by Mia Thompson
The stretches of coherent moments where getting fewer and fewer. Mostly she was gone now, away somewhere in a dark mass of unawareness.
How long she’d been awake this time she didn’t know, but at least for the most part, she knew what was going on; it wasn’t always that she did. There were a few things her lucid mind bounced between over and over again like a broken record. Sometimes it was her wonderful life: her friends, her family, her school. Then other times it was the question of how all that ended and how she came to be in this horrible basement. Then, at times, there was this smell she would focus on, an awful pungent stank that came from below her. Sometime in the past, she might have figured out what it was but other times not. This time, she didn’t know.
Her arm was hurting badly. But why was that again? She was forgetting, slipping away once more.
Then it happened…the sounds. His sounds.
She wasn’t always sure in which order they came, but those sounds of his would pull her out from the deepest darkest corners of sleep. There was the sound the keys made when he took them off the hook outside the door, a creaky old door opening and closing slowly as if he was being careful, then the staircase’s creaks. Finally there was the breathing, as if he was excited or energized.
He stepped onto the basement floor watching her with a smirk.
Immediately, Shelly’s body went into uncontrollable trembles. Her unruly heartbeat pounded hard against her chest again. His presence was the worst she ever felt. He almost seemed non-human: evil to his very core. She never knew what he would do, what would happen to her, or if she’d even be alive once he was done.
Shelly looked up at him, trying so hard to keep it together, to keep that face strong and heedful, but the way he looked at her now was so frightening that all she could do was tremble more violently. She was so scared, more scared than ever before.
His look told her one thing: Today, you will die.
Warmth slowly spread from in between Shelly’s legs and out over her thighs and down on the seat of the chair which she was tied to.
His eyes moved from her face to between her legs, then to the floor where her urine dripped down.
Though she knew she shouldn’t, Shelly felt the shame of her action and stared at the floor as well so that he wouldn’t see it in her eyes. There on the floor, now mixed in with her own urine, was vomit: the origin of the awful smell.
She didn’t remember throwing up, but it must have been her, maybe more than once. There was blood down there too and a lot of it.
“God will forgive you,” he said, disgust tainting his voice. “He will forgive you because I will clean you of your sin.”
“What sin?” she asked as loudly as she could, but her mouth was so dry it barely came out. Maybe, she thought, she could ask him for water. Maybe, just maybe, he’d give it to her.
He bent down and grabbed her arms, letting his fingers dig into her skin. “What sin?” he hissed. “That’s the worst part. None of you understand what you do wrong, and I try and I try and I try. No appreciation!”
When he let go, she shook so badly that the chair started vibrating. It was going to happen now. She was going to die.
“Please…” She whispered, desperate.
“Shhh…” He patted her cheek and she turned her head to escape his disgusting touch. “It’ll all be over soon, then God will greet you.”
He raised his meat cleaver and Shelly’s mind sped through the images of her family. She didn’t want to die; she wanted her mother, her father, her little sister. She just wanted to tell them all how much she loved them all. She wanted to be home with them at Sunday breakfast. She wasn’t ready to die!
He drew and breath and then…
Nothing. No pain. No vomit. No sound. She was dead. Or was she? She heard footsteps moving away from her. She opened her eyes just as the creaking of the stairs stopped and the door shut.
She had been given something. It wasn’t mercy; she knew that. She had looked into his eyes many times and knew there wasn’t a merciful bone in his body. She had been given a chance.
The knot around her arms suddenly felt looser, and the room suddenly seemed as though it could easily be broken out of. Whatever reason made him leave so abruptly, she thought, was so that she could get a chance to live.
With whatever little she had left in her, Shelly would now fight to stay out of the confusing darkness, fight to stay conscious.
She would fight to break away.
Chapter 12
Sapphire stood in the middle of her pink and purple room surrounded by police, some sort of CSI dusting everything, including her stuffed animals, digging around in every crescent and corner. Vivienne stood next to her, sobbing into a Kleenex; Aston barked orders to make sure the job got done right.
Her relatives had gone after the police took their statements. Her cousin had been shocked and hadn’t said a demeaning word since the hand arrived. Sapphire’s aunt had popped Valium like a mad person, while her husband had been very calm and methodical. Vivienne hadn’t stopped screaming until Sapphire slapped her. Given the fact that he couldn’t speak, Charles had been even quieter about the whole thing.
The attic flap was covered by the velvet canopy Vivienne set up above her bed years ago so that Sapphire could feel like a sultan when she slept. She found the attic by accident while searching for a place to hide when she was fifteen and supposed to attend her coming out party: an event set up for upper class societies to show off their daughters and release them to the world of young rich men. Perhaps that wasn’t the actual reason, but Sapphire assumed it had to be that or something equally idiotic.
She had climbed one of the poles of her four-poster bed wearing a white wedding-like dress with so many bows and layers of fluff that she looked like a giant cupcake. When she got to the top of the canopy above her bed, she saw the attic flap. As Vivienne and a crowd of guests searched the house for her, Sapphire had sat up in the empty dust-filled attic waiting for the event to pass. Now her entire life was up there. Every piece of material she had collected, everything she was proud of and meant the world to her was at the verge of being taken away.
