The Secret

Chapter 28

My head aches and my body feels cold. I open my eyes and I'm met with darkness. I try and move my hands but something is stopping me. I quickly realise that there's a rope tying both of my hands together by my wrists. I'm also tied down onto the chair and there's rope on my ankles tying my legs together. I try and squeeze my hands through the ropes but there's no hope. I squint my eyes into the darkness, trying to figure out where baby-face has put me. Suddenly I hear a grunt opposite me. I stay still, scared of what it might be.

"Maya." I hear a shout, the voice belonging to Jax.

"I'm here." Tears spill out of my eyes.

"Oh thank god." He mutters to himself. "Are you ok?"

I giggle a little, probably going mad. "No not really, I'm tied to a chair."

"Same." I hear the struggle in his voice and I can just about picture him trying to get the ropes off. "Fuck." He finally lets out.

"What's going on?" another voice enters the darkness. My body feels numb when I recognise the voice.

"Haley?"

"Maya?" she replies.

"Yeah, it's me."

"What's going on?" she lets out a cry.

"I'm so sorry, Haley." I sob turning my head down. "I didn't think it would come to this."

"What are you talking about?" I hear her grunt. "God, these ropes hurt."

"I'm so sorry." I cry out again.

"Maya, it's not your fault," Jax says.

"Who's that?" Haley asks.

"Jax," he replies.

"It is my fault though, I should have told someone, the police, anyone. One person is already dead from all of this, and it's my fucking fault." I try and get out of the chair once more. I fiddle with my hands and the rope but it's no use. I let out a cry of frustration.

"Who's dead?" another voice cuts through. It's Esther. I dragged another person into this. I am so selfish. God, what is wrong with me.

"ESTHER?" Haley shouts into the darkness.

"Stop, shouting. I'm here," she says. Her voice is really close to mine. I think she's on the left side of me. "Maya, who's dead?" she asks again.

I look around into the pitch black room. My heart beats fast, my hands become to sweat. "Maddy." After I said her name, silence fills the space. The silence cuts through my mind like a knife. I hear a soft sniffle to my right.

"Are we going to die?" the sound of Haley's broken and afraid whisper breaks my heart. The fact that I've put them all in this position twists my heart and the amount of emotional pain I feel right now is intense.

"I don't know." In the back of my head, I know that if anyone was going to live it would be me. In the files that I've seen, the girl was raped and threatened and everyone in their family was killed. Anyone they were close to was killed. Only one remained, the one who he was messing with, they went insane with the guilt that they held on their back, either they went to a psych ward or they committed suicide. Come to think of it, it's already happening to me. I'm going insane.

"We're not going to die." Jax cuts through my thoughts, his voice echoing through the space, full of confidence something that I have none of.

"How long do you think it's been?" Haley asks.

"I don't know," I reply.

"Probably twenty minutes," Jax says.

"It feels longer," Esther says. It's true, It feels like it's been hours. We've talked about an escape plan but Jax quickly shut us up, because if we're down here, baby-face will probably have night vision cameras and mics everywhere. I close my eyes for a little while, trying to think to myself about how we're going to escape. Mostly, I'm thinking on how the rest would escape. I've already established that he wants me alive to watch me suffer. I should be head strong. But how do I do that? I feel like he's already gotten into my head and he's turning me weak. I open my eyes and again I can't see anything. I sigh to myself. It's quiet. No one knows what to talk about, it's such an unlikely situation to be here. Should we just joke about it, cry about it or be angry.