A Long Awaited Reunion

I wake up from a very deep sleep. The room is way too cold. Realizing that I'm tied up in complete darkness, I let out a frightened gasp. The pungent smell of iron rushes into my nose. Where am I? Why are my wrists and ankles bound to this metal chair? I hear some light groaning about ten feet in front of me.

"Hello!? Is someone there!?"

A middle-aged woman fearfully replies, "Ye-...yes. Who are you?" She begins to lightly sob. Her voice sounds strange, but somewhat calming. It's almost as if she's emphasizing her femininity. "What is this place?" she asks.

"My name is Luke...and I have no idea where we are. I'm sorry." I swallow deeply as the middle aged woman's cries echo throughout the room. "Are you tied up, too?" I ask. She sniffles a couple of times and softly replies in her soft voice, "Yes, but I have one hand free." I hear something shuffling around on the ground beside me. "Is someone there!?" I frantically exclaim.

"My fucking head....Where am I?" groans an older male. Letting out another low, whining noise, he slowly stands up. "Who are you?" I curiously ask.

"I...I don't know. The last thing I remember...I was falling; but it could've just been a bad dream. I don't know my name, how old I am, where I live...nothing!" The confused man begins to loudly sob. His cries echo throughout the room. I'm scared, but I need to stay calm. I have a wife and children to support. "Just stop. We'll figure out how to get out of here." I declare with as much confidence as I can possibly muster up. The man's crying slowly diminishes. The room is dead silent. I have to think of something. Wait...how did he stand?

"Are you tied up?" I ask.

"No... are you?" the man acknowledges. I forcefully jolt my body to free myself, but all that results from my attempted escape is the sound of a bulky steel chair screeching across the hard floor.

"Yes! Can you please untie us?" echoes the woman.

I hear heavy footsteps progressively moving closer to me. The man begins to loosen the knots that tightly bind my arms behind my back; and after about two minutes, he completely unties me and the woman.

"Thanks, now let's see if we can find a light. I can't see a thing," I mention.

"I found a phone!" immediately exclaims the woman.

That didn't take very long. As I move toward her, she powers on the phone. The light shines directly on her face. She looks very scared, obviously, and seems to be in her early 60's. Her wavy, brown hair hangs down to her shoulders, slightly covering her wrinkled face "There's a code" she whimpers.

I interject, "Let's worry about the code later. We can use the phone to find a light switch." We follow the woman as she uses the phone to dimly light our way. Suddenly, she belts out a shrill, frightened scream. "What's wro-...oh!" Causing me to nearly faint, I look down to find a large puddle of blood on the floor. "Where the fuck are we!?" shrieks the man. "I don't know...but I really don't want to be here" gulps the woman.

I chime in, "None of us want to be here. Let's just find that light switch." Taking a detour around the thick, red puddle, we keep moving. "Four walls...but no door," I announce.

"Well, how did we get in here if there's no way out!?" worries the man. The woman shines the phone light up at the flat, gray ceiling, about ten feet above us. I can see an air conditioning vent, a large lightbulb with a small chain hanging down, and a small door with a golden knob. The door's probably too far to reach, but we might be able to pull that light switch. The woman begins to sob again. "I think I know where we are," she softly utters.

"On the news recently, I've heard reports of someone breaking into innocent peoples' houses while they sleep. He, or she, drugs them and kidnaps them, but no one knows where she or he takes them. After about a week of the victims missing, a single body part appears...the ring finger." The man beside me gasps and begins to lightly sob. After a moment of silence, I claim, "We'll get out of here. Search the room for something that will help us reach that light on the ceiling." Once again, the woman begins to lead us with the phone light.

After searching the cold, dark room for a few minutes, we're able to gather two chairs and a long wooden table. I look over at the man. He's about half a foot taller than I am.

"If we put one of the chairs on top of the table, you should be able to reach the light switch," I propose. He looks about 30 years old, and is bald with a thick, black beard. He nods at me to let me know that we're on the same page, and we proceed with my plan. It's difficult to really see any of my surroundings with the little light the phone provides; and on top of that, the woman has to refresh the power about every ten seconds. I attempt to watch him as he carefully climbs the chair. He stands as tall as possible, and extends his arm up.

