S.O.S Chapter Four

Chapter four

The Fake sound of Progress

A broken man sat in an office 20 floors from the ground. It had been raining for the past few weeks. Funny, he thought, even the weather was mourning her. The doors were locked, although it wasn't necessary. Even though the sign stated clearly the meetings started at ten (punctually, the sign said, anyone caught late must buy the first rounds of coffees for the group. And that was one large group of people) the man had been there since seven in the morning. Why? Because he didn't want to face the house. Didn't want to face his family. The man was Charlotte Delice's father, and a few days ago he had been informed via post that his daughter had been kidnapped.

At home, the mother had thought it weird that her daughter had not been in touch for a while, but dismissed it as the text message she sent not long before she departed to Japan. That, and being busy with Louis and his regular food throwing and table dribbling habits. Now, she beat herself up every day, thinking how stupid she was not ringing up the school earlier. When the had finally rang, they said that she had said that chances are she wouldn’t be able to make it on the trip due to lack of funds, so her absence did not cause any suspicion. And since Lottie had finished part of the course she was studying enough to be able to take a month off for the trip to Japan, the university itself wasn’t that suspicious of her absence either.

Mr Delice looked out of the window, sighing. The feeling of wanting to cry was hidden by the anger and self loathing inside him. It was HIS fault she was kidnapped. If he hadn’t given Lottie the extra money, she would have stayed at home. Sure she’d be upset, but she would recover. Now… he could have lost her forever….

The minute hand hit quarter to ten, and the door opened. Mr Delice didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

"Hello Frank."
“Good morning Rob.”

Frank came in every day fifteen minutes early, so the two men could talk about financial business. Truth be told, half the time the conversation diversed into other, less important topics like their families, important dates coming up and football results. This morning, however, it seemed unlikely that they would be chatting on friendly terms.

“I… um, heard about your daughter, Charlotte…”

Mr Delice grunted in reply, shutting off all emotions ready for the meeting in fourteen minutes. He heard Frank join him, a chair scraping along the floor. “I’m so sorry Rob, if there’s anything we can do to help…”

Mr Delice laughed, a short, bitter laugh filled with bitterness and regret. “Unless you can come up with £10,000 within the next few days, I daresay there’s nothing you can do.” Noticing the shocked look on his comrade and employees face, he told the story.

After Lottie had been kidnapped by a mysterious taxi driver for a few weeks, he had been secretly filming her whilst comatose. Nothing perverted, just video footage of her unconscious, breathing in and out. He had then sent that, along with a lock of her hair to the Delice family, reqsting the amount above ‘otherwise you’ll regret the day you sent poor Lottie on that university trip’.

Shocked, Frank let out a breath he had been holding throughout the entire story. “God, Frank, I…”

For a second, they sat in silence, Frank not knowing what to say, and Mr Delice stuck in his own thoughts.

“Have you been here all morning?”

Mr Delice sighed, tears forming in his eyes, and nodded. “I – I can’t go home, man. The house.. It’s just too empty without her there, you know?” Frank nodded, and he continued. “I just wish there was something more we could do. I mean we phoned the police, and they said they’d check the CCTV area of where Lottie had been dropped off to see if there were any clues, but,” Tears fell. “It’s just the waiting game.”

Mr Delice broke down momentarily. Frank awkwardly patted his arm, but his words were genuine. “They’ll get the bastard that did this Rob, they’ll get him and treat him the same..”

“Why Lottie? Why my little girl? It’s not fair!! She’s a good person!! Why does she have to sufer??”

“I know Rob… I Know…”

***

Although Lottie was regularly fed now, it wasn’t always the luxury
she had in the last chapter. Most days she now lived on stale cobs
that Damien had bought from popular branded shops such as Tesda and
Sainsons. Although she did miss the regular drunk sessions with the
girls from universities, and the constant take-aways before them, it
was either eat them or starve. So she did eat them, even the ones
covered in mould. And in case you were wondering, yes mould tastes
absolutely vile.

       Three weeks Lottie had been in containment, and a long three weeks
they had been.  Although Lottie had initially been scared in the
situation she was in, terribly frightened of the fact she would never
see her family again, over time that feeling had began to… fade. It’s
not that our damsel wasn’t scared, and didn’t miss her family. Quite
the opposite was true! It was more the fact that, having spent several
weeks in the same containment, with the same person, and that person
having not physically hurt her in any way, well apart from a few days
ago when he had cut a sample of her hair off her and took the denim
cropped jacket that she loved so much. Because of this, the
circumstances had made Lottie think that Damien was all talk, and his
threats and insults, although shaking her up, were just that.

       At least that was what she thought.

