by J. L. Drake
“This is going to be good.”
Chapter 23
I watched in horror as the tape continually cut to the next girl in the sequence. The same scene was played over and over again with each girl. I wanted to leave, but I knew I had to stay since I asked for it to be shown as a group feature. Some officers took the privilege to leave the room, while others cringed at the sight, but held their ground as best as they could. A few had to run from the room to throw up in the closest trashcan they could find.
There were gasps of horror, terrified screams, and pleas from the girls on the tape as they experienced Steve’s advances toward them. They all begged him to stop, to let them go, and promised that they wouldn’t tell anyone what happened. Soon they realized they were there for keeps and nothing they said would free them.
“Please stop!” girl number four pleaded.
“I won’t tell anyone, just let me go,” girl number five said.
“Please, don’t do this...stop!” another unfortunate girl screamed.
Steve eventually stopped as the girl had begged him too, but only once he had his fun. He didn’t care that they pleaded with him to stop, that they didn’t like it. Steve simply laughed at them, telling them to stop playing hard to get, and then call them the name we had all grown to hate—Kelly.
When Steve finished his fun, he would untie them from the chair. Of course, they were all in too much pain to move, much less attempt an escape. Then the camera would cut to the next girl in the sequence, and I cringed when I saw my face pop up the screen. I hadn’t even been aware that he recorded me. I thought he just took a picture of me and then came to attempt to follow the same ritual he had done with all the girls before me.
“Oh, that’s a good one. I’ll have to keep this,” Steve said as he stepped out from behind the camera and closed the distance between us.
I noticed a few policewomen looked away, they knew what was coming next, and they had seen enough. Although, they couldn’t see the smile that had spread across his face as I struggled. The way he sat in front of me with his eyes locked on to mine. They couldn’t see him put both hands on my legs and slowly work his way up my thighs until he got to the edge of my shorts. They couldn’t see the things that would haunt me in my nightmares.
“You’re the first to have shorts on. All the others had on skirts so I could get to what I wanted with them in this chair,” Steve said with lust dripping from his every word. I could hear myself starting to cry on the video as we watched his hands go to the button of my shorts. A slow, pleased sigh escaped Steve’s lips and echoed around the empty room. I cringed as I felt the cold tingle of the memory trace itself on to my legs. I tried to push the memories from my mind, but I could feel everything again, including my fear and disgust. It was lucky that we couldn’t see it; I don’t think I would have been able to watch it.
“Now, don’t struggle. You don’t want to know what happened last time someone struggled.” He was right; at that moment, I didn’t know what happened when someone disobeyed. Now I knew that they were thrown out of the house and chased down, just like I was now.
“Please...please...” my voice cracked over the recording as I begged him to stop. Little did I know that the worst had yet to come.
“Don’t worry, I will. You’ll get the welcome home I give to them all.” I could hear my whimper of fear and sorrow come through the recording. Then the kiss, I gagged slightly remembering that his lips were rough and sloppy when kissing. My scream had become muffled for a few moments before he pulled away.
“I guess you’ll be getting your ‘welcome home’ another day.” The camera cut as soon as my hands were free and I silently thanked god that it was over, but I was wrong.
The tape cut to the next scene just before James could cut off the television. It was locked on an empty chair in the center of the basement of the house. Garrett was wrong, Steve did know about his basement hiding spot.
A door slammed on the sound recording and soon after Garrett was dragged into view. He looked haggard, dead to the world. Blood was dripping from his mouth, and was coating the front of his shirt. As he was forced into the chair, a yelp of pain erupted from his lips, making me cringe.
We watched and listened as Steve beat Garrett multiple times. Once Steve finished, he leaned over and said something to Garrett before he walked out of view. Steve had left the tape running, we fast-forwarded to see Garrett force himself out of the chair. He made it out of camera view by stumbling and using the wall for help, but he had made it out alive. It was then that James finally took pity on me and turned off the tape. He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable from the footage.
“As you can see we are dealing with a psychopath. We need to send copies of this footage to other stations and get the word out,” James said, handing the tape to someone he must have trusted. He took me by the shoulder and moved me toward his office, “You’re going to be staying with me for the duration of this, Anna. I don’t care what anyone says, you’re staying with me. Tony will be sure to make copies of the tape and distribute them. I know he will take care of it, and I gave him instructions to do it alone and not let anyone interfere with it.”
“What are we going to do now?” I asked, referring to what we had just seen on the footage. Garrett had been beaten pretty badly and we still had no idea where he was. He must be in serious pain, and he was alone.
“We’re going home, and then we will start looking for him again tomorrow,” James said, as he tossed me my backpack and took Jessi by the hand. He waved good-bye to Leigh and thanked her for watching Jessi before we left the room and headed for the door.
“James, where are you going?” Chief Rivers asked, as we were two steps from the exit.
“Home, it’s time to take them home. It’s been a hard day for both of them,” James explained, pushing us out of the door.
“Where’s the tape, James?”
