Caged in Darkness by J. D. Stroube Page B

myself onto
the bed and her restless movements quieted. I held her face,
smoothed her cheek with my thumb, and sang lightly in her ear.
Savannah curled her body around mine.
    I felt strange being in her bed when she
wasn’t aware I was there, and tried to detach myself, but she
pulled me in closer. I laid on my back with her legs tangled in
mine, and her head resting on my chest. Her smooth legs twitched,
and I gently eased her shoulder away, but she lifted her head.
    “Ash.” Her eyes were mere slits. I paused in
the hope that she would fall back to sleep. “Ash…”
    “It’s me.”
    “Mmmm… stay.” Her voice was barely audible,
as she grazed her lips against mine and her head fell back against
the pillow into a deep sleep.
    I don’t think she remembered her actions
from last night, but considering my reaction to the memory, my body
did. I spent most of the night calming her with my presence and
voice. However, at dawn I managed to remove myself and get back to
my room. It had been a painful night. I winced at the memory.
    My best friend, Griffin was usually the one
who had the heightened sex drive. Lately, mine had kicked into high
gear when I was around Savannah. It was beginning to worry me.
Maybe Griffin was right and I needed to get laid, but I was never
one of those guys who had casual hook ups.
    Groaning, I pulled out of the driveway. If
there was ever a good time to visit Isis, it was now. Somehow, the
relief that she would provide, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Instead, I turned my car towards the preserve. Maybe a walk would
clear my head.

    Savannah
     
    I mimicked Maye’s foot placement towards the
deceptively plain house. The lower section of the house was
multicolored stone and the upper portion was painted light yellow.
A wraparound porch gave the home a Victorian air. The grounds were
unkempt from neglect over the years, but the house was still
beautiful. It stood calm against the suburban storm raging around
it. The thunder screamed across the sky slapping the clouds into a
heated turmoil that flew towards the south.
    I wasn’t surprised my parents’ estate took
this long to sell. From the outside it looked like an ideal family
home. However, its history was not conducive towards “baby making”
and family holiday dinners.
    My mother and father had been discovered on
the property; their lifeless forms frozen solid against the kitchen
tile. Horrified expressions were taped across their features, and
strange markings left angry welts against their flesh. Maye kept
this information from me until she felt I was strong enough.
    The police came to the house to investigate
my parents’ deaths and found the answer to serial vanishings in the
area. In the basement, the police found a giant freezer filled with
vials of blood from each of my parents’ victims. The police found
evidence they considered proof of their involvement in a cult. The
world pronounced my parents, as participants in a serial killing
spree, encouraged by a satanic cult. They were considered the
greatest mass murders the state had ever seen. That was one point I
completely agreed with. This house was not a home to build happy
memories, but a museum echoing the nightmares of my past.
    Maye pulled a key from the chain around her
neck and opened the front door. I stepped forward, prepared to
enter when the faint smell of sandalwood incense wafted through the
opening to tease my memories.
    The door opened into a dark foyer with a
small den to the right and a large dining room to the left. I
thought that once I was inside, the panic would consume me, but
instead I felt detached. I couldn’t hear the younger version of me
screaming in horror or my parents’ victims begging for mercy. The
house was barren, and I was vacant of emotion. My parents had taken
everything from me. They hadn’t even left me enough to react to the
destruction of my innocence.
    The den was where my cage had been kept; it
was gone now. Most of the furniture