- Chapter 3 -
LIKE A ROCKET TO MARS
We stumble and fall, we stumble and fall
Skin on skin, but there's heaven in
Heaven's in here
Heaven's in her
Among the twilight and stars
Like a rocket to Mars
Heaven's in here
Molly woke up with a start to the sound of David Bowie's voice. It echoed in her head and it made her open her eyes painfully, only to blink at the blinding light that shone over her head. Molly closed her eyes again, and tried once more, this time, slowly.
She tried to sit up, only to discover that she had been tied down with duck tape, and that her shin throbbed and hurt like hell.
Then Molly remembered.
"HELP!" she screamed and heard the echo of her own voice, as she struggled to free her body. However, she was very firmly tied down; her head was the only part of her body that was free to move. And so Molly tried to make out her surroundings – she seemed to be strapped on a table, with a single light bulb right above her. Now that she was finally awake, it didn't seem so bright at all.
In fact, it was quite dark. "HELP! PLEASE!"
Molly could make out the silhouettes of chairs and other tables, as well as a counter on the opposite side and some bar stools in front of it. The room wasn't very big, though. With a few strides she could get to the counter – she could also see a door on the left wall opposite to the counter. There were no windows, so Molly assumed it was in the basement level.
It looked like an old pub.
An old, abandoned pub.
God. She could be anywhere.
The first and the last are telling it all
Telling you loud but selling it small
I'm taking a swing at this shadow of mine
Crucifix hangs an' my heart's in my mouth
But it's here
Molly was starting to hate that music. She could see a small stereo propped on the counter, blasting the irritating sound. If only she could turn it down… Her shin was stinging with pain, and she could feel the fabric of her pants humid with blood. The feeling made her head spin. Nonetheless, she also felt something tightly wrapped around her wound that prevented more blood loss.
Molly could feel the small red notebook pressed against her chest, which was a strange comfort. With some effort she was able to feel her pants' pocket. Her mobile phone was gone, obviously. She sobbed, and only then did she notice that she had been crying ever since she opened her eyes.
She struggled once more against her restraints, all in vain, and it only made her shin sorer. She cried even harder. The worst of all was not knowing what was going on. Who was that man, how did he know her name… What did he want with her.
Visions of bludgeoning, torture and rape flashed through her mind. She couldn't stop herself from thinking the worst. Molly thought about her mother. What would she do? She also thought about her godfather – my god, the last words she said to him… If something happened to her, if she didn't make it to the party… What would he do?
The party.
If Molly missed the party, he wouldn't send out for her. Not yet. He would think she had missed it in purpose. He wouldn't try and look for her until tomorrow… And maybe tomorrow was too late.
She screamed, calling out for help, hoping someone could hear her… But as she cried out, she knew that the only reason for her kidnapper to not gag her was that no one could actually hear her.
She cried even harder, until she was too drained to cry, and just laid there, silently, watery eyes looking everywhere for an escape route, but seeing none.
The music was on repeat, and it was driving her crazy. On the fourth time David Bowie started singing about dreaming between the blade and the tongue, Molly heard the steps of someone coming down the stairs outside the old pub. And then, the noise of a door being opened and shut very quickly.
He had arrived.
Molly observed, wide-eyed, as he crossed the room and got to her. She struggled with her boundaries, only hurting her wrists and ankles and loosing the tight knot around her wounded shin. "You let me go… Right now… My godfather has friends on the police…" she was trying to sound demanding, but the plea came out in a stuttering, low voice. She sounded weak and vulnerable – which, in fact, was exactly what she was.
We stumble and fall like tragedy falls
We stumble and twirl there's heaven in here
We stumble and fall uncertain we fall
There's flesh on flesh but there's heaven in
Heaven's in here
The kidnapper smiled down at her, ignoring her pleas completely. "Don't you love this music? I love this music. I could hear it one hundred times in a row!"
He had blonde hair and his eyes where some shade of blue. Molly could see a scar running from his chin to his ear, like it was slashed not so long ago. It was still in a distinct shade of pink. He had big bags under his eyes, and looked quite tired.
