Today …You Die

It was pitch dark, yet Dawn knew she was awake. She was aware of her surroundings: she could feel the ropes that bounded her arms and legs dig into her skin, she felt the piece of cloth that gagged her mouth, and while the throbbing pain in the back of her head made her feel a little groggy she knew she was inside a small room, perhaps inside a small closet.

As her eyes began to get accustomed to the darkness she could see dim lights filtering through the door. Even though she was in pain, Dawn was able to get a bit closer to the door so she could lean her head and place her ear, hoping to hear if there was someone who could help her. She listened for a few moments, but there was no sound, except the ticking of a clock. She then tried to push herself up so as to be closer to the door hinges and be able to see through the slit between the door and the frame, but as she began to rise her head hit something. She wasn’t sure what it was: it could be a either a shelf or drawer. No matter what it was, the girl knew that it would be impossible to get a look outside.

She lay motionless on the floor, the pain growing as well as her panic, yet she didn’t make a sound. While tears began to well on her eyes she tried to calm herself, but it was hard as her mind began to run several terrible scenarios. “How did I get here?” Dawn wondered. She took a deep breath to try to relax. She closed her eyes and through her minds eyes she recalled the events of the past couple of weeks.

It all started two weeks ago when a strange looking man came into the coffee shop Dawn worked at. She loved her work, not only was she one of the best baristas, but as a psychology student she was able to come in contact with many people. Dawn loved to talk to the customers, whether they were regulars or one time visitors and they loved talking to her. She was an attractive girl, with shoulder length blonde hair, deep blue eyes and a warm smile that made that attractiveness more than skin deep.

It was early in the morning when the stranger came in, there was no one in the café except Dawn who had the first shift and had just barely opened the shop. The man slowly and silently walked up to the counter.

“Good morning, sir,” greeted Dawn with her stunning smile. “What will you have?”

“Black coffee,” replied the man in a flat tone.

“Anything for breakfast?” she asked trying to hide her discomfort. The man shook his head and Dawn charged him. After putting the money in the cash register she went to the coffee machine filled the cup and gave it to the stranger, who then went and sat at the nearest table.

Dawn went about her chores, but could feel the eyes of the man looking at her, giving her a cold chill in her spine. Fortunately that feeling didn’t last long as a new customer came in, followed by others and for the first time in what seemed like hours (only about a half hour had passed) felt at ease. As she was attending a customer, Dawn noticed that the man had left and drew a sigh of relive.

“Is everything all right, Dawn?” asked the customer.

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“You seem a little tense.”

“Do I? I guess I’m just nervous about school.”

“Relax no need to worry about it if you are doing well. Are you doing well?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay then,” said the customer as he took the cup. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye, have a nice day.”

Dawn opened her eyes and leaned to the door, but still the only sound coming from outside was the clock. As she heard the ticking she wondered how long she had been unconscious and trapped in the closet. Had it been hours, days? She decided that it could have been hours, but days could have been possible if her captor drugged her.

She kept her mind busy trying not to fall into desperation. She mentally sang her favorite songs, went over every answer from her last exam, remembered her last vacation and wondered if the cute guy that sat next to her in the “Social Psychology” class liked her. While she did all this, the face of the strange looking man kept filling her thoughts. It wasn’t an ugly face, but it was disturbing to say the least. Thin and pale and very hard, almost like stone. It was difficult to say if the man was young or old and his eyes were expressionless: cold and hard.

For the most part that disturbing face didn’t really occupy any particular place in Dawn’s mind and so for the first few days the girl didn’t notice him showing up at the coffee shop at exactly the same time as the beginning of Dawn’s shifts. It wasn’t until Lauren, a coworker pointed it out.  At first Dawn dismissed it as a coincidence, but the following days after Lauren’s comments she paid more attention and saw it was true.

“Say mister, I’ve noticed you show up quite frequently… and not to drink coffee,” Dawn ventured one day when the stranger went to the counter to buy a cup.

“Black coffee, please,” replied the man coldly and completely disregarding Dawn’s comment.

“Yes, sir,” she replied politely and went to get the cup. “So, what’s your name, I’m Dawn and since you seem to be a regular, well I like to know the name of the regular customers,”  she continued, flashing a heart melting smile.

