Trapped: Part Two
My eyes fluttered open, trying to understand the confusion of where I was. Suddenly my body jolted, and was hit back down on the table I was lying on. I looked down my body, which was tightly strapped and buckled to the table. Sweat started to cry down my forehead, and my breathing was laboured, as the daunting realisation that I was trapped hit me. A whimper escaped my lips, as I tried and yet again failed to break away from the leather buckles grasp.
Okay, just figure out where you are. Don’t panic, I repeated to myself in an attempt to calm my shuddering nerves.
“Roxy, Roxy, Roxy. You should know by now, that running is no good. You always get caught in the end. Just don’t try to escape again; you’re here for your own good...” The raspy voice taunted my nightmares, it swirled into my subconscious, scaring all of my thoughts, forcing my control out the back door.
You always get caught in the end. What did that mean? I’d never seen him before in my life.
“Get me out of here. Who are you? What do you want? Where am I? When...”
“Questions, questions, Roxy, all of which will soon be answered...” and with that he crept out of the room, turning all the lights off as he went, leaving me to fall into a restless sleep...
My heart was racing with excitement, as I hurried towards the town centre. I looked down at the piece of paper, with the directions he had given me. Turn right at the bus stop, and then go straight down the dusty path... the words read in his neat, curled hand-writing. After five minutes, you should come across a sign post that reads ‘Do Not Enter’. But don’t worry about that, it’s just scaring little kids off. It’s perfectly safe where I’m taking you. Then you should come across the warehouse.
I looked up at the towering, crumbling warehouse. Its empowering presence was taunting my thoughts; its dusty and ash covered windows leered at me as I walked down the path, leading to the front door. I looked down at the door-knob. Unlike the rest of the warehouse, it was polished and perfectly formed in the shape of a skull. Its gleaming gold hollow sockets were reflecting the last of the sunlit rays, compelling me to squint when the light hit my eyes. I wiped the sweat from my forehead, took a deep breath and forced my lips to smile. I reached for the skull and pushed the door open. The door slammed shut behind me. A frightened gasp escaped into the echoing room, as my chest tightened as something told me to ‘get out’. Suddenly shadows were chasing me, enveloping me in their power, crushing my bones, forcing a hollow scream to escape my trapped body...
“Roxy, stop screaming. Please stop screaming!” My catcher’s voice came from behind me. I looked around as my eyes adjusted to the searing light. There were five people on the floor, covering their ears, as agony flowed across their features.
“Thank you. Now please, don’t scream again. There’s nothing to be scared of.”
“Why should I?” I questioned as everyone got back onto their feet, their faces now in an eerie state of calm and composure.
“Well...there’s no reason to be screaming. It causes unnecessary panic and pain... uh, no I mean un-settlement.” He corrected himself.
Suddenly, he didn’t look scary to me anymore. The other helpers carried on staring in their calm way, apart from one of the younger ones. My eyes focused onto a drop of sweat that was threatening to drop from his cheek, as his lips started to tremble. I couldn’t stop a smirk playing on my face, as realisation hit me. I opened my mouth and let out a piercing scream, sending shockwaves through the room, causing everyone to collapse in anguish on the floor.
“Please stop. Okay, we’ll tell you what’s going on!” My catcher screamed from the floor.
“It had better be the whole truth, or I’ll...I’ll scream again!” I warned him.
“Okay, well basically Roxy...you’re dangerous. You need to be confined. But you see the thing is you always keep escaping. Ever since you were born, you’ve been special Roxy, and you need to be kept safe, here, with us. You see, we’re not the dangerous ones... you are.” He spoke the words carefully, as if preventing a feeling of tension from the room, or from me. I stared in silence as his words sank in.
“I’ve been here before?” I questioned.
“Many times. You see, somehow you always manage to forget that we’re the good guys and then you escape into a world which will hurt you Roxy, so please don’t do anything that you may regret.”
I looked around the room, at the faces that once looked intimidating, and now looked soft and twitchy, like a bunch of teddy bears were sitting and talking to me, instead of sinister people who protected me from the outside world. I looked down at my lap, thoughts swirling round my head. Do I trust them? Follow them? Are they enemies? Are they really here to help?
But just as I was swaying to their side, I caught a spark of something that I didn’t like. The younger man was now smirking and looking at me evilly. In that instant I knew I had to get out. I jumped up and ran to the door. The man, noticing my movement ran to get me, but I screamed as loud as I could, and ran from the room into the outside world...free.
Or so I hoped…
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IMAGE: Rope Knot by Ian Cuthbertson
