Half a Woman, Half a Shadow

A SAW Fanfic

MindMaze75

Chapter 1. Wash My Pain Away

In the early morning hours driving in new fallen snow, Lauren wove through the streets of the city looking for the address of her new client. Her GPS squawked out the turn by turn directions leading her deeper into the abandoned warehouse district where politicians and developers had over the years promised to renovate into art studios, affordable housing and coffee shops. "Who the hell needs a dog walker in the middle of nothing?" she thought as the GPS voice had announced that "you have arrived".

"I've arrived all right. Arrived to a bogus address."

Earlier she had set up a free consultation with a man named Sam. Sam told her that he had a young terrier mix that needed to be exercised and fed three times a day. Lauren jumped at the chance to meet Sam as work had become slow due to people canceling what the felt were unnecessary expenses, like dog walkers and pet sitters, in favor of taking their dogs to work with them. The man gave her his address and requested to meet her the following evening to meet with he and his dog and see what could be worked out in terms of payment. Lauren made sure she brought her GPS with her. She was what she called "directionally challenged" when it came to driving.

Lauren got out of her car after scanning for baddies and sighed. Someone was playing a prank on her, probably took one of the cards she left at the local supermarket and decided that it would be funny to send her on a wild goose chase to a fake client. "Real funny!" she shouted, "Maybe next time you could at least send me to a neighborhood with electricity and running water!" She heard a dog bark. "Hello?" Maybe this wasn't a joke. "Oh come on Lauren," she said to herself, "Even if there is a dog, it's probably feral and besides, what homeless man could want or even afford a dog walker?" It barked a few more times, this time she noticed that it was coming from the building she was given the address to.

After retrieving her mag light from her car for protection as well as illumination, she creaked open the unlocked door. Shining her light, searching for the mysterious dog she called out. "Hello? C'mere boy!" Lauren always shad a supply of "bribes" for her clients dogs to help break the ice and to encourage sitter acceptance. Taking out her plastic baggie of lean turkey, she called out again. "Here boy, are you hungry? If you are, I have something you might like!" Before she could call out again, she felt someone come upon her from behind, a sharp pain in her neck and then nothing.

Slowly regaining consciousness, her eyes were still closed. There was a little noise from her throat that was feeling dry and sore. Lauren inhaled deeply and in doing so sent herself into a coughing fit. Thick clouds of dust hung in the air shone only by a lone light bulb crackling to life from a wire on the ceiling. She was sitting in a metal chair; her head felt heavy from the drugs and her neck was itchy. Her eyes adjusted to the light, or lack thereof, and she realized that she was stuck. Her wrists were taped to the arms of the chair; her neck was wrapped in rope, the rope hung from one of the rafters. "Oh my god!" she thought, "Someone is trying to kill me!" Refusing to holler out for fear of bring the person or people out of the shadows that intended to do her harm. Looking around she saw the clock that was set for sixty seconds.

Lauren decided first to free her wrists from the arms of her chair. Yanking and pulling for what felt like an hour, she was free. Standing and taking a step away from the chair, she heard a clink and found she was also wearing a collar. Lauren turned just in time to see the line that was attached to the collar drop away from her. An old black and white television snapped alive with white noise and she whipped around to look at it. Shaking and anticipating some answers tears slowly ran down her face.

Now there was something that she hadn't done in a while. Cry. She had been living the last four years in an emotionless fog that protected her heart from being destroyed. Her ex boyfriend had abused her in every way a person can be. Like all relationships, he was a perfect gentleman. Everyone commented about what a fantastic couple they were. How they never knew he had teeth because before her, he had never smiled. Six months in, things began to change. He demanded things of her that weren't just out of the ordinary, but things that violated her principles and her sense of decency. He threatened her repeatedly, made her sob and ask him for forgiveness for what she had done. Lauren didn't want him to take his love away. Anything but that. So she gave in to whatever he wanted, whenever he demanded it. He called her a liar, a rat, a slut and a bitch that was not deserving of love, not even of pity. The last day, he put his hands around her throat and squeezed. His 300-pound frame against her 150-pound body made her panic as he ripped a necklace from around her neck and forced her out without shoes, without a cell phone and without her wallet. From then on, she swore that she would never, ever let anything like that happen to her again. She knew she deserved better and dam it if she was even going to entertain the idea of being with anyone, never mind a relationship with actual feelings involved again.

There she stood letting the tears wash over her for the first time since it happened. Here in this dimly lit room, rope and dog collar around her neck, sobbing like a child. The white noise ceased and the face of a puppet from hell appeared, and it was talking to her.

"Hello Lauren. We have never been properly introduced but I know you. I know you very well. I know that you are more than just a businesswoman scratching out a living in the animal care industry. The meager existence that you sleep through day after day is not one of importance. You let all of the life inside of you die as you repaired what's become your existence. You exist. But you do not live. This evening, you will live, but only if you really want to. As I'm sure you've noticed, there is a noose hanging from around your neck tied to a beam above you. There is also a dog collar around your neck; an irony that I'm sure is not lost on you. The collar is harmless I assure you. The floor however will drop away from your feet falling into the room below. You have sixty seconds from the end of this message to find the key to unlock the collar, which will keep the floor in its place. Remember, sometimes you have to just get through the crap to find freedom. Let the game begin"

The clock began its countdown and Lauren was in full panic attack. "What the fuck is wrong with you? What kind of diseased mind.." She stopped screaming and sniffed the air. There was shit in this room. Not manure like one used for gardening, but actual shit. She hadn't noticed this before. Gallon buckets of shit were all over the room. "Get through the crap" she thought. She dashed over to one of the buckets only to be flung back by the rope around her neck the noose tightening. How was she supposed to look for the key of she couldn't quite reach it? With forty seconds left she slowly walked over to a bucket, letting the rope squeeze round her neck, choking her while she reached it and grabbed it with her fingertips. Picking it up she plunged her hand into the bucket of shit and maggots squishing it through her fingers. Poop was in her line of work, but not without the blessed sanitation gloves! Finding nothing, she walked over to another bucket. Trying not to black out from the compression of the major arteries in her neck, she searched for the key. Nothing. Thirty seconds left, she had to pick up the pace or it was curtains for her. She took two at a time and was elbow deep in this guck and was finding nothing but more guck. Lauren began to gag from the combination of slow strangulation and the smell of shit. Fifteen seconds and four more buckets. Panic was ramping up in her mind. Beet faced and scared to die, she launched herself at the remaining buckets and began to feel woozy from the noose. Ten seconds, nothing. She groaned and dug deep into the last two buckets until she felt a bit of metal in the fingers of her left hand. The key! Wiping what she could off of the key and reaching for the lock on the dog collar, she removed it at the four-second mark! She made it! Realizing she was not going to die from the floor dropping away but possibly from the stress on her neck, her head fell back and she hyperventilated herself into unconsciousness.

This is my very first fanfic ever! Thank you for taking the time to read it. I'm really into the SAW series and got inspited by all of the fantastic SAW fanfic on this site, so I'm trying my hand at it. Regretfully, it will always be titled with "chapter one" though I hope to be inspired to write more. Please review even if its just a few words. XOXO MindMaze75