by L A Moore
Poppy sat at the table with Avianna and Ari and they all three stared bleary eyed out the window.
“I guess we all had a pretty rough night last night.” Poppy stated.
Echoing “Yups” could be heard from both Avianna and Ari.
“Well, who wants breakfast? I feel like cooking some pumpkin French toast with melty cream cheese frosting.” Poppy said as she got up and began pulling the supplies from the fridge and pantry.
“That sounds like bliss.” Avianna said. “Want any help?” she offered.
“No, I got it. You just rest and relax and I’ll make it.” Poppy said.
“I’ll take as many as you want to make.” Ari replied.
Poppy made a whole loaf of bread of pumpkin French toast and a small pitcher of cream cheese frosting that was melted and syrupy and sat them on the table. Ari set out the plates and forks and Avianna got out the juice and glasses. Together, they made a pretty good team. They ate with gusto, and finally the tension from the night slid off them like water off a ducks back and left them feeling renewed and rejuvenated. Ari planned to check the cameras to see what was caught and Poppy and Avianna planned to go into town to do some shopping, figuring they would be safe in the light of day surrounded by people. They dressed and met back in the living room a little while later, their breakfast dishes washed and put away and the few remains put in the fridge for another breakfast. Ari had left on his joggers and added a hoodie and his boots. Poppy had put on a pair of jeans and an emerald green sweater and Avianna had put on jeans and purple sweater the exact color of the streak in her hair. Poppy said her goodbyes to Ari and she and Avianna took her Jeep into town to do some shopping and, maybe, take in a movie and have lunch. Ari encouraged them to enjoy their time, that he would be hours checking the cameras around the perimeter.
Ari brought along a digital camera with a built in screen to allow him to check each cameras SD card. Starting at the gate, he began his search, checking both the camera facing the driveway and the one aimed at the houses. He was glad to see nothing on either of them and moved off to the next in line.
The Sheriff spent the night researching the man that Mary had leased the apartment to and what he found wasn’t reassuring. It turned out to be Samuel Geisler, the same man that had killed Ari’s father and had been put in an insane asylum years ago. He might not have found out had it not been for the call from Samuels doctor tipping him off. He had assumed the name of another patient who had recently started talking again and after the doctor reviewed their files had proved that Samuel had stolen his identity in order to escape. He was going to have to tell Ari but first he needed some sleep.
Chapter 54
Poppy and Avianna drove down through town and to the local craft store. They hadn’t told Ari but they were going to get the fabric needed to make Poppy’s wedding gown. Before all hell had broken loose the day before they had found her dream dress; a long-sleeved Victorian wedding gown with chiffon sleeves and overlay and a beaded v-neck embroidered top. The silk underneath would lie loosely against the skin and the chiffon overlay would come out further, forming the train. Avianna planned to make the gown and add her own embellishments of pearl buttons and an embroidered and beaded detail on the train. She was going to look angelic, and Avianna was excited to get started on their secret project together. They looked until the found the perfect pearl colored silk and matching chiffon. Then they put in an order for the buttons and found several spools of thread and embroidery floss that matched the fabric. Next, they went to the florist shop, mostly because they wanted to see what the sheriff had found out, but also because they wanted to look at flowers for the wedding.
“Good afternoon Mary!” Avianna called out to get the woman’s attention who was no doubt in the back making up arrangements. As the only floral shop in town she stayed quite busy. Mary was a rose well past her first bloom, and well into her second. She was heavy set, but that didn’t distract from her beauty. With red hair and crystal green eyes, she was still known to turn a few heads. She stood at the same height, more or less, as Avianna and had a sweet, sing song sort of voice that reminded Poppy of a cartoon princess.
“Good afternoon, Avianna, how can I help you today?” Mary asked.
“Well I’ve two things you can help me with. The first, I’d like to know what you told the Sheriff in regards to that ghastly order we received yesterday.” Avianna said, and waited for an answer.
