Jane opened her eyes to darkness, pitch black darkness and the first thought that crossed her mind was her child.
“Mmph! MMMPH!!!!!”
Both her hands and ankles were bound to the back of some wooden chair with what felt like cable ties and she was gagged with a piece of damp smelly cloth in dire need of a good wash. It was pointless to struggle, but she did so anyway, cutting her own skin in the process.
Where was Timmy? Was he alright? The thought of her child consumed her every thought as she continued in her relentless struggle to free herself. As she did, her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, allowing her to see the outline of the room and the furniture around her. A long desk filled with trays, plastic bottles and silhouettes of strange-looking machinery took form as her irises familiarized themselves with the darkness.
The darkroom! I’m in his apartment!
Jane rocked the chair left to right in an attempt to topple
Daniel blinked as he stared at the phone and took a few deep breaths. If that Philip Summers or Logan or whatever his bloody name was dared to harm even one strand of Jane’s hair, he would personally wring the guy’s neck himself. But what consumed Daniel was not anger, rather it was a gutwrenching fear. It latched upon him the moment he heard Jane’s muffled screams through the phone. God, please let her and Timmy be okay. The taxi driver peered at Daniel through the rearview mirror and cleared his throat. “Sir…are we still heading towards Mangrove Apartment? Shouldn’t we get you to the hospital instead? Your hand’s kinda mangled.” Daniel looked at his bloodied fist. Blood dripped onto the upholstery and his mind started to play tricks on him. It was his fault, if only he hadn’t pushed her away, if only he had kept her safe! What if the bastard bled her like how his hand bled? Stop thinking nonsense! He groaned and sh
MOMENTS BEFORE THE ROAR OF THE THUNDER…The gods must have heard Jane’s cry for mercy that day, for right before Logan could pop the button of her jacket, his very own phone began to ring to what else? Bobby McFerrin's ‘Don’t worry, be Happy’ tune of course.“Hey, Milo! Yeah man, I was just about to call you. I’ve got the money.” He rubbed at his nose again and scratched the base of his throat as if it irritated him. “So you’d better give me my nose candy soon. I’m running low on my stock.”Jane’s eyes widened.He’s on crack cocaine! No wonder he smelt so strange! The man’s a junkie!“Yeah…I got me a big fish,” Logan continued and chuckled. He got up from his crouching position, seemingly having lost his interest in the pursuit of physical pleasures and walked out of the room, leaving Jane lying on the stone-cold floo
Daniel slipped Jane’s phone into his pocket. It was then he noticed an odd odour that smelt like a cross between burnt plastic and flowers at the same time. The smell was extremely nauseating and giddy.Quickly he made his way out the apartment and into the corridor and was trying to locate Jane while warding off a strange scent when suddenly, the blast of a gun shot louder than the rolling thunder rang through the darkened halls.The sound was deafening, and instinctively, Daniel brought both hands to his ears. His eyes widened in both surprise and fear. What the heck was that? And the first persons that came to his mind were both Jane and little Timmy.“Jane! Timmy!’ he shouted, whirling around trying to identify the source from which the blast had come from. Behind him, the door next to Jane's unit opened and an old lady with frizzy permed hair and extremely thick glasses popped her head out.“What the fuck is that? Is it Word W
Daniel Winter’s heart was a vortex of confusion and complex emotions. There was fear, sorrow, grief and anger all coming together at once and in many respects, it was like a roller coaster ride through a darkened tunnel. The mourning and grieving were great, and the fear of living a life without Jane was very pronounced. Then there was pain…so much pain that it felt as if his heart had been pierced with a poisoned sword a hundred times over. Through his tears, Daniel gently lowered Jane onto the ground and shifted his gaze at the man, to the enemy who had preyed on Jane and took everything that he loved from him. “You….YOU!” Daniel roared and leapt into the air, lashing out at Logan with a hammerlike claw. He landed a blow, smashing the side of Logan’s head and brought a string of stars to the man’s vision. Logan tumbled backwards and hit the apartment’s wall with such an incredible force he collapsed to the floor. “YOU BASTARD!” Daniel climbed on top of Loga
The swing doors of the James Norton Hospital’s emergency ward burst open to a world of chaos. Jane McKay clutched her ballooning belly as she was hurried into the ER on a stretcher, whimpering in agony as tears flowed freely down her pain-stricken face. Flashing red and blue lights accompanied by an alarming siren rang overhead. There were doctors, nurses and medical staff tending to patients of all forms.“Please, doctor…help me,” she moaned as another spasm of nauseating cramp claimed her, sending a tremor throughout her body. It felt like her body was splitting into two!“Ahhhh!” Jane cried; she could not take it anymore.At that moment, a short plump hand clamped onto her shoulder with the ferocity of the grim reaper itself.“Shut up will you?” Mrs McKay, Jane’s stepmother hissed at a weakened Jane, ignoring the fact that her stepdaughter’s knee-length skirt was thoroughly soaked with blood.
It was nearly midnight when Jane was finally discharged. As the glass door of the hospital entrance slid to a close behind her, thunder groaned and lightning skirted across the sky, signalling the coming of heavy rainfall.Jane’s baby began to cry at the onslaught of the alien sound.“Shhh, it’s okay, mummy’s here,” Jane whispered, tucking the only cloth that the hospital wrapped her baby with to cover his tiny ears. Gently, she rocked him to sleep as tears raced down her cheeks. Where was she to go? What was she to do?In the chaos, she had brought only her identification card to the hospital earlier. All her belongings were still back home, she had nothing to her name now.She wiped away her tears on the sleeves of her blouse and started to walk, albeit aimlessly away from the hospital’s main building and venturing out into the almost deserted parking lot. The nurse had been kind enough to spare her a new skirt and un
“What are you doing?!” Jane yelled, trying to pull the frightened baby back into her arms when her stepmother backhanded her across the cheek. Such was the brute force her stepmother wielded that Jane stumbled a few steps back. But the sting on her cheek was nothing compared to the confusion and fear that consumed her.Before Jane could even run back towards her baby, the door slammed in her face with a bang.“Open the door! For goodness sake, open the door! Give me back my baby!” she screamed, pounding furiously at the timber door. It didn’t matter if she woke up the entire neighbourhood, all she wanted was to have her newborn back.“We fed and clothed you for two decades. And all you did was to bring shame upon this family!” her stepmother shouted back from behind the door.“OPEN THE DOOR!” Jane yelled, slamming both fists at the door, splintering her porcelain skin in the process. There was no other
By noon, the fiery ball in the sky was sending a heatwave to all who dwelled below. Jane had to shield her eyes from the scorching sun as she tried in vain to find a job.As a child, she suffered from Meniere's Disease and was often in and out of the hospital for treatments. Because of this, she was set back by two years in school and only managed to enter university when most of her peers were already graduating. At first, things went well for Jane; perhaps a wee bit too smoothly. Her ethereal looks of lustrous chestnut locks and ocean blue eyes caught the attention of many, as well as the campus’ most popular fraternity. But alas, on her first night at the fraternity’s party, she was drugged only to wake up the next day in bed with a bunch of strangers, none of whom dared to confess what had transpired during the night. And just like that, her dream as an interior designer burnt to the ground, never to be seen again.She had wanted to abort the fetu