The Ensnared (6 page)

“I don’t want to hear it!”
Jennifer screeched. “Stop scaring me!”

Melissa saw her younger self
giggling helplessly.

“Oh, Jenny!” she saw herself
say. “It’s just a tale. Dragons are mythical creatures. They don’t live under
our beds waiting for us to fall asleep before they barbeque us and eat us up!”

“Stop!” Jennifer said and put
her hands on her ears as she cried helplessly.

Melissa saw herself stop laughing
and going over to hug her friend. Jennifer had just lost her elder sister in a
drowning accident and ever since then, Jennifer had always been scared of pretty
much everything. She had overheard her parents once say that Jennifer’s elder
sister had died right in front of her and that she had been unable to do
anything at that time because she had been too young and too scared.

“Don’t worry.” Melissa said. “I
won’t let anything ever hurt you.”

“You promise?” Jennifer sobbed.

“I promise.” Melissa said.

She opened her eyes then and stared
the ceiling. The theatre was getting darker and Melissa looked at her watch.
The sun was setting in the distance and that meant that she had fallen asleep
after all. She sat up on the couch and rubbed her temples, letting her headache
subside.

It was getting darker and she still
hadn’t come up with a plan to get out of here or search for her best friend-
the friend she had promised to look after.

“Where are you Jenny?” she asked
out loud. “Where could you be? You were right beside me!”

Had Rafe and Fiona taken her to the
other side in the city? Had they seen Mark approach from a distance and just
fled? But Jennifer would never leave her behind. No, something else had
happened. Her friends were probably still on that islet, hiding. She had to
find a way out of this trap and make her way back to the islet.

Just then, she heard the sound of
motorcycle engines rumbling right outside the theatre. She crawled towards the window
again and looked outside. The riders were out there again, wearing helmets. She
spotted one of them with a white bandage on his thigh and she guessed that he
was Mark.

She squinted as she spotted someone
else in the middle of the road. She shifted to the side to get a better view
and gasped.

It was her friends, huddled and
looking scared as the riders approached them.

“Jennifer.” Melissa whispered and
felt her breath being sucked away as Mark pointed a gun at her.

“You know what the best thing
about Mark is?” Melissa asked on the phone. She was cuddled up in her bed,
watching the rain and talking to Jennifer. She twirled a lock of hair in around
her finger as she stared at her reflection.

“What?” Jennifer asked with a
hint of disinterest in her voice.

“Mark makes me feel safe. It’s
like, when I’m with him, I feel like no one can ever harm me.”

She heard Jennifer sigh on the
other end and frowned. “I guess that’s what love should feel like, right? When
you know that no matter what, someone will always be there to protect you?”

Melissa blinked back her tears as
she gazed at the scene below her. It was amazing how her thoughts ran to that
very day she had been gloating about having Mark as her boyfriend and secretly
hoping that Jennifer was getting jealous since she didn’t have a boyfriend. It
was a malicious thought, but Melissa had truly believed that Mark had been the
one.

She hugged herself then and realized
that it was becoming cold again. Her first thought was that the air conditioning
inside the movie theatre had been switched on, but the fact that the glass
window was starting to fog up, proved otherwise. She placed her index finger on
the glass and winced as she felt how icy it was. She heard a small crack and
stepped back instinctively. It was getting so cold that the window was starting
to crack.

Melissa ran downstairs and looked
around her for something she could use as a weapon. She still hadn’t heard a
shot and that was a good thing. The bad thing was that she couldn’t make out
what was going outside. It was freezing inside and Melissa gasped for breath.
She had to get out of here before she froze to death, but without something to
use as a weapon, she would be mercilessly killed by the riders.

She didn’t have time to think and
she couldn’t stay in the theatre any longer. Her t-shirt and Capri’s barely
provided any warmth. The snack counter had nothing apart from candy bars and
stale sandwiches. There were no knives or lead pipes or anything.

Melissa could hear harsh tones from
outside and she struggled to hear the conversation between the riders and her
friends. It was then that she heard a shot and she could feel her heart
stopping momentarily. A chill raced through her and before she tried to
comprehend what was going on, her legs made the decision for her, and she
dashed out through the door.

“Jenny!” she cried. The riders and
her friends looked at her with startled gazes, but her eyes searched only for
Jennifer.

“Run away, Melissa!” Jennifer
sobbed. “Run, before they catch you.”

Melissa stared at her friend for
signs of gunshot wounds. When she didn’t spot any blood on her, she looked at
the riders. Even with their helmets over their heads, Melissa could sense their
anger.

“They’re not demons!” Melissa
yelled. “It’s Mark and his friends playing this horrific game with us!”

“You need to take care of this.”
She heard one of the riders mutter to the rider whom she supposed was Mark.

She saw the rider with a bandage on
his thigh, swing his leg over the bike and walking towards her. Her eyes
travelled to his hand and saw that he still held the gun tight in his grip.

“Run!” Jennifer screamed. Melissa
looked at her, her view blocked by the riders in front of her. She saw Fiona
and Rafe watching her with trepidation.

Mark started to come closer and
raised his arm. Melissa stared at the gun and felt her legs freeze up.

Run Melissa! Just run
, her
mind screamed. Melissa took a deep breath, turned around sharply and ran as
fast as she could.

“Melissa, stop!” Mark screamed at
her, but Melissa continued to run ahead. Her lungs burned and she could barely
breathe as the icy wind brushed her face, but her legs carried her forward
speedily. A few feet away was the fence, so that meant that she would have to
find a hiding spot somewhere inside these buildings. She considered running
towards the theatre and then realized that it was behind her. She looked at the
shop in front of her, paused and turned around to see only dark shapes behind
her as the fog enveloped her. She was about to walk into the shop when someone
yanked her by the arm.

