Disenchanted

Ben continued to investigate the house, there were two other rooms in a small corridor. One of them was a fancy living room with pictures on the walls, flower vases and a big marble fireplace. The couch cream couch was protected with a plastic covering and the coffee table had little porcelain statues. Ben closed the door to that room as fast as he had opened it, the whole room seemed to have come out of a horror movie, it was too clean and too perfect. The second room was the exact opposite to that one. When he first tried to open the door it didn’t budge, it wasn’t locked, it was just stuck and so with a more forceful push Ben was able to open it. The room seemed to be a normal office/study type of room. There was a big mahogany desk sitting in front of a pair of curtains, but no window, and a leather chair, two of the walls were covered in bookshelves full of books of all sizes and colors, most of them seeming quite old. On the left side of the table there was a board filled with pictures and papers, some of them seemed to be news paper clippings. At first it seemed like a noir film inspired study until Ben decided to step in and take a closer look at everything. The board was in fact covered with photos of him, some of them that seemed to have been taken some distance away, a lot of them where he didn’t seem to know that he was being photographed, the whole thing gave him chills. How long had that girl been stalking him?

He decided to turn his back to the board and inspect the big desk. He searched the paper stacks in hope of finding something that could help him, what exactly he had no idea, but he was sure that there should be some kind of clue as to why this was happening to him. Just when the guitarist was about to give up when he found a little pile of papers from a mental institution in the name of a Mary Anne Adams praising her recovery and ensuring her release. There was also a few prescription papers for antipsychotics, antidepressants and a bunch of types of medication he had never heard of.

Ben tried to lace everything where it was and leave the room. He didn’t know how to deal with all the information he had just uncovered. As he walked back into the living room and sat in the couch trying to figure out two things, one why had the young woman choose him for her crazed fantasy, second, how could he escape. After a while he decided that no matter how dangerous it was he was going to do something about his imprisonment.

Ben studied the door trying to find a way to open it without Ana’s key, without having to risk his life trying to steal it, but the more he looked the more the door looked impenetrable. It was steel all the way through, there wasn’t even a handle, just a key hole.

"Fucking bitch!"

Ben started kicking and punching the door, screaming out of pure rage and frustration until his knuckles were bleeding. After Ben was drain of all the anger and energy he just fell to the ground tears starting to stream down his eyes. Usually Ben wouldn’t let himself breakdown, but at that time it didn’t matter, he was alone, completely isolated from the world he loved and was starting to fear that he was going to die there, stuck in a prison of fear and violence.
He just stayed there, sitting on the floor, for a half an hour until he decided that having an emotional breakdown and feeling sorry for himself wasn’t going to help his situation so he got up and walked back into the bedroom looking for a paper and pen. Ben didn’t know what exactly he was going to write but he knew who he wanted to write to.

Dear Danny,

I’m sure by now you’ve noticed that I have gone missing, or at least I hope you have, I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly but I just needed a vacation from everything, some time to think about me and you. After our “fight” I just felt like to be fair to you, to me, to the band and to the fans I needed to be alone.

I can’t tell you where I am, I wish I could, and I can’t promise that I will come back. There’s just one thing I want you to know, if I never come back I want you to know that all we’ve been through, every concert, every drunken night, were the happiest moments of my life.

Love Ben.

Ben knew that he had to lie in order for Ana to actually hand the letter to Danny, but he hoped that the subtle indications on the letter would be enough to spark something in his best friend. Ben folded the piece of paper and started looking for an envelope, but of course he found none, he wasn’t supposed to write letters let alone mail them. He folded it once more and put it in his jeans pockets, he would have to ask her directly.