Chapter 7 (Mark: age 14 — Other Houses)
My travels to my next destination were largely uneventful. Yet, it seemed to me to take forever to get there. Then, there it was. The imposing structure was dark and foreboding. Unlike the last place, it had a gothic style. It lacked the light and airy feel that the other place had had. Yet, both estates had one strikingly similar feature: they both had massive grounds set far back from the main road creating a distinct feeling of seclusion.
Like the last place, there also didn’t appear to be anyone around. I fully expected that the place would be deserted as the last one had been. But still, I was there now, I figured. I would have to check it out as best I could. I proceeded — much as I had the last time. Once again, there was a door to an ancient basement composed of rough, slab rock. Once again, there was a room below with many chambers lining its walls. Quite honestly, the sight of the space freaked me out a bit. I sincerely doubted I would ever get used to sights such as these.
I breathed. How many more of these duplicate houses were there going to be? I turned and looked back toward the staircase. Where were the hostages taken, and were they still alive?
“Hello?” a tiny voice uttered.
I wasn’t even sure that I heard anything.
“Hello?” it repeated.
I looked around me. The sound was downright eerie in a place like this. Could it be coming from one of the rooms? I headed right away to the one closest to me. I would check them all out. At the third door, I found the voice and the girl who was attached to it. She stood deep in the shadows of her cell. Her eyes shut tightly as she winced at the brightness of the light. She looked pale and a bit haggard. Her clothes seemed well-worn. She appeared to be the same age as my sister with the same chestnut brown hair. There was definitely a resemblance. This must be his type, I concluded, with a shudder.
“Who are you?” she whispered with a hoarse and weak voice.
“My sister …” I started. “She’s like you. I’m trying to find her.”
The girl nodded slightly.
“There’s no one here but me.” she answered regretfully.
“Well, let’s get you out of here.” I stated decisively.
Then, in the back of my mind came a worry. What if by finding and saving this girl I would be tipping off my sister’s abductor that I was on to him and thereby lose my sister forever? But it couldn’t be helped.
We left the mansion right away. I was surprised that the girl named Nancy didn’t hesitate to go with me. But then again, maybe it was my age. It seemed unlikely that I could be her kidnapper. Plus, she was hardly inclined to remain behind in her cell.
I decided to walk off to the side of the road. I figured the road would be useful as a guide. Still, I didn’t want to be too visible or too easy to overtake in a car. This was a peculiar turn of events, I thought. Yes, I was aware there were other girls, but it never sunk in that I would find one — at least not one who wasn’t Becky. And why had she just been left there unguarded? Why go through all that effort to take her then just lose interest so easily? It didn’t make sense to me.
I was eager to ask Nancy for any information she may have that could prove useful in finding my sister. And yet, I found myself hesitant to do so as well. I wasn’t sure the girl could handle reliving the stress she must have experienced in this ordeal.
And then there were other questions: where could I take Nancy? where would she be safe? I found I didn’t trust most people anymore.
“Where are we going?” Nancy suddenly asked.
I felt bad when I noticed she was out of breath. I had started walking very fast without realizing it.
“I’m sorry. You’re probably not used to walking this much.”
“That’s okay.” she insisted. “I want to get as far away from there as possible. Only I want to make sure we go somewhere we can get help.”
“Yeah.” I stopped in my tracks. “Do you have any suggestions?” I asked her.
“Well … I kind of … I just want to go home.” she choked.
I felt suddenly compelled to reach out and hug the weeping girl.
“We need to keep moving.” the girl eventually blubbered.
“Yes.” I agree.
I let Nancy go. She wiped the tears from her face.
“Well, let’s do that.” I allowed.
Nancy looked up at me through her tears.
“Let’s get you home.” I added.
The homecoming for Nancy was very emotional. It was just as I imagined it would be if I managed to find my sister and bring her back. For a moment, I was afraid Nancy’s mother may collapse from the shock. As gratifying as their joy was, however, it also reinforced my own aching need to set things right in my family. I waited until the family didn’t seem to notice me; then, I slipped outside. I wasn’t really comfortable with the displays of praise and gratitude they had been showering on me. It was overwhelming. I was glad they were happy; that was enough. The only thing was I hadn’t escaped unnoticed after all, for Nancy soon followed on my heels.
“You shouldn’t be out here. You should be in there. They just got you back. You shouldn’t disappear again.”
“They know where I am.” she replied. “But where are you going?”
“I have to keep looking. Once he finds out you’ve escaped, the trail of my sister may grow cold.”
