A Vulnerable Broken Mind (11 page)

              As time went on, the blows slowed down and had less force behind them. Not because they were done, but because they were getting tired. Amber could feel the cold air hitting the multiple open wounds that had now formed all over her body. The cold air was like knives against her body, piercing all the way to the bone.

              After at least an hour of punishment, the blows finally stopped. Amber’s body painfully relaxed as she slumped down. Her entire body was nearly touching the floor, except for her head and her arms. She could feel the blood seeping out of many of the cuts. Her body tensed up once more as one of the men put a hand on her now raw back. Her entire body shook. “Hopefully, you’ve learned your lesson,” the blue-haired clown said. “This was a light punishment.” He removed the hand and Amber’s body relaxed once more.

              “That was a good workout,” the red-haired clown said with a laugh, not caring about Amber’s wellbeing.

              They both walked around to her front. The man wearing the blue-haired mask grabbed Amber by the hair, pulling her up to her knees. Amber painfully went to her knees. While her voice couldn’t scream, the voice in her head shouted relentlessly. 

He then kneeled down to look eye to eye with Amber. Amber’s eyes were glazed over; she couldn’t even see straight. “You asked for this. Every bit of the pain you’re feeling right now is because you didn’t want to listen.” As he was saying this, Amber could feel and hear the blood from her body drip to the ground. “I’m trying to teach you a lesson and you won’t listen. Hopefully that changes.”

He stood up and looked towards the other man. “It’s time, let’s get her ready.”

“You don’t think it’s too soon?” The other man asked.

“No, the sooner we get her over there, the less likely he is to find us.”

“He?”
Amber thought to herself. She quickly realized that they were talking about John. He was still alive. Despite her pain, her heart jumped a notch. Knowing this built a little bit of confidence in her.

There was then a very loud bang, sounding like steel clanging together in the far distance. Both men stared at each other. “Go check on him, see what he’s doing,” the blue-haired clown ordered to the other one. The red-haired clown ran out of the room while the other man waited.

Only a minute or so later, he came running back into the room. “He’s trying to break out of the cell! I knew you should have bought new doors!”

“How was I supposed to know you were going to bring him up here?”

“He’s going to find out where we’re going if he sees us leave!”

“He won’t, just stay calm. We’ll be out of here before he even notices.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Don’t worry, I am.” There was a brief pause. Amber, while able to hear them, couldn’t lift her head up to see them. All she could see was the puddle of her blood. “Get the drug for her.” He suddenly said and the other man walked out again. He returned and Amber could hear something being handed to the man in the blue haired mask but she couldn’t see it.

He approached her and when he did, he lifted her head up so that she could look at him. Amber’s eyes were still glazed and she was no longer there. She stared at him, or she thought she did. Her eyes saw three of him. She couldn’t tell which one was real. “You’re going to take a little nap,” he said.

He then held up a syringe. While Amber hated one needle, she was horror struck by seeing three in her vision. She knew there was only one but that didn’t eliminate her fear.

Without even building up to it, he jammed it in her neck. Amber felt the needle pierce her neck and grimaced. She could also feel a fluid from the syringe entering into her bloodstream. 

“We have to give that a minute to take effect,” the man said.

“We might not have a minute,” The other man argued.

“Don’t worry, we will.”

Within a matter of thirty seconds, Amber was feeling the effects from the drug. Her vision was steadily getting worse than it already was. She went from seeing three to her vision becoming a complete blur. She became very lightheaded and the world around her began to spin. She felt like she was on a nauseating roller coaster ride, everything was bobbing and weaving her around.

When she blinked, something appeared in her vision. Something was moving on the floor. In her blurred vision, it looked like a blue ball. She blinked again and it got closer, its image becoming more clear. The blue transformed into a dress. She blinked again and a head, long brown hair, arms and legs also appeared. It was a little girl. Crawling on the floor, she was getting closer to Amber.

Amber blinked and the girl was rising to her feet and was now face to face with her. It was the same little girl from her dream.

“Don’t be afraid,” the little girl said.

“But I am afraid,” Amber replied weakly.

“Don’t be; he’s coming for you,” the girl said.

“He won’t be able to find me though.” Amber whispered.

“He will be able to,” the girl assured her.

“How do you know?” Amber asked, fighting desperately to stay awake. However, this led her to another question that she asked herself. If this little girl had been in her dreams before, how was she here if she was still awake?

“I just know,” the girl said simply. “You need to fight for a few more seconds, stay awake.”

“I can’t,” Amber wept, feeling more drowsy by the second.

“You can,” the girl said desperately, gently reaching up and grabbing onto Amber’s good hand. “Look at me.”

Amber fought the pain and the drug to lift her head up to stare into the girl’s eyes. While her vision was blurry, the girl was close enough so she could see her. Her blue eyes pierced her own.

The little girl stared at her for several seconds. “Good, now you can rest. He’ll find you.”

“But I don’t understand,” Amber said as she drifted away.

“You soon will, rest now,” the girl said softly.

The drug took full effect. Her eyes became heavy and the world around her began to fade away. She was soon falling into a world filled with nothing but black.

Chapter 7: An Unforeseen Truth

              John’s world was completely disoriented. He felt sick and lost. His eyelids were like lead; they were heavy and wouldn’t open. He knew that he was in the real world and knew he was awake. He tried to move but his body felt dead. He couldn’t move his arms, feet, fingers or toes.

