dark

The humid, cramped room shone with flickering candlelight, orange flames bounced off the moldy, yellow walls and shattered in her dreamy blue eyes. A strong, rough hand moved up her knee, disappearing in depths of her silky dress, gently caressing the stone cold skin. The other, held her podgy face upright, in front of his, letting him kiss her bruised lips. Muddy rainwater dripped down her lifeless shoulders, washing away the sticky dirt. His tongue wriggled towards her face, like a fat gray rain worm, it jerked until it made contact with her cheeks. An elderly woman appeared in the doorway, her hands occupied with a bucket of hot cooking oil, her wrinkled face, gazing upon her son and the new woman. Some of the gray hairs escaped from the neat bun, leaking all over her sweaty face.
“Where did you get her from? Ma?” he looked up, words muffled as he grinned, hands let go of the face. It tilted to the side, then hang limply, causing the whole body to collapse on the dirty, ripped sofa.
“THIS one isn’t for you” furiously, she chucked the bucket, spilling the scalding oil onto the dirty rug, then rushed towards them. For an old woman she had a pretty strong hand, as she landed a hot fist into the young mans face, spilling droplets of warm blood. Taking a firm grip of the soaking hair of the corpse she pulled it off the sofa, dragging it behind, until she disappeared in the murky hallway.

* * * * *


Scarlet sky sprinkled the wheat fields with a golden sunset, leaving behind the last glimpse of an August’s day. The very few yellow flower heads still gazed upon the heaven, trembling in the chilly summer breeze. Yet the evergreens behind the little, rusty cottage remained dead still.
“C’mon we are so frigging late!”
“JUST A SECOND!”
“You are going to be late for your own party, the sun is nearly gone…” an abnormally tall girl pocked her head through the curtains, her fair hair stuck to her red lips. She brushed it out of the way, to attach a fragile purple flower. The stem gave in and it hang limply.
“Shoot…” fiddling with the flower for a second, she tore off the stem and pulled out a pin, then clipped it to her blouse.
“So how come those stuck up parents of yours let you off with this mind smashing trip?” she winked teasingly.
“Shut up.” The other one smiled, “This will cost me a lot, you do realize…”
“More like your parents want to get it on tonight…” both of them screwed up their faces in disgust.
“Eww. Well I don’t care what you say, even though my step parents are so stuck up at times, they are lovely and you know that…”
“But it should be good tonight…maybe you’ll even find a guy who actually appreciates you!”
“I hope so…”
”Does that look alright?” the other girl tore her gaze of the cracked mirror, which rested on the dusty shelf.
“You little…” a voice echoed from the depths of the evergreens, yelling drunkenly the words to some unknown song.
“…We are all going to have a great time…shoop-ti-doop…YEAH…good, good time…”
“Christ I told you, we need to hurry up! They’ve started without us!” the tall one disappeared into the shade of the evening, in effort of escaping her friends rage.
“IS THAT MY NEW SHIRT?” but her friend was long gone. She rushed outside, the drunken voices still echoed somewhere in the distance, hidden by the pitch-black cloak of the night. The dark seemed like a fog, so thick, so viscous, swallowing a little winding road that leads to the rest of her friends. Trying to crunch up all the existing fears, she made a brave step into it.

Leafless trees spread their branches like trillions of little, skinny fingers, grabbing her messy hair, in effort to stop her. Tall yellow grass crunched under her feet as she made a pathway of her own. It was rhythmical with the loud beat of her heart. The voices were closer now, just few meters away, or so it seemed. It was comforting to hear human voices again; walking all alone in the darkening forest wasn’t that pleasant. Jest few meters away. She could already see the firelights. Clang. Something shiny fell into the stomped grass, glittering as it slid into a sea of dead leafs.
“Shit…” she leaned over, and dug her bony hands into the rotting mass. All of the sudden the tall oak tree behind her moved. No. It was just her paranoia. It wasn’t a tree; it was a slouching silhouette, which disappeared as fast as it had appeared, into the murky fog.
“Guys?” her voice creaked with fear and anxiety. What ever it was, it was now gone. In fact there was nothing in the first place. Crack. A branch had snapped somewhere not that far ahead of her. Panic took over. She had forgotten about the set of keys that were now lost forever in the moldy leaves, the point was, that, that something was now approaching her in the complete dark, and she had no where to run.