The more she fought the duck tape, the more she felt the scratches on her skin hurt. Her shin started to pound with pain. "Please… Please…" she sobbed. "Don't… hurt me… My godfather will pay you anything…"
And with that, the man laughed loudly and hard. If she had seen him on the street, she would never take him as a bad guy. He looked like a man who once had been strong, but now it was tired and confused, and that scared her. As he laughed, he put an arm around his middle, as if he was hurting, and stopped laughing to moan with pain.
"Arh, sorry, I shouldn't have carried you, baby girl… I'm not fully recovered, and we can't abuse of a miracle recovery now, can we?" he said, as he turned and picked up from the floor a plastic bag. "Now, now, baby girl, I know you must be scared. I wish there was another way to do this, more comfortably. But if I went to you and tried to talk you into it, you'd never have believed me, so... Here we are".
She had no idea what he was talking about, and that scared the hell out of her. So he wasn't your typical kidnapper. He was a real nutter. A crackpot. The tears wouldn't stop flowing from her eyes. But he wasn't quite finished:
"I just wanted to say that, well, I don't mean to hurt you… Not really" he said, but he didn't look quite sure about what he was talking. "I mean, I suppose it's going to hurt a little, but it'll pass soon…"
"No, no!..." Molly couldn't help but to writhe under the duck tape.
"Hush!" and with a sudden movement he put a hand over her mouth, the touch of his skin against her lips making her sick. "No need to make another mess! Look, you've already got rid of my bandage on your shin! If you don't stop squirming, it'll hurt even more! And we don't want that, do we? You're supposed to go smoothly, that's what He instructed me".
Her eyes widened in fear. That man was not alone. Someone had paid the nutter to kidnap her. This was bigger and more complex. How was she supposed to live through this?
The tears fell freely on her face and he let go of her, turning his back to her and rummaging through the plastic bag. Meanwhile, David Bowie kept singing the now horrid song to Molly's ears, nonstop.
Heaven's in here
Heaven's in her
Among the twilight and stars
"I went through some big trouble to get these, you know" he murmured, even though she couldn't see what he was doing. "I almost got caught at the hospital, but I managed… After all, He's by my side. And nothing can go wrong, baby girl. I owe Him".
When he turned, Molly saw that he was holding a syringe, with a transparent liquid inside it. It looked like a lot of liquid, be it what it might be.
"STAY AWAY!" she screamed. "I swear to god, my godfather will kill you if something happens to me! STAY AWAY!" she screamed and writhed, feeling the pain in her shin growing even stronger. With her squirms, the bleeding had started once again, and at the sight of the needle, she felt dizzier.
"Look at the mess you've made, baby girl!" he complained, looking at her wound. "I'll have to take care of this, we don't want you dying out, do we? But first things first".
And he gave a step forward, needle in hand.
"Wait! Wait!" she screamed, not caring about the bleeding anymore. "Don't do this! Why are you doing this to me? Why?!"
He stopped with the needle in mid air, aiming to her arm. "Well… He asked me to do this. He said it was the price I had to pay", he answered matter-of-factly, as if it was no big deal to kidnap a girl and drug her with whatever that was.
She tried her best to sound convincing. It took all her might not to keep screaming.
"But you don't need to… If you let me go…" she sobbed, "if you let me go, I promise I won't tell anyone. I promise you. My godfather can protect you, from whoever is threatening you…"
The man shook his head, as if she was a bad girl and he was disappointed at her. "Who said anything about threats, baby girl?", and he got closer.
"NO! Please!..."
"Not to worry, I got the right amount of it" he said, in a soft voice as he pointed at the syringe, trying to calm her down. "I'm not a pro, but I won't let you die". And, at the sound of Bowie's lyrics, he smiled down at her and whispered: "It'll be a quick trip to Mars!"
He laughed, and Molly felt the sting of the needle in her forearm. Very quickly, everything went dark, Bowie's voice slowly fading into that darkness as well…
Heaven's in here
Heaven's in her
Among the twilight and stars
Like a rocket to Mars
Heaven's in here…