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Date Posted: 18:37:24 03/30/03 Sun
Author: Felicity
Author Host/IP: acc1-ppp49.bnb.dialup.connect.net.au / 210.10.223.49
Subject:

New Novelist
In reply to: Bridget 's message, "For aspiring writers" on 21:23:09 05/14/02 Tue

Soft moonlight filtered through the curtains. A fresh breeze invaded the room, causing goose pimples to scurry down Dympha�s bare arms.
She was wondering what had awoken her, when a dark shadow drifted past her bedroom window.
She froze, although she couldn�t hear stealthy footsteps, intuition told her she wasn�t the only one up at this lonely hour of night.
Clyde, her three-year-old cocker spaniel, was sitting by her bed, alert and growling softly.
After a few moments of uncertainty, she decided to investigate.

Getting out of bed, she stood up, putting on the robe she always kept nearby. Now completely awake, she wasn�t so sure she�d seen anything, perhaps it had been a tree, it�s branches moved by the breeze. So why had Clyde acted so strangely? As if to confirm her suspicions, a loud crash resonated from downstairs.

Oh *beep*, he�s found me!

She nearly wet herself in fear.
Regaining control just in time, A new feeling overcame her.
Not one of fear,
But anger, because someone had invaded her sanctuary, her home.

With her eye�s finally adjusted to the moonlight; she tiptoed to her dresser. Opening the top drawer, she extracted her Smith and Weston. The feel of the sturdy pistol in her hand boosted her confidence.
She knew the gun was illegal, but didn�t particularly care. So many women could be alive today, if they had kept one in their home.
She was damned if she'd be another statistic.

With the pistol held tightly in her hand, she hurried to the bedroom door, confident that the shag pile carpet would muffle her footsteps. Once there, she Put her ear against the cold wood and listened for any suspicious sounds, after a few minutes of not hearing any she slowly started to turn the doorknob.

Easing the door open a few inches, she poked her head out part way.
Looking in both directions she couldn�t see anyone sneaking around in the hall. Dympha would�ve been satisfied but without any moonlight to guide her,
The intruder could be hiding in any number of shadows, waiting to pounce.

He could be anywhere

She knew if she stood there, frozen by indecision,
He would Eventually find her, so without another moments hesitation, she stepped out of her room. Closing the door behind her.
Once she was in the hall, she could see the head of the stairs.
She didn�t want to go down there but had no other choice, except to join Clyde, who was cowering under the bed.
As inviting as that sounded, she knew hiding would accomplish nothing.
Not wasting another minute, she headed towards the stairs,
Stairs that once looked familiar now looked as inviting as the fiery steps to hell.

Arriving at the staircase, she made her way down.
Treading from heel to toe, she tried to make as little noise as possible,
But random steps would give away her location by letting out creaks of protest.
Her beloved house had become her enemy, determined to rat her out and despite their many years together had sided with the intruder. Chuckling inwardly, she decided she must be losing her mind but the cold fear she was feeling at this moment did strange things to people.
Her fear was justified, because a simple prowler or rapist wouldn�t make her body shake or her heart beat so fast.
These prowlers would be scary, but they were nothing compared to who she thought awaited her. She�d been waiting for this moment, had prepared herself for it.
Ever since four years ago.

She remembered it well; it was a Friday night, she and her younger sister Cassie were watching the house. Their parents, attending a work function, wouldn�t be home until the early hours of the morning. Dympha rented scary videos, because they were grown up girls and could handle any horror some movie could throw at them.
Getting comfortable on the sofa together, she realised she�d forgotten to buy popcorn. Watching a movie without it just wasn�t the same.
Cassie said she would be fine while Dympha went to the 7-11 to pick some up. So quickly kissing her sister goodbye, Dympha headed outside to the carport.

The drive to the store was mostly uneventful. Except for the occasional hooligan with his car stereo blaring, it was also peaceful.
Dympha arrived at the store in about eight minutes then quickly parked her car. The stores neon sign read �open�, to Dympha it looked like a beacon not an attractive one but one that needed pulling down, she never liked neon, it gave her a headache. Once inside the store, she quickly found what she was looking for and headed to the counter.

