Shadow Town

Chapter 4

"Diary Entry #3

The strange man told me it is June 18th today,

but i refuse to believe he has any concept of time.

Around noon judging by the interchanging neon lights outside

Strange man's house

Diary, i know you're an inanimate object but please kill me. Now. Im being held hostage by a really annoying man who claims to have saved my life? From what, exactly? I'm sure a measly fall of 20 feet couldn't of killed me. Now, he's keeping me trapped in his house because he claims it's safer. What a pervert!!! Last thing i remember is that i jumped off the ledge i was standing in, in hopes of getting down, then i slipped and blacked out and now i'm in this weird pedophiles house whose super annoying and likes to make up stupid words and has a stupid smirk and thinks he's better than every-"

Dakota finished reading to the locked door and cleared his throat from the strain his "effeminate" voice gave him. He chuckled at the irony of Astor's first diary entry, her writing sounded EXACTLY like the ramblings of a drama crazed teenager. He adjusted his dirty reading glasses to the top of his head, closed Astor's diary and slid it back into her small leather knapsack. He was sitting on the floor with her stuff in front of a locked room where he put Astor when she fainted. About an hour ago he went into the room he put her in to check on her. She was half awake, still loopy from the anesthesia he gave to her while he stitched up her arm. He changed her bandages and gave her more pain medication. All the medical tools he had he stole from the town clinic, which was always empty but fully stocked. He fed her some generic cheerio-like cereal, which was the only cereal they sold in this town and it was disgusting. As the expired milk dribbled down her face, she asked him with her eyes half-closed like a drunk what day it was. He told her the date, then explained to her she was stupid for trying to get down the huge pyramid by jumping. He left her room and an hour later he went to check on her again and heard furious scribbling. He snuck in the room, saw she was writing something and then pounced on her. He pinned her to the bed using only his left arm and left leg(he was very proud of this), and then took the diary and her knapsack in one fell swoop. He ran out of the room and quickly locked it, giggling like a fool the whole time. He searched her stuff and read her diary out loud in his best impression of her, and all the while she shouted very angry naughty words at him.

"Interesting"

"LET ME OUT LOSER!" Asters muffled voice rang from the other side of the door.

"You think I'm a pedophile?" Dakota softly answered back, hurt in his voice.

"WHO THE HELL ELSE WOULD TRAP A YOUNG GIRL IN HIS HOUSE?!"

"Fair enough.." he waved his head back and forth in agreement,"but technically calling me a pedophile would be the wrong term because you are 18 years old and are legally of age to be dating another adult..."

"HOW DID- YOU SEARCHED MY STUFF?," the door was now rattling violently.

"Had to, I saw your driver's license which is how i knew your age, diary-that's real cute by the way-, makeup stuff, water bottle, gum and ummm feminine hygiene products. You could've been carrying a dangerous weapon...or chocolate...you'd be surprised, the stores in this town sell hard candies, lots of em, but not chocolate? Downright ridiculous..." Dakota shook his head in disapproval. Chocolate was to him as honey is to bees. And he hadn't had chocolate in three years, not since that fateful day when he had wandered into the back of a convenience store at midnight, searching for chocolate while he was as high as a kite. That was when Shadow Town took him, when he was most vulnerable, the most unstable he'd ever been in his life. It took no pity on him and took his pitiful life and fed on it. He didn't like thinking of those dead end days so he cleared his foggy head, faced the closed door and focused on the girl he had to save.