Illusions
Use Your Illusion
By Leah Rajchel
Chapter One;
She had no clue how long she had been there. From what Elise could see, the room she was in was windowless. Oh, what did she know? It was pitch black since she was awoken just a few minutes ago. Or had it been hours? Darkness cared nothing for time, apparently. In the dark, Elise attempted to stand up and feel her way around, much like a cat could do with its whiskers. The only obstacle, much to her disappointment and fear, was that she was bound, ankle and wrist. The fact that she was so confined made Elise sick to her stomach. She began to panic even more when she realized there was a thick layer of tape over her mouth, preventing her from screaming. Hot, salty tears began to flood all around the perimeter of both of her green eyes. Her sudden panic left Elise feeling vulnerable and weak. She was a recent graduate of the psychology program at one of the most prodigious universities in the country; Elise knew she had to calm herself down or the whole situation would go entirely down hill from that point on.
Suddenly, a flood of light took over the entire room. Automatically, Elise shut her eyes tight, attempting to block out the pain the new light caused her unfamiliar eyes. She then heard a noise that made her heart drop: the thick steel door swung open. From the other side, a group of men, with their faces covered in cheap clown masks, ran sporadically into the room with guns. Elise forced herself to open her eyes and face the music – or, rather, the light. The glaring, artificial light made Elise's emerald eyes water quickly with their intensity and the fact that she feared her own life was at stake didn't help that matter either. She fearfully watched as the group of ten men divided into those of five, assembling on either side of her. She felt the bile in her stomach begin to rise as they cocked their menacing semi-automatic weapons at her from all angles.
'Does it really look like I'm going anywhere!?' Elise's mind screaming internally. Clearly she was not and even if she could, she was sensible enough to know she wasn't going to get very with ten semi-automatic weapon holders surrounding her, ready to go trigger hungry at her first wrong move. It was a move Elise wasn't planning on making. A slow, mocking cackle awoke Elise from her terrifying thoughts into even more threatening, blood-curdling ones. With her eyes now wide and focused, Elise concentrated on the shadow getting larger and larger at the base of the massive door frame. Moments later, a tall and looming figure emerged from Elise's left side, the form filling most of the length of the door. The man was clothed from head to toe in a combination of purple and green, minus his face and bottomless eyes, which were covered in white, red and black. The whirlpool of colors that seemed at one point so beautiful to the petite young woman now filled her senses with dread and fear. The colors also confirmed to Elise whose hands her life was in now. And the knowledge made her feel ten times more weak and afraid than before.
The makeshift carved grin cut into Elise's brain from across the room as the Joker jeered in mocking joy, "Good morning, gorgeous!"