HAPPYVILE

JUNE 2013

Zoe was sprinting through the dense trees in the dead of the night as the sounds of some creature sprinting towards her slowing started getting closer. The branches were hitting her uncovered arms and leaving small bruises and cuts, her shoes not built for running were starting to get sore and began bleeding which caused her to slowly start limping as the pain overtook it. Zoe was about to reach a clearing until the creature behind her leaped at her, knocking them both forwards down a very steep hill. The two began rolling down the hill before coming to a heavy stop with a loud thud. Zoe was briefly winded and all the pain immediately came back to her, but she didn’t care and slowly began getting up. It was now that she was able to make out the creature that was following her, it was a man. This man was extremely thin and skinny, his skin wrapped around his bones, his hair completely grown out and wearing only shorts that were extremely dirty, like the rest of him, his fingernails were black and outgrown, resembling claws. The creature got up faster than Zoe and jumped onto her back, wrapping his legs in between hers, dropping her to the group before placing her in a chokehold. Zoe was laying on her back, slowly losing consciousness. Zoe desperately tried clawing away and even tried prying, but eventually she was knocked out. The man let go of her and laid her down, then crouched next to her and waited. After a short while, the man could a vehicle approaching. A red pick-up truck pulled in and out came an extremely big man.

“Michael!” the man screamed and ran over to the man and Zoe. Michael backed-away immediately as the big man ran over to Zoe and checked her pulse.

“She’s still alive. Let’s go” the man said and lifted Zoe up with extremely ease, before tossing her into the back of his pick-up. Michael hopped into the back.

“Tie her up, don’t want her running off now” the man shouted at Michael and the two were off.

Just a few hours earlier, Zoe was on a road trip going from Bright to Happyvile and accidentally made a wrong turn in the outskirts of Happyvile, getting lost deep and deeper into the forest. The more she drove, the more she began to slowly become unnerved. As she was driving an animal suddenly came out of nowhere and she hit it. Zoe stopped the car and got out to walk to the animal that was a few feet away from the car, scared the animal was in pain but what she saw terrified her. The animal was gutted and skinned, as well as neatly tied up with chains. Zoe heard footsteps and saw 2 figures approaching her, one was a very tall man dressed in a red plaid shirt and blue jeans and the other was an unseen figure on all fours. The man slammed her door shut and screamed “GET HER” and the figure on all fours began running at her. Zoe ran for dear life through the woods before the creature caught up to her.

The man and Michael arrived at a cabin deep in the woods and stopped the car, before getting out. Zoe started to regain consciousness and when she woke up, she realized she was tied up and wasn’t able to speak. The onset panic caused her to begin screaming which was muffled.

“Oh good, you’re awake” the man said as he lifted Zoe out of the car and onto his shoulder as he began walking to the house, with Michael following. The man opened the door and entered the home.

“Honey, I’m home!” the man shouted out

“Gary honey, welcome home!” a woman from the kitchen shouted

“I got a guest to join us for dinner tonight”

“Is that so?” she said delightfully

Gary slowly lowered Zoe onto a chair at a table and tied her to the chair. Zoe began wildly thrashing, trying to escape her bindings to no avail. Zoe quickly took in her surroundings and saw the house was very well kept. The wooden walls were dark and shiny, a fireplace was lit at one side of the room and the floors were clean. Zoe continued her thrashing, hoping to break free.

“Stop it!” Gary sternly warned Zoe, but she ignored him and continued thrashing until Gary slapped her across the face, stunning her. Zoe stopped moving and turned her attention to the sound of footsteps coming. The woman from the kitchen appeared around the corner. She was of average height and was dressed in a blue dress. Her hair was cut short and she had on a lot of makeup. Her entire face was pale white, black mascara surrounding her eyes and blood red lipstick.

“Hello there, so glad you could join us for dinner. My name is Melissa, and yours?” Melissa sound, extending her hand out for a shake. Zoe remained motionless, just staring at this woman, completely speechless.

“Oh Gary, take off that gag. The poor thing can’t speak with it on!” Melissa said as Gary untied Zoe’s gag.

“Please let me go! Zoe began screaming and continued her thrashing

“But why would you go? We haven’t had dinner yet- MICHAEL!” Melissa’s attitude changed when she saw that Michael had dragged in dirt into the house.

