When she went to bed that night, she was in her bed but couldn’t get warm, her body ached, she was so exhausted and her eyes burned from all the tears.
But when she opened her eyes this morning; a beautiful sun and soul-warming heat welcomed her.
Directly in front of her was the most glorious beach she had ever seen in her life, no picture of “paradise vacation” could ever top this view. The water shone and glistened like it was made of diamonds and turquoise crystals, the sand was the most stunning of white and gold. It basically begged you to stretch out on it and feel it between your hands and toes.
The sky was the most perfect of clear blue, just looking at it and all you wanted was to sprout wings and soar through.
Looking either way down the beach was just postcard perfection, the beautiful fruit and flower trees along the one side and that gorgeous ocean on the other.
Turning her attention to herself, she saw freshly manicured toes and sun-kissed skin, like she’d been here for days rather than just waking up here. Her body was wrapped in the most comfortable of material in the shape of a flowing long skirt and the whitest of bikini tops. There was a golden anklet on her right ankle, two rings on her right hand and one on her left. Two necklaces where around her neck, one that reached all the way to her belly button and hanging on it was a small feather and a clear quartz crystal. The other necklace was a delicate lace choker.
Her caramel hair, which was usually pulled up in a long ponytail now flowed freely in beachy waves to her waist.
Where she rested was a large hammock with a hand stitched blanket from keeping the rope from rubbing harshly against her skin. There was the plushest of pillows under her head and the two palm trees holding her bed up supplied the perfect amount of shade.
“Ma’ame?” came a voice at her right, startling her out of her admiration.
“Uh, yes?”
“Your breakfast is served.”
Her jaw nearly popped right open, looking behind her where the man pointed, she saw a patio with two open doors leading into a beautiful sunroom.
Walking her way up, as she got closer, she saw a medium sized wooden table with three cushioned chairs around it and placed in front of the seat facing out to the view was the most mouth watering breakfast she’d ever seen.
All of her favorites; one chocolate chip pancake and a piece of French toast. A fried egg next to a bed of scrambled eggs and a bountiful portion of hashbrowns filled the rest of the plate. In the center of the table sat a medium sized bowl filled with the juiciest looking fruits and next to that was a jug of, what looked like, hand squeezed orange juice and behind that was a bottle of champagne just in case she wanted a mimosa with breakfast.
Which she absolutely did.
As she sat at her table, being tucked in by the man who called her, she wasn’t alone. On the chair next to her, directly in a golden beam of sun, the fluffiest white cat basked.
She had no idea how she got her, or why she was lucky enough to be here, but she wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. She gave the kitty a head scratch, which she received a purr for, then poured herself a drink and dug in.
After her magnificent meal, she explored the little cabin she was given and wow, it was not little. She had a dining area with a view of the beautiful place she found herself in. She had a living room area with basically a home entertainment set up and the comfiest couch she had ever seen and the most extensive movie collection lining the walls.
There was a gorgeous kitchen that was any chef’s dream, the most spacious, immaculate bathroom with the biggest bathtub she had EVER seen. She came across a bedroom that was basically all bed, the biggest, comfiest looking bed she thought could ever exist with a tv mounted to the wall opposite it. She almost jumped right in and cocooned herself but after deciding to check the last room, she was so happy she hadn’t.
That last room was a book lover’s dream; a home library, complete with squishy chairs, ottomans and a fireplace.
The books were set up by genre and she, of course, found the romance section. She was on a beautiful tropical island, why not indulge?
She picked the spiciest one and settled herself on the comfiest chair. Only making it three chapters before falling victim to the ambiance of the room and fell asleep.
*** ** * ** ***
Screaming. That was all she heard. Shrill, excruciating screaming.
Opening her eyes, she was in a dark, dank room, with walls built from stone and dripping water.
When she made to sit up, she found she couldn’t. Looking herself over, the first thing she noticed was that she was naked and there was no warmth in her body from the fireplace she had only just fallen asleep in front of.
