“You’re trying to hurt Senna.” It was a matter-of-fact statement, condemning Andrea of something she had not done. “I saw you with Blake at the diner tonight.”
This lady knows Senna. It has to be a twin. But Senna never ever mentioned having a sibling of any kind. Andrea’s mind raced.
The chair stopped rocking, and the lady very slowly and deliberately uncrossed her legs, leaned forward, and placed her arms on her knees. “I’m Sienna,” she said carefully pronouncing her name, as she stared into Andrea’s eyes. As the lady spoke, Andrea felt her hair rise up on end. Andrea had to look away because she could not bear to look into those eyes. They chilled her to the bone.
“I will never allow you to hurt Senna.” The lady, Sienna, stood and walked over to Andrea, reaching down to slightly loosen the wide strap that held her. Andrea realized it was a nylon ratchet tie-down strap. She was grateful for the slight release, but her arms surged with pain as the blood flowed back through.
Not only did the strap wrap around her entire mid-section and both arms, but also around some type of pipe running from floor to ceiling behind her. The strap kept Andrea firmly pressed against the pipe. She moved slightly to see if the pipe had any give to it, but it held firm and steady.
The wooden floor squeaked and cracked as Sienna walked over to the other side of the room, picking up another strap exactly like the one that was already on her. She came back and wrapped the second one around her as well.
“There. No wiggling out of that.” The top strap ran just above Andrea’s elbows and the second strap ran slightly below her elbows. Her arms were firmly tied down with her elbows tucked tight into the narrow recess of her waist. She was sitting firmly on the ground and knew she wouldn’t be able to get her legs up under her, but with Sienna sitting there, she wouldn’t even dare try.
Sienna casually sat back down in the chair and began to rock again, watching Andrea in the dim light of the lantern. Andrea sat still not wanting to antagonize her.
They both sat in silence for some time, Sienna gently rocking back and forth and Andrea sitting deadly still, terrified. Her mind was racing, trying to pull pieces and explanations together to help her understand what was going on.
This lady, Sienna, obviously Senna’s twin, was the exact opposite of Senna in every way. Maybe she had not grown up with Senna, but when she was born had been adopted to another family and Senna never knew about her.
Did that theory fit with what she knew about Senna and her life? Andrea wondered. Possibly. Had this lady ever reached out to Senna? Did Senna know about her and had just never said anything to Andrea about it? How could one twin be so sweet and innocent and the other one be the epitome of sheer evil? The questions raced in between threads of fear and panic.
“Why did you take me?” Andrea finally had the courage to ask Sienna.
Still, the lady just rocked quietly watching Andrea.
“What are you going to do with me?” Her voice was thick with panic.
Sienna had control and was in no hurry to respond. She was a master of manipulation and control, and if she decided to answer at all, it would be on her terms and in her way. But then like a cat with a mouse she thought it might be fun to engage with Andrea.
“You were hurting Senna and I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Blake and I are friends. We had dinner tonight because he was hurting and concerned that Senna had pushed him away, and I was just there to talk to him. He loves Senna,” Andrea was pleading with Sienna to understand.
Then in a flash, Andrea remembered how Senna had been treating both she and Blake since coming out of the hospital. “Besides, Senna has treated both Blake and I horribly since she came home from the hospital. She’s pushing both of us away.” Andrea was trying to keep her anger pressed down as she remembered the change in her friend.
“True, she was getting too close to the both of you. I had to stir her up a little so she would pull back. Senna loves Blake, but I won’t allow her to put herself in a position for him to control her, or for you to control her either.”
“We don’t want to control her!” Andrea was shocked at that statement. “We care about her.”
The rocker was quiet except for a slight creak against the old wood floor. Andrea listened to see if she could recognize noises outside. Where was she? All she heard was noises from the woods.
“If you don’t want me to come between Blake and Senna why did you stir her up so she would pull away from Blake? It doesn’t make any sense.” Andrea was tired of this game. She hurt, and she was angry. If Sienna had the ability to cause Senna to pull away from them, then Senna must know her, Andrea thought.
“It’s simple. She loves him. He makes her happy, but I will never allow anyone to control Senna,” she paused for effect. “An equilibrium had to be established. Senna pulling away will cause Blake to be so desperate to have her back that he will acquiesce to whatever Senna wants.”
“He would have done that, anyway. Love doesn’t force itself on a person. Love is giving and kind,” responded Andrea. She nearly spat the words back at Sienna.
“Hmmm, not the kind of love I have known. I think you are confused.” Sienna was matter-of-fact.
“You don’t want anyone to control Senna but you!” Andrea said.
Anger flared in Sienna. “I have to control her for her own good!” Sienna could feel herself losing control so she willed herself to calm and she began to rock again.
Andrea was dumbfounded. This was so twisted that she couldn’t even begin to figure out what the truth of it all was.
“So you tell me, why did Senna need to pull away from Blake and me?” asked Andrea.
“Mainly that church crap you guys were pushing on her.”
