Warning: The following is a story that is not for the weak of heart. It is disturbing but has some good points. Also, remember it is pure fictional. For Mature Audiences Only!!!!
Fear in the Shadows
'I feel so…so…horrible! I don’t deserve to live!'
Chapter 1
“No, Please no!” Mary woke up screaming. She jerked up and saw the white walls that surrounded her. She suddenly noticed the tubes attached to her arm and the hospital gown she was wearing. “Hello dear. I’m glad you finally woke up. I’ve been waiting for hours!” a strange woman in a nurse’s uniform said. “Where am I? Who are you? Where are my clothes?” Mary couldn’t push away the panic that was growing inside her. “Oh, I’m sorry dear,” the woman said, “My name is Nancy. You’re at Miller’s Hospital for Women.” A little confused, Mary asked “But why am I here? And where are my clothes?” “Hon, I was hoping you could tell me. Do you remember what happened last night?” Mary, getting more and more nervous, responded, “I’m not sure…all I know is that I had a nightmare about being attacked by a man, and then I woke up here. You still haven’t told me where my clothes are.” Ignoring the last statement, Nancy said “Oh dear!!…Babe, I’m afraid that wasn’t just a nightmare…. Darling, that really happened!” “W-what do you mean?” “Mary, you’re here because your neighbor called the police when she heard you scream. They found you tied to the bed naked and bleeding.” After hearing this, Mary broke out in sobs. “I r-remember now! I…I begged him to stop but, he wouldn’t! I tried to fight but he was stronger than me! I feel so…so…horrible! I don’t deserve to live!” Nancy came over and wrapped her arms around Mary, trying to soothe her pain. She whispered in her ear “Hush, darling! Don’t say things like that! What happened to you was not your fault! Hush now and get some rest!” Nancy rose to leave but Mary called out “please don’t leave me! Please! He said he’d kill me if I told! Please?” “Mary, don’t worry! I won’t go anywhere. I promise! Now get some rest.” Within 20 minutes, Mary was sleeping soundly and Nancy was able to slip out.
Once out of the room, she hurried to the staff room where two detectives were waiting. “Hello Detective Reece. Ashley. Well, she finally woke up but at first she was disoriented. She asked some basic questions. I asked her if she remembers anything. She basically confirmed what we all suspected: She was raped. She said he’d kill her if she told. I think we should keep guards outside her room.” “Great idea Nancy! But, you must send for us when she wakes up. We need her statement before we can proceed with the investigation. Reece, why don’t you go get some coffee? Nancy and I have private issues to discuss.” Detective Reece just shrugged and walked out of the room. “So, what is the ‘private issue’ we need to discuss?” Nancy asked her sister. Smiling with glee, Ashley said, “Well, You know how Reece and I have been dating, right? Well, he asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes! The wedding is in June. Will you be my Maid-of-honor?” Startled, Nancy could only nod. As Ashley continues telling her sister about the wedding, a doctor is entering Mary’s room wearing a devilish grin.
Chapter 2
Mary awoke suddenly as a chill ran down her spine. At first, she thought she was still dreaming but quickly realized her mistake as the man in a doctor’s coat came closer. “Hello beautiful. I’m Dr. Sam Montgomery. We’re going to have some fun! But first, you need to be more relaxed. I’m going to give you some morphine.” Dr. Sam injected a clear liquid into her vein. Within minutes, Mary felt more relaxed than ever. As Dr. Sam approached her, Mary got another chill as the feeling of panic starts to rise inside of her. When he was inches away, he began to tie her hands to the bedposts. Mary gasped and tried to pull away but the morphine kicked in with full force and the restraints held tight. Sam chuckled softly and whispered in her ear “You might as well stop struggling because nobody will help you. If you scream, I’ll kill you!” Mary cried, “What are you going to do to me?” Chuckling, Sam simply said, “We’re going to have fun!” As Sam unbuttoned his pants and pulled off her covers, Mary spotted the emergency call button within reaching distance of her left hand. Just as he climbed on top of her, Mary pushed the button. Nothing happened. Seeing what she did, Sam laughed loudly and said “You stupid girl! Those buttons never work!” And with that he hit her over the head and all went dark.
