
'You know who we are, we took the brunette and we plan to murder her, unless, you and your little family can find a replacement but not just any replacement, one of my men was jumped by a lively young girl.....older than this weak soul we have here, he said she was powerful, do you know who I mean?...well of course you do, how silly of me, its you isn’t it....we left cameras in your little home, they have been there for a while, and we know what you look like, so don’t try any tricks, you come here and we will let this little one go, think of it as fair trade...you for her, ok?'
I stood with my jaw hung, speechless, but soon replied with ok and looked at Justin; he saw the worry in my eyes and continued to watch as I listened again.
'Good, now remember this pretty girl, come to the abandoned mines about 6 miles away from where you are, from there you should spot an old warehouse, enter and do as we say, she will not be harmed and we get you, come alone and be there in 2 hours, remember, her life depends on you and you only, bring anyone else and you both die...'
With that the man hung up and I placed the phone down shaking, Justin came and caught me as I fell to the floor in despair, I was going to have to sacrifice myself or let his sister die, I didn’t want to do either and there was no way I was going to tell anyone what must be done to have her safe return, it was a hard decision but my mind was made up, she was more important than I was.
The men that had invaded the house had also invaded the front page; they were linked to the mysterious disappearances plastered in every news paper. The stories they told were horrific and disgusting, how any man could do such things to teenage girls I just don’t know. It was unrealistic. Reading further into these events I explored the cases in more detail to see if there was anyway of avoiding the most savage of death that awaited me. Now I understood why Justin had held that bat up high, gripping it ever so tightly.
I sat back down and just looked down at the floor and twisted my hair around my fingers as if to choke them; it was obvious something was wrong. The family that sat around that table stopped thinking and looked at me expectantly and I just sat there trying to speak, but every time my mouth opened, no words came out. Justin looked at me sympathetically and asked me what he said...I paused and hesitated, I couldn’t tell them the truth, instead I told them that he wanted a thousand dollars and that I had to deliver it to him alone for if I took someone with me he would murder us both, the family went back into and state of depression, all except Justin, he knew where he could get the money, he hated the idea of me delivering it but it was better than having both of us die, he spoke up and told his family that his friends girlfriend was rich and loved his sister so she would surely help, he rang her, she was saddened by the story and was begging to help, before he had a chance to ask. A thousand to her was like pocket money for the week, compared to the millions she had, it was nothing.
Brandi, The rich girl, was Jamie’s girlfriend and Jamie was Justin’s best friend. Brandi was very wealthy and met Jamie when she was dating Justin. It was a very confusing story but when its explained it starts to make a little sense.
It was half an hour before she arrived with the money, it was in a black zipped up P.E. bag that she used when she went to the gym, it was the right size for the money and everyone in that house rejoiced at the fact they would soon have their youngest member back, well everyone, except me. Since I was the only one that knew what they really wanted how could I be happy, of course I was grateful that she was going to be safe but I was very nervous and upset knowing that I would be what they wanted, it was a horrible feeling, I knew what was coming and I knew it was bad.
The rich girl who had supplied the money came into the kitchen where I was still in a traumatic state and she told me it was okay to be scared going to give such horrible powerful fiends what they wanted but I looked at her and told her that was not my concern, I asked her that if I told her the truth she would promise not to tell anyone, she promised. I told her the real story, she gasped and grabbed me, squeezing tightly, not letting go. I told her that when I went to get ready I would leave the money in the bathroom and put some clothes and food in the bag instead, she said I could take the money to buy myself out of it, but I refused knowing they would just take both.
Men like these are greedy and seem to always get what they want, I guessed all attempts to out smart them would be futile and a waste of precious time, of which I had so little. I sat there in deep thought trying to block out all noise from the outside world of reality.
Everyone came back in and joined us, they all had smiles on there faces, we had no reason to smile but forced some anyway, at least they hadn’t found out. As I walked up the stairs everyone watched me, I ran into the bathroom emptied the bags contents and put in clothes and food, then I returned downstairs and bid the people Farwell. Just as I had got to the door Justin ran over and hugged me, he whispered in my ear, 'I cant imagine how scary this is for you but imp so grateful you brave enough to do this for her', I started crying and as he wiped my tears I told him I was sorry and I ran out of the door and down the road.
