Challenge Submission Disturbing Interrogation

[Redfren]

Content Warning:
The following story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and the described incidents are a work of my imagination and are or should be fictitiously presented, all characters are considered over the age of 18 and should not be confused for anyone younger. There are suggestive themes present in this story and it can be considered disturbing.
Reader discretion is advised.

"only the darkness is the true light, it shows what the world is really like" ~Brandon Davis​

"One by one, they were taken in the darkness. That's what I will remember until the day I die." She said in a soft, slightly broken tone and her blue eyes gazed down at the hard surface of the interrogation table. The room was painted in an eggshell white, and the carpet was that multicolored close-cut blue color. Aside from the big mirror against the wall and the black security camera in the corner of the ceiling there really wasn't much in this room aside from the generously large police officer taking notes on the other side of the table. "I don't understand Ma'am, who was taken in the darkness and why?" Suddenly she slammed her hands on the table with a resounding thud, her chair shot back as she stood to her feet leaning over and causing her hair to fall effortlessly in front of her face as she screamed at the man, through the tears that covered her rosy cheeks. "Aren't you listening! He took them, he took all of them!"

The door cracked open with a creaking sound better suited to a horror movie than a police station. Once wide enough, an elderly man poked his head in. His hazel eyes glanced between the police officer and the young woman who could not have been older than twenty before he spoke. "Why don't we take a break. Can I get you something to drink? Some water, or perhaps a soda?" With a sigh, the young woman sat back down. "No. I'm fine." The officer stood up and closed his notebook stepping toward the door as the elderly man stepped back. "I really think you should consider what you've been saying more carefully." He said in a dry tone as he moved toward the door opening it wider. "You're not making any sense. We all want what's best here, please help us." As he stepped out, he closed the door behind him with a solid click as it finally sealed shut.

The elderly man began to speak quietly as the two moved further down the hallway. "They have a professional coming in, don't bother taking any more statements. Just fill out the paperwork with what you have and let the detectives take over." The large police officer huffed. "She's not crazy. She knows more than she's letting on. No one took those girls; we need to push her before it's too late." He responded. "Let it go. Move on, this is above our paygrade now."

As minutes turned into hours, the young woman remained seated in the small interrogation room, unmoving and completely silent. While everyone waited, they did check on her several more times. If only to make sure she was still breathing and okay. When the door finally opened, a younger detective in his early thirties, stepped into the room. He wore a casual light brown or beige suit and tie with his badge hanging around his neck like dog tags. His dark brown hair was pulled to the right with a swooping motion that sort of gave it a wave. He was clean-shaven and stood roughly six feet tall. Well built or at least he appeared to have a well-built frame that filled out the suit. "Good afternoon, I apologize about the wait, they called me in from across town and traffic was quite bad." Closing the door that familiar click sounded as he moved to one of the chairs and took a seat. "My name is Detective Harris, before we get started would you like anything, some water or a cigarette?"

It was the cigarette that got her attention. Harris had always been keen on his observations, and he could smell the smoke still lingering on her clothing the moment he entered the room. As she lifted her head and parted her hair, she spoke in almost a whispered tone. "I can smoke in here?" She asked. "I won't tell if you don't. Go ahead," With a half-smile, he continued. "Just don't burn the place down alright?" She either didn't hear him or didn't think the joke was funny, as she ignored it and immediately reached into her pocket pulling out a heavily bent, and slightly damaged pack of menthol Newport cigarettes. As she pulled one out and stuck it between her soft lips, her hand moved toward her pocket to fetch her lighter, when Detective Harris reached over and lit it for her. Without speaking she took a long inhale from the end and leaned back in the chair, blowing it out and upward. For the first time in over four hours, she finally looked like she was relaxing.

Harris spoke again, in a calm almost relaxed tone. "Could we start with something simple? What should I call you? The officers were not able to find any identification on you, and your prints are not in our system." The young woman took another long drag from her smoke finally clipping it in her fingers and said in a slightly defeated tone. "Jenny, my name is Jenny." It was irritating to Harris that she didn't provide her full name but now wasn't the time to push the issue. Instead, he continued. "That's a pretty name. My cousin is named Jenny. She just turned ten." Jenny lowered her gaze toward Harris more directly now looking at him in silence, while she took another puff on her smoke. "My sister's the same age." Harris didn't respond and instead just smiled a little.

"Jenny, instead of asking you what happened. I'd like to tell you what we know okay? If you hear something that's incorrect, or you know something that isn't included maybe you could fill in the blanks for me, does that sound okay to you?" She didn't respond and instead nodded her head a few times. "Thanks for that Jenny. So, we know that you were all out for the night, it was…" He paused thinking but never once pulled out a notebook or phone of any kind. "Heather, Tasha, Lisa, and Megan along with yourself. Is that right?" She nodded again. "Heather was driving if I'm not mistaken and Megan wanted to stop by her boyfriend Chad's house quickly because she forgot her purse." Jenny frowned. "It was weed, not her purse." She quickly added as Detective Harris continued. "Sure, not a problem. This isn't about that, so we can just ignore that part of things okay?" Jenny nodded again.

