by N. A. Cash
Another room on that floor was in a similar state of disrepair. The door that faced the room to the back—a bathroom—was in no better shape than the other one or the kitchen downstairs.
I was beginning to lose hope when I approached the last room just before the staircase. When I opened the door, the first thing I noticed was how clean this room was in comparison to the rest of the house. I also noted the simple décor—clean, pale green walls devoid of any posters or personal artifacts, one single twin-sized bed with plain, light green sheets, and a small table. The item on the table immediately drew my attention. On it stood a simple laptop computer that was flipped open. The screen held a plain yellow sticky note with two simple handwritten words—“Play Me”.
I blinked to see if I had read the words correctly. When I realized that I had, I looked around the room again. There were no closets or other potential hiding spaces. Just for good measure, I poked my head out of the door and listened intently for any noise within the house. The only thing I heard, other than an occasional car drive by, was the scampering of mice running from one filthy room to the other.
I figured that I didn't have much to lose so I walked over to the laptop and pressed Enter key. Instantly, the laptop screen glowed, then brightened. Fuzzy images started to come into view, accompanied by muffled sounds. As the images cleared, so did the sound. The outlines of two solitary shapes came into focus. The first was a round, short person; the second, tall and lean. Both were sitting on chairs and moving sluggishly. The image sharpened, and I saw Cicely and Dr. Dune. They both were sitting, as I had guessed, tied to the chairs that held them.
I stood in shock as I watched Cicely strain against the bonds that tied her wrists behind her and her ankles to the chairs. I stared in horror as I watched Cicely’s blue eyes flick back and forth with a manic look of fear. Dr. Dune’s head rested on his chest. He barely moved, like he had fallen asleep and was only being held up by the rope.
Just then, another figure came into view. This one was slightly bent at the hips and carried a walking stick. It took a moment for the camera to focus, but gradually I recognized the white head of hair and the flash of brilliant, white teeth. Sultren was staring right into the camera, back at me. He snickered deviously. “Hello, Karma,” he said in his characteristic silky, smooth voice. “I see that you’ve found my little, message.”
He hobbled over to stand in between Dr. Dune and Cicely. Cicely’s eyes widened in terror. I could see small beads of sweat breaking on her forehead. I wanted to reach into the laptop and touch her to calm her fears. My heart thumped as fear mingled with anger bubbled inside me.
Sultren rested his arthritic and spotted hand on the top of Dr. Dune’s head. “So, we have a dilemma,” he declared. “You have something I want, and obviously I have something—or things—you want.”
Without thinking, I blurted out, “What could I have that you want?”
As if he could hear me, he said, “You have powers. Gifts. When I took you, I meant to take them from you, not make them stronger.” His grasp on Dr. Dune’s hair tightened as his voice rose. “Your family is always taking things from me. Always! You have my gifts and I want them back! Now!”
He pulled on Dr. Dune’s head, yanking it back to face upward. Cicely screamed through her gag. I realized that I’d let out a small scream too.
Cicely’s screams seemed to have shocked him into composure. Coming across as almost embarrassed, he let Dr. Dune’s head roll back to its original position. His moved closer to Cicely. I reached out to touch the screen in a gesture to protect her as his hand rested on the top of her head. I could see her flinch at his touch, and she tried to inch away from him as far as bound limbs would allow. His smile was brilliant but diabolical. “The solution is simple, you see. Just come to the end of Paris Road in St. Bernard Parish. There’s an old warehouse there. You’ll find what you’re looking for.”
I cringed as he roughly pat Cicely’s head. He made a move to hobble out of view, then stopped. “Oh, and Karma? It’ll be in your best interest if you come alone. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to your dear friends.” He smiled that awful smile and winked.
The laptop went dark.
I stood in shock for a few moments, just staring at the blank screen. I couldn’t believe what I just saw. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Then, as if dissolved in acid, any fear that I had felt before melted away. The anger that I felt rising from the pit of my stomach started taking over me. I closed my eyes and felt it pulsating through my chest, through my limbs, flooding my brain like ocean waves crashing during a hurricane.
