Illusion and Truth

Adele roused from sleep as a chill penetrated her body. Slowly opening her eyes, a tangy smell filtered through the air. Was that blood? Her arms manoeuvred to the side and above her head, but all she felt was a steel hardness on top of a cage. Her legs lay at an awkward angle. She shifted to get more comfortable in the confined space, having forgotten where she was.

She struggled to breathe before screaming at the top of her lungs. It was pointless. No-one would listen. No-one ever listened.

Her eyes darted around the space, but all she could see were four bare walls, a coil of rope, and a stack of boxes piled high.

Pushing her body forward, she yanked against the steel bars as if she could magically break them apart. Her eyes drooped as if she needed more sleep, but she’d already overslept these past twenty-four hours. All she got was a measly plate of mashed potatoes and buttered bread. No meat, no salad, no real sustenance. When she requested iron and fruits, the bad lady shook her head sternly.

How would she ever get out of this cage? Where was she? Surely the police would be looking for her. She’d been missing for the past two days. But then again, who’d report her missing? She had no family and was alone in this world. Always had been. The few friends she’d had had abandoned her too without an explanation, without warning. Was something wrong with her?

She remembered the last time she’d had a family. Adele was fifteen years old when her parents had taken her to a picnic at Coburg Lake, feasting on sourdough bread, cold meats, sundried tomatoes, and fried chicken. Why did they abandon her at sixteen? She had lived in foster homes until she was eighteen. Now at twenty-five, she lived on her own and barely scraped by.

She pushed aside the unbearable tightness in her chest; the darkness seizing her with a gut-wrenching pain in her stomach. Turning her forearms, two large cuts were on either side. These bastards had tortured her.

Footsteps resounded in the distance. As they drew nearer, she gasped. What did they have planned for her? The bad lady was aloof. The towering man spoke gruffly and had large hands. He was handsome but emotionless. She wondered if her captors were married or only friends.

Bad lady hobbled inside, glaring as she carried a plate of mashed potatoes and buttered bread. “This is all you deserve.” Her eyes were bloodshot and dead, her greying hair dishevelled.

Behind her was the emotionless man. He had an ash black crewcut with legs as thick as tree trunks. He looked like a security guard of sorts. “Do you remember anything?”

Adele ignored his question. “Who are you?”

He squared his shoulders and stomped towards her, his face inches from hers. “I get to ask the questions, not you. Answer me.”

Bad lady unlocked the cage with a small key, her hand shaking. “Here you go.”

Emotionless man aimed a gun towards her, most likely thinking she’d escape. She could try, but she’d be risking her life. “Who are you working with?”

Adele angled her head as she dug a plastic fork into the potatoes and swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Bad lady slapped her across the face before reaching for the plate. “You don’t get to eat anymore.” Quickly, she locked the cage. “We’ve been asking you nicely, but you refuse to own up to your crime. Your days are numbered.” She pursed her lips. “If you don’t tell us, you’ll die slowly.”

The man grunted. “Reflect on that, but we deserve answers.”

***

Adele’s head throbbed and her body ached. It felt as if one hundred pins penetrated her eyes. She struggled to keep them open. In and out of consciousness, she wondered if she’d been drugged. They must have put something in the potatoes.

Her neck and legs ached as she stretched out her arms. Her head seemed to weigh her down and each body click pained her.

Another memory surfaced. Her father’s arms wrapped around her as he dropped her into the water at the beach. The salty liquid causing her to cough when her father’s smirk unnerved her. Why did he hesitate to help? “Sorry, my sweet. Let’s grab an ice-cream.” But she could’ve sworn his words didn’t match his body language. Or was it only her imagination?

There were times her father had looked past her, seemingly in another world. Other times he’d whisper on the phone as if having secret friends. Not long after that, she’d arrived home from school and found that her mother and father were absent. Gone. No letter. No warning. No explanation. Were they being held captive like she was now? Were these people responsible for kidnapping her parents?

Closing her eyes, she awoke again and realised another day had passed when a few dirty plates lay scattered opposite the cage. She couldn’t remember eating the food. Had they drugged her again?

As she rubbed her eyes, a series of images flashed before her. A bloodied body on the ground of her apartment. Blood seeping around his head. A jagged knife in her hand. The realisation she’d killed her boyfriend, Ange. Was she a killer? But why would she kill her boyfriend when she cared for him?

No, she wasn’t a killer. She had to have been set up, but by who?

***

Later that evening, loud thumping sounds reverberated near her room. What were they planning to do to her? These sickos. Did they believe she’d killed Ange?

The door swung open. The bad lady came inside. All bloodied across the forehead. She lay a quivering hand over her stomach. A stab wound? “Help me.” She closed the door behind her.

An uneasy sense penetrated her stomach as chills ran down her spine. Something was wrong. Had the emotionless man turned against the lady? But why?

Adele banged on the cage door. “Please let me out of here.”

The woman grimaced in pain. She rummaged into her front shirt pocket, reaching for the key, but it fell. Her eyes were closing. “Sorry.” She fell back against the wall.

“No, no, no. Give me the key. Wake up. Please wake up.” She was still breathing, but it appeared shallow. If only she could reach for the key, but it was at least two metres away. “Wake up, lady. Please.” Was he going to come for her next? Kill her? She believed the man was on the woman’s side.

Bad lady slowly roused. She stretched out her arm, inches from the key. With a sigh and shortness of breath, she shifted her arm closer to the key. The woman heaved and struggled to keep her eyes open. “Sorry.”

“No. Do not give up. Stay awake. Only another centimetre. Throw it to me.”

She moaned in pain until wrapping her fingers around the key. Picking it up, she threw it to Adele. It landed inside the cage. “Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Mary.”

