Beyond the Palms

by Amanda Aggie

  “James thing?” Alex asked.

  “He has asked me on a date, and I know he is like three years older than me, so I didn’t tell my dad about it. I went with him and didn’t know my dad had a tracker on my phone, and he, I guess, tried to check up on me. Probably because I had left the hotel, which I mean it’s not like I don’t ever do that but maybe he had a feeling? Well, he saw who I was with and got upset about it and took me home. The next day my dad, I guess, tried t assault him in the lobby, your father broke them up with a single word. I just remember James saying that if he was the ascend that my dad wouldn’t be a problem for him anymore because he would be in charge and then he could do as he pleased. Your father said something to him, but I couldn’t hear it, it shut him up quickly though. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but I guess he is a part of this whole thing, too, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, James is technically my successor if I step down. Your father isn’t a blood relative. He was adopted in a way, and because of that, he can’t take over unless James and I are out of the picture. I begged for my father to let him take over when he told me he was dying. There was something to do with my father being one of the original creators, and James’ father being so as well. The rest have all passed without successors. They’re very old fashioned and believe the firstborn of the original lineage should have precedence. If I stepped down, James would have ascended, and he is a monster. He is, in my opinion, the worst of all of them. He has no morals; the man wanted to include children of all ages into this. I couldn’t let that happen, so I accepted. I trust your father, he might have some messed up views sometimes, but I know that if the convention has to stay active, I know he will run it with the idea of ‘the few over the many.’ We just have to figure out how to get James out of the running. The convention will vote, and I know for a fact that your dad will be chosen to lead. Then we can leave, it gets me and you out of this and saves Jack, Thea, and their parents. I just don’t know how to get them out.”

  “What if James is the only one who has to die?”

  Jane looked at him; her eyes said that she had a plan. Alex knew he could count on her.

  18

  Keep Your Enemies Closer

  Thea woke, her brain throbbed against her skull. She kept her eyes closed and reached a hand up to rub her temple.

  “God, why am I so hungover.”

  Her eyes flicked open; the light stung, but she didn’t care; the wave of realization rushed over her as recent events fluttered back to her mind. She flung herself up and tried to take in her surroundings through her hazy vision. Everything was blurry, she rubbed her eyes a few times, trying to clear it.

  When she finally could see she saw that she was in a closed room, she was in a cage tucked into a corner. The cage was on casters that were locked to keep it in place. It was about 5ft by 5ft and tall enough for her to stand up. It was made entirely of metal from the bottom that she currently sat on, to the hand size squares the made of up the rides to the solid metal sheet that made the roof of it. It looked like one side opened like a gate, but the hinges were fixed in place.

  She reached over to see if she could try to wiggle out the pin of the hinge, but it was welded into place. The door to the cage had three large locks, one on top, one in the middle, and one on the bottom. She reached up to see if the bobby pins in her hair were still there, but she didn’t find any. She searched the floor of the cages to see if any had fallen out but came up empty-handed.

  She heard a noise from somewhere in the room, she froze. Her heart hammered against her rib cage and felt the rhythm of it in her throat. It was silent except for her irregular breathing. Thea heard a chain move against the floor.

  “Who’s out there?” She announced, her voice echoed.

  She searched the brightly lit room; it was empty besides the steel wall in the back of the room. A steel door was closed off entirely except for a small window in the upper section.

  She stared at the window, she saw a thin finger reach through the bars of it and then two, three, and four. The nails were long and broken. The hand was bony and apd to had been n and healed incorrectly. Even though the distortion, she knew that the hand belonged to a woman.

  “Who are you!” Thea yelled.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  The woman responded, her voice sinister, the laugh that followed was worse and chilled Thea to her core. Thea wanted to run away, but the walls of the cage confined her, she tried to scream but couldn’t find her voice, she wanted to cry, but the streaking fear that ragged within wouldn’t allow it.

  When Eleanor woke, she was scared to open her eyes. She decided that she would open one, and only one for a couple of seconds. It somehow made it less scary. She flicked open on the eye and looked around. She saw her son on the other side of the metal bars leaned against the wall. She sat up, finding the strength within her.

  “Jack!” She whispered.

  “Mom, you don’t have to whisper, they’re not here.”

  She looked around, bringing in her surroundings. The room was lined with individual cages; there were various people she had never met before trapped within them. She looked to the cage to her right and saw her husband still asleep on the cage floor.

  “What the hell is this place?”

  “Well, from what I have inquired were about to die. Probably have our organs stolen and the manager is a part of it because he came in earlier to give us food.

  “The manager?”

  “Yes, you know, the one who helped us get our room, and lied to me about the maids, and threatened me for talking to his daughter Jane. That manager.”

  “Jane? Who is that?”

  “Mom, you know all of those days that I was at the arcade, I was at the arcade with her. She’s amazing and about to start at UCLA this fall. The only downfall is her father is a psychopath. I wish I would have known that before I kissed her or better yet disregarded her father’s warning to stay away from her. I guess I just thought that every girl’s father said that, at least from my experience, that was true.”

