Beyond the Palms

by Amanda Aggie

  “Hello, sir.” Jack said trying to be as respectful as possible.

  “Jack, is it?” the man asked.

  Jack nodded.

  “I am not going to tell you to stay away from her; I know my daughter well enough to know she wouldn’t allow it. However, If I so much as see you lay a finger on her again, you won’t be flying back home with your family. Are we understood?”

  Jack swallowed, leaning away from the man who held a finger less than an inch away from his face.

  “Yes, sir.” Jack struggled to get the words out.

  Eric dropped the finger and took a step back.

  “You should probably go find your family.” He suggested.

  Jack limped off as fast as he could and didn’t look back. When he got to the elevators and pressed the button, they dinged open almost immediately. He stepped inside, pressed their button for their floor, and repeatedly pressed the button to close the elevator doors. As they clicked shut, he leaned back against the wall and let out the breath that he had been holding in his lungs.

  When he walked into the room, his parents didn’t say anything at first. Instead, they just seemed to be having some sort of internal conversation between each other in silence. His dad came and took him into the bathroom.

  “We need to talk,” his voice was stern and scared Jack.

  “Look I’m sorry that it—”

  “It’s probably not what you think,” his father said reassuringly.

  “What do you mean?” Jake asked confused, “Why does it need to be said by the toilet? Dad, don’t tell me you’ve resulted to swirlies as a parenting technique. I am sorry!” Jake pleaded.

  “Someone is recording us; there is a voice recorder behind your mom’s and my bed. We found it earlier. We just want you to know that it might not just be us that hears what you say. We don’t think it’s something to be scared of, it is probably just insurance in case someone wrecks the room, but we wanted you to know,” He said, waiting for his son to respond.

  “Does Thea know yet? She’s out with the doctor that helped me,” Jack asked.

  “She doesn’t know; we are going to tell her when she gets back,” John answered.

  “Dad, I heard something on the way here.”

  He looked questionably at his son.

  “The maids from yesterday, from when I knocked the cart over on accident? They were getting talked to, and the man yelling said something about the rooms. That the person they were cleaning up after was upstairs and alive,” Jack said shaking his head trying to form a sentence that would make it understandable to his parents.

  “What about it?” John tilted his head, not sure where his son was going.

  “The manager guy said it was a suicide, and I think he said it was a guy. Why would he lie about that? They also said something about the gas not working, and the room of 4 was safe.” Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, deep in thought.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. I’ll look into it, though. Thank you for telling me,” his father said opening the door to let Jack go free.

  “It is getting pretty late. Hopefully, Thea comes back soon,” John said to his wife.

  The three of them tried to relax the best they could. It was hard to do when many things were left unanswered. John and Eleanor started playing scrabble on their phones together, Jack tired from walking, propped himself up in bed to surf his social media.

  Finally, around 11 pm, Thea walked through the door. She had her heels in one hand and her purse in the other.

  “Where have you been?” Eleanor asked in interrogation mode.

  “I went on a dinner date; then, we walked the trail down to the beach.” Thea replied innocently, hoping she wouldn’t get yelled at for leaving Jack alone.

  “Normally, I would want to know all of the details, but your father has something important to tell you.”

  John pulled Thea into the bathroom and told her the same thing he told Jack. Thea covered her mouth to hide her surprise.

  “Are you sure?”, she asked.

  “Very, I’m not sure of the intentions, but I plan to find out.”

  When Thea and her father exited the bathroom, she followed the strict instructions to not talk about what had been discussed. She chose to instead fill her mother in on the details of her date.

  Eleanor was ecstatic to see her daughter so happy. They talked about the day and the crazy events that unfolded. Thea rubbed her eyes tiredly.

  “You will never guess what happened while you were getting sandwiches. I was going to tell you earlier about it, but then everything happened with your brother,” Her mom sat up ready to dish on the news that she withheld.

  Thea looked at her mother, patiently waiting, just as eager to hear it.

  “This lady that was sitting by us on the beach came and introduced herself to me after you left. She asked me where we were from and told me about a local superstition on people going missing each spring here. They are always foreign and have no local ties. She warned me to be careful. It creeped me out for sure.” Her mother instantly regretted saying anything as she saw the terror rise on her daughters face.

  Thea contemplated telling her about everything she knew but chose not to, based on how she reacted to the last set of news.

  “Wow, that’s crazy! You have to admit this place gets weirder and weirder each day that we’re here.” Thea said with a yawn.

  “Well, I think it’s time to call it a night,” her mother said, getting tired herself.

  Thea looked at her brother, who was sound asleep. Opting to make a bed on the ground before trying to move him over.

  11

  The Convention Suite

  Alex sat on the couch in his penthouse suite, scrolling through the paperwork he desperately needed to finish, but continually procrastinated on. The room was pale grey, accented with dark wooden furniture and chrome features. His brown leather sofa creaked every time he sat forward to grab more papers off the coffee table in front of him. He looked up from his work when he heard the door open. Alex took off the glasses that rested halfway down his nose and set the papers down on the table. He saw his uncle walk inside and stood up to greet him.

