Terror at twilight

Terror at twilight

The darkness called to me, my eye lids are heavy yet the thoughts and unspoken words held in my mind refuse to let me slip into the clutches of sleep, so here I lay awake again.

Sleep was something I rarely divulged in, when night fell and the lights went out I knew the monsters were coming out soon. I don’t mean monsters like werewolves or vampires, they would have been a relief, a comfort even.
When the night dawned over this darkened building, everyone ran to their rooms and locked their doors tightly hoping they weren’t the next victim. They hid under the covers and buried themselves within the bed frames hoping they wouldn't hear the blood curdling screams of their friends as they were dragged away into the abyss.

The next morning everyone got up as normal as if nothing had happened, when you started classes if there were people missing you learned not to question their whereabouts or it resulted in punishment, all you knew is that you would never see them again.

I was John Rigby, I had lived in this horrific boarding school for a little over a year now, all my friends had disappeared and I was left completely alone.
It was lunch time and I was lapping up a bowl of mashed potato, I looked around to see many other doing the same however the boy I was sat opposite just looked at his bowl blankly. He had just started yesterday and he was finding it hard to cope. Tyler I think he said his name was, he poked the food in his bowl with his fork whilst he looked at it desperately trying to picture something else. I took my bowl in my hands and took a seat next to him, he looked at me with a expression filled with pity and anguish.

“Hello, it's Tyler isn't it”?
“Yeah why do you care”?
“Because I want to help. You came here yesterday, so you're not entirely familiar with this place. Am I right? Notice there is very little adults around and yet they seem to see everything, it's the cameras, they watch us and every move we make, they make sure we're staying in line. As for the screams that fill the halls every evening, do you want to know why they scream?”

I felt like I was being harsh but this boy was heading for serious trouble, I could already feel the cameras on our faces as I spoke to him. Tyler looked at me as if I was telling some sort of ghost story, his face had stopped looking so miserable and actually started to look quite interested.

“It's their form of punishment, this school has a very strict set of rules, anybody jeopardizes those rules and they are taken away, they're never seen again by anybody”.
“How can I make sure I’m not taken away”?
“The rules are simple really, do everything they ask, don’t step out of line and most importantly don’t make a scene or look for trouble. I'd advise you eat that food too, they don’t like waste”.

Tyler looked back down at his bowl with a very displeasing look on his face, his fork hit the food and he scooped it into his mouth. I hated getting close to people here, but when your dumped here you're left with nothing, nobody tells you the rules and you are usually taken away before you've figured them out, you're subject to torture you don’t even deserve.

Class was due to start again in a few minutes so I made sure to empty the wooden bowl scrapping what slop off I could before placing it on the cleaning rack.
I started walking to my next class joining the long line of people who miserably trudged through the hallways, the sounds of footsteps filled the corridors. Everybody kept their heads down and a miserable look was prominent on their faces, it was back to the strict regime we called class.

I stood lined up outside the door to the classroom with the other students awaiting the teacher to check our uniforms before we were allowed in to take our seats.
She appeared, Mrs Reynolds. She was a bold well built woman who stood up tall, she wore glasses and a ponytail alongside a black suit, she boasted confidence with her solid stance. We cowered up against the wall awaiting our judgement, we were scared and powerless against this beast. She clasped both of her arms behind her back before taking large steps down the line inspecting each of us closely.

“You there, Young boy, what is this”?
“M-my clothing madam”.
“It's disgraceful, how dare you turn up to my class in such attire”.
“I'm sorry madam it won't happen again”.
“Of course it wont, we'll make sure of that won't we”.

Nobody dared look to see who it was who had faulted however we could hear quiet sobs, everyone knew what was coming next and sure enough it happened.
The woman got back up and quickly stood to attention clicking her fingers twice. Suddenly through the fire escape doors two men emerged wearing heavy black protective clothing, they grabbed the boy by his hair and dragged him down the corridor. He kicked his legs and flailed his arms around trying to get away from the men but their iron fists only clenched tighter.
I took a quick glimpse to see who had been taken, Tyler stared into my eyes as he was dragged around the corner all I could do was just watch, another person was taken from me. I silently said my goodbyes and wished him luck in whatever demise he would face before I looked back up pretending I didn't see anything.

After classes had finished I grabbed my evening meal from the cafeteria before I headed up to my room away from the nightmares that awaited down here. I stepped into the bare empty room, putting my feet up on the only bit of furniture I owned, my bed.
I picked up a book to pass the time, nobody dared make a sound after classes, we simply sat in our rooms in solitary silence occupying ourselves until we were summoned into classes the next morning. People occupied themselves by reading or sleeping, or drawing but I was one of the lucky ones, my room had a small window so I could idly stare out. The only times we were allowed outside was for a 10 minute break once a day, to have a window in your room you were either the teachers best friend or darn right lucky, I was the latter.

