Secrets, Lies, and Captivity

CHAPTER THREE

Ashley's (Point of View)

There was a frequent sound of dripping water heard from a broken pipe at the back of the basement. The sound echoed through the dark and humid room, persisting throughout the entire day. Its constant presence became a familiar rhythm, a repetitive beat that, in fleeting moments, managed to divert my attention from the unfathomable circumstances surrounding me. The rhythm also at times sounded like an unlikely lullaby that lured me to sleep every few minutes (but that could have also been because of the blood loss).

The tape around my hands and feet were starting to irritate my skin. I tried consistently twisting my ankles and wrist to break free from the tapes' hold, but it didn't work, it didn't even rip. Why won't this rip!? I need to get us out of this and then figure out what is going on.

I believed that we were down here for hours and none of them came back down here. Are they still trying to develop a new plan? I just hoped that their plan wasn't to keep us locked in here. However, I had a feeling that being locked in here was much safer for us; at least for this very moment. My family felt really unpredictable right now, I really didn't know what came over them to do this...

I can't believe that just a few hours ago all I was thinking about was finally completing high school, starting summer break, going to university, starting the next phase of my life. Those thoughts seemed meaningless right now, childish even.

I looked over to George and noticed that he stopped bleeding. His blood dried on his skin and clothes and since my eyes have fully adjusted to the darkness, I was slightly able to notice how pale he was getting. His complexion, once full of life, now seemed drained of color.

He looked so pale, that he somehow looked like he was slightly glowing in the darkness, or maybe the heavy blood loss, shock, and lack of food was finally getting to me. He lost a lot of blood and hadn't eaten in hours. He really needed to eat something.

I have to get us out of here. I have to get my phone. Even though they took George's phone, they somehow failed to take mine as well, thankfully. I tried twisting my wrists and moving around my hands to see if I could reach inside my back pockets, but no success.

George glanced over to me, giving me a questioning look through his raised eyebrow, I wished that I could explain to him what I was doing, but... you know.

As the humidity continued to fill the air, beads of sweat trickled down my face, making the task of removing the tape from my mouth seemingly easy. However, to my surprise, the tape stubbornly clutched to my face, heavily refusing to release its grip.

Despite that, I kept trying any way. I continuously tried moving my mouth and cheeks around under the tape. After minutes and minutes of doing this, the tape finally peeled from my left cheek. What felt like a few minutes later, the duct tape was finally completely removed from my mouth. I sighed. Thank God that worked!

I looked over to George and whispered, "I'm going to try to break my hands free, then I'll untie you," he nodded. I looked around to see if there was anything sharp that I could use.

As I looked around the basement, my eyes came across another broken pipe that was close to George; this one was not dripping water like the other one across the other end of the room. I thought that it would be perfect to use, since it had sharp edges. Even though it could be very dangerous, it also looked like our only option.

"George!" I said while pointing at the pipe, "Try using that to cut the tape around your hand."

He nodded his head and moved closer towards the broken pipe. After some time had passed, I noticed that the tape was slightly tearing from his constant action of rubbing the tape against the sharp area. I sighed in relief that it was working. I was not sure if it was going to be sharp enough. After more time had passed, the tape was fully removed from his hands. His hands were finally free; he quickly removed the tape from his mouth and feet.