  While Jack was rambling, she tried to reach her husband and shake him awake.

  “JOHN! WAKE UP!” She yelled at him, shaking his left foot. It was the only thing she could reach.

  John flew up from his sleep

  “HAAAA,” he yelled and held his fists up, ready to mess up whoever was immediately present. His eyes wide, he flicked his attention to her and calmed a bit.

  “Where the hell are we?”

  “You think we know?” Eleanor asked.

  She gave him a sarcastic look.

  “Damn it, Eleanor. I told you this place creeped me out. Now, look at what you’ve done. All because you thought I was overreacting about it.”

  He threw his hands up in the air.

  “Yeah, John, because now is the time for a game of who was right. I am sorry, I never thought in a million years we would end up kidnapped or whatever you call it for an adult.”

  “Abducted?” Jack asked.

  “Shut it!” Eleanor yelled back at him.

  John looked for any possible way to get out of the cage but came up empty-handed. Eleanor cried hysterically until some other woman a few cages over told her to shut up. Jack took a nap in complete acceptance of what was about to happen.

  “Can either of you provide any help?” John asked his son and wife.

  “What do you think I have been doing, Dad? I have looked for every possibility to escape from this cage, and there are none.”

  They heard the sound of voices coming from under the door. John tried to listen in and overhear what he could.

  In the main area of the convention, the suite was now filled with four-top-tables that littered the marble floor decorated with elegant dining tablecloths, decorative napkins, beautiful cutlery, and china plates. A full bar was now present and stocked. A small stage with a microphone headed the front of the room. Placement marks labeled each seat. The room to the convention hall was no
w opened.

  Eric stood up in the front and made demands to the staff for things that needed to be changed, moved, or brought up to the convention suite. As some of the Black Arbor Convention members trickled in dressed in suits for the occasion, Eric directed them to their seats. Some of the members had arrived, and now seated among the tables. Most of them engaged in small talk filled the air.

  When Alex came through the door, he sought out his uncle, finding him up by the stage. He walked calmly to him and pulled his uncle to the side.

  “Where is she?” Alex demanded an answer, and he wasn’t leaving unless he got one.

  “I can show you in a second.”

  He broke off to help someone find their seat. Alex followed him, determined to make sure Thea was ok. Every member that passed by him stopped to make a comment consistent with

  “Alex, so happy to see you.”

  “Alex, so sorry to hear about your father.”

  “Alex, we’re honored that you’re here!”

  With each comment, he became more infuriated. His uncle finally motioned for him to follow. Alex did as he was told, his uncle headed to the room that had Elizabeth in it.

  “You put her in there?”

  “Well, yes, that is because once the convention starts, you will be taking care of your messes. I have told James that the boy was to be moved in there as well. We don’t want to have anyone bidding on him if you are going to do it. We will call a recess after dinner so that the suite clears out momentarily. We planned to do it beforehand, but people came early. Bidding won’t start until after the recess.”

  His uncle fixed the collar of his shirt, tapped his arm, and walked away. Alex pushed open the door to the room. Thea saw and recognized him; she jumped to the gate of the cage.

  “Alex! Oh, please help me. I don’t know what is going on.” She begged tears streamed down her face; her make up ran and formed dark circles under her eyes. He reached through the bars and tried to steady her.

  “Hey, it’s going to be OK! I am going to get you out of here.”

  “Oh, thank God!”

  She motioned for the keys in his hand and waited for him to unlock the door, but he didn’t.

  “Well, come on! He is going to be back soon. We have to hurry. He might have the rest of my family too.”

  “No, not yet.”

  Thea went to protest, but he cut her off.

  “I promise I will get you out as soon as I can. I have a plan, but for it work, to get you and the rest of your family out, it has to go perfectly OK?”

  He cupped her face, and the tears rolled off her cheeks faster as the panic began to set in again.

  “What is going on?” she asked.

  “It’s hard to explain, and I don’t have time to explain all of it. My family is a part of an organization, and they do terrible, terrible things. I won’t let them do it to you or your family. You have my word. I have never wanted any part of it.”

  The laugh rang and echoed in the room.

  “What do they call that again? Oh, deja vu,” Elizabeth said, her voice cracked as she spoke. Alex swallowed hard, glanced in the direction of the cage, but ignored it and continued talking.

  “The minute I realized that they were going after you, I tried to stop it by staying away. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for my uncle.”

  “My family, they have my parents and Jack too? Do you know?”

  “Yes, I know I can get you out but to make sure they do as well. We have to wait, OK?”

  Alex pulled Thea’s hand through the bars and brought it to his lips. Before he could walk out, the woman’s laughter echoed through the room.

  “You think that Alex will save you? He told me the same thing last year when he told me about his family. We were engaged, you know. His father hated the idea of it. Alex forced me to leave him, said it was for my own good. He hasn’t learned any lessons from this, now look at me. You would be a fool to believe him.”