She then noticed that her wrists and ankles were bound by thick, leather straps attached to a concrete slab she found herself laying on.
She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, hoping and praying that when she opened them again she would be back in that beautiful library or back in her own home.
Peeking opening her eyes again, she quickly fell into hysteric, panting sobs. She remained on the concrete, surrounded by crying walls and shrill screams.
“Help!! Please! Someone help me!”
But the only thing that came to her were more screams and pain. This time her own scream filled her ears. Radiating heat seared her legs and when she got the energy to do so, she lifted her head and what she saw brought another scream. One deep, long gash marked the width of each of her thighs.
What happened next, however, scared her so much she couldn’t even scream. Her entire body froze then broke out in uncontrollable tremors, that were not from the cold.
She couldn’t locate from which direction, there were archways leading in different directions all over the room and coming from one of them, from somewhere deep in it’s dark depths, came footsteps.
Long, echoing footsteps, but from unnatural origins. They didn’t sound like feet, they sounded like… no, but that was impossible. It sounded like hooves, but only two in the cadence of human steps but…
That just couldn’t be possible, right? It couldn’t be what she was hearing, she had to be so scared she just couldn’t hear all the clops of the other hooves. Right?…
She squeezed her eyes shut again and just began to scream.
“IT’S NOT REAL! YOU’RE NOT REAL!! GO AWAY! YOU’RE NOT REAL!”
“GO AWAY!” her body lurched and, somehow considering only second ago she had been laying and bound, fell to a floor.
When she opened her eyes, she was back in the picture perfect library.
The fire still crackling, the safety of the books still surrounding her. She was back in her bikini and wrap that tied at her waist.
She slowly got to her hands and knees and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, she had fallen asleep and even though she had been reading a romance novel she had dreamt a dream of horrid nightmares.
That was all.
Simple as that.
Breathing slow and deep, she moved her hands to her thighs and was instantly terrified again.
With shaking hands, she lifted the bikini wrap up and over her thighs.
There, still raw, red and glistening with blood were those deep, ugly gashes from her dream.
*** ** * ** ***
After calming herself, she found gauze and bandages in the bathroom and took care of those gashes in a very detached way. She treated them as if they weren’t on her legs, but someone else’s.
Because, they obviously couldn’t be on hers, they just couldn’t be.
It was just not possible…right?
Next, she made her way, on shaky legs, to the bedroom and began searching around for clothes. Every article of clothing she found was exactly her size and style. They weren’t hers from home, they were all brand new but they easily could have been.
Trying to ignore that disturbing fact, she found and put on jeans and a loose t-shirt, then socks and black sneakers.
Dressed, she found her way to the kitchen, quickly scanning the fridge, she grabbed a bottle of orange juice and an apple then left the way she came in; through the picturesque sunroom, which she was no longer entranced by.
Deciding, first, to walk around her house to the front, to see if there was more house around her or perhaps a town but was disappointed. Nothing but a dirt road, thankfully she was at the end of it so she only had one option; left.
So, she went left.
Walking for about an hour, she came across nothing. Not even another cabin. But, she was determined that there had to be a town, so she kept walking.
By the time she finished her orange juice, apple and found herself shaking from the heat and her own exhaustion and still no town in sight, she had no choice but to turn back, the sun was already beginning to set and she reeeeally didn’t want to be stuck out here in the dark. That nightmare still very fresh in her mind and those gashes on her thighs still burning was her incentive to move faster.
By the time she was back inside her cabin, it was night. Closing the front door behind her, she sunk down to her bottom and collapsed in a heap of tears and shaking limbs.
She cried and cried hard. There had been no sign of anyone out there! Not a trace of even the man who greeted her that first morning. Even the fluffy white cat seemed to have disappeared. She cried until there were no more tears left and her stomach roared from hunger.
So, she pulled together whatever ounce of strength she had left and got to her feet, shuffled to the kitchen but realized she didn’t need to, before the kitchen was the dining room and there was a huge meal waiting for her.
