Love, Lucy
Under A Sorrowful Sky (Part 1)
The bright red tomato sauce glared back at her in a daring sort of way. It was as if she was once again a silly, little, curious six year old girl, who made her food talk back to her, begging her in a high, squeaky voice not to eat it. Yet, if it were the trees (broccoli) or green beans or carrots, any type of vegetable, she would gladly push it aside and grant it's wish.
Though, this time was different. She wasn't making her food talk back to her. The voices were all in her head. Just a stupid memory and a little imagination. After all, the spaghetti sauce didn't really have eyes, therefore it couldn't stare at her the way a person could.
"You're probably really paranoid about your parents and you're afraid that someone in the community is going to pop out of nowhere and put it in the paper, Luce," Roxanne commented as she twirled strings of the thin pasta covered in sauce around the tines of her silver fork.
Lucy dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a clean napkin. "Since when are you the shrink of the century?"
Roxanne smile, her cheeks puffed out from the food inside her mouth that she had not yet swallowed. After a few moments of chewing and swallowing action, Roxanne replied, "I'm just saying. I mean, you aren't exactly the sanest person in the world." Roxanne shrugged.
Lucy smiled, going along with Roxanne's light-hearted insult. "You're probably right."
Roxanne rolled her eyes. "I am right. Lucy, there's no one following you, trust me." Roxanne set her fork back down on her now clean plate. "You ready to blow this popsicle stand?"
Lucy nodded, feeling full for the first time in about a week. She had been so afraid that someone was watching her, but now that Roxanne, someone she trusted, told her that she was just being stupid, that feeling of paranoia left her alone.
Roxanne grabbed the check and scanned it over.
Lucy watched her thoughtfully, then spoke, "Here. Let me get that."
Roxanne looked at her, eyebrow raised. "You sure?"
Lucy smiled. "Yeah. I mean, after all, I was the one who needed to talk to you. Let me pay you back by paying for the dinner."
Roxanne shrugged and smiled.
"Okay."
The room was dark and creepy. A thick layer of dust had covered the concrete floor. It was quiet. Too quiet. There was only one source of light that came from the streetlights from outside. Little streams of fluorescent light painted a kind of "X" pattern on the floor. All the windows were boarded up, long, rectangular pieces of wood were nailed from corner to corner.
The stale air was cold on her naked body. Goose bumps blanketed her upper arms and legs. She could feel each little individual piece of dirt on her back, ginding itself into her skin. Tears filled her eyes, making her vision blurry. Her hair was strewn across the back of her head, jetting out in a half circle. A piece of duct tape covered her mouth, smothering her voice whenever she tried to scream and call for help.
Ropes bound her wrists to some sort of loop at the bottom of the wall, her feet also tied to something she could not see. Her nails, recently painted a pearly pink, dug into the palm of her hand, making little crescent moon indentations.
It was him. She knew his face, had seen him at church. When she closed her eyes, she could see his face, floating in darkness. That face was very familiar. She had seen him with her father a few months ago. He hadn't been around recently, but she didn't like the way he returned.
"Now, just hold still, or I'm going to have to knock you out again."
He was back. As he passed through the faint light, she realized what he was going to do with her. His clothes were also mysteriously missing.
A sob sounded from Ruthie's
throat as tears slipped from behind her closed eyes.
Lucy Kinkirk was only minutes away from seeing the letter for the first time. She wasn't the only one who would feel the terror, though she would experience it soon enough.
Reverend Eric Camden returned home once again. The church was not as much solace as he had hoped it to be. He couldn't erase Annie from his mind at all. Something had to be done to stop the madness.
Eric parked the green van in the garage. He sat in the vehicle for a few superfluous minutes. His blue eyes wandered to the rearview mirror where he saw something that caught his eye. A white piece of paper was glimmering in the moonlight.
Eric opened the car door and made his way over to the object. There was a familiar scrawl on it, he just couldn't pinpoint whose it was.
The Reverend quickly scanned the page and became terrified just as Lucy pulled up to the curb to park. He watched her cross the lawn to him.
"Dad, what's wrong? What's that?" she asked, glancing from her father to the letter he was holding.
Eric couldn't respond, just handed it over to Lucy to read it for herself.
Lucy looked into her father's
eyes, her own filled with alarm. Her hand was shaking as she realized
that she hadn't just been paranoid.
"Ruthie," Annie called from the kitchen. Dinner was about ready and she needed Ruthie to set the table. When Ruthie didn't appear or reply, Annie called again. Soon, she had to turn off the burner and set down her spoon that she had been stirring with, and go upstairs to find her daughter.
"Ruthie?" Annie called, softer this time. Ruthie wasn't in her bedroom, or even on the property as she would soon discover. There would be much crying and worry to go around as soon as Annie and the rest of the Camdens found out about the note.
Ruthie Camden, fourteen years
old, would be reported as a missing person at 9:45 PM that evening. The
Glenoak Police Department would soon be on the prowl for her and her kidnapper.
A/N: Ya like? Please REVIEW!!! And for those of you who didn't like: flames keep me warm. ;)
Ciao,
Carrie