My fury swirled around me. The room rumbled and creaked around me. I felt heat flow from my body as I made the laptop lift from the table and shatter against the opposite wall. The boards begin to splinter as nails became shrapnel. I slowly turned to walk out of the room as it disintegrated behind me. Objects lifted and smashed against walls. Pipes burst, spewing water every which way. Trash stirred under my feet. I began to flick the lighter’s switch. Each time I did, I felt heat pulsate from my fingertips.
I felt more and more powerful and more in control as I descended the stairs, leaving the bannister in flames as I trailed my finger along it. I took my time walking to the front door, letting my rage fuel the destruction happening around me, leaving in my wake levitating objects spinning throughout the rooms, water spilling from burst pipes—overall chaos.
Once in the SUV, I started it and drove off. A few houses down the street, I stopped the car, looked in my rearview mirror, and said one word—“Boom!”
As I drove off, the shockwaves from the violent explosion of house rocked my car. Flames from the ruins lit up the sky.
I smiled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
While driving to the rendezvous point, I considered several options. I could call Aunt Shugs and have her come with me. I quickly ruled that out. Two people I cared about were already in danger. I didn’t want to jeopardize anyone else’s life. I thought about calling the police, but what would I tell them? I could hardly believe what was happening; I doubted they would either. So, I dismissed the idea. It was all me; I had to handle this myself.
I was fairly calm as I drove. The explosion helped to release much of my anger. Darkness had fallen by the time as I approached the rendezvous point. A few streetlamps flickering with a yellow glow. Hurricane Katrina had hit this part of town hard some years back. Even though the flood waters had long since receded, this area was still mostly in shambles. Few skeletal building structures remained. Most residents had moved away and began rebuilding their lives elsewhere.
I drove slowly along the shadowy street with my headlights off. The building Sultren had designated rose gloomily out of the dark at the end of the path. I paused in the middle of the street and surveyed my surroundings. There didn’t appear to be any cars in the front of the structure, which was shrouded in darkness. As if reading my mind, pops of light from dim bulbs lit up the outside of the building, giving it an eerie glow.
I parked my car a few feet away from the building and walked the rest of the way. Low-lying bushes flanked the paved road, which slowly turned to dirt and scattered gravel the closer I got. My footsteps crunched loudly as I walked. To pad the sound, I pulled a few of the leaves from a bush close by my hand and scattered them in the front of me. As I concentrated on it, a soft patch of grass grew in the front of me. As I took each step, I made the grass extend along the path to pad the gravel. I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes, imagining a thick fog rolling off a lake close by. My eyes opened to a blur of hazy light around me. I used the cover to move as close to the building as I could. I circled the run-down concrete building once before I felt comfortable enough to walk up to a rusted door in the back.
The shiny handle contrasted starkly with the rest of the door…like it had recently been fixed. I turned the knob, hoping that the door was unlocked. It wasn’t. I tugged on the door once again; it wouldn’t budge. I could blow this
door down, but that would make too much noise. Instead, I closed my eyes and placed my hand firmly around the handle. Heat emitted from my hand, warming up the knob. It eventually got so hot that it melted away into a reddish orange liquid. After that, I was able to push the door open.
Taking a cautious step into the darkened building, I saw nothing except pitch black surrounding a line of light from the open door. I paused on the threshold, waiting, listening. Nothing…
I waited there for about five minutes, each tick of the mental clock like a throbbing boom in my head. Nothing…
I stepped into the darkened room. As soon as I did, it felt as if a cold, icy hand grabbed my heart. I couldn’t breathe! I grabbed at my chest, thinking I was having a heart attack. Blood throbbed through my veins, and the room around me began to swirl. I dropped to my knees, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps…each one feeling as I was trying to breathe under ice-cold water. I heard a shrill shriek, so loud that I reflexively clasped both hands over my ears. The noise grew louder and louder…pounding in my brain…rushing though my senses…setting each of my nerves on fire. I dipped into blackness.
