The Lounge

The blood-curdling screams came from behind the enormous red door with the heavy lion knocker, it almost startled me. What was going on behind those doors and why was the mysterious woman not fazed by the horrific sounds? What was I doing here? I couldn’t save her, could I?

Earlier that day was the same as any other day, at least in the morning. That afternoon, something felt off to me. But why? Was it because I had forgotten my cell phone at home? Most days it was attached to my hip. Or was it because I forgot to call my mom this morning to tell her happy birthday.

My office phone rings but I was in the middle of writing an important report that had to go out today, so it could be in tomorrow’s paper. I let it go to voicemail and I don’t answer it until I have free time a couple hours later. I click the message and it was my sister saying that she was out buying our mom some flowers to send to her and she was stopping by my house to get the gift. I called her back but all I heard was the phone ringing until it went to voicemail. I tried her again and that time I left a message for her. I figured she’d get back to me soon.

It was lunch time, so I decided to go home on my lunch hour to see if she was still there. The car ride over there was only about ten minutes but again something felt weird to me. Why hadn’t my sister called me back? She’s always on her phone and usually answers the first time. I parked the car in the driveway, I noticed that her car was still out front under the tree she regularly parked under. I’m glad she was still there because we needed to talk about dinner plans tonight for mom.

I walked up the steps to the front of my house, I observed how sad my house looked. It needed a new paint job, and my shutters were falling apart. The yard was also in need of work as it had leaves everywhere, weeds took over the flower bed and the grass needed a trim.

I cautiously walked through the front door and immediately noticed that the house was dead silent, I could’ve heard a pin drop on the floor. Now let me tell you, my sister is extremely loud in nature. She can’t help but be the loudest person in the room. As I wandered through to the kitchen, I saw a bouquet of lilies, my mom’s favorite flowers. I’m so glad Stacy bought those ones; I wanted my mom to feel extra special today because it’s been almost a year since my dad had past and she needed to feel happy again. I called Stacey’s name but no response. I looked to my left of the kitchen and that’s when I saw a wine glass shattered on the floor. A bloody handprint stained the white carpet in the living room, along with a kitchen knife. I ran up the stairs, to no avail, Stacy was nowhere to be found. I rushed into my bedroom where I found my phone sitting on the bedside table. I picked it up and had three missed phone calls on it from her. I went to call her and again no answer, it just rang and rang. Then I heard it, her ringtone downstairs. I rushed back down the stairs and found her purse sitting in the dining room, along with her coat. Where was she? What happened to my sister?

Her phone rang, and I immediately answered it. A heavy breath is on the other end.

“If you want to see her again, you’ll do as I say.”

The voice gave me the chills. Who was that?

It continued…. “Go to the bank and pull out two hundred thousand dollars. I will call you when you finish.”

I ran through the front door and hurried to the car. Turned it on, pumped the gas and made my way to the highway. I got to the bank and walked cautiously through the front door. I went to the atm and got out five hundred dollars on one card and another five hundred on my other three cards, I now had two thousand so far, but that’s not enough. I walked to the teller and asked for her to take out a hundred thousand dollars from my savings and the rest of the money from my debit card. She paused and told me that she had to get her manager’s approval. Five minutes had passed, the manager came and told me that it would take him an hour to collect the full amount.

As I sat waiting, I wandered who the man was on the phone and why he had my sister.

The manager called my name and gave me a bag full of money. He gave me a strange look and I told him it was for a down payment on a house. Again, he looked at me strange but let me walk off. As I got into the car, the phone rang and for a minute I sat there letting the ring pierce my ears as I filled with panic. I picked it up.

“Drive to 51 Fairview way and ask for Fred. He will give you a package in exchange for the money, he’s expecting you soon.”

I hung up the phone and drove to the address. The sun was setting, and I still had no idea where my sister was or why they took her. I pulled up to the house and it’s practically a mansion. The yard work was all done and the pillars on the house were huge. It was all white with a big dark grey door that had a small window up at the top in place of a peep hole. I went up to the door with my bag of money and rang the doorbell. The window opened and the man asked me for a password. I told him that I was there for Fred, he was expecting me. The man closed the window abruptly and the locks on the door unclicked. He opened the door and moved to the side to let me through. I walked in and examined my surroundings; this house was like a palace.

“You must be Mike.”

I told him I am and asked how he knew my name. He said that my friend on the phone told him and that I was here with the money. He held out his hand for the money and I reluctantly gave it to him. He walked out of the room and came back minutes later. He handed me a small package wrapped in brown paper. He gave me a slip of paper with an address, and I turned to walk out the door.

