Chapter 1
The door at the top of the stairs opened. Harsh squeaking of the hinges. Bright light blinded her before it was once again gone. Thrown back into the overwhelming darkness. Now though, there was something else with her. A predator. Something that had drug her through mud and shit to keep her bound in a mildew ridden basement.
Steps echoed like knives on a chalk board. Heavy, calculated steps. Each creak of the stair steps caused the adrenaline to course higher and higher up her spine. The damp basement air felt even cooler against her heated skin.
Questions whirled around her skull too fast to even comprehend. Who knew I was gone? What was this person going to do to me? Was it going to be painful? It was most likely going to be painful. Why were they doing this? Why couldn’t they let her leave?
The steps padded against the smooth concrete at the base of the stairs. Her eyes tried to follow where the sound was coming from.
Just like a cat peering at her from the forest, two shiny eyes stared back at her. Seeing her while remaining hidden in the suffocating darkness.
She pulled against the restraints. Arms and legs strapped to a chair. Tight enough to be on the wrong side of being painful. Wooden chair legs scratched the concrete beneath her, the wood groaning at her efforts.
She needed to run. To get help. A police officer. Or a bystander. They would help her. She couldn’t die like this. She couldn’t die. She didn’t want to die. She couldn’t. She couldn’t. She couldn’t.
The light above her flickered on.
Blinking back the intrusive light, she still continued to fight against the duct tape wrapped around her. It pulled and gripped her skin but she would rather lose her arm or leg than die in that basement.
A hand emerged from the darkness. It held her jaw as if she was something precious to be cherished. Only the slightest hint of pressure to make her head turn towards the shiny eyes above her.
The lamp above her obscured the person’s shoulders and head. She could only see those predatory eyes staring down at her. Studying her. Taking their time to dissect her.
A tunic or long shirt hung from their shoulders. Pristine white fabric against the maw of darkness that wished to swallow them both whole once again.
Movement from the hand holding her made her flinch. Fingers gripped the edge of the duct tape resting against her cheek. They pulled just enough to get a firm grip on it.
“Do not scream.” A gentle voice soothed.
That was the only warning she got before the duct tape gagging her was ripped from her mouth. A whimper left her throat, but as instructed, she did not scream. Her tongue swiped over her chapped lips, still tasting the adhesive.
“Good.” The voice cooed. The hand was back at her jaw. Tilting her sight up to the one holding her fate.
“Pl-Please don’t hurt me…” She stammered out. Her heart wouldn’t stop thudding in her throat. Hot tears began forming in her eyes.
“Hurt you?” The voice sounded almost insulted. “Never.”
Fingers trailed down her neck, coming to rest on her collar bone. She took in a sharp breath through the gap in her teeth as the hand drifted lower. Her blouse was pulled to the side in order to fish out the tiny cross necklace sitting against her skin.
Reverently, the hand held the cross in its palm. Shiny eyes studying the gold plated metal. Memorizing all of the miniscule scratches and finger prints left on its surface.
“I believe you will do nicely.” The hand placed the cross gently against the front of her blouse. Smoothing over the wrinkled fabric before moving back up to her head.
“D-Do nicely?”
Palm against jaw, finger tips pressing against the base of her skull. “Indeed.”
Stars and planets burst behind her eyes. Universes of existence that humans were never meant to know. Colors that only the heavens could comprehend. Every song that had ever been played and will ever be played colliding into a magnificent symphony. From the smallest insect to the largest whale, she knew all of their thoughts. Space and time rattled in her skull like she was meant to be a time capsule for God.
Only the tips of their fingers had graced her spinal cord. Flesh was so easy to manipulate. So squishy and malleable.
They watched her stare up at them unseeing. Mouth hung open as they directed them further and further down their path. A path to the future. A path to salvation.
