BURNING pain shocked me into consciousness. Everything south of my stomach ached with intensity. Suddenly, as if someone flipped a switch, the room began to spin like a top. Quickly, I rolled toward the edge of the bed and puked.
Gasping, I laid on my back and examined the familiar room. Blank, with concrete walls and a single wire bed in the center, this room was my prison cell.
Foggy memories filtered slowly into my head. That boy, Joe or Josh or something, had been in the film room with me and he had done something awful.
With cautious fingers, I felt along each area that throbbed. My thighs were sticky with what I assumed was blood and my fingers found several lacerations. God, I wish that man would just kill me already.
Sniffling, I rubbed my sore nose and curled into a ball on the old mattress.
...
KNOCKING shook me from my sleep. I laid still on the bed, hoping if the man saw me asleep he'd leave me alone. The door creaked open and the bare light bulb buzzed to life.
Footsteps made their way next to me and hands moved my body into an open position. A warm rag washed over my wounds and I peeked at my visitor.
The boy from before, Jonah, I think, tended to me gently.
"What are you doing?" I mumbled, causing Jonah to jump.
"You're awake?" Jonah's voice was hoarse, probably from performing in the film room.
"Yes?"
Jonah sighed with relief, "I was beginning to think you had died."
I pushed myself onto my elbows, "Why's that?"
"Well, that masked man has kept you pretty high on God knows what and every time I've come in here, you've been asleep. Not to mention what's happened to you in that room." Jonah shuddered, shaking whatever awful image he was seeing from his head.
"How long?"
Jonah looked at me, confusion crossing his face.
"How long have I been like this?"
"Oh," Jonah turned to cleaning me again, "You've been in and out for days. How many, I'm not sure."
"Hmm," I hummed, watching Jonah's face. Bruises reached across his face and his eyes seemed sunken with exhaustion. I hated to begin to imagine what the man was forcing him to do. Tilting my head to the side, I studied him while he worked.
"Why are you here?" I finally burst out.
"What do you mean?"
"Why did you visit me in that living room?'
"Oh," Jonah smiled, "I thought I was being hired as a personal caretaker."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, the man told me his name was Andrew and that he needed me to take care of his disabled daughter while he was away on a business trip," Jonah pulled out several bandages from a first aid kit and thought for a moment, "What about you?"
"The man took me when I was really young and I managed to escape. I thought I had killed him back then, but here I am," I smiled ironically.
"Man, that sucks," Jonah finished up fixing me.
"Tell me about it," I sighed and inspected his work, "Thank you."
"It's no problem," Jonah packed up his kit, "Well, I guess I should get going before he loses his temper."
"Yeah, no kidding," I sighed, "Good luck out there."
Jonah walked to the door before glancing back at me, "You too."
YOU ARE READING
VICTIM
Mystery / Thriller"I let you go once, I won't be so foolish to let you go again." ❁ Elysia Mills is seemingly normal, until you look into her past. As a teen, she was abducted and obsessed over by a young man. When the police found her, she was told she had been "lu...
