The Pharmacy (UNEDITED)

Chapter Nine, Part One

Warning: There are depictions of violence and alcohol in this chapter, so if you're sensitive to those kinds of scenes, you may leave this page. Thank you.

        After the incident of that horrible day, I couldn't eat, which quite puzzled the two people that I once trusted. My stomach would constantly churn at the thought of what I saw down there, and it's all because of the singular fact that the woman chained to the floor was, quite indeed, as she put it, Adèle Lehmann, the missing girl from a few weeks past. After refusing to eat, I, sickened by the knowledge which I had procured, trudged upstairs, to my room, and clenched my quilt up to my chest, keeping it there as the night slipped into definite darkness, and not even I, frightened as I was, could keep my eyelids lifted for long.

   The next morning, when the rays of sunshine spilled into my bedroom at first light, I perked out of my warm bed, proceeded to complete my morning washing routine, discreetly went downstairs, entered the kitchen, and left a note on the breakfast table, which stated:

   'I shall be out today, not far, just going to visit someone. Sorry for leaving so early,' Though I wasn't truly sorry. 'Danique, 6:21, AM'

   I pasted that sorry old lie-ridden paper on the tabletop with a grimace, wanting to escape this nightmare of a house as quickly as possible, especially that basement. God, do I wish I never went down there, it was the most regrettable mistake in my life. Cruel as it may sound, I would rather be uninvolved in a tragedy than to carry the burden of stopping it on my oh-so-weak shoulders. Knowledge is a blessing, and a curse; it always depends on when it decides to show its dark, radiant eyes.

   I returned upstairs to wear some freshly washed garments-- a crimson dress, a small, white-rose adorned hat, and a pear necklace to contrast with everything else. Good enough, I suppose. I don't feel the need to look perfect for anyone, in fact, this whole ordeal has stunned me so much that I can't even bring myself to care about my hair, and most surprisingly for me, breakfast. I don't know where to turn anymore. My parents would freak out, and never let me go anywhere again. The authorities here are, well, I don't even think I need to explain, and lastly, there's no one else I can release my fears to, because I don't know anyone. With this pitiful knowledge in mind, I sat on my bed with my head cupped in my hands, pondering on how I can escape this horrible situation. As I've stated before, I don't have many options, and if I don't have options, I don't have a solution, and if I don't have a solution, well, I suffer, like I consistently have been. It's official-- I am cursed. Or I'm just bad at making decisions, which I honestly don't believe is true, considering I'm more well off than others around me.

   I shook my head at my own thoughts, got up, and went back to the staircase, but before I went down, I had to make sure of one thing, just to comfort myself. I stopped at the first step, and listened-- no shuffling, no sinks running, not even voices. Aunt and Uncle don't usually sleep in for this long, but at this point, I didn't care. I considered it a blessing, descended, and continued with my life with a single worry. I decided against wearing a coat (I couldn't be bothered), and I pushed the door aside, feeling the cold breeze of late-April spring wash against my arms and face, and I instantly regretted not wearing the jacket. I shivered and quickly stepped into the sunlight, which provided some warmth, but not enough to make me believe that I wasn't a moron for not taking the coat. I take back my statement on never letting myself down.

   Standing by the side of the road, I awaited a taxi to come by, but I didn't watch for one. I just stared at the black, asphalt street, with the images that I witnessed the preceding day continuously replaying in my head, endlessly. Worst of all, I didn't understand it. Were they torturing the girl down in the basement? Were they holding her hostage? Is someone willing to give anything for her, so they're using her as an object of advantage? I would get rapidly dizzier and dizzier, and the world twist around me the more I would think of what they might be taking her for. The sound around me started turning akin to what you hear underwater, my surroundings would start disappearing, one by one, into blackness, and soon, all I could sense was the stinging cold of the air, and the blaring sound of my heartbeat coursing throughout my body, each thump sucking in shorter breaths than the last, until I felt completely alone, with no world around me, just a white space of myself, and only myself, until the blast of a car horn pulled me out of my trance.