Echoes in the Silence

[Turn 360 and walk away]

-------------- LAKEVIEW LINK--------------


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A burlap sac was over her head; she was "smart enough to see that, so to speak". A nervous chuckle was barely made audible from her throat, but she stifled it quickly. What she couldn't see was where she was. Behind her was a boy that sounded hardly older than her own age -- A high school Junior at 17 -- and he was holding her at the shoulders, digging his nails into her skin, daring her to try something funny.
She didn't, and again, the boy spoke in his would-be-sexy-if-it-weren't-a-kidnapping voice, "Sit down. There's a chair under you."
She muttered a sigh of reluctance, and he pushed her, really hard, into the seat. Ironically, she laughed again at her wit, as she thought "things are brightening up" and someone brought the lights in... wherever she was... up.
He asked her, once more, with a one of aggravation in his silky voice, to shut up and do what he says. She, once more, agreed.
He went behind her -- breathed down her neck, even -- before binding her wrists together, and then her wrists to the chair with a couple swift "zip!" sounds. She struggled against the zip ties, but the only thing she accomplished was bucking the chair backwards a fraction of an inch. He, in turn, put his hands, his cold, loveless hands, on her bare shoulders and told her that if she continued o struggle, the night would go far more terribly than either of them wanted.
She clenched her eyes closed as the sac came over her head and she could see again, in the dim light, and she wished she was still blind. The man was in front of her, in what looked like a college graduation gown, and they were both in a decrepit house, or some building. In one corner, a dead rat was laying in rigor across a half-empty pizza box. He kneeled down, turning his inside knee in, protecting his crotch, and tucking his chin in to protect his neck, as he proceeded to bind her still-free ankles to the wooden chair. She realized, as every inch of her nearly-bare skin ("why did I dress for summer?" she asked herself) began crawling with goosebumps, that she was feeling real dread. Not the corny "scared" of going to the movies. Not even real fear, like when the SWAT team began opening fire on some guy, who opened fire back, right in her backyard inches from her bedroom window. It was true, unadulterated, dread.
"Please... it will all be over soon." he cooed.
"What's over? Why are you doing this to me? Who are you? PLEASE!" She continued to plea, tears cutting gouges into her makeup. "Where am I? Why? Why?"
"Soon, soon, you'll know." he insisted.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Aaron Brown sat reclined in his small booth, munching on some Carl's Jr. he just bought. True, it was his lunch hour, but he had to keep the trains running for the other guy, who was out sick. He glanced towards a clock radio on a low shelf with piercing ice-blue eyes, and kicked the "on" button of his little TV. The face of his clock read "3:09", he nearly missed the Weather. The only signal the crappy little T.V. ever got was the local news channel. The forecast was long since gone, and replaced by actual news. They had found a body -- a "Melissa Schaffield" as ID'd by fingerprints and dental records -- butchered in some foreclosed townhouse across the city. His ears perked up when he heard this. Lakeview was not ever as violent as the pictures showed, with blood scrawled across the walls, and limbs everywhere. Oddity, though: the police could not find the head, nor either breast. They had all been cut off with near surgical precision and taken away. Aaron chewed his Six Dollar burger slower as he contemplated this, but was shaken from his daydreaming with the metallic ringing of the phone. It was a telemarketer. Some indian guy who said he was from, and he pronounced it like "cun-ect-uh-cut". He scoffed at their idiocy, and hit a few buttons on the switchboard in front of him. The news had advanced past sports and into an interview with some author, though Aaron missed the name. he turnied it off and instead, clicked on the radio. It, too, could only get two stations -- some bible-pushing, gospel-preaching asshole, and KFES, the "real rock alternative" -- he never went to the former. His toe tapped to the sound of the music for a little while, before he leaned back forward and picked up the phone, dialing his home number. She was probably home to pick up food. It is her lunch hour, too. After reaching her, he asked if she heard the news between bites of burger.

[B]

"Alchemillia Hospital, what's your emergency?" Her soft voice entered the phone. The person on the other line was borderline to frantic. "Ma'am, please calm down, I need to know what's wrong with your son." Her voice was soothing, the person on the other line kept as calm as she could, her 3 year old son was apparently playing when he fell off the balcony, the child is supposed to be unconscious. When the address was given, Katherine immediately typed up the address and sent out a call, ambulance sirens sounded off immediately. After a drawn out conversation of Kat telling the mother what to do, the ambulance arrived and she was finally able to disconnect the line.