Nancy looked downward in dismay.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help you more. I don’t really know why I was taken, or anything about the man who must have taken me. I was just attacked from behind … I think with chloroform. Then, I woke up in that cell. Someone slipped me food every once and awhile but never spoke to me.”
“Well, maybe it’s better you don’t know more. Maybe it kept you alive.”
Nancy was moved. She came up to me and hugged me.
“For you to say that … to care about me, even though my not knowing isn’t in your best interest … thank you.”
“And thank you for giving me the hope she’s going to be all right.”
Nancy smiled.
“I’ll pray for you and your sister.”
I nodded.
“And I’ll do the same.” I paused. “By the way, I forgot to ask you what your plans are now.”
Nancy considered.
“I don’t know for sure …”
“You know, listen, I don’t need to know. Maybe it’s better that I don’t. I don’t want that kind of responsibility.”
She looked up at me.
“Just stay safe and out of his hands, all right?” I added.
Nancy nodded.
“You, too.” she told me. “Good-bye, Mark.”
“Good-bye.”
I felt a boost as I was leaving Nancy. I was hopeful I would recover my sister after all.
I decided to go to the next address right away. I was too nervous to wait — too much could happen. The situation at the next place was eerily similar to the last two. Only this time, I wasn’t going to bother searching the whole house first. This time I headed straight for the basement. The basement was there once again with much the same setup as the others. Had my suspect bought these houses for the basements?
“Hello! Hello?!”
I fully expected to hear a response. There was none. My stomach dropped. Maybe Nancy would turn out to be an anomaly after all. Perhaps all the others had been moved. Perhaps they had been moved because of me. Maybe my suspect had been alerted to the fact I had freed Nancy.
I decided to have a look around anyway. I couldn’t see leaving until I had a better idea of what was going on. I wanted to believe that there may still be someone around despite the silence. But still, it really didn’t feel that way. It didn’t feel as though anyone was there. In fact, it felt as though no one had been there for a long time.
I found I was a bit creeped out by the place. Maybe it was the smell. It smelled musty … and something more? But I felt compelled to look around anyway. I had to look. I had to make sure no one else was there.
The main room was very dark this time around. I was heading to one of the side rooms when I saw an object in the corner. I stopped. What was that? What was there? I couldn’t quite make it out, so I approached it. It took a moment for it to register what I was seeing. There was a body there — the body of a young girl. The smell then hit me with a new realization of what exactly I had been smelling. It was the smell of death. Dread seized me, and I began to retch. I retreated back to the staircase.
I shook all over as I stood near a step. I braced myself with one hand pressed against the wall.
I looked back toward the lifeless form. Just like Nancy had, the body resembled my sister. Could it be she? There was only one way to know for sure, but did I have the nerve to check? Could I force myself to go over there again?
Anger then seized me. Someone had killed this girl. It was pointless. Why had he done it? I had thought when I found Nancy that it meant that all of the girls would be found alive. At that moment, I rebuked myself for how naïve and foolish I had been. Was this the intended outcome for all of them? Was this how they all ended up if they weren’t rescued first?
I took stock of myself. It was time to stop stalling, for stalling was exactly what I had been doing. I walked over to the body and forced myself to turn her around to face me.
I unleashed my breath. It wasn’t my sister. Still, as I inhaled the putrid air again, I began to cough violently. It was too much. I couldn’t fathom that this girl was dead. How had she died? Why had she just been left here like this? And when had she died? Could this have happened as retribution for Nancy’s escape? I didn’t regret freeing Nancy, but was this the consequence of that? Could this have been avoided?
“I’m sorry.” I whispered. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”
“Hello?” Suddenly there was a voice from one of the rooms. It choked much like Nancy’s voice had.
I spun around and headed straight for the room that was closest to me. At that moment, I was just grateful to have an excuse to move away from the body.
I whipped open the door. I saw a girl inside. She blinked repeatedly from the light, though dim, which had entered her pitch-dark cell. Then suddenly, she rushed forward and ran past me. She ran up the stairs without stopping. I was surprised by this girl’s reaction, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been. It’s what I would have done in her place. There was a dead body in the room, after all.
I checked the other rooms to make sure no one else was there. There wasn’t. Then, I headed slowly up the stairs myself. I was feeling exhausted and deflated.
Where should I go now? To the authorities? How could I just leave that girl lying there? But there was a risk in reporting it, too. They might think that I did it. They may think that anyway. After all, I touched the body, and my fingerprints were all over the scene.
I stopped in my tracks. Maybe I was being set up. If I continued to look for my sister, then I might be taken in for questioning. And then, I would probably be arrested. But still, if I came forward, would they believe me? If the world weren’t so screwed up at that point, I might have said yes. But the fact was it was doubtful they would let me go. Well, so be it. I wouldn’t stop looking for my sister, and I would report the girl’s death … anonymously.