“Keep your hand pressed against the wound.” Inserting the key into the lock, she pulled open the cage and breathed a sigh of relief. Running towards the box, she rummaged inside for a chamois then pressed it down on Mary’s wound. “Who stabbed you?”

Mary’s eyes started to close. “Y…our….”

“Stay awake. We’ll get you to the hospital. Do you have a car?” She nodded. “Great.” Putting both arms underneath Mary’s body, she helped her up. “Can you stand?”

“I..will….try.”

But when the door swung open again, Adele gasped at the sight before her.

***

He snickered. He cracked his knuckles. Turning to Mary, his hands spilled blood while wielding a jagged knife. No, it couldn’t be. Were her eyes deceiving her? She had to have been hallucinating. “Hello Adele.”

“What is going on here? I thought….” He glared at Mary. Did he stab her? She shifted in front of Mary to shield her from the knife.

“The killer found me. Figured it all out. Even brought me here for my punishment instead of to the authorities. He wanted me to pay.”

“Pay for what?”

“I’ve been in hiding all these years, Adele. I didn’t want to abandon you, but I had no choice. I wanted you safe and not be on the run with me for the rest of your life. I can see you’ve done well without me.”

“I don’t understand, Dad. What have you done?”

“I’ve been falsely accused of serial crimes, but I’m innocent. I would never hurt a fly. You know that. How much did I care for you, Adele? Love you? Cherish you? You were my world, so I left for your own protection. Who knew if the actual killer would target you? I am sorry for leaving you, but the killer was after me and I didn’t want you targeted.”

Mary shook her head, short of breath. “Don’t….believe him.”

Adele felt bile in her throat. Was he telling her the truth? “Where’s Mum?” He remained tight-lipped. “Dad, where is Mum?”

“She died. Had an aggressive cancer. I had to bury her.”

A hollowness filled her heart. “Who killed Ange?”

Her father hesitated. “It was that man holding you captive here. I knocked him out. Let’s go.”

Mary let go of the chamois. “No, no.”

Adele picked it up and pressed it back over her stomach. “Don’t talk. We’ll get you out of here.” Her legs wobbled. “Did you hurt Mary?”

“Only for protection. She was going to kill me, and I had to protect myself. Now come on, let’s leave. “

“No, she needs a hospital. I’m not leaving her here to die.”

Something in her father’s eyes made her stomach flutter. It was the same odd expression he’d had before. “Okay. We’ll bring her with us.”

Adele held her arm around Mary’s back. They walked past the living room. “Why didn’t you tell me you were alive? You abandoned me?”

He huffed. “I’ll explain everything. Let’s get out of here first.”

She walked alongside him, with Mary beside her. In the corner of her eye, her father wielded the knife, swinging it towards her. Before she could stop him, he dug the knife hard into her stomach. She fell. The room spun around her.

He stared, emotionless as he swung up the knife to strike her again. Mary lunged towards him. The knife fell. He bent down to pick it up behind him. “You need to die, daughter.”

Mary dropped to the ground. Blackness set in. This was it. The end of her life. She would die without knowing why her father wanted her dead.

A bang reverberated in the room. A gunshot. Tilting her head upwards, emotionless man hovered over the dead body of her father.

“You’ll be fine,” emotionless man said. Sirens drew closer.

***

Adele roused from sleep when emotionless man leaned forward, smiling. “You’re awake.” Where was she? It looked like a hospital.

“What happened?” Aches and pain in her stomach made her grimace. She held the sheets up to her neck, shivering despite the warmth in the air.

“I’m Jerry, a private investigator. How are you feeling?”

She exhaled. “Terrible.” She fought against her pounding headache and dry mouth. “How is Mary? Is she alive?”

Jerry poured her a glass of water from the jug and handed it to her. “Yes. She is alive, thanks to you. She’d lost a lot of blood, but the doctors were able to operate and save her life. It was close.” He grinned. “Drink up.” Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she waited. “It all started when Mary’s son, Ange, died from multiple stab wounds. You were in police custody after reporting the crime. You denied killing him, but you couldn’t remember what happened, so we didn’t believe you. We also thought you were working with an accomplice. I have police connections, so they agreed to release you into our custody for a few days. To get you to tell the truth.”

Adele couldn’t breathe. “To torture me?” He nodded. “How does my father fit into all this, or do I not want to know?”

Jerry squeezed his hands and sighed, then rose from the edge of the bed and drew open the curtain. He peered through the window, emitting a flash of sunlight. “Something about you didn’t feel right. I believed you when you said you didn’t remember anything.”

“You were set up by your father. He explained how he’d been watching you for the last few years. When the police had called him as a person of interest for other murders, he planned. If he could direct the evidence to you, he’d be home-free. But recently I found new DNA evidence that implicated your father.”

“My God. I thought he loved me.” She tilted her head. “I remember a man standing over me, but he was in a disguise. It must’ve been him.”

“It was. He lied his whole life. He played games with people, and he confessed to killing your mother. She suspected he was a serial killer. He killed her so she wouldn’t report him to the police. Not only did he kill Ange but four other men and two women whose murders were never solved. He was deemed a suspect, and he came here to kill us.”

“I am glad you’re all okay. Have you spoken to the police?”

“Yes, they’re investigating his home. Another thing we found, Adele.”

She angled her head. “What?”

“Your two best friends.”

Adele never understood what had happened to them, believing they’d left the country. “What about them?”

“Sorry to say, but they’re dead. Your father killed them.”

Her heart deflated. “Bastard. I always thought my mother and friends abandoned me. I wish I’d been able to help them. If only I’d known he was a murderer.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you.”

“Thanks. Can I see Mary?”

He nodded. “She’d like to see you.”

Jerry helped her out of bed and walked alongside her to visit Mary.

Once they entered her ward, Mary’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Adele.”