"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" is the only sound that breaks through the dark cold cellar that I'm currently curled up in.
EARLIER THAT DAY
I'm Zack currently 10 years of age walking home from school with James my best friend who is the sames age as me. Today is like any other day we walk home talking about how Jessie got into another fight with a teacher or how Brad is the most annoying person in our grade. Only one thing changed that day that changed my life and ended his. That on thing is the van that pulled out in front of us. I didn't know what was going on until I was in the van with a rag pushed against my face the last thing I saw before I passed out was another rag pushed against James face.
When I came to i was in a cellar by myself. I'm still in my school cloth but my phone and backpack are gone. The only other thing in here is a toilet and a bed. My body is still to weak from the drug to move and before I know it I black out again. This time when i wake up I see something that I didn't before and that's a guard on the other side of the bars. I automatically move to the away from him as fast as i can earning a smirk from the guard.
As look around the cell a scream yelling for help breaks out from the room across the hall. It doesn't take any time for me to recognize the voice as James. Regret washes over me right away. Regret for not fighting back when they took us. Regret for being to weak the help him. And regret for not being there to help him now.
The screams are all I can hear and I can't help stand it as I just sit there with my hand covering my ears and tears running down my face. It isn't long after they stop a round women wearing a dress comes out and very angrily yells "next" then turning down the hall. The guard turns around and unlocks my door.
"NOOO!!!" is the only thing i get out before i'm dragged over to the next room by my wrist. The only thing in the room were a pair in handcuffs hanging from the ceiling that would be to high for me to reach.
As the guard is dragging me over to the chains I trip over something wet soft and hard. The first thing i do is look at the liquid on my hands and all i see is red confused i turn around and see the thing that still haunts my memories. James. His eyes are rolled back in his head and he is lying in a pool of blood. Blood that is on my hand my legs everywhere. I want to scream but its like it's caught in my throat like one huge clump. The only thing that drags my eyes away is the guard grabbing my neck and throwing me in front of him towards the chains.
I'm too shocked to even move and protect myself from the fall or fight back as he lifts me up and chain me in the cuffs. I don't know how long im there but the only thing that tears me out of the shock is the blood running down my forearm. I start to scream until i my voice is throat is to scratched to even say "hi".
That's when the round women come in looking like she's in a better mood that when she left. The women is closely follow by a man dressed like a butler.
"Mistress what are you feeling today" is the first thing the butler says.
The woman responds with a "Artistic."
The butler nods his head and leaves the room and comes back in with a cart full of instruments that i couldn't name to save my life. A smile breaks on her face as she grabs a something that looks like a needle with a motor attached to it. She looks like she is thinking for a bit then decides to walk up to me while he puts on black gloves. when she arrives she walks around to she at my back and before i know it she grabs a fist full of my shirt and rips it straight off.
She places a finger on the middle of my back and slides down. My skin crawls when she touches me. Her finger stops about an inch and a half above my pants that are by now drenched. she drags her finger left and removes it. Then it's just pain. It's the only thing I feel for what feels like hours as she is drawing something across my back.
When she's done she gives a wide smile and exclaims happily "finished"
My whole back feels like it's burning and I pass out. when I wake I'm alone in the room even James is gone but not the blood stained concrete or the chains that are holding me up or the blood that has dried to my forearm. I try to lift my head but I'm to exhausted from blood loss and lack of fool and water. I don't know how long I've been here or how many days or weeks have passed.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a camera with a red dot on meaning recording so I know they are watching no more like waiting for me to start moving again so I close my eyes as soon as I realize it but I was to late. Less than a minute later the door swings open again. The women is again followed by the butler who is already pushing a cart in but instead of instruments it different kind of knifes and scalpels. without saying a word she grabs a scalpel and returns to the same spot as last time. I hear her put on plastic gloves and wispers in my ear "I hope you last longer than your friend". As I hear that my heart drops.
