Caged By Them (Descent Into Darkness 1)

“Wake up, Lizzy.” A voice—the same voice from the nightmare in my head was present the instant I opened my eyes.

Except it wasn’t a nightmare. It was real. The man with the gravelly voice was speaking to me, and he was directly in front of me, but the room was dark, so I couldn’t see his face—or maybe my vision was just still blurry. I tried to shake the cobwebs out of my head as I sat up. My vision started to focus finally, but my head was throbbing so hard that it was hard to do anything but squint. The room was definitely dark, except for a small dim light bulb hanging over my head. There were bars in front of me—bars on top of me. I was in—a cage?

“Why are you doing this?” My throat was parched, and my words scraped against the dryness as I spoke.

“Because sweet Lizzy. You’ve been a very bad girl, haven’t you?” He stepped closer.

“I don’t know—what you’re talking about.” I cleared my throat and tried to coat it with my saliva so that it didn’t hurt to speak.

“Pretending to be innocent isn’t going to get you out of this cage.” He tilted his head and leaned close enough for me to see his face. “Only the truth can set you free—the truth and your penance.”

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” I found the strength to grab the bars in front of me. “Please let me go. I won’t tell anyone that you took me—I swear. I just want to go home.”

The man in front of me had dark colored eyes—almost like onyxes set in his skull. His skin was tanned, his hair was dark brown, and it was a little unkempt. I assumed the ski mask had something to do with that. He was a large, broad-shouldered man—not one that I could have taken in a fight, even if he hadn’t used something to knock me out when he grabbed me. He wasn’t the one that tried to talk to me when the van approached, but their features were similar enough for them to be related.

“Lots of people want to go home.” He nodded slowly. “They want to enjoy a warm fireplace, a home-cooked meal—all of the comforts that life affords. Is that what you want, sweet Lizzy? All of the things in your apartment—the things you bought for yourself.”

He—knows where I live.

“Yes.” I choked out my words and nodded. “Please let me go…”

I’d settle for water, fast food, and a blanket right now, but I definitely want to go home.

“No.” He shook his hea

d back and forth. “You don’t deserve all of those things, because you’ve been a very bad girl.”

“Then tell me what I did wrong. Let me apologize.” I leaned against the bars of the cage and felt tears welling up in my eyes. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“I like it when you beg.” A sinister grin spreads across his face. “But before you leave this cage, you’re going to beg me to hurt you—because that will be your penance, sweet Lizzy—pain. Emotional pain. Physical pain. The kind of pain you like to inflict on others.”

“I—I've never hurt anyone.” I blinked in surprise.

“Why don’t you think about that for a little while. When I return, if you’re ready to start confessing your sins, then maybe we can discuss what your penance should be.” He started to stand.

“No—please don’t leave me in here!” I looked up at him, but he turned away without saying another word.

He walked into the darkness that surrounded the cage, and I saw light when a door opened on the right side of the room. His hand lifted, and with a quick flick of his wrist, the light bulb above my cage went out. The room was plunged into total darkness. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. I felt around to learn the size of the cage I was in—how much room I had—and finally found a semi-comfortable spot to sit where I could lean against the bars. They didn’t feel good against my back, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. I felt some sort of bucket next to me with what felt like a roll of toilet paper—I assumed the bucket would be my bathroom, but the thought of having my waste so close was revolting.

What did I do to this guy? He’s not familiar—I don’t know his face. He’s young—late twenties, maybe early thirties—definitely not someone that I would normally talk to. The other guy was a little older, but not by much.

His words weren’t total lies. I had done things that I wasn’t proud of—some of them left me with less remorse than others. Most of them were for money—survival—a way to get by in an economy that didn’t exactly have many opportunities for a nineteen-year-old high school dropout. But I took precautions to protect myself—to make sure nobody would ever find out who I really was. That couldn’t be what landed me in the cage? Could it?

I had to stay calm—stay very calm. I needed to think. I had to figure this out before he came back.

The darkness played tricks on my eyes—tricks on my thoughts. My eyes adjusted to it, but I still couldn’t see anything. It was more than just darkness—it was an absence of light. There were no windows in the room. The floor beneath my cage was hard, but it was smooth. The texture felt like some sort of stone that had been polished smooth. I tested the bars, pushed against them, tried to rock the cage—and when it didn’t even budge, I had to assume it had been bolted to the floor. The door moved a little bit when I tried to shake it, but it was locked, and I wasn’t going to be able to bend steel—my determination wasn’t that strong.

The minutes passed like molasses. The hours passed like fragments of eternity. At first, I was relieved that he hadn’t hurt me—that the worst of it was a cage—but then I began to realize that the cage itself was punishment. The darkness was punishment. I just didn’t know what I had done to make him believe I deserved to be there. I had sins—but really—didn’t everyone? What made mine so bad? What made him the judge or jury—and what right did he have to punish me? I felt a gnawing in my stomach that told me too much time had passed since I had eaten. I woke up with a parched throat and I reached a point where I couldn’t produce enough saliva to keep it from hurting.

How long was he going to leave me here before he came back? What if I don’t have the answers he’s looking for—or know what sin he wants me to confess?

I was afraid to sleep, but exhaustion eventually took over. The worst part about falling asleep was that I didn’t know how much time passed while I was unconscious. The darkness didn’t allow me to tell if I had managed to sleep for a few minutes or a few hours. Could it have been longer? My muscles ached when I woke up and they were cramped when I tried to move them. The cage prevented me from truly stretching them out, but I did the best that I could.

Did I hear footsteps? Was he finally coming back?

The silence had played tricks on mind a few times before, but it wasn’t deceiving me this time. I heard a click that sounded like a key being turned in a lock and then the door opened. The light coming from the other side hurt my eyes and I had to lift my hand to block it out while my eyes adjusted. I saw an outline of a man—I assumed it was the one who locked me in the cage. I moved closer to the front as he stepped into the room, and then the light above my cage came on. It seemed dim when I first saw it, but after being in total darkness for so long, it was almost like staring into the sun even though I wasn’t looking at it.

“Have you had enough time to think, sweet Lizzy?” He walked over and looked down at me. “Are you ready to start confessing your sins?”