Trembling With the Strings

Locked Doors

“Darius, can I go change?” I whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek. He nodded absentmindedly, kissing me roughly yet quickly.

I jumped off of the couch and climbed the stairs hastily. I was just going to change into some new clothes. That was it. Nothing else.

But then again... Well, I caught sight of that door again. The sign still read, in very bold print, “Keep door locked at all times.” My eyes and brain still allowed me to read.

And the door was still slightly open.

I glanced around for Darius, paranoid that he would appear out of nowhere and take a nice bite out of me. He was nowhere to be seen, so I slowly eased the door open. A staircase seemed to lead down to a completely dark room, but human curiosity got the best of me. Besides, a little darkness never killed anybody.

I carefully crept down the stairs, cringing with every little creak of the old wooden boards. I finally made it to the bottom in five minutes. I saw something shining from the dim light from the hallway, so I tugged on it. A single light bulb shot on and I squinted against the change in brightness. My eyes adjusted soon enough, but...I wished they hadn’t.

I stifled a scream when I saw the horrible room I was in. The walls were white, but the paint had long ago started chipping off. But that wasn’t what had terrified me. No, that wasn’t it at all.

The white was hardly visible through the stains that had splattered onto the walls. I knew that color. I had almost been able to see that color swirling around in Dray’s eyes.

Blood.

“Oh my God...” I breathed, my body trembling as it tried to hold me up. I felt like I was going to be sick.

I stumbled over to the wall, careful to lean against a clean spot. What was this place? I took in a deep, shaky breath as I tried to overcome the wave of nausea. Surely they didn’t use this room, did they?

“Who’s there?” a soft voice echoed.

I pushed myself from the wall and carefully made my way past the table with the giant butcher’s knife and the whips and other various weapons hanging on the wall. I tiptoed past a rotting corpse with dried blood on his neck. Hurrying past the pools of blood on the floor, I finally made it to the source of the voice.

“Oh, God!” I cried, staring in disbelief.

There, before me, was a cage like that of a jail cell only not so luxurious. A few men and women were sleeping propped up against the back wall, huddling together as they tried to keep warm. The concrete floor surely wasn’t helping their efforts, and neither was their ratty, thin clothing.

“Who are you? You’re not one of them,” a small girl whispered, such terror in her wide eyes. Her small body was trembling and I could see nearly every bone in her. She couldn’t be any older than thirteen.

“Who is ‘them’?” I whispered, not sure if this was all real.

“The filthy bastards! Those disgusting bloodsuckers!” she hissed, her small voice nearly giving out.

“What? The people that live here?” Surely not all of them!

“There’s five of them that I’ve seen. Some come down more than others. Their pompous son likes to play with us for quite some time. And their little sweetheart daughter that likes to bash our skulls into the wall and listen to the bones shatter! Oh, how could we forget their friends? They so kindly let them kill us off, too! But no, that’s not the worst. He is the worst.”

“Who? Please, tell me who.” I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Their demented child from Satan himself! He loves watching us tremble when we hear his footsteps; he enjoys hearing our hearts beating out of our chests; there’s nothing that makes his day more than when he gets to smell our fear! Their little twin boy belongs in Hell!” she snarled, lashing out at the cage, trying to get to me. I jumped back, holding myself.

“How long have you been here?” I murmured, staying out of her reach.

“Longer than most. Darius goes through at least three a day. And that number has only jumped ever since he met someone named Gracie.”

“I’m...I’m Gracie,” I choked, my heart lurching up into my throat.

“Do you know what you cause?” she whispered, falling to her knees. “Do you know how many times he comes ambling down those steps, mumbling your name over and over again with such anger in his eyes? He turns that anger into hate and throws it in our faces! You’ve made him kill at least seventeen people!”

I stumbled backwards, stuttering and searching for words. “I didn’t know...”

“Ignorance sure is bliss, isn’t it?” she growled, shaking her head as she hung it.

I backed away from her, not able to take this any longer.

“I’ll come back for you,” I murmured.

I turned off the light and quickly ran up the steps, not caring how much noise I made. Her tormented face was still etched into my thoughts even as I eased the door back to its previous position: just slightly open.

“Aren’t you supposed to be getting dressed?” Bryce breathed on my neck, suddenly right behind me.

I gulped, not daring to turn around. I tried to steady my breathing and my heartbeat, but it was no use. I forced myself to turn around, a small smile on my face.

“Right. Sorry, I’m still not so used to all of these doors. I get lost sometimes.”

“Maybe I should help you?” he whispered right in my ear, his lips curving up into a sadistic grin.

I was going to turn him down quickly and be on my way, but I saw Darius come up the steps. He looked a little confused as he came up to us, but he pulled my back to his chest and wrapped his arms loosely around my waist nonetheless.

“What’s going on?” he asked quietly, sounding as confused as he looked.

“Oh, nothing. I was just asking Gracie about you. The girl is so madly in love with you, Dray. Good job.” He patted him on the back before strolling down the stairs, his hands shoved into his pockets.

“Are you now?” he murmured, kissing me deeply. I smiled, kissing him back, only one thing on my mind. And that one thing was making me nauseous all over again.

I couldn’t help but notice when Darius pushed the door shut, thinking he was being so sneaky. He thought I hadn’t seen it, but even as he carried me to the bedroom all I could focus on was that girl...

I had to keep Darius happy. I’d killed enough people.
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