Stolen Soul

Trigger warning: Kidnapping, gore, physical violence, killings, and guns

Moria was about fifteen minutes into her run and was slowing down to cool down a bit before starting to run again. She turned into a new part of the park, and the leaves began to crackle in the wind as she approached a naturally occurring archway the trees created. As Moria stared at the beauty of the leaves, they seemed to twinkle in different colors of yellows, reds, and oranges. She looked back down and noticed a dark mass slumped on the walkway. She sighed; the homeless people usually camped in the picnic area but must have been shooed away, and this soloist took his refuge here. Moria decided to stay far left not to bother them because most homeless were unpredictable, and she was too anxious to test their boundaries.

As she approached the person, the hair on the nape of her neck started to stand, and she got goosebumps all over her body. She slowed but continued moving forward to pass the person and not pay any attention to them. Then just as she was starting to approach from the left, she noticed it wasn’t just one person but two, and one was looming over the other. She looked away from the intuitive feeling of being embarrassed that she was witnessing something that should be done in private and not in the open, but then again, they didn’t have that luxury, she guessed.  

The smell snapped her head to look out of concern and fear; a heavy, thick metallic scent mixed with an unfamiliar one quickly invaded her lungs, almost suffocating her. Bile began to sting at the back of her throat, and she started moving farther away as slowly as she could. All her internal alarms were screaming at her to run, but all her body seemed to do was be now frozen in fear.

The top person’s actions shouldn’t be happening to anyone. The body that the first was over barely looked human; the only thing that gave it away was the shoes the poor soul wore. The whole area was stained red and was drowning in the thick liquid. Moria covered her mouth desperately to keep the bile from escaping.  

Just as she was leaving, a traitorous leaf, stick, or whatever snapped under the weight she put on her back foot. At that moment, her whole body drained of all warmth as a cold tidal wave and goosebumps spread throughout her body. The feeling of dread sank its teeth in her as the killer snapped to face her. Then she saw in full what this monster had done. The killer opened them from the collarbone to just past the hip, like one would filet a fish. She couldn’t hold it back now as she eschewed the breakfast she had eaten before the run. Her stomach lurched forward again, but this time as if someone pulled on it, she followed the command and sprinted. Moria didn’t dare look behind her in case the murderer was giving chase, and with her luck, she’d trip and would be the next victim.  

At this moment, she regretted her choice of timing for her run. There was no one. No one to help. No one to protect her. She had noticed an opening fenced area and prayed that anyone would be there. For some miracle, there would be someone to help her. Moria began to look about frantically, her heartbeat drowning out the sound of everything. Then she saw movement right up ahead and noticed it was a uniformed person. She cursed out of thanks and pushed herself to go faster than she even thought she could.

“HEY, HEEEEY, HELP, I NEED HELP; OH GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!” The person faced her and waved their arms in response to her pleas. “CALL 911. THERE WAS A MURDER. OH FUCK IT WAS SUCH A BRUTAL MURDER!” The person got out what she assumed was a phone. She started to slow down and tried to catch her breath. It wasn’t until she got closer that she trusted the wrong person and knew this would be her last day alive. Moria didn’t want to die in any strangers’ hands, including by the gun that this lady was holding, and had slowly pointed it at her, her eyes saying,” One movement of anything to escape, and you are done.” Moria’s mind went blank. All thoughts of fight or flight left when another cold wave of goosebumps washed over her.

She stopped when the lady signaled for her to. “There wasn’t supposed to be anyone here this early. That’s just great. Now we have to take care of another person.” She sighed, “Can’t be helped, I guess.” Moria’s throat felt like a desert in the summer, and she was surprised at the sound of her voice coming out,” P-please let me go. I-I-I won’t tell anyone. My lips are sealed; oh hell, please let me go.”

The lady shook her head and walked closer to her, but before Moria could take her chance of escape, a strong arm grabbed her, pinning her arms to her side, and another arm muffled her scream with a cloth. The next thing she remembered was a brutal hit to her head, and everything went dark. This is it, Moria thought. This is how she was going to go. Her life was in shambles, and no one was around. 

