A Vulnerable Broken Mind (15 page)

              “How old was she?” Amber asked, barely able to get the words out.

              “She was only a couple days away from her sixth birthday.” Carol replied in a very low tone. Amber felt sorrow and sympathy for Mary and a great deal of hate for the man that put her through all of this.

              Many people consider hate to be too strong of a word to use, but when you mean it with every fiber of your being you don’t feel negative towards yourself for thinking it. But should you feel bad for wishing death upon that person? Amber didn’t think so. In fact, she wanted to burn the skin off of his body, to see how he liked it.

              The scene changed yet again. This time though, the environment changed too. Soon, Amber found herself in what appeared to be a hall of jail cells; a dimly lit place with five older cells on one side. The hall of cells were old and rotted. The yellowish concrete walls and ceiling were cracked and the cells doors were rusted. To Amber’s left, was a red door that stood out brightly, a great contrast from the dreadful looking hallway.

              “Where are we now?” Amber asked.

              “We’re still in the same house,” Carol replied and Amber stared in disbelief. “These are left over cells from the late nineteenth century, a time of slavery. These cells were the only reason he wanted to build his house here. These cells were meant for slaves that were being punished for breaking the rules. Some were set free to continue to work, while others were left here to die. In many ways, he uses these cells the same way the slave owners did.”

              “No one knew that this was here?” Amber asked.

              “Everyone thought that he demolished it when he built the house,” Carol answered. “Since he and his friend were the only ones ever in the house, he was able to lie about it and get away with it.”

              They heard a noise. Another person was crying. It was not a woman this time; it was a man crying from one of the cells. Amber listened intently to hear where it was coming from, it was coming from the very first cell.

              Amber walked to it very slowly with Carol following. She looked inside of the cell and in the corner sat a young man, curled up and crying. He looked like he had been in the cell for a long while as his clothes looked dirty and worn. He was a thin, blond haired man, and had a small beard.

              “Who is he?” Amber asked.

              Carol looked into the cell as well. “That’s Mary’s husband, Tony. When he discovered that Mary and Jennifer were missing, he went to every length he could to try and find them but when he finally found out who took them he was captured as well. They imprisoned him in this cell. They made him watch videos of his wife and daughter’s torture. He was driven mad.”

              As she said that, the red door opened. Walking through the door was the man in the clown mask. In his right hand was a long, thick rope. He walked over to the cell and stared into it. “Here’s the rope you ordered, Stanton. You better be clean about it. I’m not cleaning up any blood you leave behind,” the man said cruelly.

              Amber stared sadly. “He hung himself?”

              Carol merely nodded. Amber wished for the environment to change again. She did not think that she could bear seeing someone do that to himself. The environment remained the same and Amber didn’t like it.

              The man in the clown mask stepped out for a second but came back in quickly with a chair in hand. He unlocked the door and placed the chair in the cell and quickly closed the door. “I thought you might need that,” he said in an almost humorous tone. He clearly enjoyed the thought of one of his prisoners hanging themselves.

              He left the room, leaving Stanton to himself and Amber and Carol to watch him.

              Stanton grabbed the chair and set it under a part of the ceiling that had a huge hole in it and a pipe running across it. Stanton wasn’t even taking his time. In a way, she understood how he felt.

              He tied the rope to one of the bars on the cell door and threw the rest of the rope around the pipe. He then stood on the chair to tie the rope into a noose.

              He had remained expressionless and silent but as he tied the noose, a look of anger flashed across his face. “I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY,” he shouted. “HUNT, YOU BASTARD! YOU’VE MURDERED ME!”

              He then wrapped the noose around his neck. “I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE! YOU MURDERER!” He stepped off of the chair and hung from the noose. His voice might have left the room but it didn’t leave Amber’s head. Amber turned around; she couldn’t look any longer as his body convulsed and went still.

              “Mary could hear every word from upstairs,” Carol said. “They haunt her to this day. She hears them when she’s awake, when she sleeps, and whenever she looks at his picture.”

              Amber looked at Carol, who looked very sad. “That’s why you can’t give up,” she told Amber. “You have to believe that he’ll be there for you.”

              Amber wanted to believe but the sight of someone hanging themselves cast doubt within her. “What if he gives up too?” She asked trying not to cry.

              Carol then looked at her with the utmost seriousness. “He won’t. You must believe that he won’t. He will save you.”

              All Amber could do was stare at Carol. She then gave a little nod but wasn’t entirely convinced in her mind nor in her heart. She wanted desperately to believe that John would be there but she felt like a barricade was blocking her belief. It was like a brick wall that was too tough to penetrate.

              Carol apparently saw this doubt as she grabbed Amber by the hand. Her soothing touch actually stopped Amber’s sadness for a second. “Please believe, for both our sakes.”

              Amber was very confused by this statement and was about to ask why when the world began to fade away. Carol began to disappear as well. Amber was lifted out of the environment and felt herself waking up.

              Her senses returned to the real world and she felt worse than ever. She felt sick and felt extremely lightheaded. She opened her eyes and was surprised that a blindfold was not placed over them. However, her mouth was gagged with a piece of cloth and she couldn’t move her body.

              She was lying on a queen sized bed with a steel bed frame. Both hands and feet were tied to each side, spreading her arms and legs. She was still nude, which added to her humiliation.

              Her back and legs had been bandaged. She could feel the padding that they placed on her back. While it reduced the pain, she could still feel the sting from what they had done to her.