"I'm close, but it's a little too high," he declares. His fingers stretch as far as possible, and even then he barely skims the bottom of the chain.

"You have to jump," insists the woman. The man looks down at us, and then back up at the light bulb. Preparing to leap for the switch, he anxiously bends his knees. I tightly grip the chair in place to give him balance.

He counts under his breath, "1...2...3!"

With one swift leap, he successfully grasps the chain, and yanks it to turn on the light. The sound of the metal chair and his large body striking the ground echoes through the room. We immediately hurry over and help him up to his feet. I notice that he has a wound on the back of his head, and dry blood down the back of his neck. He wears a black hoodie and black sweat pants. I gaze over at the woman. She wears a puffy, pink dress; and long, silky, white gloves. I'd rather be wearing that than nothing but boxers. I just had to wear the short ones with the hearts...whatever. Now's not the time to worry about fashion. With the room now illuminated, I notice the puddle of blood that we saw earlier is right by where the man originally awoke. "Do you remember how you hit your head?" I ask. He lightly touches the wound with his fingertips and cringes in pain.

"No, but I'm assuming it was from the fall."

He closes his eyes tightly and softly says, "Let me think." After about five seconds, his eyes widely open.

"Anduran."

"What's an Anduran?" I inquire. His eyes close again as he takes a deep breath. "My name is Anduran Bresal, and I grew up with my single mother...I can't recall how I got here, or anything else, but at least my memory seems to be returning."

So...that doesn't help at all. I see a small piece of paper on the floor. Hoping to find anything that will help us escape this eerie place, I pick it up. Written in pencil, are four numbers.

"One, four, seven, zero," I read aloud. Silence fills the room as we ponder the code's significance.

"The phone!" anxiously exclaims the woman. With her hands trembling, she punches in the code. "1...4...7...0." She seems to get excited by the small sliver of hope.

"Anything?" asks Anduran as he walks over to the woman.

"No, nothing." she responds as she passes the phone to Anduran.

"Did you check the contacts?" I ask.

He looks through the phone for a moment.

"There's one, but there's no name assigned to the number," explains Anduran.

"Should we call it?" queries the woman. Maybe the psychopath who brought us here wants us to call it; maybe he made a mistake by dropping his phone; maybe the phone didn't belong to him at all...but to a victim. All of these thoughts run through my mind, along with the memories of my family. They would be crushed if I don't make it home. The woman gazes at me with her frizzy, dark hair and light brown eyes. She stares at me like she knows me...like she's seen me before. I look down at the phone, then back up, and nod at her. She nervously swallows. With speaker phone activated, we anxiously await an answer.

The sound of the ringing echoes throughout the room as we wait in silence. After about ten seconds, we hear someone answer. Not a word is uttered, just continuous, light breathing.

"Why are you doing this!?" restlessly shouts Anduran. Suddenly, the voice of an elderly woman croaks, "Loyalty is very important to me, Anduran. Show me yours."

The call ends. A piercing silence fills the room while I and the woman both peer over at Anduran. He looks as if he has just seen a ghost.

"Th-, that voice...I've heard it before" he trembles.

CLANK! The small door on the ceiling swings open, causing my heart to nearly leap out of my chest. I stare up in terror, anticipating the worst. An old ladder, made entirely out of rope and wooden planks, comes tumbling down. CRACK! One of the planks smashes into the floor next to us, which leads the woman to emit a horrified screech. She hurries to a corner of the room and curls up into a ball, burying her face in her hands to mask the crying. Clenching my fists tightly, I prepare to fight for survival. Anduran sniffles, takes a deep breath and follows my lead.

We wait...and wait and wait, but nothing happens. "Hello!?" I bellow out. Still nothing, not a sound. Anduran hesitantly steps next to the ladder and gazes up.

"The door leads into another room, but it's too dark to make out what's in there," he observes. Still in tears, but attempting to calm her bawling, the woman walks over to me and Anduran. I grip the fifth step of the ladder and forcefully tug downward, testing its durability. With his eyes still fixated on the mysterious doorway, Anduran mumbles, "Lower him down slowly." He turns his head toward me, locking his dark eyes with mine.

"'Lower him down softly'...I remember hearing that creepy lady say that before I fell."