She awoke a few hours later to find herself being watched closely. Nurse Nancy was by her side holding her hand. That’s when it all came flooding back to her like a bad dream. She was raped. Again. As tears fell from her eyes, Nancy looked up and pulled her into an embrace. “Oh Mary, I’m so sorry! I should have stayed with you but I had to go talk to some detectives. It’s all my fault!” Mary pulled away suddenly and asked, “Where is he? What happened after I was knocked out? How far did he get?” “He is in jail, Mary, as he should be. He raped you! After you pushed the button, as you know, he knocked you out. I’m so sorry, Mary…he went all the way with you before we could get to you. When we arrived, he already had his penis in you. Honey, we need to do a pelvic exam on you because, one, he raped you and two, we believe there might be tissue damage. Before we can do that though, you need to talk with the detectives first. Tell them everything you told me about both times. Don’t be afraid.”
“Ok” was all Mary could say as the fear gripped her again. Sensing her fear, Nancy said, “ Honey, don’t be afraid. These detectives are really nice. One of them happens to be my sister and the other is her fiancé. They are good people. They won’t hurt you, they just want to help. I’ll stay with you if it would make you more comfortable.” “Please stay, Nancy. I’m afraid!” “Alright, I’ll stay. There are guards outside your room, so you’ll be safe while I go get the detectives.” Nancy rose and walked out of the room. A few minutes later, she appeared with a blonde haired woman and a tall, muscular man. Nancy and the woman took a seat at the side of her bed while the man stood at the end. Suddenly, the fear gripped her again as she looked into his eyes and she started to tremble violently. Concerned, Nancy asked “ What’s wrong, darling?” Mary didn’t respond but continued to shake. Nancy studied her and suddenly realized what was up. Looking at Detective Reece then at Ashley, She said “ Can I speak to you in the hall for just a minute?” Nodding, they both followed her out of the room.
“What’s up, Nancy?” “Did you guys notice how Mary started trembling when she saw Reece? I think the man who raped her the first time might have looked like him. Maybe he should stay out here and you do the questioning?” “I think that’s a good idea. Reece, what do you think?” Ashley asked. “Sounds good” was all he said.
Mary looked up as Nancy and the woman came back in. “Mary, this is my sister, Detective Ashley. That man outside is Detective Reece. He’ll stay outside. Ashley just has some questions for you, ok?’ “That’s ok” Mary said. “Hi Mary. I just want to ask you some questions. I need you to promise me you’ll tell the truth about everything you remember, ok?” “I promise” “Good. The first thing I want to ask you is what happened the first time?” Mary hesitated but replied “ I remember walking home from work and this guy was following me. I tried to lose him, but I guess I wasn’t successful. I thought I lost him, so I went home.
I got a shower and when I went into my bedroom, he was waiting for me. I was afraid. He quickly overpowered me and pushed me to the ground. He tied me to the bed and I started to scream. By then, my towel had fallen off. He…he got on top of me and…I Begged him to stop but he didn’t listen. I tried to kick him but he pulled out a knife and stabbed me…” Mary started sobbing.
Nancy held her in another embrace and cradled her for a few minutes. When she stopped crying, Ashley asked gently, “ Did the man who raped you look like Detective Reece?” Mary nodded as another stream of tears fell down her face. “Mary, I’m going to make sure this man is caught. First, we need some evidence. I’m going to have a doctor come in and collect some evidence from you. I promise it won’t hurt you. Nancy, will you give us a minute alone?” Nancy glanced at Mary. Mary nodded ok so Nancy went into the hall and closed the door.
