Dark Realms (3 page)

“Where am I?” she asked, her eyes darting
around.

“You’ve been kidnapped,” I replied. “Just
like us.”

“Kidnapped?” she squeaked. “I’ve been
kidnapped?”

I nodded. “Unfortunately. Do you remember
anything?”

“Um, yeah… I… Oh, God,” her green eyes
filled with tears. “I was at this club with my boyfriend, Danny,
and we got into this major fight. I left him at the club and
started walking home when this man approached me from out of
nowhere… and that’s all I really remember.”

“He brought you here,” I said, standing up.
“He brought all of us here.”

She looked around at all of us. “But,
why?”

“That
is
the question,” I
replied.

Chapter Four

We took turns sleeping and guarding each
other. When the sun rose, the barn started getting warmer and
within a couple of hours, the scent of Gloria’s dead body was so
pungent, my stomach began to roll.

“Poor Gloria,” said Anna, shaking her head
sadly. “She must have been so terrified.”

Tara stood and walked to
the barn door. She grabbed the handle and tried pulling at it.
“Poor Gloria? Poor us… she’s dead and we’re still trapped in here.
With
it
.”

I glanced up towards the
loft uneasily, wondering if
it
was awake.

Clenching her jaw, Tara smacked the wood
with the palm of her hand several times. “Dammit, I just can’t take
it anymore!” she growled, turning back towards us. “I mean, really,
we shouldn’t just sit around here and do nothing! Make it easy for
them? You know they’re not going to just let us go.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. “Why would they go
through all of this trouble?”

“Maybe they’ve sent ransom letters to our
families,” said Amy.

“Is your family rich?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“Well, either is mine. I doubt this is for
money,” I replied.

“My mama is so broke, she can’t even afford
to pay rent next month,” muttered Tara. “If these guys are doing it
for money, they’d better change careers ‘cause they don’t know what
they’re doing.”

Marie, the girl with the
pink hair, moved next to Tara. “Not to change the subject, but have
you guys tried throwing
all
of your weight against it at once?”

“Yes, several times last night,” said
Anna.

I walked over to the barn door. “Let’s at
least try again. It’s better than doing nothing.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” said Tara.
“We have to keep trying and not just give up.”

Marie, Tara, and I tried pushing and even
kicking at the door several times, but just like Anna had said, the
door appeared to be impenetrable.

Marie turned around and stared up by the
loft. “Hey, there’s an open window up there.” She started walking
towards the ladder.

“No!” I yelled, grabbing her arm. “There’s
something up there. It’s too dangerous.”

Marie looked at me like I was nuts. “What
are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you been paying attention?” asked
Tara incredulously. “There’s a dead body up there. Why do you think
it smells so bad in here? Nobody living can produce that kind of
stench.”

“A
dead
body?” she asked, backing up.
She stood up on her tiptoes. “Where? I don’t see
anything.”

I backed up too and noticed in shock that
the body had indeed disappeared.

“Seriously. Did anyone notice that Gloria’s
body was missing?” asked Tara.

Nobody answered.

“Dead body or not, I need to get out of this
place,” said Marie, pacing. “My dad’s going to ground me for a
month if he notices that I never made it home last night.”

“Marie, if you make it out of here, you’re
going to embrace being grounded,” said Anna, smiling grimly. “And
I’m sure your dad will understand when he finds out that you were
kidnapped.”

“I doubt it. He’s always yelling and
screaming at me,” she muttered, kicking at some dirt with her
high-tops. “Hell, he’ll probably tell me that I deserved it since I
was out last night and should have been home doing homework.”

“Nobody deserves this,” I said, trying to
see if I could catch a glimpse of Gloria’s body above. The sun was
shining down into the cracks of the barn and it no longer seemed as
ominous. I wondered if the thing had left.

“Still, I’ve got to get out of here. Has
anyone seen a pitchfork lying around? The barns in the movies all
have pitchforks lying around somewhere.”

