Short Stories

2000 Word Assignment - Second Person Challenge

The further you walk the more you realise the familiar buzz of the city growing quieter, your footsteps echoing around you. Your senses heighten, alert to the unusual silence that begins to take hold of you. You begin to walk quicker. Your instinct screaming at you that something is wrong. Its just in my head. Its just late and dark and I'm imagining things. Keep it together. You frown as your eyes dart around you. This is your neighbourhood. Your comfort zone.
This is where kids ride their bikes until their mothers yell for them to come inside for dinner. Where builders curse each other out. Where nosy old ladies watch the construction as the neighbourhood expands once more, no longer the single street they grew up on. These development blocks, usually full of life and production, now silent. Still.
You round the corner. Five more development streets until I'm home. A shiver runs down your spine despite the mid summer's heat. You pause. Glancing around you only see an empty street, no signs of danger. Curse the bastard city planner who didn't put street lights here before development began. Shaking yourself you quicken your pace and continue on your way.
Four streets to go. Then I can have a cold shower. Then you hear it - a faint rustling sound behind you. You turn around, your heart skipping a beat as your eyes dart over every shadow searching for movement. In the darkness you catch a glimpse of a slightly darker shape peering around the roundness of what you assume is a bush. You skin breaks out in goosebumps. Your heart picks up speed as you wipe your palms against your shorts. Fear crashes over you. Instincts screaming at you to run. To find safety. Home is four streets away. I can make it.
You turn and begin to run. Four streets quickly turns to three. Your pounding footsteps echoed by your beating heart. Two streets. You can taste freedom. You can smell safety. One street. Strong hands grab you, clamping over your mouth stifling your scream. Fight-or-flight kicks in, surging adrenaline through your veins. You struggle against their grip, your mind racing, desperately seeking a way out.
Fear pulses through your veins, replacing your blood with ice. Your captor pulls you into an alley, far away from the prying eyes of your neighbourhood, and further still. Your thoughts, muddled from fear, allow one chilling realisation to take hold: you've been kidnapped.
Fighting a rising sense of helplessness your mind begins to race searching for ways to escape. But your captors grip is an unrelenting force, the darkness growing thicker. Within the darkness your thoughts turn to your loved ones. Your mother. The ring on your finger digs in as you ball your hands into fists. In the depths of darkness, a glimmer of resolve emerges. You think of your fiancee, silently promising yourself to do whatever it takes to survive, to find your way back to them. You refuse to give in, to let fear consume you. Then, with a crack, everything goes black.

You slowly blink your eyes open. Disorientated and groggy, your head throbs with pain. Panic sets in as the memories flood your brain. Your eyes snap wide revealing a dimly lit room. Long shadows dance on the bare concrete walls to the tempo of the flickering lightbulb.
Forcing yourself to breathe you glance around the room. No windows. Your heart picks up speed. You try the door. Its locked from the outside. You brace shaking hands on the wood and push with all your might. No movement. You run at the door, sending your shoulder into it with a scream that tears from the depths of your anger. The door remains unyielding. Cursing you spin around, shutting your eyes. I'm stuck. I'm never going to get out of here.
Sighing you face your new room with growing trepidation. Thats when you see it. Beneath the tattered cot you woke on. A rusty pipe. Hope sparks within your chest as your sprint across the room. Falling to your hands and feet at the edge of the cot you reach under, your fingers grasping the rough metal.
Burning hope fuels your determination as you hear footfalls approaching outside the room. You hide the pipe behind your back and glare as the door creaks open. A tall figure enters the room. Dressed in dark clothes, his face partially hidden by a balaclava, its no surprise you did not see him lurking in the shadows. His lips twist into a smile. His eyes rake up and down your body. Your heart threatens to tear your rib cage wide as you consider what happens next. How it could go wrong.

"Good, you're awake," he says, his voice cold and devoid of emotion. "Now, let's have a little chat, shall we?"

You remain silent, your mind racing, desperately searching for a way out of this nightmare. The captor walks closer, his footsteps echoing in the small room. You take a step back, clutching the pipe tightly in your hand. He laughs, amused by your feeble attempt at resistance.

"You really think that pipe is going to help you?" he sneers. "You're trapped here, and there's nowhere to run."

But you refuse to give in to despair. You refuse to be a victim. As he moves closer, you muster all your courage and swing the pipe with all your might. It connects with his arm, and he cries out in pain. Seizing the opportunity, you dash towards the door, using all your strength to push it open.

Freedom beckons on the other side, but your captor is in hot pursuit. Adrenaline surges through your veins as you race down the dimly lit corridor, desperately searching for an exit. Your heart pounds in your ears as you navigate through the maze-like passages.

Finally, you see a glimmer of light ahead. Hope surges within you as you realize it's an exit. You sprint towards it, pushing open the heavy metal door. Fresh air fills your lungs as you emerge into the outside world.
Brightness assaults your eyes and you blindly run forward, blinking rapidly to adjust to the daylight. Multiple times you stumble. Branches slap your face and bark scratches your arms and legs.
You stare as he approaches, your back against the tree, bloodied legs bent awkwardly beneath you refusing to budge. "This is going to hurt," Circlets of cool metal surround your wrists. Shoulders ache as he lifts them higher and higher until they have reached their maximum range of motion and stay that way, "But its going to help you."
The pain begins in your belly. The knife so sharp you barely feel as it enters until he rips it back out along with a scream from your dry throat. Then its your ribs. Once, twice, three times. Then your chest. Each beat of your heart only millimetres away from the blade.
Your brain registers waves of pain flowing along your body, slowly numbing as the blood seeps through your shirt. His hands are on your face now. The knife discarded. His thumbs brush the tears from your cheeks. Tenderly. He stares into your eyes, his voice your only thread to consciousness, "You can sleep now, Jade. Its over."
"Breathe." Your head pounds with urgency as the voice bounds through your ears, neurons once diminishing again lighting up and firing in response. "We found you. Just breathe for me, okay?" Almost reluctantly your chest heaves a wet rattling sound.
You blink. You're free. The realization washes over you, bringing a mix of relief, exhaustion, and gratitude. You've survived the ordeal, and though the memories will haunt you, you know you're stronger because of it.
As you are wheeled to an ambulance, you reflect on the experience. The darkness and fear that consumed you in that small room has given way to a renewed appreciation for life and the strength of the human spirit. You will never forget what you went through, but you refuse to let it define you.
From this day forward, you resolve to live each moment to the fullest, cherishing the freedom that was nearly taken from you. You vow to be vigilant and to use experience to help others who find themselves in similar situations. The scars may linger, but you are a survivor, and you will never allow yourself to be a victim again.