Invisible String

Dream

Tw: Kidnapping, strong violence, and strong torture

It's wrestling with the ocean amongst a volatile storm. Your heartbeat is reverberating through your body, lactic acid pumping out of your muscles. Saltwater burns your nose and clogs up your lungs like mucus. Then when your limbs ache and water is all you can see. That moment arrives. An epiphany washing over you. When you realize that no one is coming. You're alone and thus accept your fate. The black hole draws you in and envelopes you. Finally, you sink to the bottom like lost treasure, human sacrifice to the sea. All gold and gleaming, so much potential but still, forgotten. Forever.

Jules was in that type of predicament. She'd been tied to this chair for hours, her breath becoming more ragged. The sack on her head restricting her breathing. She felt the time slipping through her fingers like sand granules. She wasn't particularly religious but found herself praying, bargaining with God in exchange for more time.

"Please don't let me die."

"I'll try better in School."

"I'm only fifteen, this isn't supposed to be it."   

What are they gonna do to me? Matt. He's probably so worried. Do my parents know I'm gone? What are they gonna do to me? Shit. Shit. Shit. Think back to all those crime shows you've watched. What are they gonna do to me? What about everything? Why is this happening? What are they gonna do to me? The thoughts scavenge through Jules brain like a tornado. She feels heavy. Like metal. 

She lurches to the side retching the contents of her stomach. Her throat tightens as she starts to hyperventilate. The smell lingers in the tight space making Jules stomach curdle even more. She squeezes her eyes shut. Please. Please. Please.

Then a sound. Creaking. Steadily getting louder. Light footsteps. Jules sucks in a breath. Someone's here. She feels two hands tug at the sack.

Her eyes slowly adjust to the murky black room. He stands infront of her rocking on the balls of his feet. "Oh no! What a mess you have made." The stranger uses the sack to wipe her mouth roughly, he tosses it to the side. He's not how she imagined her possible captor. He's too clean, teeth too white and perfect, he's too smiley, wearing a blue suit and shiny black shoes. He looks like a businessman, someone respectable. Jules shifts in her chair and musters all her courage to glare at him.

"You've made a mistake, my dad is a very powerful man, he's gonna do everything he can to find me." She desperately tries to limit the shake in her voice.  The man stops smiling and stares deeply into her eyes. "Oh darling, I'm counting on it."

"What do you want?"

He slowly starts to walk around her chair. "Hmm that's an interesting question... I want many things Jules, as all human beings do. However, my desires are way greater than you are right now."

Jules heartbeat pounds in her ears.

"But not to worry, you are still useful to me. I am here to save you Jules, your father is a very wicked man, I would hate for any of that wickedness to seep into you."

"While you're here, it is my duty to do the best I can for you." He strokes her hair whispering into her ear. "My name is Jameson, and I am here to purify you, Jules."

         --------------------------------

Ten minutes later Jameson re-enters the room. In his hands he carries a medium sized box. He hums a tune under his breath placing the box by the coal furnace in the corner of the room. He take some kindling out of the box arranging it in a specific direction, he then adds some newspaper. Finally, he takes a match from the box and the fire comes to life.

"Fire is so ethereal don't you think Jules? It has the power to destroy but in the same thread it can also help living creatures thrive. That duality is so interesting. isn't it, Jules?"

"Isn't it?" a slight edge to his question. Jules nods her head timidly. He stares at Jules for a few seconds, before turning his attention back to the fire. From the box he picks up some mental prongs, he digs them into the fire picking out a steaming lump of coal. He examines it carefully, then turns to Jules.

Terror latches onto her throat making it hard for her to breathe, Jules wrestles against her binds. "Please don't. Please, please, please don't. I'll do anything you want but please, please don't. "Jules starts to cry, her sobs coming from the deep aching in her chest. Jameson steps forward and strokes her cheek "Don't worry dear, it will be over soon. Now, open." Jameson violently pries Jules lips open forcing the coal into her mouth. She screams the heat sizzling vigorously against her tongue. Jameson clamps his hands over her mouth and holds her in place a wide smile on his face. "It's okay You are doing so well; you have nearly passed the first test."

And Jules, a diamond. All sharp edges, the epitome of beauty. Feels herself sinking, into the depths of the ocean...

------------------------

Jules lurches upright in bed trembling. Her eyes a broken well, overflowing with tears. "Jules?" Matt mumbles. Jules pounces onto him pining his arms to the bed. "Hey hey! Jules it's me Matt, you had a nightmare okay. You're with me in my apartment, remember. It's okay you're safe, its okay." Jules brain clears and she lets go of his arms, then climbs off him, collapsing into a ball. "Fuck. This is so embarrassing. I'm so sorry Matt, this hasn't happened in a while and I if I knew I would've told you to sleep on the couch." Matt reaches forward moving her hair out of her face. She stares into his deep hazel eyes riddled with concern; his eyebrows press together in a frown. Jules places her fingers to his forehead. "Relax Matty, its passed. It's okay. I don't wanna talk about it I just...Wish...Wish I could forget."

Jules sighs sinking back into the pillows. Matt moves closer to Jules pulling her towards him, she rests her head against his chest. "I know Jules, I know." Both recognize the proximity of their bodies but don't quite have the will to pull away. So, there they stay. Jules listening to the steady rhythm of Mathews heartbeat.