I pried my eyes open to find myself lying on a cold, hard floor. It took a moment for me to realize the sound that had pulled me back into consciousness. Someone was calling my name.
I fully opened my eyes to semi-darkness and, without moving much, looked around. Metal bars surrounded me. I didn’t see anyone so I slowly rose up on one elbow, and carefully turned my head around. I was in some sort of that looked as if it could fit a tiger. The dim lighting didn’t provide much of a view of the room, but from what I could tell, there were other cages also. The rest of the room was bleak—nothing on the stark walls, concrete floors, and a door similar to the one that I’d broken into.
“Karma!”
The whispered voice that called to me got a bit louder and sharper. I pulled myself up to a sitting position and squinted at one of the other cages behind me. I couldn’t clearly see who it was until a shock of blond curls came closer to the bars. “Cicely!” I cried, so loudly that my voice echoed off the walls in the hollow room. I beamed at seeing her and felt lightheaded with the knowledge that she was okay.
“Shhhh! He’ll hear you and come back!” Cicely’s voice was with panic, but there was also a tinge of relief. “I’m so glad you’re awake. When they brought you in here, I thought…” She trailed off, a small sob caught in her throat.
I scampered on hands and knees until I directly faced her. I smiled to reassure her. “I’m okay. Well, I think I’m okay. I don’t know what happened. I seem to be fainting a lot lately.”
I realized that my cage was about five feet from hers—too far for me to reach out and touch her. “Are you okay?” I asked. “I saw the video. Did he hurt you?”
“I’m okay.” Concerned, she pointed to a lump of a figure on the floor of another cage that was about the same difference from the both of us. “I’m worried about Dr. Dune though. He hasn’t moved in a while. I don’t know what all they did to him. I know the skinny one hit him in the back of his head. He hasn’t moved since then.”
It took a moment to register what she had said. “The skinny one? They? I thought there was only one.”
“No, no it’s been a few of them,” she insisted in a rabid half whisper, like she was trying to get out as much information as possible. “The main ones were Sultren, the skinny one who moves a lot, a big lug of a guy who doesn’t say much, and another one who looks young, but seems a lot more evil than the rest. Not that Sultren isn’t. He has such a temper at times, but for the most part, he’s been kind. The other one, he kind of lurks in the shadows and doesn’t say much. I rarely got to see his face so far.”
I nodded. “Jumpy, Rock, and Owen. I should have known.”
“You know them?!” Cicely asked, her voice about an octave higher.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Yes, I do. It’s a long story I’ll definitely tell you once we get out of here.”
She stared hopelessly around her. “But how? How can we get out of here? I’ve looked everywhere! There’s nothing lying around…not that I could reach it anyway, and there are only these metal cages.” She sat back and crossed her arms as if to warm herself. “Karma, there’s no way out, not unless they come back.”
I thought about it when I could do, then put my hand on the metal bars. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard. I opened my eyes; the bars remained intact. Nothing. I closed my eyes and tried again. Nothing. I reached into my pocket for the lighter, thinking that it could bring me strength and felt nothing. I started to panic. “Oh, no,” I whispered in dread, imagining what had happened the last time Sultren had kidnapped me. “Not again.”
“What? What not again? What’s wrong, Karma?” Cicely prodded, her voice filled with fear this time.
Right then, we both saw a flicker of a golden flame light up a darkened corner of the room, extinguishing as quickly as it started. Again, the flame flickered, then went out.
“Looking for something?” said a silky voice, followed by a hearty, sinister laugh.
The sound echoed in the room—a small thump, followed by footsteps. Thump, step, step. Thump, step, step. Suddenly, Sultren appeared, standing between my cage and Cicely’s. Smirking, he looked at her, then turned to me. “Hello, my dear. It’s so nice to see you once again.”
He regarded me, his captive, with strange amusement. “I bet you have a whole lot of questions. If I were you, I would.” He leaned heavily on his cane with one hand, my lighter in his other hand.
I stared at him and said nothing.
