Chapter Eight
Ever since Samuel Douglas was young, he knew he was different. It wasn't so much the little things like, his love for nature and preference of talking to animal as opposed to people. No, it wasn't anything like that. Maybe Sam felt different from the crowd because he was a vegetarian? But that couldn't be it because he knew lots of people who didn't eat meat either.
Although, there reason was for saving animals, where as his was just because he simple didn't like the taste of it anymore. But Sam knew... He knew the real reason he was different from other people.
Since he was ten he had been seeing things. No, not things people. Dark people. It happened one night when he woke up to get a drink from the kitchen. Rocky had tossed and turned nearly all night because he couldn't sleep, he had a nasty headache that night and it didn't seem to want to go away. So like anyone, he figured a pill would help him and a glass of water. So down the stairs he went, and as he crossed through the living room he saw something move on the couch.
Pausing where he stood, the ninja looked through the darkness assuming that it was either his father or mother there for some reason, but when he spoke to them and they didn't respond, he figured he was just seeing things. Why talk to it and make yourself look crazy, right? Only when Sam made it into the kitchen, gathered his things and was ready to leave the dark figure was at the entry way of the kitchen, watching him.
He was so startled he dropped his drink to the floor. His eyes went wide with shock, he didn't know what it was, or whom it was. But it worried him that it was there.
"Umm, hi." He said quietly. If he were going to speak to it, why make yourself heard.
The shadow didn't answer, like he expected, instead it vanished without a trace. Sam's body was shaken as he ran back up to his bedroom that he shared with his younger brother Jeffery. Closing the door, he turned the lock on it then dashed over to his bed. Climbing in, he pulled the blanket up and shook violently. Was that a ghost? He wondered. It couldn't be, there was no such thing. Then what? What was it!
Calm down Sam, it was just your imagination- it's late! I'm tired, and I'm seeing things. He held his head, shaking it lightly back and forth. I should wake Colt up, he can come check it out with me, it might come back. Peaking his head out of the blanket he found himself eye to eye with whatever the dark shadow was! He thought about screaming, he thought about attacking it. He and his brother had been doing ninja since they were smaller. Rocky started first around the age of five and then when Colt was old enough he joined in too. Yeah, he could defend himself if he had to. But when the figure just moved away from him, he calmed himself down and dismissed it as seeing things.
But it never stopped, the older Sam got the more he began to see. In fact sometime after he became Rocky, strong, solid, cool as granite rock, he began to talk to them. He would as them who they were and what they were doing. They would tell him they were just passing through, and meant no harm. He asked why he could see them, they told him they didn't know.
It began to happen so frequently, Rocky just believed this was normal for him. Seeing these people or things. So he let it go, but one day he made the mistake of talking to them out loud in front of others and his father nearly had a fit. It was strange for Rocky to have a talking to when all he did was speak to someone the others couldn't see. That night,
Rocky had woken his brothers up and asked them to look in the corner where one of them were standing, he asked them if they could see them and they both laughed saying there was nothing there but shadows.
After that, Rocky kept seeing the people to himself. He never thought that would go away, but eventually the people stopped showing up and he felt normal again. Well, what people defined as normal. He himself thought it was strange to no longer see the people when he has seen them nearly all his life.
Yeah, Rocky guessed that those events is what led up to him feeling strange from the world and isolated. He never had a crowd to fit into. Colt had found his way into the cool kids, Tum Tum found his way with the loud rowdy kids, but Rocky he brought home an assortment of people. Defined nerds, cool kids, goths, street kids- any kind of person he could try to hang out with but there was no one out there like him.
Then that strange girl came along... She kept telling him that they were so much alike. That they understood each other- belonged together. But he didn't wanna believe her. Rocky had found a place for himself amongst the common folk and he was satisfied with it. But then to have this girl come along and dredge up a part of his past that he tried to bury was wrong. He turned her away and she kidnapped him. He resisted and she ran off.
Hmm, now that he thought about it, she was the only who cared enough about who he really was- but he wouldn't let himself believe that. Maria was insane, and he isn't. Maria... he hadn't thought about that name since he had been rid of her. Why would he think about her now?
I guess when you find yourself in times like this... You tend to think about weird things. Rocky felt his brain floating. Was he asleep? Where is he?
Rocky smelt mildew as his body began to wake up. It was so strong that he began to cough from it. When his mouth opened, he could taste the mold as well and it made him feel worse. There was also a distinct taste of dust mixed with it that was blowing up into his mouth when he drew in a breath to cough. He tried opening his eyes, but they wouldn't budge. Great, passed out drunk again. He figured. But something was wrong this time. As Rocky's body became alert, he could feel cold, real cold- all over! Rocky tried with all his will to move his hands, slowly, one finger at a time his fingers wriggle.