       Lottie awoke to silence, the creaking of the house setting and the
boiler bubbling above. Smiling, she sat up. She loved the days where
he was out; doing whatever he could to earn his pitiful money for God
knows what. Slowly, and painfully, she knelt up.

       Crack! Ouch, she thought… Has it been that long since I had moved around?

       Although her hands were tied around her back, and her eye covered
with the now filthy blindfold which made her eyes itch, she had an
idea.  Ages ago, she studied bats as part of a project for university.
It was one of the most interesting projects she had ever done, one
that she took pride in spending hours on Google quoting information
off specific websites. Lottie had even sacrificed a weekend booze-up
for the project!! What she was thinking of at the moment was how bats
had radars that echoed across the rooms and rebounded from any walls
or objects that were in their way. As they get closer to an object or
wall, the sooner the radar would bounce back until it would be almost
instant. Like playing squash against a wall. The further away you
whack the ball, the longer it takes to reach you. If you stand right
next to a wall and whack it, its almost instantly returned. It
wouldn’t work in exactly the same way, because she doesn’t have
special bat ears, but at least Lottie would be able to tell where a
blank wall was by the echo that she could hear by whistling.

       Chuckling inwardly to herself, and feeling slightly ludicrous, she
started whistle Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’. After a bit of time, and
an increase in volume, she was able to hear her echo. To the right of
her, the echo was as clear as day – although Lottie couldn’t see, she
knew that there was nothing between her and the wall except the air –
a direct walk. Ahead of her, where the mirror lay, the echo was almost
undistinguishable. Because, Lottie thought, the mirror was getting in
the way of the echo. To the right, the echo was heard slightly. A few
objects were in the way, but nothing too massive, like the mirror.

       ‘Right… I’m having a stroll!’

       As Lottie walked, her mind wandered. It had been three weeks since
she had meant to be traveling to Japan. That many weeks since she had
last got in touch with her parents, surely they would have wondered
why she had never got in touch with them! If there was one thing she
prided herself on, it was always keeping in touch with her dear mom
and dad. She’d even always text Chloe whenever she was going out for a
night in town, whenever heading for Coventry, which is where she lived
now, she started thinking logically. So surely her parents would be
worried, somehow find out she was missing and find me?? I mean sure
Damien was little more than a pathetic wannabe bad boy, but nothing
completely awful had happened yet, as far as she knew , And as soon as
her parents, or the police rescued her, then she’d be free forever,
she’d never hear that crisp gloating voice that chills her soul ever
again.

       Her trail of thought was interrupted by a crackle underneath her
feet. Lottie froze. Cautiously, she inched her foot out until she
heard the crackle again. It was paper… or plastic. For a second, she
was excited, thinking that there were some chips left. So she turned
round, slowly bend her knees backwards so that her tied-up hands could
reach and feel the object. Oh god it felt like one of those stale
crusty cobs of bread again. Gently, she squeezed it, feeling the bread
crumble slightly in her hands, rubbing the bits of mould away from the
loaf.

       It indeed was a crusty cob. Well, she was hungry, and it is better
than nothing.

       Twisting her body around, Lottie buried her face into the food and
started eating. She’d just gotten comfortable when she froze, thinking
that there was a presence in a room. A floorboard squeaked, a breath
was heard. But she dismissed it as the wind and the house once again
settling. Lottie had just finished her cob when she felt someone press
against her raised bottom hard and breath softly into her ear.

       “Hey, Precious.”

       Instinct took over. Lottie screamed and rolled out of the way, away
from his voice. He laughed and continued ‘You know, that position
really brings out your sexy side.”

       Cold shivers filled her back. They may be idle threats, she thought,
but they still creeped her out.

       “What are you doing?” Lottie asked as Damien grabbed her and forced
the gag back around her mouths. Tightening it a bit more than
necessary, Lottie felt a tight discomfort in her mouth and struggled
to get the horrid taste of weeks old grime from her taste buds.

       “Well, tonight I’ve got a ‘guest’ coming over for dinner. Hopefully,
there will be a few activities to amuse ourselves as well.” The smile
in his voice was obvious, as were his intentions for this poor lady by
the way he put emphasis on ‘guest’ Her suspicions were confirmed when
he spoke again. “Now, don’t worry my lovely Charlotte, even my lovely
lady friend will not come between the special relationship we have.”
Chuckling, he kissed Lottie’s cheek.

“Could you spare me a pair of earplugs? I don’t want to hear what you guys are up to!” Lottie struggled to articulate the words through the disgusting gag between her lips.
Damien must have understood because his reply was in an amused tone. “Where would be the fun in that? Now, stay quiet down here. Or you’ll regret it.”

