Haunted Captive

Lucy’s father was a gambler. Had been her entire life. When she was little, she remembered going without dinner on several occasions because he had gambled away their grocery money. As she got older, she understood that it wasn’t him being selfish, it was a disease. She tried more than once to help her dad fight his terrible gambling addiction. It never stuck.

Now his addiction landed him in deep trouble, and it was Lucy that was taking the fall for it.

Her dad, in desperate need, had borrowed money from the wrong person. Ruger Harrington. And when he couldn’t pay his debt, Ruger came looking for him. Dad came to Lucy’s apartment, begging for help when Ruger burst through the door. Ruger was going to kill him. Lucy was sure of it. When she tried to stop him, something changed. Like a lightbulb went off inside of his head.

Ruger took her. Then and there. Dad tried to stop him but Ruger said if he came looking for her, he would kill her.

And that’s how Lucy ended up, alone, in Ruger’s old, run down mansion.

“You try to leave and I’ll slit your throat,” Ruger said, as he yanked her through the door. “Do you understand me?!”

Lucy slowly nodded her head, her cheeks wet with tears.

“The basement is off limits,” said Ruger, his tone stern and deliberate. “Never go in there or it’ll be the last thing you fucking do.”

Another nervous nod, then Ruger was yanking her towards the stairs. He pulled her up them and into a room. There was a bed in the room. It looked as if it had been slept in. There was a dresser too. A nightstand. But otherwise, the room was bare.

“This is your room,” said Ruger. “There’s clothes in the dresser. I don’t fucking care if they fit or not. The bathroom is down the hall. If you need anything else, you fucking ask me. Don’t go snooping around.”

“I… won’t,” Lucy said, in a quiet, scared tone.

Ruger’s dark brown eyes bore into her, making her feel small and insignificant. She couldn’t hold his gaze. She looked away.

“Don’t fuck with me. I’m not stupid. And there’s no getting out of this. Your dad fucked up and he had to pay. You’re his payment. You’re mine now. Accept it or fucking end up dead. It’s your decision.”

With those words, Ruger slammed the door shut, leaving Lucy alone in the strange room. She went to the bed, sat down on it, and cried into her hands. How did this happen? What was going to happen to her? What did he mean by… she was his? Would anyone come for her? Would her dad call the cops?

So many questions were running through her head and she didn’t have the answer to any of them.

Lucy wasn’t sure how long she cried. Eventually, she was able to get a hold of herself. Crying wasn’t going to get her out of this mess. She needed to be calm. She needed to think. And most of all, she needed to make sure not to piss Ruger off.

He was a ticking timebomb. His large stature and black mess of hair made him loom over her like a monster, a beast. He wasn’t bluffing. He would kill her. She knew he would. So she just had to do her best to… keep him calm. At least buy herself enough time to figure out a way to escape.

Someone would come for her.

They had to.

She just had to be alive when they did.