Paradise Island: Complete Edition (12 page)

I did as he told me, and at first I saw nothing, but when I looked closer, I saw that Lucy indeed was in one of the boat shells. Her mouth was taped over and she was tied up. A million things went through my mind, but I could not decide what my next move was. Henry was far enough away from her that if Jack was there, he could take over Henry while I helped Lucy. But Jack wasn’t there. He was probably still waiting for my signal.

“In case you’re thinking of trying anything, or in case your boyfriend shows up, I’ve got this little puppy,” Henry said and lifted one hand. A small flame appeared. He had a lighter. But why...?

“There’s a line of gasoline going from me to your little friend. I’ve attached a couple of explosives onto her, so if you try anything, she’ll be dead. Do you understand, Sophie? I really hate repeating myself.”

“I understand,” I said, trying to sound like I wasn’t scared, but probably failing miserably.

“Now make your way over here and I’ll throw this lighter way across the room and we can be on our merry way. How does that sound, darlin’?”

“You’re sick, Henry. You need help, you know that?”

“I’ve been told that a couple of times. Sadly, the women who uttered those words are no longer with us. I don’t suppose you want to join them?”

I made my way slowly over to his side despite all of my body’s alarm bells going off. I knew what I was doing was not good for me, but I had to save Lucy. I prayed that Jack would just show up already, but as I made my way to Henry, I knew I would probably never see Jack again.

“Stop,” Henry said when I was a couple of feet away.

“Throw away your pepper spray. I know you have it on you.”

He was right. I reached in my pocket and showed it to him. His flashlight shone on it and he saw it fly as I swung it far away. Before I could use that momentary distraction, his eyes were on me again.

“Come on, Sophie, we haven’t all night, unless you’re in the mood for a barbeque.”

I sighed and made my way to his side, and just then I saw Jack appear in the doorway. Sadly, not the one behind us, but the one I had come in through.

“It’s over Henry,” Jack said, pointing the gun at him like a pro. “Let them go and you might live to see the sun rise tomorrow. Make a move and you’re fucking dead.”

Before I knew what had happened, I had a very cold, sharp blade to my throat and Henry’s laughter made my ears ring.

“Stay where you are lover boy, unless you want your lady to bleed out right here and now.”

Jack did not move, but he didn’t lower his weapon either.

I heard the sickening sound as I heard Henry light his lighter and throw it on the ground. I watched in horror as the line of gasoline caught fire and lit its way towards Lucy, who I couldn’t see because of the sudden light that burned through my eyes. “Lucy!” I yelled out. “She’s in the boat!”

Those were my last words and soon I heard the explosion. I did not know who was where, or if Jack got hurt or not. All I knew was that most of the boathouse was in flames, and I still had a knife to my throat. Somehow, Henry had managed to drag me away before the worst could happen. He held me really close and hissed in my ear: “Time for the fun to start, you little bitch.”

After that there was only darkness.

I
woke up groggy and with a huge headache. The back of my head throbbed to the rhythm of my heartbeat, which was normal at first, but when I took in the surroundings, only became quicker and more alarmed.

“What the hell...” I tried to get up but my hands and feet were tied. I took another look around and confirmed that I was indeed on the inside of a boat or yacht or whatever the hell it was called. I saw a small opening above me, but I was so far below I could not see what the view showed.

I tried to use all my strength to get up to a semi upright position, but I just ended up falling on the ground again. I prayed that Henry didn’t get rid of that sharp little knife I had hidden in my boot, courtesy of Jack, “just in case,” he said, and now I was more than thankful for his foresight. The only trouble was, since my hands and my feet were tied, I couldn’t get the two together. One of them had to be untied first, which only meant one thing: I had to wait for Henry to make his appearance. That thought only made my heart beat faster, until it felt like it was going to burst. I thought how ridiculous it would be if I died of a heart attack before Henry had a chance to kill me.
That might piss him off at least
, I thought and smiled.

