The Corruption Of Our Souls

Prologue

I lay there on top of my covers, breathless and exhausted. Images flash through my mind, all the possible ways they could get in. The back door, a window, the front door. I try to swallow the fear only for it to come back 10 times worse. Maybe if I would have just shut my mouth none of this would have happened.

Or even if my family were actually here, to comfort and protect me. Oh why did I have to say no to going on holiday, and now im here isolated yet surrounded by both threat and my own thoughts.

My whole body shakes and the fear in my body cuts like a knife, prolonging the pain. I curl up and breathe out the pain, before drifting to sleep.

I wake up abruptly and feel restrain, my heart stops beating and everything is black, I feel a huge throbbing to the back of my head but as soon as my hands try to investigate, they don't move. I can't move, but whatever I'm in can. I can hear the outside noise of cars and traffic lights. My instinct tells me to scream, but as I do, my mouth releases only a ghost of a sound. My mouth is duct taped.

Where the hell am I, is this a dream. I try to tell myself it's a dream and sooner or later I will snap out of it but the nightmare is never-ending. I can't breathe properly and I feel dizzy. I feel myself begin to sweat and panic, trying to free myself from the ropes holding me together, but nothing works. I'm completely stuck. A shaft opens in one corner of the darkness showing through a layer of mesh, three men in black hoods looking forward while one of them drives. Another spins around before says 'She's still out' to the others before shutting the shaft back up.

I must be in the back of a van. I try to look around in the dark to find something to free myself with, but im completely exhausted and the constant throb on the back of my head makes me want to close my eyes. I fall limp and rest.

I awake to someone shouting.

'Richardson, get the bitch, me and Cooper will meet you at the tree' someone says. The back door opens and the light flares in blinding me completely. Someone grasps my forearm and yanks me harshly out the back of the van, before ripping off the duck tape leaving a stinging sensation across my face of quick my tears fall over, soothing it.

'What did I do?' I cry. 'Please'

'Shut up.' The broad dark haired man says, around 19 years old.

He leads me to a forest of which the other two figures stand, waiting and staring.

Every ounce of me tries to repel to where my destination and maybe death stands. I'm too young to die, and if i want to die it should be my choice, not some scum I've been taken by.

I just want to be home, with my family, secure and happy(ish). I never asked for this, all I did was protect myself when pressured into doing drugs. How am I supposed to react when everyone is crowded round me waiting for me, shoving it in my face? I used what I knew and got myself away from them. But how is that fair to do this to me?

I start to weep and cry trying to push my feet into the ground to stop the flow of my walk, only to be lifted up and taken over to where the other two men stood.

We arrive and he sits me down on a tree stump before walking over to the others. All i can hear is my own heartbeat jumping with every beat.

One with dark brown hair scooped back into a bun looks back at me before whispering to the others. The other one looks much younger, 16?, with his eyes locked on me. The one who dragged me over here stands with the younger man while the dark haired man bun walks over to me, and I begin to weep more deeply.

'You know what happens to rude bitches like you, right?' He smirks slightly before drawing a knife out of his pocket.

'No!' I scream.

The younger man interferes walking over.

'Seth, this wasn't what we agreed' He pleads holding out his hand to try and stop him.

'Columbus. Columbus to you. And im just trying to scare her, don't cry' He laughs.

'Richardson lets go and get the bats and hammers. Cooper, stay here and keep an eye on her' He commands while pointing at me.

Bats? Hammers? Oh no, please this cant be, surely they've got the wrong person. I shake my head implying 'no' as the younger man walks over to me. I cry and cry to try and stop whats happening, but it doesn't.

As the younger man walks over to me, he pulls out a penknife.

'No, please' I cry, trying to free myself.

'Shh!' He says looking over to the direction the other men walked, putting one finger over his mouth. He goes behind me and saws through the thick rope holding my wrists together, followed by my legs. 'Come on, we need to leave. Now' He suddenly sounds stern like earlier. I stand up and follow him as he runs through the tall dark trees, the light slowly fades into a full darkness only allowing the dusky light to pierce through the holes in the trees. The younger man looks down at his phone which is buzzing to see 'Richardson' displayed on his phone, they must be wondering where I am.

'Where are we going?' I quietly whisper.

'Anywhere where you're away from this'. He replies looking straight ahead.

We walk for about 45 minutes until reaching the main highway. We stand shivering on the sidewalk with his thumb stuck out signalling for a lift. Thankfully, one car pulls over with a middle aged woman inside.

'Hi, could you please get this young lady back to the beach'

'Santa Monica?' she asks.

He looks at me for clarification, and I comply.

'Yeah'

I clamber into the back, expecting him to climb in as well, but instead he smiled briefly before we sped away into the flow of the traffic.