Prologue
“Mom? Is that you?” Jason called out when he heard someone moving around on the other side of the door.
His eyes were open but all he saw was darkness so they may have well have been shut. The little stream of sunlight that managed to creep into his dark cell disappeared just as quickly as it came as his mother entered the basement. He could hear her footsteps coming down the wooden stairs and with every stamp he heard, he feared for what was to come when she would reach him.
“Mom..,” he called again but she still said nothing.
He had been locked up in that tiny metal room for so many days that he had lost count and all he wanted was to be let out but that was entirely up to his mother. For days, he had been begging her to let him out whenever she would come around with his meals but no matter how strongly he pleaded, she left him locked inside the dark room with nothing but the rats that gnawed on his toes to keep him company.
His skin was pale, having not felt the gleam of the sun for months. His body was thin and malnourished, having not had a decent meal in so long. His eyes were swollen, having cried and pleaded for his freedom for so many days. His mind was restless and his heart was pounding as fear washed over him when he heard her stop by the door.
The food slot at the bottom of the huge metal door slid open and just as it did, Jason crawled away in fear. He squeezed himself into a safe corner of the room, afraid to get close to his maternal captor while hoping that this was the day she was finally going to let him out. A tray carrying a sandwich and a small bottle of water came in through the slot and was placed on the floor before the hand that brought it in slid back out and closed the tiny slat. Jason remained in his safe corner, still afraid to get close and not even the delectable aroma of the snack was strong enough to arouse him to move closer to that door.
“You have two minutes,” his mother said from outside his cell.
Suddenly, the lone light bulb that hung under the metal ceiling lit up and the glare of the yellow light flashed into Jason’s corneas, almost blinding him because of how bright it was. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light and when they did, the first thing he saw was the five rats that were biting at him. He swung his arms to chase them away from him and when he looked at the foot of the door, he noticed the food. Like a wild hungry trapped animal, he dashed at the tray and began to devour the sandwich as quickly as he could, pushing the rats away as they moved closer to him. He was so hungry and that sandwich was the first meal he had gotten in almost twenty hours. It didn’t take him up to a minute to finish it and he drank the water just as hurriedly as he ate the snack.
“You’d better slow down before you choke yourself. I’m not going to come in and save you if that happens,” she said to him.
There was another little slot higher up the door and that one slid open as well. Jason looked up and saw his mother’s green eyes staring down at him and he backed away because of them. There was no love in those eyes, only hate and anger and the way they glared at him made him feel…little, like he was an insignificant insect.
“Slide the tray back out, Jason,” she told him.
He nervously moved closer to the tray and wrapped his hand around it. He put it into the open bottom slot and pushed it out the door before running back to his safe corner.
“Do I have to remind you what to say again?” She yelled.
“I’m sorry, mother. Thank you…for the meal,” he told her in his squeaky eight-year-old voice.
She picked up the tray and just as she was about to close the top slot, he cried out to her.
“Mother, please let me out of here. I don’t want to be in here anymore,”
“You will stay in there for as long as I want. Do you understand me, Jason?” She said loudly.
“I understand but, I don’t like it in here. It’s too dark and the rats keep biting me. Please, mother. Let me out,” he cried.
She closed both slots and Jason could tell that she was about to leave so he got to his feet, ran to the door and banged on it a few times, screaming to her to let him out.
“Mother, please, let me out. I promise I’ll be good, just don’t leave me in here. Please, mother, the rats are hurting me,” he cried but none of his pleas could win her over.
“If the rats are hurting you, then you kill them. It could take years but those rodents will eventually chew away tiny pieces of you until there’s nothing left. If you want to survive them, then you must choose your life over theirs. Kill the rats and the hurt will stop,” she said.
“But I don’t want to kill them. I don’t want to kill anything,” he said innocently.
“In that case, enjoy the rats,”
She switched off the light inside the metal room and began walking back up the stairs. Jason was enveloped by the darkness yet again and he was consumed by fear and continuously pounded on the door, begging to be let out.
“Mother, please. Don’t leave me here. Mother, let me out…let me out,”
She climbed up the stairs and left the basement and the last thing Jason heard was the sound of the basement door lock. He cried out to his mother for a few more minutes before settling down when he came to terms with the fact that she wasn’t going to let him out…at least, not today.
He squeezed himself into a corner again and sobbed softly before wincing in pain.
“Ouch,” he exclaimed as he felt the rats nibbling on his toes again.
Kill the rats and the hurt will stop…
His mother’s voice echoed in his head as he felt their little teeth digging into his flesh. It was too dark to see the rats but Jason reached out for the closet one that was biting him and grabbed its tail.
“Arghhh...” He yelled as he began to smash the rat into the floor, over and over again.
He slammed it into the floor, ripping the rat apart as its blood splashed all over him.
The rat was dead but there were four more left. Jason ran his hand on the floor until he found another one and just like the first, he repeated the act that would relieve him of the vermins.
9 YEARS LATER…
Jason heard the sound of the locks of the door clicking as they were being opened. His mother walked into the room and put both her arms out to him, causing Jason to whimper in fear. He dragged himself away from her but she put her hands on his shoulder and helped him to his feet.
