The steady drip, drip, drip, of water from the broken pipe was deafening to her ears. It was awfully silent, and terribly dark. The only light came from the five flaring torches on the wall. If the torches went out, it would be pitch black. It didn’t matter if you had your eyes closed or open-there was no difference.
Something scuttled across the stone floor- probably a cockroach, or a rat. A shiver ran down her spine, and she backed away against the wall. Her eyes were dry and puffy-she had cried until she had no more tears left. Her heart seemed to have lost its steady, powerful beat-was it broken beyond repair?
She wrapped her arms around her legs, pulling her knees to her chest. She began to rock back and forth, ignoring the pain in her backside where he had hit her. Oh God…why was this happening? What had she done to deserve this?
And…why was her son being so brutal? Why was he treating her like this? Did she do something wrong, something that upset him? If there wasn’t any particular reason…what had gotten into her boy? What made him a monster?
“What are you doing, Jay?” she cried, as he began to tie her arms behind her back. “Jay, honey?”
Jayden ignored her. “Shut up,” he hissed. He didn’t sound anything like the Jayden she knew.
“What are you doing?” she tried again, but his only response was a hard shove into her back with his bony elbow.
“Move,” he ordered, the expression on his face so threatening it made her afraid. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Jayden, baby,” she lowered her voice, trying to calm him down, trying to snap him out of it. “Please, Jayden, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I very well do,” he sounded like an adult, which was unusual. “Just do what I say, and no one will get hurt, you understand me?”
“I want to know what the hell is going on. Why are you doing this to me?” she desperately moved her arms to loosen the binds, but failed. She could barely even move her fingers.
“Shut up,” he repeated. “Just, shut up.”
She whimpered as he pushed her into a white Porsche 911 Carrera. She fell into the passenger’s seat on her side, and he slid behind the wheel next to her. Since when did her son learn how to drive? And where the hell did he get this car?
“Don’t ask me any questions, because I’m not going to answer them,” he said as he revved the engine.
“You know how to drive? How-
“No…” he turned to glare at her. “…questions.”
She opened her mouth to say something else, but closed it again. If her son was capable of tying her up and tossing her into a car, and driving her to who-knows-where, he might even hurt her without even thinking twice.
They arrived after four hours, at a mountain hidden from humanity. There was not a single living being around-if Jayden murdered her here, nobody would ever find out. He drove straight towards the mountain, as if he was going to crash into it.
“No way,” she breathed as she glanced up at the mansion above her. It was hidden between two mountain clefts-nobody would have even noticed it was there. A cavern opened up in front of them, and Jayden headed right into it, the darkness blanketing them instantly.
“Get out,” Jayden said after he parked the car, along with about twenty other high-class vehicles. She recognized a black Audi convertible, one that had been driven up the front porch of their house, the driver a brown-haired man who claimed to be Jayden’s friend. “Hurry up!” he yelled, snapping her out of her thoughts.
YOU ARE READING
HUNT, OR BE HUNTED
Mystery / ThrillerHe was always blacking out, always confused, losing control of his actions. And when he did, he would have no memory of it. What he didn't know was that there was a monster inside him, a monster that he couldn't control. Once it took over, not a sin...