I hurried on down the road, out of town, through the woods, past the creek and rite on to the mines, I stood by the shaft opening and scouted around for the warehouse, I couldn’t see it. After another good look around I heard a gun shot, it startled me and I ran in the direction it came from...I found the warehouse and the gun shot had come form inside. I crept closer wondering where the gun was exactly and what it had shot, I feared that my answer might contain who it shot but now was not the time for those kinds of thoughts.
I shuffled into the building and walked into the middle of the never ending space, I could hear noises but I couldn’t see much of anything, it was pitch black and there was no fragment of light but a thin strip that peered in through the door. Suddenly a spotlight danced around the room and then focused on a chair with the pretty brunette tied to it, I started to run towards her but before I reached her two dark muscular men emerged from the darkness like ghosts in winter mists. They stood in my way and I stopped, not trying to push through such overpowering figures, they gave me evil glares that burnt my very souls and I just spat at them, knowing how offensive it was, I spat right in there faces and they just knocked me down and before they got a chance to pummel me a shorter but more intelligent man approached me and beckoned me forwards.
I stood up and walked towards him and looking at his face regained the feeling I had on the plane, that queasy feeling, all that was needed now was for him to get substances everywhere and since the building had a humid atmosphere he would have no trouble wiping sweat everywhere. As I stared at him in disgust he turned away and spoke to me, I saw him shoulder baled move with every sentence, it was like watching birds hatch from eggs, and I could swear I would just vomit at the site but alas my lunch retained itself.
I decided to listen to his worthless mumbling to hear him say that he would let the little missy go and I would take her place, I just stared at the floor and he turned back round awaiting approval, I looked up and told him that was the arrangement and he gave a small grin, he was pleased everything was going how he planned. The two men untied the terrified girl and let her go, then they tied me up and started laughing, I didn’t see the funny side, tying me up was so amusing to them...well to the ones who tied me up anyway. The other man refused to watch my wriggle as I struggled to loosen the ropes and the chains that had bound me to the chair; he kept covering his ears when I yelped in agony as knots cut my bare skin.
When he unclamped his hands from his ears I asked him why he did it in the first place and he told me his reason,
'When I made you come here it wasn’t to see you get hurt, I have been forced to find my master a wife, a young beautiful girl, he is my master and I must obey so I took these too men and we go through thousands of pretty girls until we find one good enough to be his wife. I don’t want to do this but I have no choice, if it were up to me the others would still be alive'
I felt for him, having to go through all that, taking girl after girl and...watching them die?!?...when that sentence sunk in the colour was drained from my face, I asked him, what did he mean 'still be alive'....what did he do with them? He looked at me with a saddened face then clapped his hands, a million bright sparks flew as the lights with switched on, at first it blinded me but I soon got use to it, again I asked him what he meant by still be alive and all he died was, with a tear streaming down his face, point directly up.
I slowly craned my neck up to see something so brutal all I could think of was the local butchers we had back in England but even they would not manage to mangle meat in such a way where the skin was half peeled off and the flesh oozing out of gaping holes, rotting, you would wonder how long it had been there. From behind another gun was fired but I couldn’t turn round to see, all I heard was a deep and manly voice shout 'nope, this ones no good either', somehow it didn’t frighten me that he had just shot something...he walked past me dragging a fresh carcass of the last girl he'd murdered by the hair, it left a trail of blood and it smelt awful, it smelt singed. He dropped the body by the two men that had tied me down; they picked it up and took it up a ladder. The young man that had dragged the body in turned and looked at me, I was speechless, I couldn’t believe my eyes and as my jaw dropped he spoke to his servant asking him where he found me, the servant replied with 2 words, 'Pale’s house".
The young man approached me and lifted my chin inspecting me for damage or something like that, he asked me if I was in pain and I told him the ropes and chains were too tight so to my amazement, he took them off. He placed them to one side and walked off into the room he had emerged from, I stood up took a step back and asked the man still standing there with a few tears streaming why he didn’t tell me who he worked for, why he didn’t tell me it was Richard, the very guy who weeks before my journey had asked me to cheat on Justin with him. He looked at me and didn’t answer, this frustrated me so I started heading for the backroom, on the way receiving a bucket load of blood poured on me from the villains above, and I entered the backroom to find Richard with the girl summoned just before me.
Justin was sitting at home anxiously waiting for me and his sister to return, when finally the door knob rattled a little and his sister came bursting in flooding the room with joyful tears, she paused and ran at her mother hugging her and crying telling her how scared she was but her mother just told her how brave she had been. Justin was puzzled at why only one of them returned and the rich girl I entrusted my secret with told him that I was not coming back and when he remembered me telling him I was sorry his heart sunk to the floor and he ran upstairs.
