Jody Franks opened her eyes to nothing. There was nothing to see: nothing to hear. She could feel though and what she felt was a coldness, a steel coldness, a coldness she could feel all down one side of her naked body. And she could smell too but what she smelt she wasn’t familiar with.
She lay for a while waiting for her eyes to adjust to the blackness, waiting for any semblance of light to give her some clue as to where she was. But none came. Drowsily she sat up in the cold, pitch-black darkness of wherever. She knew it wasn’t her room for there was always a light coming from somewhere. Under the door; her mobile; her laptop; her X-Box. But there was nothing. Not even a discernible pinprick of light piercing through the solid black nothingness.
Quietly, gingerly she called “Hello!” in a voice that wanted an answer but at the same didn’t want to disturb anybody. It didn’t; there was nobody to disturb. She called again, slightly louder this time but in her heart she was hoping there’d be no reply. Again, silence.
Her head still spinning she rose to her knees then slowly stood herself up. She was scared now and wrapped her arms across her chest in an act of self solace. Blindly, unsteadily, she took a tentative step forward, cautiously extending her arm as she did. Her mind wanted to know what was there; her fear didn’t.
She began to slide her feet as she stepped now, her anxiety or maybe her common sense telling her to be careful in case the floor may suddenly drop away. As she moved forward inch-by-inch the sound of her feet on the steel floor echoed in the empty blackness.
The panic was beginning to rise in her now. What if there was something in the darkness waiting to attack her? What if somebody was watching her, just biding their time waiting to pounce? She stopped, took a breath and held it to see if, in the deafening silence, she could hear the breathing of another. She didn’t. Her mind began to run away with itself as she started to recall all those true life crime books she’d read about psychopathic murderers and family slayers and began to wonder if one of them was just waiting for her in the jet-black nothingness. It was a lethal combination; utter blackness and a fear driven mind.
Suddenly her hand touched something cold and it made her reel back in shock. It had felt the same as the cold she had been laying on a few moments earlier but which seemed like ages ago now. She stared hard into the nothingness and waited. Nothing happened. Gradually, warily, she extended her arm once more. Her outstretched fingertips touched the steel cold wall again, then she spread her hand so both her palm and fingers made full contact. Slowly she slid her hand across the chill surface, first one way and then the other. She brought her other hand up to meet the wall too and felt along it the other way. Nothing. It was as smooth as silk but as cold as death. She felt as high up as she could but there seemed no end. She swept her hands down till she met the floor. Still the wall yielded nothing of interest.
Gradually she sidled along to the left all the time sweeping her hands up and down hoping to find something like a handle or latch, but none came. Suddenly her hands hit a corner. She turned left and followed along this other wall of steel still looking, hoping, praying that she’d come across something that would open a door or window or anything that would let her out. Still she found nothing. A few paces later she came across another corner. Again she turned left; again she swept back and forth frantically trying to find an opening. Again; nothing.
The fear had now turned to panic, blind panic. She was beginning to realise there was no way out. No door. No window. Not even a light switch. The tears now began to fall. In desperation she began to shout for help and bang on the steel walls but everything just echoed round and round the nothingness chamber. She stopped and held her breath, her ear pressed against the coldness of the steel in the hope of hearing something. Anything?
Suddenly a loud noise behind her made her jump. It was a constant sound, like a motor of some kind, but she couldn’t be sure. She waited to see if it meant somebody had heard her and a door or something, anything, was going to open. It didn’t.
Warily she walked towards the sound in the pitch blackness with her arms outstretched in front of her. Her hands found the ice cold wall again but there was something different about it, it was vibrating slightly, and it was moving. Her panic turned to horror when she realised: it was slowly moving towards her.
The realisation made her quickly withdraw her hands and she began to back away from the encroaching wall of steel but her movement was halted a few feet later by the wall behind her as she found herself backed up against it. Her horror now turned to frantic screaming and she span round and started banging and kicking at the solid mass of unforgiving metal.
The encroaching wall was now just six feet away.
Nameless on Amazon US
We allow you to read the first page of a book, look at its cover and then buy it, but only if you like it. Nothing beats sampling a novel. Experience the simple pleasure of finding novels that you like, fast, with BooksGoSocial.com.