“Cat’s got your tongue?” he teased.
I narrowed my eyes but refused to speak.
“Well, I guess it’s up to me to start the discussion then.”
With that, he turned and peered into the cage where Dr. Dune lie motionless on the floor. He thumped over to the cage and pushed his cane inside, poking Dr. Dune. “Stop it!” Cicely screamed.
Sultren poked him once more, then turned to face us again. “Oh, he’ll be just fine, just a small bump and probably some memory loss.” He giggled wildly at that. “So, back to the business at hand. Why are you here? Why are you all here?”
Cicely shrank back, fighting bravely to control her fear and the flow of tears. I, on the other hand, stared hatefully at Sultren and said nothing. Clearly that amused him. “The silent type, huh?” he teased. “Okay. Well, obviously, I brought these two here so you’d come for them. Naturally, I figured that you would want to save them.”
With his cane, he pointed at both Cicely and Dr. Dune. “But, I guess you’re wondering why I want you so badly that I would disrupt your friends’ comfortable lives.” He studied me for a long moment, a sneer playing across the edges of his lips. When he spoke again, he was playful…teasing. “I guess you’re also wondering why you can’t do anything with those bars.”
I sat back and crossed my arms, refusing to answer.
“Okay, I’ll answer both questions for you. I would think that you know the answer to the first question.” I just stared at him. “I want what you have; I want to do what you can do. This naturally leads to the answer to the second question.”
Despite my best efforts to hide my curiosity, I felt my face betray me. He noticed it. His laughter was short-lived but just as menacing. “Let’s say, the first time you ‘visited’…” air quotes “…me, I made a terrible mistake. I thought I was removing your abilities, but the serum I gave you only activated them, made them stronger. Grave mistake, indeed.” He shook his head. “You cost me a lot that day. Took some of my best scientists down when you escaped.”
My curiosity morphed into utter shock. He saw that too. “Yes, Karma,” he said. “You killed them. Each and every one of them. Except one.”
I heard Cicely gasp, felt my breath catch as numbness clouded my brain. I looked down at my hands. My shock gave way to guilt and shame. I had killed someone. Many someones. I was a murderer. I was struggling so hard to proce
ss this that it took a moment for me to realize that Sultren was speaking.
“No matter, though,” he said, his tone cavalier. “Their families have been well compensated for their losses. Life moves on and all that.” He waved his hand, as if shooing away a gnat. “What’s important is that we were able to make an antiserum before you disappeared, and that, my dear, is why you’re unable to escape!”
He moved a bit closer—not close enough for me to grab him, but close enough for me see the wrinkles on his face. When he spoke again, his tone was softer, more cajoling. “You know, it doesn’t have to be this way.” He looked directly into my eyes, and I held his stare with an intense dual-colored one of my own. “I could undo what I’ve done, if you’d help me.”
I would’ve laughed at his ridiculous request if I hadn’t felt such hated for him. “Help you?! Why would I ever want to do that?!”
He shook his head as if to chide me for ignorance. “Karma, Karma, Karma. I know you think I’m bad, even horrible or wicked, but believe it or not, there are worse people than me, like the ones who took your family, for instance.”
I stared at him, my mouth dropped open in shock. Past my slowly constructing throat, I asked, “My family? What do you know about my family?”
“Oh, my dear, I know lots about your family, where they are, what’s happened to them, who took them.” He paused for effect. “If they’re still alive.”
I jumped up and rushed to the cage bars, shaking them frantically. “Tell me!” I screamed. “Tell me where they are!”
He leaned and took a small step back, surprised at my sudden outburst. I screamed again, enunciating each word. “Tell! Me! Where! They! Are!”
Glass shattered somewhere in the compound. I stared at him, more intensely than before. I put everything into my thoughts and directed them at him. As heat emitted from my body, the building started to shake, more glass shattered, and the steel rods that held the building together started to creak and bulge out of the walls. I focused on the man standing in the front of me, watching the expression of shock and surprise on his face slowly being replaced by fear.