The Complexity Within

Surrounding Darkness

   
It’s white, the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the bed I'm laying on, everything is bright. Just so white. My eyes stare at the cracks in the ceilings, a Scooby Doo band-aid is on the ceiling to comfort what I assume are the children that come in for surgery. The squeaks of the shoes, the snaps of the gloves, the clanks of the scalpel and other tools can be heard. I flinch as I feel the rubber of  gloves on my head. “Shh child, relax, close those pretty eyes and sleep.” the nurse comforted me with a soothing, melodic voice. She put the mask on my mouth, making me flinch. I started shaking my head and grabbing at the mask. I didn’t want to go under. I can’t go under. The darkness. I can’t do it. As I breathed in the anesthesia I could feel my eyes droop, my head heavy, wobbling from side to side. I couldn’t close my eyes, I just couldn’t. Then the darkness consumes me.
    It’s about 9 p.m here in San Francisco, I walked out of the little café and headed towards home. It was a cool night, the slight wind pushed my blonde hair behind me exposing my neck and chest. I was about four blocks from home when I turned down an alley between Hobby Lobby and Tim’s Door Service.
“Leslie.” somebody whispered. I stopped and looked around the dark alley. When I saw nothing I kept walking, picking up my pace to a speed walk “Leslie.” someone said again this time in a normal voice. The voice of a man, it was husky and rough. I was in a trot now. “LESLIE!” the voice yelled at me. I was off. Sprinting down the gravel of the alley I could see the sidewalk and street lights nearing me, urging me on to get to the light.
“STOP!” the voice growled out. I stopped running. My heart pounding, my eyes watering I slowly turned in a circle looking around for the mysterious voice. Spinning in a full circle I stopped where I began. Expecting to see the empty sidewalk and the starting street to my house, to my little boy, I saw a big burly man standing on the edge of the where the sidewalk and gravel meet. His hands were in his sweatshirt pocket. He was in a black sweatshirt with dark black jeans. His hood was up and he wasn’t facing me. I stared at him paralyzed with fear, I couldn’t move. He slowly turned around the light from the street lamp shining on his face. What I saw made me scream out. His face was scared. He had a tattoo of two tear drops falling from his right eye. He had a large scar from the top of his left eyebrow slicing down through his eyelids and down to his nose. I turned and ran, my legs pumping as fast as they would go, my heart was pounding to the point of pain. I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t think, all I know is I have to run.
I could hear his big heavy footsteps behind me. He was chuckling, like he enjoyed the chase. He was getting closer and closer. I could feel his hot breath on the back of my neck causing fear to run down my spine. I felt his big, muscular arms wrap around my waist. He pulled me to a stop, the impact from stopping so suddenly caused me to slam into his muscular chest. His hands slowly slid from my waist up to my throat where he latched his big meaty hand and squeezed. I clawed at his hand, gasping for air as he pushed me against the side of Tim’s Door Service.
“Now don’t be like this.” he whispered to me. His face was pressed into my hair and he inhaled a big breath, smelling me.
“P-Please don’t do this. What do you want?” I scrambled out, my chest rising and falling trying to catch a decent breath. My eyes were watering, my teeth clattering together.
“I have orders to bring you in. But I’m suppose to have some fun with you first.” He smiled, a creepy sinister smile making chills run up and down my spine. His grip tightened around my throat as he lifted me off the gravel and threw me. I hit the ground, hard groaning as the impact took away my breath. He came over to me and stood over my body. He pulled a knife out of his back pocket. Twirling it in his hands I could see the blade glisten even though it was dark. I looked up into his eyes, staring at the gruesome scar that ran across his face.
“You like my scar?  We can have matching.” he chuckled. Bending over me he lightly slid the blade along my face. He traced a line across my eye just like his scar. Wiggling under him I screamed out, “Help, Help. Someone help me!”
“Silence.” he growled. Raising the knife, he readied himself. As he brought his hand down I lifted my knee up and kneed him. He screamed out and his hand fell.
I screamed bloody murder. Pain shot through me, my eyes watered with tears, the pain numbing me I tried to catch my bearings. I rolled the man off me and crawled away from him. Reaching up I grabbed the knife and pulled it from my left eye. I could feel the restraint as the blade slowly slid from my eyeball. The blood ran from my eye, down my cheek and jaw and stained the shoulder of my white shirt along with my blonde hair. I brought my left hand to my eye, turning around I started walking to the end of the alley. The groaning of the man could be heard from behind, I heard him grunt as he stood up and I picked up my pace. As I continued walking I felt a hand on my shoulder. It gripped on hard and spun me around.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” he smirked at me. Before I could even react his fist smashed into my jaw. I fell to the ground with a thud. He lifted his foot and kicked me in my ribs over and over again. The pain was so mind numbingly painful that I curled up in a ball and cried silent tears. Too weak to move, or fight back, or to scream out for no one to help me. He kicked me one last time to the face and I blacked out.
