Set Me Free

Chapter Seventeen

“Nngh…”Juno slowly came to. Her head felt like it was on fire. It was hard to form questions on where and what happened. 

Pulling her arms weakly they didn’t budge. Struggling she yanked harder, a sharp pain sliced into her wrists. Slowly and somewhat successfully she opened her eyes. Scanning the room trying to figure out where she was and what happened. The room was dark, a sliver of light shone through from somewhere. With a heavy, neausiating groan she tried to free her limbs that were pulled tightly behind her back.  All she managed to do was anger her skin raw as small trickles of blood slipped past the restraints.

“What the hell” She was bound to a chair. Fear crept into her belly, taking residence as she frantically pulled at her limbs again, pushing and yanking, struggling through the pain, her body ached but to no avail. She remained trapped.

Looking around the room she couldn’t see anyone or anything. “Hello? Anybody there!?” Juno calls out, hoping for some response. Her skull pounded with a thousand hammer strikes, a fissure ripping apart her head. Everything was so hazy, she tried to concentrate fully but the pain made that impossible.

“Hello!!” Her heart thumped wildly. Tears streamed down her cheek. “Hello!!!” He cries for help and becomes more frantic. A single thought she caught and held onto with every ounce of strength she had, which was much since she felt like a plush bear. She had to escape from there, wherever ‘there’ is.

Rope was bound tight around her ankles and wrists. From the constant struggling her skin has chafed raw, burning the skin away, blood coating the fibers of the rope and coated her aching skin.

“Goddamn it!” She cries out in defeat. She can’t break free. What would happen if she didn’t? And whoever did this comes back, then what? Will she ever see Callie and Emra again? Will she be unable to fulfill the promise she made to herself and find her other remaining sisters?

In her soul numbing defeat, her resolution crumbling rapidly, wall hope waning, she began to see dark swirling orbs enter her vision and immediately she thought of Nix.  She regretted not sticking around. She wanted to understand. Wanted to give him another chance. HIs story sounds like an accident, but what about the other accusation? Juno could never be with someone who was abusive, but does she believe that story to be true? Deep down, a pang of guilt ate at her, because she doesn’t believe it but yet  let it control her emotions, the way she saw Nix.

Just because Kevin showed her an article doesn’t mean it holds the truth. She knows better, the media never spews the truth in many cases and for some reason she doubts it was speaking the truth in regards to Nix. That was so childish of her, she mentally chastised herself.

“So, you’re awake.” Juno’s head snapped up to look at the opening where light was coming from. A shadow passed over, covering the room in total darkness, blocking the only source of light. Juno flexed her fingers and toes, trying to calm her speeding heart. Her feet were bare, no shoes, no socks. They must have taken them off, she suspected.

“Who are you?” Juno asks that dark.

“I don’t know what he sees in you, but I’ve waited long enough.” The person moves away and the light spills back into the room, dust particles floating in the halo.

“Hey! Who are you!?” No response. Now they were ignoring her. That sent a shot of adrenaline through her, anger eroded the fear, she barked back at the person, “HEY!!!”

Juno looked around wildly trying to formulate some plan. She couldn’t decipher much in the room. Looks like it’s made of brick, and sounds of water dripping from somewhere left a faint echo. She looks at the chair she’s strapped too, and begins testing it by rocking.

It doesn’t budge. Looking at the legs of the chair and she could see they were bolted into the wood flooring. “Ugh! Damn it!!”

Infuriated and scared, she swung her body to both sides, trying to move her weight as much as she could. She refused to be kept tied to a chair. A small sliver of defiant hope shined in her heart, spurred her on despite the pain that she felt all over. 

The sound of wood splintering tickled her ears, the chair began to move with her as she continued rocking. Juno rocked harder and faster. She kept at it until her vision went sideways, her shoulder hitting the floor with a bone jarring thud. A plume of dust kicked up into the air like a tornado.

“Ow! Damn, now what? I don’t suppose they have house cleaning. This place is a mess…” Juno wrinkled her nose, staving off an incoming sneeze. Juno slid her bound her arms and legs off the chair. Wiggling a little bit, slipping her wrists down her butt and under her thighs until they passed her bare feet. 

“Perfect, ok...Let’s try and get these ropes off.” Her heart swelled with hope as she was halfway free. She now had her hands in her lap instead of pulling behind her, she quickly used that to her advantage and started picking at the knots holding her ankles in place. The rope came free in moments,  she stretched her legs and wiggled her toes, regaining some feeling back. Her new found freedom was short lived.  Footsteps tapped against the floor, the wood creaking and groaning with each step.

“s**t. s**t. Shit.” Juno’s fingers clumsily slipped and fumbled, her frayed nerves making her a nervous wreck. 

The footsteps were getting closer with each breath Juno drew. Her ribs hurt, her head pounded with intense insanity. She had to get free though, she won’t have another chance if she didn’t.