The view from my window was luxurious, there was a wonderful cherry blossom that attracted all sorts of winged wildlife last Christmas I even saw a robin. The bird had perched itself on the branch nearest my window and stared in straight at me, I looked back at it in disbelief. It had been the first time I was truly able to forget about the grim reality in which I lived, it's wings, it's color, everything about the bird was simply marvellous.

Today the window didn't hold much to look at, it had been raining heavily outside and raindrops streamed down the windows making it virtually impossible to see out.
It was almost seven, night would be falling soon, gruesome screams and torment would soon fill the hallways, as not to become their victim I retired to the darkness guiding myself back to my bed with a single candle lit.

I cowered into the bed with my book frantically trying to block out the outside world and it's monstrosities however I was forced to lower the book from my face when an unknown sounds caught my attention. The book fell into my lap and my eyes diverted to the door as I concentrated on a low rumble that escalated through the halls.
I let the book fall from my hands completely as I stared at the door, the rumble got louder and louder and with each second my body became more and more tense.

Suddenly my door flew open and men poured into the room, two men seized me in the corner of the room while the remaining four started trashing my room, they flipped my bed over and flicked through my book. What were they looking for? I didn't dare speak as they rummaged through my room, their faces were growing agitated as they looked at one another. From the looks on their faces and the disappointed groans they gave I assumed they didn't find whatever it was they were searching for.

One of the men finally spoke.
“I want him out of this room, take him downstairs”. I had a bag placed over my head as I was dragged away down the corridors, I could hear muffles and shuffles, I imagined it was the men talking amongst themselves about my demise.

Suddenly the men stopped pulling and my body caught up with my clothes, I could hear lots of voices around me I could feel my body start to shake. Was I surrounded?

The bag from my head was removed and I was revealed to an unknown location. The room I in which I was placed was stretched for miles and doors lined the walls, I was lead down the mile hike in the centre of the room. I could hear the screams of children, they cried and whimpered, they banged on the walls pleading for their freedom. Were they cells?

I was worried instantly, what would happen to me here? What did they want with me? I was thrown through one of the metal doors, the entire room was made of concrete, a single light bulb hung from the top of the room.
A man stepped out from the shadows holding a chair and a small duffel bag, he threw both on the floor. He ordered me to sit in the chair, I was tied to it's stable wooden frame before he shuffled to his bag rummaging through it's insides.

“Ah ha, here it is”. A menacing look sprawled across his face as his eyes flickered back to me.

He pulled out a hammer, he swung it from side to side as if mocking my helplessness, his face was evil and a wide grin stretched from ear to ear. Was he getting a kick out of this?
He came at me with the weapon readied, I didn't cower away not did I show I was scared, I simply sat and awaited his movement hoping he was joking.
The hammer touched my face gently, the blunt end pointed down and the claw pushed against the bottom of my jaw.

“You have two seconds to tell me why you were talking to that boy this morning”.
I looked up at the man who was dressed in a white overall coat, it had clearly just been thrown on over his everyday clothing. The mans face was bitter and enraged, his beady eyes darted between the hammer and my body.

“I said you have two seconds”.
He pushed the hammer deep into my throat, I could feel the saliva build up as my airways were being pushed to their limits. I coughed and spluttered, my throat made an awful bubbling sound as I was being choked.

“Tyler, was asking about math”.
“That boy has been a clear disturbance, he was talking to you before his little, accident shall we call it. I want to know exactly what you said to him”.

I looked up at the man in white, he was growing impatient I could tell by the way he tapped his foot off the hard concrete floor. My answer annoyed the man but I didn't know what I could say to make things better, I didn't want to get on his bad side but what I said to him wouldn't have caused him to be taken.

“Okay look fine you got me, he's a new kid he was dumped here just like the rest of us, he didn't know the rules and I simply said to him just stay in line and do everything your asked. I don't believe there is a problem with what I said, unless protecting people is a crime.”

My sarcasm took him off guard I could tell because he just stared at me for a few seconds but then the scowl worn on his face had come back and had grown by at least 2 inches larger than before, his eye brows had fuzed together and he started circling me.

“Your stories match up, so otherwise I’d say you could go but I don't like that sarcastic tone of yours boy”.

