House Cult

Night of May 7th, 2014

My hands are tied at the wrist and I'm squatting next to a wall. I'm in a house. The rope is around a vertical pole, floor to ceiling, my arms are around the pole and my wrists close to it. When I stand my chest is at the floor level, my little area is indented into the floor. It has a few stairs that go up as well as stairs that go down into darkness. Old wooden stairs. I'm not sure why they took me. This group. Maybe 6 or 7 of them? Some kind of cult. All young, mid 20s. I don't know what they plan to do with me.

It's been days. I am as non-threatening and likable as possible, hoping it will keep me alive and untouched. They've threatened me plenty. Showed me a body bag that they said was for me. Threatened torture first. I don't know why me, what they want, what they do, all I know if they have me and may torture and kill me. I must have been good at making them like me. This evening one of the guys unties the rope, allowing me to rest more comfortably on the scratchy blanket. I lay for a moment, watching the dust float in the sun beams above me. I'm suddenly aware that I still have my cell phone. With the floor indented down they wouldn't be able to see me use it but I need to make sure nobody can sneak up, and I also couldn't be talking about needing help. They'd hear. But 911, police respond even if nobody talks. They can find me! I stand up and say something to the guy who untied me. He is sitting on a couch, facing away from me watching tv. He stands and walks over to me. He squats and we talk. Words unknown. His face charming, deep brown eyes glaring brightly and intensely. He is a big guy, tall and strong like the rest. Short dark hair. He stand and turns away and goes into the kitchen on my left. I get my phone out and I keep talking to him as I dial. Our words are harmless. Will anyone come if they think it was an accidental dial? My time must be running out. I glance down at my phone and the call has ended.

I ask him if I can go to the bathroom. He looks me up and down. I know I'm filthy having been living on this old dusty wood... no, he's thinking of trusting me to go by myself. "Go ahead."

I step up the stairs and in front of the stairs is the bathroom. It's attached to a bedroom, the door between is open and the bedroom door is shut. Just as I reach the bathroom he says, "Wait." He instructs me to take me pants off. Right there. I do. He smirks and turns away, back to the tv. I step into the bathroom and close the door behind me. I can't lock it, he'd hear. But nobody can see me now. I see the window in the bedroom. It's large. And closed. I think to call 911 again, but my phone was in my pants. I look for pants among the clothes scattered across the room. Boy clothes. I see a pair that looks like it will fit and I grab it then go quickly back to the bathroom and pee. As I pee I put the pants on, they'll fit well enough. I flush and run for the window, opening it as the water swirls down loudly. They'll know in an instant I'm gone when I don't come back out of the bathroom. I go out the window and start running, glancing over my shoulder to see when they start after me. The sun is below the horizon and it's quickly getting darker. I don't know this neighborhood. They're coming! I can't stop at a stranger's house and knock on the door, it would take too long and I'd be taken again by the time the door was opened.

I run and run down the sidewalk and I see a lady with her dog- a former client, I trained her dog. She is about to get in her car which is parked on the street. "Hey!" I holler out. "Oh hi!" she says. I'm frantic. "I need help, please, we need to call 911." An SUV comes sliding around the corner. "DRIVE!!" I scream at her as we both get in her car. We take off. "Do you have a phone?" She hands me her phone. I dial 911 and tell them we're being chased, I'd been kidnapped and escaped, I tell her what cross streets we're at and at then the phone dies. And so does the car. We look at each other, horrified. They must have something that knocks out electronics, some kind of EMP. The SUV is stopped behind us. I have tears in my eyes and say we have to get out and try to keep running. I point to a spot that they couldn't drive through, between two houses. We get out at the same time as the people in the SUV. Six of them, four men and two women, all pointing guns at us. We duck behind her car, leaving the small dog inside, and I hear gunfire. One of them screams and falls to the ground.

I hadn't noticed police come up behind us. There are two cars and truck.  They are using their doors as shields while they shoot. Her car is in between. We stay crouched  in front, hands covering our ears as the sun comes up. From behind us, from the path I'd wanted to run down, I hear more gunshots. A different sounding gun. Large. Powerful. Our unprotected side. The officers all go down. Two of the group remains at the SUV and the single man walks forward from our side, carrying his gun by the butt with the barrel point up. He is tall and thin, wearing a ratty t-shirt and ripped jeans. Sandy blond hair hanging into his eyes. He flicks the cigarette from his mouth as he tilts his head and says, "Well little lady, this wa-" and his eyes widen. He falls to the ground and a syringe sticks out of his back. An unknown man wearing sunglasses walks out from among the police vehicles and shoots the two remaining group members. I'm in shock. I can't say anything as he approaches. He holsters his gun.

The guy who had the rifle was laying face down. He suddenly pushes himself up and spurts white foam from his mouth. His arms and legs, his whole body is twitching. He's right in front of me. I'm too horrified to move, and still in shock, sitting with my back to the car. He reaches his hand out and shoves me to the ground. The man with the sunglasses gasps. "Don't let him-!" too late. The guy grabs me by the throat and kisses me. Foam bubbling into my mouth. He collapses and dies. I spin around and squat and keep my mouth open, head down facing the ground, palms pressed firmly into the pavement. There is nothing I can do. The poison is in me. I gag and choke and spit and drool. My body wretches. My intestines writhe and brown, bloody, liquid drops drip from the pants. I didn't even know until the lady pointed it out. She is crying hysterically. I feel horrible for dragging her into this. The man with the sunglasses has come up and his hand is on my back. "You'll live, you'll live, you'll be ok, it'll stop, I promise, you didn't get enough to kill you, you'll live, you'll be ok..."