I started the day off with only two girls, but now I had three.
11
Katie
I heard voices surrounding me but couldn’t find the strength to open my eyes. I felt weak, and exhausted. My head began to throb until it became almost unbearable, but still, I could not open my eyes. I drifted into a black nothingness.
Open your eyes Katie. Open your eyes. I could feel my head pounding with a splitting migraine. I slowly peeled my eyes open, and they felt as if they weighed a million pounds. It took a second to adjust my vision.
What the hell?
I saw Tara, and then Anna. Both girls were asleep but chained to posts by their arms. Tara was sporting a black eye, and Anna had a blood-stained shirt. Jesus Christ. What was this place? I had no recollection of last night. One minute I was talking to Mark, and the next it was an empty blackness.
Mark.
Mark kidnapped me. What the hell was this place? Oh god, Amy. She had to be looking for me right now. Did she know? Was my dad looking for me? Oh god, was Mark going to kill me? The questions were giving me a migraine. I wanted to wake the girls and shoot questions at them but felt guilty at the same time.
Anna was taken first so she had to be here for at least a month, right? Oh my god, I can’t believe I was right about Mark all along. How could he do something like this? I needed to get out of here. I would be damned if I died down here.
Against my better judgement, I shouted at the girls. Slowly but surely, they both opened their eyes, and looked at me somberly. I felt so bad for them, being trapped in here.
You’re trapped in here too now.
I looked around the room and took everything in. There was a big iron door, covered with chains. The floor was a hard, and cold metal. There was a huge heater on the wall that looked like it had never been used. The walls looked as if they were made of iron as well, and it was dimly lit down here. There were no windows, but small mats and blankets laid on the floor for us. Each girl got their own color blanket. Tara was laid atop a royal blue blanket, and Anna a lime green. Mine was red.
I can’t believe this happened.
“Why are we here?” I asked the girls, hoping with everything in me that they would have an answer for me.
Instead of answering, I was met with two blank stares. I surveyed both girls. They looked drained, and as if they had lost all fight in them. What happened to the spunky Anna who was the life of the party? Surely, she had a little fire left in her. What did he do to these girls to break them down so badly? Would he do it to me?
Why couldn’t I have agreed to stop looking?
Don’t think like that. You needed to save them. You still can.
I knew Mark better than either of these two girls. If any of us had a shot of getting through to Mark, it would be me.
“Can you guys please tell me what’s going on?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We’re trapped, and there’s nothing you can do.” Anna spit it out, her tone dripping with spite.
Why was she angry with me?
“How did he take you?”
“He got me into his car, because we had an agreement where I would pay him to change my grade. We were meeting up so I could pay him. When I tried to give him the money, he pushed it away and leaned in to kiss me instead.” Tara explained, as she nervously played with her hands.
“Did you?”
“Of course not. I didn’t feel that way about him. That’s when he pulled out a syringe and stuck me in my neck. I woke up here.” Tara motioned to the iron room we found ourselves in.
The Iron Room. Would this be the place I died?
You’re not dying here.
“What about you?” I turned towards Anna, obviously the angrier of the two.
“I was walking home from a party, and he asked if I needed a ride. I got in, and honestly, I was so drunk, I thought he was someone else. He started going on and on about how I treated him like shit. I think he wanted an apology, but I didn’t give him one. Instead, he stuck a needle in my neck.” Anna started crying.
Was that his signature? I never saw him pull out a needle last night, but I did feel a poke in my neck, and I woke up here. He had to of drugged me.
“What does Mark do to you guys?”
“Mark? He’s not even the worst one.” Tara laughed a humorless laugh,
“What do you mean?”
“It’s his sister Amy that has the worst temper, and she loves to take it out on us.” Tara pointed to her blackened eye.
Amy hurt these girls too? What the hell was going on here?
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I never thought Mark to be capable of something this malicious and evil. But Amy? My best friend had the most compassionate and giving heart. Why would she hurt Tara and Anna? What did she gain from it?
She knew where they were all along. They both did. I felt sick to my stomach.
“I never thought Amy was the worst. I always thought it was the parents that were the most brutal.”
I looked at Anna, and my eyes nearly bulged out of my head. The parents? Sharon and Paul?
“I know what you’re thinking, but yeah. This whole thing is a family affair. Every day they each take turns coming down here. Sometimes one of them hurts both of us, and sometimes they only do one. The mom and the sister are the most violent. The dad just likes to make us strip.”
I’m going to throw up.
The whole family was in on this? I couldn’t mentally process everything that I had been told right now. My brain felt like it was going to explode. The same family who supported me endlessly and cooked a massive amount of dinners and lunches when my mom passed were the same family that was responsible for kidnapping and torturing girls.
“What about Mark?” I wondered if he was just the pawn in all this.
“Oh, Mark likes to just look. Sometimes touch. But he is all about watching.” Tara said, and I saw a single tear roll down her cheek.”
“Have you guys tried to escape?”
They both laughed, lacking humor, and turned to me.
“Once… but with these chains on? They don’t even unhook us to get to the bathroom. We get buckets.”