The man was about to reply, but in the end said nothing and simply paid, then went to a nearby table. Dawn looked at him as he sat down and sipped the coffee, but when she felt his eyes upon her a chill ran down her spine and turned around to continue with her work.

It went like that for several days, but today, and Dawn was now certain she had been out just a few hours, was different. It all started that morning, just as she was leaving her apartment for the university she found a folded piece of paper sticking out of her mail box. She took it out and quickly unfolded it. The note just had three words neatly hand written: “Today you die.”

She stared at the note for several minutes in complete shock and then she folded it and put it in her purse. Dawn looked around the lobby hoping to find the superintendent and ask him if he saw the person who put the note, but it was empty and she was utterly alone. She walked out of the building, but before she went on her way she looked around to see if the strange man was around, but the street was empty.

Dawn walked slowly, looking around to see if anyone was following. Luckily the coffee shop was only a couple of blocks from where she lived and the university two blocks after the place of her employment. Even though safety was close by, she was nervous and her usual light demeanor was replaced by tension and nervousness. That nervousness made her pick up her pace, but while she might find safety at school or at her job, she knew it could only be temporary and whoever sent that note would probably carry out the threat.

“Miss, is everything all right?” Dawn heard a man’s voice ask. She looked at the direction where the voice was coming from and was relieved to see a police officer.

“Oh, officer, am I glad to see you.” she replied with a sigh of relief. She ran toward where the policeman was.

“What seems to be the problem?” he said with a friendly smile.

“S-someone left a threat to me this morning,” she said trying to hold back her tears and went on to explain, not just about the note, but the events of the past few days.

The officer heard everything patiently and then said: “My partner will be coming soon, he went to get some coffee, if you’d like we can take you to the station house and file a complaint.”

“Oh, yes, that’d be great.”

After going to the police the events that followed became a blur and while she tried hard to remember what happened after, it was all a blank.

Dawn lay in there, staring blankly at the ceiling and feeling her body fill slowly with pain as her body started to cramp from the uncomfortable position the small room had made her adopt. She could hear the clock ticking louder and wondered how much longer it would take to end her misery. Her waiting didn’t last long as she suddenly heard a door opening and soon after a stream of light filtered through the door. Dawn could hear everything that was happening outside and that made her feel more nervous than the previous silence.

Her heart was racing as she knew her end was near. For the first since she awoke she said a silent prayer and hoped the police would come. Dawn wasn’t entirely sure if they would come, for all she knew nobody had any knowledge of her whereabouts. If anybody reported her missing it would be too late, and if nobody knew where she was she might never be found at all: dead or alive.

“Don’t think like that,” thought Dawn, “maybe I’ll find a way to save myself.” She began to silently cry, the very thought of dying finally allowed her to release every feeling and emotion she had kept in check so far.

“You’re up,” she heard a hollow voice shout, “good. Don’t worry girl, everything will be over soon. Soon we’ll stop your crying and your misery.”

Dawn closed her eyes and tried once again to remember what had happened after she left the police. She remembers telling the officer in charge everything that had happened and showed him the note.

“Today you die,” said the officer reading the note. “This seems like some kind of prank to me.”

“Are you crazy?!” said Dawn indignantly. “What makes you think this is funny?!”

“Look Miss, you say there’s some creep that comes to the coffee shop you work at  and that you think this guy is the one who threatened you, but is there any reason what so ever why he would threaten you?”

“Well, okay maybe I don’t know if he has a reason or if he is the one who sent that note, but I don’t read minds so who knows what he’s thinking.”

“Right, so all I can do is to send someone to check this man out and perhaps charge him with harassment.”

“That’s all?” replied Dawn disappointed.

“Sorry, that’s all. I’ll send a couple of officers to keep an eye on the coffee shop.”

“Well I guess that’s better than nothing,” she said and after thanking the officer left.

What she didn’t notice was that at that moment two pair of eyes were watching her, one belonged to the strange man who had been skillfully following her. He had seen Dawn enter the police station and waited outside in his car. Once the girl was outside he followed her for several blocks. He saw Dawn standing at a bus stop and saw his opportunity. He parked his car several feet from where the bus stop was. He took a rag and bottle and poured a small amount of its contents in the old piece of cloth and got out. He walked silently until he was only a few inches from the girl. Dawn noticed the man standing behind her, but it was too late he grabbed her and forced the rag on her nose. It wasn’t an easy task as she struggled but accidently banged her head with a lamp post which finally knocked her out.

