SAVING KELSEY

“For God’s sake, somebody help me.!”

Strapped in a partially reclined chair, the dismal room illuminated by a single overhead bulb, Roxy struggled against her restraints. She’d tried for hours to recall how she had gotten here. She’d been clubbing with friends, drank a Manhattan…my God it had to be a roofie! She’d been drugged and kidnapped by a monster.

The door opened and her abductor strutted in. A huge man, with a drooping handlebar mustache, he radiated pure evil.

“How’s my little Roxanne now,” he leered down at her, helpless. “I’m Chester and you gotta do as we tell you. Ya’ gotta dummy up adout runnin’. You tried to run when we caught you and you ‘ve babbled nonstop about running from us. You’re here and you’re through runnin’…unnerstsan’?”

Then the ugly woman…she’d forgotten the woman…stepped around Chester and jabbed her in the shoulder with a hypodermic.

The lust and ugly intent in Chester’s voice was plain as he said, “Something to make you a little less combative, hon.”

Both turned and walked out, the door lock clanking behind them. Desperately trying to swallow the rising hysteria, she vaguely recalled riding, hog tied and naked in a barren van, then being strapped to the recliner. What had happened next was a blur. Now she was clothed only in a thin gown.

“Heelllp,” she shrieked. “For God’s sake, can anyone hear me?”

The soft voice from behind her was startling in the absolute silence. “Roxanne?”

“Who are you? What do you…?”

 “I’m their captive, too. Too awful. I was here last night when they brought you in. Chester is a horror. While you were unconscious, he and his friends had their way with you, just as they’ve done me for the past three days.”

Roxy craned her neck, unsuccessfully, to try to see the speaker.

“I’m Kelsey. I’m strapped to a chair like the one you’re in. I overheard Chester say they’d keep us a few days, then we’d end up in the dump.” Kelsey’s voice dissolved in tears. “Oh God, I’m so frightened. Those terrible things they did to me…and you.”

“Things? What…”

“I can’t say it. Too awful.”

“Good lord, I recall somebody saying something about ‘dump’.” Roxy said.

Roxy strained at the bonds that held her hands above her head. With desperation born of terror, her right wrist came free. Contorting painfully, she managed to reach her left hand and rip it free. My God, she was tied with Velcro not diabolical rope as she’d expected. Quickly, she loosened her ankles and sprang to her feet.

“Free me, Roxanne, for God’s sake,” Kelsey pleaded.

About Roxy’s age, Kelsey was bound to a similar device five feet away. At the sound of footsteps at the doorway, any thought of helping Kelsey dissipated in blind panic. She managed to rip the metal arm from her chair and stagger behind the door as it opened.

“Okay, babe, it’s Chester time,” the disheveled man said softly as he stepped in. From behind the door, Kelsey managed a full swing, making contact with the chair arm just behind his left ear.

“Son of a…” he managed as he went to one knee, then slowly slid to the floor.

With Kelsey screaming for help behind her, Roxy fled headlong down a musty, concrete walled corridor, probably an abandoned warehouse, she thought, that these perverts used to capture and inflict unspeakable things on young women.

Incredibly, the knock-down hardware at the end of the hall popped open and in a heartbeat she was outside in the wonderful freedom of chilly night air. She ran blindly, tripping on a hedge, sprawling headlong on concrete. Recovering her feet, she continued flight for several city blocks.

As fatigue began to take its toll, a sign from heaven appeared at the intersection a few yards beyond. A marked police car stopped, the overhead lights flashing.

The pudgy officer stepped out, his features indistinguishable in the dark. “Where you goin’, ma’am?”

“Monsters, sadists, holding me prisoner. Atrocities, horror…and they’ve got other female victims strapped to torture chairs.” She gestured wildly behind her.

As she looked back, a white van crept ominously up behind her. The driver stepped out.

The cop flash lighted Chester’s big figure. Blood trailed down over an ear.

“What’s up, dude?” The cop asked, holding the flashlight on Chester. “You holdin’ girls prisoners up there somewhere?”

“Bitch hit me with a metal chair arm,” Chester touched his bleeding skull.

The cop leaned closer to inspect the wound. “Damnation, Chester, this is the second time this has happened this month. Looks like this one almost did you in.”

“Doc will put a stitch in it. Meanwhile I gotta get this chick back to her rubber room.”

“She just looks confused, Chester, is she one of your mental patients?”

“Naw, she was boozing in one of those joints up on 27th and some clown dumped LSD in her drink.”

“Oh yeah, they broadcast that on the radio last night. This the one runnin’ nekked down the middle of 27th?”

“The same. Came in crazy as hell.”

“They’ve got Kelsey,” Roxy shreiked.

The cop looked at Chester.

Chester shook his head. “Funny, usually when they’re coming down from an acid trip, Jesus or their dead grandmother visits. The holding room is monitored. She was hallucinating with somebody named Kelsey when I walked into a chair arm.” He touched his bleeding head. “Kelsey doesn’t exist.”

The cop nodded.

Chester said, “Well, help me load her. Docs say by late today we should be able to dump her back into society.”

“The dump…oh my God, the dump!” Roxy gasped.

Chester shook his head. “Damned if I know what she’s babbling about?”

The cop holstered his flashlight and took Kelsey gently by an arm. “Okay, young lady, let’s get you back to the hospital. You only get to be nuts a few more hours. Chester, better tie the back of her gown…she’s open to the world.”

“Save Kelsey, you animals!” Roxy spat through gritted teeth.