Swallowing, Lottie tried to block out the fear now invading her body. Just idle threats, she kept thinking, just silly mediocre idle threats…

A click. She was alone.

Quick witted, Lottie formed a plan in seconds. Damien would be occupied for God knows how long, so Lottie would have to think on her feet. The ropes that bound her hands were tight and sturdy, but even the thickest rope in the world could break. It just needed good technique.

When she was five, her next door neighbour at the time was in the scouts. He was a few years older than her and took pride in showing off the skills he learned in the wild. ON days where she wasn’t very kind, he would tie her up using special scout knots, and tell her how to get out, then leave her there. And if she could get out of scout knots when she was five, she could definitely get out of this situation at her age now.

Getting the rope between her hands, she rubbed the rope directly around her wrists, causing the friction to break her skin. The aim of this was to get as much moisture around her wrists as possible, whether it be blood or sweat, so that her hands would be easier to squeeze out of. All of her concentration was on this task. Her eyes closed, she wasn’t aware of how fast time was flying. Astoundingly, she had been at it for half an hour before her wrist began throbbing unbearably.

“Aaaah…” She moaned through the gag in pain, feeling each blister around her wrists and wishing that she could chop her hands off. But the point of the exercise was succeeding, her hands were damp and slightly sticky from the blood. So she pulled with all her might, trying to get the ropes around her wrists. She put in so much effort until she was physically distracted by exhaustion and the pain in her wrists.

Nothing.

“AAARGH” She moaned in frustration. Resting for a second, she pondered on whether it was worth continuing when she heard giggling.

“More wine, my precious flower?”

Lottie gagged. How was it possible that such a cruel despicable man be so kind towards someone else? It was so two faced, and Lottie hated that more than a lot of things. Using that fury, she continued pulling her wrists against the ropes, gritting her teeth through the pain. She used her nails to knead and pull and break the rope as much as humanely possible, then pulled.

Still, nothing.

Frustration caused her to weep out. She thrashed, pulled, shook her arms, wept and momentarily had what’s known as a ‘bitch fit’ trying to escape, and although normally it wouldn’t have been very helpful, in this exceptional circumstance, it did. When she finished, she noticed she had stretched out the rope. It might have been only a tiny amount, but it was enough to know she was making progress.

Her thoughts were shattered by the voices yet again. Only this time they weren’t as cheerful.

“I don’t know if I want to do this…” a feminine voice wobbled, along with creaks to show movement.

“It’s ok, don’t worry about it… I’ll go easy…”

“It’s not that…. It’s… well… I’m still a virgin.”

Her voice was filled with pure terror at telling this to Damien, but his response was quick. “All’s the better…”

A scuffle was heard. Something smashed.

“Ah well…” Damien’s cool voice sighed through the floorboards. “I’ll clean that up later.”

“No… Damien, I think we should stop.”

The noise ceased for a bit. Damien’s reply showed he was now on Red Alert. “Why? Did you just hear something?”

Although the panic was evident in his voice, his female companion didn’t seem to notice, still set in trying to stop the male counterpart. “No, I just really want to stop!!”

“Anyone would think you didn’t want this as much as I did…”

“I DON’T want this. Get off me!!” Out of fear and anger, her voice has risen not only in octaves, but also in volume, hoping that someone would hear her. “Let go!!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy this in a minute.” He used the same lazy flirtatious threatening voice on her for the past few weeks. The voice that made her think his threats were just that. Although Lottie didn’t realize it tears were pouring out of her eyes for the poor woman above her.

Regular creaks were above her now, more rhythmic and louder, which gave Lottie an idea of what Damien was now doing. The screams and cries confirmed it, her voice as wet as the tears across Lottie's face. “Get off me!! Why are you doing this? Let me go!!”

Damien’s voice was now hoarse and strained. “Shut up!! I’ll be done with you in a minute
Lottie could almost hear him panting over her screams of terror. She couldn’t just let him do that to another girl, she couldn’t!! Lottie hated him with every fibre of her being, and with that hate and anger and terror which fuelled her finally ripped the rope in two.
Her hands were free!! Unfortunately, she lost her balance and stumbled into the mirror, which crashed.

Seven years bad luck for Lottie. Especially since the noises above stopped.
Although Lottie didn’t know it, the girl herself had fled at Damien’s distraction. Although she guessed it when she heard him call after her .Then she heard him call to her.

That Fucking BITCH!!

In the distance, a phone rang. But Lottie didn’t focus on that. Instead she focused on the pounding steps coming towards her. Backing into the corner, scared, Lottie couldn’t think of what to do as Damien approached her…