“What is taking her so bloody long?” the tall girl fidgeted in a young mans lap. Her friend hadn’t appeared for a half an hour now, and the sun was long gone.
“Relax, maybe she is still getting ready” he pulled her in, gently kissing her neck, purring like a domesticated cat in sight of a treat. His hands slid down her thigh and lifted up the tip of her mini skirt.
“Stop it…” she giggled “No seriously stop it now…” she pushed his hands away, staring into the darkness, but saw no one.
“Man, where the hell is she?” she jumped off, looking into the distance “Would you come with me and take a look?”
“Look I am sure she is just fine, but if you want me to come and check it all out I will do it. Just for you” he smiled warmly at her, but as soon as she turned away he illustrated several thrusting movements on her behind and winked at his friend who lay by the fire, ears plugged with I-pod headphones.

* * * * *

Chilled wind penetrated the skin and got through to the bones, sending a shiver down her spine. The air in this part of the forest was damp and stunk of decay. Everywhere she looked, South, North, West or East- everything had been long dead, silently rotting away. It felt strange, being the only one alive. The silhouette had vanished somewhere in between the two dead, big fat trees and the burned bush. It moved at such quick pace that it was difficult to tell if it was real or not. One second it’s by the moldy evergreen the other by the mighty, naked oak. “It’s” image was distorted, fragmented, silent. Crack. The pressuring tension was broken by the troubling sound. Somewhere to the left a branch was snapped, not a small one- a rather large one. Someone turned the volume on her heartbeat, now it was blocking her ears. Her own breath was louder than rolling thunder, shorter, faster. Panic took over. It was like in a music theory test “What else can you hear in this piece?” There was a definite note of someone else’s presence. Its breath was calm, too calm.
“Guys?” she chocked out as a blunt spike from a tree brunch dug into her skull, cracking it open, sending her body to rest among the rotting debris. Hot blood gushed out of the fresh opening just above her forehead, then dripped rapidly down her shocked face. Her vision blurred, but she could still make out the distorted outline of the thing that had attacked her. It stood right above her chest: little black eyes scanned her paralyzed body, face wide with a grin as it watch her twitch and shudder. It bent over and with a strong pull, dug out the tree brunch out of her throbbing head, sending another wave of blood down her frizzy hair. With jerky, shaky movements like as if it was being electrocuted, it lowered it self onto her stomach and took a sniff of her blood soaked hair, playing with every single curl that didn’t manage to escape from its giant palm. Quivering she lay there, as it drooled down her cheeks and grinned. Muddy, cold fingers felt its way down her neck and into the blouse, playing teasingly with the buttons before tearing it open.

“Stop it now…” she giggled, but there were hints of annoyance in them “Seriously your sister is missing and you just don’t give a damn!”
“Aw come on babe, I didn’t see you for ages! I missed you…” he pulled on a sad face, puffing out his cheeks and curling the lip. She sighed.
“Yeah I know…I missed you…” both of them stared at the ground, she- in wonder, him- in guilt. He looked up, knowing that this is the moment where he could take an advantage of it.
“And now once I am here, maybe we can…get a bit closer?” he winked at her, but she didn’t notice in the darkening night. With a light, inviting nudge on her elbow, he gave in and pulled her in, pressing her to his chest. She gasped but didn’t object, lowering her self into the patch of grass, letting him kiss her long neck. His hands migrated from her waist to the tip of her skirt, raising it to the level of her knickers.
“I love you babe…” his lips followed the faint line of her jacket and searched for an opening to her breast.
“I love you t…” she stopped mid sentence, eyes wide open. Either her mind was playing tricks on her (the explanation she preferred) or there was a man, walking just few meters away from where she lay, with a limp body of her friend in his firm grip. It dragged slowly through the forest floor, making a minimum sound. She pulled the caressing teenager towards her self, giving him the wrong idea.
“Ooo, you like that don’t yah…” he dug his unshaven face into her neck, aiming for a love bite.
“Shut up!” she whispered fiercely “Shut the hell up. There is someone right behind you!”
“Huh?” he pocked his head through the grass, his voice way too loud to be left unnoticed. The man was mumbling something under his breath occasionally glancing back at her unconscious friend.
“And I will take care of you…oh yes…me and ma…you will please…” his glittering, lifeless eyes spotted the movement in the dead still grass.
“Holy shit!” the teenager ducked to the wet soil, smudging wet mud all over his left cheek.
“Shush” she put her muddy palm over his startled face and peeked at the stranger just in time to make an eye contact with him. There was a long awkward pause. Her mouth went dry in seconds, his locking, empty yet so full stare was paralyzing. The pale moonlight gave a glimpse of his deformity. His face was stone still, no emotion, and no fear. Nothing. There was a shuddering sniff; the young man next to her began to cry.
“Jesus! Man up for god’s sake, shut the hell up!” she gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs, startling the still grass. Panic arose. She glanced back at the spot where the deformed creature stood. It was gone.