“That package is to be delivered, you don’t want to know what happened to the last guy that opened it.”

I looked down at the package and then at the slip of paper and walked out the door. I went down the driveway to my car and started it up. I put the address into my phone’s GPS system and took off. By now it’s all dark outside and it had rained on the way there. I parked around the corner, hoping not to be seen.

A black Mercedes sat with the motor running as smoke floods the alley from its tail pipe. I stepped in a puddle on the wet pavement from the late-night rain that came from the angry clouds above. The alley was eerily dark with the smell of iron from the blood stains that trailed the ground up to the door. Then I saw her.

Her hair was the color of an autumn day after the tree leaves had turned orange. She stood like a modern-day model on the cover of a fashion magazine. Her hand on her hip as she ogled her freshly done French tip nails. She wore a tight black latex body suit that complemented her body, along with knee high red leather boots. Her lips were perfectly symmetrical with a bright rose lipstick. A pale complexion makes her shine under the dim light.

I walked up to her cautiously, she stared me down.

“Hey there sweetheart.”

I replied with a hey.

“Can I help you with something sugar?”

“Yeah, I need to get inside.”

“What’s the password sugar?”

“I was hoping your pretty little self could help me get in. I need to deliver this special package.”

“I see… Looks like it’s pretty big.”

“Yeah, and it’s all for you if you let me through that door.”

“Hmmm…… I guess I could let you in sweetheart.”

“Thanks babe.”

The model opened the door as another scream escaped with it. She walked me down a long hallway, until we came to a black curtain. She opened it slightly and gestured for me to walk through. I carefully made my way through and saw a room filled with people. The sight was the most horrific thing I had ever seen. There were at least fifty people there, drinking and sniffing drugs off their side tables. The women were in cages dancing on a pole in lingerie as the men poked them with iron taser rods. Men were throwing money at their cages as if they were animals and made crude comments as if they were nothing. There were individual rooms to the side where you could take one of the girls there and pay for what you wanted. I scanned the room to see who I was supposed to be meeting. I saw a black door with a bodyguard in front of it and knew the man I wanted to speak to was behind that door. How would I get past him? I casually walk up to him and told him I had a package to deliver.

“No one gets through without boss’s permission.”

“Bro, I’m here to deliver this package to him, he knows I’m coming.”

“I ain’t your bro.”

He cracked his knuckles and made a fist.

“Ok bro, sorry but I need to give this to him.”

“What did I just say, you wanna fight me?”

“No sorry man, can you just call him?”

“Go away or I’ll throw you out of here.”

I tried to sneak past him and then he grabbed me will full force. He took me to the ground and crushed one of my ribs. We got up and started throwing haymakers left and right. He’s way bigger than me so I didn’t know how I was going to beat him. What am I going to do? He punched me in the face and my nose started gushing blood. I’m on the floor and that’s when I hit him with the package in the face. It busted wide open, and he fell to the ground. He got the white substance in his eyes and had no way to see. I ran past him and stormed into the room. My sister was tied up on a black leather couch along with four other girls. Her makeup ran down her face from all the crying she had done. There’s no one in the room besides them so I rushed to her and untied her hands, then her feet and took out the mouth gag. She hugged me immediately as if she hadn’t seen me in years. I helped her to her feet and then a loud crash came from behind.

Her boyfriend stood behind her in a puddle of gin as he watched us get to our feet. He yelled out to the other men in the room, and they came rushing in. We sprinted to the door and make a run for the car. As we went through the main door, we made the beautiful door keeper fall to her knees. We turned the corner, make it to the car and I revved the engine, so we could get the hell out of there. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw a black car had followed us. I drove like a mad man swerving left then right and turned every corner I could.

We made it to my mom’s house unscathed. What the hell were we going to do? My sister went to the couch to sit and started talking to us.

“What happened? Why did they kidnap you?”

“Jake said that he was using me this whole time to get more drugs. He told me I wasn’t the only girl and that’s why there were other girls there. He tricked them into it too.”

“Well, he’s not going to like that I busted his stash. Now he has nothing.”

“What are we going to do? They’re going to find out we’re here.”

“We need to get out of here, all of us. Mom, pack a bag, we’re leaving in five.”

We didn’t even stop by my house or her apartment. We got into the car and took off for the road. We didn’t know where we’ll go, but as long as we were safe together.