One of the CSI women placed a small ladder next to her bed and dusted the bed poles from bottom to top. When she got to the fourth and last one, her eyes moved up to the canopy and focused on it. She reached her arm out to touch the ceiling and Sapphire could feel herself disappearing; her existence as she knew it was about to be destroyed. She would become an empty shell again, just like she was before that night when it all started.
“All right, let’s pack it up for the night!” Aston’s voice rung through the air: the call of a knight retreating from battle. The woman pulled her hands back immediately ready to go home.
Sapphire let the air fill her lungs. She had been resuscitated. She had flat-lined and been brought back to life. She wanted to scream for joy, but didn’t…probably would be considered slightly suspicious.
As the crew of invaders left one by one, she, Vivienne, and Aston stood by the front door.
“I was just so scared,” Vivienne sniffled, leaning on Aston’s chest for support.
Aston glanced at Sapphire and then gave her mother a few pats on the shoulder and pulled away. “We will find the perpetrator; don’t worry.”
“Bye, Detective,” Sapphire said and went to open the door for him. Her body blocked him from going anywhere but out.
Aston put a hand on the door and smiled at her. “Oh, I’m not leaving. I’m grabbing my overnight bag from the car.”
Sapphire stared at him, hoping he was joking.
“I’ll be staying here with you until the matter is resolved. Your mother requested the full observation and protection of the police department.”
Sapphire glared at Vivienne. Of course you did.
She was furious and worried about how to handle her future endeavors with a nosy detective two feet behind her at all times. She was on a tight schedule and the cops would just slow her down
. On the other hand, she thought, compared to being exposed, this was just a minor inconvenience and she would not let it get in her way. “Of course.”
“There is a bedroom for you, right across the hall from mine,” Vivienne said and Sapphire gave her mother a cold stare.
“That won’t be necessary,” Aston said and turned directly to Sapphire. “Officer Harry and I will be sleeping in shifts so that we can keep an eye on you…every single second of the day.”
You bastard.
* * * * *
Aston sat on a chair outside of the girl’s bedroom, listening. There hadn’t been a sound for nearly an hour and she had probably fallen asleep. Or was she gone? Had she climbed out the window again?
Aston twisted the handle and pushed the door open. It was too dark to tell if she was in her bed or not, so he got closer.
As he moved deeper into the room, the luminescent moonlight came through the bay window. The window was latched and sealed from the inside. He turned his head to the bed already knowing she was there. There was no reason for him to linger, but he did.
She was sleeping soundly, looking so peaceful and soft that he was frozen in place, watching as her chest slowly rose and fell.
She looked perfect, beautiful as her hair framed her face, and he had a sudden urge to touch her. Not in a perverted way, just to take her hair and bring it behind her ear. She seemed so fragile, as if she needed his help. Not like when she was awake.
“What are you hiding?” he whispered.
Sapphire let out a sigh and turned in her sleep. He knew that sigh. He had heard it before. The night she came home with him.
As soon as he wondered whether she was naked under the covers or not, he knew it was time to go.
* * * * *
Sapphire woke up, not to the sound of her mother having sex with the aerobics instructor, but to the smell of coffee and pots and pans getting slammed around in the kitchen below.
She took a quick shower, pulled on a pair of designer jeans, a spaghetti-strap top, and went downstairs. Usually she brought her Target and Walmart clothes with her to change in the car later. That day, considering who was downstairs, she wanted to look as innocent and normal as she could, meaning no bags of any kind, except for her tiny purse. In her world, normal meant wearing a five hundred dollar pair of jeans as knock-around clothes. The day before had produced a whirlwind of emotions, and even though Sapphire knew it had all happened, a small part of her hoped it had been a dream. When she saw Aston sitting by the counter with a cup of coffee and a steaming breakfast in front of him, that part of her was shut up. Officer Harry sat next to him stuffing himself with French toast.
Sapphire forced herself not to smile. Aston looked cute. His face was scruffy from lack of shaving and his eyes were tired.
“Good morning,” he said, his baby blues peering right into her soul. Sapphire looked away knowing they possessed the same ability to destroy as Medusa’s did.
Julia was standing by the stove, wiping sweat from her forehead as she turned the bacon. Sapphire shot her mother an annoyed look. Julia had enough to do around the house every day, and it wasn’t her responsibility to cook breakfast for extra people.
Julia and Sapphire’s eyes met and for a second she knew exactly what Julia was thinking. What the hell is going on?
Vivienne stood at the other side of the counter watching as Aston ate, batting her eyelashes.
“Do you like it? My own special recipe.”
“No it’s not; it’s Julia’s,” Sapphire muttered and poured herself a cup of the freshly brewed coffee.
Vivienne gave her a cold look and turned back to Aston. “I love watching a man with a good appetite.”
Sapphire glanced over at Charles in his wheelchair parked in the living room in front of the TV.
“In that case, I think you should feed your husband since I assume he hasn’t gotten any breakfast yet,” she said and went to bring Charles into the kitchen.
