Them (flash fiction)

A girl walked down the empty streets of an unfamiliar neighbourhood. She was on edge and jumped at every noise she heard.  It was a strange place; nothing felt right. As she walked,  she gradually sped up, due to her feeling that someone was tailing her. 

 She had stayed at a friend’s house and now needed to walk back home. As she was going back, however, she had taken a wrong turn. She kept wandering but her problem only got worse. At this point, she decided to knock on someone’s door, ask to use the phone to call her mom and get back home safely.

She looked around for candidates until she came across a house that had the lights on. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

The front door finally opened to reveal a man with a tattered dress shirt and messy hair. His expression was flat and heavy bags tainted his hollow face. ” Hello, are you ok?” He asked. She almost didn’t hear him because of how fast he was talking.

“I took a wrong turn walking home and now I’m lost. Is it ok for me to borrow your phone to call my mom?“Replied the girl, trying to hold back the shakiness in her voice. His face was bony looking and the veins under his eyes stood out abnormally.

“Sure, just give me a moment to try and find it,” said the man and walked away. He left for about 5 minutes then returned with nothing. “I’m afraid I couldn’t find it; don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll come up soon. Come on in and wait for a while,” He stood to the side and beckoned her inside while wearing a toothy grin.

Cautiously, the girl complied. The house was inviting, warm and well-lit, and once she was in, she felt calm. She was grateful that she felt like she wasn’t being followed anymore.

“Follow me,” The lanky man said suddenly. She followed him down a hallway that led to a small kitchen with a long table and two chairs.

He turned to her and said, “Sit down and relax, I’ll be back in a second,” and left once again, leaving her alone in the bare room.

She sat in her chair for a couple of minutes, bored, then decided to look around the room.  After a while, she began to feel like a hundred eyes were staring at her. She peeped under the table and looked in a cupboard, and finally went to look out the window. It was a large neighbourhood and the pathways were well lit, and yet, not even a phantom walked the lonely roads. She sighed. She was giving herself delusions.

She walked back to the entrance of the kitchen and leaned against the door-frame- and then she heard the front door lock. Although she was surprised, she didn’t think too much of it. Suddenly, she heard someone from behind running up to her and as she was about to turn, she was smashed in the face with something and blacked out.

She woke up in an empty cellar, her hands bound by ropes and bitterly cold. She looked around her and saw a door with no handle and an open, small window. As she looked, she saw ragged clothes and many old teeth. She screamed at the sight, for she figured that it must have been from other unfortunate children who had found themselves in the same situation.

She dragged herself across the floor to the window and began screaming for help. She screamed, yelled, and screeched but no one answered. 

She tried to think of how she could escape. However, no matter how hard she tried, nothing came to her, and she lay on the floor in misery until all her sulkiness gave her an idea.

She sat next to the door and began to cry out for the man. She yelled out “Help! Help!” while adding in some fake sobs in the middle. She repeated it for hours until the door finally swung open. The man walked slowly to her, and let his hands out of his pockets.

The man looked down on her. “Is something wrong?” He asked innocently. She was so stunned she forgot what she was going to say for a split second, then began crying again and burst out ” I-I think I hurt my l-leg... It’s s-sore! Help me please...”.

The man left the door behind him wide open crouched down next to her. He looked as if he was about to help her, but instead, he suddenly became angry. “As if I’d help you! You’re with “them”, aren’t you? Admit it!” He screamed. The girl sobbed and crawled away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m not with anyone!” She cried. “You can’t fool me! I know your dirty tricks! The “people” told me!” He yelled.

He backed away and tugged at his hair. He shouted in frustration then stomped over to the girl and grabbed the collar of her shirt. “Until you tell me why you work with “them” and why you’re targeting me, you won’t leave.” He growled.

The girl saw this as a chance and kicked him in the stomach. He yelled in pain and curled up in a ball on the floor. She ran out of the room and managed to lock the door, leaving the lanky man trapped. The man banged on the door incessantly, but she ignored it and ran off.

She got a knife from the kitchen and after much trial and error, freed her hands properly. She ran to the front door when she realised the banging in the cellar had stopped.

She panicked and tried the handle of the front door, but remembered that it was locked. She became breathless from anxiety and looked around for the keys. The stress began to take a toll on her and she struggled to breathe. She stumbled in a daze and, by an incredible stroke of luck, found the keys to the front door hidden under a coat. She unlocked the door with it and pushed down the handle to sweet, glorious freedom; but a pair of bony hands then wrapped around her mouth.

She froze.

She didn’t dare breathe.

The lanky man lowered his head down next to her ear and whispered: ” Didn’t I say that you weren’t going to leave?”

He tripped her feet then grabbed her by the ankles.

He dragged her back down to the cellar as the girl screamed so loud her voice became a rasp and dug her nails into the ground so hard scratch marks were left on the concrete floors.

She joined her old partners in the cellar that night; partners who were also caught working with “them”.