“Well, I’d be happy to tell you but, as I told the sheriff, I have nothing to say. No order was placed by anyone through my shop. I tried to ask Mr. Haggen about the order, since he’s the one who delivered, but I’m afraid he’s moved on and without proper warning I might add! Left me high and dry and with an empty apartment too. Now I have to fill all these orders and deliver them all myself until I can find a new driver.” Mary said in her sweet voice.
“Oh, you don’t say! Well, I certainly hope you find a new driver soon, and a new leasee.” Avianna replied warmly to Mary.
“What was the other thing I could help you with?” Mary asked.
“Well, we were hoping to look through some flowers with you for my son’s wedding. This is Poppy, his fiancé, and Poppy, this is Mary; she’s the town’s florist I was telling you about.” Avianna said, introducing the two.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Mary.” Poppy said and extended her hand to Mary.
Mary took her hand and shook it gently “It’s very nice to meet you to Dear. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials. I would be delighted to help you pick some lovely flowers and arrangements for your ceremony. Do you have a season or color scheme you would like go with?” Mary asked.
Poppy had just been about to answer spring or fall, she wasn’t sure yet, when Avianna answered for her.
“We’re favoring fall, but not against a nice spring wedding either.” Avianna said, and began flipping through one of the arrangement books Mary had sitting on the counter.
“Oh, you don’t want those Dear, those are for holiday tables. Come on over to my work table here at the side and we will have a seat and look through some options.” Mary said, guiding them around the counter to a long table filled with books of all sorts all with various flowers and arrangement patterns.
Chapter 55
Ari finished checking the left side and back perimeters, but found nothing human on those either. He was just starting on the right side when he heard a noise in the woods. He straightened and listened, using his five senses to detect what was nearby. It wasn’t long before it moved again and Ari knew it to be a deer. He took a deep sigh of relief and kept going, checking each one and finding nothing. Finally checking the last one and finding nothing human on it, he replaced the card and went to the house for lunch and a big glass of cold ice water. He made himself a nice big turkey sandwich with the works on it and grabbed a canister of barbecue chips and his drink and sat down in the living room, propping his feet up on the coffee table and dug in with man-like gusto. He turned on the T.V. and found a game to watch and soon his thoughts were on the game and not on the hunter.
Poppy and Avianna left the florist shop, having picked out a lovely bouquet of creamy white fall flowers, fresh cotton, wheat, and pinecones coupled with peach and yellow flowers for a very natural looking bouquet. Avianna and Mary assured her over and over the colors would look beautiful with her gown, and had also helped to pick out a matching boutonniere and a lovely tree inspired centerpiece using the same flowers, but wrapping the vase in pieces of tree bark so that it would look like a flowering tree. All Poppy had to do was pick a date and they would be delivered. She was feeling a bit more confident about her wedding by the time they stopped by the party store to just look at invitations and other décor. Mary had given her a swatch with each color from her bouquet printed on it to make it easier to match the rest of her wedding décor, and Poppy was grateful for it. By the time they were done, they had an event planner and had nearly planned the whole wedding. Of course, there was the cake, and the catering, th
e music, and Ari’s tux to contend with, but she finally had a good idea of what she wanted and, thanks to her budding career, she had the money to cover the wedding herself.
“I suppose after all this Ari and I really need to set a date if were getting married this fall.” Poppy said, smiling ear to ear at Avianna with excitement.
“I suppose you should!” Avianna said, smiling back at her. “Let’s get home and see about letting the groom in on some of our secrets.” She added, whispering conspiratorially.
“Ok, that sounds like a plan.” Poppy whispered back, grinning.
They made their way back to Poppy’s Jeep and headed home, excited to tell Ari that she was finally ready to set a date and one much sooner than he expected.
They had only gone about half way when Avianna pointed out a little old lady broke down by the road.
“Look, poor thing. Let’s stop to help her, or at least call for a tow or a ride for her.” Avianna instructed.
