Open Doors

The Woman

Chapter 1

The woman was curled into a ball, trying to become ever smaller by the minute, as she cried. She slowly rocked, the motion becoming violent as her body was wracked with sobs. The sounds that emanated from her body echoed throughout the large hall.

There was no light in the room, aside from what was let in by the door the detective was inching open as quickly as its rusty hinges would allow without making noise that would reach the womans ears. The young man withdrew quickly as the door screeched, yet the sound travelled to the woman and her despair was halted in its release as she looked up. Knowing he'd been found out, the detective stepped forward, opening the door fully and no longer caring for the noise it made to be concealed.

All the man could see of the woman was the white in her eyes as she examined the intruder. She saw a short man, although given the waves of hair that hung over his face, it took her a moment to recognise him as a man. It took her a moment more to realise she should run, but she realised this too late. The man strided toward her, covering the gap faster then she thought a man of his height could, until he towered above her. She wondered if perhaps he was not as short as she'd orignially perceived him to be, then remembered that she was curled in a ball. Then, as she remembered why, she forced her body to compile in on itself with renenwed effort.

The man observed, not breaking the silence with words, but rather, after a short while, with movement. He scooped the woman into his arms, a feat ever easier given her position, and with surprising strength for his lean frame, carried her out of the room.

The woman was too obsorbed in her sorrow to realise what was happening at first, but when she did, she removed her hands from her eyes where they were suctioned on, and tried to claw at him with the little remaining nail that she had not yet bitten to a bleeding bed. She scratched him, up and down his arms, with nails that had cut through the skin of another earlier that day.

Out of the larger hall he carried her, and into a far narrower but no less empty hallway. Down hallways, left and right. Up hallways, right and left. He kept his mind focused on the route he was taking; it was too easy to become lost in this maze of a basement. He felt pain in his arms, felt nails raking down them and felt blood pumping. He might have been bleeding, but he ignored the pain, knwoing if he paid attention to that he'd lose his way.

The turns he took were not of any concern to the woman, though she realised too late that keeping track of them might be the only way to escape this dark, underground, reeking hell hole. She halted in her attack of the man, and pondered the worth of keeping track from here on. Realising it was futile, but refusing to look up and even try to orient herself, she threw her nails back at the man's arms, hoping he would release her soon.

The man did not hear her plea, for she only wished it in her head, but having found the door he had been working his way toward, he slowed his pace and tightened his grip on the woman. The time was near when he could relieve his arms and release the woman. All that stood in his way was the door. He stopped before the door, and kicked the bottom of it slowly, hoping that someone on the other side would hear his knock and open the door. He didn't risk calling out. He didn't risk releasing the woman in order to open the door either. Instead he waited, preparing to hold the woman with one arm if no one answered.

The woman heard the kick on the door, but she stayed bent on being released. She felt the mans grip tighten excessively, then felt the absence of one of his arms around her and thought this could be her chance. Was she strong enough to shake her way out of his grip though? If she did worm out, would her legs be strong enough to support her escape? Where would she escape too? She had not lifted her head to learn her surroundings yet, nor had she kept any track of the turns taken. All these thoughts filtered through her mind too slowly, for before she could make any attempt of escape, she felt his hand return.

The man stepped through the now open door, and kicked it close behind him. He passed through the door frame and entered a room with two beds low to the ground on the far wall. The room had other doors, but for now he was where he needed to be.