The man carried her to his car, not noticing that someone had seen him perform his perverse deed and so drove off after binding and gagging her, as he wasn’t sure how long she would be out. Once he had gotten to his home he carried her and put her inside the closet and then left.

Dawn opened her eyes, but the light again seemed dim and felt relief thinking that her captor had left, but it was short lived as she noticed that the light hadn’t changed, but that there was something blocking it. Then she noticed that the light was flickering and she realized her abductor was blocking the light as he went about his business and what that was, was something Dawn didn’t dare to think about.

She then heard a key being placed in the closet’s door and turning. Dawn got tense and while she wanted to cry again couldn’t as fear had numbed her other emotions. The door opened slowly, her body tightened itself as the survival instinct began to kick in, but once she saw those cold emotionless eyes she froze. Finally both doors were open and the sudden brightness from the light blinded her. For several minutes she had no idea what was going on. The only thing that was certain was that the man wasn’t subtle with his handling her. He felt being dragged from where she had been laying and then being pulled up violently to be carried somewhere and then she was thrown on to something soft: a bed or a couch. Dawn heard the man leave her side and just as her eyes began to accustom themselves to the light the room became dark again. She could hear someone moving around and then she felt the man’s hands holding her wrists tightly. Moments later he was on top of her, kneeling and his knees tightened on her legs. His breath was heavy and for a while he didn’t do anything, except his hands tightening more and more. The gag made it impossible to scream, but her face winced in pain. Suddenly the man loosened his grip and he moved away from her, but a moment later grabbed her hair and pulled her up until she was sitting. The pain was unbearable and tears began to well up in her eyes. Then he loosened his grip again and removed the gag and as he did so he whispered: “Don’t scream or I put it on again and this time I’ll tie it so tight you’ll probably choke to death.”

There was a moment of deafening silence but then decided to break it by asking him: “What do you want from me.” Her voice was shaking but tried to be as calm and relaxed as possible.

“I want you to suffer, to feel pain before I kill you?” he replied after a moment, still with the cold and hollow tone in his voice.

“Why, I haven’t done anything to you. I even tried to be your friend.”

“Perhaps you haven’t done anything, but people like you have and for that you will suffer.”

“People… like me?”

“Yes, people who believe that they are so perfect that make the unfortunate feel like less. As for trying to be my friend, please I’ve seen you; it’s your job to be nice to everyone. Such hypocrisy cannot continue to exist.”

There was silence again and while Dawn knew that acting defiantly might not be the right thing to do, as she recognized that her captor’s mind was in a fragile state, yet she could tell he was a bit egotistical and so she broke off the silence again, hoping to stall him long enough for her to try of a way to save herself. “You’ll never get away with it, someone will find me gone and report me missing and I already told the police about you. If I don’t show up at work or at school they’ll know who to look for, they’ll hunt you down like an animal.”

“My dear girl, beautiful Dawn, I know what you’ve done and let me assure you that I will get away with it. That stupid police officer ignored you entirely, besides, I’ve gotten away with it for years.”

“There are more? How many more?” she asked surprised.

“Wouldn´t you like to know.”

“You don’t need to have the lights off, I know what you look like,” was the next thing Dawn said, trying to hide the fear inside of her.

“I know, I made sure of that and in time I will turn on the lights so you can see for the last time the face of the man who killed you, but for the time being… well I like to have my fun. There is nothing more fun than seeing you full of uncertainty. It’s just too delicious, too delicious. ”

“Some fun,” whispered Dawn.

“What was that you said you impertinent girl?” he said as he slapped her so hard that he left his hand marked on her cheek.

The pain was unbearable and Dawn wanted to cry, but controlled herself. She knew that he wanted her to break and get his kicks seeing her suffer in pain and agony and Dawn wasn’t willing to give him that. If she did he’d, get what he wanted and Dawn would lose everything.

