Page 81 of Ghost Hunted

“On your hands and knees, baby,” he growls. “Go on.”

“No.” I shake my head. “No, I don’t want to. I don’t want to be here. Let me go. If you’re not going to kill me, let me go.”

“I won’t kill you,” he says, his voice sounding sad. “But you are going to get on your hands and knees. Don’t make me force you.”

“No!”

He huffs out a sigh, then pushes me down in front of the cage. He presses his finger to some sort of sensor, inputs a code, and then I hear the metal jangle of a key in a lock.

“What is this?” I gasp. “What are you doing? I don’t want to get in there. I won’t. Give me back my bazooka!”

“Shh. It’s okay, Lia. Relax. Everything’s fine.”

But it doesn’t feel fine. It doesn’t feel fine at all. I cry out when he pushes me through the tiny door, which I can only fit through when I’m on my hands and knees, then locks it behind me.

“Please!” I cry. “Please, let me go! I don’t want to be here! I want my bazooka!”

I struggle against the bars, desperately trying to find some way back out. But the cage is made of thick, strong metal. I’m trapped.

At last, tired of my struggle, tired of the masked man sitting on the bed watching me, I inch back and take full stock of my situation.

I’m stark naked and trapped in a cage. There’s a pile of pillows and a comforter on one side, and that’s about it. I fall to the floor, choosing the side without the pillows, because I want to hurt.

I’m suffering, and I need to feel it on my skin so my heart can breathe. Curling into a little ball, I cry myself quietly to sleep.

24

Lia

When I emerge from my sleep, it’s to find myself in the warm arms of the masked man.

I’m still locked in my cage, but he must have crawled inside after me. I don’t know how he could possibly have fit through the small door, but he’s lying in the pile of pillows, holding me to him.

He’s fast asleep, and I sit up carefully, removing his heavy arm from my back. Then I hunt through his pocket for the key.

I vaguely remember he did some other things to open the door. But the key, I remember best, because it made a loud jangling sound.

Finding it, I first turn it over in my hands a few times, letting the feel of it soothe me. Then I crawl over to the door, sticking an arm out between the bars and trying to place the key in the lock without making any noise.

I manage it, and then… it turns.

My heart in my throat, I try to push open the door… and a loud alarm starts blaring, causing me to cry out in surprise.

At once, an arm hooks itself around my waist, while I see a hand input a code. 2403.

Then I’m pulled back and find myself lying across a lap.

“Stop!” I gasp. “Please, stop!”

“Remember the safe word, Lia?” says a stern voice.

“The… the what? What is it? What’s the safe word?”

I writhe around desperately, trying to escape his firm grip on my lower back.

“Good. Keep remembering it. You can say it at any time.”

“But I don’t… I don’t know… I don’t know what it… stop! Stop!”