Moria slowly opened her eyes and tried to take in everything her sense could, as she could only see darkness. Her arms were tied behind her, and she was lying on her side on a cold, hard floor. As Moria tried to sit up, her head hit a dense material, knocking her back, letting out a yelp. She gradually began to sit up again, careful not to wack her head again. Using her arms to prop herself up, she still had to sit hunched over to be off her back entirely. Her heart began to beat in her ears, and her face began to heat up. It became harder to breathe, and she collapsed, laying back down again and curling into a fetal position. Moria closed her eyes, tried to control her breathing, and ground herself as best as possible.  

As soon as her breathing slowed and she could stop hearing her heartbeat, she could slightly hear a slight thumping above her. Her head began to throb, maybe from when she hit it or perhaps when they hit her to knock her out. Her senses became dull, and Moria was swallowed into the dark. She gathered she was hidden under the floor, and her mind began to race on how when she got the best chance, she would take it to free herself. 

Her head began to pulse with pain, and she groaned as she felt pressure on her head. Moria tried to move her arms and legs, but they weren’t following her command. She slowly opened her eyes, and a blinding light greeted her. “Easy now; Jason used too much force when he knocked you unconscious. Can’t have you dying just yet.” Everything started to go fuzzy again, and her head dropped. “Oh no, stay with me. I can’t have you going out again. That will be too dangerous.” A quick zing of pain struck her side, and she jolted up. A hand from the lady that pointed the gun at her made its way closer to Moria’s mouth. The lady shoved two pills into her mouth and forced her to swallow. She coughed, trying to hack them back up, but then the liquid was forced down, and she panicked again.  

Somebody took Moria into a dimly lit room that smelled of rotting books and damp soil. Her brain became like the static you feel when you touch an old TV screen. The room started to spin, and she felt the binds around her wrist loosen as she picked up. “You were quite a fighter against the drugs we gave you.” She tried to turn her head, but it lazily tilted to either side as Moria was dropped down. She felt something cold go around her right ankle with a loud clunk. Moria moved her ankle, a cold weight held on, and jerked her foot back, given that it was as far as the restraint went, and she drooped to the floor. “P-please let me g-go.” She reached out to one of the blurry figures, and her voice caught in her throat, hoping it would reach any sliver of humanity either had. “Pay her no mind,” then both figures turned and left, melting into the dark, blurry mass before her. She counted (one Mississippi, two Mississippi, e.t.c.) until she got to a hundred and forty-three Mississippi, til she heard an ever so quiet bang. She kept repeating it, hoping her brain wasn’t too scrambled to remember. 

It seemed like days had passed as they would come when the room was in low light to give her food and water. The light that filled the room must have been something like solar tubes; she had some in her house; she was grateful this was one of their faults because she could keep track of night and days down here. Occasionally when she could finally see clearly, she analyzed her area. It was a bunker of sorts. It was a small concrete room with a coved ceiling. The only thing in the room beside her was the rope tied to a metal clasp around her ankle.  

Moria had to be smart once they gave the pills to make them think she swallowed them. When she counted that they were safely gone, she’d get them from under her tongue, spit out the saliva that had pooled in her mouth on the pills and grind them into the floor, leaving no trace. She didn’t want to risk swallowing anything and took very little water and food. They must have thought the pills were enough to hinder her senses. She couldn’t tell or feel anything as she ate the food and slowly increased her portion. She guessed they might have concluded that Moria accepted her fate and wouldn’t refuse the so-called “help” they were giving her as they fed and hydrated her. 

She waited until their coming and going was like scheduled clockwork, and she should take the time to saw down the rope that connected to the ankle cuff she was wearing. She wasn’t going to give up that easily. She had to keep the constant panic attack and anxiety down enough to focus and push through. If she had lost herself at this point, she might as well have given up a long time ago once she woke up in the low-ceiling room. She kept herself propped up to hide the progress she was making on the rope and change her position so as not to cause too much suspicion.  

It was well into the night as she was finally on the last strand of the rope to saw down after working on it for a few days. She didn’t know how long they had her but knew her time was running out. She suddenly felt a sudden release as the rope broke, and her heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t be relieved yet; she still had to escape this concrete prison. Now was the hardest thing she’d have to overcome, getting out and not getting caught.  

She gathered the rope like how you do with a garden hose. Her or them would face the end, and she would physically do everything with her strength, ensuring it was them. She would use and take what she could to defend herself, giving them no chance.