His nose was very much alive and working. The smell of a damp and moldy environment filled his nostrils. The smell burned his insides and he knew that he was in an unpleasant environment.

“Wake up,” said a voice that he recognized as Ralph Hunt’s. His eyes were finally able to open but his body was still dead weight. He opened his eyes but was greeted by Ralph Hunt in a clown mask with blue hair. The same mask he had seen him carrying before. He jumped at the sight of him.

He could vaguely see another figure standing behind Hunt. He couldn’t see the other man directly. He could slightly see his height and build, which gave him away as Ken Sparks.

John scanned as much of the room as he could. It looked like an old prison cell. Old and almost rotted looking cement was all around. The cell door was a wide square barred door that was aged and rusted. The room was lit by a dirt covered light, which just barely made anything visible.

His eyes then set themselves on Hunt. “You’re a brave man,” Hunt said, a slither in his voice. All John could see was Hunt’s eyes. The rest of his face was the clown mask. John didn’t find the mask nearly as disturbing as Hunt himself.

John continued to try and move but couldn’t. “What have you done to me?” He asked; only his eyes and mouth remained mobile.

“We gave you a little medicine of ours, paralyzes the body from the head down but keeps other things functional, such as eyes, mouth, heart and other organs. It’s an extraordinary little drug,” Hunt explained, amused. “It’s especially useful for moments like this. I knew you would want to attack us when you woke up . We didn’t want that to happen.

“Why are you still fighting John? Why did you continue to search? After repeated hints you should’ve known better than to challenge me. Do you truly care about her that much? She’s just a woman. Surely she’s not worth all of the pain you’ve gone through so far. Why can’t you just let go?”

              “I refuse to,” John said defiantly.

              “Well, I’m afraid you have no choice.” Hunt reached down and lifted John’s lifeless right hand, which had John’s wedding ring on it. John couldn’t even feel him touching his hand, nor could he pull it away. He took John’s wedding ring off. John wanted to attack him. He wanted to rip him limb from limb but was unable to. All he could do was think it, which was completely useless.

              “There’s no point in fighting,” Hunt said. “You will lose. Whether you like it or not, she is mine now and there is nothing that you can do about it. I commend you for your efforts but you are going to have to realize that they will lead you to nothing but failure.”

              He then held John’s wedding ring in front of his eyes and John was powerless to reach for it. “Let this be my signal for you to give up,” Hunt said. “You won’t need this any longer. The drug will wear off after a certain amount of time. I’ll give you until the morning to make a decision, John. You can either leave and start a new life or you can try to fight again, in which case, you will die. It’s your choice. But let me warn you right now, if you choose to fight me John, by the of end it all, you will be begging to die.”

“Why not just kill me now?” John asked. The first option sounded very phony to him. He did not believe that Hunt would just let him simply walk away.

“I don’t like killing people, John,” Hunt replied. “At least, not with my own hands. Like I said, I commend your bravery and your efforts. I feel you deserve an option. You should be thanking me and thanking your lucky stars that I didn’t alter my decision.” Hunt got up and walked out of the cell. “Goodbye John. For your sake, I hope you choose the right decision.”

He walked out of the cell and closed the door. He and Sparks walked to the right; their feet echoed as if they were in a hallway. John then heard a door close in the distance.

John was left alone to lie there completely motionless. He tried to move but his limbs remained still and lifeless.

Only minutes after they left, John could hear other footsteps coming towards the cell. Soon, a small shadow appeared on the wall across from the cell. It only went up to the lock on the door, which was only a few feet tall. As the shadow got closer, it became more detailed; long hair and a dress formed in the shadow.

Soon enough, a figure walked in front of the cell; it still remained a shadowy figure in the dark lighting. “Don’t give up,” said a familiar voice. The little girl was there again.

This occurrence brought a certain question that John had to ask. “You aren’t real, are you?”

After asking that, the little girl remained quiet. She stepped forward and into the cell; as if the door didn’t even exist. She stared at John. Up to that point, the girl had stared at him in an innocent manner. The look was not the same this time. This was a much different look, of sorrow. Her striking eyes now became slightly red and watery.

“I am real…to you,” she said emotionally.

John merely gave a confused looked. “What do you mean?”

“You see me and that makes me real,” she said. This was starting to sound like some fairy tale. Her explanation sounded like it came out of some kids’ book. “I can’t really tell you who I am.”

“Your name is Carol, right?” John asked and the little girl nodded. “Why can’t you tell me?” John was still trying to move while he spoke. The drug was starting to wear off. His fingers were finally starting to twitch. “If you’re so real, then how is it you got in here without being noticed? How come you disappear so suddenly?” John had a million other questions but there was only one left that seemed to really matter. “Who are you?”

The little girl stared at him. John could actually feel her emotion through her eyes, yet she remained silent. Her foreboding eyes spoke so much but it wasn’t enough for him; he needed to hear the answer.

Suddenly, the little girl walked toward John and sat next to him. Her eyes never left his as she did so. “I really can’t tell you who I am. As much as I would love to, I just can’t. You wouldn’t understand now but by the end of this you will.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “I really wish I could tell you,” she said in a whisper. John wondered if she was saying this to him or to herself.

“Is there anything that you can tell me?” John asked.

The little girl continued to stare at him. “You need to save her,” she said, her expression becoming more serious. “The both of you need to stay alive.”

John’s gears switched towards Amber and he came to a horrifying realization. “That might be impossible. I don’t know how I’m going to save her.”