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Our poor victim's cries fill the dark basement I've called my home for five months now. How no one misses me is beyond me. It's a month into the school year, and no one has come looking for me. At all. I figured my mom wouldn't care. He probably has her so drugged up that she's compliant. So she doesn't give a shit. Not that she would. But I thought maybe... maybe someone else would wonder where I've been. Or where Sunny is. I swallow hard, my heart aching for my sister.
"Now, Eugene. We can do this the easy way. Tell me what I want to know, and then I'll end your suffering. Don't tell me what you know, then I'll make you suffer longer. And so will she. She's learning the ropes." My monster flashes me an evil grin, highlighting his dark eyes and chiseled face. He could give the devil a run for his money.
Eugene stares me up and down with wide eyes, blanching when he sees the blood staining my fingers. His blood. Fuck. I try to ignore the crimson on my hands. I try to ignore the warmth spreading across my flesh from the wound I was forced to inflict on him. Numbness tingles inside me. The real Journey buries herself deep in my mind, fleeing from this situation. It’s something I learned from the last time.
If Eugene would just spill his guts, then I would not have to be here. I want to be anywhere but here. Anywhere other than in this room. Give me the cage I'm forced to stay in over this.
"I didn't..."
"You didn't do anything or know anything? Is that why a certain little snake had some interesting things to tell me?" My monster's eyes dart to me, grinning with pride at how I successfully followed Eugene undetected, hid out in his office, and found the information I needed without being caught. At night, I snuck out with video proof, pictures, and an array of files the good lawyer liked to keep unlocked in his office. "Go ahead, Little Snake. Go a rib down."
I swallow hard at his instruction. My brain yells at me to stop. My feet want to move through the door as my stomach turns, threatening to send more vomit up my throat. But I know what will happen if I don't do as he asks—terrible pain like I've suffered before at the hands of the man teaching me to torture. Just like Eugene is suffering through, I'll suffer worse. No food or water. He'll shut off the lights and leave me to rot until he thinks I've learned my lesson.
My only reprieve is when the music starts above me as I sit in my cage. It quietly whines and weaves its way through the ceiling, wrapping around me like a comforter. It’s the only noise that permeates through the walls, killing the silence that sets me on edge.
Without an ounce of hesitation, I shut myself off, becoming a different person. The whine of the violin plays in my mind, locking me away with peace and comfort. I become the type of individual who enjoys torturing, maiming, and murdering as a pastime. Because if I remain Journey, my soul will blacken to the deepest depths of evil. Something I didn’t have before I was taken. I’ll let the darkness that peeks through, aching to take over, completely consume me. It’s something I don't want to give my monster the satisfaction of having. He can make me do whatever he wants. But he’ll never strip me of my emotions. Ever. Even though he’s the cause of the evil rising inside me.
"Good girl," my monster breathes when I press the blade through the man's ribs.
His screams fill the room again. "Okay!" he shouts, trying to bat me away.
"Okay?" my monster says with a smug smirk. "Go on..." He waves a hand, watching Eugene with a keen eye, never taking them off him.
I suck in a breath when I pull the blade from his ribs, making him scream again. Full sobs wrack his body when he finally breaks down, divulging all the information my monster so desperately wanted. Numbness fills me for the first time when I step back, letting the knife hang limply from my fingers.
I've stabbed a man and killed him to save my sister's virtue and mine. And now, I'm stabbing this stranger for daring to side with my monster's enemy. He’s not the first. Definitely, not the last, either. Is this my future? Is blood and death and destruction my life now?
"Shadow..." Eugene’s voice trails off, and he shakes his head. "I don't know his real name. He only contacts me from untraceable phones."
The man rears back when my monster unleashes a fury of fists on his face and sticks his fingers directly into his bleeding wounds.
"His name! I need his goddamn name!" he shouts, making my body stiffen.
"Don't know," the man chokes out, slumping to his side and stills, falling into the darkness death brings.
My monster's back heaves wildly as he stands above the man we killed together, trying to extract the name of his nemesis moving in on his people.
"For months, this Shadow fucker has been intruding on my town, bringing his filth into my goddamn city! I will ruin anyone who associates with him. Decimate anyone who thinks of teaming up with him and coming into my goddamn city!" He roars every word, throwing his fists into the corpse over and over again until blood splatters all over us.
Vomit rests in my throat when he turns his attention back to me with a sadistic smile. "What a good little snake you are, huh?" he coos, marching toward me and wrapping his bloodied hand around my throat. "Excellent work," he says, squeezing lightly against my neck. "You've earned a reward." Without another word, he holds up his phone, presses a few buttons and turns it toward me.
Tears spill down my cheeks when my little sister Sunny's bright face fills the picture. It’s been months since he took her, too. Keeping her captive without telling me where she was. All he could say was, she’s fine, and she’ll remain fine as long as I’m a good little girl. Her cheeks aren't as swollen as they once were, and bright color fills her face. She looks alive, rather than half dead, like before when I was fighting to get her to the doctors and have someone listen.
"Sunny," I rasp, furrowing my brows when her face turns down.
Her bright eyes run the length of my face, fluttering toward my chest. My heart sinks. It's only then that I realize I'm covered in another man's blood. Something I can’t explain to her in her fragile state. It’s all for you—I want to say. But I stick to something easier. Something I’ve been desperate to ask since she left my sight the night I murdered the man taking advantage of her.
"You okay?"
She nods. "Better," her tiny voice rings through the video call with concern. Her mouth opens again, but nothing comes out.
My heart shatters in two when her face fades into nothing. She's disappeared again. In her stead is a black screen of nothing, much like my fucking soul right now. I needed more time. I crave to touch her, talk to her, and find her.
My monster must see the anger lining my face when he smirks.
"She's getting the hospitalization she needs. But only if you continue on this path, Little Snake. Be a good girl. Do as I say, and you'll be reunited with your sister." He pats my head like a dog and then grabs my arm forcefully, throwing me back into my cage with blood staining my skin.
It's on the tip of my tongue to beg for answers to my questions. How long will I be here? How long will Sunny be his other prisoner? When will I get to reunite with her? But it all slips away when the lights fade in my prison, and I’m left in the hole he’s dug for me. Sounds escape from the other rooms around me. Moans. Groans. Screams for help. A chainsaw comes to life somewhere in the distance, leaving me to sleep with the sounds of other people dying.