* * * * *

Throbbing headache was overwhelming; the stench of the damp dog blanket punched her nostrils, sending her to the stone cold floor. Her body ached, especially the raw wound. Some of the ribs seemed to be cracked, it was painful to breathe. She glanced at her torn blouse. One rib poked through her pale skin. Tears rolled down the muddy cheeks. Face felt sticky with blood, there was a sharp pain in her brow, occasionally returning, letting her know that there was a problem. She felt the swollen area around it with the tips of her fingers. A dry twig had dug into her brow; its sharp end penetrated her skin at two sides, like a piercing. Clutching her teeth tight together she pulled it, but it didn’t budge- more hot tears. The pain was unbearable. Somewhere in the distance the record player screamed out “The Twist” feeling in the room with lively music.
“…Come on baby let’s do the twist…”
She peeked through the gap in the blanket, in front of her was a moldy yellow wall, and it shone in the dim candlelight. It was smothered with hundreds and hundreds of pictures of women. She scanned through the rows of unconscious bodies, and everyday lives until one caught her eye. It was her, hugging Vanessa.
“…Oooh-yeah just like this…”
Below there were few pictures of her asleep in her van, followed by her changing then few in the shower.
“…She really knows how to rock she knows how to twist…”
There were some pictures of Vanessa too. Vanessa however was fully naked.
“…Come on little miss and do the twist…”
“Christ” there were faint footsteps approaching the corner where she lay.
“…Yeah twist on now
Twist…”
“Hello…”

“Stop crying!” Vanessa clutched his sleeve in her hand and pulled on it; “Justin please, we need to hurry up!” she was close to tears her self, but someone had to stay sober.
“What am I going to tell mom? Did you see her? She was DEAD!” he sobbed even harder, coming to an abrupt stop “She’s my little sister for god’s sake…and now, she’s…she’s…” now tears were flowing uncontrollably, it was weird to see a guy cry.
“And she is my best friend, but crying is not going to solve it…if we hurry…” she stumbled through the grass, blinking back the tears “…we might still be able to save her…”
The sound of drum and base was now closer; it blended with drunken voices of the invited people, their shadows danced in the little forest clearing. From the sound of it there were about 15 people, all busily discussing the latest gossip and pouring drinks.
“Come on…” she yanked his sleeve once more in effort to push him forward. He stared at the ground, hopeless, face swollen from crying.
“Vanessa! Justin! Where have you two been? You naughty lot…” a short, lively looking guy appeared out of nowhere with a drink in his hand, he winked at them playfully. Seeing that the pair was sobbing, he adopted a worried look.
“You guys ok? You look like you’ve been dragged through a bush…” Justin just stood there, staring at his feet, his face crunched up in a guilty look. Vanessa burst out with tears.
“Please help us, he got her. He got Charlotte…” she whipped her eyes, smudging mascara down her cheeks. “Tom, please…please…” he looked at her as if she was speaking another language.
“Hey Tom, who are you talking to?” two identical girls appeared from the shadows glancing at their friend, absolutely ignoring the newcomers.
“Ummm…” he looked at traumatized Justin “Well…”
The twins caught his stare; with a disgusted look on their faces they both announced, “What the hell happened to you?”
“Tom please you got to believe me…there is a guy out there…he’s got Charlotte…” she sobbed, ignoring the twins.

* * * * *

She lost the track of the time. She may of lay here for minutes or maybe, god forbid- hours, days. Her body felt even weaker than before, legs and arms felt heavy, glued together and refused to move. She left a hot weight on her chest, something foul smelling and terribly heavy lay on top of her, crushing her broken rib sending her a wave of pain. Its breath reeked of decaying meat. Eyelids felt heavy too; it was a right struggle to lift one up just high enough to see a Rotviler staring right at her with its mad, yellow eyes. It stared challengingly, revealing its bear claw teeth with a light growl. Charlotte gasped.
“Good dog…” it gave out another growl, more threatening this time. Her eyes filled up to the edge with fear, she didn’t dare to move even a centimeter oh her body, afraid that any second now the creature will dig its monstrous teeth into her face. She could feel the blood pulsating, heartbeat increasing by seconds.
“There’s my big boy…” a silent creeper had entered the room where she laid, the dog responded with a friendly bark.
“Guard…” it obediently turned back its stare at terrified Charlotte, spilling foam onto her breasts.