“Stupid boy!” Gary shouted and kicked Michael, who stumbled before getting back on all fours. “Out you go!” Gary shouted, before gripping Michael by the throat and dragging him out of the house.

“So sorry about that, my son can be quite messy and I love having a clean house” Melissa said with an extremely joyful tune again.

“What, what do you want with me?” Zoe said, now starting to cry as she feared what might happen

“We wanted someone for dinner. Been a while since our last guest” Melissa said, still keeping up her joyful attitude

“Well dinner won’t be ready for a little bit, so you and Jaime will have to play outside until it is ready” she said

“Who’s Jaime?” Zoe asked, now growing more scared

“Jaime dear, please come here” Melissa called out.

A young woman popped around the corner. This woman was slightly shorter than Melissa and was dressed in a black-and-white pleaded dress, with black shoes and her brown hair in a ponytail. She looked to be in her 20s.

“Jaime, please take our guest out and play with her till dinner is ready”

“I’ll happily do so, mother” Jaime replied before moving over to Zoe and untying the rope from the chair, then untying her feet so she could move. Jaime leaned in closer to Zoe

“Don’t struggle, just follow me” she whispered and Zoe turned to look at her. Jaime’s face turned slightly serious, with a look of ‘trust me’ in her eyes. Zoe got up and willingly followed her to the back of the house and outside into the backyard.

“You two have fun now!” Melissa called out.

The two stepped into the backyard and Jaime cut the rope from Zoe’s hands.

“What’s-“ Zoe began to speak

“Don’t talk, don’t scream just run. You have to run before they find out” Jaime said in a hushed whisper

“You’re not the first person who has come here. Not the second, not the third, not even the fifteenth person. Just walk before they find out!” Jaime said

“Thank, thank you” Zoe said as began crying

“See the trees? Slowly walk to them and once inside start running”

“Okay, okay, thank you” Zoe said and began slowly walking away, happily crying that she can escape.

Once Zoe was a few feet away, Jaime turned and picked up a crossbow she left laying against the wall that Zoe didn’t notice. Jaime put a bolt in and loaded it. Zoe heard the crossbow loading and turned to see what was happening. Jaime let off a bolt and it shot directly into Zoe’s arm.

“AHHHHH!” Zoe screamed in pain as the bolt was lodged firmly in her arm. The sudden shock knocked Zoe to the ground. Zoe got back up and began sprinting. Jaime smiled and began chasing after her, loading another bolt.

“Michael, let’s go!” she screamed and Michael joined her.

Zoe was in a full sprint as she began zipping through the trees. Another crossbow landed into her thigh and Zoe went down again.

“Fuck!” Zoe screamed and slowly got back up, not bothering to remove it and continued limping.

“You got a lot of spirit, I’ll give you that haha” Jaime laughed as she loaded another bolt.

“A lot of people would’ve laid down and begged for their lives. Glad you’re not like them. This is more fun” Jaime said and fired another bolt.

Zoe heard it and quickly sidestepped, the bolt missing her and being lodged firmly into a tree. Zoe continued limping as fast as she could, slowly getting further and further away. Jaime loaded another bolt and fired it off. Zoe once again, side-stepped and dodged it. The bolt landed into the ground with a hard thud.

“Have you played this game before? I thought I invented it” Jaime said and began loading another bolt

Zoe could see a clearing at the other side of the trees and began full limping towards it. Zoe tripped over a root in the ground and fell to the ground as a bolt went off and just missed her.

“Fuck” Jaime screamed as she immediately went to load another bolt. Zoe took this opportunity to get up and make a beeline into the clearing. Once in the clearing, Zoe saw a downhill slope that leads to a river and ran for it.

“Michael, get her!” Jaime screamed and Michael took off, quickly closing the gap. Zoe didn’t have a chance to turn around as Michael swan dived into her legs, knocking her into the air and onto her back. The bolts in her arm and thigh went further in.

“AHHHHHHHH! FUCK!” Zoe screamed as she writhed in pain. Michael got up and put his foot on her stomach, stopping Zoe from getting up.

“You’re the first person to get this far, most usually die at the halfway point. We’ll do this again tomorrow” Jaime gleefully said and began walking back. Michael grabbed Zoe by her leg and dragged her back as Zoe began squirming in pain.

“Dinner’s almost ready, time to get ready kids” Melissa called out. “Did you guys have fun?”