He took long steps around me however his small eyes stayed on me at all times. He held the hammer in one hand whilst he slapped it of the other, if this was supposed to frighten me then he was wrong. I remained strong and sturdy in my chair, I kept my eyes on the man and held my head up high.
He stopped stepping around me and held his stocky figure directly opposite me. I showed no fear and this clearly upset him, he quickly lunged at me taking me by the throat and pushing me to the floor, my body still pinned to the chair.

“Nobody makes a sarcastic tone with me. I wont be mocked by a mere child”. He spat his words at me and looked me over with a face of pure disgust.
“Your disgusting, do you think you can talk to anyone in that tone? Because I most certainly won't tolerate it.”

His grip tightened, I tried to grab his wrist to steady myself but I failed and I could feel myself slowly giving up. My body stopped moving frantically and my eyes closed involuntary, I slipped into deep unconsciousness.

I awoke with a scare, I looked around and realized I had been moved from the previous room. Where was I?
The man from before had also disappeared, finally. I held my hands up to my neck to check the damage, it still hurt a little but my breathing had returned to normal which was a good sign.

I needed to escape this place I couldn't stay here, if I was subject to this again I would probably die. I picked myself up from the floor and inspected the small room, the door was made of metal almost like a safe room. The only way to see beyond the door was a flimsy metal flap that I assumed was for food. I looked back in the room searching for something. Anything. But there was no windows, nothing. The only way out was through this door. I would need time to discover under what circumstances the door would be opened.

A tray was shoved though the metal flap in the door, it was a pile of what looked like mushy peas. As I ate the meal my face twisted, the taste was horrible, most of the peas were still hard and the mushy parts just tasted bitter, I couldn't even be sure it was cooked properly if at all. I finished up the meal before pushing it back through the metal flap, the food was horrid and bland even the potato slop beat this.

I had just settled my weak tired body into a corner when the door crashed open, two men entered my room and picked me up by my arms. They hauled me out the room and carried me up the corridor, I looked around and saw another figure being carried although I couldn't make out the face. I was taken to a small room that settled at the end of the mile long corridoor, once inside I was lowered onto my feet. I inspected my arms which were already starting to bruise. I could feel the presence of another person entering but we didn't dare look at each other, the amount of guards around us could easily kill both of us so we didn't dare step out of line.

“By now I assume you wonder why you have been brought here”?

Our lips remained sealed but in our heads we answered the man, we stood solitary awaiting the inevitable punishment I know would follow. The man before us was short and fat, he was dressed in a black suit and tie however the sweat that poured out of him contrasted his dapper attire.

“We want answers”.

The suited fat man signalled at one of the guards to my right, in an instant the figure that stood next to me was pinned to the wall. My head snapped around quickly, as I took in the features of the lifeless body I realized it was Tyler that was pinned against the wall.

I wanted to reach out and help him however I remained still. I bit down on my tongue and turned my head forward facing the man in front of me, his eyes shifted quickly between Tyler and I.

“Stop please, y-your hurting me”.

The guard tightened his grip around Tylers neck, the poor boy was going to die if he was pushed any further. What were they hoping to achieve anyway?

“L-let go, I'm begging you”.

It was no use, the guard held him there regardless of the pleas Tyler threw at him. Pretty soon the boys body stopped moving and the begging ceased. Tyler died.
The fat man inhaled before staring back at me preparing himself for his speech.

“We've tried so hard to understand you boys, we asked for answers and yet nobody seems to provide, now we've had to resort to brute force”.

The guard let go of Tylers limp body and he fell to the floor like a bag of potatoes. I looked down and closed my eyes honoring his bravery to the very end, the fat man in white caught glimpse of my gesture and chuckled. He was a sick man.
In that instant I snapped now not caring for the consequences, I lunged forward knocking the suited man to the floor, I grasped at his neck also demanding answers.

“Why do you torture kids down here? Torture isn't punishment it's vile and inhumane, what did he do that was so wrong anyway”?

Before I realized it I had been smashing the fat mans head off the floor repeatedly, a pool of blood emerged from his head. I lifted my hands away, my face full of fear, what had I done? I lifted my hands to my face which was now drenched in tears.
The guards jumped to attention, half of them ran over to the man lying on the ground while the other half pulled me into a tight restraint. As the first fist hit my face I knew I had reached my grizzly end, I was kicked and punched until my eyes slowly closed. My body entered a peaceful slumber, although I couldn't save Tyler I wasn't dying with regrets, I finally stood up for what I believed. Justice.

© 2015 Danielle Merritt

Author's Note

This short story will feature in an upcoming book called 'The Breaking Free Collection'