Trauma

Note: Thank you all for being such nice people.

From my newest follower, Silias Welson, to one of my biggest supporters on Reedsy, Akshara, you guys have always been there, willing me to keep going, keep writing. You are the reason I write. You are the reason, I get to do what I love.

Daily Question: What is your relationship status? I'm single, which isn't surprising, considering the amount of things that has happened to me with "relationships". I'm just looking for the right guy. I know he'll show up somewhere...

Also, weird question, because I'm bored...do you think you could be the right guy?

I'm guessing not. Comment below!

I wish I had never seen what I just saw...

Haley Blue watched as her computer suddenly shut off. Another blizzard, she thought, watching the glass. It was starting to frost, making pretty, little diamond designs on the window. 

Crystals. That's what they reminded her of. Pretty crystals.

Everyone was gone, and she was the only one left. The lights went off a few seconds later, sending chills down her spine. She had never liked the dark.

Haley had always wondered why her workplace was in the middle of the woods. They sold cabins in Lake Tahoe, maybe that was the reason why, but other than that, there was no reason to have a building in the middle of the woods unless it was a home.

Her chair creaked as she got up and walked over to the door. Looking out the window, she saw that she was snowed in.

“Damn it.” she said. That was not good. Now she had to spend - who knows how long - at her work. Not the best time to be snowed in, there were five days until Christmas.

She walked around her office, throwing a bouncy ball up and down. It made a little boing sound every time it hit the ground.

Boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing.

Now this was getting annoying. She picked up a book titled: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Adventures. Now that was what she needed.

******

Haley walked into a blue hallway. She had never been here before, and was probably not allowed to…

But no one was here. Was that a crime? To explore?

She tried the copper handle on the first door. Locked. Which probably meant that all the doors were locked.

The blood red carpet seemed cheap, the color was splattered all over like blood. This was not art. This was kinda scary.

As Haley was walking back, she heard a crunch. Picking up the carpet, she saw some keys. They were labeled A, B, C and so on. Theri were so many black keys, the letters turned to numbers and then number and letter combinations. 

This would be a long exploration.

Key A:  Haley walked into a green room. Old, musty papers were scattered on the floor. Pictures of boats hung sideways around the room. Squeak!

A mouse. Nope, she told herself. I am NOT going in this room.

So she hurried out before the mouse could run loose.

Key B:  She broke out in a sweat. This was where the heater was. She actually thought if she stayed in there any longer, she might overheat and die.

So she left.

Key C: Just plain beautiful. A Victorian room with curtains like blackberry wine. The laminate floor creaked under her feet. Haley looked up and saw chains and shackles.

She did not want to know what was going on in there.

Haley had skipped all the other rooms and moved to the top floor. As she walked up the grand staircase to room L, she smiled. This wasn’t so bad, being snowed in at her workplace. 

Most people would have just read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but she was different. She got an idea out of it.

Key L: This room was a mess. Random objects littered the ground, making it hard to see anything. This reminded Haley of one of those rooms she had seen on the show Hoarders.

Suddenly, she heard a noise. A scream. A cry out for help. Someone was here.

Someone was in trouble.

Haley went through all the letter keys as quickly as she could. 

M: Nothing.

N: Nothing.

O: Nothing.

P: Nothing.

Q: Nothing.

R: Nothing.

S: Nothing.

T: Nothing.

U: Nothing.

V: Nothing.

W: Nothing.

X: Nothing. 

Y: Nothing. 

Z: Nothing.

She was getting closer. 

The door labeled X1 opened and her boss, John came out.

“Haley, what are you doing here?” he asked. He was wiping his hands on the back of his pants.

“I’m snowed in...what are you doing here?” Haley asked, clasping her hands together. John had something on his cheek.

“Oh you know, extra work. Some buyers wanted one of our nicest homes.” he responded. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.

“Wow.” she was a little confused. “Wait, someone wanted to buy one of our nicest houses? Those go for.... A lot of money…”

She paused. His hands were covered in blood. Blood. The red stuff that comes from humans and animals. Holy crap.

“What's wrong Haley? Why don’t you come join me, and we can work together.” His words were so smooth, so calm.

That's how she knew he was a murderer.

“I’m okay. I was just going to read a book.” John walked toward her and she backed away.

“Why don’t you postpone that for a while? Let’s go have some fun, and after, I can give you a new position at work. One with more power.” he smiled, and she saw that blood stained his teeth. Haley didn’t know if it was his or someone else's. That’s when she remembered the screams.

“Get away from me.” she growled, backing into the staircase. He was a few feet away from her now.

I’m going to die, and there's nothing I can do about it, the sentence went through her head multiple times before she actually realized this was it.

“AHHHHHH!” Haley heard a girl scream, as a woman that was covered in blood jumped on him. The woman was strangling him.

Than he threw the woman off of him, and spit in her face.

“Leave her alone!” Haley yelled, ripping a shelf from the wall and hitting him in the head with it. She saw a bloody gash on his bald, shiny head. She was so surprised at how easy the shelf came off the wall, that she didn’t even notice John coming at her. They tumbled into the wall, and she was pinned to the ground.

“Do you think you could just get away with this? I will always beat you. I am the man and you,” he spat. Blood dripped from him onto Haley. “Are the women. So-”

“Screw you John.'' The woman hit him in the head with the shelf multiple times until he went unconscious. Haley slid out from under his heavy body and realized that she was shaking. “I’m Marley.” the woman said, helping her up. The inside of room X1 was horrifying; there were more then 15 women in the room, chained to the wall. Most were moaning for help.

Whatever John had done to these women, he hadn’t got to do to Haley.

And that was a good thing.

I wish I had never seen what I just saw… she thought, hugging herself.