“It’s okay, son. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m letting you out. Come on,” she said in the calmest, most loving, and most soothing tone that Jason had ever heard.
He was now seventeen years old and had been locked up for more than nine years in that dark room. His hair was big and rough and some rogue strands were sprouting around his face. He was thin and squirmy, scared and shaky, barely able to stand on his feet by himself and as his mother led him out of his prison, he wondered why! Why was she letting him out now after so many years?
The first place she took him to was the dining table and gave him a meal that to him would be regarded as a feast. After he ate his fill, she took him to the bathroom so he could get cleaned up. She had already prepared him a warm bath in the tub but before he got into it, she asked him to sit down on the toilet so she could give him a haircut.
“Go on. It’s okay,” she assured him when he hesitated.
Jason took a seat and heard the scary sound of his mother’s electric razor buzzing in her hand. She shaved his head completely and also removed his facial hair, smiling from ear to ear as she did so.
“There’s my handsome boy,” she said after she was done, “Take off your clothes and get in the tub so I can clean you up.” She said.
Jason slowly took off the rags on his body and stood naked in front of his mother who was staring at him rather suspiciously. She gestured at him to get into the tub and he did so reluctantly. The water felt nice on his skin and it was a sensation he hadn’t felt in years. It was an incredible feeling and it made him feel good.
“You like it, don’t you?” She asked.
He nodded affirmatively but he couldn’t look her in the eye. He was still very much scared of her.
She washed his dirty body with a soft sponge and was nice to him for the first time in years. Jason didn’t understand why she was being so motherly to him and he didn’t trust it but, at that moment, he was enjoying himself.
After his bath, she wrapped him in a towel and took him to her bedroom. She had left some clothes out on her bed for him to wear; clothes that belonged to his late father.
“They should fit you quite alright. Why don’t you get dressed while I freshen up in the bathroom?” She said to him.
She went back into the bathroom and shut the door, leaving a confused Jason to dress himself. He wallowed over to the bed, picked up the clothes and put them on. After that, he sat down on the mattress and moaned in satisfaction because of how soft it was. He lay on it and his back was so happy and comfortable.
His mother stood in front of the bathroom mirror, fixing her hair and polishing her face. She changed into a silk nightgown and put on some perfume, looking as gorgeous as a siren. She was ready now and she opened the bathroom door and stepped out.
She entered the bedroom and saw Jason asleep on the bed. He must have dozed off because of how comfortable he was on the soft mattress. His mother smiled at him hungrily and tiptoed over to the bed. She softly brushed her fingers against his cheek and her hands trailed down to his trousers. She stuck her hands into them and began to touch him which forced him to wake up.
Jason was frightened by how she was touching him and he folded himself away from her.
“It’s okay, baby. Mommy’s not going to hurt you,” she assured him and crawled onto the bed, moving closer to him.
“Your dad’s been gone for a long time and although I’ve had needs, I didn’t go searching for fulfilment elsewhere. You’re a grown man now and I know you have needs as well. We can satisfy each other. You can make your mother happy and in return, I can do the same for you,” she said maniacally and pulled on his pant leg, trying to force them off.
“No…no, I don’t want to,” Jason said squeamishly; his first words since she let him out.
“No?” She sounded furious. “How dare you say no to me, you ungrateful little brat?”
She slapped him across his face and jumped on him, pinning his hands on the bed with hers. “I am your mother and you will do as I command.”
“No,” Jason shouted and pushed her off him, forcing her off the bed and crashing into the nightstand.
Jason was shocked by his strength, seeing that he was no longer a little boy. He scrambled off the bed and stared at his mother who was groaning on the floor. She had hit her head on the little table and was bleeding because of it. She glared at him from the floor, enraged by his insolence.
“You hurt me? You hurt me, Jason?” She asked angrily as she got back on her feet.
“I didn’t mean to,” he said.
“I’m going to lock you back up in that room and I’ll throw away the key so you can rot in there forever,” she threatened.
She strode toward him and grabbed his wrist and in his fear of going back into his dark prison, he fought back.
“No,” Jason screamed and slapped her across the face with his free hand.
She crashed to the floor and he high-tailed it out of there as fast as he could. He ran through the house, searching for the exit and when he found it, he burst through the door and found himself outside for the first time in years. He was in his parent’s farmhouse and their house was the only one around for miles. The sun was setting and the large cornfield in front of him was his only chance to escape his crazy mother.
“Jason, get back here,” he heard her growl and with zero hesitation, he dashed into the cornfield so he could escape her and finally be free of her wickedness.
She also blasted out the door and had a shotgun in her hands. She heard the field rustling and knew that Jason had run into it.
“I should have done this a long time ago,” she said as she cracked the gun.
She ran into the cornfield to look for Jason; whether she wanted to kill him or scare him back into the house was uncertain.
A few minutes after Jason and his mother went into the field, the shotgun could be heard going off, echoing in a thunderous roar, scaring the crows to scatter through the air as the sun set on the lonely farmland.
