Sophia in shackles

Sophia in shackles

By J.K. FITZPATRICK

6:16am Sunday 4^th June 2006

‘Dear heavenly angels, please come get me!’ she whispered in the early hours of the morning.

The blindfold had slipped from her face.

Sophia could see that she was in a strange room.

‘Please dear angels’ Sophia started pleading again.

Sophia caught the sight of movement from the other side of the door.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Had the angels heard her pleas?

Straining her eyes, Sophia peered intensely through the space made between the carpet and door sweep.

After several moments she realized it must have been nothing, just misgivings formed in the imagination of a nine-year old’s mind.

Breathing a short sigh, Sophia went back to thinking about the events which had gotten her here.

Her situation was all too real though, people had grabbed her and thrown her into a van.

One moment she had been going to check the mail from the mailbox at her aunt and uncles place the next minute she had blacked out.

Sophia had been grabbed, everything happened so quickly.

The room that Sophia found herself in now was smelly, cramped, and definitely not at her aunt and uncles home.

Trying one last time, Sophia wished against all other wishes.

‘Please angels, help me get back to Bastian!’.

Sophia in strife

i

16:44pm Saturday 3^rd June 2006

‘Bastian, sweetheart have you seen Sophia?’ Margaret asked her nephew.

‘Sissy went to check for the letter from momma’ Sebastian answered his aunt while playing with his action figures in the sandpit.

'Letter from mom, that's silly, it's Saturday' Margaret mused.

‘Henry dear, can you please go check on her?’

Margaret continued sorting items for their barbeque.

Uncle Henry returned within mere minutes, he was wide-eyed and stricken with an ashen parlor.

‘Margaret, I don’t know where Sophia is, she isn’t out front’ Henry pause a moment

‘I checked their room, the bathroom, the laundry, I don’t think she’s in the house’ Henry labored during his dialogue.

‘Take Bastian, go talk to the neighbors, see if Sophia is visiting anyone’ Margaret started to worry.

I’ll call the police and wait here just in case she comes back.

‘Is it too soon?’, she wondered, ‘Am I overreacting?’. Margaret weighed up the idea of calling Sophia and Sebastian’s parents.

‘No, Donna and Patrick have a right to know that something might have happened to Sophia’.

Calming her nerves best she could, Margaret dialed her sister’s landline number.

‘Hey honey, I don’t want to alarm you, but Henry and I haven’t seen Sophia for a short while’ Margaret said hoping Sophia would just walk through the front doors.

‘No she isn't home yet, Henry and Bastian have gone to check with the neighbors, see if she’s visiting'.

Sophia taken by shadows

ii

6:16pm Saturday 3^rd June 2006

Henry had spent a long time talking with neighbors, the strain of it all had started to show in Henry’s cadence of speech and gait.

Deputy Jones had taken statements from both Margaret and Henry Hills.

Just as Deputy Jones was calling in the BOLO another squad car was pulling up.

Deputy Jones and Sergeant Ellis had a quick consult between the squad car and the unmarked truck.

'Doesn't seem good Sarge' Jones said with hesitation.

'Looks like there must have been a kidnapping' Jones added with obvious unease.

Sergeant Ellis nodded an understanding, nod.

'Listen Ian, I'll take it from here' Ellis took a quick scan of the neighborhood.

'Clock off, go be with your family'. Sergeant Ellis steadied himself to get some more statements.

Margaret approached Sergeant Ellis just as Deputy Jones was leaving.

'Excuse me sir, I didn't get a reply to my question from that other policeman.'

'What do you think has happened to Sophia?' Margaret's hysteria had started showing.

Sophia stalked

iii

13:13pm Friday 2^nd June 2006

They needed a kid, any kid.

Getting a kid hadn't been the only orders Mistress Moxen had given.

1. Get a kid
2. Get rid of the van
3. Get to the safe house
4. Ring her when they had arrived
5. Take up their positions and above all
6. The kid was not to be harmed or interfered with

Nevaeh had come to learn that working with 'Lucky' Lloyd Kemmler came with great rewards, but equally great risks and punishment.

The rewards for this assignment would be the greatest yet.

Lucky checked his watch, it read 3:33pm.

Goosebumps flashed over his flesh it was a good sign, a good sign indeed.

'Hey lucky', Nevaeh's voice trembled with fear and excitement.

'Do you think we'll find our lamb today?'.

'I reckon we will boy-o' keeping his eyes peeled, Lloyd through the different neighborhoods waiting for a perfect opportunity.

'Will I get to be an acolyte after this?' Nevaeh enquired with awe.

'You will be so exalted’

'Mistress Moxen promised us both an audience with GOD himself if we do as she says'.

Lucky and Nevaeh pressed on with renewed fervor for the cause.

'Bastian, I'm going to get the letter from momma'.