Two types of pasta, two types of salad and a giant pile of both garlic bread and cheese garlic bread. There was wine, beer, water and a type of juice.
If she had any tears left, they’d be flowing down her cheeks once again as she thumped herself into her seat and put a bit of everything on her plate and began to sate her stomach.
She was beyond exhausted, so she basically crawled her way to the bedroom and as soon as she was under the blankets, her head on the pillow, she was sound asleep.
*** ** * ** ***
Cold air stirred her and groggily she simply thought the windows were open and she just had to get out of her warm bed to close them.
Opening her eyes, her entire body filled with dread. She was facing those familiar stone walls, she was basically pressed up against it. She was terrified to move but when she did, she found she could move her feet but she wasn’t getting very far.
There was a bar across her back, her arms stretched out in a T, the bar reaching to her wrists and there she was shackled. The bar itself had a chain that, with very little to move with, was secured to the ceiling.
Looking down at her body she was relieved to find she wasn’t naked this time, she still wore her jeans but she was topless with her chest pressed up against the damp, stone wall.
Her body quickly began to tremble from the cold.
Having had to been standing here for at least an hour with nothing happening did nothing to ease her fears and that intuition was right because she began to hear those horrid, clopping footsteps…
Closing her eyes, pressing her head against the cold stone, she willed the sound away and for her to appear back in bed, or anywhere but here!
To no avail…she remained shackled where she was, trembling from fear, cold and with exhausted legs.
The steps grew louder and louder until they were no doubt in the same room as her and then they stopped. Somewhere behind her, stood something she was terrified to even imagine.
Not being able to help herself, she began to beg in the smallest, shakiest voice she’d ever spoken, “please… please, don’t hurt me… please.”
She repeated this over and over until she told herself the creature wouldn’t because nothing came and then, it happened.
She heard it before she felt anything and thanks (not really) to movies she had seen (thanks a lot, Indiana Jones) she knew the sound was a whip and what came after that was the worst pain she had ever experienced as the whip sliced through her back retching from her the most horrid of screams that instantly, she knew, would permanently damage her throat.
Screaming in a tomb one second, then back in the cushy bed the next.
Still in her jeans, but she remained topless.
One moment in an uncontrollable shiver, the next in the warmth of the tropical bedroom.
She collapsed backward on the bed and through her broken throat, released another scream and hysterical sobbing. Turning as gently as possible, she saw blood coated the part of the sheets her back had touched.
Ignoring the pain, she dashed into the bathroom and positioned herself so she could see her back in the mirror. What she saw made her instantly throw up.
That whip’s mark deep into her sun-kissed skin, dripping blood down and collecting in the waist of her jeans. Before she could release another scream, she passed out.
*** ** * ** ***
The rest of that night, she didn’t sleep and even if she could have, she didn’t want to.
She settled herself in a hot bath and stayed in there for about 2 hours, refilling with hot water until finally the shakes from being cold stopped. When she was out and in sweatpants, the best bandage job she could manage on her back and a baggy sweater covering her, wrapping a fuzzy blanket around her still, she found herself still trembling.
But nothing could stop that.
She was trembling from pure unadulterated fear.
Movie after movie she watched, even if she wanted to sleep, she wouldn’t have been able to.
Her body was too tense and her back hurt too much. She remained awake and tense until the sun rose into the sky, then she set out.
Wasting no time, today she set out on the beach, determined to find a house, building or at least someone to help her.
Again she walked until she couldn’t anymore and the sun was setting. As what soon became her pattern, she sunk to the floor in her cabin and cried until she dried out.
There was another large meal waiting for her tonight but this time she didn’t have the appetite for it, so she instead made herself a sandwich and settled herself back on the couch and began watching movies.
She was determined not to fall asleep tonight and she didn’t…until, what was probably, 3 or 4 AM.
Before she even opened her eyes, she knew where she was, so she just didn’t. She kept her eyes squeezed shut and refused to believe she was back in her own personal dungeon. Which worked, she didn’t hear those clopping footsteps outside, working their way into her cell.