  “Elizabeth, stop it,” Alex demanded.

  “Elizabeth?” Thea questioned Alex, surprised, and unable to keep her facial expression from showing it.

  “Please, just trust me! I have to go. I will explain everything once you’re safe OK?” Alex pleaded that Thea didn’t continue to ask any questions, walked back out of the room.

  Thea panicked; her heart was going to burst from her chest. The realization that the woman in the cage in front of her was his ex-fiancée sealed the deal. What was he going to build a cage r her too? No way she was going to let that happen.

  Thea started screaming on the top of her lungs, hoping that someone would hear her. She pulled on the gate, rattling it to make the most noise that she could. She screamed for help until her throat went numb until she could taste the ting of blood in her mouth until no sound would escape anymore.

  When the door opened again, it was the manager. Eric rolled in another cage and placed it in the corner of the room across from her. Alex followed him in and didn’t even so much as steal a glance at her. She recognized the young man in the new addition as her brother. She jumped to the rails to try and get a closer look. She saw the bloodstain on his clothes and worried.

  “Jack! Are you OK?”

  “Yeah, I’m alright. My head is killing me, but all things considered. I am OK.”

  She was furious and directed her anger at both Alex and the manager.

  “How could you do this!” She yelled.

  “We are good people; we did nothing wrong to deserve being treated this way. Let us go!”

  “Well, Sweetheart, you did. You see, you and the rest of your sweet little poster-worthy family wouldn’t mind your own business. Now, you’re a liability. It’s OK, though; it will be over soon. However, you keep screaming, and I’ll make sure your death is less than humane understand?” The manager had something in his tone that told Thea that he would hold his end of the deal.

  She nodded in agreement and then sat back in her cage.

  Eric pulled Alex in close.

  “I need to know you can do this. There is no backing out after we walk out that door.”

  “I can. I promise.”

  “Not just your little girlfriend and her brother, but you also have the crazy wench in there too to take care of.”

  Eric motioned to the cage that held Elizabeth.

  “I told you I’ll do it.”

  Eric walked over to the cage, still not convinced, and opened the door to let her out. Elizabeth pulled a thin frame up and leaned against the opening of the cage.

  “She even looks like me,” Elizabeth said quietly, examining Thea through the cage. “Or I guess what I used to be.”

  Alex stayed quiet; he wouldn’t look up from the floor.

  “Look at her, Alex,” Eric demanded.

  He snapped his head up and did what he was told.

  “I need to know you can do this. Say it again. Out loud.”

  “I can do it,” Alex said at barely more than a whisper.

  “Good,” He gestured for his nephew to leave the room. The two of them disappeared out the door to the room, leaving Elizabeth’s cage open.

  When the door shut and locked, Elizabeth walked toward Thea’s cage, her heavy chains drug behind her. Her bones were weak, and her hips swayed abnormally due to it as she stepped. The sickly woman’s joints cracked and wobbled from being deprived of nutritional value. Thea’s cage was within her chain distance. She gripped the bars for stability and crouched down.

  “Do you really think he will save you?” Her voice was hoarse and raspy.

  “I don’t know” The words came out more shaky than Thea intended.

  “Well, I wouldn’t count on it. I think I have been in here for about a year or so, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. I had hope once that he would save me. Then again, he didn’t know I was here. I figured he would look for me eventually, but that hope faded over time. The dark was the only thing that I could count on after awhile. The food they gave me was less and less, and thank
god for the dark; I didn’t have to see myself and the bones that have broken through my skin.”

  The woman’s hair was matted, but Thea could see the black pigment and that it was long. Her features, though more prominent, were similar to her own, as was her build. Maybe she was right, Alex chose her because they looked similar. The woman’s clothes were torn and frayed and appeared over-sized. She reeked and desperately needed to brush her teeth. What was left of her teeth anyway. Most of them caters on the surfaces. Even in the state she was in now, Thea could see that she was once beautiful. She pitied her, and just hoped to not become her one day. The woman sat on the floor next to Thea’s cage and leaned against the wall. Jack’s eyes widened, his mouth silenced. He watched the woman talked to his sister.

  “What is your name?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Thea.” She responded she mulled the name over before continuing “….. it’s pretty. I haven’t had anyone in this room besides Eric since I was put in here. I guess that is probably a good thing because they would just kill them anyway. I don’t mean to be rude, but they probably will do the same to you. Or, you will be locked in here with me.”

  “I hope that Alex comes back. I can’t accept that they will kill my family and me.”

  “From what I was told, they don’t usually take families. You must have done something to piss them off.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They normally only take adults; they sell timeshares to people that they target months in advance, and they usually make sure they don’t leave kids behind. They pick people who are couples without kids or single. They have a few rooms in the building that have been renovated to assist them in abducting people. They host this convention each year and have done so for generations.”