“Impertinent girl, you think you’re so brave and strong,” he said as he slapped her again. “You truly think you can win, when nobody knows where you are. You think you are unbreakable? Such youthful arrogance you possess my little plaything thinking that I can’t break you. Everyone breaks sooner or later and even if I don’t break you, you’ll find that your resistance was for naught. I told you that you would die today and you will.”

“So, do it already if you are so intent on killing me. Why the talking and the stalling? Shoot me already.”

“Shoot you?” he said with a laugh. “No, I’m not going to shoot you, it’s too quick, too loud and very messy and not fun at all.”

There was a long moment of silence, but Dawn could still hear his sickening and disturbing laughter ringing in her ear.

“Ah, the time is near for the real fun to begin and so I’ll turn on the lights,” he said and Dawn could hear him walk away.

When the lights went on again Dawn was blinded, but was able to see the blurry shape of her captor walking back to where she was.

“What are you going to do to me if you aren’t going to shoot me,” she said trying to stall for time.

“If you most know I’m going to choke you… slowly. I’ll enjoy watching the life ebbing from your body,” he replied in his cold and hallowed voice as he grabbed the piece of cloth that served as Dawn’s gag.

Meanwhile a few hours earlier, the other man that was watching Dawn at the police station gave an angry look at the police officer who had politely ignored her and followed the girl and thus witnessed her abduction.

Despite being close, he wasn’t close enough to save her, so returning to the precinct he bawled the police officer for his neglect.

“How was I supposed ta know it was a legitimate complaint and even if it was there wasn’t much I could do,” he said defensively. “Sure it was a threat, but I wasn’t gonna send the entire force to investigate it and have it turn out to be a gag.”

“You should know that we don’t take lightly any type of threat and the girl’s tone of voice was more than an indicator,” replied the man who was a police detective in the Homicide Bureau. “At the very least you could have sent an officer to accompany her.”

“Sorry, sir, my mistake,” said the officer feeling ashamed.

“Sorry won’t get the girl back safe and sound, so you might as well check out the license plate number from the assailant’s car,” he said sternly as he gave him a piece of paper with the number written on it.

As soon as the detective had received the information he learned a bit more than he expected. It turns out the car had been seen in various cities where young women had been reported missing, but their bodies hadn’t been found. Realizing what the stakes were, he immediately informed his Commanding Officer and soon a team was assigned, headed by the detective and his partner.

It had taken several hours to finally track the mystery man and Dawn and it was late afternoon when they finally arrived at lonely and apparently abandoned house. After a quick look at the house it was concluded that there was nobody there, although with every curtain closed it was difficult to tell. The detective and his partner observed the place from across the street, but fortunately they didn’t have to wait long. Around twenty minutes after their stake- out began they saw the man arrive. He wasn’t hard to miss as his unusual look was eye- catching and disturbing. The detective called for back- up and although tempted to burst into the house he decided against it. He knew waiting a minute longer was a big risk, but not knowing who he was up against with was a much bigger risk.

Inside the house the man had wrapped the piece of cloth around Dawn’s throat. Dawn was starting to freak out, but before she did she kept saying to herself not to give in, not to give this man the satisfaction he wanted. That seemed to calm her down quite a bit and was ready to face anything: even death.

While all this was transpiring the detective and his back- up were stealthily walking toward the house. He gave a few signaled instructions to some officers and did what they were told.

“Alright, remember don’t shoot, we need this guy alive for questioning so he can tell us what he did to the other girls,” he whispered to the officers that were with him. Everyone nodded and took their places, while the detective and his partner knocked on the front door.

The man was tightening the piece of cloth tighter and Dawn started to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. Her vision also began to blur, but she could see still see the man, smiling perversely with hints of a twisted happiness and pleasure.

As she was beginning to pass out Dawn heard a loud knock and voices screaming. She couldn’t clearly make out what the voices said and thought she was imagining them. Suddenly she felt the cloth loosen up a bit.

The mysterious man was in ecstasy as he tightened the cloth around Dawn delicate neck and made sure that the girl could see him enjoying his murderous act when suddenly he was startled by the loud knocking.

“Open the door!” screamed the voice, “Open the door, this is the police!” The voice kept repeating the order while the man once again tightened the cloth to continue with his evil deed.

The End