Making her simple statement, Sophia left Sebastian to play on his own in the back yard of their aunt and uncle’s home.

Sophia had walked to the letterbox everyday for the week and checked to see if momma had sent a letter.

True to her word, momma had. But that had been Monday through Friday, Sophia hadn't realized that no mail would be coming on Saturday.

Just as Sophia had stepped out the front of the house, a man she had never met before spotted her from the used 2005 Toyota Hi Ace van that he was driving.

'Nevaeh' Lucky said with sudden excitement.

'Do you see that little girl' the words oozed from Lucky's lips like something nasty might ooze between your toes in long grass.

Nevaeh hadn't initially seen who Lucky was talking about.

'10 o'clock you idiot' Lucky chided his cohort.

Nevaeh scanned quickly to see who Lucky wanted him to see.

Now that the two conspirators were on the same page, the abduction had been set in motion.

Sophia as sacrament

iv

13:13pm Monday 5^th June 2006

Uunis took a moment to check his notebook, everything had come together nicely.

The timing of this ritual was key to his success, Unnis understood this emphatically.

His emaciated index finger stabbed at the buttons of his Motorola RAZR.

‘Gail, it’s time to collect the righteous aileron’. Uunis breathed down the line.

‘It will be done your excellence’, Gail Moxen elation showed every time Uunis would call.

Gail Moxen turned the key to her SSC Ultimate Aero.

Speedily Gail raced to the farmhouse.

The ceremony was just hours away now.

Mistress Moxen's ample derriere was three times the size it had any right being to comfortably fit in the sports car.

Being Uunis's right-hand woman carried prestigious trappings though and Gail like to exploit them any chance she got.

Gail knew these trappings came with the unspoken understanding that she would meet any and all demands Uunis Hex would ask of her though.

Sophia's salvation?

v

13:13pm Monday 5^th June 2006

Sophia had come too, her head hurt badly.

The door to the small room in which Sophia had been put suddenly opened. Someone entered the room.

A figure stood and stared at her for a moment, there was a funny sack over its head.

'Please' Sophia started.

The figure let out a queer little giggle.

'Please' Sophia started again.

'Shhhhh' The figure waggled a finger at her, then spoke.

'Non satis temopris adhuc' the lump of a person said.

'Please, help me', 'I wanna get home to Bastian' Sophia half screamed as she felt became hysterical.

'Superuacanea' the figure said in a gleeful fashion.

'Mister, I don't understand you' Sophia wailed.

The figure walked towards her in measured steps.

Sophia's leg and wrist shackles made it impossible for her to resist.

The figure smothering her face with a cloth, then she blacked out again.

Nevaeh had some time to think, 'Maybe it was better to keep the lamb in the attic until Mistress Moxen arrived'.

Draping the nine-year-old over his shoulder, Nevaeh lugged the tiny weight to the attic.

'Best get these shackles off ' he reckoned.

'Mistress wouldn't want the lamb to be in bondage any longer' Nevaeh figured.

Sophia's salvation? cont'd

*v*

Waking, Sophia had found herself in a strange and different room.

The nasty metal bracelets had been taken off, so had the blindfold.

'Where am I?', 'Where's Bastian?' 'I wanna go hooomee' Sophia wailed in short course.

Huddling herself into a corner of the attic, Sophia sobbed and had no choice but to wait and see what might happen next.

After a time, something in the attic had caught Sophia's eye.

A large wrought iron coat stand had a kind of spider’s web hanging from it.

It wasn't completely like any normal spider’s web, it seemed to be glowing a golden color.

Strange symbols seemed to spark from it in this low light.

Sophia couldn't help but look at it in wonder,

A pulse of soft but electric pastel colors ran through it.

All the colors of the rainbow it seemed

The strange fabric called to her.

Somewhere downstairs a phone rang.

'We have the lamb'

'Nevaeh is watching it'

'Ok, I'll get him to take it to the barn'

Lucky hung up.

He called for Nevaeh to come to him while he sheathed the razor sharp fishing knife he had been sharpening.

Sophia's sacrifice and stipulations

vi

5:55pm Monday 5^th June 2006

Sophia had woken to find herself in a huge barn.

A scent was carried to her on the breeze of the afternoon wind.

What was that smell? It reminded her of home or was it her favorite food?

Sophia was scared but the garment she wore gave her a calming strength.

The scent motivated her to seek out its origin.

6:16pm Monday 5^th June 2006

Taking several tentative steps, Sophia couldn’t help but be led towards the comforting smells.

A funny wheezing guttural yowling sound caught Sophia's attention, it made her remember the feral cat that she had seen once.

‘There’s a hurt kitty cat somewhere’, Sophia thought to herself as she hesitantly inched forward.

Sophia came across four large wooden crates, four smaller boxes had created a barrier to any further progress that Sophia could make.

The small and large boxes created a semi-circle, which sectioned off a corner of the barn.

