Headsets For Fear

PRESENT 22 : NORA

Sixty Five Days After

The first thing I felt on waking up was the throbbing pain in my head, and the taste of dry blood. I tried to put a hand on my forehead to check if it was still bleeding, but I couldn't move it.

As my vision cleared, I saw that my hands had been attached to the ground with two metallic bands. A similar thing had been placed around my waist. Both of them were incredibly small, with not even enough gap to move them. I tried kicking my legs, but in vain. They had been tied up too.

Where the fuck was I?

I struggled against my bonds, even though I knew they wouldn't come off. This was metal, not a bunch of ropes. What I wasn't expecting was a strong bolt of electricity to pass through my body.

I screamed, while the electricity continued to burn my skin. This wouldn't do, I had to stop moving.

Someone pushed me against the wall and put on arms and legs in place. The person was wearing rubber gloves. "Don't move," I heard a feminine voice order me. "The shock is strong enough to kill you. You don't want to die, do you?"

I shook my head, knowing very well that I was incapable of doing anything except listening to her orders.

I lifted my stinging head, and took in my surroundings. The woman who had just helped me had mousy brown hair and a well built figure. She walked away from me and went to stand at a corner of the room, with another man and Callan.

Callan.

Son of a bitch.

He wasn't even looking at me.

But who was that woman? Was that -

"Well, Nora, it's nice to meet you."

This voice was cold and feminine, and lacked the roughness of the previous one. I slowly turned to my right, to face a woman with short jet black hair and pale features sitting on a chair a few yards away from me. She had a table in front of her, and a computer in front of it. It didn't take me long to recognise her. This had to be Amara.

"I'm Amara, if you don't know. Didn't Andrew ever show you any of my photos? I'm sure he stole a few of those when he ran away."

I didn't reply.

Amara rolled her eyes. "Well, you are Andrew's successor, after all. You'd hate talking to me as much as he did."

I turned away from her.

"You probably want to know where your friends are. Let me tell you," Amara said, never moving from her chair. I wondered why she was the only one sitting, while the others were standing up.

"Alice has been killed my your colleagues. I can't blame them though, she would've killed them otherwise. They're inside a room now. Facing their worst fears. If they can survive it one night, I'll consider letting them go."

"And Alex?" I automatically asked.

"She's been stabbed in the stomach. It's a lot of bleeding. I don't think she'll survive."

No.

I felt something twisting in my stomach. No.

"But one of your friends is absolutely fine, isn't he?" Amara looked at Callan and smiled. He didn't respond in any way.

I considered my situation. My entire body was hurting. I was totally trapped. Moving wasn't going to help. My friends were dying. My boyfriend turned out to be a traitor.

What could I do? Maybe I could get some more information from Amara. Perhaps I could manipulate her somehow. Perhaps.

"How did you know about me?" I asked.