The Devil's Mask

The basement

I don't know for how much I've been sleeping; my entire body hurt; it felt like I just ran a marathon, and opening my eyes was also a big challenge. Meanwhile, I tried to open my eyes. I felt I was on top of something quite soft, maybe it was a mattress. Nothing could be heard, just my thoughts and my breathing, which every time became more and more fast.

I was starting to panic; maybe I wasn't in my room; this didn't feel like my bed, and probably my siblings would just have woken me up hours ago. So if I wasn't in my house, where was I?

Finally, my eyes were able to slowly open. The room was dark except for a ray of light, which I presumed it was coming from a high window. When my eyes fully opened, I froze. I was inside a dark and filthy basement, with high concrete walls and a small window. Then, slowly, I tried to sit up on the old mattress I was laying, how did I end up here? When I scanned the basement, I saw a huge metal door with loads of locks on it, so that meant I couldn't escape.

"I see you have woken up, I thought you were dead, honey." Said a voice coming from a dark corner of the room.

When I turned my head to the voice, I saw a tall figure leaning on one of the walls. From the voice and the figure's complexity, it was a man. I was petrified, I never felt so scared in my life. Then the man slowly approached. He wore a strange mask, with horns and a devilish smile, but behind I could see his blue eyes, he also had long brown hair, starting to grey. He wore a red neck-shirt and on top a black jacket.

I wasn't able to say anything, I just saw him approaching until he sat in front of me and said with a calm but playful voice. "Someone isn't talking, tell me honey, has the cat got your tongue?"

Suddenly has if it was magic, I was able to move again and quickly moved to the wall, leaving more space in between us. He was using a voice which I thought wasn't really his, he was a kidnapper, how could he talk as if nothing really happened?

At that moment I wasn't thinking straight, I had quickly understood I was locked down here with a psychopath who would probably kill me just for his own pleasure.

"Who are you? W-What am I doing here? Please, I want to get out, I'll do whatever." I pleaded, a knot started to form inside my throat as tears were starting to roll down my cheeks.

"Oh dear, sorry I haven't introduced myself, I was just mesmerized by you. I am someone which you cannot know the real name, you understand it right, darling? If you knew my name there would be a chance they could find me, so just call me for what I'm known, The Grabber. And as what you are doing here, let's go slow, shall we, honey?" The Grabber said with that sweet voice.

The Grabber had that gentle look in his eyes, a look of compassion, I knew he wasn't really showing or telling what her really thought. He wanted to make himself not dangerous, trying for me to empathise with his stupid dialogue and make me believe he was not going to hurt me. Besides, I hated the way he called me those pet names, but maybe he did it because he didn't know my name.

"Hope you have fun in here darling, I perfected the basement since Finney, he almost got me." He chuckled while he stood up and went to the door. "You cannot escape, if you scream nobody will hear you, so good luck trying to find a way out, because there's none." That last sentence he said it aggressively, that deep anger showing a bit.

The Grabber just revealed he was the one who kidnapped Finney Blake, that boy some years younger who went the same school as I. After moths of his disappearing he was presumed to be dead, as all the other boys, which meant that apart from being a child kidnapper he was also a murderer as his body or the others were never found.

Slowly as I heard the big metal door close and all the locks were in I decided to stand up and try and search what this basement could offer. It was rather spacious, with a zone which had a toilette and a small sink, everything was dirty. The basement had one window which stood really high, even if I tried to jump with my height it was impossible to grab the bars protecting the glass.

After searching, I just sat again down in the mattress, I was starting to cry again, there was no way out, and he knew it. But why me? All the victims were boys younger than me, so why would he kidnap a girl when he never did it before? I just wanted to go back to my house, with my noisy siblings and spend the night reading and living a normal teenage life, but I guess my life wasn't meant for that, instead it was meant to be the toy of a psychopath.