The Ensnared (4 page)

“Help!” Melissa spluttered as her
legs slipped. Jennifer let out a surprised cry of her own as her head dipped
into the water. “I can’t do this!”

A hand pulled her shoulder up in
the dark and Melissa let go of Jennifer’s hand.

“Jen!” she said and reached out for
her friend. When she only felt water, she could feel her panic rising.

“I’ve got her!” Rafe said. “Follow
my voice. I think I can make out where the islet is.”

“Jen, are you okay?” Melissa asked.
Her heart was beating rapidly when seconds passed and she still hadn’t heard
Jennifer’s voice.

“I’m fine!” her friend responded
finally.

“Come on guys, swim faster.” Fiona
said.

Melissa turned to look behind her
and whimpered when she saw the five riders staring below at them. She looked on
the other side and saw that the police officer was no longer standing there.

Melissa kicked her feet harder and
made her way towards the sound of Rafe’s voice. If she got out of this alive,
she would forgive Mark. She would call up her parents and go to their choice of
school. She would do anything if she got out of this alive!

“I’m getting tired!” Fiona called.

“It should be around here.” Rafe
said. As her vision grew accustomed to the dimness, Melissa could see
Jennifer’s arm around Rafe and she hoped they would find the islet soon. What
if Rafe got too tired? She would never forgive herself if something happened to
Jennifer.

“Up ahead!” Fiona said. “I think I
see something.”

Melissa felt her legs starting to
cramp and peered into the darkness to search for whatever Fiona had seen. She
hoped Fiona was right and that they had already reached the islet. She didn’t
know how much longer she could keep up. Her breath came out in loud gasps and
the icy water around her was splashing painfully on her skin.

“We’re here.” Rafe announced.

Melissa could make out Rafe
climbing onto the artificial land and started to move her arms faster. Just a
few more feet and then she could finally rest. The cold water was too punishing
on her arms and legs.

For what seemed like an hour,
Melissa finally felt land beneath her hands. She pulled herself on it and
breathed heavily. Her lungs felt smaller and her throat burned.

“Everyone okay?” Rafe gasped.

Melissa turned herself so that she
was lying on her back. She wished she could just wave her hand in answer, but
it was too dark for anyone to notice her gestures.

“Mel?” Jennifer asked in a small
voice. “Melissa, are you here?”

Melissa coughed then and found
herself unable to stop for several minutes. “I’m fine.” she managed between
gasps. “Just out of breath.” Her feet hurt, her shoulders were in an agonizing
knot, but what hurt worse was her head. The cold winds and the swim in the
freezing water had caused her head to feel as if large boulders were weighing
down on it.

“Are there trees here?” Fiona
asked.

“A small forest more like it.”
Jennifer stated. “I thought you said this was an artificial land.”

“So I’ve read.” Rafe said. “There
was some work going on here but was stopped abruptly for mysterious reasons.”

Melissa got up on her feet and
followed the voices of her new friends. She could make out trees in front of
her and she walked towards them. She felt her feet kick a small heap and
Melissa bent down to feel the small mound.

“I’m glad they did, or God knows if
we would have found a place to escape in.” Jennifer said.

Melissa let her hands travel over
the small mound and she caught her breath when she felt a block of cement. Her
fingers traced it and as they travelled all over it, an image started to form
and she realized what she could have possibly stumbled upon.

“On the other hand, there could
have been all sorts of amenities here.” Fiona said.

“You think anyone would have helped
us?” Rafe snickered. “The police officers in this city are really helpful,
don’t you think?”

“You don’t live here?” Jennifer
asked.

“Moved here a few months ago.” Rafe
said.

Melissa looked up at the dark
figures of her friends and got up slowly. Her hands were trembling and her
stomach started to churn, ready to dispose off its contents. She could feel her
fear building inside her, ready to overwhelm her. “There’s something here.” She
said in a wavering voice.

Rafe, Fiona and Jennifer walked
over to her. “What is it?” Jennifer asked. “Mel, what’s wrong?”

Melissa felt her tears rolling down
her face. She had never been so scared in her life. A gust of cold wind swept
over her then and she shivered. “There are graves here!” she said. “Five of
them!”

“So this is where they were buried.”
Rafe said, kneeling down beside her.

Fiona came to him and almost
tripped over Melissa’s feet. Melissa grabbed her arm just in time and felt how
wet and cold Fiona’s skin was.

“What are you talking about?”
Jennifer asked.

Rafe unzipped a pocket in his
jacket and brought out a small flashlight. “The riders.” he said.

“What about them?” Melissa asked.

“Everyone should have just listened
to me.” Rafe sighed as he moved the flashlight over the tombstones. The
inscription had been worn away and Melissa could barely make out the names
written on them.

“Will you stop with that?” Fiona
said. “What you said was so ridiculous. How could you expect us to believe all
that?”

“Will someone tell us something?”
Melissa asked, getting irritated. Why did Rafe and Fiona think it was a good
time to hide things from them? They were in serious trouble and in lieu of what
had happened tonight, she was ready to believe anything and everything.

Rafe got up and tried to dust the
sand off his wet trousers, with little success. “It’s something that happened
years ago. Five motorcycle riders were killed on this very road. The story goes
that these five riders were the most feared vandals this city had ever seen.”

“So?” Jennifer asked. “What has
that got to do with everything that has happened here tonight?”

“The cops could never catch them
because they were that clever and fast. So they laid a trap.” Rafe said. “They
only meant to catch them alive and imprison them, but something went horribly
wrong.”

Melissa hugged herself and turned
back towards the Promenade. It was too quiet all of a sudden. She couldn’t hear
the riders talking or the sounds of their motorcycles.