              She was in a small bedroom with wood walls and a big wood dresser. Next to the bed, was a wooden nightstand and white lamp with a big red rose painted on it. Above Amber, was a big hand-painted picture of a beach and ocean; a pleasant looking place for an unpleasant experience.

              She tried to move and break the ropes but her energy wasn’t there. The lack of food and water was beginning to catch up with her as she not only felt both hungry and thirsty, but her strength was entirely depleted. All she could do was lie there and stare around the room.

              Apparently her little scuffle caused noise as she soon heard footsteps coming towards the room. She lifted her head as far as she could to see who was coming in. To her horror, the man in the blue-haired clown mask came into view.

              “Well, look who’s finally awake,” he said. “You’ve been asleep for a couple hours now. It’s almost time for the sun to come up. If you stay awake long enough, you might be able to see it.” He walked up to the bed and sat next to Amber. “You’re probably thinking about screaming, but you’re in place where no one can hear it. In fact, I could kill you right now and no one would be able to find your body.

              “Just keep that in perspective if you have any ideas about trying to scream or escape. In fact, you can try to escape but I know that I’ll always be able to find you. You wouldn’t be able to get out of here, even if you tried.”

              He then began to pet Amber’s head as if she were some kind of animal. His words were like daggers to her confidence, stabbing her with each word. It crumpled up her confidence like a piece of paper and was torn to pieces. Was this all she was now? Was she nothing more than his pet?

              While petting her, he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out something. He looked at it in great detail and then reached to the nightstand to set whatever it was on top of it. They were two items that Amber held very close to her. She nearly broke down as John’s wedding ring and hers were set on top of the night stand.

              She wanted to reach for them. She wanted them back but she knew it wouldn’t matter how hard she fought or how close they were to her; she wouldn’t be able to take them back.

              He looked up and down Amber’s body and nodded his head in a sickening manner. “I must admit,” He said. “Seeing a woman as beautiful as you, tied up like this, is quite a turn on. You’re looking very sexy.” He moved his hand from her head to her body and ran his hand over her breast. Amber tried to turn her body away and failed. All she could do was tense up and try to ignore it.

              He chuckled at this reaction. “Still hesitant, I see.” He leaned in to whisper in Amber’s ear. “What can we do to fix that? I think I know a great way to break the tension.” His then moved further down her body. Amber felt a sudden rush of panic as she tried desperately to move. She struggled against the restraints but nothing she did worked.

              She soon felt his hand graze her vagina, which caused her to panic further. She moaned, cried, and tried to scream but there was nothing that she could do to stop him. “Cry all that you want,” he then said as she felt one of his fingers enter her, which made her cry harder. The feeling of him inside of her, was the worst feeling she experienced. He leaned in to get face to face with her. “No one can hear you, not even God himself.

              “In this place, I am God and you are my servant. You are to serve me for all of my requests. If I ask you to pleasure me, you will do as you’re told. Hell, if I were to ask you to jump off of a bridge, you would do that too.” He laughed while Amber cried harder.

              Amber had reached a point in her heart and mind that no person should ever have to go to, when the voice in your heart and mind stops giving you hope. The voice that says, “Everything is going to be okay.” That voice was now lost within Amber and didn’t want to be found.              Another set of footsteps were coming into the room. The man in the red-haired clown mask had entered. “We have a problem.”

              The message didn’t stop the blue-haired clown from pushing his finger further into Amber. Amber’s back arched from a pleasure that was very much unwanted. “What is it?” He asked lazily.

              “A boat is approaching the house,” The other man responded.

              The blue-haired clown then stood up, finally taking his finger out of Amber. Her body relaxed in relief and yet there a was also a hint of disappointment. This feeling made her feel guilty.

“Did you get a look at who it was?” The blue-haired clown asked.

              “No, and it’s still too dark to see what kind of boat it is,” the other man replied.

              “Damn,” The blue-haired clown screamed. “Guard the door, I’ll get my gun and cut off the lights. As far as you go bitch,” he turned to Amber with a very threatening stare, “You make one sound and I’ll see to it that you don’t ever move again.” They walked out of the room, leaving Amber alone.

Chapter 10: Journey to the Abyss

              The water seemed never ending as John and Tom Morrison rode through it. The boat rocked but John felt none of it; his mind was elsewhere. He stared out at the water and didn’t pay attention to the ride itself.

              The sky was beginning to show signs of light as the sun began to make its ascent into the sky. The outline of the hills that surrounded the river began to make an appearance. John felt like he was in a completely different world, in some nightmare that wouldn’t end. He wanted to wake up in bed with Amber lying next to him.

              But as he clutched the gun in his hand, he knew that all of this was more than real. This was no fairytale. All imagination was lost as he held the gun, and riled himself up to eventually pull the trigger.

              “Hold on,” Morrison shouted, snapping John out of his trance. Morrison took a turn that was so sharp that water actually splashed onto John. “We’re about three miles away, get ready! If you keep looking straight ahead, you’ll see the house!”             

              John stared out into the distance to try and see the house but it was still too dark to see anything. After they drove another mile or so, John began to see lights in his vision and they weren’t the ones coming from the boat itself.

              As they got closer, the outline of the house became more pronounced and the lights that he was seeing were coming from four windows in the front of the house itself.

              “Okay! We’re close enough. I’m going to cut the engine so we’re not heard coming up,” Morrison shouted as he turned off the engine. Soon, all John could hear was the floating against the river as the engine’s loud rumble died out.