A Girl named Karma

The Hole

How would you feel if your entire life was a lie ?
5:40pm - It's blazing hot outside, feels almost like 100 degrees. I feel really scorching and I can barely move. I can scarcely open my eyes because of the beaming sun above me. I'm in what it appears to be, a 50 foot hole. The hole is very narrow, made of dark brown dirt, dark colored rocks on the walls of the hole, and it seems as if I'm in a forest. It has little to medium black pebbles on the ground and they're very warm. Wait a minute, I can't seem to move my arms and legs ... I'm tied up with no clothes or underwear on. Struggling to sit up, my body hurts immensely. I can see the scars all over my arms and legs, as if I was physically violated. My body is dirty and I have a blood stain on my left knee area. It so happens to be a huge scar. It had to be untreated for at least a few days, because it had pus and dried blood all around it. Knowing I had no way to take care of it, I left it alone. I look around and  see an ax, 30 feet of rope, and a watch along with my exposed body I had woken up to. Why are these here ? The real question is .. Why am I here ?

I am unquestionably scared for my life. I don't have any clothes on, I'm feeling completely uncomfortable, and I want to go home! "Think Karma, think ! What was the last thing you can remember before you ended up here ?" Aargh, it's all just a blur, maybe the items down here can help me figure it out. Okay, so I have a Broad ax , 30 feet of rope, and a watch. What can I do with these ? I gotta get out of these ropes before I do anything! The ax! I can just use the ax to cut myself out of the rope. I reach for the ax with my toes and finally get a hold of it after struggling for a few minutes. I grab the ax with my fingers and get a good grip of it. I start sawing the ax, slowly, through the rope until I finally through to it. Then I did the same with my legs. Now what should I do with these items? There's something else on the ground .. it's an envelope. It says "Karma" in bold letters. I opened it and there's a letter inside. It says "Hello Karma . You're probably wondering where you are right now. Let's just say you're far away from Pennsylvania. I want to play a game with you .. I'm sure you've already seen the three items that accompany you. With those three items, you need to figure out how to get yourself out of that hole. The catch is, you only have an hour to accomplish that. If you fail, then let's just say you won't be making it to the next level. Once you've gotten out the hole, I want you to walk down the road and eventually you'll see a telephone post. You'll see a note there with your name on it and a phone number. I want you to call that number. From there, you'll know what's next. I'm rooting for you Karma, so don't mess this up. As they say 'Let the games, begin.'" Trembling as I read the last few words, so many things are running through my mind. "Why me ? What's going to happen when the hour's up ?? What did I do to deserve this ? Come on Karma, think girl !! Who would want to do this to you ? I've never hurt anyone so why me ?!"

I have to get out of here, and that's what I'm going to do. First, I need to see what time it is because the letter said that I have one hour to get out or I'm dead. Okay, the watch says it's 5:55pm, so I have until 6:55pm to get out. Alright, I know that I can use the watch to keep track of the time and then I need to figure out what to do with the rope and ax. There's something in the corner, it's my clothes. I throw on my jeans and shirt and sneakers. *Gasps* I'm starting to remember something. Before waking up in here, I remember I was going home from work and as I was walking to my car, something grabbed me. I was grabbed from behind on the mouth. They had a forceful grip, enough to almost leave a mark on me, that's all I could remember. I tried throwing the rope up, but all it would do is slip back down. I tried again and again, then by the third time, the rope was able to get a hold onto something. I had the ax in my hand and looked up. I decided that I was going to use the ax to help climb up to the top. Before I began to climb, I put the watch in the back of my jean pocket, grabbed the rope, and wrapped it around my waist so that it wouldn't fall off me. I started to climb up the wall of the hole. I would slip a few times, you could hear my shoes scraping the wall. I used the rocks on the wall of the hole to help push myself up, then continued to the top. I hear a noise, outside the hole. It's getting closer, but I still can't seem to put my finger on what it is. I keep climbing and climbing and finally got to the top. As soon as I looked up, there it was ... a coyote.