Although she�d told herself before hand she wouldn�t get stuck listening to Millie, the store clerk, gossip, as usual she felt rude hurrying out without saying a word.
She ended up spending ten minutes hearing all about Millie�s next door neighbour, her affair with the milkman and that creepy old man across the road who Millie swore was stalking her. Trying not to seem abrupt, but not wanting to leave her sister alone too long, Dympha quickly paid for her goods and said goodbye.

The drive back was busier than she�d thought it would be. An accident on the road held her up for ten minutes and she had to fight traffic nearly all the way home.
When she did get there the first thing she noticed was the front door, bolted and locked when she left was now standing wide open. An invisible hand grabbed her stomach and twisted it, intent on ripping it in half. Chills raced up her spine almost rendering her immobile.

When she could move again, she ran, not caring who might be inside. The only thing on her mind was her sister - any amount of time could be vital.

Once inside, she slowed down.
The hallway in front of her seemed to go for miles, She stayed as close to the wall as possible, inching her way towards the loungeroom, sure she would be spotted any minute.
Reaching her destination unharmed, she was about to sneak in when she was hit from behind.
Pain filled her head
As she fell to the floor, she saw him, running to the door.
Cassie swung over his shoulder was screaming
�Dympha! Help, heeelp meeee�
As he reached the front door, he looked back at her.
She would never forget his face, a long scar ran from his cheekbone to his chin - his hair looked dirty and dull, his eyes were huge, the color of dirty icebergs and unlike his hair were shiny almost supernaturally so.
His body looked thin but strong.
Then he smiled at her, not a warm smile but cold and devoid of any human emotion, then he was gone, just like that.

Dympha tried to lift herself up, to go after her sister�s kidnapper
She just didn�t have the strength.
The blow had knocked out all her energy. By the time she could get up and get to the door, he was gone and so was Cassie.
Dympha spent hours searching for them, only stopping when she was picked up by a patrol car her parents had called.
Arriving home they found the girls missing and become worried. On the way back to the house she told the policeman everything, they told her that they would inform her parents and that none of it was her fault, that there was nothing she could have done.

Dympha knew the truth. She knew she had failed, failed her little sister, failed her parents and ultimately failed herself.

That was four years ago.
Ever since that night she had been waiting, sure that her sisters kidnapper would hunt her down.
Eradicating the only witness to his devious act.
That moment had come and although she wasn�t as prepared as she�d hoped to be, at least she had a weapon.
Something she should have had all that time ago because if she had maybe her sister would be here today.
Her sister, that never had a chance to become a woman.

Stopping this trail of thought before it consumed her, she made her way down.
Once at the bottom of the stairs she stood, indecisive.
Her ears became ultra sensitive and were tuning into every noise no matter how small or insignificant.
She stopped, waiting for a sound, any sound that would pinpoint the intruder�s whereabouts.
After ten minutes she decided it was getting her nowhere fast.
So swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, she forced her jelly legs to move and slowly made her way towards the lounge room.
She was halfway there when she saw a movement from the corner of her eye.
A strength that she previously didn�t possess filled her body.
Before the intruder had a chance to react, she swivelled around raising the pistol as she went, and brought it down hard on what she hoped was his head.
A cry of pain was followed by a loud thump.
Not taking her eyes of the pale shape, Dympha groped for the light switch, after a few moments of fumbling, she found it and flicked it on.
A mellow light filled the hall, exposing her late night visitor.
What she saw sprawled out on the floor shocked her. For it was not the monster she had been expecting but a young girl.
A petite girl with long red hair, she wore frayed jeans that had seen better days and an oversized sweater.
The girl looked about nineteen. The same age Cassie would be if she hadn�t been whisked away in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. She had fair skin and wore a dirty pair of Reeboks on her feet.

After a few moments she began to shift position, and slowly raised her face towards Dympha.