“Mary, I want to reassure you that you are protected. Nobody will harm you again. I also have a personal question for you. Is that ok?” Mary shrugged. “Mary, have you ever had sex before this?” With tears in her eyes, Mary replied “No. And now I’ll never will. Nobody will want ‘used goods’!” “Oh Mary, you don’t know how wrong you are! You’re not ‘used goods.’ Did you know that in God’s eyes you are perfectly clean? It’s as if you were still a virgin. God knows that you didn’t do anything wrong. He loves you!” Mary paused for a second, and then replied tearfully “How could he love me? I don’t even know him! I should have fought harder! It’s all my fault! I deserved it. How could God ever forgive me?” “Mary, don’t say that! It’s not your fault!! Stop beating yourself up over this. God already forgave you; you just need to forgive yourself! Do you believe that? Give your heart to the Lord. Don’t hold anything back from him! Promise me you’ll think about it!” “I promise.” “Good. Now I’m going to get you a personal therapist so you’ll have someone you can talk to. Don’t worry." I’ll get my sister to handle your case, ok?” “Sure.” “Mary, get some rest. When you wake up they’ll collect the evidence.” Ashley stood up and walked towards the door. Glancing back, she said a silent prayer for Mary.
Out in the hall, Nancy paced nervously. Ashley told them about Mary agreeing to think about God and they all rejoiced. Ashley sent Nancy went to get her sisters, Julie and Stephanie, to brief them about what they were about to do. Julie, the doctor, was to perform the exam and Stephanie, the therapist, was to stick around after to talk more with Mary. “We’ll put this into action as soon as she wakes up. Nancy, will you sit with her for awhile until she falls asleep?” “Sure Ashley” Nancy said then slipped into Mary’s room. “Reece, I want you to stay outside for awhile until Nancy comes out. When she does, please bring her back to the staff room so we can finish writing this report.” “Fine.”
Chapter 3
Nancy slipped into the room and went to Mary’s side. Mary looked up at her and Nancy could tell that she had been crying. Nancy held her hand and asked her “Are you alright, honey? Do you want to talk about it?” “Oh, Nancy!! I’m just so afraid! I’m afraid that he’ll come and find me, and hurt me again. I’m afraid that nobody in their right mind could ever love me. I’m afraid to live!” Alarmed, Nancy stood up and told her “Mary, honey, you need to talk to a therapist! They can help! They helped me! Mary, I want you to get to sleep, ok? I’ll be right back!” “Nancy, please don’t leave me! I won’t be able to sleep even if I tried. Besides, every time I do sleep, something bad happens to me.” “Ok. You don’t have to go to sleep. Since you’re awake, they will want to collect some evidence. I’m going to go get Dr. Julie and Stephanie. Both are my sisters and they will take good care of you. I’ll need to stay when they do the exam, but after that I’ll leave if you want me to. I’ll be right back.” Without another word, Nancy slipped out of the room and headed down the hall with Reece on her heel. She entered the staff room and told her sisters what happened. Ashley agreed that it would be best to do the exam immediately and called Dr. Julie and Stephanie.
When they entered, Nancy took them down the hall to Mary’s room. Nancy knocked, waited for a response, and then entered. “Mary, this is Dr. Julie and this is Stephanie, the therapist. Dr. Julie will do the exam, ok?” Mary looked scared, so Julie said, “Mary, I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to collect some evidence. I’ll tell you everything I’m doing so you won’t feel so scared. If I do hurt you, I need you to tell me, ok? If at any time you want to stop because you feel uncomfortable, let me know and we’ll stop. Nancy will help me, ok?” “But…but I wanted Nancy to hold my hand.” Mary said with tears in her eyes. Turning to look at Mary, Stephanie said, “That’s why I’m here. Nancy needs to help Dr. Julie. I’ll hold your hand, ok? Everything will be fine. Don’t worry.” “Ok. You can hold my hand. As long as Nancy stays, I’ll be fine…I think.” “Ok. Mary, this might sound like a weird question but are you wearing underpants? If you are, I need you to take them off. Ok?” “Mary doesn’t have any. She didn’t come in with any.” Nancy said. Nodding, Dr. Julie put on gloves and said, “Mary, I need you to try to relax. That’s it. Now, sit back and put your legs up here in the stirrups. Good job! Now, take a deep breathe…this may be slightly uncomfortable and a little cold, ok? On the count of three, take a deep breath…one…two…. THREE! As the metal object went to work, Mary wanted to scream in pain. Stephanie sat down beside her and held her hand for the next 45 minutes while Dr. Julie and Nancy did the exam.
