The van was rocked back and forth from the bumps that lied on the Tompton roads. The cemetery was coming into view now, as the large gates rose from the trees ahead. And the metal sign that was hung above the gates. The squeaks from the gates came belching towards them as the gravel road hit the van. And then they came to a stop. In park. The gates stood a few feet away, and they did not move closer into the cemetery. Not like the last night Steph was in the van. No. They parked right outside of the cemetery, near the gates.
This is it. You have another chance. You have another chance to run. To escape. Get out Stephanie! Get out of this van! Open the door and just run! Or when he isn't looking, just run for the hills as fast as you can and don't look back. Do it, and do it soon!
Her hands began to feel clammy as her heart raced faster than time. Butterflies rose in her stomach, the way they always fluttered when she was getting close to escaping.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
She tried to stay calm as she slowly grabbed for the door handle while he was reaching for something in his pocket. She remained looking forward as she felt for the handle, and then slowly pulling it. Very gently, with slow and delicate hands, she continued to pull the small, cold handle.
*Ding**Ding*
The car went off, indicating someone had opened the door. She paused in her shoes as her stomach dropped, knowing that she had been caught. And in an instant, he rammed her back into her seat in one quick motion. A knife was in his hand, which he held and pushed a bit into her throat with a tight grip. His face angry as he stared from the side of her face. His gaze feeling hot as it felt like it was burning her skin.
"What. Did. I. Say?!" He whispered more in a sharp tone as he pushed the knife deeper to her throat. Feeling as if it could split open at any moment. She raised her head higher, trying to get away from the grip. She shut her eyes and squeezed them shut, hoping it would all be over soon. "You listen to me girl! How many times do I have to say it?! How many times do I have to repeat myself until you understand?! Until you get it through your thick head! There is no escaping! There is no way out! You are with me and you are staying here! I don't think you understand that I will use this knife or gun if you do try to escape! Or if you do escape, I will find you Stephanie! I will! I found you once, you can damn bet I will find you again! There is no escaping me!" He yelled in her left ear as he leaned closer to her. His breath molding onto her.
What did that mean? What did he mean by he found me?
Her mind went haywire as his last sentences came spilling from the hole he called a mouth. A single tear came rushing down her cheek as another thought occurred.
Would he really kill me though? He said if I tried to escape he would kill me the first day, but this was the second time I got out and tried to run, and nothing came of it. Not that I'm complaining, but is he just bluffing? Would he do it? I don't want find out though, I'm not that brave or ruthless.
He slowly removed the knife after they sat there staring for awhile at each other. Both sets of eyes looking dead, one looking scared, terrified and shocked with horror, and the other looking dominant. But both having the same shape and colour, and an odd colour at that; a wheat gold. They both went back to there old positions as he put the switch blade back into his pocket. "Alright Steph, I'm going to need your help," he spoke, not letting her answer as he opened his door quickly and exited. As the door slammed shut, Steph sat there for a moment watching, looking at what he was doing. He went around to the back of the dark van, and with one jolt opened the back doors.
The back where I was last time. What's back there? Is there another girl? Please say no! No! I don't want there to be. I don't want there to be! Maybe it's just some flowers that he's planting somewhere in the cemetery. Maybe that's what he was doing that night. Maybe he was planting flowers around graves and in between. Maybe that girl I thought I saw before was only a hallucination. Maybe I just imagined I saw her. Besides, I only saw her for a split second before I was thrown into the back, maybe I was just a blanket or the flower beds but were arranged in a certain way and I only imagined it was a girl. Yeah, that could be it. It could have been something else that I just mistook for a girl. Yes, that's probably what it was!
Steph was startled and brought out of her daze as her side door was yanked open and he pulled her out with such force. "Come on!" He shouted as she fell onto the gravel ground. Thankful she had her sweater and sweatpants on, for if she didn't she would have most definitely scrapped up her legs pretty good. As he shut the door behind her he yanked her to her feet as he lead her towards the back of the van.
"What are we doing?" She whispered behind herself towards him as they continued to walk.
"You'll see."
And as they came upon the back of the van, the doors were propped open, and there lied another helpless, and vulnerable girl.
No! This was what I saw! No! This can't be happening! Please! No!
Steph began to shake a bit as she focused on the girls motionless body, looking for any chance of life. Those butterflies began to rise and fall again as her nerves returned. And the grief, oh the grief returning as well. She swallowed hard before moving closer towards the open van, placing a shaky hand towards the girls neck, hoping, checking for a pulse she so helplessly wanted. "There's no need for that. She's dead," he spoke in a voice Stephanie was surprised by. The voice appeared to be normal. No sympathy, pain or grief at all. He spoke in a voice you would talk to anyone by. An everyday voice. A haunting voice at that.
No! Why does this have to happen? Why is this happening? Where was she all this time? Where was she when I was upstairs being treat what looks to be so much nicer than this.
The girl appeared to be no more than twelve years old. Her braces, still cemented on. Her long, dark hair spiralled all around her, looking like a mess. Red marks wrapped around her ankles and wrists, looking as if she had been tied up. Or chained up. That very thought sent a chill up Steph's spine.