“I don’t know, Ari wouldn’t like that with that looney man about.” Poppy replied uneasily.
“Oh, look at her; she’s got to be every bit of 80, what could she possibly do to us?” Avianna said, waving off Poppy’s concerns.
Poppy pulled over carefully and tucked her cell phone into her pocket as she and Avianna got out.
“We saw you needed some help. Can we call a tow for you, or someone to come get you?” Avianna asked as she walked up to little old lady, who was dressed in an old fashioned floral print dress, thick soled shoes that almost looked manly, and a shawl thrown around her head and shoulders, as if guarding off the weather that wasn’t there.
“Oh, Dearies, thank you so much for stopping to help me. I seem to have locked myself out of my car when I stopped to get my dog that jumped out of the car.” The little old lady crooned.
“Poppy, why don’t you call for a locksmith, and I’ll go look for the dog. What’s the dog’s name?” Avianna asked as she came face to face with the little old lady. It took but a moment for her to realize the little old lady was a man, and not just any man. “Poppy, RUN!” Avianna screamed and began back stepping as fast as she could to get away from the man, but she wasn’t fast enough.
Poppy had known something was off from the beginning, but she had done as Avianna had said anyway. The moment Avianna had screamed for her to run, her feet had become glued to the pavement. She was torn between helping Avianna and getting away to save herself.
Samuel turned and threw the shawl away from him as he reached out, quick as lightening, and grabbed Avianna, pulling her into him and sliding the chloroform soaked rag over her mouth before she had the chance to fight back. It took mere seconds for her to go slump in his arms.
Poppy watched the whole scene unfold before her, still locked in place. It was like watching a horror film. She willed her feet to move as he let go of Avianna’s slump body and let it fall to the side of the road. He was coming for her next. She turned and ran, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and herself. She ran around the Jeep and to the driver’s side, pulling the door open only to be jerked back by her hair. The last thing she saw was his hand as he slid the rag over her mouth.
Samuel smiled to himself as Poppy went limp in his arms. He hadn’t been after the Mother, but she would work to really rile up the creature, just like his disgusting lover would. He had to move quickly before anyone stopped or drove by; lucky for him this was not a road that saw a lot of traffic. He dragged Poppy over to the trunk of the old beater car he had stolen and unlocked it with one hand, while holding her with the other. Once the trunk was open, he lifted her up and threw her not so gently into the back of the trunk, not caring if he hurt her or not; then turned to the Mother, who lay in a heap at his feet. He thought briefly about killing her and using her body pieces as lures for the creature, but that would have been too quick; he wanted to drag it out and really torture the creature. He picked her up and slung her over into the trunk ,hitting her head on the edge of the trunk. He had to work to get her legs in and to close the trunk, but he managed in short time. Just as he had pulled away, he passed the deputy on his way back from making his rounds at the creature’s house. He knew it wouldn’t be long before the deputy found the Jeep abandoned and the bitches missing, so he sped up, hell bent on not getting caught this far into his plan. He drove far outside of town and well past the creature’s house to a side road he had disguised using brush and small trees to look like any other part of the roadside. He got out and moved aside the make shift gate, then got back into his car and drove inside. Getting back out, he replaced the gate and got back into the car and drove the rest of the way up the mountainside, being careful not to get stuck on the barely used road. Once at the top, he parked by the cabin and got out. He walked to the back of the car and popped the trunk open, revealing the two still passed out women. He grabbed the Mother first, and drug her into the cabin and chained her arms to the main support beam, which was secured in place by heavy screws to the floor. Then he went back and drug in his woman and chained her hands to the remaining two chains, also connected to the beam in the middle of the room. He had intended to chain her hands and feet but, since he had scored a bonus with the Mother, he had had to settle with chaining them together to the stove by their hands only. Later, he would see about chaining their feet, too, if they didn’t behave or tried to escape. He left them to lay together in a heap with their hands chained, still knocked out from the drugs while he busied himself making a pot of coffee on the antique wood stove. They would need a cup of good, strong coffee when they woke up from the chloroform, and he wanted them to be fully alert to hear his rules and understand their predicament.