“Jesus, girl, this isn’t a damn movie,”
huffed Tara, leaning back against the barn door. She folded her
arms under her chest. “Obviously, they didn’t leave us with
anything we could use against them.”

Marie bit her lower lip and began moving
towards the ladder once more. “Still, we have to try the loft
window. It’s our only chance of escaping.”

“Don’t, Marie. There’s some kind of animal
up there. It killed Gloria,” said Amy, her eyes wide. “If you go up
there, you’re going to get hurt.”

Marie began climbing the ladder. “Seriously,
though, I don’t see or hear anything. Whatever was up there is long
gone.”

I grabbed her ankle. “Please, listen to us.
Even our kidnappers told us not to go up there.”

She tilted her head. “Well, duh… that’s
because they don’t want any of us to escape,” she said, looking
down at me. “Just chill out, you guys. I’ll be fine. I’m really
good with animals, anyway. My Uncle Tom used to raise dogs that
were interbred with wolves.” She smiled. “He called me the dog
whisperer.”

“I don’t think there’s a dog up there. Now,
just come back down here before you get hurt,” I pleaded.

Before she could answer, there was a noise
outside of the barn door and then two men wearing overalls and
holding shotguns entered.

“What the hell you doing, girl?” asked the
older man with a scowl on his face. He was short, with long stringy
white hair and neglected brownish-yellow teeth. He spit out a wad
of chew. “Didn’t they warn ya to stay away from the loft?”

Marie jumped off the ladder. “Uh,
sorry.”

The younger man had a receding hairline and
appeared to be in his forties with gaunt cheeks and red-rimmed
eyes. He looked like he either had a bad hangover or was sickly.
“Come on now,” he muttered in a gruff voice. “You’re all supposed
to follow us into the house.”

“Why?” asked Tara, glaring at the men.

“You want to eat, don’t ’cha?” he snapped
impatiently. “Now don’t ask questions and do what you’re told. We
ain’t going to hurt you unless you give us a reason to. Got
it?”

“Okay,” said Anna. “We’ll do what you want.
Please, just don’t shoot anyone.”

“Listen,” said Marie. “I really have to get
home. My dad is gonna freak out when he realizes I’m not
there.”

The older man raised his gun. “Our orders
are to feed you and nothing else.”

“Those men kidnapped us and broke the law,”
I said. “You have to help us.”

“Save your breath, missy,”
said the older man, his eyes hardening. “We ain’t lettin’ you go.
Shit, if we did,
our
lives would be in danger. Now, get your butts moving so we can
feed you, like they told us to.”

The fact that he was
actually scared of the other two men wasn’t lost on me. “Take us to
the nearest police station and we’ll
all
be safe.”

“We’re
safe,” interrupted the younger man, scowling. “If you don’t
start moving your butts,
you
won’t be. Now, git.”

Frustrated but relieved that we were leaving
the barn, I followed the others, wondering if anyone was thinking
about making a run for it. When we stepped outside into the fresh
air, however, my heart sunk – we were in the middle of nowhere,
just like on one of those freaky horror movies where there is
nothing but land and a spooky old farmhouse, which we were now
being herded towards.

“Don’t any of you try any funny stuff,” the
younger man warned, walking behind me. “I’ll shoot any one of your
asses from here to the cornfield.”

Feeling anxious and tense, I followed Anna
up the rickety steps leading to the porch and entered the house
with the others. As we walked into the foyer, the smell of cooked
meat made my stomach growl.

“This way towards the dining room,” said the
old man, leading the way.

As we walked through the darkened house, I
noticed that the windows were covered with thick curtains and the
furniture, which looked old and worn, had all been covered with
sheets. It was definitely a house that didn’t seem lived in.

It made everything that much more eerie.

When we reached the dining room, we all
stopped and stared in surprise at the long oak table, which held a
large turkey and all of the trimmings.

“Wow,” said Amy, biting her lower lip. “Is
this really for us?”

“Yeah, go sit down,” said the younger man,
nudging me forward.

Stunned, I sat down and stared at the large
quantity of food spread before us – turkey, mashed potatoes,
stuffing, bread, and even a bowl of cranberries. My mouth began to
water.