But enough of that. I needed to focus on survival. I looked around the boat, which was pretty well-lit thanks to some lights on the ceiling. Nothing jumped out at me. Some rope and tape was in the corner, but I already knew he had those on him thanks to my condition. At least he was nice enough not to tape my mouth shut. But since we were on a boat on our way to God knows where, he didn’t really need me to keep quiet. I refrained from my desire to scream for help, because I knew it wouldn’t do much good. It would only make Henry come down faster, which is something I definitely wasn’t looking forward to.

I made myself familiar with my surroundings and thought about how I could use them. If I did overpower Henry, the only problem I had before me was driving the damn boat. I couldn’t even drive a car, so that was going to be fun.

I thought instead about what exactly had happened at the boat house. It took Jack quite a long time to realize I was in danger, or maybe it only seemed that way. Time seems to stretch for infinity when your life is in danger. I knew that all too well from my previous experiences, and not just the ones I had on the shores of this island. After Henry had me in his grip, he spouted some nonsense and lit the gasoline line he had pointed out earlier, and then a huge explosion took place as Henry dragged me out. Was Jack okay, I wondered? What if he had died in the explosion. The thought of it was almost unbearable. And what about Lucy? How far would this maniac go to hurt me, and why was he doing it in the first place?

I felt the boat make a stop and I feared what would happen next. I waited what seemed like forever for Henry to walk down those steps, and eventually he did.

“We’re here, Sophie. Time for the real fun to start!”

He held a blade in his hand as he approached me.

I opened my mouth to scream but he only smiled. “Don’t worry, Sophie, it’s only for the rope. I’d never hurt you. I love you, and I hope once you get to know me, you’ll love me too.”

He approached me and knelt down to where I was lying. With one quick cut, he set my legs free. I refrained from kicking him in the face right then and there and held in my rage. I was only thankful that now I finally had a chance to get to a knife of my own. Of course, I couldn’t do it with him watching, and he didn’t seem too keen on leaving me down here anymore. He lifted me quickly with one arm, surprisingly strong for his lean figure.

Once I was in an upright position, my hands still tied behind my back, he let me go slowly.

“Now, if you try anything...” he started to say. “I really hope I don’t have to finish that sentence.”

I nodded.

“Good girl. Of course, you can scream all you want to, but we’re in the middle of nowhere so that won’t be of much use. Anywho, stay right there until I tell you you can move, okay?”

I nodded again.

I watched as he ascended the steps and disappeared from view. Then I heard his chilling voice tell me to do the same. I slowly walked up, careful not to fall, trying to reassure myself that he wasn’t going to kill me when I reached the top. It seemed like he had far more plans for me than that.

Once I was up, he stood behind me and took hold of my arm, while his other hand clearly showed the knife, ready to strike at any moment. I breathed in deep and did as I was told. It seemed like we were still on the island, but maybe on the other side. There wasn’t much to see in this part except for some trees and a cottage in the woods. It looked pretty rough, but as I made my way closer, I saw that all the windows were very well secured. There would be no glass breaking and escaping from this place.

Henry pushed me to one side and told me to hold still while he unlocked the front door, which seemed quite heavy and hard to penetrate as well.

I looked around. It was still dark outside, though dawn didn’t seem too far away. I thought about running for my life but quickly let go of the idea. I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be the first to try, and I felt a sickening premonition of what would happen if I did. Henry running after me, catching up, and slitting my throat right then and there. Perhaps my imagination was running away from me, but it didn’t seem like an impossibility.

Once the door was good and ready, Henry took up my arm again and pushed me inside. It was dark and sooty, but soon the lights were on and it seemed tidy enough, if overly small.

“I’ll be with you shortly,” he said as he pushed me into a dark room with only a mattress on the floor, otherwise it was completely empty. I fell on the mattress and looked up at him. He smiled and closed the door and I was in pitch darkness. While I was afraid of a lot of things, darkness wasn’t one of them. I didn’t particularly like it, but I didn’t fear it either. But there was something different about the darkness in this room. About the mattress beneath me. There was an air of suffering and despair here that was hard to ignore. Every hair on my body stood up in alarm: this wasn’t the kind of place I wanted to be, much less die in. Time to get to work before that sick bastard came back and showed me what exactly he was made of.