“Can you please explain what exactly happened?” Tom took a sip of his rum and coke, squinting his eyes, handed it to Justin, who looked the most traumatized.
“A man…he’s got Charlotte, she looked…she looked…” Vanessa burst into tears again; one of the twins comforted her by patting her on the shoulder, the other by pouring her some drink. With trembling hands she accepted it, staring at her reflection before taking a sip.
“Dead. She looked dead.” Justin tore his gaze off his muddy shoes and looked up at the cloudy starless sky, its dark jaws swallowed the ghostly moon.
“Heya you guys, why not joining the party?” a lanky, shoulder length-haired male appeared from the flickering clearing, crunching away a bag full of peanuts. His hands occupied with two bottles of Heineken and a violet flower “What’s up you lot, looking so miserable?” he scanned the little group of people, spotting Vanessa on the floor, face dug into her ripped tights, sobbing away. “Hey, hey what’s up?” he looked upon her in concern, but there was no response.
“Vanessa, babe, why are you crying?”
“Some guy had taken Charlotte” Sniff.
“What do you mean some guy has taken her? She’s waiting for me at this cottage!”
“We saw him…we saw him dragging her lifeless body through the forest…”
“No, no you’re wrong. I just got a txt message. She’s waiting for me! Are you drunk? Guys is she?” he looked at the present members but they shook their heads in disapproval. All accept one. Justin still gazed upon the oppressing sky.
“How long ago did you get this txt?”
“Well, maybe 10 minutes ago?”
“She’s dead.” Justin mumbled in wonder, as if this wasn’t really a big deal.
“Right you guys, you’re freaking me out, I just got the frigging message from HER phone!” his voice became irritated with little hints of fear in it.
“Well they say otherwise…” one of the twins gave him “I know right?” then tugged on her wavy hair in a flirtatious way.
“Look, we saw this guy drag Charlotte ok, we’re not fucking making it up. Why the hell would we, seriously…” her tears filled with fury and frustration, she didn’t even bother to finish her sentense, as everyone looked like she just escaped from a mental institution.
“So what did the imaginary murderer look like?” chucked the other twin, sending a wave of giggles around the circle.
“He looked like an experiment out of a jar…” Justin threw her a bitter look that gave an abrupt end to the laughter filling in the space with an awkward silence.
“Where did she say you’re going to meet up with her? Tom finally broke the tension, so everyone could sigh with relief.
“She said it’s not that far from the river. It’s up the mountain, I know the way.”
“Well what are we waiting for then?”
“Are you serious?” he looked at Tom, then at the puffy eyed girl on the floor. They looked dead serious.
“Oh bloody hell…”
* * * *

“You are my sunshine, my only…damn it,” the steel hair brush fell to the cement floor with a clang, panting she bent over and reached out for it “…sunshine, You make me happy when skies are gray…” stuffing a mouth full of pie down the throat, she clipped the frizzy hair neatly in place. “…You'll never know dear, how much I love you…stop moving you bitch!” she pulled the hair at the area around the wound, making Charlotte scream in agony. “…Now where was I…oh yes…Please don't take my sunshine away…now there we go” she smiled proudly at her hard work “…all ready and beautiful. You know I never had a daughter, not as pretty as you…” she took out a cheap red lipstick from her pocket and smeared it all over her blue lips. Then coated her cheeks with a good amount of blush, making her pale face look like a porcelain doll.
“What are you doing to me?” Charlotte was barely speaking now. Her throat was dry like sandpaper; the broken rib prevented her from taking in full breaths.
“You look prettier than the last one…I think you are my favorite…” because of the bright lights above the woman’s head it was difficult to see her face, therefore difficult to tell if that mad woman could find even a little drop of sympathy for her.
“Please…please let me go, I will give you all the money you want…” but there was no hints of sympathy in her voice.
“Stop asking me! Just take a look at your pretty dress! Don’t you look lovely?” she propelled Charlotte forward, placing her in front of a mirror. Her movements sharp and irritated. In the reflection there was nothing but a dying 16 year old, with curled up hair and stage makeup. The glitter was everywhere: her eyes, face, hair, and dress…that dress! It was a red version of the Cinderella dress with few suspicious maroon spills all over it. There was a bulge just below the area of her breasts, by the look of it- it was her rib.
“Now don’t you look lovely” for the first time, Charlotte saw her fairy godmother’s face- it was a clipping out of a horror movie. An old woman, in her late sixties, dressed in a purple apron and an orange dress. Her iron gray hairs hang limply from her balding head, covering the only good eye- thee only eye. She was missing most of her teeth, her jaw out of proportion with the rest of her face. One eye was definitely higher than the other, by about 3-cm. She grinned and drooled. Her fairy godmother pulled out her magic wand, about 13 inches of shining blade and pressed it against her throat. Tender skin split under the pressure, a stream of blood stained the frilly dress.
“Just like a princess…”

