Chained Down

The chain of her locket made her red, swollen fingers throb with a dull ache. Holding the chain with one hand, she ran the heart-shaped pendant along the links in a practiced motion with the other.

Her mind wandered as she aimlessly shuffled down the long hallway. One of the lights flickered as she passed under it. A frown tugged at her lips as she watched the blinking shadows dance around her. She would have to find a way to change that out eventually.

Gasping, she was distracted from the flashing lights as a sharp pain cut through her finger. The chain of her necklace had finally bitten through her swollen flesh, and blood was now trickling from her fresh wound. Staring at it, she watched in a trance as the blood made its sluggish way onto her hand. A drop gathered next to the lifeline on her palm and grew larger and larger until it could no longer hold its own weight. It fell to the floor.

Breaking out of her daze, she held her hand up higher and made her way back down the aisle.

“Hey, mom! Where are the bandaids, again? I accidentally cut myself!”

Going in the direction indicated, she held her hand even higher than before and ignored the fiery ache of the cut as it throbbed with every heartbeat. The trail of blood had almost reached her elbow by the time she had found the bandaids and Neosporin.

Looking over, she caught her little sister laughing at her from across the aisle.

“Oh, haha, very funny, right? Go jump off a cliff. Don’t you have some new toys to play with or something?”

As she put her first-aid supplies back where she found them, her tummy grumbled and she wondered when she had last eaten. Turning away from her sister, she started walking towards where she had hidden the chocolate-covered pretzels. Maybe it was mean to hog them, but if anyone else wanted some, they could ask!

Instinctively her hand went back up to the chain around her neck while the other reached out to touch the metal ridges of the shelving units as she walked by. Thunk, thunk, thunk. Her mind settled into the rhythm as she wound her way through the aisles.

Having reached the canned brussels sprouts, she pushed the top layer of cans out of the way and searched behind them to find the bags she had hidden. Everyone in her family hated brussels sprouts; there was no way they would look there for her secret stash. Opening the bag, she breathed deeply as the smell of chocolate overcame her senses. A small smile stole across her face.

Shoving a couple into her mouth, she slid to the concrete floor, munching happily. With her urge to devour chocolate satisfied, she decided that it was entirely too quiet and went in search of the electronics section.

Hoping she could find an old CD player in a dusty corner somewhere, she began pushing boxes aside. Sure enough, she found a battery-powered CD player in the back. Her quest for batteries followed.

Wandering through the aisles again, she came upon her brother lounging in a large, comfy recliner.

“Hey, Neil, do you know where the batteries are?” Apparently ignoring her question, Neil merely continued to lounge. “...Fine. Be a butt. I don’t need your help, but I’m telling Dad after this.”

Her quarry was probably near all the computers and televisions, anyways.

Finally locating the batteries, she dug into one of the packs and stuck them in the CD player. Now she just needed to decide what to listen to as she relaxed. Everyone else would probably complain, but they could just wait their turn. Carrying the CD player to the stacks of CDs, she eyed the different options. The Best Hits of Michael Jackson Bundle caught her eye. Tearing open the packaging, she pulled out the first CD and started to bop to the music as “Billie Jean” began to play.

Taking the CD player with her, she danced her way towards the front of the building. Grabbing an abandoned shopping cart, she began to fill it with random things: protein powder, dead flowers, Barbies, green beans, etc. Once the cart was filled satisfactorily, she went in search of her sister.

Finally finding Sarah, she grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the front of the store.

“I know you always complain about playing with me, but it’s not like we have anything better to do! Although, I did find several language books yesterday. Maybe I should start learning Chinese? We could learn it together! That could be fun!”

Making her sister stand in front of the cash register, she started playing checkout. While pretending to be a cashier, she asked all sorts of questions: what are the flowers for? Are you having a picnic? Are you from around here?

Sarah might have found it less than thrilling, but eventually, she gave in. They had a lot of fun together swaying to the music while Sarah made up ridiculous answers to the random questions.

Their fun came to an end, however, when their father called them back for dinner. Grabbing Sarah’s hand again, they made their way towards the patio section. It was lucky she had a cart already because her arms were too tired to carry all the food like she usually did.

Everyone sat in a circle as they discussed how their day had gone. She showed everyone her finger, and even Neil seemed to feel at least a little sorry for her. Pulling on the chain of her locket again, she gasped at the deep, dull throb of pain in her neck. Gently lifting her fingers to explore the tender area, she probed the skin carefully, only to withdraw with another sharp intake of breath. Perhaps she should put a bandage on her neck as well, better safe than sorry.

Deciding she would do that after dinner, she focused on her food again and idly wondered if she could figure out how to make churros. She had found pre-made dough and a machine to push it through. It was sure to be fun watching the twisty dough come out the other end. Her mouth watered at the thought of the warm cinnamon and sugar. Churros had always been her favorite when she would come here with her family before the… before… the...

Suddenly, she doubled over clutching her head in pain. She couldn’t think about that now. The lights were too bright, and the music too grating. It felt as if there was a drill behind her eye socket. Flailing her hand out, she tried to stop the music, but her erratic thrashing sent the player crashing to the floor. The silence eased the pounding in her skull, but the CD player was now broken. Oh, well. There were more where that came from. At least the batteries were still reusable.

Informing her family of the sudden headache, she decided that it was best to turn in for the night. Hearing no protests, she made her way to bed. Smiling at all of the soft, fuzzy blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals, she burrowed under the mountain of fluff. Closing her eyes and letting out a long sigh, she finally relaxed enough to drift off to sleep.

A jarring screech of metal on metal jolted her from her dreams. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she rocketed out of bed and ran towards her family.

“That was the door. Someone is at the door! What do I do?” She looked desperately at the blank faces that surrounded her. “WHAT DO I DO?! They’re trying to get in!”

The mannequins continued to stare at her in stony silence. They were completely useless in the face of this emergency and tears started to roll down her face as her eyes continued to dart between their empty faces.

Her hand automatically jumped to the heart-shaped locket. It felt heavy around her neck, and she was sure it was going to choke her. Pulling it away from her skin as hard as she could, the searing pain went unnoticed through the blind fear that was now consuming her. New rivulets of blood started to saturate her white shirt, slowly blooming like flowers over a snowy grave.

She lurched away in horror as another metallic scrape rent the air. Fear stole her breath and left her shaking.

They had come.