But she quickly learned why she didn’t hear the walking, because it was already in there with her. She heard it’s voice this time, speaking in a language that frightened her, not just because she didn’t recognize it but because of the voice itself.
It was deep, deeper than any voice she’d ever heard before and it sounded as if, if you could touch a voice, it would cut or burn you.
It was a voice of evil, she knew that with 100% certainty.
But still, she kept her eyes tightly shut. That, however, didn’t stop the creature from hurting her and when she couldn’t help but open her eyes, she found herself looking into the droopy, drooling face of the Saint Bernard playing Beethoven.
She didn’t want to get up so, instead, she reached up to where the pain was and had realized she had to run to the bathroom because what she felt, no. Just NO WAY could it be what it felt like.
Hoping that what she felt wasn’t what she thought it was but, seeing herself in the mirror, what she saw was exactly that.
From the top of her right cheek, to midway down her neck, was the largest claw mark embedded deep into her skin.
*** ** * ** ***
After days of this and fresh beatings all over her, she had come to the conclusion that it was the food. Something was poisoning her.
Every time she ate, she would sleep after and that just HAD to be the cause of whatever was happening.
So she refused to eat.
But, she still slept and everytime she fell asleep she would open her eyes and find herself back in her tomb and would wake up with new cuts and now, horrifying bite marks marred her skin along with bruises all over her her thinning body.
So, now she was still not going to eat, but she was extremely determined not to sleep either.
She truly didn’t know how long this lasted.
All she knew was that her brain was permanently fogged, her eyes dry, her stomach hollow and her body drained of all energy.
She became twitchy and neurotic, every noise making her jump and scream. Every shadow had to hold her tormentor. Every blink would surely lead her back to her chained room.
She lived like this as long as she could, until her body just couldn’t keep it up and she went unconscious.
*** ** * ** ***
You have to wake up… if you don’t now, you never will… Wake up…
Her body woke up before she did and it adjusted to the surroundings. In some time whatever her body sensed comforted her brain enough to allow her to open her eyes.
A familiar ceiling greeted her, and it wasn’t stone or the wood her cabin was made out of.
It was a high ceiling painted white!
She couldn’t believe it!
Her eyes adjusted more and when she let them wander, it took in the purple walls and even more familiarity came to her.
Pictures, art work, decorations! These were all her things!
She jolted to an upright position.
It was her bedroom! Her own REAL bedroom!
Throwing the covers off, she raced out of her room and, YES, everything else was here, too!
It was her apartment, she was home!!
She had somehow found herself back home!
She ran around until her feet found something so familiar she had to stop and squish her toes on it.
It was her tacky, fluffy, purple area rug she loved so much, that everyone esle always teased her for!
She jumped up and down, giggling like a little girl before taking off again, running around her whole apartment, relishing in the comfort of all of her things!
Finally, she wound up in her small, WONDERFUL bathroom!
Her little bathtub she couldn’t fully lay down in, her comforting yellow walls, the decale reminding her that You Are Beautiful painted in the corner of the large mirror and that is where she stopped dead in her tracks. Her smile and joy there one moment and completely gone the next.
There, looking back at her from the mirror was not the girl she was expecting.
She wasn’t bright, happy and full of life.
No, what she saw was a skinny, gaunt girl. Hair that used to be flowing and full of healthy bounce, now hung limp and greasy past her shoulders, huge bruises under her eyes but what scared her more than anything else… there, on her cheek and neck…those claw marks.
She closed her eyes, gripping the sink tight. But what came next did nothing to ease her.
It HAD to be her imagination hearing those unwilling familiar clopping… she had herself believing, yes, it was her imagination but then, then she felt it and knew, she may be home, but she was not free.
Hot, steaming breath caressed her neck and back, even ruffled her hair…
It was then that she screamed her worst scream yet.
The last thing she remembered, huge, clawed hands gripped her shoulders and yanked her backwards…
A Hippie's Tales 