He went rampaging round his room, trashing everything, he was angry and upset, his mixed emotions were taking over, he was screaming in emotional agony and his heart was in pain. He fell to the floor and his whole body was engulfed with scorning vengeance, he was ready to murder whoever held me hostage, he shut his eyes and opened them again, they were full of life this time, it was a fire that burned, it was his soul flame and it took him over. The next thing his family knew was that he was running out the front door with a shotgun and they screamed at him to stop but he ignored them and continued to run in my direction.
Walking further into the room I recognized who the female he was sitting with was, it wasn’t a victim but an additional pawn on his playing field; it was April. I had heard of her and she was portrayed as a nice caring person much like myself but I guess in life its all about deception. I approached both of them and they appeared to not have noticed me, I was proved wrong in saying that when Richard stood up and spun round holding a gun to my throat, he said that he had had enough of searching for someone to replace me and I just stood there. He threw me to the floor calling me an ignorant cow, I stood back up towering over him and told him that he shouldn’t try to replace something he never had, at this he back handed my face and I fell to the floor once more.
He stood staring down at me and told me that it was a big mistake not leaving Pale for him and I would die for it, I leapt to me feet and started laughing, I told him to his face, I would rather die a thousand deaths than ever call myself his girlfriend, then I continued laughing and I walked out of the room shutting the door behind me. I walked across the warehouse dodging the blood pouring down in places and hopping over the fallen flesh and bones, the servant just stared as I passed him not even glancing over but then Richard came galloping out of the backroom screaming for me to be seized which is when I picked up the pace and eventually was running for my life, I was almost out by the door when one of the two grunts that the servant had chosen dropped down from the rail above, it shook the ground for he was robust and I fell to the floor.
By the time I had picked myself up the two men that were discarding bodies had there filthy hands on my arms and they were holding tight, Richard approached me and whispered in my ear, while breathing heavily down my neck, there was no escape from his slaughter house, and I just whispered right back, its more like a freak show, a freak show Im not going to be a part of much longer, and as he pulled his head away from mine to deafening bangs surrounded me and in an instant the grip on my arms loosened and I was free to run, knowing this I turned and legged it out the now fully open door and just as I reached it I fell in the shadow of, the shadow of a figure with, with a shotgun. He walked into the light and I gave a grin of relief, it was Justin and he had come to my rescue, he looked at Richard and he smirked, Richard's eyes widened and he backed up a few meters, till he was standing next to April, he looked at her she pulled out a gun aimed it at Justin smiled and then, BANG! There he was on the floor, his leg was bleeding and he was almost screaming in pain, Justin turned to me and held me, I grabbed him and just held on, I was shocked that April had shot Richard.
I staggered outside, it was dark, almost 11:00pm and it was cold, Justin came out talking with April, she explained how she needed the opportunity to get him for what he had done and that Justin had given her that chance. She thanked us and walked off towards the mines, just as we took our eyes off of her we heard another gun shot, it was Richard, he picked up a gun a dragged himself to the door where he got the best shot at April, and he hit her right in the heart. I started to run over screaming her name but Justin pulled me back into the trees and when in the forest we ran with Richard limping slowly behind us.
We came to a gorge with a rope bridge, Justin was first on carefully stepping on each plank, it was very unstable and it took Justin mere seconds to get across but me being scared of heights fell behind and froze halfway across. Justin was encouraging me to move and having seen Richard now within 12 meters was screaming at me, I was too scared to move, the whole bridge was creaking and it frightened me, I was paralyzed by fear. The next thing I knew was Justin screaming my name as if I was dying, and considering I was falling as the bridge snapped, I think he had every right to be screaming like that, I grabbed the broken bridge and started screaming.
Justin shouted down to me that he was going to get help and with that he was gone, running to the nearest town. Richard was peering over laughing at me, shouting out loud, mocking me by repeating my stern words to him in a childish retarded tone, I was trying to ignore him and focusing on keeping a good grip, he continued to mock me while I attempted to climb up this already damaged bridge, trying not to make too much noise as not to draw Richards attention, I reached the top with great difficulty and still that oaf of a man Richard hadn’t noticed me, I thought to myself he was such a buffoon anyone with half a brain would have noticed me running past and back into the forest.