Good start... Now if I could just open my eyes, he tried again. With luck this time, his eyes cracked a bit, but they closed again almost instantly. I have to try harder... shock my body into it... Rocky took in three heavy, and thanks to the air wherever he was, thick breaths. One... Two... Three! His eyes snap open and his vision adjusted, he had to blink several times to comprehend what he was seeing. Black... Perfect black... Complete and utter darkness.
The ninja made a startled sound as he sat up. Was he blind? No. It didn't feel as though he were- but can you feel things like that? Waving his right hand in front of his face, he frowned. Could they be back! Are the others, as he used to called them. Surrounding me? There was a low rattling sound behind him, and he to face it. Don't panic Rocky... I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for this... Just relax and try to find your way.
Leaning over onto his hands and knees, he began to crawl. The ninja winced in pain as his knee scraped against the floor. My pants? Sitting back on his legs, it wasn't long before Rocky felt his butt press against the back of his legs. He gasped sharply. There was no way... He couldn't be?
Running his hands up his chest, legs, and mid-section, Rocky's mind burned when he discovered that he was completely naked. Panic was setting in. He rocked back and forth, trying to steady his ever picking up breathing. No... No don't freak out. His hands came up to his arms rubbing them, as hard as he could. The boys nails were beginning to scratch him to bleed but he didn't stop rubbing them. He wanted to run, but which way would he go? It was so dark that he couldn't see his own hand, as pale as it is, in front of his face!
As he rocked, the rattling sound picked up and something brushed between his shoulder blades! A startled sound escaped his mouth. There was no echo after it, so wherever he was must be either filled to the brink with items or built so heavy you could burst a lung before anyone heard a sound that came from you.
Frantic the boys hands reached behind him to grab the thing that was touching him. Smooth and thick, there were little slats between each thing that was linked together. He wasn't sure but it could be a chain. Quickly, his hands then moved to his neck, surely enough there was a large metal brace there that the chain hooked itself to. He was chained up!
No! No, no, no, noooo! Standing, Rocky turned on his heals and bolted. His bare feet slap against the cold floor with every step he took. If I just run, maybe I'll find a door. He figured. Big mistake. "Hhhuuu!" He was jerked back abruptly, after what felt like twenty steps, and he dropped down onto the hard cement floor. He whimpered from the pain of his head coming into contact of the floor and a bit of the chain. Not only that, but the jerking strained his neck painfully.
Nausea kicked in then. The ninja rolled over holding his stomach. Keep it in, you don't wanna get sick... Taking a few deep breaths, his breathing had gone from heavy and strained, to one of hallowed fear. Getting back down onto his knees, Rocky grabbed a hold of the chain and followed it to wherever it was attached. Here. He taps a large hook that's cemented into the floor. Getting a tight grip around it, Rocky leaned back and pulled. "Rrrrrrr- Ah!" His hands slipped free. Getting a better grip, he tries again. "RRRRRRR!" His hands slipped again, this time sending him backward.
Pounding a fist onto the floor, "AAAAHHHH!" He screamed, in confused rage. When his breathing began to calm down he wrapped his arms around himself and curled into a ball. How did this happen? Where am I?
The boys eyes filled with tears, Rocky could tell he was in trouble, how could he not be. Someone had taken him, he was sure of that. The ninja's right eye twitched. He wasn't alone, he could tell that for sure now. It was strange though, because it wasn't due to his abilities as a ninja. No, this was that buzzing again. A crackling sound that happened long ago when he was in middle school. A feeling that tied in with that strange girl Ma-...
A giggle sounded somewhere in front of him. His head whipped up. He tried to stare through the darkness but saw nothing. His breaths came out of his mouth, louder than before. "I-..." Rocky had to swallow. His voice was strained after his neck had been abused from the collar. "Is someone there?" He asked in a quiet tone.
"Is someone there?" The voice repeats, a hint of humor in the words.
Rocky blinked for a moment, then tried again. "Yes... My name is Rocky, Samuel Douglas, and... I can't see anything. Where are you, maybe we could help each other."
The person giggles again.
"Please don't laugh... I'm.." He hesitated. But he couldn't lie, not at a time like this. "I'm scared... I don't know where I am... I don't know- please stop laughing." His voice sounded frantic.
"AaaaaamaaaariiiiiiAaaaaamaaaarrriiiiiiAaaaaamaaaaarrriiiiii..."
He knew that voice, he knew it all too well. "Amari... Where am I? Where have you taken me?" More so, how did she take him! The last thing he remembers is... being in the room with Robbie. Robbie had kissed him, and now he's here. Wherever here is.
"AaaammmmaaaaaarrrriiiiiiiiAaaaammmaaaaarrriiiiiii." Her words jumped up and down as she shouted. It sounded strange, kind of like she weren't really saying her name, but instead something else.
