Into the Darkness

Chapter 6

Lin notices that she is in a room. It's filled with darkness except for one lamp that shines dully in front of her. There is one bed near the wall of the room, Lin sits about five feet away from it. Even with the lack of light Lin can tell that the bed has old and dirty floral covers.
There's a girl in the room also. She sits in front of Lin behind the lamp, not saying a word. Lin notices that the girl is eating something strange, she is picking at it as if she were a wild animal. Lin moved her head to the side so that she could get a better view of what the girl was eating. What she saw disgusted her. The girl was eating a dead cooked raccoon. Lin could faintly see bones, clean, where the girl had picked the meat off. Lin had a sick feeling in her stomach which was replaced quickly by a sense of hunger. Lin looks in front of her, and there is a plate with a dead cooked squirrel on it. The bloody fur of the squirrel almost glistened in the lamp light. Lin was appalled by the sight of the squirrel, but her stomach urged her to eat it, to just taste it. She slowly touched the squirrel and was able to pull a piece of meat off. She raised the cold piece to her mouth, and just as she was about to put the squirrel meat in her mouth, a door opened and a man entered the room. The meat fell from Lin's fingers.

Lin couldn't make out the man's features because of the dim lighting, but she could tell that he was broad shouldered and probably reached a height of six feet. This man instilled fear in Lin; she didn't want to be near him. She didn't want to be here in this strange place. And she knew that this man was the reason why she was here.

The man stepped toward the area that the girl and Lin were at. The girl was still devouring her raccoon, a little indecently. Lin couldn't blame her though, she was probably starving. Lin felt that she too was starving, but the fear and anxiety inside of her masked her hunger. The man was finally right behind the girl. Lin stared at her with wide eyes and the girl finally looked at Lin for the first time, with the same wide fearful eyes. Lin only held the girl's gaze for a few seconds, because the man suddenly bent down and grabbed the girl by the arm. In that moment Lin could see the horrid smirk on his face as the light hit is face. That was all she could see, that and the stubble on his jaw. The man pulled the girl to her feet and walked toward the bed with her in tow behind him. Lin could hear the girl's pleadings and she just wanted to get up and stop that man from hurting this girl. She wanted to hit him and kick him or do anything that might delay his motives, even if it makes things worse. But she couldn't, she felt stuck, glued to the sitting position that she was in. She felt so helpless.

The man threw the girl onto the bed, she was laying face up. He just stood there for a while, probably marveling at how powerful he felt. But he wasn't powerful; he was weak if he had to feed on the fear and vulnerability of young girls. After a long time of standing in front of the girl who was now whimpering and sobbing, Lin saw the man pull his belt from his waistband. The man starts bringing the belt down onto the girl and with each hit, the girl lets out a gut wrenching scream. The belt comes down across the girl's face and her shielding arms about a hundred times before the man finally stops.

"Were you watching girl? This is going to be you, you just wait." His voice was deep and menacing and Lin realized that the man was talking to her. She didn't want to end up like this girl, she wouldn't.

Suddenly Lin saw an object in the man's hands that faintly reflected the lamp light. She realized that it was a kitchen knife. She had no idea where it had come from. The man proceeded to place the knife sideways against the girl's knife. A loud scream encompassed the room, but it was not the girl's scream. It was Lin's.

"Lin, are you alright?" Evan asked as Lin begun to open her eyes. She seemed to by lying on something soft and Evan was sitting beside her. Evan touched her arm lightly and Lin screamed and proceeded to back away, she didn't even know how far away she could get but her instinct told her to run.

"Lin? What's wrong Lin? It's me. It's me Lin. Please, it's okay." Evan had a pleading tone in his voice and his face was full with shock.

"Evan." Lin said while tears streamed down her face. She went toward him quickly and wrapped her arms around him. Evan held Lin close to him and caressed her back as if to sooth her.

"Was it another nightmare?" Evan asked while trying to wipe some tears away from her face, most of them had already soaked through his t shirt.

Lin moved loosened her grip on him, but still left her arms around him, so that she could look at him.

"It was terrifying. It was so terrifying and it felt so very real. I think it happened before. Oh my gosh, I think she's dead. She's dead." Lin said the words with such sadness and fearfulness. And when she reached the words she's dead, the tears came rushing back again. Lin couldn't control them, she couldn't control her emotions.

"Who's dead?" Evan asked with a worried tone. He was confused by Lin's reaction when she awoke and then her revelation about her nightmare. How could it possibly have been real?

"The girl in my nightmare, I don't know her name, but I think he killed her, whoever kidnapped me and her, and he killed her. I think I saw her in my first nightmare, she was dead on the ground." Lin's tears stopped and she gained some of her composure back.

"I'm sorry Lin. You don't deserve these nightmares, you don't deserve what's been done to you" Evan said while touching one side of Lin's face gently with his hand.

"Evan. I love you. I don't care what your brother says, we know how we feel and that's enough." When Lin finished speaking, she placed her mouth on Evan's and tightened her arms around him. Their lips collided ever so lightly at first and then the movement of their mouths sped up, as did the beat of their hearts. The force of their kiss and the movement of their arms on each other's backs caused Evan to lean backwards, which made their chests come even closer together, Lin could feel heat rising from Evan's body and she could feel the dampness in his shirt caused by her tears.

Lin knew that they were right for each other. They had always been right for each other. Evan fit together with Lin like two pieces of a puzzle; she had always been missing him, without even knowing that she was. She knew now, in this moment, not just because it felt right kissing him or because he was a great kisser, but because he had not pushed her to do anything she didn't want to do and he had cared for her and shown love for her when she needed it most. Evan broke their kiss gently for just a moment.

"Lin. I love you too." Evan said while staring deeply into Lin's eyes as if he was trying to show her that he really meant it. That it would be forever true. Lin knew it would.