“Senna went to church of her own free will. I never even asked her to go. Blake asked her to go, but made it clear that if she was not comfortable going, then he was fine with that. Neither one of us wanted to push Senna to do something she did not want to do,” said Andrea. It was hard to mask the disdain she had for this lady in her voice.
“True, but she was at a place where she would’ve done anything for either one of you, so I merely shoved a tiny wedge in between so she would pull away, giving her time to come to her senses about a few things. I’ll let her warm back up to Blake when it’s time.” A smile was on Sienna’s face, but not one that would warm a heart or extend a greeting. It was the kind that sent cold chills down Andrea’s spine.
Realization dawned on Andrea that this person loved Senna, but not enough to give her freedom. It was as if Senna were a bird in a gilded cage that she pampered, but controlled.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” said Andrea. It was a fact and not a ploy to escape. Her bladder was full and hurting.
Sienna calmly reached her foot behind her hooking a flat pan with the toe of her shoe and slung it towards Andrea. It slapped up hard against Andrea’s leg. It appeared to be like the type of pan someone would use to drain oil from their car, but it was clean and looked new.
Andrea looked up at Sienna. “What do you expect me to do with that?”
“Figure it out. I have to go now, but I’ll be back.” Sienna turned off the lantern, and the room filled with pitch black darkness. She could hear her walk across the room to the door and open it.
“Wait! Help me go to the bathroom,” Andrea was panicked that she was leaving, even though being in the same room with her felt like being in the same room with a demon from hell.
There was no response as the door closed.
~~~
After Sienna left, Andrea tried to think of how to go about using the pan to relieve herself. She was sitting flat on the wooden floor, her arms straight down to her sides. The pipe which was in the very corner of the shed, ran straight up the center of her back causing her to sit tight in the corner of the room.
Andrea knew that she first had to get enough room underneath herself in order to slide the pan under her, but with her legs straight out in
front she wasn’t sure how to do that.
As she sat thinking, she began to systematically move parts of her body to see just how much mobility she actually had. Beginning with her legs, she found she could cross them sitting in what was called Indian style, and she could also pull her knees up fully with her feet flat on the floor.
Her arms were pinned with her elbows tight against her small waist. This prevented the straps from moving up over her wider shoulders or lower over her hips.
She pulled up her knees and tried to push herself straight up. After several tries she had been able to slide up an inch or so, only to almost immediately drop back down again. With her arms down at her sides, her hands could only bend at the wrists. She pushed with her hands when she pushed with her legs, but that was no help either. It seemed impossible.
The temptation to give up, was overwhelming. But she resolved herself to be determined. She was angry, and she wanted to use that anger to fuel her tenacity.
She realized that she could slide the lower part of her arms behind her slightly. With the pipe so close to her she could grab it awkwardly with her hands. So now what, she thought. Well, she could push down on the pipe while pushing up with her legs.
So, she pushed and held, pushed and held. The ground gained was so slight each time that it took her fifteen minutes or more to get to the place where she could push herself up. Once there, she realized she could actually stand, and did so to allow her legs some relief from sitting so long. However, in the process she had exhausted herself and her body ached all over.
The problem of using the pan was still ahead of her though. She slid her arms and hands back to her sides again and could just barely reach to unfasten her jeans sliding them down slightly. Once she had done that, she moved back down the pole. She had been able to move the pan underneath her with her foot while standing.
Once done, she did the reverse to move the pan away and fasten her clothing. She was relieved that she had been able to tackle that problem. Exhaustion threatened to take her under, but she refused to allow it to do so.
If she could maneuver the way she had just done, then surely she could figure out a way to get out of here. The main problem was the straps. Sienna had only slightly loosened them earlier.
The straps’ ratchets were behind the pole, between it and the corner of the shed. She tried to move back and forth slightly to see if she could work the ratchets around, but they were lodged there and no amount of wiggling seemed to move them out from behind the pole. Being wedged so tightly in the corner also greatly limited her mobility.
She worked for the next hour or so trying different movements in order to try and shrug or wriggle free from the straps, but made no progress. Her captor had thought this through thoroughly.
Settling in for the night seemed the best option for the moment; as if she had the strength to continue, anyway.
Would Senna think to look for her when she didn’t show up for work the next morning? She hoped that Senna wasn’t so angry with her that she would be unconcerned about why she hadn’t shown up.
Chapter Nineteen
The next morning, the sun came through the old wooden boards like daggers. Through the night, Andrea had slept for small bits of time in between working to break free of the straps. Everything that seemed logical to do in her mind prior to attempting it, proved to be a dead end.
She wondered what time it was. It was difficult to tell inside the windowless cabin. The cabin was a rudimentary one room structure with only an old wooden floor, a pitched roof, and a small cluster of cabinets on the far side of the room.
The outside appeared to be covered only by wooden boards which were butted up against each other. Inside, the two by fours which framed the wall were left exposed. The lantern, a small table, rocker, and pan were the only contents she could see.
Andrea suddenly wondered what on earth the pipe was for. There were a couple of cabinets but there appeared to be no sink. Maybe this pipe had been the beginning of adding plumbing to the structure at one time.