“What, no gravy?” mumbled Tara.

“Just shut your yap and start eating,” said
the older man.

“This is just weird,” whispered Amy, sitting
next to me. “Who kidnaps someone and then feeds them like this? I
don’t like it.”

“I know,” I replied, wondering myself. It
just didn’t make any sense.”

“So, now you’re going to poison us?”
remarked Tara, sitting across from me. “Is that what this is
about?”

“Nothing’s wrong with this food, girl,” said
the older man. He leaned over the table and grabbed one of the
turkey legs. “See,” he said, tearing at a piece of meat with his
teeth. “It’s good,” he said, with his mouth full. “Now eat before
it gets cold.”

“Who made this food?” asked Marie, sitting
down on the other side of me.

“Never you mind, missy,” replied the old
man, dropping strands of turkey from his mouth as he talked. “Just
eat.”

“Why don’t
you
join us?” said Anna,
staring at the younger man. “Obviously there’s enough food here for
an army.”

“No, we’re just supposed to make sure you
eat,” he replied, although he was staring at the food hungrily.

“Well, I’m not eating any
of this until I know it’s not poisoned,” said Tara, folding her
hands under her chest. “I’d rather die from your gun than get
poisoned by potatoes. Would be
much
quicker.”

“Go on, Darnell,” said the older man,
picking at something between his teeth. “Dig in.”

Darnell bit his lower lip. “Well, if you
think we won’t get in any trouble, Clement…”

“Hell, we’re
gonna
get in trouble if
they
don’t
eat,”
said the old man. He tossed the turkey leg behind him and wiped his
hands on his overalls. “Now, grab a plate of food and show them
that the food is fine.”

Darnell wasted no time. He took a plate and
began filling it with heaping portions of food, and then sat down
at the other end of the long oak table, his gun close to his
side.

The smell of the food was really getting to
me and my stomach growled loudly again.

“That’s good enough evidence for me,” said
Marie, grabbing a plate of her own as Darnell began shoveling food
into his mouth. “I haven’t had this kind of food since my grandma
died years ago.”

I stared at the food hungrily, but the
niggling voice inside wouldn’t let me grab a plate.

“Hey,” said the old man, motioning towards
the food. “Whatcha waiting for, Red?”

I
despised
being called “Red”. My hair
was more brown than red, but it never seemed to matter. Resisting
the urge to snap back at him, I replied slowly, “I’m not feeling
very well. Kind of nauseous, actually.”

“You’ll feel better if you eat something,”
he replied, staring at me with his watery gray eyes.

“I don’t think so,” I answered, slouching
down in the chair. “I’m feeling pretty bad.”

Clement cocked the gun and
pointed it at me. “Trust me, you have no idea how bad you’re gonna
feel if you
don’t
eat.”

More angry than scared, I clenched my jaw,
grabbed a plate, and began filling it with food.

He lowered the gun.

Just then, there was the sound of a
grandfather clock chiming in a nearby room. The two men looked at
each other uneasily.

“So, what happened to the other two guys?”
asked Tara, pushing the stuffing and turkey around on her plate
with her fork. “Did they crawl back to their holes?”

“I’d watch my mouth if I was you,” said
Clement. “Those fellers aren’t the kind you want to piss off.”

Tara’s cocked an eyebrow
and sneered. “You mean the
kind
of sicko pricks who enjoy torturing innocent
people?”

I thought she’d nailed it on the head, but
Clement shook his head. “They’re much worse than that. Now, shut
your trap and eat before they get back to the house.”

She put her fork down. “Why are you so
worried about us eating? I just don’t get that.”

“Cause we were ordered to make sure you
eat,” said Clement. “So eat.”

“Ordered or paid to threaten and torture
innocent women and children?” I muttered, glaring up at him.

His lips thinned. “Looky here, we haven’t
tortured any of you…”

“Clement,” warned Darnell. “Enough.”

Clement let out a ragged sigh. “Just eat
your food, dammit, and quit asking questions.”