"Donna, it's my lunch time." Katherine brushed a blond strand out of her blue eyes, even though they were blocked by small black glasses. In her youth she was the nerd, the small child reading a book somewhere else while everyone else were your normal whores. They say that when the whores get older, they become ugly like their hearts, but people like Kat. They become beautiful in their older ages, this was completely true. Her skin was soft and smooth, her hair was natural and shiny, her eyes were bright and blue. She let out a sigh when she got to her car, a small sedan. She flipped the ignition and put it into drive. Her and Aaron's home was just a few blocks away and it took about 5 minutes to get there.

She walked up to the door and pulled out a set of keys. The phone inside began to ring, frantically finding the key and putting it in, she opened the door and shot in the house. She found the cordless phone on the counter and answered it. "Hello?" She asked and his voice made her smile, he asked if she heard the news. "News? What news?" She asked curiously in her normal soft voice as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bag that had "Tuesday" written in a black sharpie pen.

[Turn 360 and walk away]

"What do you mean 'soon'?"
"Would you like a drink?" The hooded boy left the room momentarily and came back with a clear, plastic cup, filled with water.
"NO! Fuck! Where am ?!"
He put the cup down, "Alright. But You will want to drink it, I promise."
"What's in it? Some, sort of... poison? what the hell?!"
"Just water, my dear, sweet Melissa. Just water. I promise. When we finally are able to cleanse the world of the horrid plague that is --" a knock on the door. The robed boy opened it, greeted the others with a very informal "hey". There were more hooded boys, and some girls, too, now. Just five minutes ago, Melissa had thought that maybe the only thing that would happen was he'd rape her, and the ordeal would be done. It almost seemed like a welcome idea. But now that glimmer of hope faded. They began to banter about the new world. And some sort of plague. Melissa began fighting at her restraints again, frantic. Another boy, more gruff and less professional-looking, approached her. Instead of soft words, he simply thrust a balled up fist below her ribcage, knocking the air out of her. She sputtered and coughed, and the chair fell backwards, crushing her forearms under the back. It hurt, there's no lying about that, but it didn't hurt enough to be serious. Two of the robed girls stood her back up, and one examined her body for injury. Now Melissa was thoroughly confused, and in a fanatic spray, asked "Who are you people?! what's going on!? where areeee weeeee!?"
One of the girls turned back around, and approached Melissa with a snarl on her lips and a hot coal of fervor burning in her eyes. "You, love, are the chosen one! You will be our passage to summon God, and clean this world of them!" She said "them" as though their identity was a common knowledge.
"Oh, my god! Tracey?" She saw one of her friend's sisters standing in the corner, chatting. Tracey turned her way and walked forward, taking the first girls place. "How're you doing, Mellie? How's the folks been? I haven't seen them in a while."
"What's going on!?"
"You'll see..."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"News? What news?"
Goddamn Aaron loved that voice. "About that Melissa Schaffield kid?" He waited a couple seconds for her to respond, and deciding she didn't have any idea what it was, continued, "They say she was 'brutally murdered in an act of gang violence'. I don't believe it. Apparently, she was dismembered and only most of her was left at the scene. They took all her head but the lower jaw, and her... breasts, which is the weird part." He cringed. This was a crappy way to start a conversation with the love of his life, and that end part nearly killed it all. But at least he censored himself. "Breast" isn't in his normal vocabulary, except, of course, when he was talking about fried chicken. "Anyways, apparently, she was, like, a high school kid. Crazy stuff." He finished with pleasant smalltalk, like talking about the weather, and playing that "No, I love YOU more!" game, to try to even out the phone call and give it meaning, but soon had to hang up.
Lunch was up. Time to watch the giant board of blinking lights again. In it's novelty, it was kinda cool. It was a board showing all the routes, rails, and trains that could potentially interfere with the two sets of Lakeview lines, as far north and east as Boston and as far west and south as Omaha City. Green lights were good, yellow lights meant cautionary steps should be taken, and a red light meant "hold on to your ass, Aaron, because this is gonna be one hell of a shitstorm", as his boss so eloquently put it. Everything was green. Except for a single track that was blinking, green to yellow, green to yellow. A bug, he assumed. He'd have gotten a call from someone if something major was being done to the tracks.

Five-Thirty rolled by at a geriatric snail's pace. Aaron's clock radio read "8:29". Eventually, he'd get around to setting it. for now, it worked just fine for it's purpose. He ducked his head into a tiny little Toyota that he hardly fit in, let alone a big guy, because he was fairly small; He was built like a five-foot-seven tree, with a strong body that never really changed width too much in any way. His hair, a murky blonde, was drawn into a high-and-tight Marines do. Low maintenance. His goatee matched his hair, albeit a slight amount of greying. he glanced at his keyring, stuck one of them into the ignition, and finally headed home. Driving too damn fast was his favorite pastime.