Chapter 56
“What do you mean, you found Poppy’s Jeep by the side of the road? Where is Poppy? Where’s my Mother?” Ari asked, fear and panic lacing his every word.
“It’s like I said Ari, we found the Jeep but no sign of either of them. There was no sign of a struggle either. It’s like they just vanished, except for the tire tracks in front of the jeep and Poppy’s keys that was lying beside the driver door.” Sheriff Barnes explained calmly. “I’m deploying the dog’s now to see what they can find. I wouldn’t usually do this Ari, but with your situation, I feel it’s necessary. But I must admit, I don’t expect them to find much, if anything.” He added in a straight forward manner. “There’s more Samuel Geisler has escaped the insane asylum and his doctor thinks he’s headed back here. He might be the one to have taken the girls but without evidence I can’t be sure.” He added solemnly.
“I don’t care what you have to deploy, just find them!” Ari yelled back, frustrated and angry at feeling helpless, then slammed down the phone, knowing the Sheriff would call him if they found anything. He had wanted to go help look for them but the Sheriff had insisted he stay put in case they showed up at the house. It was maddening, knowing anything could be happening to them right now and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. He paced the room like a caged animal and waited for the call from the Sheriff.
Chapter 57
Samuel finished the coffee, then set about removing their shoes, socks, and pants to make escape harder- and so he would have bait to torture the creature with. Just as he pulled Poppy’s pants free, her cell fell from her pocket. Samuel smiled; he was angry he hadn’t thought to check for cell phones, but he was glad, too, because this way he could call the creature and let him hear the women’s screams as he tortured them. He quickly checked the Mother’s body but found no cellphone on her, then checked the lovers body just to be sure she didn’t have any other surprises for him.
Chapter 58
“Ari, its Sherriff Barnes. I’m afraid it’s not good news. The dogs didn’t find anything more than we did when we first investigated the Jeep.” Sherriff Barnes said calmly but with a heavy heart.
“Well, what do we do now Sherriff? We have to find them; he could be doing anything to them.” Ari asked worriedly.
“Next, is we form a search pa
rty; but I got to warn you Ari, we need to search your property too. It’s standard operation, nothing to worry about, but we need to search.” Sherriff Barnes explained, warning Ari of the impending search.
“Fine, come search the whole damn property if you want, you won’t find them here. It’s a waste of time; we need to be looking for them.” Ari said angrily.
“I understand you’re upset, but taking it out on me isn’t the answer. Now were doing everything we can to find them, you just have to cooperate with us. Trust me Ari, we will find them.” Sherriff Barnes stated matter of factly.
Ari gave a heavy sigh into the phone; he knew what the Sherriff was saying was true, but it was hard not to take all his anger and frustration out on him when he was the only one he had to take it out on. “Alright Sherriff, we do this your way.” Ari finally stated, defeated and left with little options otherwise. He was tempted to go into the woods and look for himself but he knew he needed to stay where he was. The Sherriff told him he thought the kidnapper might contact him, and he needed to be where he could be reached in case that happened. So he left the searching to the professionals and stayed put. He even endured the long search of his property and the houses, but of course, they didn’t find anything of help.
Chapter 59
Poppy and Avianna slowly began to wake up sometime around nightfall. They disentangled themselves and sat up, taking stock of their situation.
“Where are we? What happened?” Avianna asked, confused, holding her aching head still chained to the post.
“That crazy man kidnapped us and must have brought us here and chained us up. We need to find a way to escape.” Poppy said, coming to her senses.
“That won’t be easy, he took most of our clothes and shoes and we don’t have a clue where we are, or how to get back to civilization.” Avianna reasoned.