“It’s in my bag. I will write a report tomorrow morning, and it will be on your desk by noon,” James lied, as he shoved us out the door before Rivers could ask us anymore questions.
James shoved us in the car and drove out of the police station. We passed by a large window as we were leaving, and I could see Rivers, his eyes focused on the car as we pulled out of the parking lot.
James had lied to protect us, but it put us in more danger. I wish I could say that I had seen it coming; maybe then I’d still feel safe.
Chapter 24
James had just let us into the house as the sound of sirens came rushing down the street. He told us to hide, and added that we could only come out if he was the one calling for us. James was worried about whoever was coming toward us, and that meant it wasn’t something I’d look forward to.
”I have a good hiding place. Even he doesn’t know about it,” she giggled, as she slipped her hand into mine and led me through the house.
She pulled toward the basement, only letting me go so she could hold on to the banister on her way down.
“Jessi, where are we going?”
“In the floor, Mommy,” she stated with no hint of joking in her eyes.
“The floor?”
“Yeah!” she exclaimed with a smile as she lifted the rug. Then she pried her fingers into a crack between the floorboards, just like Garrett had done with the wall to hide her. I saw her cringe when the board snapped shut on her fingers.
“Jessi, you could hurt yourself.”
“I can do it, Mommy,” she stated, as the board flung up and crashed to the floor. “See?” she asked excitedly as she climbed into the hole.
I glanced down as I heard a loud thud of someone banging on the front door or breaking it down. I quickly fixed the rug enough so that it looked undisturbed and wouldn’t throw suspicion on our hiding spot. I slowly climbed in, sealing the board back into place above my head as I heard footsteps enter the house. It wasn’t tall enough for me to stand in, it was just right for Jessi, but I had to kneel to fit. It was as cold as a cellar in
here; the concrete walls gave off cool temperatures that would have matched sitting in a refrigerator.
Jessi was wrapped in a blanket and sitting on the pillow so she wouldn’t have to sit on the hard floor. I smiled, it must have taken her a few visits into this hole, but she really knew how to last down here. She had really spent a lot of time hiding here if she was this prepared for a game of hide and seek.
“Do you want to borrow the blanket, Mommy?” she asked, interrupting my silent compliments of her genius.
“Sure, but I’ll share with you,” I stated in a whisper, as I crawled over to her.
Footsteps soon walked over our hiding spot. We both froze; we hadn’t heard them walk down the stairs or known that they were in the room until they were right on top of us. There were muffled voices, unintelligible since we were under them, but still present as the footsteps proceeded through the downstairs.
I could barely hear James’ words, but I could hear the edge in his voice. James sounded annoyed that these people had come into his house and sent us into hiding.
James must have stood directly over us as I heard him ask, “What are you doing here?”
His footsteps soon went away as he traveled to a different area of the basement. There was yelling for a period of time, then a sudden burst of footsteps running up the stairs. Silence surrounded us as the slam of a door finally rattled to a stop. It was an uneasy eerie silence; there was just nothing, no sound, no voices, no music, and barely the sound of our own breathing.
“Jessi, Anna! Where are you?” James called as he stepped over our hiding spot.
“In here!” I called as loudly as I could. Soon, I could see his fingers as he began to move the board. It opened to fill the hole with a sudden light, blinding me, and James’ voice reached my ears clearly for the first time in a while.
“How did you guys get down there?” he questioned, as he reached his hand down through the floor to help us out.
”Jessi found it and put us in here when you told us to hide,” I said, as he hoisted me up through the hole in the floor.
“Is this where you’ve been hiding during hide and seek?” James asked with feigned horror. “That’s cheating!” he yelled as he pulled her up. It made me wonder how many rounds of hide and seek he lost because she hid in that hole.
“No it’s not! You said I could hide anywhere,” Jessi exclaimed as she put both feet down on the floor.
“I guess I did say that. Oh well, who’s ready for dinner?” James asked, getting an excited squeal out of Jessi.
“What happened James? Who was here?” I asked, as we traveled up the stairs toward the kitchen.
When we reached the top of the stairs, I glanced around the house. Everything was flipped and thrown in all directions without a care about where it ended up. There wasn’t a neat area in the house, and after being in an empty house for so long, the mess actually bothered me. I cringed slightly at that realization; I would never be able to break my hold from that house, or Steve for that matter.
“It was the police. They were ordered to search my house by Chief Rivers because he wanted the tape back. I got a call from Tony though, the tape has been processed and sent to the other police stations, so there’s no worry,” he said with a smile, pulling out a tray from the refrigerator. It now made sense why he lied about taking the tape, he didn’t want the processing to get stopped.
“Well, except all of them seeing what happened to me and the other girls,” I said with a hitch in my voice.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of Anna. He’ll be caught,” James promised in an attempt to reassure me, but I didn’t believe it.
Dinner passed by in a blur for me. Jessi was uncharacteristically quiet while James seemed to be processing everything after the police raid. They didn’t talk or look up from their meals the whole time, so I was left to entertain myself. I glanced between them, noticing the family resemblance was in the face. Both had bright green eyes and a soft curvature in the lips brought on by the heart shaped face.