I wondered who would come down here tonight. Did Sharon and Paul know I was here? Did Amy? Would it change anything if they knew it was me? I hoped so. I would help these girls, but first I needed a plan. A good one.
12
Amy
I would be lying if I said that Katie wasn’t in my thoughts today. I wanted to go down to see if she was awake and offer an explanation before school, but Mark forbade it.
I had already started phase one of his plan when I called Katie’s phone a few times this morning. Once he realized she was missing, Sheriff Johnson would use some sort of locating device to track her phone- which was already disposed of. Mark handled everything when it came to covering up our tracks. If we missed one thing, made one mistake… it would ruin us. Tara was one of those mistakes. Another mistake of Mark’s was being seen by that idiot drunk. She needed to stop talking, or she would become a problem- one that needed fixing.
I always told Mark that this could never turn emotional. It had to be strategic. Anna was planned. We didn’t like the way she disrespected Mark, and something had to be done. An example needed to be set.
Tara was an accident. Mark’s accident. He developed feelings for her, and that was an act of convenience. Thankfully, it seems she acclimated well. But she did have a little mouth on her- and I was keen on keeping it quiet.
Phase Two of Mark’s plan required a little emotion on my part. I needed to make this call to Katie’s dad the most convincing piece of acting I had ever done. He had to believe that his sweet little girl never made it here last night.
Mark has been up early this morning, dismantling Katie’s car. He would take all the pieces apart and burn what he could and hide the rest. After today, Katie Johnson wouldn’t exist.
Since Mark’s original screw up of taking Tara, he had
been working slightly overtime to ensure that the looky loos in this town never turned their sights this way. But why would they?
We were the most respectable family in Prairie.
I thought we were finally out of the clear. Yeah, everyone claimed to be looking for the girls, but no one knew about the missing eyewitness. The thing is, when she originally came forward, Sheriff Johnson came to my dad personally. He knew how things in this town could easily spin out of control and wanted to give our family the benefit of the doubt.
He liked us. So, we never thought that Mark’s name would be brought up again. Why would it? Sheriff Johnson had no plans to mention anything about Mark being the last person to see Tara, and who in their right mind would take the local drunk at her word?
Oh right, Katie.
The fact that Mark took Katie was tearing me up inside. We truly were best friends, but at the end of the day- family comes first. If I have to choose between Katie and the preservation of my family, it’s a clear choice. I just wish it didn’t have to be this way. My heart went out to Sheriff Johnson, because I knew that him losing his wife had nearly crushed him half to death. Katie would tear him to pieces. We had to start being really careful and laying low.
Playing the grieving best friend would be an easy front to fake, because I wouldn’t really be faking it. I wish I could help Katie, but it is out of my hand’s now. She should have listened to me earlier, and this never would have happened.
I need to call Katie’s dad.
“Hey Amy. How was your girls’ sleepover?” Sheriff Johnson sounded particularly chipper today, and I would be the one responsible for sending his whole world crashing down. Here goes nothing.
“Sleepover? Katie never made it last night. I figured she decided to stay in. I was calling to ask if she had left yet. She hasn’t answered any of my calls.”
There was a long pause on the other line, and I could hear the phone hit something. He must have dropped it.
“Sheriff?”
I heard the phone being fumbled, and a little bit of static was going on.
“I have to go Amy,” and he hung up.
Mission accomplished. I was all ready for school and needed to see how Mark was doing. I would be surprised if he was able to get any sleep at all after the long night he had. He would definitely take a stronger liking to Katie down the road.
We had yet to tell our parents about Katie. We figured breakfast was the perfect time. They would be furious, and not because Mark grabbed another girl. They didn’t care about that. In fact, they relished in having new girls to take their turns getting out their anger and frustration on. They would be pissed off about the little fact about the new capture being Katie. Yeah, they were going to blow a fuse.
I went across the hall and saw that Mark’s door was wide open.
“Mark? You in here?”
“Yeah, brushing my teeth Ames!”
I went inside and waited on the suede couch. Mark emerged from the bathroom moments later, looking kind of nervous. I completely understood. We both knew in our hearts that mom and dad wouldn’t be okay with this, but there was no choice now. It was too late.
“Ready Mark?”
“Guess so. Let’s do this.”
We both walked downstairs to the breakfast table together. Mom and Dad were already elbow deep in their pancakes and bacon. Oh, boy. This was going to be fun.
“Hey Mark, hey Amy! Come eat some breakfast before school. Amy, is Katie picking you up today?” My mom smiled and looked at me. She loved Katie and loved her mom even more.
“She can’t.”
“Well that’s okay, Mark can give you a ride. When is she going to come over love? Your father and I haven’t seen her in quite some time.”
“She’s already here.” Mark chimed in and looked down at his plate.
Oh boy.
“Well if she’s here, then invite her down for breakfast. I didn’t raise y’all to be rude.” My mom scolded, and my dad looked at both Mark and I with suspicion plastered all over his face.
I decided to speak up.
“Can’t. She’s uh… downstairs with Anna and Tara.” I closed my eyes, knowing what would happen next.