As he headed around the corner, he looked at the driveway and noticed that Katherine's car was already there, but she hadn't gotten a package at the front door. He knew that inside, under just enough tissue paper to protect it from bugs, was a nice little bouquet of flowers. It didn't bug him in the least bit that she didn't get them, for whatever reason, but it bugged him that it'll feel less romantic saying "I'm thinking of you" when he's three feet from her. Aaron let the car coast it's way up to the curb and grabbed the bouquet, tearing off the brown paper before going inside. "OOOoohhhhhhhhh Kat! Here, kitty, kitty kitty!" Of course she probably hated that, but what can you do?

[B]

Kat listened and put a hand over her mouth. It was bothering her that Aaron decided to get into it with much detail. "Okay, I get it." She said, trying to stop him from anymore details, though she probably heard it all. "That is terrible. It's hard to believe..." She let out a sigh, Aaron must've figured that this was bothering her for he decided to change the subject, relieved, she played along. "I love YOU more." She said with a giggle, he repeated, she brought up a hand to look at her watch. "No, I love YOU more. Now go back to work, I win this round." She said with a light victoriously. She smacked her lips three times as if she were giving Aaron three long distance kisses then hung up with an "I love you". She put down the phone and breezed through her lunch.

"Mr. Cabrioni, I've told you three times this week, I can't tell if you have genital warts over the phone. You're just going to have to come in and pay for a doctor's check up just like everyone else." She heard the guy trying to give more excuses. "Sorry Mr. Cabrioni, but I'm going to have to say bye." She hung up the phone and rolled her eyes. "Again?" Donna laughed. "He stops." Kat groaned and the phone rang. She picked up, one of the elderly of Lakeview had fallen again. An ambulance was sent off like always. Kat hated when people got hurt, especially killed. She couldn't help but thinking of Melissa Schaffield. To think such a youngster had to die, it made her want to cry right where she was but she didn't, she had to keep straight so she could speak to all the people that needed help.

The car pulled up to the house. She turned the car off and stepped out and walked in the front door. She heard a car pull up but thought it was for someone across the street, Aaron wasn't off for another hour or so. She went to the kitchen and started cooking up a couple steaks, making sure they were nice and tender. They wouldn't be done by the time he got home but they'd be nearly. She made sure there was some AI sauce left, she knew how much Aaron loved it, though she didn't care for it, really. She didn't eat much meat, she tries to call herself a vegetarian, but when you got a man like Aaron not being around meat was difficult so she submits occasionally, but she always has a salad as a side. She switched on the television and switched over to the news. Top story, Melissa. She listened sadly, not even hearing the knock on the door. A half an hour went by, she had finished with the news and she could hear him outside, calling her kitty kat. She rolled her eyes with an embarrassed smirk, her cheeks flushing. "Meow." She called to the door. She walked over to where he was and didn't even note the bouquet, she wanted him to hold her. She wrapped her arms around him and put her lips to his. "I missed you today." She stated softly.

[rudybadger]

The large metal door creaked quietly as one of the hooded boys slipped threw it and out into the dull sunlight. He looked around cautiously before he removed his hood revealing his dark gray hair and his faded brown eyes. He was named Zander Blaine.
Zander looked up at the sky and watched as the tan clouds covered the sun in a depressing manner as they always did near Toluca Lake. He sighed as the door of the large warehouse opened and a hooded girl called to him in a low voice.
"Blaine, you shouldn't leave during a meeting." She started to turn back to the building but quickly added, "and put your hood back on, no one can be allowed to see us."
Zander turned back to the lake that the warehouse overlooked. He had recently been recruited into this strange cult one day after school. He didn't know why exactly, but he had to guess it had something to do with how he sat in the back of class like an outcast on the rare occasions he actually went to school...or maybe it was because his gray hair? He'd heard that hair lost its color from stress, which would make sense considering what happened to his parents, but he'd rather not remember that; He'd lived threw it once and didn't feel like reliving it mentally anytime soon.
He turned back to the warehouse and slowly treaded over to it. He never really cared for the cult but in reality he had no where else to be. So the stupid incantations and spells that they made him memorize usually helped keep his mind off other things. He whipped his hood back on and grasped the handle. As he threw open the old door and entered the warehouse he was covered in the rays of the black-light bulbs that they used to light EVERYTHING. Some stupid fad that all the other cults and gangs started up because it made everything look more ominous and scary to newcomers. But is a little purple colored light really all that terrifying?
As his eyes adjusted to the oh-so-terrifying light he saw a whole gaggle of people, all hooded as usual, run into a small room. It was where they kept "The Chosen One". Zander had seen the girl only once, and she didn't look all that chosen. But then again he didn't understand a whole bunch of this cockamamie bullshit they keep trying to shove down his throat. Did he miss a meeting, or 'enlightenment session' as they often called it, or was it simply because he wasn't a higher rank than the other members?
He looked toward the large circle of members chanting incantation #7, if he recalled correctly, and toward the room with the chosen one in it. He silently decided on the latter and entered the room, making sure to keep to himself and look menacing and unimportant as possible... and that wasn't a problem.

