CHAPTER 4: Fragments of Light in a Sea of Darkness

Sue Ellen Armstrong heard her obnoxiously loud alarm clock go off. She sleepily reached over, hit the off button, then sat up. It was dark in her bedroom. With a yawn and a stretch of her arms, Sue Ellen hopped out of her queen size bed. Although it was only 6:15am, Sue Ellen felt good. She had always been a morning person, ever since she was little. It was no problem to wake up before the sunrise. The petite girl opened her bedroom door and walked into the kitchen. She turned on the light and got right into her morning routine. Within two minutes, a fresh, hot cup of coffee was ready to drink. Sue Ellen sat down at her kitchen table feeling relieved. It was Saturday, meaning it was her day off from a morning workout. Usually she jogged, did countless pushups and sit-ups, or beat the snot out of the punching bag in her basement. Not today. Today, she would do absolutely nothing, and it would be wonderful.

Sue Ellen drank her coffee, and debated what she could do on her day off. No workout, no teaching martial arts. Maybe go to a movie or go shopping? She immediately rejected those ideas though, because that meant actually getting dressed. Pajamas would be a much better option. She took a big sip of the hot, delectable coffee and leaned back in her chair. It was a simple life being a martial arts instructor, but it was fulfilling. Elwood City had become her home over the past twenty years, and there was no good reason to suddenly pack up and leave. Sure, it could be lonely and frustrating to be single, but life could be much worse. Sue Ellen lived around the world as a kid, and saw what third-world countries were like. This lifestyle was satisfying, for the moment at least.

Sue Ellen finished her coffee, and finally made a decision. Reading a book sounded good for the time being, and it gave her an excuse to drink another cup of coffee and cuddle on the couch with her blanket. She filled her cup again, and walked into the living room. She turned on a lamp, and glanced at the bookshelf. Sue Ellen was not a big reader, but she could flip more pages than the average person. After a moment of contemplation, she picked one she hadn't read in a while, and plopped down on the couch. With her cup of coffee, a warm blanket to snuggle with, and a cozy couch to sit on, everything was copacetic now.

About an hour later, Sue Ellen had finished her coffee and read through half a dozen chapters of the book. She decided it was time to get some breakfast, now that it was almost 7:30. In the kitchen, she prepared oatmeal with bananas and flax seed. Sue Ellen had been a vegetarian since 3rd grade, but she had gotten use to a life without eating meat. She went back into the living room to eat her breakfast on the couch. As she set the bowl of oatmeal on the nearby coffee table, she heard a loud knock at the front door. Sue Ellen was rather surprised. The mailman never came this early. She wasn't expecting any visitors. Perhaps it was her neighbor, an elderly woman, who needed help with something? Sue Ellen walked to the door and opened it. No one was there. With a shrug, she returned to the couch to eat. All of a sudden, she felt something like a bee sting in her neck, then everything went black.

Sue Ellen felt herself returning to consciousness. Her senses were slowly activating again, so she wasn't sure what happened to her. Almost instantly, she felt a throbbing pain in her head. She could feel her heart pumping blood to her brain, as if every heartbeat was sending violent pulses that gave her a terrible headache. Then she noticed her body ached all over, like she just got done sparring all afternoon at the dojo. As her eyesight gradually came to, she tried lifting her head. She felt something like a leather strap had been put across her neck. She could lift her head slightly, but not enough to get a 360 view. Feeling the strap, Sue Ellen immediately began to panic. She frantically scanned her body. Her eye sight was now good enough she could see that she was lying down and strapped by the torso to a table. Sue Ellen could feel the adrenaline and blood surging throughout her body. The large, empty, room she was in did not look familiar, in fact, she had no idea where she was. "Help!" screamed Sue Ellen as she looked at her arms and legs. They were chained to nearby wooden pillars and spread out towards all four corners of room. "Someone, please help!" yelled Sue Ellen again. She desperately tried to wiggle free of her bondage, but it was no use. She looked from one side of the room to the other, hoping to see somebody or something that could help her. "Heeellllppp!" she bellowed one more time. No answer. She put her head back down on the table and started to cry. She had no idea where she was, why she was there, or who did this to her. All she knew was that she was terrified. As the tears poured down her cheeks, Sue Ellen heard a door open. She shot her head up and tried to see who opened the door. Moments later, three figures wearing black cloaks and reflective masks appeared before her.

"Oh my god! Please help me, get me out of this!" said Sue Ellen. For a moment, she had hope they would help. Then, after realizing they didn't even flinch to her cry, she knew they must have done this to her. One of the figures stepped up to the end of the table and placed its gloved hands on the edge. Sue Ellen tried to see its face, but the reflective mask hid any signs of a face but her own. "Please…," cried Sue Ellen as she sobbed, "Please let me go. I'll do anything you want! I have money, I have a car! Please let me go!" The figure at the end of the table raised its hand as a command for silence.