“She was brought in last night, boss.” the husky voice said.
I had woken up to voices talking behind the door in front of me. I looked around the room I was in, I was tied to a metal chair, the room was cold and the walls smelled wet and musky, like the rain leaks into it The room was dark, the only window in the room was boarded up, preventing the sun to seep into the room.
“Good, hand me that knife I want to have a chat with little Leslie Lemay.” I knew that voice, it sounded so familiar. The door shook as the locks unlocked. The handel turned as a man walked in. He was hard to see with one eye, him standing in the shadows of the already dark room didn't help either. He slowly walked towards me, taking his sweet time, stepping with one foot at a time. Heel toe, heel toe. Standing in front of me he crouched down so we were eye to eye.
“Well hello there, wifey.” the man smiled at me. I gasped and glared at him.
“Allen. What do you want from me?” I whispered at him.
“You left me. You took my son away...and now you’re going to pay.” he smirked at me. he got up and walked to the door. “Ace, come and get it. Have some fun!” he yelled out before walking out of the door.
I sat in my chair, my arms bound behind my back my feet tied together in front of me. The rope was thick and not tied very tight. I twisted my wrists round and round until the rope loosened. Footsteps could be heard coming towards me. The boom of each step getting louder and louder until black boots appeared in front of my own tied up feet. The man that attacked me stood in front of me, Ace was apparently his name. He played with a knife again, this one bigger. The blade longer and thicker almost like a chef’s knife used for cooking.
    He stalked towards me. The animalistic glint in his eyes as he watched me showed he was a predator stalking his prey. He was angry and definitely ready to pounce. As soon as he took a step towards me I lifted my bound feet and kicked him where it hurts. He fell the the floor with a groan. I quickly brought my hands around and grabbed the fallen knife. Lifting it I cut the rope around my ankles. I got up from the metal chair and wobbled over to the boarded window. I stuck the knife between the two boards and pulled them towards me. Hearing a pop as the nails flew from the wooden window sill, and the boards drop I dropped the knife so I could unlock the window and lift it open. I could hear a chuckle from behind me. I quickly turned around and saw Ace holding the knife. He sucked his teeth at me with a smirk he said, “You dumb girl. You better run, and run fast because I like to chase.”
I turned around and raised my arms to open the window. I had just gotten it open when I felt a burning sensation on my side near my ribs. Something wet trickled down my side, I felt another burning sensation on my back near my right shoulder blade. I jumped up and made it halfway through the window, groaning in pain as my body protested from all the moving. I looked back and swung my leg, kicking Ace across his face.
I got outside, spinning around I saw that I was standing on grass. There was land, farmland. Empty fields with hills of grass and little to no trees.The only road I saw was a dirt road running horizontally from the driveway. I saw a house about two hundred feet from the old farm house I was standing in front of. There was a truck in the driveway  and clothes hanging on the clothes line blowing in the wind.
I started towards the house, sprinting as fast as my hurt body would go. “HELP! HELP!” I screamed. “Someone please help me!” I had tears running down my eyes. My eyes started getting blurry, my running faltered, I was now barely trotting as I screamed out for help. I was weak from all the bleeding, grabbing at my pounding head I collapsed into darkness.
    I felt swaying, the movement making me somewhat sick but I was too out of it to protest. I glanced up through squinted eyes to see a man holding me. “You’re gonna be all right now-” I blacked out not being able to hear the rest of what he was saying.
I opened my eyes again this time I was looking up at a ceiling, it was gray and carpeted. The gentle movement and the sound of wind rushing behind my head made me realize I was in a car. The man I saw earlier looked back at me. “How is your eye darling? You’re gonna be ok were about-” I was out again. The darkness so comforting and soothing slowly dragging me deeper and deeper into it’s pit.
Through my closed eyelids I could see this annoying light. I slowly opened my eyes. The room, the bed, the walls, the blanket, they were all white. I slowly sat up in the bed, I looked over to the door that opened. Dr. Kelly walked in with a smile. “Ms. LeMay I’m glad you have woken up. The surgery has gone very well. Your left eye is now a glass it’s the same color as your other eye, it will take some getting use to being blind in one eye but you will be able to manage.”
I grabbed the mirror he held out for me. Looking at myself I could see the light from the room through one eye and the darkness of my attack in the other. That darkness will always have a hold over me even when it’s light it will always be dark. I lifted my hand and punched the little mirror. My reflection sprawled out and disoriented in the cracked screen.  I laid back and let the darkness consume me again seeing as it was never ending.