Dark Embrace

12

"It's your fault, Mommy. If you had loved me more than your job I would still be alive. You are the reason I'm dead." Ashely said, her lips curled downward. I tried to reach for her hand but it seemed that each step I took made her more far away from me.

"Ashely, please forgive me. I love you, baby. I'm so sorry." Tears streamed down my eyes in regret.

She kept walking away, her body fading into the fog. I ran after her, afraid of losing her again.

"Ashely, don't leave me! Please, baby, come back!"

I reached out, but my hands closed on empty air.

"Ashely!" I screamed and jolted awake. It was a dream. I sat there, gasping for breath as my eyes scanned the room, it looked very familiar to the room I was locked in. My hands felt the sheets drenched from my sweat to make sure it wasn't a dream. It wasn't, I was alive. The room was dark so was out the window. The single candle did nothing to light the room.

I threw off the covers and hugged my legs, trying to remember what happened, to know how I was still alive even though I was sure that I died or almost did.

"Feeling stronger now?" A masculine voice came from the corner. A voice I knew almost too well. My eyes trailed to the figure in fear.

"I asked a question." He stepped out of the dark.

"You tried to kill me."

"You needed to be punished, and besides, you are still alive."

I scoffed. "Punished for what?" My mind recalled me hitting him in the face. "Is it because I slapped you for being a total pervert?"

"Negative, you were punished because you did not listen to my instruction."

"Your instruction?"

"Don't speak to anyone or move an inch." He grunted. It was then I noticed a brown file in his hand.

"You are not the boss of me, I don't take orders from you." He threw the brown file in his hand on the bed. Curiosity wanted to get the best of me but I didn't let it. I sat there, hugging my legs tightly.

"Sign that." He said.

"What?" I asked like I didn't hear him the first time. He sighed, frustratedly. He moved closer and I moved back on the bed. As I was about to leave the bed and escape his grasp, he grabbed my wrist, took the file on the bed and forced me to follow him again. I protested despite knowing he didn't listen.

We went downstairs and to the back door, there was like a small wooden house a bit close to us with a small bulb in the front, my first time seeing it. He didn't seem to care that I was barefooted and kept dragging me towards the house. Darkness enveloped us as we stepped in. He walked to a corner to switch on the lights. The next thing I saw made me fall to the ground, screaming in fear. Five men tied, the rope extending to the ceiling. Blood, lots of blood dripping from their head down and bruises on their naked chest. It was a terrifying sight.

"What...what did you do to them?" I stuttered.

"Good to assume that I did that to them myself. Well, they are being punished just like you were." He threw a file and a pen to the ground, next to me, the same one he had thrown on the bed earlier.

"Sign it." He said. What could be inside that file that he wanted me to sign so badly? My eyes were still fixed on the helpless men tied up. What had they done to deserve such horrific treatment?

"I hate repeating myself, Mia." He said, his voice low.

"I'd rather die than sign anything that will get me involved with a psychopath, sick and twisted person like you." I said, raising my voice with each word. I meant it. I'd rather die the worst possible death than sign whatever was in that file. My eyes were still fixed on those helpless men, tears about to fall from my eyes. I should be able to treat their head bleed if they get released now. They were brutally tortured, and I felt so sorry for them.

"That is what I thought." He said.

Bang. Bang. My hands covered my ears when gunshots were fired and I screamed in fear. The sound of gunshots stopped on the third. I slowly brought my head up to see one of the men's legs that was able to stand before was now lifeless and the only thing that was lifting him was the rope.

"Sign it or they all die because of you."

"You are insane!" I cried out.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Three gunshots were fired again.

"Sign it." He said. I hesitated, unsure of what to do. Hot tears were streaming from my eyes. He fired again.

"Sign it." He said again. Three men were dead and the last two were weakly pleading for their lives.

I sobbed uncontrollably. I couldn't bear the thought of those innocent men dying because of me.

"Okay, okay, I'll sign it!" I looked up at him, my eyes filled with hatred and disgust, his dark eyes met mine as he lowered the gun.

I picked up the pen and file with trembling hands. I brought out the piece of paper I found in the file and read the heading: PROPERTY OF LORENZO ESPOSITO. I froze. Property of him? What did that mean?

"Please, sign it. I don't...want to die." One of the conscious men pleaded.

"You should listen to him." The psychopath next to me said.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down and steady my shaky hands. I looked down at the file and pen, still hesitating.

"I will sign it only if you release them." My eyes trail from the file to his eyes.

"Okay." He agreed. I signed where necessary and threw it on the ground. I had no idea what I signed but I knew it wasn't something good.

"Good girl." He grabbed the file.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Gunshots fired again. I looked up at the remaining men that were alive only to see them helpless and dead. I was on my feet in an instant.

"You promised to release them!" I yelled.

"I was never going to release them, you were just too gullible to believe that I would."

"What?"

"Lesson number one, you don't just pity anyone. Lesson number two, never trust me." He was right, I should have not trusted that he would let them go.

"Now, be a good girl and return to your room. You have a lot ahead of you and you could use some sleep." He said and left the room.

I broke down, sobbing uncontrollably in front of the hanging bodies of the men I couldn't save. I felt...helpless.