I had a powerful urge to get off the mattress, but I knew it was more practical than the cold, hard floor in the rest of the room. I stretched my legs behind my back to my hands and reached out with my hands as low as they could go. I was still a few inches from touching my boots. I breathed in and tried again and again until a terrible feeling of hopelessness overtook me and tears started to form in my eyes. I wanted to scream in frustration but knew better than to make too much noise in the presence of such a monster.

I breathed in and exhaled all the air out and tried again, keeping as calm and collected as possible, and this time I did reach my boots. I smiled and tried again until I could hold on to them for a good amount of time. I felt my way on the right booth until I felt the zipper. I slowly unzipped it and let go only when my fingers had hold of the small blade. I wanted to celebrate, but held back my excitement. This was only part one of my escape plan. Now I needed to work on cutting myself free, which I hoped would be quicker than me getting hold of the damn knife.

I turned the knife around in my hands carefully but it still managed to slip from my grasp. I searched frantically in the dark, touching that nasty mattress until I finally had it in my possession again. This time I made sure to hold it the right way and much tighter than before. I started to make cutting motions where the rope was. It seemed like nothing was happening, and I wanted to give up in frustration, but this was my only chance at survival, and I’d be damned if I was going to give up now. I kept cutting and cutting, until finally a thread or two gave way. This only urged me forward and I kept cutting more vigorously, hot tears streaming down my face. Finally, I had a chance to be free, and I wasn’t going to waste it. Just as I really got into the task I heard footsteps coming closer and closer.

I immediately stopped the cutting motion and laid on my back, to hide the knife. The light was blinding as the door opened and I had to close my eyes.

Once they adjusted to the new source of light, I opened them and saw Henry standing above me, observing me without saying anything.

“Please, Henry, you don’t have to do this,” I pleaded with him, all the while thinking that I was so damn close to getting free from my restraints. And then the little weasel was going to get a hell of trouble.

“Shh, Sophie. It’s better if you don’t say anything for now.”

Henry continued to observe me and I wanted so hard to kick him in the legs and bring him down to my level, but that would only be useful if I had a knife in my free hands to use to defend myself.

I closed my eyes again, fearing the worst, but then Henry started to speak instead. “Why are you fighting this, Sophie? Don’t you know we belong together?”

I thought about cursing him out and calling him all the horrible things he really was, but I decided to play along instead to buy me some time. If I needed to lie through my teeth to get alive out of this, I would.

“Henry, I knew you were different from the moment I saw you,” I said slowly, gauging his reaction. I could not see the expression on his face because of the light behind him, which turned the rest of him into a shade. I improvised, pretending that I was in a movie. I was going to play a character who was getting alive out of this. “You were different, just like me,” I said and slowly, I got up on my knees, and then on my feet. I kept my distance but I faced Henry, who was awfully quiet. “I’m going to tell you a story, Henry, one that no one else has heard. Do you want to hear it?”

Henry nodded, the blade still in his hand. I continued to speak, as I continued to cut away at the rope that kept me incapacitated. I used my voice so that Henry would focus on my face, not on what was going on out of sight. It helped that it was mostly dark in the room.

“There once was a girl called Sophie and she was happy. But then a man they called Crow appeared, and she was no longer happy. Her father had died when she was still a baby, so it was just her and her mother for eight years. Times were hard, but Sophie thought that she had all she needed in this world. A mother who loved her. Her books. Her friends in school. But then her mother lost her way, and a man named Crow offered to help her find her way. You see, Sophie’s mother was very sad most of the time, and the death of her husband didn’t help. She had to work two jobs to support herself and her daughter, but after years and years of this, she finally broke down. Crow offered to help. Crow was a leader and he had many followers. So Mother took Sophie to a place far away from everything she knew, all so she could follow the path Crow had laid out before her. Sophie was scared, but she didn’t realize how bad things were going to get. A change of schools and loss of familiarity were her two biggest concerns. She did not know what laid ahead, if she did, she might have spared herself the pain.