“Come on!!” Hissing between clenched teeth, her fingers pulling at the rope around her wrists.

“Oh, Juno...What are you doing in there?” The voice sang. Juno froze, even her heart stopped beating. Slowly, Juno looked at the slits in the door. The shadowed figure stood still, cloaked in a shroud, it made it difficult to see any sort of features.

“I see. I was going to wait, but it seems you’d rather speed this up. Well then, Let’s get to it.” The door swung open, the rusted hinges groaned. Light entered the room but was blocked by the silhouette now standing in the doorway. 

Juno shuffled backwards across the floor. The worn and warped floor beneath her bellowed under her weight. A soft displaced giggle echoed along the confines of the small room.

“Who are you!? What do you want from me!? Is it money!?” The stranger only laughed, the voice sounded feminine, the more she strained the more it felt like it belonged to a woman.

“Who are you?” Juno racked her brain trying to place the voice to someone in her life. Something brushed against Juno’s thigh. Looking down it was one of the legs to the chair. Wrapping her fingers around it, she slid it under her leg to keep it hidden. Her breathing was harsh and ragged from the pain and the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

The stranger leaned forward and removed her hood. Long hair fell forward obscuring part of her face. Her eyes were wild and untrained, and yet completely focused on Juno. It was discomforting, her entire body shook with fear. The woman looked completely unhinged from reality. Juno swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I’m the woman whose life Nix destroyed! He took everything from me!! Everything!!” The woman lunged, in reaction Juno pulled the chair leg out from under her leg and swung. The woman fell over as the chair leg connected with her head. Taking the opportunity Juno bolted for the door. Her bare feet hurt as she ran across broken chunks of concrete, wood splinters and other foreign objects that felt like small pin pricks stabbing the soles of her feet.

She prayed that there’s other people around in the building. But as she ran she saw the building was under a state of disarray. A building in the midst of construction, but it’s been awhile. Dust coated the floors and walls, cobwebs hung in large masses from the ceiling. 

“Help!!” Juno tried screaming down the empty halls. Juno ran and turned down hallway after hallway, hoping to lose the woman and leave her far behind. Juno saw a large window in one of the rooms and rushed over to it. Splaying her hands against the cold glass, she peered down. Nothing but white covered the ground, the snow still coming down steadily. The street lamps did little to the area, but enough to make out any cars and if there were people. Construction cones and caution tape cordon off the area from the main street. Heavy machinery also filled the yard.

“This has to be one of the construction sights in town. Which one though? I can’t tell anything from here. I can’t see any road signs.” The snow made it almost impossible to recognize the location as everything was being drowned in white. Looks like she's on the third floor, so she just needs to get down to the ground level.

“Juno!!” The maniacs voice echoed all through the halls.

“Juno, I’m going to kill you. Your skin as silk, your hair loose as your blood will run like a river’s noose. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he notices what I’ve done. Hahahaha!” The woman sings like some sort of lullaby.

“Holy s**t, this woman is legitimately crazy!” Looking around she tried to figure which way to go. Ceiling lights hung from the ceiling, every few were lit with a dim hue, giving some semblance of light to follow.  Scooting back to the door to the room she peeks around the corner, looking both ways, she saw no sign of the woman. 

“Crap. Now where are the stairs?” Juno had no clue, but she couldn’t just sit here and wait for the crazy woman to find her. She had to search for them and hope she doesn’t come across the woman. The floor looked like a bunch of small offices that lined the hallways with many of the walls missing. Tons of construction tools were in place though, barrels and stacks of wood palleted all over.

“You go this, Juno. You can do this, nothing can stop you. Just keep your head on your shoulders and you’ll be fine.” Literally, just keep her head on her shoulders, she joked. 

Juno gave herself a small pep talk. The woman is fixated on Nix, she has to get out of here and warn him. She highly doubts she’ll be satisfied with just Juno’s death, with how deranged she sounds. Juno’s no psychoanalyst but, call it a gut wrenching hunch.

Silence filled the halls. Occasionally clunks and pangs would echo down the corridors, the sounds of old rusted pipes. Juno glanced at her feet, her feet throbbed and now she knew why. Her feet were bleeding, a light trail of blood in her wake.

“s**t. Hopefully she can’t tell in the low lighting. Let’s move, Juno. No time to waste!”  

After what felt like eternity Juno finally came across a sign for the stairs. Taking a deep breath, the exit so close at hand, and with it freedom. 

“Almost there.” She tells herself.

Opening the door leading to the stairway, something glinted as it sliced down through the open doorway. A sharp knife slashed the air where Juno was just seconds ago, a strand of Juno’s hair wasn’t so lucky as it fluttered to the floor. A figure stepped through, a gleaming knife held in one hand, an evil detached smirk plastered to her face.

“I found you…” She whispers darkly.