I wonder what this girl was like. This little girl who died too soon. Who was killed. Killed by a crazy man. By a psychotic man. I wonder where she went to school. How many friends she had. What her hobbies were. What she liked to do. What her family was like. What she was like.
Where was she kept? Where was she kept when I was being treated nicer than her. Perhaps in the basement? If such a place existed in that cabin. Why was she in chains? Or tied up all the time? Or bound? Why was she treated like that when I have been treated differently. Why? Why is this happening? Why is he doing this?
Or, perhaps this girl was treated like me. Perhaps she had been in the cabin for awhile. Perhaps there were other rooms in the basement that were like mine. Perhaps he treated us all the same. Perhaps she had been there much longer than I had. And perhaps this will happen to me soon. Or one day. No! That can't happen! I don't want it to! I won't let it! But what can I do? Escape! That's what you can do!
Steph stared at the dead girl for what seemed like a very long time, wondering what this little girl was like, what she had been through, what her last thoughts were, and more. More until she was interrupted again by him. "Stephanie? Steph? Hey!" He yelled as he shook her a bit. She snapped out of it quickly as his touch approached her. She spun around to face him, standing there speechless for a few moments.
"W-w-what are we doing? Why are we here?" She asked in a very shaken voice. She had a feeling why they were there, but she didn't want to speak it. Didn't want to know, but at the same time did.
"We have to get rid of her. We can't have a body lying around the house. That's disgusting, and gross and just creepy," he spoke as he moved for objects in the back; two shovels.
What does he mean we?! There is no we! It's him! He killed her! Not me! Not me!
"Now, I'll carry her, while you carry the shovels. Follow me, and DO NOT run," he directed her as he began to pick the motionless body up and headed towards the main gates. Steph walked behind him quickly, not wanting to upset him. She dragged the shovels behind herself as they passed the large squeaky gates and walked along the gravel pathway through the cemetery. And if Steph thought the cemetery was creepy during the day, it was even creepier at night. The fog seemed to drop back down as they walked some more, and the wind made funny sounds as it travelled in between the graves. The only other sounds that remained on that chilly night were the gates, the wind, and there rocky footsteps as they walked some more.
"Where are w-we going?" Stephanie whispered in a scared voice, loud enough for him to hear as they walked on and on.
"You'll see. We're getting closer," he spoke back over his shoulder before he turned back around. Steph was amazed at how little he gasped for air, considering he was carrying a girl that seemed to weigh no more than ninety pounds. He made it seem effortless.
No wonder I wasn't much of a fight.
And slowly but surely, he began to slow his speed a bit as they came closer to their destination. He veered off the pathway a bit, and began to walking to the left, more in the grass. They passed by stones and tombs that read names Steph had never heard of. Names that belonged to people at one point, but had passed for what seemed like long ago. And suddenly, like it came out of pure memory, Steph remembered herself being here before, walking on this pathway, walking on this grass leading to a grave that had been placed in that cemetery recently. A year recently. Remembering the day she came to visit one certain tombstone. A tombstone that belonged to a young girl who was taken away too soon; just like this girl now. As they walked more and more, the grave came into clear view, and the name engraved onto the stone was the exact one Steph remembered. "Alright, we're here," he spoke as he placed the deceased girl onto the ground close by. But Steph only stood there, the shovels dangling sillily by her sides as she read the already known carved name:
Cindy Louise Miller
"Alright, now pass me one of those shovels, we gotta start digging," he spoke in a way as if he had done this before, like he knew the routine. But Steph only stood there for a moment, trying to let all of it sink in, if it could. She went off into a daze, letting her thoughts overpower her body, making herself paralyzed.
He's.....he's burying girls here? The girls? Is it just this girl? Or has there been others? There has to to be at least another girl here, that's what he was doing the first time when I was unconscious in the back of the van. He must have been burying that girl I saw. He buries them....here? Here? At little Cindy Miller's grave?
And then, a switch went off in her head, a light switched on with a snap, and pieces began to form together, like a puzzle. Pieces fit in, pieces everyone in town were baffled by. Pieces that all fit together if they really thought about it. It all made sense. It made the most sense, the simplest sense. It was right there, under everyone's noses, and nobody ever thought of it; because it made no sense. It seemed to make no sense. Surely, everyone would think, that was crazy, and that no one was crazy enough to do that. But there was someone crazy enough. A man that stood five feet away from Stephanie that had been holding her captive. Hostage.
The police had reported that bloodhounds had sniffed out the missing girls scents. That many dogs had been brought out on the searches, and they had all led the officers back to one spot. For every girl they searched for, the dogs had smelled an item of each girls clothing. And they went on to search, cover as much ground as they could. The police hoped, that the dogs could lead them to where the girls had been held hostage; or, maybe to where their bodies may be. Where their abductor dumped their remains. Somewhere in the woods perhaps, which is why they searched there the most. But the places they should have been searching was a place no one would ever search; because it was considered 'disrespectful'. It would be crazy. If they did begin searching there—in the cemetery—everyone would think they were nuts, because surely no one would ever bury a body in there, not unless there was a headstone and a funeral. Not unless it was a documented death.