I give him a skeptical glare. Suddenly, Anduran`s black eyes widen with utter terror. He quickly jolts backward, smashing his tailbone into the cracked, gray concrete. Letting out a frightened gasp, he hastily shuffles backward, until his back forcefully meets the dirty white wall. "Don't make me do it, mommy!" he crazily bellows. I'm completely bewildered. The woman inches toward me, feeling that she may need my protection. Her wavy hair drapes over her eyes. As Anduran wildly cries and convulses about 15 feet away from us, she frantically whispers, "What is he doing!?"

Without taking my eyes off of him, I quietly respond, "I don't know...but we need to watch out for him." On the verge of crying again, she whimpers, "My name's Nicole, by the way." I look into her calming brown eyes, and lightly smile.

"I'll get us out of here, Nicole."

She lightly grasps my hand. I find it a bit strange that she does this, but I don't pull away. Noticing Anduran's tantrum coming to an end, I clear my throat and ask him, "Is everything okay?" His sweat glistens atop his bald head and throughout his scraggly beard.

After taking two deep breaths, he murmurs, "I remember everything." Nicole gulps nervously.

"Wh-...what do you remember?" she inquires.

Anduran hastily stands up. His empty, dark eyes flash with anger as he glares at Nicole with the angriest scowl. Leaping behind me, she shrieks, "Why are you looking at me like that, Anduran!?"

Suddenly, his furious energy completely shifts to pure fear. Clenching my fists, I take another step in front of Nicole. Anduran's frightened eyes quickly lock on to me. The sound of squeaking rubber and stiff footsteps echo throughout the room as Anduran shakily moves toward me. My heart begins to thump so intensely, that I swear I can hear every beat. With adrenaline surging through my veins, I grit my teeth and cock my fist back. Anduran throws his arms up and nearly falls from stopping so abruptly. He opens his mouth to say something, but stammers so much that he can't verbalize his jumbled array of noises.

"Anduran...bring them to me," commands an eerie voice from above. I instantly gaze up at the dark doorway on the ceiling, and then back at Anduran.

"You were a part of this the whole t-."

Before I can even finish my accusation, a powerful fist strikes me square in the lower jaw. My entire vision goes white; and I helplessly fall backward into the hard ground. Struggling to open my eyes, I see the hazy outline of Anduran crouching beside me. In a slowed, low tone; I hear the words, "I'm sorry." Immediately after this confusing apology, Anduran's thick knuckles smash into my forehead. My entire world goes black.

I feel as if only a few seconds have passed, but my environment is entirely different. Feeling a soft mattress under my back, a sensation of relief comes over me. Was that whole situation just a bad dream? My vision is a bit blurred; but, after a few blinks of my eyelids, I can see clearly. Black sheets cover every wall; and lit, red candles encompass me. Nope...definitely not a dream. I reach up to grab my throbbing head. Clank! The metal chains around my wrists tightly pull against the headboard.

"What the fuck..." I mumble. My heart rate steadily increases, along with my rapid breathing. Beads of sweat continuously run down the side of my face.

"Stay calm" I demand myself.

I intently scan the room, searching for any chance to escape. There's nothing...just this bed with black sheets; an old, wooden door; a white ceiling; and nearly 50 candles, all neatly aligned along the wooden floor. Suddenly, I feel my heart dive into the pit of my stomach. Accelerated footsteps sound from outside of the room, and quickly move closer. Every chain constraining me to the bed tenses as the door flings open. Luckily, it's only Nicole. I let out an alleviated sigh when she slams the door shut; but my anxiety instantly spikes back up when I hear even faster, heavier footsteps approaching.

"Just leave us alone!" Nicole screeches. Furiously slamming his fist against the door, Anduran replies, "I'm done playing these games!" The powerful knocking on the door ceases for a brief moment, then BOOM! Nicole noisily screams and leaps backward as Anduran breaks open the door with one kick.

I quickly rush out the words, "Don't hurt her, you bastard! Take me instead!"

Completely ignoring my plea, he grips Nicole by both shoulders and smashes her helpless body into the wall. Like a crash test dummy, she limply collapses onto the floor.