* * * * *
“Are we there yet?”
“No, not yet, maybe another 5 minutes?”
“Argh! This walking is killing me!” this was a new voice. The original crowd had turned around to take a good look at the invader. It was Jessica, Matt’s new girlfriend. Matt was the typical popular guy, who changed girlfriends like gloves. However Matt wasn’t there by her side, he was probably somewhere, still at the busy clearing, getting it on with one of the guests. She stumbled through the wild growth on her own.
“Why cant they just make normal roads in this country, my feet are killing me!” she slurred her speech pretty bad, and then took another sip of her vodka, which magically appeared from her denim jacket. The twins looked down at her feet- the crazy bitch was wearing high heels!
“Well it would help if you didn’t wear high heels through a forest?” both of them chuckled but the crazy drunk didn’t mind, she smiled along with them.
“Where are we going?” she questioned them.
“Trying to find the birthday girl, where are you going?”
“To find…to find…oh look! Berries!” her attention span came to an end, she lost interest in her conversation and rushed towards a fruitful bush, coated with red berries.
“No! STOP! Those are the poisonous kind!” Tom rushed towards her, slapping the berry from her hands just before she could place the fruit in her mouth.
“Eric, if you don’t mind me asking” Justin, nudged the lanky guy next to him who still stared at the wobbly drunk “What’s this whole business with you and my sister?”
“Well…I kinda really like her, but she never notices me and stuff. But today I get this txt and now you guys tell me that she’s dead. So its like…yeah…”
“I’m sorry…it’s pretty hard for all of us…”
“I know man, she’s your little sister isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is…”
“Oooo who’s this handsome stranger” the drunken female jumped onto Eric’s back scaring the living hell out of him. Her right shoe made a cracking noise, the heel snapped off sending her flying, applying her full weight onto poor guy.
“Hand’s off him, woman, he’s mine!” Tom jumped up to his friend’s defense, saving him from his terrible fait. Eric looked at him gratefully, before spotting the noise ahead.
“Can you hear that? I think we’ve made it!”

The entire room reeked of cooking oil, dogs and decay. Yet there was a presence of a sweet odor that lingered in the clouds of vapor. This room differed from that yellow room. It was more cramped, the air was hot and thick; there was no ventilation what so ever. Cold white light just above her head, shone with a perfect, straight line at the small, granite walls that was decorated with knifes, spoons, pans and all sorts of spices. There were no windows, which explained the humidity and dampness of the underground cellar. So far she has not spotted even one exit, it was like if she was buried alive, there were just gray walls, supporting a low, oppressing ceiling. This had to stop; she had to stop passing out and waking up in random places. Who knows what that crazy old lady has done to her while she was unconscious? Yes she was weak, with a broken rib and a hole in her head but she had to make it out alive. For once her hands we free to move, in fact her entire body was unleashed and free to go, except for the massive chain that wrapped its metal jaws around her ankle and pulled it towards the wall. Shit. There was a clang. It bounced of the walls in the granite grave and shattered in repetition. Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang…
“Hello?” she whispered not daring to raise her voice any louder in case that old which came back. But there was no response. She lay there in her red Cinderella dress, in suspense, straining her ears to hear any kind of noise, but the room rested in absolute silence. Only the rare random puffs of the boiling mass on the stove. This meant that someone would have to eventually come back and switch it off. And that is what she was afraid of.
“Ah…” was it a figment of her imagination or someone really did gasp.
“Hello? Is there anybody there?”
“Ahh, some one…please…I will give you all the money I’ve got, just please let me go…” the voice shuddered in tearful sobs, pleading hopelessly. It reached out from under that table and grabbed Charlotte’s fearful heart, which began to beat as if it was on ecstasy.
“Where are you?” the voice refused to reply, it was broken and shaky and sounded amplified, as if it was in another room with a mike. The chain was long enough for her to crawl around; it should be long enough for her to reach the table. Applying her full weight onto the arms and knees, gasping with pain she crawled to a decaying table that stood in the far corner. There was a little opening in the floor there, looked like a drain, the sobs were coming from there. She peeked at it.
“Jesus…”
* * * * *