A-ma-ri-A. A-ma-ri-A.
The ninja tried his hardest to block her out, but her words filled his head. So loudly that it was like she were shouting it directly to his brain.
"Llllisten to meeee. Aaaaamaaaarrriiiiiaaaaa."
What was she trying to say? He didn't get why she would repeat her name over and over like that. Amari-Amari Imaria- Why was she saying the A like it were an I?
The girl stopped her little chanting song and began to laugh.
Rocky could hear her feet shuffling across the floor, trapped or not he backed away. "What are you talking about? Why do you keep repeating yourself!" He sat back on the floor, holding his hands over his member. It may be pitch black, but the girl could have had night vision goggles or something.
But no sooner had he done that, did a bright spot light come on, aiming right at him. Raising a hand he covered his face. Well, he wasn't blind, that was a good sign. But there was someone there. A dark figure coming toward him!
"Amari! Please, help me!"
"Aaaamarrriiiiaaaa."
"Why do you keep saying that!"
"You have a pretty selective memory my love."
Love, what is she talking about now? The frightened teen wondered.
"Listen to my song lover." She was closer now, he was beginning to make out the girls body and some of her features. No. It couldn't be her. "Aaaamarrriiiaaaa, Immariiiaaa." Finally she was right before him. Standing there. Her slender body clothed in a short pink skirt with a black flower print, she also wore a sweater jacket over a beige tank top. Short length hair, he wasn't sure of the color- maybe blonde, could be brown.
But when she bent over in his face, his skin turned white as a ghost. She was the girl from the club! She IS-...
"I'mMaria." She ran her words together like in her song, so he could understand what she were saying. Maria's smile screamed with intense feeling of love that's been betrayed and from the glint in her eyes, she planned to pay Rocky back ten fold.
"M- Maria..." Rocky whimpered.
"Hahaha," she laughed gaily. "No need to cover up my dear," she swats his hands away from his crotch. "I've already seen you and I think you're beautiful. Like a handsome, golden prince..." The insane girl knelt down before him.
"Please... You can't do this to me, I-..." he shakes his head, trying to shrink away.
"I can do whatever I want to you." She stands again. Spreading her arms as she backs away. "And I plan to do a lot my love." A laugh escaped her lips. "A LOT!"
Lights came on all around him. Florescent, bright, with a loud hum generating from them. As scared as he was, Rocky looked around at his surroundings.
He was in some sort of cell! Well, it seemed more like a basement. A moldy, run down and impossible to escape from, cell room. It was decorated with a twin sized bed, set at the far off wall to his left, the bed is placed in the center of the wall. It had pale white sheets on it that, thankfully, looked clean. A small pillow lay at the top of the bed, and a blanket that looked like a cut up joke lay over the sheet. To the right, there is a sink with a gross, molded mirror over it and beside that is a toilet, small white and also very dingy. The only thing giving the place any life was the light bulbs.
But what scared him the most is that nothing was hidden. Nothing was behind a door or curtain. This room was completely bare to the world, so that they- or at least Maria, would be able to see him no matter where he was, or what he does.
"I trust you like your bedroom?" The girl said getting his attention back on her.
"No!" But he wasn't saying this to her question. He was saying it because as she spoke, Maria was backing up toward the exit.
There was a set of prison bars from floor to ceiling behind her, closed off by a prison door beyond the bars was the rest of the room. There wasn't much space left beyond that to walk, as most of the room was where Rocky sat. The room before him was inhabited by a simple wooden chair where the girl must have been watching him through the darkness. How long had he been asleep? What had the psychic girl done to him while he was out?
"You're going to be here for a long loooong time my love. We're going to rekindle the flame between us."
"There was no flame!" He shouted, mostly because he was so afraid he was unaware of how loud his voice was coming out.
Maria merely laughed. "That's not what it felt like that night at the club... When you kissed me, brought me to a private place where we made out..." she stepped beyond the barred door, closing it after herself. Taking out a key she shoved it into the small hole locking it off. "You were ready to make love to me, but no... you weren't ready yet. So I turned you down, you were so upset by this... so I decided to let you have a little fun with me."
Maria leaned against the bars and smiled. "I'll leave you alone to fill in the blanks... It's lunch time and our daughter needs to eat. If you're lucky, I'll bring you something too." Kissing her palm, she blows it to the boy.
Rocky turned his face away.
Maria only laughed at this and walked away. There was a solid door behind her that looked to be made of metal. On that door was a single window, he could guess, was for peaking in at him from time to time. And as she waved good bye to him from beyond that window, the lights cut out and she was gone.
Rocky's heart pounded in his ears as reality was really beginning to sink in. He was locked up somewhere in a basement, with that mad woman, Maria. And from the way she managed to turn on the lights without touching the switch, Rocky could tell she was a lot stronger...
...No.