“Oh, we had the most fun, right?” Jaime said and turned to Zoe

“Fuck you” Zoe said in a harsh grunt

“Michael, please take Zoe to the washroom, I’ll be there shortly. Jaime, get ready”

“Yes mother” Jaime said.

Michael dragged Zoe through the house and down the hall into a small room. Inside this small room was all tiled, with a bathtub in one corner and a stool in the other. Michael dragged Zoe in and laid her in the center of the room.

“Go back outside now, Michael. My, my you are very filthy. You can’t eat like this. We need to clean you up” Melissa said

“Get the fuck away from me” Zoe said and slowly began backing away until she hit the corner of the wall.

“Gary, get in here!” Melissa yelled. “I won’t allow filth to stay inside my home” Melissa said.

“Yes honey?” Gary said as he stepped into the room

“I’m going to need help with cleaning her, you know how fussy kids can be” Melissa said

“You two stay the fuck back!” Zoe and got to her feet, but was still cowering from the pain

“Why must you resist!” Gary shouted and grabbed Zoe’s leg, pulling it and making her fall flat on her back. Gary gripped the bolt from her thigh and the one from her arm and ripped them out clean.

“AHHHHHHHHH-” Zoe’s screaming in pain was cut short when Gary gripped her throat and lifted her, before walking over and shoving her into the bathtub. The bathtub was already filled with ice cold water and the sudden shock caused Zoe to begin thrashing about.

“Hold still dear, I need to clean your fingernails” Melissa said as she gripped Zoe’s hand and began using a knife to clean underneath them.

Zoe was about to drown to death before Gary let go and she resurfaced. Zoe immediately threw herself out of the tub and fell to the ground, gasping for air.

“Guess we have to do this the hard way” Melissa said and nodded to Gary who walked up to her, grabbed the back of her head and slammed it into the ground, knocking her out.

Zoe slowly awakened and found herself strapped to a wheelchair. Her wrists and ankles were tied with a leather strap to the metal frame and a leather strap across her neck kept her head upright. In front of Zoe was a mirror and she saw that she was in a different outfit. She was wearing a light-pinkish dress, her hair was put into pigtails and she had makeup all over her. Her face was ghost white, with red lips and black circles around her face. Zoe had a massive headache and couldn’t find the energy to fight.

“Oh good, you’re finally awake. You are a very dirty girl. All that dirt and blood wasn’t easy to clean, you know” Melissa said as she got up from her chair and walked behind Zoe. She turned off the brakes and began wheeling Zoe out of the room.

“Please, just let me go” Zoe said, her voice breaking as she began crying again

“Oh you’re not going anywhere. We have a whole week planned for you. But I’ll tell you more tomorrow. For now we have to eat”

Melissa wheeled Zoe out of the corridor and into the dining room. Melissa parked Zoe at one end of the table and walked over to join Gary at the other end of the table.

Zoe looked down and saw a lot of food on the table. Most of it was completely red and mashed together, with flies hovering around it.

“I hope you’re hungry, today we’re eating Jennifer” Jaime said as she scooted closer to Zoe and began cutting up her food for her. Zoe looked closer and started making out what the food was. She saw was she could only assume was skinned body parts. As Jaime tried to put the food into her mouth, Zoe clamped her mouth shut and refused to open.

“Don’t be like this, we worked hard to make dinner for you” Jaime said sternly and tried prying the food into her mouth, but Zoe wouldn’t budge. Jaime immediately clamped Zoe’s nose, forcing her to open her mouth for air. Jaime jammed the food into her mouth and Zoe immediately spat it back at Jaime.

“Ugh!” Jaime screamed in disgust as she got out of her chair and looked at the mess on her shirt. Gary got up from his seat and stormed over to Zoe, before backhanding her again, almost rocking the wheelchair. Gary grabbed Zoe’s faced and forced her to face him.

“THAT’S IT! WE TRIED BEING NICE BUT IF YOU’RE GOING TO KEEP THIS UP THEN YOU’RE NOT GETTING DESSERT!” Gary screamed at Zoe’s face

“FUCK YOU!” Zoe screamed back and spat in his face. Gary stepped back and wiped the spit off his face.

“Jaime, take Zoe to her room” Gary said extremely calmly. Jaime silently wheeled Zoe out of the dining room.

[TO BE CONTINUED]