The bars interrupt the piercing beauty of the stars, in their glorious array above the black of night. Far away, there are screams. A hideous, evil echo of laughter soon replaces the shrieks. Curled up, I cannot comfort myself at all. I cry as I reminisce of hearing it close up. Clink. Clank. Chang. I lean back against the wall and the chains scrape my wrists and ankles. Pain flows renewed through my body, as if my blood was tainted, nearly replaced by poison. I curl up against the cold concrete of the cell. The door opens after I hear the lock release. Why is my solitude being broken? I close my eyes hoping to close out them, the cell, the pain� After what seems forever, in reality most likely only a minute passed, the door is shut and re-locked. Wait, they didn�t take me away, so why else did they open the door? Did they leave something? Someone? Why am I here�? Eyes closed, I wait for an eternity before I hear anything else. I hear chains moving, even though I am as still as a statue. My eyes snap open and I move to look where it is coming from, and when I do see the cause of the noise, I blink and pinch myself in disbelief. Not only was I no longer alone, gosh how I hate that feeling, but it was� Well, what should I call him, what is the name for someone like that? I have had an off and on crush on him for nearly four years. I mean I had even asked him to prom� Gosh, why did he have to be so good at music? Not only was he visiting a college band director that weekend, he was out of town my last week of school and graduation. So what he was playing lead saxophone in a national ensemble of high school and college kids? On and it was at Carnegie Hall too. Didn�t he know that he shouldn�t be so good? I missed him so much. It left an aching emptiness, looking for him in the hall those last days of school, and him not being there. Such longing for him, wishing he were back� �John�� I whisper, not really wanting him to hear me. Why do bad things constantly happen to me? I mean, isn�t it enough that three friends and I were dragged off to a desolate part of the Boundary Waters? No, John and I have to be kidnapped and tortured by another psycho, and it�s not even the same John this time! Gosh my life is so great. Pain is almost all that I can remember: the pain of the giant scar on my wrist healing from the infection, the pain of reliving and re-experiencing the captivity again and again, in Therapy and dreams, the pain as Ben and I broke it off� �John!� I shout, trying to forget the pain; past and present. I want to get up and move to him but my body does not cooperate. �Not like I could go to him before all that has happened.� I close my eyes� �Why am I such a failure?� �You�re� n-not.� I wake up and see that John has moved, next to me and is trying to hug me but the chains prevent it. As I look over into his face, I feel hope as I have not for quite a while� �What�s going to happen to us? I�m so scared� if they�if he� again�� I cannot stop the tears. �Don�t freak out now. Worrying about it isn�t going to help. Thinking, thinking logically and calmly about it, on the other hand, might,� he pauses. �Don�t lost heart now Becky, it�s what will keep us going.� He grabs my hands in his and sits next to me. I lean on him. The tears slow but I cannot stop them until the fear as a guard calls from the door� �Hey girl, come here or we shall have to kill you both, you and your boyfriend. Now! Don�t tempt me! You know I�m serious! Move it!� I feel the color drain from my face. Before I obey him fully, I squeeze Jeff�s hands and kiss him quickly before standing up. In that moment, I feel the pain go away for the first time in a long while... |
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