Moria scanned the room for any visible cameras, she was already losing time, and her heart felt like it was about to egress from her chest. Moria slowly reached for the door, then it flew open, and she hit the wall to doge. Without hesitation, as only the gun pointed through the doorway, Moria hit it to knock it away, and it went off, causing her to scream. She unraveled the rope a bit and began using it as a whip to defend herself, to keep whoever came through from getting any chance to grab her.

“You bitch, after all we did for you, to protect you.” Moria got a tiny sliver of hope added to her. She could take down the lady easier than the male. Moria was analyzing as her brain seemed to kick into survival mode finally. The lady must have noticed that she was slowly heading to the gun with her blocking the doorway and went to lunge at Moria. She shifted to the side, giving the rope slack and lassoing it around the lady. Moria put all her weight on the lady, wrapped the rope around her neck, and tightened it, holding on with a death grip, not giving the lady to fight back. The lady flailed her arms, trying to grab and gave Moria more than a few scratches, with blood slowly rising.

Moria didn’t release till a few minutes after the lady had stopped moving, and Moria covered her mouth, moving off of her, and let out a shaky break, trying not to let what she did sink in. You had no choice. You had no choice. You told them you’d keep your lips sealed. Your lips are sealed of what has happened. Your lips are sealed. She repeated the phrase as she kept her eye on the lady and grabbed the gun. She quickly searched her body and found keys and a card. She wouldn’t be a fool to forget whatever could be vital for her to get out, so she took them both.

She left the room and cringed with both weights on her legs. Fire shot up both legs and her hip as she limped, closing the door and locking it. She hadn’t realized she was barefoot till she felt the water on the floor and heard it splash against her movement. Moria kept darting her vision from side to side, ensuring nothing would catch her off guard. Luckily it was a straight hallway, and as she moved, she counted, and sure enough, once she reached one hundred and forty-three Mississippi, she came to a door.  

It was an average metal door; a rectangular space with a Wi-Fi-looking symbol in the middle was on top of the door handle. Moria repositioned the gun into one hand and grabbed the card she had gotten off the lady’s body. She put her ear against the door to hear anything, and when she didn’t hear anything, she sighed and prayed before holding the card to the scanner and opening the door.  

She kicked it open as best as possible, sending pain up her right leg like fireworks. The coast was clear, and she went up the stairs quickly. She came to another door not too far up the stairs and took a deep breath. She opened the door, and fresh air and a gentle breeze greeted her. Opening it more, she saw she was in a backyard, and the sun was barely rising. Her breath catches in her throat, and she looks around. There was a typical one-story house up ahead and other houses on either side. As she approached the house, she looked in the windows and the sliding glass door for movement, and when there was none, she opened it and made her way to the front. Just as she was halfway to the front door, there was the sound of a door closing. “Trudy, is that you? Is it my shift now.” Moria’s body went cold, and she readied the gun, pointing to the hallway where the voice came from.  

Once he turned on the light, he saw Moria with the gun pointed at him, tears spilling from her eyes. “D-don’t move, I-I will sh-shoot.” He glared; if looks could kill, she would have been dead when she spoke. Whether he moved to attack her or anything else, Moria didn’t give him a chance, as she screamed, firing off all that was in the gun. Down he went face first, and she bolted out the door, dropping the weapon, and to the first house, the lights turned on. “HELP ME HELP!!!” She was stumbling after every step, and people started to rush out of their homes. The tears didn’t stop coming, nor did she try to stop them. All her energy seemed to be leaving as she entirely collapsed to the floor as someone caught her.  

“What happened? Can you tell me? What happened?” Moria shook her head,” I told them my lips are sealed. I am safe now. My lips are sealed. My lips are sealed.” She slowly pointed to the house she came from. A lady quickly came over and gasped,” I called nine-one-one wha- oh my God, Martin, that’s the missing girl they’ve been broadcasting on the news for the past two weeks. She was held right next door at Trudy’s; how could she ....” All the sounds started to sound like she was going underwater. Moria just kept repeating her phrase,” I told them my lips are sealed. I am safe now. My lips are sealed.” When she saw the flashing red, blue, and white lights, her vision started to go blurry. She was lifted onto a soft bedding, and someone told her,” You are safe, Moria, you are safe. We have you now.” She really believed those words for the first time in what felt like a long time.