"No!" I cry out. The large, sinister Anduran stands over Nicole, staring down at her with the wildest look in his eyes. Anger, sadness, happiness...he displays characteristics of all three emotions. Anduran crouches down, quickly reaches into Nicole's pink dress and then stands back up. Sick freak. He slowly turns toward me. Fighting to escape, I convulse my body with all of my might. The chains are much too strong to break free. His empty eyes appear even darker in the shadow of the candle light. With sweat running down his bald head into his untamed beard, he gradually walks over to the side of the bed. With tears in my eyes, I implore him, "Please...just let me go. I have a wife and kids."

"AAAHHHHH!"

All of a sudden, Anduran explodes with a painful howl. A look of complete shock comes over him. He gazes down, to see a large dagger jammed into his chest. Staring into my horrified eyes, he softly groans, "I'm sorry, dad."

Did he just call me dad? As his lifeless body falls forward, something falls out of his hand onto my chest. Before I can even see what it is, Nicole quickly snatches it. She holds the item out to me as if it's a gold medal. It's a key.

"Thank god! Unlock me so we can get the hell out of here!"

She grins at me, and then slowly stuffs the key into the top of her dress. Stunned, I squint my eyes at her in confusion. "Wh-...What are you doing?" Still smiling at me, she slowly backs up to the wall behind her. She grasps the center of the black sheet with her gloved hand, and reveals what has been hidden on the walls. I feel a sickening, cold chill run through my body. The entire wall is covered in photos...photos of me.

Struggling to project my voice, I mutter, "What is all of this?"

She doesn't say a word. She just smiles at me, without blinking, and casually rips down the other black sheets. Hundreds...maybe thousands of photos of me are messily glued everywhere. That's me at my son's graduation...leaving work last week...taking out the trash at home. My heart furiously pounds inside my chest. I desperately jolt my arms and legs to release myself from the chains, but I remain trapped like a rat.

With my veins bulging out of my neck, I fume, "You're a part of all this!? Who are you!? Let me go, you crazy bitch!"

Nicole's tan, wrinkled face glows in the candle light as she tries to seductively walk toward me. She sits down on the bed beside me, and begins lightly stroking my cheek with the back of her hand.

"Oh, Luke...don't you remember me?"

Her voice...it's completely different. She sounds just like the old woman from the phone. I emphatically jerk my head away from her hand, and intently study her face. There's something I recognize about her. She gazes deep into my eyes, almost as if she's looking into my soul.

"My name isn't really Nicole...it's Lola Eva. It's been so long, over 20 years. I've missed you so much."

Causing me to cringe in fear, she wails directly in my face, "OF COURSE YOU DON'T REMEMBER, THOUGH!"

After taking a few intense, deep breaths, her insulted scowl reverts back to an eerie, loving gaze.

"College...1991. It was my first time leaving home, not that my abusive father wanted me there anyway. I was scared and alone. No friends, nothing. I was just getting back to the dorms from the library, and there you were, Luke. Your dreamy, brown eyes made my heart melt that day. You saw the sadness in my eyes, and you wanted to heal me. I know you did. That night, when you invited me out to the club with you and your fraternity brothers, something amazing sparked between us. We made love later that night...the best night of my life."

Lola briefly pauses her unsettling story, and leans down to kiss my lips. I quickly turn my head away; feeling her dry, cracked lips slide against my face.

"So many years...and now I finally have you. Although, after that incredible night of love making, I woke up to find that you were gone. I was upset at first; but I figured that you were just busy and didn't want to wake me up. You were always so sweet, Luke. Sadly, I never heard from you again; and, because we never got the chance to exchange numbers, I couldn't let you know that I was pregnant."

I feel a sick, knotted sensation in my stomach. I remember that night...she was just a one night stand! This can't be happening. Seeing my distraught expression, she smiles widely at me, revealing her three yellow teeth.

"Yes, Luke. It's true, Anduran is your son...well, was your son."

She begins to gently stroke my hair with her troubling stare locked into my eyes. Paralyzed from shock, I do not pull or look away. I just let the horrible truth flow from her lips into my head.

