IS IT A DREAM OR REALITY?

CHAPTER SIX

I wake up in a dark small chamber, my vision is blurry, my head hurts, my neck feels like it's broken, and I can't move my head. 
I try to move my hands but they are tied and my legs also, I think I'm tied to a pole inside this room,
I feel as if my neck is wet, I bowed my head a little, and realize that my neck is wet because of blood, and my clothes are also stained with blood that comes from my neck
Someone did this to me,
I remember I was waiting for Mrs Carroll to get the bandages and then I felt someone behind me after that everything was dark and cold,
Maybe the person who did this to me hurts Mrs Carroll too
With tears in my eyes, I start screaming "Mrs Carroll are you there? "
"Mrs Carroll , are you okay?"
"Help"
"Is there anyone can help me, please?"
With every effort I make to scream so that someone can hear me, the pain in my neck grows more intense
My body hurts, my limbs are tied, my neck is bleeding,
I don't why this's happing.
I don't think that I deserve something like this.
I don't why, but in this moment I remember Mom, Steven, and all my memories with them come to my brain In one moment,
I feel like the tape of my entire life passes in front of me, everything I've lived, the happy moments, and the sad moments
The person who did this to me, I'm sure he won't keep my life, otherwise he wouldn't have done all this in the first place.
I'm dead..
All these thoughts, all this talk inside my head prevents me from hearing the moaning of the person behind me,
Oh my God, there's someone behind me I'm sure he've lived exactly what I've lived now,
I can't comprehend any more.
He is saying something but I cannot understand what he's saying, I try to round my head closer to the column we're bound to so I can hear him clearly,
He says "Don't call Carroll again, I can't bear her torture again, trust me, you can't bear it too."
I reply "What the hell are you saying? There's something wrong, Mrs Carroll must be somewhere, suffering the same as us"
My brain cannot accept that this is the work of Mrs Carroll.
He answers me angrily "Will you shut up, please?  you will regret it when she comes, I spent a week in this basement being tortured every day by her"
"Wait... What... A week !"
He says "Yeah a week, and not a single day has passed since you are here and here you are going to kill us"
I say with an angry tone "How rude you're !... How could you be like this? we are about to lose our lives do you hear me and I think that anyone in my place will do just like me"
He replies "Do you think that I'm not aware that our lives are at stake?
I'm trying to buy time to get out of here
Unlike you who are trying to end our lives"
I don't find anything to answer
After minutes of silence,
I'm able to comprehend what happened exactly, and that this conflict of ours will not benefit us in anything, so I try to apologize to him
"Okay... Okay... I'm sorry, I was shocked okay, I didn't think that Mrs Carroll would be able to hurt us, I couldn't realize that, I let my emotions control me, I can't think... my head, my neck are hurting me, I thought that if I screamed, it would help, I'm sorry"
I don't want to fight, anymore, especially when we are about to die, and to be honest, despite my condition, when I heard his voice I feel kind of hope.
I ask him "How did you end up here? "
"I'm working at a pizzeria in the delivery service, last week we received an order from a lady out of town, the lady's name is Carroll Harrison, in the way to deliver this lady's pizza, I struggled with many obstacles, first that weird neighbourhood, which was dark and empty, I couldn't find this house there so I asked a man if he can show me how can I find house number 404, but he talked rudely and shut the door at my face before I could say one word, then a lady helped me, she looked like a witch with her outfit, she also gave me a flashlight in case I need one and she showed me a short road to get here, it's like a small dark tunnel, in that road a big black bird attacked me, then I lost control of the motorcycle and then I fell on the ground, I sprained my ankle, nevertheless, I continued on my way.
When I gave this lady her pizza she saw me lame, she offered me help, she told me to enter her house and sat in the living room while she went to search for an ointment, and when she put the ointment on my ankle, she went again to bring the bandages...after this everything was black, I don't remember what happened until I found myself tied here, every day along this week she comes here and torturing me, she calls me Mike, and she continues to blame me for betraying her, she said that she loved me and she sacrificed her life for me, she kept telling me the same story every day, I told her that I'm not Mike l, I'm not her husband, I'm working in a pizzeria, and I came to her just to deliver her pizza, but every time I refuse to say that I am her husband, she does something reckless, the last time she burned me under my feet, sometimes I wish that she kill me because I can't take that pain anymore... But also I don't wanna die, I want to get out of this hell, and back to my life.... "
" Wait... Matt, are you Matt from Marc's pizzeria? " I say
" Yeah I'm, but how do you know me? "
" I'm Rachel... "
" Rachel?"
I think he doesn't remember me
"Yeah Rachel, I'm working in Marc's pizzeria too, I was the first to meet you the day you and Steven started working" I try to make him remember
"Oh my God... Rachel is that you....? How did you end up here too?" Matt askes
"It's a long story which I will save you the trouble of hearing it now ," I say
Honestly, it's not I don't wanna tell him how I ended up here but after I heard his story, how much he suffered here not just for a one day or two, it's a whole week of suffering for something he didn't even knows, nonetheless he has the hope to be out of here and I don't want to thwart his resolve and hope by telling him my story because he'll feel hopeless, our stories are the same, I went through the same thing he went through, I think if I tell him, he'll lose this little of hope he has, and I don't want to cause that, knowing that our stories are so similar made me doubt that what we are living through is real, this is almost impossible  and I think he l'll thought the same if I tell him
We need his hope with some courage so we can get out of here

"Now we need to figure out, a plan or something to get out of this house, we cannot sit without doing anything..." I say
Matt replies "That's what I tried to do all those days but all my plans had failed, I'm not saying that I won't try again... I want to get out of here, and I'll do whatever it takes, so I'm in Rachel"
I hold his hand and say "We'll get out of here ok, and everything is gonna be fine..."    
"You've been here a long time, so maybe you'll be aware of Mrs Carroll's movements
When she comes and how often?
We need to come up with a plan that guarantees our exit, so tell me..."
Matt says "She's not so noisy when she gets out of here so I can't hear where she is, but I know that she comes here twice in a day, first in the morning, and at night, she was here before your arrival, I heard you when you knocked the door,....yeah also, she waters her yard early in the morning, because every day I smell the smell of wet dust coming from that little window over there every day exactly before she comes here"
"How much am I still unconscious?" I ask Matt
He answers "I don't know exactly... But I think about three hours..."
I see my watch...
It's four in the morning, which means we still have some time before she goes to water her yard
I tell Matt "We must find a way to untie our hands.  Perhaps, you can untie my hand while I untie yours in turn"
"It'll take so much time, I have a knife in my back pocket, it'll help" Matt tells me
Matt surprises me, he has something that is going to help us a lot, if the plan is destined to success
I say "A knife, but how did you manage to keep it?"
Matt says "I told you I tried to escape several times, I didn't succeed but I took this knife with me from her kitchen last time"
"So all we need now is to wait the right time and pray that our plan will succeed" I say

Silence...

Matt calls me "Rachel..."
I answer "Yes Matt..."
He says "I..."
I say "You what..."
He couldn't tell me what he wanted to tell me, because before he finishes speaking, we hear footsteps approaching the door "Undoubtedly it is her" I say
My heart starts to beat fast again
A sense of terror swept through my body again
I can't focus
Matt tells me to pretend that I'm still unconscious, but I suspect that she is pulling this trick
Because I  while ago, I was screaming with all my might in her name for her to save me, but that was before I knew that she was the cause of all this
She puts the key in the door lock and then the door starts to open very slowly...