But surely enough, the dogs would take them on a frantic search as they tried to track down the missing girls. The families hoping to find their girls alive, and for the police, at the least they hoped to find a body; their remains, or at least to pick up the girls scents. And one by one, the girls scents all lead back to one spot; almost like it was wrapped up in a neat little bow. All the missing girls were found in one spot, a happy ending, but their scents did not lead back to a live human. Instead, they all lead back to the ground, in one particular area: Cindy Miller's grave. And the reason for that: because the missing girls were all buried around the seven year old's grave. Her tombstone.
Steph remained standing there, completely zoned out. Her eyes later wandered off of Cindy's headstone, but then wandered onto the ground surrounding the grave. The ground seemed still and silent, like nobody had disturbed it since Cindy. But that was a lie. Somebody had disturbed it, while he was burying other girls around. Large areas of grass and mud laid around her grave, making it a great place to bury more bodies, in a psychopath's mind. The headstones that were near were separated and spread out, making there plenty of wide open space. Stephanie's eyes wandered onto different spots, imagining other girls being buried around there.
Madison Henry.
Kelly Fisher.
Samantha Barry.
And others, others that I'm not quite sure of, since I'm one of the girls trapped and locked away from the world. I can't see the news, so I don't know how many other girls have been snatched. I know for sure the girl I saw awhile ago when I was semi-conscious in the back of the van, and now this girl. It seemed before the pattern was every three months a new girl disappeared, and that Samantha girl was taken in December. I was in March, making me the fourth girl. Meaning the girl I saw in the van the first time would have been the fifth? And this girl now is the sixth? Right?
"STEPH!" A man's shouting caused her to be thrown off her thoughts, causing her to return back to reality, her scary reality. She looked up at him with terror in her eyes as she could see now he had dug a hole about the length of his waist now. She stared in disbelief, not thinking it had been that long that she had been lost in her overwhelming thoughts. "I need your help. Help me put her in here," he talked through gasps and breaths as he began to climb out of the hole.
Kick him in the face. Do it Steph! Do it now! You can kick him and he will fall back and you can run! Run away from this place! Run away and get away! You can do it! But only if you do it now! DO IT NOW!
But that voice seemed the distinguish quickly as she didn't give in like she usually did. That voice inside didn't seem as loud now, didn't seem as important. It sounded drowned out now, like it was only nonsense talking. Or at least that's what Steph made it out to be.
She stood there still again, looking down upon the girl that had seemed to just have recently passed. Forced to pass in the hands of a monster. He now stood beside her looking down as well, peering more like. "It's not good to look at them for too long," he spoke up to her, almost like he knew what she was thinking. What was going through her head. "Not healthy. It screws you up. Messes you up. I try not to look right at them after. I just go ahead and get the job done. Try to cover it up. If I sit there and stare for too long, it gets to me. I haunts me, like it should," he spoke almost deeply, seeming like he was trying to become closer to Steph, and for a bit, in Steph's mind, it was actually working. "I don't know why I'm like this Stephanie. I really don't. I try not to be. I don't like being this guy. But it is me, and I'm stuck with it. That's why I try to be nice to you, I do try, but sometimes I snap, and I snap hard."
Maybe he isn't such a bad guy. Maybe he is a real person. Not a monster. Maybe he really does try to be good. Maybe I shouldn't be too hard on him. Maybe I should give him a chan.... OH MY GOD WHAT AM I SAYING?! Snap out of it Stephanie! Snap out of it right now! He's trying to brainwash you! Brainwash you into thinking he is a good person, a decent person. HE IS NOT! So stop it! Don't fall into his ruse! Don't! Let! Him! Win! Don't let him get to you!
They stood there still, peering down upon the other girl. The girl no longer breathing. And after Steph didn't speak back to him, he tried to get through to her again. Tried to say something else, something to get her to listen, and to compel. "Steph, if you help me do this, I promise I won't ever ask you to do this again. I promise you will never have to do anything like this or even close to this again. It will be a one time thing. I promise," he looked over towards her, but her face still remained stuck on the other.
I don't want to help him. I don't want to help him bury someone who was a human being. A human being who didn't want this. Who didn't deserve this. Who wanted to live. Who wanted to live and love her life. Who wanted to share it with her family and friends. I should know what that feels like. I do know what that feels like. Because that's all I want to do right now. Live and share and love my life with my family and friends. I want that for me. And I want that for this girl. This poor girl who will never get that again. Who is gone from this earth. Who is gone from this place.
She was someone, and now she is no one.
"Steph? If you help me, I will let you out of your room. I will let you out when I'm around. You can be around the house, and not stuck in that room. You can help me with preparing meals and cleaning. You can watch tv. You can listen to the radio." And after she took in what he had to say, she took the deal, and slowly began to bend down towards the girl, tears streaming down her cheeks.