"Every single day, I would search for you; but with so many Lukes in the world, actually tracking you down proved to be quite the task. I searched and searched and searched, and searched some more! I'm sure you were doing the same, but I couldn't wait any longer. So, about 5 years ago, I started leaving you clues. You see, darling, I'd never let anyone come in between us...not even our own offspring. Oh, Anduran...he was always so helpful. With his help, we would kidnap the wives of men named Luke. After disposing of their worthless bodies, I'd leave only the wedding finger. The most obvious clue...a symbol of our lost love. I must've gone through over a hundred women, but I knew I'd find you. Remember? 2 months ago? You were out jogging..."

Nearly vomiting, I let out an appalled groan. I know exactly the time she's referring to. It was late at night, and I had decided to go for a run around my neighborhood. About half-way around the block, I saw this creepy old woman, just standing as still as stone in the dead center of the road. She was wearing the same puffy, pink dress. She stared directly at me as she stood frozen in the dim light of the street lamp. I was so freaked out that I instantly turned around and called it a night. She must've followed me home.

"Yes...I remember," I croak.

Lola Eva's tremulous smile widens as a tear of joy rolls down her face. After dabbing the corners of her eyes with her withered dress, she continues.

"I'm so happy that you feel the same way about me as I feel about you. Yes...three nights ago, while your wife and kids were away, Anduran and I stopped by. I used my key to let myself in; slipped you some of my special medication, while you were sleeping; had Anduran threw you in the van and brought you home with me. I know that I already told you this at the club, but I'm a chemist. If I want to make you sleepy, I can. If I want to make you sick, I can. If I want to temporarily erase your memory, I can do that, too. The latter of those three, I had to use on our little Anduran. He was such a good boy at first; but, as he got older, things changed.

He had just finished carrying you down the ladder, and I let my excitement get the best of me. I accidentally informed little Anduran that you were his father. What he did not understand was that you weren't going to die like the other men. The only reason that I needed to keep you downstairs was to hide you from the police; but Anduran thought we were going to hurt you like we did the others. So he tried to save you. Instead of following my orders to tie you up, he disobeyed his own mother, and tied me up instead. Although, when the clumsy oaf went to go back up for some food, he slipped on the ladder and fell to the floor. It was a hard enough drop to knock him out, but definitely not enough to induce memory loss. I knew I could make him believe that he had lost his memory from the fall with the right dosage of my special serum; and that's exactly what I did.

After freeing myself from his poorly tied knots, I cut him in the back of the head with my dagger to resemble a head injury from the fall. Then, I injected the memory loss serum directly into his wound. I needed him to carry you back up the ladder, so I left him vocal clues using the phone and the recording upstairs. I figured that, if he heard my voice for only a moment, he would make the motherly connection and obey the commands. I simply used a different tone while I was pretending to be Nicole, and he stayed as dumb as a rock. To avoid his memory returning, he could not make any eye contact with me, hear my voice for too long, or see the majority of my face. So, after strategically placing the pieces of my plan, I tied you and myself up. Of course, I had to leave one arm free; but men never notice anything.

All I could do at that point was wait. I was hoping my voice wouldn't be enough to trigger his memory, but I was wrong. As soon as he remembered who you and I were, he wanted to come after me. He knew you would try to stop him, so he had to take care of you first. When he leaned down to strike you on the floor, I took the opportunity to inject him in his wound with a second dose of my memory loss medication. It was not a lot, but just enough to convince him to carry you to the bed upstairs. Once you were sufficiently chained, I attempted to lock Anduran in the bathroom. Obviously, the serum wore off before I could trap him, and well...here we are."

She lets out a laugh as if she had just said something charming. This has to be a nightmare! I desperately dart my eyes around the room for something...anything, but I know there's no hope. I look up at her with the utmost sorrow in my eyes and plead, "Please...can you find it in your heart to let me go? I have children."

Lola slowly creaks her head to the side, almost positioning her cheek parallel with the bed. Her obsessed, psychotic glare stays glued on me as she raises a syringe filled with purple liquid to my face. She licks her cracked lips, and then flashes her toothless smile. I let out an emphatic, horrified gasp as she swiftly sticks the syringe into my neck. My entire world slows down. I can only make out a hazy image of Lola Eva speaking.

"Your children don't matter anymore, Luke. With the dose that you're about to take, you'll never remember them again. I'm all that you'll ever know."