I continued to walk on … past a clump of trees … toward the road. And then, there was suddenly a breaking of something through the trees. I turned a startled look toward the disruption. It was the girl from before who had run off. I was surprised that she was still around. I had figured she had just kept running. Instead, she was standing there — unflinchingly staring at me.
“Who are you?” she demanded in a harsh tone.
“I’m not the one who abducted …”
“Oh, I know that!” she retorted.
“So, you know the guy? You saw him?”
“No, I didn’t say that. I just know it couldn’t have been you. I’ve been watching you. It doesn’t fit for it to have been you. Why would you have done *that* and then let me go? You’d have to be crazy, and you don’t seem crazy to me.”
I nodded then looked back toward the house.
“Do you know what happened to her?” I asked, referring to the dead girl.
“No.” she shuddered. “She was there like that when I woke up here. I don’t know if she died after I arrived, or they just left me there with a body rotting in the next room. Either way, I guess they did leave me there with a body rotting in the next room. I don’t even know if the person who took me planned on coming back or if he was responsible for her.”
I considered. I didn’t know what to say. Then, I remembered she had asked me a seemingly harmless question.
“My name is Mark.” I told her, purposefully omitting my last name. I didn’t feel comfortable giving that out. “I’m looking for my sister …”
“She isn’t the one who was …”
“No, I checked. It isn’t her.”
“But you figure it could have been …”
“Yes.”
“Me, too. And I don’t know what to do with that. I wanted to just run and run … but I didn’t know where to run to that would be safe.”
“You don’t have anyone to go?” I asked her.
She shook her head.
“I’m not from around here. I’ve been at a boarding school. During my vacation, I decided to travel with some friends … without permission. Some vacation! I’ll have to contact my parents to come get me. But like I said, where can I go to do that that will be safe? Actually, I was hoping you’d have an idea about that.”
“No. I’m not from around here either.”
“Well, there’s always the police, I guess … if I can find them before he finds me.”
She shuddered again.
“Will you go with me?” she suddenly asked me. “I could use the backup. They may not believe my story otherwise.”
At first it didn’t take long for me to decide to go with her. Yes, it was a risk, but it also seemed like an answer to my dilemma. This way, there would be some confirmation of my story — or at least someone’s belief that I hadn’t been involved in the murder. But then it struck me. Could I trust her?
Was I, in fact, being set up here? What was to stop her from saying I was the kidnapper once we got to the station? Even if she was a genuine victim, that didn’t mean she didn’t have Stockholm syndrome. Who knew how long she’d actually been there. And what if she or one of her family members had been threatened? Then, I realized that I didn’t even know her name. She had asked me for mine but hadn’t offered me her own. Did that mean anything? Or, was the strain I was under finally getting to me?
“I’ll take you to the police station.” I decided to offer.
It was the least I could do, but I had no intention of stepping inside.
The girl grew ever more anxious as we neared the police station. I watched her and analyzed her reaction, but I didn’t know what to make of it. There was more than one reason that she would be nervous. And then, we were there. I stopped short at the base of the steps leading to the old courthouse. The girl continued on at first, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I wasn’t following her. A man passed by me on his way into the building as I waited for the girl to notice I wasn’t coming. I wanted to see if I could make anything out of her reaction. She eventually did stop. Then, she just stood there silently for a moment. It took a while, but she did finally turn around.
“Aren’t you coming?” she asked awkwardly.
“No.” I responded. “I think you’ll be fine.” I reassured her.
“I …” She looked off to the side evasively. She seemed to be thinking on something. “I thought we agreed …”
“I’ve got to get going. You’d better get going, too.” I spoke definitively.
She seemed reticent to leave me. And yet, why should she be? I really didn’t consider myself to be that good of a protector. Eventually, she did turn away and ran into the building. I also left the area as quickly as possible, though I was curious as to what may happen once the girl got into the station. Had I been overly cynical, or had I been right to be wary? Maybe someday I’ll know, but I don’t know now.
I was glad I was able to make it out of that situation — it had shaken me. But another girl was free and the girl who had been killed could now be reported. Still, I knew I was running out of time to find my sister. At that point, it wasn’t just concern that my sister would be removed that I had, but also that she wouldn’t be alive when I found her. Though, it was a good sign that two girls had been left alive. Still, I also didn’t know if my actions had prompted the abductor to start killing off his victims.
But I didn’t have the time or energy to waste on thoughts such as these. The next place I chose would probably be my last chance to find my sister.
Copyright © Jennifer Alice Chandler 2020
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