"Welcome to your salvation, Sue Ellen Armstrong," said the figure. Its voice sounded computerized, as if a digital voice modifier was being used. Sue Ellen began to struggle even harder, trying to wiggle out of the straps. "I don't know how you know my name, but I'm not the person you're looking for!" she pleaded, trying to think of any way to appease her captors. The figure didn't move. "You are the just the person we are looking for, Sue Ellen," said the figure. Sue Ellen felt her heart racing. The pain in her head was still there, but the endorphins were keeping it at bay. "Who are you? What do you mean by 'we'?" cried the girl. The figure took its hands off the table and walked up to Sue Ellen. "We are the Chalice Killers, and we are here to bring you to your salvation." Sue Ellen stared at her reflection on the mask. "I don't need your fucking salvation! I need to be let free! Now let me go!" yelled Sue Ellen. She wanted to use her black belt training to tear these monsters to pieces. Break every bone in their bodies. But she couldn't get loose from the chains on her arms.

"Sue Ellen…" said the figure, "for years you have been a person of excellence. You had a 4.0 in high school and college, won multiple karate competitions, and have even published books on your international travels." Sue Ellen felt so lost. How did these maniacs know all of that about her? Were they stalking her all this time? "How is any of that important right now?" asked Sue Ellen with the calmest voice she could possibly muster. The figure ignored her question. "Ever since you were young, everyone has thought you were a perfect, little girl who could do no wrong. Every guy loved you, every girl wanted to be your friend. Even the teachers wanted you in their classes just to witness your brilliance. Unfortunately for you, your placement on the pedestal has made you overconfident. Haughty. Arrogant. You believe that you are better than everybody else, that everything you touch turns to gold. You are wrong, Sue Ellen!"

Sue Ellen tried again to break her hands free from the chains. "I don't think that! You're full of shit, you bastard!" she hissed with intense anger. Sweat was dripping down her forehead. A computerized laugh came from the figure. Then it slammed its fists hard down on the table, scaring Sue Ellen even more. "You will pay for your arrogance!" Bellowed the figure. The statement echoed throughout the room. The other two figures stood completely still with their hands at their sides. The figure pointed to the pair, with its reflective mask still looking at Sue Ellen. She saw the other two figures closing in on her. She struggled immensely as they began to take her pajamas off. As they got off her bottoms and top, Sue Ellen began to violently shake. "Fuck you! Get away from me you motherfuckers! I'll kill each and every one of you!" she screamed. The figures completely ignored her threats, and took her underwear off. Sue Ellen continued to fight, trying to break free. The more she tried, the more despair she felt. Finally, after several moments of rage, she immediately stopped. She could feel the cold November air sucking the heat out of her naked body. Tears still poured from her eyes.

The figure next to her then walked to the head of the table where her legs were spread out. It opened its cloak to reveal an erected penis. Sue Ellen had given up trying to fight. She lay there, crying uncontrollably, waiting for her body to be violated. As she felt the figure inserted himself into her, she looked up at the ceiling, where cracks of light broke through the roof. She focused on those fragments of light, and tried to ignore the sensation of aggressive thrusting. For what seemed like hours, she stared up at those pieces of tranquility. Sue Ellen then closed her tear-filled eyes and attempted to remember all the good memories she had in her almost three-decade life. Over and over again, she felt the trusting of one figure after another. Her genitals started to ache in pain, but she constrained the urge to scream in pain. She took deep breaths, and pictured herself standing with her two parents at her childhood house. She pictured the day she received her degree from college. She pictured the time her friends gave her back her diary, unread.

Finally, she stopped feeling the pressing in her vagina. She lifted her head slowly, and looked down at her groin. It was bleeding, and semen was oozing from it, but she was alive. Then she watched silently as one of the figures walked behind her head. She listened carefully, then heard something being lifted from underneath the table. As the figure returned to her range of vision, Sue Ellen felt another wave of panic rising from her gut. In the figure's hand was a chainsaw. She started struggling again. Her moment of peace had come and gone. "You had your way with me, now let me go!" she screamed. The figure pulled the starter cord. It then revved the engine several times. A loud, high pitch sound echoed through the empty room. Sue Ellen stared in horror as she watched the chainsaw rotating on the frame. "Noooo!" shrieked Sue Ellen as she wiggled around on the table. The straps were not coming loose.

The figure walked up next to her sprawled out leg. It held the active chainsaw right above her knee. The figure then turned its head towards Sue Ellen. "Remember, arrogance is the ultimate downfall," said the computerized voice. Then it pressed the trigger to move the chainsaw, and lowed the blades onto her leg. Sue Ellen instantly felt an avalanche of pain erupting from her leg. Blood and flesh flew everywhere as the figure cut through her leg. Sue Ellen screamed in excruciating pain, tears were gushing from her eyes. She felt like she was going to pass out. After severing the leg, the figure lifted the chainsaw. Sue Ellen struggled to watch as the figure then moved to her other leg, and repeated the same cut. Again, even more pain shot like a cannon from her leg. Sue Ellen felt her vision going blurry. The loss of blood was making her consciousness fade. She could feel her own blood hitting her face. Her heart felt like it would explode out of her chest. The sinister sound of the chainsaw drowned her ears.

After cutting through the second leg, the figure finally moved the blade up to her groin. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ! The chainsaw began to tear through her genitals and work its way up her body. Tissues, organs, and blood spewed in all directions. Sue Ellen saw her range of vision closing fast. Her last sight was the fractions of light breaking through the ceiling. Then, everything went black, and she breathed her last breath. Sue Ellen Armstrong, a victim of the most sadistic criminals in the history of Elwood City.