They collected the evidence and Nancy took it down to the lab. Julie went to her next patient but, Stephanie stayed with Mary. Stephanie was concerned about Mary because, not only was she in a lot of pain during the exam but, she was shaking and sobbing the whole time. Stephanie sent up a silent prayer for Mary then asked her "Mary, do you want to talk about it?"Mary, crying harder than before, said "It h-hurt s-so b-bad! When they were doing the exam I kept seeing HIM and I kept wishing I could die. I-it's all my fault!" Before Mary could finish what she was saying, Stephanie had her wrapped tight in a hug.
Finally, Stephanie pulled back to look at Mary's face. "Mary, honey, it's not your fault at all! You didn't deserve this! What he did to you was wrong! There was nothing you could have done differently that would have prevented this. Some men are just pigs. I know you were hurt badly but that doesn't mean you don't deserve to live. I'm going to help you get past this. We all are. Everyone here cares about you and is going to do our best to catch the guy!" Pausing for a minute, Stephanie made her more comfortable in her chair then asked “Can you tell me what happened with the man who snuck into your room?”
“Well…all I remember is waking up to him standing over me…”
~
Detective Reece was pacing in the empty room filled with medical supplies.
“I have to be more careful around that girl” he thought to himself. Thankfully, the blow to head he gave her prevented her from recognizing him. He was thankful when Nancy told him to wait outside. When he thought she remembered him, he was busy making plans to kill her. Just as he had a plan he knew would work, Ashley told him the Mary only thought he looked like her rapist. Still, he had to be more cautious. Taking a deep breath, Reece slipped quietly into the hall and walked quickly around the corner and down the stairs that lead to the third floor staff room, smiling at himself for his brilliant idea. Soon they would find her in an area similar to where he was right now. This was his destination. He was supposed to meet Ashley here soon. Ashley. It was all her fault! If she would just give up her silly idea on abstinence until marriage, he wouldn’t have to go after these women to fulfill his needs. So far, he had been lucky. None of his other victims escaped. He had his fun when he was called to investigate each of these murders. His fingerprints were everywhere and nobody suspected a thing.
Raking his fingers through his hair, Reece took another deep breath and stepped into the room labeled “Authorized Personnel Only.” Scanning the room quickly, He caught the eyes of his partner and walked swiftly towards her. “Hey, Ash. Anything new?” He asked as he pulled her into a hug. “Not really,” she said as she smiled up at him. “I was just about to come find you. Where were you anyways?” “It doesn’t matter,” He responded, almost too quickly. Ashley raised her eyebrows and was about to question him further when Julie and Nancy walked in. “Ashley, we got the lab results back on Mary. There is something you should know. Based on her and Mr. Montgomery’s health records, we figured she didn’t have this before her rape and Montgomery didn’t give it to her….” “Spit it out Julie! What did she get?” Ashley demanded.
“Well, you are sure impatient! I was about to tell you that the first rapist gave her AIDS.” Suddenly, Reece’s face went ghost white. Before he could compose himself, Nancy’s eyes locked his. Nervously, he looked away. “Thanks Jules. That will help us narrow our suspects” Ashley said, oblivious to what had happened. “Can you narrow it down any further?” Nancy asked curiously. “I mean, do you have that many suspects?”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have any suspects yet. I haven’t had time to go talk to the witnesses yet.” Suddenly, the phone rang, making everyone in the group jump. Julie was the first to respond. She reached for the phone and answered “Dr. Julie speaking….uh huh…right…ok, I’ll be right up.” Julie hung up the phone and answered everyone’s questioning expression. “It’s Mary….she had an accident…” without another word, everyone rushed out of the room and up the stairs. Bursting into Mary’s room, Nancy quickly scanned the room, searching for anything that might give them clues as to what happened. “Where is she?” Nancy exclaimed. Julie ran down the hall to the Nurse’s Station and quickly asked about Mary. Nancy could only stand there, shocked and worried.