“Right, so she said she’ll meet you over here, yes?” the seven of them came to a fast flowing, busy river that glittered in the weak moonlight.
“Well, yeah…” looking in every single, possible direction, squinting his eyes in effort to see a moving figure of his bellowed one, Eric realized that they were there all alone.
“Just give it sometime you guys…”
“I want to go for a wee…”
“Then go for a wee!”
“What’s wee?”
“I’m thirsty…”
“Where can I go?”
“I’m not feeling to well…”
“WOULD YOU SHUT IT?” Vanessa’s furious face looked down at the winy bunch, puffing like an angry bull in sight of a red flag.
“I AM SO SICK AND TIERED OF THIS SHIT!”
“Shush you guys! I can hear something!”
“I’m going for a wee…” they all looked down at Justin who all of the sudden lowered him self to the ground and raised his pointing finger towards the sky. For five seconds they all just stood there in anticipation of this sudden act, but as seconds dragged on and nothing happened most of them began to fidget and tap away with their feet.
“Oh for God’s sake! Justin, what is it?”
“Can you hear that?” he looked up, finger still raised as an indication for them to shut up and pay attention.
“What? We can’t hear anything!”
“Someone is swimming in the river!” they all looked at the fast flowing waters, they looked incredibly dangerous- suicidal.
“Look how fast it’s flowing, don’t be so damn stupid!”
“No seriously, just listen!” and to their astonishment they heard faint splashes in the distance, perhaps the water there was much quieter.
“Come on, this way!”
“Guy’s? Where is that drunk? She hasn’t returned yet.” One of the twins looked at the empty spot where few minutes ago she stood.
“She’s probably just ahead, we’ll find her on the way.”
As they marched on, the water became more furious, frightening, occasionally spitting out few cold splashes at their feet. The thought of someone going for a swim was absolutely impossible, unless that someone was absolutely mad and was at least strapped on with a rope.
“I don’t think that anyone’s going for a swim…”
“Yeh, this doesn’t look promising, we should just go back…”
“OI what’s that?” someone pointed at the speeding, murky water, which dragged along a red object. It floated on its bumpy surface, heading towards them like a silent yet visible predator.
“What’s that in the water?”
Its silky surface reflected the weak moonlight, what would occasionally gaze upon it through the heavy clouds. Vanessa broke off a tree brunch and with steady movements fished out the soaked cotton, just before it could escape her forever.
On one end of the stick hang a red summer dress, icy water dripping off it. It looked very familiar. Too familiar.
“Hey guys, wasn’t the drunk wearing a red dress?” they all looked upon it, studying the neat cuts on the sides. Sure it was her dress, but where was its owner?

******
Hot oil from the stove slithered on the floor, until it reached the drain, its flow was unstoppable, and yet watching this was unbearable. A little stream of scolding fluid dripped down onto those little bony shoulders, the pale pink hair, the bruised, swollen face, staining them with burn marks. The little creature looked up from her concrete prison, hands too small to reach for the bars above its head. It was naked, shivering, broken. The blood shot eyes looked up pleadingly, fearfully, silently- dead. It was begging her, begging for life, she was its only hope, but there was nothing she could do, she was too trapped in here. The minutes dragged on as they stared into each other’s eyes, exchanging feelings, emotions, fears in a silent conversation. It was amazing how much you could tell just with eyes! Its eyes were pale green, pupils wide with either lack of light, fear, or it might have been drugged. They studied each other, creating awkward silences and not bothering to fulfill them, because they knew that there was nothing else to say, there was nothing needed to be said. Just the sound of the hot oil, splashing against the creatures burnt skin, and the little gasps of pain, every time they made contact.