  “Alex, hey, I just wanted to stop before going back downstairs.”

  “Hey, uncle Eric, it is always good to see you. I figured you would still be mad at me.”

  “No, not mad. I wouldn’t necessarily use that word. More worried, I would say. If you have a minute, I would like to show you something.” Eric said, hoping his nephew would join him so he could pass on information.

  “Sure, what is it?” Alex asked.

  “Just come with me.” His uncle gestured to the door.

  The two of them walked out of the room and waited on the elevator.

  “I want you to see the progress we have made in the convention room. The event is set for this Saturday, and I can’t even remember the last time you were there. I want to make sure you approve and think it is ready. If not, we have time to make changes,” his uncle explained.

  Alex nodded in agreement. The last time he was in the convention suite was during the event last year. It wasn’t a place he liked to go to unless he absolutely had to. Alex didn’t want to remember the events that happened there each year or the feeling he felt when they did.

  Last year, like every year, his father and uncle provided six people for the convention. Alex always knew what happened but that was the first year he had to watch, normally his father would force him to participate in the dinner and watch the bidding but would allow him to excuse him self from the rest of it. It made him feel powerful, in control, and guilty at the same time. It made his stomach turn at what his father and their friends would do to innocent people; it was disgusting; he couldn’t seem to look away. He was just as guilty as they were, although it wasn’t his hands that inflicted the pain, he did nothing to stop it either.

  He had chosen to walk away from it after last year; he wanted nothing to do with the grueling madnes
s that radiated from these men. When his father passed away and left the hotel to him, agreed to run it from a distance, only because it was all he had of his family. He didn’t look forward to being a part of the convention again but felt like a civic duty to do so. After all, if he shut down the convention, then the pact between the members would be broken.

  The pact was what made it possible for him to sleep at night. It stated that as long as you pay your dues and harm no one outside of the convention suite walls, then the tradition would continue. The Black Arbor Convention would be held, and that gave these people the normal lives they desperately wanted. It came with a price, but it kept their carnal urges to do terrible things at bay. It kept hundreds safe with the sacrifice of a few.

  Stepping out of the hallway on the convention floor with his uncle beside him, Alex could remember last year like it was yesterday. His uncle opened the door with his key card. As Alex walked into the convention room, the nostalgic memories flooded his brain. He heard the cages rattling; he saw the faces of the people who used to be in them flash through his mind. How could he forget? Their lives were forever erased from this world.

  As he walked inside, the room opened up, it was lined with marble flooring and lit mostly by skylights. There was a large table in the middle of the room with ten chairs surrounding it. On his left, there were two separate doors. One, if opened, would welcome you into the tool room. It contained any item you could think of or need to let your twisted imagination take life. The other was used for storage. The door on the far side of the room in front of him contained cages. The cages lined the walls around the room. It could hold up to 12 people but they usually only held six to seven depending on the projected turn out.

  To his left, there were two doors. One led to the convention hall, that was where they would release the prisoners, sometimes one at a time, or they would do two for more excitement. The men at the convention were then free to do as they will. The one closest to him led into a private room that he had never been in. It was newly added from last year and must have been one of the upgrades that his uncle mentioned.

  Alex followed his uncle into the room on the far side that contained the cages. They entered, you could hear the people, no he corrected himself, the subjects. They yelled obscene things, reached their arms through the bars, and grabbed at him. They were out of reach by feet but still attempted.

  “We have five currently, one succumbed to her wounds this morning.”

  “This was the one in 806?” Alex inquired.

  “Yes, she somehow didn’t get knocked out by the gas when we set it off. Eddie knocked her out by hitting her in the head. We think she may have had too much swelling or internal bleeding due to the incident. We will try to get one more before Saturday, but if not, we at least have five healthy candidates,” he uncle talked about them like they were objects instead of people.

  “Where did you take the body?” Alex asked looking around for any trace that might remain.

  “We threw her into the incinerator,” Eric answered calmly.

  “We have an incinerator?”

  “Yes. Come with me.”

  He followed his uncle out of the room and into the open area. He walked over to the bookcase on the wall by the door they came in. He pushed in on the wooden frame, and it swung open. There were concrete stairs that seemed to go down forever.

  “Come on, and I’ll show you. There is a trash shoot down here; it allows us to dispose of things from this room without risking exposure by taking anything or anyone outside of these walls. Your father thought of the idea; it was one of the things that helped us stay undetected. It also allowed our escape if needed say that we were compromised, the members could hide down here.”

  They traveled down the stairs to the bottom floor; they must have at least descended 10 stories. When they stepped into a large concrete room, his uncle explained their surroundings.

  “Here, this is the chute I was telling you about it goes down to the dumpster. There is the opening to the incinerator. It isn’t turned on at the moment. Anything that could be seen as not normal trash goes into the incinerator, the maids throw regular trash down the chute.”