Dympha was about to interrogate her visitor when she spoke.
�You look just like she said you would�
A little wary Dympha asked
�What are you talking about?�
Then Dympha heard the words she had waited forever to hear. The words she thought she would only ever hear in her dreams
�Your sister, your sister talks about you constantly. She said, if one of us escaped. We had to find you, to let you know she was ok�
Dympha felt light headed, like she might collapse at any moment.
Could what this girl was saying be true? Could Cassie be alive?
She had so many questions but standing in the hall wasn�t the place to ask them.
Extending her hand, She lifted the small girl to her feet.
�Are you ok? I�m sorry for ambushing you, it�s just that you had me so scared, come into the loungeroom, I�ll get us a nice warm drink and bandage you up then we can discuss this in front of the fire, if that�s ok with you?�
The girl smiled in return. A cute smile, innocent but somewhat troubled. This girl had been through a lot in her short lifetime.
�That sounds great! My names Sandy by the way�
Dympha shook Sandy�s hand.
�Nice to meet you Sandy, take a seat in the lounge, it�s just around the corner there�
She pointed towards the loungeroom.
�I�ll be with you in a minute�
�Sure�
As Sandy headed to the lounge, Dympha made her way to the kitchen.
Once there she put her pistol in a safe place, grabbed a handful of bandages from the kitchen drawer and shoved them in her pocket.
Then set herself to the task of making hot chocolate, anything to keep her mind of current events until she knew the whole story.
Making hot chocolate with frayed nerves, fragile hopes and shaking hands wasn�t an easy task. She took nearly fifteen minutes.
On the way to the loungeroom she spilled hot chocolate at least a dozen times, scolding her bare legs each time.
Back in the loungeroom, she was relieved to put the cups down and took her place next to Sandy on the sofa. While she�d been in the kitchen the girl had gotten comfortable and made a new friend.
Clyde. The yellow dog had come out of his hidey-hole to say hello to their new visitor. Laying on his back at Sandy�s feet, Clyde was getting a belly rub and looked like he was not on the loungeroom floor, but was instead in doggy heaven.
Dympha had to laugh at the dopey look on his face, turning her attention to Sandy she smiled.
�Hes spoilt rotten that dog�
Sandy looked up for the first time since Dympha entered the room
�Thanks for not just kicking me out, I would have understood if you had�
�Why would I do that? You�re the only hope I have left, the only hope of seeing my sister alive, now tell me where she is? Is she ok?�
Suddenly, Sandy�s face screwed up and she started crying. Dympha moved closer to the girl and put her arm around her shoulders
�There there, you�re safe now ok? I will make sure of it, now what�s wrong?�

Wiping her tears away Sandy shifted position to get more comfortable, and told her story.

Sandy had only been seventeen at the time; she had kissed her parents goodnight and had fallen asleep. Dreaming of wild horses she�d been rudely awoken by a strange man.
Quickly he�d covered her mouth to block any scream that might alert her parents, then silently he�d carried her through the house.
Hustling her outside towards a large van, which was parked in front,
He blindfolded her with some sort of rag and secured her hands firmly behind her back.
She remembers being given an injection, she had no idea what it could�ve been. But with in a few minutes she�d passed out.
She wasn�t completely sure how long they had her in the van because she had no sense of time at all.
The drugs, making her incapable of any rational thinking. She did remember waking a few times and thought she could see the sun through a gap in the floor but then her captor would drug her and she would be asleep again.
Eventually the van stopped, the back door was pulled open, again she felt herself being flung over bony shoulders. It was a rough ride until she was put on solid ground.
She was half carried, half dragged across what felt like carpeted floor then shoved through an opening of some kind. Sandy only knew this because her shoulder hit something solid.
She then heard a door shut, and the turn of a key.

Scared and confused, she thought she was alone. When she felt someone untie her hands, then light flooded her eye�s as her blindfold was removed.
Standing in front of her was a young girl the same age as her.
Looking around she was amazed to find dozens of other girls, all young, all obviously abused.
The room also had a huge heated pool surrounded by green marble tiles, mink rugs were everywhere and through an adjoining archway there were at least a dozen beds covered with silk and scattered with cushions
Unable to find an answer to what was happening, she turned to the girl who had untied her.

That girl�s name was Cassie. She told Sandy the very same thing had happened to all the girls. She also explained that no matter how beautiful the rooms looked, this place was full of evil. Not the supernatural kind, but the kind that resides in the hearts of some men.