[Turn 360 and walk away]

All the boys left the room. Melissa didn't think much of it. The dread that paralyzed her earlier subsided to a dull, throbbing terror, and she found the heart to try to break free again. Slower, this time, not frantic. Measured. One of the girls approached her with a crappy little Wal-Mart pocket knife. "Hey, girl. Are you ready?"
Melissa took a deep, shuddery breath, "Ready for what?"
But the girl didn't answer like the boy had, instead, she she first unrobed herself, wearing a standard-issue white tank top and camouflage sweatpants, "Don't wanna get too dirty..." Melissa heard the other girl breathe. Then she proceeded to cut away at Melissa's clothes, until she was easily enough stripped down to her underwear. She didn't dare struggle while the other girl had a knife, she was smart enough to think that much. However, once the chilly evening air kissed her bare skin, the cold cutting her like a knife, she was shaken into renewed fight. Behind her, her hands were being worked free, slowly, and she was soon able to free her left hand, then her right, and then set to work breaking the bonds at her ankles. The girl was long since gone, and no one seemed to come in the room for a long while.
It seemed like in the next room, someone lit a bunch of candles: The area glowed a soft orange. in defiance of the chill, she felt sweat run down her face, neck, and eyes with an all-too-mortal sting. The plastic at her feet wouldn't break. Suddenly, the same boy from before entered the room. No matter what modesty they had when the girl had stripped her was gone, now. She was quick to hide her arms back behind the chair, but it proved pointless. He walked over, calmly, and cut her free of her bonds, eying her maliciously when he found only one hand in the zip-tie, and proceeded to remove the last of her clothes, discarding them. "You're leaving now."
"Really?"
"Yes. Come with me."
"You said I was leaving!?"
"You are. not through that door."
It became apparent that something was being said, over and over, in the candle-lit room -- it sounded Latin-- and Melissa tried to run away, but the boy took hold of her wrist and jerked it towards him. A short, stabbing pain ran through her shoulder, down her leg, and back up. A stupid though crossed her mind: Go to St. Mary's, that's where the insurance is, and she began running alongside the boy. If he had broken it, she'd do well to not lag behind. Inside the candle-lit room was a squat dining room table. The boy ordered Melissa to get on the table, and four hooded people each restrained a limb to one of the legs.

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"Meow."
Aaron smiled a corn-fed, star-struck grin and walked further through the house, the smell of a big ol' juicy hunk of beef guiding him towards Kat. She met him half way, and wrapped her arms around him, and he surreptitiously moved the flowers behind his back.
"I missed you today."
"Oh yeah?" he kissed her back, and put his free arm around her waist, "I missed you, too," He brought the flowers up, between their parting faces, "this much." Aaron put the vase down on the most convenient side table he could, and went back to caressing Kat, even doing some lame form of the waltz around that little section of the house, consisting of pulling her close and swaying a little. "What's wrong? I can tell when you want to say something," he whispered.

[B]

Kat gasped in joy at the flowers, the fragrance filling her nostrils, but it seemed Aaron caught on that she didn't want the flowers as much as she wanted him so he put them on the nearest table and began swaying her. She leaned her head against his chest, the romance with him never ended, he was the perfect man. "I love you so much..." She said too softly for him to hear. Her mind flashed back to the news about Melissa, it was big news here as murders were uncommon. She couldn't help but feel a large sense of insecurity. Lakeview had been the perfect place, the most romantic and beautiful spot she had ever lived in, but now, an eerieness fell over her. It brought her to thinking about their marriage. She leaned back to look him in the eye but decided that she was being rash and placed her head back on his shoulder. He knew her well and immediately whispered that he knew she wanted to tell him something. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "Why do we have to wait... So long?" She asked, it might've confused him but he might've caught on that she was talking about the wedding. "Why can't we do it sooner? And leave Lakeview?" She proposed, her soft voice very serious. There was a slight shiver in her tone, as if she were afraid of something.

