The Captured

                       A short story that I have written a while ago... to demonstrate terror, fear, and loss in both faith and hope

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   A girl’s scream pierced the silence of the night and instantly, the forest exploded into life.

     Her hands were held behind her back by the person who brought this nightmare upon her. She was marked for disaster.

     Figures advanced from out of the dusk of the forest, into the midnight's stream of light, to the centre of where death-like endings commenced.

     As they approached her, closer and closer, they glared at her tiny, frigid body with grins as big as smiles, slapped across their devilish face, “She’s pretty, isn’t she?” the tall, darkened, sinister-like male examined. His voice was low, timid, and frightening to the young girl’s delicate ears.

  “Try screaming.”

     Another male tightened his grip on the young, trembling girl's arms and whispered, threatening every move that she had made to free herself from the fears that were yet to come. She gasped.           

     Head burning, and heart pounding as fingers explored her ice-cold, quivering body as the frozen breeze surrounded them.

     She clenched her teeth tight as fingers continued to stroke against her sensitive body, “S-stop!” she pleaded, voice shaking.

  “I don‘t think so,” behind his sinister smile was a low, heart pounding voice that racked her with fear. Hidden behind his smile was magnificent satisfaction. 

     In the position the young girl was in, she knew that nothing in anyone’s miserable life prior to that moment could possibly even be as bad as what was about to happen to her dark and narrow life. She was led there, on the cold earthen floor of the forest, in the arms of strangers that were about to explore her body in the deepest, most dreadful way. 

     Her arms wrenched up behind her back as thick leather straps tied around her thin, pearly-white wrists. The girl shuddered with fear, as she had no protection, and was going to feel it all; every single nerve-stabbing pain and anguish that  led her there to fulfil the greed of these men that stood around her.

     Dark stains seeping through the concrete floor suggested blood. Her blood to be exact: from numerous and mindless hits that she had received from the men that pinned her down. Scrapes pierced through the surface of her fragile skin, leaving severe and damaged flesh to heal. The entire body was torn into nothingness. She was numb, in fear, and dreadfully aching in pain.

     The both of them; the two men, stood up , releasing their clutched hands from her wrists. She was still tied up on the floor, but it was the perfect chance to escape.

  “What are you going to do with her?” the younger-looking male, with bleach blonde hair interrogated as the rage of desire swelled inside.

  “After we’re finished with her… we‘ll have to kill her, of course,” the other bellowed, crossed his arms, and snarled morally at them.

     Silence for a moment. Then a snicker. A growl. She breathes, slowly in taking the cold air that filled her lungs. Waiting for the perfect moment, she relaxed, resigned, neither crying nor begging. With the little strength the girl had, and in a sudden breach, she broke free from the thick, leathered strap around her wrists. Instantly, she staggered off of the muddy, concrete ground, and clutched away at her stomach that dreaded in both deep pain and anguish. Her presence became noticeable and within seconds… she was about to be chased.

  “Get her!” screeched the dark, disturbed man, as he instantly gestured his index finger to the run-away girl that had fled at steady speed for protection. Losing focus of reality, and leaving all senses behind, the blonde haired guy threw darted stares at the presence that had suddenly ran , and now… the chase was on.

      He chased her down the dusky narrow path within the forest, tripping over broken and rotten branches on the floor, avoiding snatching hands. In the depths of the night, the girl ran through the dusky trees of the forest without a backwards glance. Her speed gradually becoming faster as the steps that haunted her grew louder. Sweeping in from within the trees, a tall, blonde-haired figure stood upon the girl with his already-huge, dark eyes widened.

     He pounced upon her and held her tiny body up to the sky by the scruff of her neck. He had the poor little girl in such a grip that she was half choking, whilst the feet barely touched the ground, “You’re useless,” he snarled, cunningly. “You’re only good as a toy.”

     In despair, she cried, “L-let go of me!” as she struggled. Inside, her small heart was gripped with fear. No one could hear the screams, shouts, or the sobs that were shared on her very last day.  She grasped away at his hands, digging knife-like nails into his skin, but nevertheless, he did not release her.

She awaited no hope, no faith as her destiny was to an end. The reality became all very clear to her crystal blue eyes: a body that had been used, a heart that had been shook with fear, and a future that seemed dark, dull, daunting and narrow. 

  “Fair well…” he grinned, the hand tightened around her neck. “…Annabel.”