  His uncle said while turning the latch to open the door and show him the contents.

  “There through that door has food and water supplies for about a week. In the event that,we need to hide out.”

  Alex looked at the door in the room, walked over, and opened it. The majority of the contents were canned food items and bottles of water. There were also bedding materials and other necessities inside. He went to close the door when his uncle stopped him.

  “Wait, there’s more.”

  Alex stepped aside to let him through. He pulled out one of the shelves and showed him the door behind it.

  “If you go through there, it will take you through the tunnels. Not the ideal way to go, but if your life depended on it, then it would be plausible. It brings you up by the beach about a mile out.

  “Wow, I guess my dad really did think of everything, huh?”

  “Pretty much. From how we select people to how to escape, he managed to make a place that you can completely get away with anything.”

  “Selecting people, you mean about the timeshares and not allowing those with families to be captured, right?”

  Alex asked while they started there ascend back to the room.

  “Yes, and then some. There is a reason why its in Aruba and not the United States. Aruba does not have nearly as sophisticated technology that the federal justice system in the states uses. Also, if people disappear here, they are likely looked over due to jurisdiction.”

  His uncle stopped to catch his breath.

  “That’s why we target vacationers from other countries like the United States, Europe, and so forth. If they’re not in their home country, most people assume they just stayed. Now and again, we will have someone ask questions, but we are not required to have a camera for surveillance here, and if it is someone that we are going to be targeting, then we don’t put them in our computer system. We do paper and don’t charge their accounts for anything. That way, after they are gone, anything that can be traced back to us can be destroyed.”

  A few minutes later, they reached the top of the stairs. They walked back into the main room, and Alex started to head towards the main door to leave.

  “Wait, I need you to see one more thing.”

  Alex let out a deep breath.

  “It looks great, uncle, but I need to be getting back to my work. I trust that you’ll take care of everything.”

  “Alex, I have protected you from this long enough, you need to see.”

  Alex walked to him; his uncle stood by the new room addition door.

  “Before you go in here, I need you to understand that this was your father’s idea.”

  “OK, this was all my father’s idea. Just open the door.”

  The door creaked open; the room was empty besides the cage that was entirely enclosed beside the bars of the cage door. It spanned the entire back of the room.

  “What is this?” Alex asked.

  “It would be better for me to show you.”

  The room reeked of an odor that he couldn’t quite place. Alex had to cover his nose. He took in the room while his uncle fiddled with the keys to open the cage. He heard the door unlock.

  “You’re going to want to back up a few steps.”

  Alex did as he was told.

  His uncle grabbed a cattle prod that hung from the wall by the cage. He unlatched the door and opened it. The metal squealed and sent a sharp pain through Alex’s teeth. The opening of the gate was pitch black. His uncle walked over to join him.

  “Just wait, sometimes it takes her a minute.”

  “Her?”

  “You will see, it is better that way.” His uncle assured him.

  He saw a woman’s hand reach out of the blackness of the shadowed cage. It felt for the cage bars that were no longer there. Alex heard the chains
rattle as whoever was inside moved. He shouldn’t be scared, but his heart thumped in his chest.

  As the hand moved forward into the light, he saw the heavy metal shackles that surrounded the woman’s malnourished wrist that it wrapped around. He started to see a figure take shape out of the cage. He saw bright red curls of the woman’s hair, matted and tangled. The woman’s pale skin shined through the dirt and grime that plated it. Alex couldn’t see her face as the woman crawled on all fours out of the cage. She stumbled weakly out into the room. Her clothes torn and mangled, ridden with sweat stains and other bodily fluids.

  The woman looked up, and she blinked fast, trying to get her eyes to adjust to the light in the room. Her face was pale and skintight against the bones of her body. His cheekbones looked like they would poke through her skin at any moment. Her eyes were bright blue, and dark circles and bags lined them.

  “You.”

  Her voice cracked and dry. She swallowed hard.

  Alex recognized her instantly.

  The woman flung herself to her feet and charged at him. The chains stopped her inches from his face.

  “You did this!” The woman screamed.

  He saliva pooled from her mouth; he saw now the scars that now resided on her skin. A large pink scar ran from her right temple down her eyebrow, across the corner of her eye, and cut back toward her ear. It looked almost surgical.

  She screamed at him. Alex turned his face away and resisted the urge to cover his ears.

  His uncle pointed the prod at her, she saw and backed up a few feet. The woman started laughing hysterically. She hunched over, and Alex could make out every vertebra through what was left of the back of her shirt.

  “Elizabeth?” Alex asked, his voice quivered

  She whipped her head around to face him. A sinister smile formed across her face. If he weren’t aware of the chains that restricted her, he would’ve wanted to run for his life. She practically foamed out the mouth, her pupils large like a cat ready to pounce on its prey. He could barely see the colored iris that surrounded them now.