She starts at my left shoulder blade and starts carving. As I feel this I immediately started screaming and making sounds I didn't know humans could make. As I start to black out again the butler injects something into my side and I shoot awake again. At this point I can't feel anything my body is completely numb and my vision is just one giant blur.
I don't remember what happened after that but when I came to I was back I in the cellar face down in the bed. I still have no shirt and the only thing on my back is a thin layer of goze that was half heartedly wrapped around me. Everything hurt to much to move. My throat hurts to much to talk no matter how hard I try to.
At the end of the hall I hear a door bang open and two rushed voices
"Mistress we have to get out of here" I hear the butler say.
"I know Samuel" the woman says the the butler I think.
I see them both run passed my cell and as they are still running the mistress asks "What about the canvas" which I presume I'm the canvas.
Samuel quickly says "leave it it's going to die soon anyway"
At the other end of the hall I heard another rough voice yell "Stop" but I already know that they got away. A couple seconds later another figure passes my cell but quickly stops and looks in at me meeting my eyes that were still filled with tears.
I take that time to scan the figure and see he's holding a gun. Automatically my body straightens and I try to push myself away from the bars he's standing behind but the pain is to much for me and I just end up falling of the bed and hit my head on the floor and yet again I black out.
This time I wake up to a soft beep beep beep of a heart monitor and recognized where I am. A hospital. I'm laying on my side facing a window where I see dark clouds and rain is hitting the window. Rain was mine and James's favorite whether.
James. Oh god James.
When I think of him something in my chest clenches and I hear my heart monitor start beebing faster alerting a nurse who yells for someone to page doctor Larson. Then she over next to me rubbing my hair back and try in to clam my sobs. When Dr. Larson enters he tells the nurse to give me some antianxiety meds to clam me down.
After an hour or so I can't tell anymore. I calmed down mostly. After that the doctor started to ask how I was feeling witch I was feeling to many things to answer so I just remained silent. After that the doctor got the hint I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Some time after that my mom came running in .My dad was never in the picture. My mom looking like she hadn't slept in weeks is bawling and running to me about to hug me before seeing my back is covered in bandages so she settles for kissing my face and repeating "oh my God my baby."
After a while the doctor comes in to inform my mom of the condition I'm I'm in. I also learned that I was gone for 2 weeks and I was dehydrated and starved to the point you could count my ribs individually.
The cuts on my back weren't deep enough to do any real damage other than scar. So they stiched them up and disinfected the tattoo the woman left.
There's not much the doctors can do so they assigned me a therapist and let me go after a couple of days. what I didn't know is how famous I became on the news. so when we left we were surrounded by reports and cameras. My mom being my mom threw her coat over my head and led me to the car.
Before we went home we we're instructed to go to the police station and give any information I had to the police. That's where I saw him. The man who found me in my cell. My eyes went wide when I saw him but nobody notice before I looked away. I knew I had to thank him but I didn't know how.
My mom was in the waiting room as I was brought to the interrogation room. The office clearly annoyed by the fact that he had to be a tour guide told me a detective was going to be talking to me. So I just sit and wait but I'm finally alone for the first time in what feels like years. it doesn't last long though the man who found me came in and looked shocked at the sight of me and I probably had the same expression on my face.
"H-hey" the detective manages to squeeze out.
I responded with a whispered "Hi"
"I'm detective Arch but just call me Arch" he says with a smile
"Zach" I muttered
"Nice to meet you Zach" he responded
"Thank you for saving me" I let out in one breath.
"No problem it's my job after all. I just need you to tell me what happened before I found you."
I look down. I wasn't scared to tell him I just hated having to remember it. So I explained what happened to me what the people looked like how they acted what they called me. But then he ask if I new what happened to the boy I was with. Tears quickly started to fall as I asked "You didn't find James"
"We didn't find a trace of him there" he says quitly
I snapped. I lay my head on the table and wrap my arms around my head and cry and don't stop until I pass out.