When Vivienne made no effort to comply, Julia rolled her eyes and gave Sapphire a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. Sapphire fed Charles, one forkful at a time, and studied Aston. Today was the day she would find a lead to the girl and he would not get in her way. She had racked her brain all night but couldn’t come up with a single plan to get rid of him. Now she would have to wing it.
She poured her coffee into a to-go cup and added extra creamer. When she grabbed her purse, Aston stood up, ready to go with her.
“Isn’t it his shift yet?” she asked innocently, nodding to Officer Harry.
“Yep,” Aston said and followed her toward the back door of the kitchen.
“So aren’t you going to switch?”
“Nope.”
She assumed he might do something like that, so she didn’t let it bother her. “I have to go oversee my future career today. All very boring. Business.”
“I’ll follow you there,” Aston said and smiled evilly.
Right as Sapphire was pulling out with her car watching Aston jump into his, Julia knocked on her window.
“What’s going on? Your mother tells me nothing, but something about body parts in the mail. I get back from Antonio’s and there’s a bunch of police.” Julia waited for an answer with worry in her eyes.
Sapphire didn’t know what to say. What could she say?
“I really can’t talk right now,” Sapphire said and shifted to reverse.
Julia looked away for a second and stood silent. “You remember tonight, si?”
“Yes, absolutely.” Crap! The dinner with Julia’s fiancé was that night. Now, because of Aston, Sapphire had to find a way to go to Charles’ office building, lose Aston, get to San Diego, and back before the dinner: a dinner she didn’t want to go to in the first place.
“Sapphire,” Julia said, just as Sapphire had started backing out. “Be careful.”
* * * * *
Sapphire scanned a yellow skirt for the twentieth time and knew it would piss off Aston. He was getting agitated, starting to pace instead of just standing there and watching her shop.
On her way to see Charles’ brother, she hadn’t been able to shake Aston; he had hung onto her like a leech. He had waited for her as she stepped into the massive building, and he had watched her from the hallway as she went into her uncle’s office. Apparently, Gary had gathered everyone who was anyone in the conference room. Thirteen powerful men and a few women sat around an oval table staring at her as they walked in.
“What is this?” Sapphire asked as Gary ushered her through the room.
“These are the people who’ll be working for you, when you take over.”
All eyes turned to Sapphire.
“If I take over.” She passed out a smile to each of them but got none in return.
He motioned her toward the seat at the head of the long table and as she sat down, some of the people closest to her smiled, but the minute they thought she looked away their smiles fell, and their expression turned to contempt. Not that she could blame them. These people had spent their entire lives working at that company, killing themselves for years trying to move toward the top. They knew they’d be forced to watch as Petunia, a young inexperienced woman, waltzed in and was handed the position without any particular effort other than being born into it. Now, to them, it might not only be Petunia, but also Sapphire. Two young women, who knew nothing, could do nothing, and would steer their future from that point on.
Gary went on about the company, using a Power Point presentation, showing picture after chart after graph after boring statistic.
Every now and then, Gary cracked a joke about stocks, math, or some inside business lingo, and the thirteen men and few women eagerly laughed as loud as they could to please him. Sapphire didn’t. It wasn’t funny.
She sat silently trying to imagine herself there. It was close to impossible, like looking into an alternate reality where Sapphire was a normal person who wanted normal things. Is that what her life would be if she chose not to
proceed with her hobby? Suits, charts, cash flow, and a room full of people laughing at all her bad jokes. It was exactly what she was supposed to be and supposed to want to be.
“Oh my God; just fucking buy something,” Aston moaned.
Sapphire had spent the last hour in one section of one store on the third floor of the Beverly mall. Boring as hell, but it would be worth it.
Aston sighed and she tried hard to hide a smile. He was on his third cup of coffee and hadn’t slept all night. It was going to be a piece of cake.
She grabbed a few items of clothing, whatever was closest to her, and took off toward the dressing rooms. Aston followed. The dressing room clerk held her hand up stopping Aston from moving through.
“Your girlfriend is going to have to manage it alone. You can’t go in there.”
Sapphire turned around and smirked at Aston.
When Sapphire opened the dressing room door just three seconds later, Aston was right behind her. “I thought she said you couldn’t come in!”
He flashed his badge and gave a cocky smile. “You’d be amazed how many fucking times I can get a table at a restaurant with this.”
“Isn’t there a law against that?”
Aston shrugged and rubbed some imaginary smudge off his badge. “Probably.”
“Fine, just wait there until I’m done.” She pointed to the cushioned island in the middle of the dressing room and Aston plopped down on it, then leaned his head back, and let out a sigh of comfort.
Sapphire went in and out of her booth four times wearing the exact same purple sweater and asked Aston which one he liked best.
“I don’t fucking know; they all look the same!”
The fifth time Sapphire came out wearing the same sweater, Aston’s eyes were closed and his breathing more shallow. She waited in the dressing room a few extra minutes until she heard him snore. She put her own clothes back on, lay flat on her stomach, and pulled herself to the dressing room next door. Fortunately, it was empty. She lay down again and slid to the next one. Unfortunately, it was not empty.