The smell which had initially caught Sophia's attention had now become rather intoxicating. She steadied herself on one of the small boxes.

Her head spun; the effects of the aroma had been doubled from whatever the figure in the hood had used to make her pass-out.

Again the guttural yowling sounds came in anguished waves.

Sophia’s instincts told her to turn around, to run and hide.

That scent lured her to it even more though.

'What if it really was a hurt kitty cat, maybe she could help it'.

Awkwardly Sophia climbed the small boxes which had served as a steadying aid.

The height of the small box had been enough to help her to pull herself up on top of one of the larger wooden crates.

Almost instantly Sophia caught the sight of a figure crouched in the corner.

It looked to be a man, a very tall well built man, he was huddled crouched over in the corner.

Sophia couldn't help but marvel at how big the man was, he would have had to be bigger than her uncle Henry and uncle Henry was 6'5 and 225 pounds, whatever that meant.

This man made uncle Henry look like a small boy almost.

'Have you come to make a deal with me' the figure asked.

Small sudden yowls came from his direction.

'I don't know what you mean mister' Sophia started.

The figure seemed to soften, his body seemed to relax.

He craned his face to look at her.

'You are not who I was expecting' the man said, turning his face from hers.

Completely dumbfounded at what she just saw, Sophia was almost at a loss for words.

'I'm sorry to bother you sweet angel' Sophia started in awe.

'Don't dare call me that' the figure jerked in his stupor, his anguish plain to see.

The yowls came again, but this time they sounded even more vile and painful.

Sophia hadn't noticed it straight away, but there looked to be a nasty wound just on the inside of his right shoulder blade.

It was then Sophia noticed a golden tattoo which ran down the left side of his back.

'Would you like this' not knowing the best word for it, Sophia chose

'Blanket'.

'I don't want anything from you' the man said

'My name is Sophia, I want to go home' Sophia begged all of a sudden.

The figure softened again, he turned again to face her.

'My name is Samael, I want to go home too', he said from lips which looked to be the epitome of purity and kindness.

'You must be an angel, you just must be' Sophia said suddenly through tears of awe.

Samael winced at the sentiment.

'Do you know what the difference is between a wish and a deal child' Samael enquired.

'I wish to be home with Sebastian, momma and Daddy' Sophia begged.

'I don't grant wishes child' Samael started to crawl towards her.

''I will make a deal with you though' Samael pressed.

A deal, a wish, Sophia could make out the difference.

'Please take this, you look cold' Sophia tossed the garment she had taken so much comfort in to Samael

The shimmering spiders web which Sophia had found in the attic, lay pulsating on the floor of the barn just meters from Samael.

He let out a sudden moan.

'You simply give this to me' Samael said in complete amazement.

'Do you know what this is Sophia?'.

Before she could answer a sudden gun shot rang out.

A torrent of wind, a tempest of significant magnitude blasted Samael up through the top of the barn.

Uunis Bloom had spent fifteen years of his life as a Deacon within the Catholic church only to be usurped by a new comer for a coveted position.

The insult had motivated him greatly to seek his revenge.

Uunis had taken all of his theological knowledge and experience to set up the right moment in which he could make a deal with the devil himself.

The ceremony Uunis had worked so hard on for the last five years had not taken place.

How could Gail have fucked his moment up so badly? Uunis mused.

The farmhouse sat in ruins.

Chaos had reigned in the hours before.

Once Uunis realized that Gail and her cronies had made a shambles of his plans, set out to methodically cleanse them from the earth.

Uunis found Lucky in the backyard marveling at the bunny he had just skinned.

'Lucky is it' Uunis said making Lucky turn in his direction.

'Yes' he said, the bullet from Uunis's gun begged otherwise as the back of Lucky's head blew off.

Uunis made his way back into the house, taking Lucky's fishing knife as he went.

Nevaeh had just come up from the basement as Uunis had entered through the backdoor.

'Are you him, are you GOD' Nevaeh ask Uunis

'Yes my son' Uunis answered and quickly bridged the distance between the two.

Nevaeh felt a short sharp pain in his stomach as the fishing knife was dragged from his naval to his sternum.

Uunis moved onward to find Gail.

Gail had been at the barn when she heard the gun shot.

1:11am Tuesday 6^th June 2006

Sitting in the dark, sometime past midnight, Uunis thought about the deal he had wanted to make.

Uunis considered what he would do now that he had killed everyone at the farm house.

Frustrated he yelled 'I just wanted my fucking deal'.

'I have already made a deal, I granted a wish' someone said from behind him.

Uunis spun to be met with a sight he thought he would never see.

'My god, Samael' Uunis stammered.

'Yes'.

6:16am Tuesday 6^th June 2006

Margaret had thought she had heard the sound of their letter box closing.

'Henry' she called, 'It's a miracle'.

The end.