My mom spit out her coffee, and my dad froze, his bite of food still on his fork in midair.
“Tell me you’re joking. Tell me you’re FUCKING joking Amy.”
Mark and I knew better to respond to that. We both knew our mom well, and when she told you to tell her you were just kidding, it was because she knew you weren’t and was trying to buy time before she blew a lid.
The entire mood at the breakfast table had shifted immensely within minutes. My mom stood up and stalked off to the key office. She was going to check for herself. I decided to follow and leave my brother to deal with the unbearable silence of my seething father.
This was worse than bad.
As I followed my mom and her ridiculous paced fast walk, I could hear her mumbling to herself. She was furious, and I didn’t think it was good if Katie had seen her. I don’t think Katie truly knows what is going on, but I had no doubt that those bitches Anna and Tara had already woken up and spilled the whole truth. Their version of the truth anyhow.
I vowed to tell Katie my side of the story, to make her understand. She had to know that she was never a viable option for this from the beginning, and that she simply left us with no other choice. None of my family would have wanted it this way, if that wasn’t clear by my father and mother’s outburst.
Understand I never wanted this Katie. You’re my best friend.
Maybe we could swear her to secrecy. Maybe we didn’t have to keep her chained up.
Even you know that’s bullshit. She won’t leave those girls here.
I sighed as we got to the familiar back door. My mother unlocked all the padlocks at a feverishly slow pace. She had gone from screaming, to mumbling, to now eerily calm. That couldn’t fare well.
We both walked down the familiar steps to the big iron door, and my mom’s hands were visibly shaking as she unlocked the chain lock. I could tell she knew it wasn’t a joke, but desperately prayed it was. Me too mom, me too.
My mom slowly swung the door open and was met with three wide eyed girls staring back. My mom covered her mouth and ran upstairs. I forced myself to look at Katie.
That was a mistake.
Katie stared back at me, tears brimming her eyes. She was able to speak, but all she said was, “Amy.” I couldn’t bear it. I turned and slammed the iron door shut and locked it.
I stomped up the stairs, furious. We never should have taken the tape of those idiots mouths last night. God knows what horror stories they concocted and how many lies they fed Katie about me and my family.
I just needed to set Katie straight, but later. Right now, I had to go to school and put on the best act of my life.
By the time I finished locking up the other door, my mom was nowhere in sight. Maybe it was for the best. I couldn’t face her right now or handle the disappointment that was clear on her face ever since this morning. I needed to find Mark, and we needed to go- now.
What have you done Mark?
I only hoped our time away at school and work for the day, would allow my parents some time and space to process everything.
Please.
I found Mark standing by the entry way, ready to go. We looked at each other, but neither said a word, which was fine. We went outside, and I climbed into the passenger side of Mark’s car after he unlocked the door. No breakfast and silence it would be. What a great morning today was becoming.
The drive to school took slightly longer than usual, mostly because for once in his life, Mark drove below the speed limit. I knew that it was only because he was upset, but he needed to pull it together. No one was more upset about Katie than me. If he started acting differently, people would notice.
They always noticed in Prairie.
Moments later we pulled into the familiar large brown gates of Prairie High School
. I was so glad I actually got all the homework done that they had assigned last week, but quite frankly it was nothing short of a miracle.
We got out of the car, still not saying a word to each other, and Mark went his separate ways.
I was surprised to find everyone staring at me as I walked through the gates. What was going on?
I barely made it through the front door before I spotted Sheriff Johnson talking to the principal. He turned and saw me before I had the chance to hide. Shit.
“Amy!” Sheriff Johnson called my name and motioned for me to join them.
I pulled on my best sad face and walked slowly over to them.
“Come inside the office Amy,” my principal said and moved me inside. Sheriff Johnson followed and closed the door.
“Where is Katie, Amy?”
13
Katie
I can’t believe Amy. I couldn’t fathom the idea that she would be able to come down here, see me chained like this, and not help me. Sharon too!
Did I know this family at all?
Getting the hell out of this place would be a lot harder than I originally thought. I prayed my dad had already noticed my absence and was rallying the town of Prairie to come to my rescue. This family did a hell of a good job covering their tracks, and I had no doubt that they had done a good job erasing the events of last night.
You have to do this on your own.
Surely the girl I had seen as my best friend still had some of that girl left in her. I refused to believe that she could turn cold hearted at the drop of the dime. Or maybe she was always this way, and I had been blind to it. I hoped that wasn’t the case. If it was, then any hope I had of escaping on her love for our friendship was up in flames.
Would they torture me the way they had these other girls? Or would they make me watch? Any of the million possibilities floating around in my head were driving me nuts. I couldn’t sit here and let my mind wander all day, but I was left with no choice. All I had to stare at in this iron room was the two messed up girls sitting in front of me.
I still couldn’t come to terms with all of this. A family full of torturers seemed less likely than pigs falling from the sky in a town like Prairie. They were the most well-known and respectable family as well, but that could have a lot to do with Amy’s dad Paul controlling most of the town’s finances.
The Iron Room Page 6
