Rescue Me, My Love

It was a perfectly normal Sunday.

I had a math test the next day that I was worried about, so I was eager to get home and study. My boyfriend, Blake, had asked me to drive him home after his club meeting, and I couldn’t help but agree, despite the fact that I wanted to study. We were very close to his house as we chatted softly, his hand rubbing slow circles into my thigh.

“Hey, thanks for driving me. I know you want to study.” He said. I shrugged, turning onto his street.

“Eh, I don’t mind. It doesn’t take long.” I said. He leaned over and smothered my cheek with kisses, eliciting a small giggle from my lips.

“Still. Thanks, baby.” He said as he finally stopped kissing me. I nodded.

“Yeah, yeah. Go on, looks like your sister’s home.” I laughed. He got out of the car and came over to my side of the car to give me a soft, slow kiss.

“See you tomorrow, Ayden!” He cried, running up his long driveway to reach the front door. He opened the door and I could see his sister sitting in the chair inside the door. I smiled and waved before driving away. About halfway down the road I came to a realization.

“Oh, shit! I’ve gotta take the long way now…” I moaned. The long way was nearly twice as long as my normal route, plus it was bumpy and I got carsick easily. But when I drop Blake off, I have to remember to turn left, not right. Left gets me to my normal way home. Right takes me the long way. And that day, I forgot.

I grit my teeth in frustration as I drove down the cursed road, not ever anticipating what awaited me farther down. Not too far away was a sharp turn, with a large section of trees on the corner. Over a hundred people had died there in the past forty-five years. No one could see around the corner, but it never really scared me. I just stayed as close to the opposite side of the road as I could.

I started the slow crawl around the corner with hesitancy, but grew more confident as it seemed there was no one around the bend. As I finally saw the corner become visible, I saw a woman wearing a neat blue suit sitting by the side of the road, tugging at the ends of her long red hair as she stared at a car with a popped hood. I slowed down and she turned to look at me.

“Ma’am? You alright?” I asked politely. She shook her head.

“No, I’m afraid not. The hood started smoking and then something popped after I pulled over. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m attending a meeting in twenty minutes.” She sighed. I weighed it in my mind for a minute before gesturing to the back of my car.

“If you want, I can take you to your meeting. Then you can come back for the car once you’re not in such a time rush.” I offered. She nodded and smiled kindly, grabbing a briefcase out of her car before hopping in my backseat. Once she was settled, I started the car and she instructed me where she needed me to go. She led me to a small log cabin near the woods. It seemed like an odd place for a meeting, but I’d met up with friends and people in some really strange places before.

“Okay, is this right?” I asked, checking something in my glove compartment. The woman didn’t respond and I started to look back when a strange-smelling cloth was placed over my nose and mouth. I struggled against it, but the lady had an iron grip on my face. Soon my vision dimmed and I felt myself start to collapse.

I should’ve never taken the long route.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

When I came to, I was laying on a thin mattress in a dark, cement room. The only light came through a narrow window at the very top of the room on the left side. I started to panic, running for a door in the corner. I pulled, and pulled, but it was locked tight. I slumped to the floor and began to cry. I should’ve just moved along or called someone instead of letting her in. Stupid, stupid, STUPID!!!

I walked back over to the mattress, curling up on it. It was actually kind of comfortable, and I was still kind of sleepy.

’Maybe…I can just…rest a bit…yeah.’

Just as I was about to fall back asleep, the room was flooded with light. I gasped and covered my eyes, letting them adjust to the sudden change before looking over and seeing the door open with the lady in the doorway. She had changed out of her suit and was wearing jeans and a gray tank top now. I could see her arms were incredibly muscular and decided it would be no use to try and run past her to escape. She would no doubt grab me.

“Well, how are you feeling?” She asked. I grunted, not planning on speaking to my assailant. She smiled and clapped her hands together.

“Lovely! Now, tell me. What’s your name, darling?”

I shook my head.

“Oh, come now. Tell us your name. I promise I’ll tell no one.”

“No.”

“Hm. Well, it’ll be in the papers soon enough. We’ll just find out then, won’t we?” She smiled. It unnerved me, her happy demeanor. I was confused, and my brain was still foggy from the sedative she had given me. Her giddy happiness didn’t make sense.

“Wh- what do you want with me?” I asked. She shrugged.

“Oh, not much. I’ll let you out eventually. Maybe…I have to decide if I like you first.”

She giggled before closing the door and shutting off the lights. I moaned and curled up again. This was horrible.

I just wanted to study for my test.

She left me down there for a few hours, letting me lose my mind in my panic. I started to wander around, to see if there was anything down there. I noticed a small side room that I hadn’t seen earlier and rushed into it. It held nothing but a toilet, which seemed slightly strange, but then I figured out that meant she must be planning to feed me. That was hopeful. But the realization then raised the question, why is she feeding me? She’s clearly trying to keep me alive, so what did she want with me? My head hurt with all these questions.

I looked back into the room and found there was another room off of this one. I opened that door, which wasn’t locked like the other one. In that room was…nothing. Nothing…except for seven lumps in the dirt floor. I walked over and nudged one of them with my foot, but nothing happened. I kicked it and a chunk of dirt fell off, revealing an empty cavity underneath. I kicked it again and multiple chunks fell off.

The cavity wasn’t as empty as I thought.

I gasped and stared at what I uncovered. In the cavity, was a bloodied arm. The arm was covered in thousands of bite marks, but they were all lined up perfectly. As if something with thousands of teeth had bit into the arm. I could only imagine what could make those marks. I kicked more dirt off and my stomach turned. There was a body connected to the arm. A dead one, the body of a boy not much younger than me.

I backed away from the cavity, which I now knew was a grave. My stomach flipped again and I ran back into the room with the toilet, falling to my knees and vomiting. I gasped for air when I finished, flushing the toilet and leaning against the wall. I started to sob, thinking of the seven people that lied in those graves. And imagining an eighth one among them.

So…maybe she was trying to kill me.