“The cops had spilled some sort of grease
on the road.” Rafe continued. “One of the riders was lighting up a cigarette
and accidentally dropped a lit match on the road. All five of them burned to
death.”

“Are you implying that those were
ghosts up there?” Fiona asked and Melissa could hear the disbelief in her
voice.

“Every three years, on a night when
there’s a crescent moon, these… demons appear, to exact their revenge.”

“But we didn’t do anything!”
Melissa cried. “We’re new here. We all are. Keith, Shane and Sara didn’t
deserve to die like that!”

“No they didn’t!” Rafe said. “They
shouldn’t have died like that, but they did! And it’s all because of a stupid
superstition!”

“What superstition?” Jennifer
asked.

“The people in the city believe
that if they can offer some sort of sacrifice, the demons would go away.” Rafe
said. “They planned this. I tried to warn all of them to get out of here but no
one listened to me. I should have tried harder to make everyone listen to me!”

In the dark, Melissa could see
Fiona put her hand on Rafe’s shoulder as he sobbed quietly.

“It’s never going to end!” he cried.
“Not until we’re all dead! If those demons don’t kill us, the people in this
city will!”

“We’re safe here now.” Fiona said.
“We’ll hide here until dawn and then find a way out of this city.”

Jennifer walked over to Melissa and
stood close to her.

“We’ll be safe here right?” she
whispered to her.

“I hope so.” Melissa said. “Can we please
find a spot away from the graves?”

Rafe switched on his flashlight
again and led them to the other side of the land. Melissa sat down next to a
shrub and looked up at the crescent moon. A couple more hours and then it would
be daylight. Jennifer sat down next to her and lay down on the sand.

Melissa hugged her knees and looked
at the other side of the lagoon. There were houses there and that meant there
were people living there. It was a long swim, but they could probably make it.
But what would happen when they reached the other side? What if the people
living in those houses were hostile too?

“We should all get some sleep.”
Fiona said. “We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

Melissa brushed her hand against
the sand and looked for stones or pebbles in the dark. The last thing she
wanted was to crack her skull open on a rock. When she felt only smooth powdery
sand, she lay down and stared at the stars above her. She could hear Jennifer
softly crying before her, but she couldn’t muster up the energy to console her,
especially when she needed someone to console her.

She wished Mark was still with her.
She had always felt so protected when she was near him. If they had still been
together, she wouldn’t have been in the Promenade in the first place. She would
have been in one of his favorite hangouts listening to him as he boasted about
how his culinary skills were impeccable.

Melissa turned to the other side
and stared at the shrub. In the dark, she couldn’t make out what kind of shrub
it was, but it was better than staring at the graves on the other side of the
land. The fact that the graves were fifteen feet from her, made her feel uneasy
and she deliberated asking Fiona and Rafe to just swim across right now.

She opened her mouth to suggest it
when she heard soft snores coming from Jennifer. It had been an awful night and
everyone was exhausted. The swim across would probably require every bit of
energy they had. Besides, Rafe would have to swim with Jennifer on his back.

Melissa started to feel her eyelids
getting heavier. They were safe here for the time being and she could allow
herself to rest a little. She yawned and closed her eyes. Tomorrow things would
be different. Tomorrow would be safer.

The first thing Melissa heard was
the low hum of an electric motor. Her initial thought was that she had fallen
asleep in her cooking class and that someone was using the blender on her left.
She hadn’t been doing exceptionally well in her classes and the last thing she
needed was to be reprimanded for sleeping in one.

She willed herself to open her
eyes, but found that she was too tired right now. It had been a long night, and
she hadn’t gotten any sleep. If her teacher scolded her, she would lie to her
that she had been up all night, studying.

It was then that Melissa realized
that she couldn’t be in her class. Weren’t her classes for the semester over?
She could sense the warmth of the sun on her skin and it felt  too hot for it
to be either spring or autumn.

Melissa ran her hands over, looking
for her sheets and instead felt a hard surface beneath her. Her thought came
rushing in then. She wasn’t in a classroom; she was hiding from the riders on
an artificial land. But she was absolutely certain that she had fallen asleep
under that stars and on the soft sand. Yet she now appeared to be lying on a
hard surface that was gradually heating up under her.

Her eyes snapped open and she
pushed herself up. She uttered a gasp when she saw that she was lying on the
middle of the road. She tried getting up, only to realize that lying on a hard
surface for so long had cramped up her limbs. She blinked quickly, trying to
erase what appeared to be a dream. There were newspapers and broken glass lying
on the road. One of the trash bins was on fire and filthy cardboard boxes were scattered
around.

Melissa plucked up all the energy
she could muster and pulled herself up. Her knees buckled, but she saved
herself from falling at the last second. She looked around her and saw that the
streets were still empty and that she was inside a cage.  The entire street was
blocked by a large fence that ran all around her.

“Jenny?” she called out. “Rafe?
Fiona?”

She walked towards the fence and
tried pushing on it. When it didn’t budge, she ran to her left and gasped when
she saw that the way to the lagoon was also obstructed by the fence. She was
trapped! The metallic fence was now running all around her, barricading any
exit.

“Hello?” she called out but heard
no answer. “Where is everyone?”

She ran on the other side and saw
that the grocery store had inevitably burned to the ground. She looked at the
small restaurant and rushed towards it. She pulled on the door and found it
locked.

“Can anyone help me?” she called.
She spotted a brick lying idly near a recycling bin and picked it up. There
might be a phone inside and even though she wouldn’t call anyone in the city
for help, perhaps she could call someone in a nearby town. Or her parents.