Silence is Key



She opened her eyes. Although, that didn’t do much of a help. It was dark all around, she couldn’t see anything. She looked at sides, trying to understand where she was and what happened. Her head ached, she couldn’t think. Just then a quick memory flashed by: she saw how she had been hit in the head with something hard. She fell unconscious once again…

When she came back, the headache was gone. Still, everything before her eyes was a blur. She tried to rub her eyes but couldn’t move her hands. She pulled them forward, trying to see what was wrong, and heard metal hit metal, creating a shuffling sound. Just then she realized that her hands were chained to the walls at her sides. She noticed that she was sitting on her butt with her legs spread out, and felt with her back that the walls at her sides created an angle behind her back, so she was sitting in a corner of this dark room. Neither could she move her legs because they were chained as well. Suddenly a repugnant odor entered her nose. It made her sick. Then she felt something cold under her. She touched the floor and her fingers dipped in a liquid. She shivered. She leaned her head down to her fingers to smell the liquid and figured out it was blood due to its sharp smell. Maybe her blood. Panic filled her. She had to vomit, after which she fell unconscious.

“See ya, Kacy,” Mandy said, kissed Kacy on the cheek, and left the restaurant. She and Kacy became best friends forever since she started to work as a waiter in the restaurant. Mandy was headed home now, but she had to check in a supermarket first. She pressed the button on the keys to unlock her Ford SUV and sat behind the wheel. She tossed the bag with her clothes on the back seat and put her purse on the passenger seat. She started the car, shifted it into reverse, and drove out of the parking lot. She turned in the direction of the west and drove straight for half an hour, then turned right to park in the supermarket’s lot. She went in to do shopping. When she came out it was already dark outside. Her wristwatch read 20:27. She walked to the spot where she had parked only to find out that the car was no longer there. And that was all before she was hit with a metal pipe.

Mandy was getting really frightened now. First, she wanted to get the hell out of here and go back home. Second, she wanted some answers. Third, the darkness, the silence, the sick odors, and the memory flashes were driving her crazy. Also, the fact that she was covered in her own vomit wasn’t pleasant at all. She couldn’t stand any longer. She screamed, “HEY! IS ANYONE HERE?” Silence. She screamed again, “ANYBODY? HELP!” Suddenly the light turned on and it was so bright that it made Mandy squint and lower her head to not go blind. “Hello, Mandy,” a strong male voice said from somewhere above. Mandy quickly looked up, eyes still squinted, to see who was there but didn’t see anyone. The light was too bright. She wanted to cover her face with her hands but couldn’t because she was chained. She wished it was dark again. She hung her head back down. “Wh…Who is it?” she managed to say. “Oh God, please help me!” No answer. Tears filled in her eyes. “Help!” She couldn’t help it, she cried. “Pleeeeease!” Tears helplessly shed down her face. She weeped for a while and finally stopped when she calmed down. She couldn’t believe where she was. She wanted to go back home. To her lovely fiancé. BUT WAIT! That’s right, her fiancé! She ran her hand into the pocket of her jeans to get her cellphone out and call him. Only there was no pocket, and there were no jeans. Instead she was wearing and old, worn gray dress. She was puzzled. However, the confusion wiped off when she looked in front of her and saw a girl in another corner. She was chained as well and she had a blood pool underneath her. She was naked. And she was dead. One of her eyes was completely white and the other had a round metal ring pushed through it. A long slash run across her side above the waist. That side and the upper part of her right leg were covered in dried blood. Mandy managed to lift up her new dress with her hands. Fortunately, the chains were long enough for that. She saw the same cut across her waist and the dried blood. She became aware of the pain and shrieked, and quickly pulled her dress back down. She was scared. She told herself to be strong and not panic. That was the worst that could happen. She looked back at the poor girl, sitting there with her head hanging on her shoulders, life drenched out of her. Mandy imagined her future in the same way, left here forever and rotting. She scared herself and hurriedly shook that fantasy off. The girl looked to be murdered not long ago, maybe recently. Her hair and skin looked fresh and there was no smell of decomposing. Mandy didn’t want to see her body anymore, so she looked away. Time passed bit by bit. Mandy was tired. She thought about her fiancé, their marriage and future relationship, about her mom, about Kacy. Those were the people close to her, but an end was put. An end to her dreams, an end to everything. Lights went off. Mandy looked up in the darkness. She heard bolts unlock and a door opened. Some glow cast in. A dark human figure stepped in. He was wearing a black suit. He turned in Mandy’s direction and started walking. She couldn’t see his face, even as he came closer. She tried to pull her knees up to make herself into a ball, but the chains wouldn’t allow. He was getting closer. She had to do something. But what? She told herself that silence was key. She tried to stay calm and not open her mouth. But then she saw a metal ring in his hand. Terror stepped in. Silence is key, silence is key, silence is key, she kept repeating to herself. No, she couldn’t help it. She screamed, “Leave me alone, you sick son of a bitch!” The man in black started to walk faster and in no time was standing in front of her. Mandy looked up at him. She still couldn’t make out his face. He lifted his hand with the ring, put his finger in it and circled it around. He liked to play with it for his mouth turned into a grin. He was ready. Mandy knew what was going to happen and pleaded: “No, no, no, no, no, no.” She screamed the last no out loud, “NOOOOOOO!” Before he shoved the metal ring in her eye, she realized that this was the man who kidnapped her.

Mandy opened her eye. She closed it in a second. She didn’t want to see any more of this place. She realized that her mouth was dropped open but she didn’t care to close it, or she just couldn’t. She wanted peace. But she knew there was no way she would leave this room, not alive, anyway.