* * * * *
“OK you lot, keep it down, she might of just, I don’t know, stripped?”
“What if she drowned? The dress was in the river…” everyone fell silent and took a moment to gaze at the furious water, it spat at them angrily in response.
“We mustn’t loose hope you guys, maybe she’s around, and we got to look for her!”
“Christ, we went looking for Charlotte and now we have to look for that stupid, idiot bitch…” they all shared sympathy with Eric who was spacing out, occasionally swearing at the drunken girl.
“Are those boot imprints?” he mumbled staring at the ground, mind still unclear about the happening events. They all looked down at the muddy ground where someone had just wondered past, the imprints were freshly done. They lead to a small wet clearing, where the grass had been flattened down by something heavy, there they came to an abrupt end.
“They just vanish in this clearing!”
“Yeah we can all see that, thank you for pointing out the obvious” Tom glared at the twins who threw back at him a couple of evils.
“Well who ever it was didn’t go back, river is the only way out. And you ought to be a right retard to get into that water…”
“What about a boat, maybe someone used a boat to get over. What if that drunk took a boat?”
“I highly doubt it. Look at the speed of that water, a boat wouldn’t be able to cross without passing us, we would have been able to see, but non of us saw anything right?”
“Yeah, Vanessa’s right, this river is impossible to cross, unless you want to go through the mountains to cross safely at the top, which I doubt you’d want to do anyways”
“It’s your fault!” one of the twins pushed the other, sending her flying to the wet grass.
“Screw you! I wasn’t meant to be looking after her!”
“What is your problem?” Tom dared to brake up the argument soon realizing that it was safer to jump into that river than stand in between them.
“What’s my problem? My problem?”
“Shut it you whore you were meant to be looking after her and you never!”
“ME? Oh you little…” her hand took a grip of the moist hair and yanked it with a frightening force. Bony knuckles smeared the lipstick, the shock of the sudden punch send her flying to he edge of the monstrous river, the flow picked up the hair and pulled it along. Head became heavy, tilting to the side; a mouth full of icy water and slowly the whole body began to slip under. Face felt numb from the hit and the constant push of the river, she could no longer breathe and for some reason no one noticed her drowning. Her upper body was already in, tangled in the underwater plants; they wrapped their slimy little hands around her waist, irritating the skin with sharp kisses. Few passing rocks hit her ribs as they skipped and jumped along the edge.
“Oh my GOSH!”
“QUICK SOMEONE HELP ME SHE’S DROWNING!”
“Wait, what’s that?”
“You REALLY THINK THAT THIS IS THE BEST TIME FOR FINDING POINTLESS SHIT?” Tom screamed out unnecessarily fiercely at Vanessa who stared into the distance. His hands were slipping under the weight of the drowning girl, who was half in the water, the others holding down the other twin.
“BLOODY HELL SOMEONE HELP ME OUT!” his hands were gradually loosing the grip of the jeans, he couldn’t do this alone. Just in few seconds, the twin will completely be under water, gone downstream. Justin let go of the mad girl and rushed to the edge where puffing and swearing sat Tomas holding onto the legs of the drowning twin. The weight was easier to tackle with four hands, and with few puffs and tags the girl was out. But she wasn’t breathing.
“No seriously do you see that?” Vanessa pointed in the direction of the other side of the river, but everyone chose to concentrate on the unconscious body, completely ignoring her. There was someone standing there, the occasional moonlight declared of its deformity.

* * * * *
The sweet odor of pork and spice filled the little room, making her stomach rumble in hunger. Closing her eyelids shut she lay there by the drain listening to the quiet whimpering of the creature. It was soothing, unnerving, it was comforting now there was two of them. She was no longer alone. The stomach gave out another angry rumble. It smelled so good in here! Shame it was the smell of human flesh, left long enough in the scolding oil. There was a light click, followed by a gurgle. It sounded like water gushing down the pipe, but somewhere in the distance. CLANG. Suddenly clouds of hot steam broke through the cage of the drain followed by a series of screams. Charlotte lifted her self from the floor and crawled to the little opening where the creature sat. It was impossible to see what was going on, the white clouds burned her face with hot vapor. Suddenly, bright red little fingers grabbed onto the metal bars of the lid, skin covered with fresh blisters and burns. The screaming became louder.
“SHUSH! YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE HER COME BACK!” she sat back into the little dark corner and blocked her ears with her hands to block out the sounds of agony. She could hear hot oil pouring down into the drain like a little deadly waterfall, splashing against the skin, eating it all the way down to the bones. For few seconds the fingers remained clanged to the metal bars in hope of mercy, but then slowly they let go, disappearing into the mouth of the concrete box.