Andrea thought of Senna and wondered if it was time for her to be at work yet. What would she do when Andrea didn’t come to work? Would she call her? Would she call someone else to report it? Would she care? The thought that Senna, in her current state, may not even care enough to try to find her grieved Andrea. How on earth had things gone so wrong?
A slight sound reached her ears. She sat stone cold still with her eyes shut attempting to concentrate on the sound. Maybe it could tell her something that would later be of help.
Then the door swung open and in walked Sienna. She walked in with elbow length rubber gloves on, carrying a thick industrial black garbage bag. She laid the bag on the floor, held it open, and slid the pan inside. She then picked up the entire thing and walked outside, shutting the door behind her.
How odd, thought Andrea. Two things occurred to her. One, what would she use now that the pan was gone. Two, was she not going to need the pan and what did that realization mean?
She’d tried to get a look through the door, but all she could see was dense thick woods. There was nothing unusual at all about them.
Andrea continued to sit and contemplate what it all meant and what was going to happen to her when the door opened again. And then in walked Sienna. The gloves were gone, and she had a brand new pan, which she sat next to Andrea before going to the rocker and sitting down.
Andrea ground her teeth. That rocking was enough to make a person go crazy. She was sick and tired of being a specimen in a jar that this psycho played with. Then a feeling came over her of complete peace and calm in the midst of this dark evil cabin. She welcomed it and let it wash over her.
As if prompted by this newly felt calm, she said, “Why do you want to push Senna away from church?”
“Oh sweetie, it isn’t from church per se. She grew up in church and all it did was lock her up so tight she could never be alright. Church itself isn’t a threat.” She sat smiling and rocking.
Andrea was momentarily confused, but the calm reassurance she felt prompted her on. “So why did you want to keep her from church if it isn’t a threat?”
The look on Sienna’s face became dark, and the creaking of the rocker stopped. Sienna leaned forward. “Church has no power. It is the people inside the church.” She shook her head and shrugged, sitting back again. “Do you know that most churches house people whose only god is control through legalism? They are so locked into a form of what they perceive is godliness that they are clueless to the bondage that they themselves are actually in.”
“But...” Andrea prodded her on. She obviously wanted to talk.
“But there are those churches who know it isn’t about a building, but about something else. They’ve tapped into some unseen source and they are dangerous.” Sienna’s even stare penetrated Andrea.
Andrea knew what she was referring to. She herself had grown up in a church where they did the same thing, followed the same rituals, sang the same hymns every week. It was all fine, except there was no power carried back home with them to live a different life, and there was certainly no joy.
Many years later, Andrea had found a body of people who desired God in a new way. Once she had, she’d never looked back. She knew the difference, one was void of power and the other was full of power which enabled them to overcome anything that life threw at them and to live an abundant life.
Andrea realized that Sienna saw what so many didn’t see, just how powerless and useless those religious institutions were. No one ever needed religion, they needed an encounter and then a relationship with the one true God. There was nothing else, no traditions, or rituals that could replace it for now or for eternity.
Sitting calmly, Andrea was just watching Sienna rock. She continued to feel at peace, knowing who was in control here, and it wasn’t Sienna. But what was this all about and what was the endgame?
Then suddenly a vision popped into Andrea’s mind. She saw the reports of the murders and the
n she saw blood dripping from a finger and then she knew Sienna had murdered those men. It jarred and unsettled her at first, but she was able to allow peace to restore and calm her once again.
“Why did you murder those men?”
Sienna had momentarily looked away, and at those words, jerked her head back to look at Andrea. A sinister grin grew across Sienna’s face. “What could you possibly be talking about?”
“I know it was you,” Andrea knew saying those words could guarantee her death. She knew Sienna would not allow a loose end, and that is what Andrea would be. But she had to confront her. She was speaking now from some other source, not her own.
“What did you need so badly from those men?” Andrea asked, not backing down.
“I needed their blood.” Cold empty eyes stared back at Andrea.
“Why do you need the blood?”
Sienna looked away and, for a minute, Andrea thought she saw raw emotion trying to overtake the evil that dominated Sienna’s soul. For several minutes Sienna didn’t say a word, only looked off into an unseen distance. “I need the blood to make me whole.”
“Sienna,” said Andrea with compassion, “we all do.”
~~~
Carrie was pushing for partial duty back at work. She was trying to convince Bracket she could do light desk duty at least part time. His refusal was firm. He had no intention to grant her request. But, after her continued pleading and reasoning with him, he knew she would work the case behind his back. If she were here, he could at least keep an eye on her.
Bracket stood and looked at Carrie. His gaze held her focus, and she squirmed in her seat. The chair in front of his desk betrayed her nervousness with its squeak. Randy had given in to her request to stop and pick her up on his way in to work that morning. He couldn’t resist her either.
Pale yellow covered her face now with only hints of black. It was much better than the solid black and blue when she had first been admitted into the hospital. She had done well hiding it all with makeup. There were still stitches in her hand that would come out next week. He would have to make sure she protected that hand. It was the one that also had a broken bone and it was in a splint. The brace under her shirt to stabilize her ribs was barely visible.
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