I kept running, deeper in to this maze of trees, I couldn’t seen any kind of road, so I kept going. On and on and on I went trekking through a blackened forest then I stopped and turned right, I ran in a straight line...I had to hit a road eventually. I was running for ages, until I found one, then I ventured outside the woods...
Justin was running through a town knocking on people’s doors getting everyone out, they all came rushing into the town centre where he was standing at the base of a statue telling them what had happened. They all were shocked by what they heard so all the men got weapons and he dragged them all to the gorge, when they got there they cut down a tree and used that to get across, as this was happening Richard was running off into the forest, after me, screaming revenge for what I did to him as he went. Rejection, he hated it, Richard could not stand being rejected and so decides to go out of his way to punish the ones he loves because they didn’t feel the same, cruel, heartless and most of all pathetic.
Grasping my coat tighter I ventured further outside, further into bitter and harsh sleet, trudging through the slush of mud and ice that seemed to coat the surface, wondering...how much longer it will take. It seemed like a lifetime already.
Gradually I emerged onto a road that was as desolate as the wilderness, I had no idea where I was or which way to go...I was lost and needed help. Counting my steps as I went I continued through the endless night, the gloomy and grim darkened night, where finally I stumbled upon my last hope...It was a phone box.
The Present
I ran into the booth and picked up the phone, I put it to my ear and squealed in excitement, there was a dial tone, I lost myself in thought trying to remember the number, what was it, god dammit, AHA! That was it, I typed in the number and listened, it was ringing, and then they answered,
Justin answered and I just burst in to tears telling him I had just run and run and run so he asked me where I was now, and I could not answer him, he was disappointed but relieved and he told me to keep telling him where I went and how far I had got, incase I remembered anything I had seen on the way. He was telling me all that he saw and then he asked me if I was missing a button and I checked all over, I answered him with a no, it went quiet and then he screamed out loud hide, I dropped the phone and came out of the booth and I could hear Justin screaming, I was screaming back, screaming for help, at the top of my lungs but then I stopped mid scream, he was there, standing covered in mud and blood, it was Richard, he had gone insane and he was carrying a rusty axe, I knew if I waited for Justin I’d be dead by the time they got here so I started running with him running after me, I started screaming 'he found me' to Justin and he didn’t reply, I just kept looking back watching Richard hunting me down, and then watching him...stop...yeah, he just stopped, came to a halt and just stared, bemused.
I started smiling but that grin was wiped off my face when I turned to find a lorry travelling at full speed, I let out a high pitched scream and even the driver heard it, he swerved and twisted, now coming full speed on his side, I just crouched down and put my arms in front of my face and I looked away and at the moment of impact Justin came running out of the trees screaming no, his pain filled screams caught my attention and then the lorry started rolling, I fell and laid flat out with my hands on my head and the lorry was flung over me by a small rock it hit in the road. Justin was on his knees with his head on the floor, he was crying loudly, I stood up and went crashing back down with the burst of the lorry hitting the ground and sending tremors through the earth.
Again I came to my feet and started walking, then I smelt gas, it was petrol which meant it would soon explode, I started running once again for my life and Justin looked up as the whole thing blew, all he saw was me running for my life and then he saw me being engulfed in flames, again he was screaming but the fire had not touched me but followed the petrol leak all around me, it was remarkable, it was beautiful, the orange walls raging around and filling me with another warm feeling, Justin watched in terror and listened, all that was to be heard was the roaring flame and the laughter of a young girl, it was the best I had ever felt, it hurt so much, being roasted alive, but it felt good on the inside.
The sky bellowed and water fell, it fell hard and fast, completely extinguishing the fire and leaving me dancing in a black burnt circle laughing, the horror was over, Richard has perished in the explosion, April had a funeral arranged along all those bodies, they will be buried and I could go back to a warm house with a heroic welcome, I could walk in and be taken in like family, I would be safe, I continued laughing.
Justin came running over and he caught me as I fell from exhaustion, and I just wrapped my arms around him, laughing and crying, I was so relieved and happy, then he picked me up and carried me home, maybe I’ll finally get to enjoy my new home; hopefully anyway.
We got home and we walked in the door, they flicked the lights on and they cheered and threw masses of confetti, it was such a victorious moment for us both, yet again, another perfect moment. I have never smiled so much in my life, I prayed for it to last forever, but then again, nothing ever does.