After what seemed like an eternity, Julie finally walked back towards the others. “Mary will be fine. Somehow, she managed to fall down three flights of stairs. She broke a few ribs and her left leg. They have her in surgery now trying to reset her leg. She’ll be out shortly.” Ashley looked around at all the people that surrounded her. Finally, she said “How can someone fall down three flights of stairs? I think that’s a bit suspicious. Where were the guards? Didn’t we tell them to stay outside this room?” Reece was the one who responded. “They were falling asleep on the job. I sent them home. I was about to take their place when you told me to meet you downstairs.” “Oh! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Ashley asked. Reece just shrugged and walked back into Mary’s room.
“Ashley,” Julie asked, “Do you suspect foul play? I mean, how can anyone know where she was or that the guards left unless they were watching us.” “That is a bit suspicious. I’ll look into it. Right now, everyone in this building is a suspect. Reece, go find the nurse that was on duty. They recently had a shift change, so you’ll need to get her address. I want to know every person that was working from the time we brought her in.” Reece strolled quickly down the hall to find the head nurse. “Nancy, go upstairs and wait for Mary. She’ll want to talk to you. Plus you can serve as her bodyguard.” Nancy took off towards the elevators. “Julie, can you go find Stephanie? Mary needs to talk to someone. I’ll get more information on these people that work here. Someone has to know something!”
Julie paused for a minute. “Ashley? What’s wrong? What’s going on with you?” Ashley looked down at her hands and replied “ It’s nothing. I’m just worried about Reece. This case seems to be really hard on him. He’s been distant since we’ve started this investigation.” “Does he always get this emotional on cases?” Julie asked. “ Only recently. The Chief has him working on a lot of rape cases lately. Three young women, all around Mary’s age. We think there might be a connection.” “Well, why don’t you talk to the other victims and try to I.D. this guy? Surely, you’ve already thought of that.” “Normally, we would but, it’s hard to get much out of corpses.” Ashley shivered. Julie was silent for a minute before she said “ How did they die? Did you find the murder weapon?” “They were hit on the head. Two with a rock, the other one had her head slammed against the pavement.” Again, silence. “And Reece investigated them all?” “Yep.” “Well, he’s probably just trying to find this person so the women in this city are safe again. Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find this guy.” “Thanks, Julie. And you’re probably right. It’s probably just stress.” “Are you going to be ok?” “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I better get started with the staff. This is going to take forever!” Ashley grumbled. Laughing, Julie said, “Sounds like you need a break. How about we go get some coffee and then I’ll help you with the staff, Ok?” “Sounds great! But first, go call Stephanie. She needs to be with Mary right now.” “Ok. Meet me up front in five minutes.” “See you then.”
~
Chapter 4: Saved
“Where am I? Why is it so dark?” Mary thought to herself. Suddenly, she saw a bright light coming from a distant room. Mary got up and slipped silently into her robe. She started walking towards the light when it started to grow dimmer. In the midst of the light a man in a white tunic stood, watching Mary. When he caught her eye, he turned and disappeared around the corner. “Wait! Come Back!” she called out as she raced after him. As she rounded the corner, she heard a voice surrounding her and fell to her knees. “Mary…….Mary…..I love you, Mary……” the voice called. “W-who is it? Who’s there?” Mary stammered. Suddenly, the man she was following stood in front of her, holding out his hands. Mary simply stared at him, searching for a clue. Finally, her gaze fell on his outstretched hands. Studying them further, she saw that they were bleeding. She cried out and fell back, crying “Who are you? What do you want?” The man smiled and answered, “Who I am is not important. What you need to know is that I love you and want you to know what happened to you was not your fault!” Frightened, Mary asked “How do you know what happened? How can you love me if you don’t know me? Please tell me who you are.” “I Am Who I Am!* I know you well, Mary. I know your every thought, every deed. I know your heart’s desires, your fears, your dreams. I know you because I made you. I AM GOD! I want your heart, Mary. Will you give it?” Mary was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion that she couldn’t speak.