Death is a Three Letter Word

Chapter 7

My next memory is waking up in a white bed.
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My next memory is a gun to my head.
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My next memory is rope around my hands.
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My next memory is Mark's house.
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My next memory is waking up in a semi-blood stained bed. This morning I am not alone.

I sat up.

The sterile, white room was freezing. I looked down to find I only had on a thin, white t-shirt and socks. Next to me there was a man. I couldn't tell whether or not it was my father or Mark. I'm not sure which was worse. I'm not sure I wanted to know.

I got up.

The floors were hardwood and the only furniture in thee room was the large bed in the center. I've never seen this room at Mark's house. The door was white. I was reminded of a hospital, or a lab when I finally took in the entire room. I had to get out of there.

I touched the doorknob.

Turning it, the door squeaked open. Why would they leave it unlocked? None of them were stupid. I peered behind my shoulder at the sleeping figure that hadn't moved. Maybe. Maybe I can get out. I slipped through the narrow opening and softly shut the door behind me. Facing the hallway, I found more white. It felt as if I were in a mental hospital. What the hell happened to me? I padded down the hallway, creeping closely to the floor and walls. I tried to be a chameleon, making myself blend with my surroundings. I held my breath the whole way. Entering a living room setting, I saw my chance to bolt. No one was around. I looked out of the front windows and saw two cars. One with people inside. I searched the room for another exit. Backdoor. Backyard. Vacant.

Those three words are all I needed. I could cut into other yards if I had to, but for now I just needed a way out of the house. Though it seemed too easy, I had to try anyways. Time was running out. I opened the backdoor just wide enough to slip out of and scanned the yard for my next move. The house behind had a fence that I couldn't jump, but the house to my right- that no one in front of the house could see me go into- had no fence at all. I ran through their yard, the yard next to them, and the yard after that. At the fourth house, a woman was outside gardening.

I threw myself to my knees in front of her and begged for her help. Yet I could see in her eyes that she had been told to watch out for me. Could see the gears twisting as if contemplating when to call them and what to tell me. I didn't need to contemplate anything. I took off sprinting, continuing on my quest to find someone that would help me. It became obvious that everyone in this neighborhood had been turned against me, so I decided my next course of action would be finding a gas station or some sort of establishment that would find it odd that a seventeen year old girl is basically running around naked and bruised.

As luck would have it, I found a 7/11 about the same time my father found me. As I rushed in screaming, he followed.

"Help! I need help! He kidnapped me! He's dangerous! He touched me!" I was running through the aisles with him chasing along. The man at the register immediately came over to stop the spectacle we were creating.

"Hey, hey, hey! What is going on here? Sir, I'm going to need you to leave!"

"Thank you! Thank y-" I started crying out. Apparently, I thanked him too soon.

"I'm not going anywhere! This is my daughter and she is very ill! She has no idea what she's saying."

"Bullshit! You kidnapped me when the police were coming to arrest you! You broke into my house, took me and raped me! I've been unconscious for I don't know how long! Sir, believe me. I woke up in a bed with bloody sheets and him on top of me, snoring in my ear! Sir I'm not even dressed. I need your help! I need my mom!" The manager looked between me and my assailant, again weighing his options. I suddenly felt dizzy as I waited for him to decide whether or not I was worth saving, and I collapsed on the ground. I could hear my father rationalizing everything to the man, and trying to prove to him that it was sickness and not constant rape and drugs that caused my fainting spell. I could feel the tension as the man saw my lack of undergarments. And when I heard him move to press the "Panic button", I knew I was saved.