These men seeked power. Power they found in Orgy�s, in money and in domination. Every girl in the room had been subjected to rape and beatings, and none of them could figure a way to escape. Worst of all - what sent a cold fear into each girls heart, was not the endless torment or humiliation.
It was caused by the disappearances. Every so often, a girl would vanish, never to be seen again.
Cassie didn�t believe for one minute they had been set free, a few times she and the other girls had heard bone chilling screams in the middle of the night. Screams that they would never stop hearing for the rest of their lives.

Sandy was only in the house for a year when she found a way to escape. During that year Cassie had described her sister numerous times. Making Sandy promise that if she ever managed to escape, she would hunt Dympha down and let her know her little sister was still alive.
So one night after she had been attacked by one of the men. Who was quite drunk and carelessly left the door unlocked, Sandy escaped. It hadn�t been easy with the attack dogs, security was tight. Luckily during her stay, she�d gotten quiet friendly with the animals so it hadn�t been too hard to get past them. The fence had been a problem at first, hidden in some shrubs she�d nearly given up when someone opened the gate to leave, that�s when she made her break for freedom.
Once outside the fence she�d spotted a dirt road.
Quickly she�d made a dash for it, once on the track, she kept well hidden amongst trees the whole way, eventually coming to a highway where she decided to hitchhike. The family who picked her up was an elderly couple who were travelling back to Sydney after vacation.
As soon as she arrived in Sydney, she started her search for Cassie�s sister.

By the time Sandy had finished her story, Dympha had a cup of luke warm chocolate that she hadn�t touched.
After learning what these men did to her little sister, her instinct was to find the bastards and cut their balls off.
However.
Rushing in unprepared could get everyone killed.
She was so close to being reunited with her sister, it would be stupid to ruin it now.

Sandy had become very quiet, she was looking in her cup as if it would fortell something of her future.
This fragile little girl had been through hell.
Dympha moved closer to Sandy putting an arm around her trembling shoulders.
�I know your upset right now Sandy, but I need to ask you one thing?�
The girl sighed in resignation then nodded her head.
�When you escaped why didn�t you go to your parents? Why come to me instead?�
Sandy�s eyes widened to the size of small saucers.
�No I couldn�t, they would call the police! All the girls would be killed�
Dympha only met Sandy less than an hour ago but believed her already, they would have to do this alone.
Right now Sandy looked too tired to lift her cup and Dympha wasn�t much better herself, she decided they both needed a good sleep before they made any rescue plans at all. First, Dympha needed to bandage Sandy�s head which was forming a nasty bump, on the lounge next to her Sandy let out a loud yawn
�Come on sleepy head, you need some sleep, we can discuss this in the morning ok?�
�Ok�
�First, I need to fix the damage I caused�
Seeming to notice it for the first time, Sandy rubbed the lump on her forehead and winced
Pulling the bandage out of her pocket Dympha leaned over the girl, firmly wounding the bandage around her bump then securing it with a clip
�There you go. Do you want the bathroom before you go to bed?�
�Yes please�
Slowly, Sandy got up, Dympha showed her where the bathroom was. While she was gone, Dympha got a pillow some sheets and a spare pair of pyjamas, she pulled out the sofa bed and made it up. Putting the Pj�s on the end of the bed she waited for Sandy to return.

She heard the toilet flush, a few minutes later Sandy came back into the room.

Pointing to the sofa bed Dympha said �I set this up. I hope it�s warm enough,
There�s some Pyjama�s for you aswell�
�Thanks�
Dympha turned away as sandy started to undress but not quickly enough to miss the large red welts on the girl�s back. She decided not to bring it up, the girl was distressed enough as it was. When she turned around, Sandy was just getting into bed.
�Ok. I�m going to bed now. If there is anything you need, just give me a yell, I�ll be upstairs�
Pulling the doona up to her chin, Sandy said �Thankyou, thankyou for everything you�ve done for me�
�That�s ok Sandy, see you in the morning�

Physically and emotionally drained, Dympha went upstairs. Once in her room, she removed her gown and hopped straight into bed. The glowing numerals on her clock read 2:30am, she set the alarm for 8.00am.
her birthday was tomorrow, it would probably be the most eventful day of her life. She feel asleep instantly, dreaming of an endless maze, in witch her sister was a mere figure in the distance, seeming to have no more substance than a shado

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