Although, their mannerisms were nothing alike—James was shy and quiet, Jessi was loud and outgoing, even for such a young girl.
“Mommy, are you going to sleep with me again tonight?” Jessi asked with a meek voice, as she tugged on my t-shirt to get my attention.
“Not tonight, Jessi. We are going to see how you sleep without me tonight and we will see where it goes from there,” I explained with a soft smile on my pale pink lips so she would know she wasn’t in trouble.
“Tomorrow we find Daddy, right?”
“I hope so. I really hope so, Jessi.”
“Do you miss Daddy?”
“Yes, I do,” I said as I caught James smirking at me out of the corner of my eye. I glanced at him and his smirk grew larger, in the ‘I knew it’ kind of fashion.
I took Jessi’s hand and led her away from the table to get her ready for bed. I glanced around and noticed that some of the furniture was actually broken during the search. It must have been Rivers’ most loyal people to do this.
With or without the tape, this was blatant destruction of property with no reason other than self-preservation.
James had started picking up the house by the time Jessi and I got out of the shower, which improved my mood dramatically. I was so stressed about the mess, because I knew that if Steve had come home to that I would have been punished in vile ways. I shook my head to get rid of the memories as I pushed Jessi toward the bedroom.
It felt great to have showered after these last few days. I felt as if I had gotten rid of all the grime and remembrance of living in that house, and that I was finally my old self again. I could feel myself smiling more, even with what was happening. At least I didn’t have to worry about Steve, or being abused like that again. Each time I even thought of it, I cringed and gagged slightly.
By the time Jessi was ready for bed, James was upstairs in bed waiting for her to come in so he could go to sleep.
“What do you wish for tonight?” I asked her as I tucked her into bed. She used to wish to be out of the house every night, now she always had a different answer.
“For you and Daddy to be back together.”
“That’s a good thing to wish for. Soon we will be, and you’ll be here again. Now go to sleep, I will see you in the morning,” I said as I got up.
“Wait!” Jessi called, as I was about to walk out of the door and seal her inside with her father.
“What’s wrong, Jessi?” I asked leaning on the door jam.
“I’m scared,” she stated bluntly.
“Why are you scared?”
“The shadow man.”
“The shadow man?” I questioned. Had she seen what I had seen last night? Why hadn’t she told me before now? Does that mean it wasn’t me dreaming, that it had actually happened? If so, then what was it, and what was I in for tonight now that I wasn’t with them?
“There’s no shadow man, Jessi,” James stated with a small chuckle.
I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement, whether for Jessi’s benefit or mine, I’m not sure. “There’s no shadow man, Jessi. Don’t worry,” I said with a smile as I shut the door behind me.
I walked down into the basement and found the bed that James had prepared for me. It was simple, just a mattress and two sheets with a pillow. Although, I was so tired right now that it looked like heaven. It felt as if my eyes had just closed when I heard something moving around me. I had seen it the night before, just outside of the door. The shadow that would forever haunt my dreams, and probably in death, was with me in the basement. I woke up looking into Steve’s eyes, there was no time to react before his hand covered my mouth.
“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Kelly. Now I have to end it.”
Chapter 25
“You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Kelly. Now I have to end it,” Steve repeated, placing the cool steel blade of a knife to my throat.
I opened my mouth to try to scream again, but no sound came. I nee
ded to warn James, protect Jessi, and still make it out of this alive. I could only think of a way to successfully do two of those, but at least they would be safe. I just wouldn’t be alive anymore.
“Now, remember the rules. Don’t struggle and it will all be fine.”
Just when I thought I had gotten all the grime and memories off of me, that I had been fully cleansed, Steve came back into my life and made it worse than before. The memories came flooding back the second I saw his eyes. I could see the lust, desire, and anger, along with the slight gleam of the knife in his eyes, but there was no sound. It was dead silent, which made me wonder if everyone was dead. Why else would it be so quiet?
“Kelly, why would you do this to me? I thought you were happy with me.”
I felt anger surge through me as he tried to worm his way between my legs. I was sick and tired of being his toy. I wasn’t Kelly, I wasn’t here to please him and let him live out his sick fantasy of a perfect wife. I was my own person, and I wasn’t going to let him take advantage of me anymore. I shoved him off of me as hard as I could and kicked the knife from his hand.
“I’m not Kelly. My name is Anna!” I stated with force as I quickly got to my feet.
I ran to retrieve the knife, but before I could, he grabbed me. Steve grabbed hold of my waist and forced me over the mattress so I wouldn’t make a sound when I crashed onto it. He placed himself over me again, this time making sure I couldn’t get him off, and forced me to look in his eyes. There was a noticeable change in demeanor.
“Well, Anna, I guess you’re done playing along. Too bad, you could have lived longer, but I also have a promise to keep to you.”
I swallowed hard in fear as I remembered the promise he made to me.