Melissa let out a scream and lost
her balance. The figure before her pulled her up roughly and before she could
utter another scream, a cold hand was placed over her mouth.

“Who are you and what are you doing
here?” someone asked in a gruff voice.

Melissa started to see dark clouds
in front of her eyes and she found herself unable to breathe properly. She
struggled with the person in front of her. It wasn’t Mark by the sound of his
voice, so it was probably was one of his friends. She tried pushing away the
hand, but the person wouldn’t budge.

“Who are you?” he demanded to know.

Melissa swung her leg back and
kicked him as hard as she could on his leg. She tried to run, but instead
collapsed on the ground when she was out of breath after running so hard. She
was pulled back roughly again and the person in front of her grabbed her by the
shoulders and pinned her on the wall.

“Who are you and how did you get
here?” he asked again and switched on his flashlight and pointed it to her
face.

Melissa blinked as the light hit
her eyes and she groaned, but just as he started to put his flashlight away,
she caught a glimpse of his face.

“Keith?” she asked in bewilderment.

Keith lowered his flashlight so
that they could both look at each other. “Yes. Do I know you?”

“I thought you were one of them.”
Keith said and pointed his flashlight towards the fence in front of them.

Melissa opened her mouth to say
something and realized she didn’t know what to say. He had been shot by the
police and fallen into the lagoon. It had been to dark last night so they
hadn’t been able to identify each other which explained why he couldn’t recognize
her, but that gave him no right to hurt her like this. As these thoughts raced
through her mind, Keith had already turned his attention elsewhere and was
starting to move away from her.

“We met last night.” Melissa
explained and followed the light. “I’m...I mean I used to know Fiona.”

“Uh-huh.” Keith said distractedly
and examined the large fence in front of him.

Melissa tried to look for a gunshot
wound or blood on him and found none in the dim light. “How did you survive?”

Keith looked at her with
puzzlement. “No idea. One minute I was somewhere else, the next; I wake up and
find myself in a basement.”

“The cop shot you.” Melissa said,
rubbing her arm and wondered if it was just a bruise or a sprain.

“I have no idea what you’re talking
about.” Keith said and turned around. He shone the flashlight all over the
boutique and a cafe and frowned.

Melissa winced as her hands touched
a small bump on her forearm. Keith was probably still in shock, so it was wise
to not agitate him.

“Are you okay?” Keith asked.

“You practically beat me up.”
Melissa complained.

“I’m sorry, but I really thought
you were one of them.” Keith said.

“Who? The Demons?” Melissa asked.
“Because even though you couldn’t see, you must have sensed that I wasn’t one!”

“I’m not talking about them.” Keith
said and entered the cafe.

Melissa quickly followed him inside
and took a deep breath. The cafe hadn’t been abandoned; the chairs and tables
were still set neatly, and no menu cards were strewn on the floor. The cafe
smelled faintly of coffee and Melissa wished she could have a hot cup in her
hands right now. It was even colder than it had been last night and she was
cold, tired and hungry.

“Who are you talking about?” Melissa
asked and pulled off a table cloth from the table. Everything on the table fell
on the floor with a loud clatter, but she didn’t care much for it. After what
the city folk had done to her and her friends, she didn’t care if she tore down
the whole place with her bare hands. She wrapped the tablecloth around her and
shivered.

“Shhh!” Keith said and peered out the
window. “Keep it down.”

“If they hurt Jenny, I will hunt
them down and...”Melissa said and wiped away at her eyes. How could she hurt
Mark? She thought she had been over him, but seeing him brought painful
memories. He was a murderer and she still had feelings for him. What was wrong
with her?

“Yeah, yeah.” Keith said and closed
the curtains. “We have to make sure they don’t find us.”

“I think we should stop hiding and
face them. There has to be a way out of this and if it means that we have to
kill them...then I think it’s all right.” Melissa said through gritted teeth.

“You can’t kill demons.” Keith said
and opened a door which Melissa thought was just a supply room. She came up
behind Keith and saw a staircase leading upstairs.

“They got you too, huh?” Melissa
said and pulled out another table cloth. It was getting colder somehow and her
limbs ached. She heard the small vase shatter on the floor and jumped. What she
really wanted to do was throw the tables all over and go on a rampage. Apart
from the fact that it would help her vent out her anger, the action would also
generate enough heat in her body to warm her.

“Can’t you just shut up?” Keith
asked angrily. Melissa stepped back.“We’re in big trouble here. If they catch
us, they’ll turn us into one of them!”

Before Melissa could stop herself,
her hand slapped Keith right across his face.

She saw the look of surprise on
Keith’s face and imagined herself being beaten into a pulp by Keith. He was
taller than her and his arms were thick and muscular. Considering what happened
a few minutes ago, Keith didn’t seem like the person who would think twice
before hitting anyone. Keith was way too aggressive and impulsive for him to
see reason.

“I...”Melissa started to say. “You
need to snap out of it. “They’re not demons. It’s all a hoax to terrorize the
people in the city. I don’t know what ulterior motive they could possibly
have...”

Keith ignored her and walked up the
stairs. Melissa tapped on the door and then followed him reluctantly. After
climbing fifty stairs, Keith opened up the door in front of him and Melissa
felt a wave of cold air blanket her.

“There’s a terrace?” she asked.