(( Fillerish. =/ ))

[Turn 360 and walk away]

Melissa looked around in horror and amazement at the group of people in the room. They were all looking at her funny, not oogled by the fact that she was naked (the air in the room seemed very hot, with all the people crowded into it) but by the fact that she was there, almost. One of the robed characters approached her head, and he caressed it, rough as his actions were. "Today, we release this world from it's mortal bounds! That daemon plague that has kept us so tortured for too long with, from this day forth, be not but a story to keep your children in their beds! This 21st century boogie man is no longer! With this day, a new sun dawns!" And at the closing, the figure, a man with an aged, gruff voice pulled away a cleaver from a butcher block in what Melissa supposed is the kitchen. He began swinging it through the air -- it whistled, barely -- and she succumbed to the dread she thought she pushed away. In a ridiculous fit of embarrassment, her cheeks blushed a fiery red as she realized she wet herself. "It ends!" The man dropped the silvery blade just above her collar bone, and Melissa writhed in agony. Again, this time adjusting his aim, he swung...


Everything got real quiet... Melissa tried to speak, to scream, but couldn't.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Why can't we do it sooner? And leave Lakeview?"
He hugged Kat tighter, hearing the waver in her voice. "Well..." Aaron began, still relatively unsure of what Kat was talking about, "Well, we can't leave, I don't think. I mean, we're broke.... But I promise, the first thing I do tomorrow is talk to the bank and set up a savings account for it. It'll be great.. We'll honeymoon in Maui, or Fiji, or Paris, and we'll have a blast. I promise." He picked her chin up gently and kissed her forehead, adding "Anything you want."
Aaron glanced towards the kitchen, and with a slight comical yelp, promptly removed a pan of steak-shaped hockey pucks from the oven, one of which was actually on fire. "Oops..."

[B]

Kat smiled listening to the honeymoon arrangements. "Yeah... That sounds great. Sorry, I'm just being silly." She moved to kiss him when he yelped suddenly and her mind immediately caught on. "Oh no!" She let go of him and turned with a jog into the kitchen. Filling a glass quickly with tap water she doused it on the flames which went out quickly. Two pieces of what seemed to be charcoal sat there now. She giggled and looked towards Aaron. "In the mood for Chinese?" She was slightly upset, she had worked hard on those steaks and they turned out extremely tender, but alas, they were not to please. Despite that, she couldn't help but see the humor in it all and let out another giggle.

[Turn 360 and walk away]

Aaron looked at the pan of ashes, then back at Kat, "Chinese sounds almost as good as these." He smiled at Kat's change in mood, she was giggling again, and that was the makings of a good day. "I'll grab some take-out, we need to go shopping anyways. Anything in particular you want?"

He took the order and sped off to a small grocery store, bought some bananas and a quart of Chocolate ice cream (almost forgetting the things he actually went to the store for) and then to the nearest Chinese Fast Food joint that didn't incorporate rats or insects into their food. Aaron drove around to the back of building to pull over, and checked to see if the order was right. he looked up -- the sky seemed a little grayer, a storm must have blown in. Of course, like these guys usually seem to do with their masterful Engrish, there was about an order and a half in his bag. Aaron sighed and turned off the car. With the price of gas where it is, he'd rather walk the 20 feet to the front door. The back wall of the building was decaying, and covered in so much spray paint that you couldn't tell what color it was originally. On the far corner someone painted a weird... hole in the wall. Aaron thought that it had to have been new, because he rove past here not 3 hours ago, and got closer. it looked more like a crack -- there was a spider web of jagged arms radiating from it. He scoffed and continued on. Out the corner of his eye, The paint seemed to change again. The arms were undulating. He turned to face it and backed up a couple steps. "Just a trick of the eye..." Aaron told himself. But something crawled out of it! A sickly, greying ghoul that first crawled, then walked towards Aaron. He turned and made for the car, and dropping the food in the passenger seat and locking the doors, stared at the thing through the windshield. It was holding a pole, of some sort. Like the post of a fence. The thing got to the hood of the car and began beating on the metal, creating small dents as the metals impacted. Aaron tried to turn the engine over, but the damn thing wouldn't start! He tried, let off, tried, let off, tried, let off. The thing got right next to his window and sent the rod through the glass, shattering it easily. Aaron gave up and jumped through the passenger-side door, running to the Chinese restaurant.