With its vicious look in its eyes, sharp, pointy, canine teeth, and drool running from it's mouth. It stood above me like it was my master or something. I was too scared to move, but I had to, so I hit it with the ax one time and it collapsed. I stretched my body over to get up and was now standing over the coyote. I just stood there terrified, staring to see if it'll get back up. I got a little closer to get a better look and all of a sudden, the coyote jumped up and attacked me. With it's teeth grasping tightly on the ax as I used it to shield myself, I found the strength to throw the coyote down. As it got back up to come after me again, without question I hit it with the ax. Then again. And again. I checked to see if it was still alive and it wasn't. I backed up whimpering with the coyote's blood on my arms and face , wiping off my sweat. I took the watch out and saw that it's 6:30pm now. I was already out of the hole, but I had a feeling that everything was only going to get worse .

Flashbacks were coming to me.  I see myself waking up in a moving van with tape over my mouth, I'm completely naked and my arms and legs are tied. I was looking around, petrified, not knowing what was happening. There was a man. He was Caucasian, seems about 6 feet, with a scar on his forehead . He looked kind of familiar, but I don't know why. There was this strange, unusual feeling I had, then that's when I had that feeling. I hadn't felt that in so long, it was impossible for it to come back.  I thought to myself "Maybe he just has one of those faces, he can't possibly be who I think he is." He was smiling at me, he said "Oh you're finally up. How are you feeling?" I was trying to speak, but couldn't because of the tape over my mouth. "Oh how rude of me, I didn't properly introduce myself .. My name is um, Damien, as he says uncertainly. I look at him with a dirty look, trying to push the tape off my mouth. "I wish I could take the tape off, but I can't do that. You might scream again." he said, "I had to punish you for that, you wouldn't listen to me. I hope your arms don't hurt too much." I look down confused to what he was talking about and I saw my arms covered in knife wounds. I started sobbing and squirming, trying to get my hands loose. "Uh, oh no, we can't do that. You need to be as still as possible until we get to California ." My eyes became colossal, "did he just say California ??!" I screamed in my head.

California ?? Why am I being taken across the country ??! I was panicking, but I was also trying to get out. I had no idea what he was going to do to me, but I most definitely didn't want to find out . I saw the knife that was used to cut me, next to me, I grabbed it and started sawing through the rope. Once I had enough rope cut,  I steadily began to wiggle my hands out of the rope. There, I was free, but I didn't want to move until they stopped . The van finally stopped after it seemed like days. "We're here" Damien said. The van doors were opened by a tall Caucasian man, a little buff, but not enough to be ripped. He tried grabbing me, but I kicked him straight in the groin and he fell straight to the ground. Then with the knife I used, I turned around and stabbed Damien with it. He fell forward and I moved back. I untied the ropes around my legs, took the tape off my mouth, then jumped out the van and ran. I ran and ran, screamed for help, suddenly I felt someone grab me,it was Damien . I was kicking and screaming, he then covered his hand over my mouth. I bit one of his fingers and ran. I didn't look back once, I just kept running and then immediately stopped when I seen the hole. I was catching my breath and moved up a little to see what was down there. Suddenly, I felt a push on my back. Next thing I know, I was in the hole. I was unconscious from the fall, "Goodluck and Good riddance" said Damien, as he spat at me and then left.

Back to reality .. I started staggering, looking for people, a payphone, a road, anything. After about 30 minutes of walking and searching, I finally find a road. There was also a payphone and an envelope that said my name on it, just like that letter said. I opened it and it had a piece of paper with a phone number on it. I remember the letter wanting me to call the number, so I did. I said "Hello .. ?" A man began to speak, "Hello Karma. Obviously if you are hearing this , then that means you've made it out of the hole. Congratulations, you've proven your survival skills . After this phone call is over, you will need to follow the next three things I'm going to tell you to do, so listen carefully. Number one, there will be a black SUV down the road waiting for you, I want you to go inside the SUV once you see it. Number two, you're going to kill the man in that car, there is a gun in the pocket of the backseat. Once you've killed him, drive to the address on the back of the envelope you found this number in. Number three, you will meet up with some gentlemen who will bring you to me, I will tell you the rest there. If you however don't go through with these directions, your family will be killed. I already have three men watching your house, so one mess up and they're gone. Then so will you." The phone call ends. *Sobbing* My heart is beating fast, I'm so confused. I don't know why I have to be the one to do this, why choose me ? I don't want my family to get hurt though .. Looking down the road I realize the SUV was located right where he said it would be. "Were my eyes playing tricks on me?" I thought to myself "Am I really going to do this ?" I said in distress. To be continued ...