"After that, you were all supposed to go to David's house. He was throwing a party, or a get-together?" Jenny sighed and spoke again holding her cigarette as if questioning where to put it out. "Just use the table that's fine Jenny." She crushed the butt into the table and spoke again. "David has a pool; we were going to go swimming." Nodding a few times Harris continued. "Right so no party, just a gathering of friends to go swimming." She nodded again. "So, this is where things get a little fuzzy for us Jenny. It should have only taken fifteen minutes to get to Chad's house if you were coming from Tasha's. But you didn't arrive at David's for another hour. Did you all go someplace else?" Jenny was fiddling with her pack of cigarettes before she spoke again. "No, Megan wanted to spend a little time with Chad. After they did that, which we all heard, and it didn't take long." She scowled, with a look of disgust on her face. "They started arguing, I told them we needed to go, but everyone got involved and it turned into this whole argument where everyone was screaming at Chad." "What was the argument about?" Harris quickly asked. "Chad had some photos of a girl on his phone. He said they were for his game, but Megan didn't believe him."

She suddenly became far more animated and started speaking more comfortably and much faster. "We all know Chad's cheated on Meg, before. So, I'm sure he was doing it again. He could have been with her that same night that he was with Meg. Men are such trash, anyway Lisa made some comment about Chad always checking her out and Meg confronted him about that too. Then he started yelling and tried to push Meg, so we all jumped in and started telling Megan that she needed to leave him, he's a creep anyway. She's only with him because he has a house." Harris had little interest in this topic but listened intently to everything she had to say on it before speaking again. "Right so after that, you all left and went to David's? to go swimming, but he wasn't home. The cameras saw you and your friends climbing the back fence." Quickly holding up his hands he continued. "It's alright, David told us that it was fine and that it happens all the time," Jenny spoke again. "Yeah, he doesn't care."

"At about 10:30 all the cameras went out. Do you remember that happening?" Jenny started to get quiet again and seemed to fold in on herself as if she was trying to make herself smaller. "It's alright Jenny. Would you like to take a break, or have another smoke?" She blinked and like before the promise of a cigarette seemed to clear her mind a little. "I can?" She asked holding the pack of cigarettes. Harris didn't speak and instead simply nodded a few times. Which she quickly took advantage of and drew one of the smokes out of the pack and up to her lips. This time Harris didn't light her cigarette and instead watched as she dug into her tight jeans to pull out the lighter. "Thanks." She mumbled.

"It's fine Jenny, so do you know why the camera's turned off?" She nodded weakly looking down at the table. "The power went out. At first, it was kind of fun, a little spooky even but we were together, so it was okay." "What happened then?" Harris pushed. It took a moment for Jenny to answer but sure enough after a few more pulls on her cigarette she spoke. "I don't know how much time passed but we heard this heavy breathing near the fence. And Lisa said she saw a flash." Harris chimed in again. "Like a camera flash from a phone?" She didn't answer but instead nodded. "Meg was still upset about everything that happened with Chad and started yelling in that direction. Things like, we know you are there. Don't be a perv, and we even threatened to call the police. Tasha thought it might be David, but I didn't think so. David isn't into girls and wouldn't be taking photos in the dark."

Harris spoke in a softer tone. "I know this is hard Jenny, but could you tell me what happened next?" Jenny paused from her continued smoking and bit her bottom lip before letting out a huff and speaking again. "We decided to stay at David's. His backdoor was open, and we knew he wouldn't mind. It was too dark to drive home anyway." Harris spoke again. "What about the strange person near the fence." We didn't see anyone, and there weren't any more sounds." He nodded and prompted her to continue. "A few hours passed, and we were all in the front room. David had some firewood inside, but we didn't know how to make a fire. We tried, but we couldn't get it lit." Harris gave a half-hearted smile. "It can be a little tricky." "Yeah…" she said weakly. "So, we all bundled up in some blankets and just talked for a while."

"When did you realize someone was in the house?" Harris asked, causing Jenny to get quiet again but this time he just allowed the silence to build between them before she finally started speaking again. "It happened really fast. A guy dressed in black came inside, he had a gun. He said he was going to kill us if we didn't do what he said. He was pointing it at us." Harris took a breath and waited for her to continue. "he told Tasha to handcuff everyone, he had a bag with him. It had a bunch of stuff in it. Like tools and stuff. It also had some handcuffs; we were scared, and he kept yelling at us." Harris spoke again still maintaining that softer tone. "Did you get a good look at his face?" Jenny shook her head, "He had a mask on, like a ski mask, the kind you see in the movies." Harris continued to ask questions. "What happened after Tasha handcuffed everyone?" Jenny got deadly silent and lowered her head looking down and sniffling lightly. Harris pressed. "Take your time Jenny. Your safe now."

Struggling to speak she finally continued. "He handcuffed Tasha, then he tied a piece of rope around each of the cuffs, so we were all stuck together." She started crying and her head shook as she sniffled again. "He put the gun against, against…" Lifting her hand she pressed it to the side of her temple. "He said I was last." Taking a deep breath Harris prompted her to continue with a small gesture but did not speak. She seemed to understand however and continued. "He touched us, played with us. Then he untied Megan from the rope and told her to wait. After that he…" Stumbling on her words she continued. "He tied the rope to the bars on the windows and took Megan… he took her, into the darkness."

Harris spoke again. "You mean outside? In the backyard? Where the footprints were?" She nodded her head weakly. Instead of speaking Harris pushed her pack of cigarettes closer to her, then moved his hand away. With her hand shaking, she reached out and grabbed it quickly drawing one out and lighting the end. "How long were they gone?" "I don't know, maybe twenty minutes we heard a loud bang and Megan didn't come back with him." She said which Harris followed up on. "Bang? Like a gunshot?" She shook her head, "No, like a hammer hitting metal." Harris pressed again. "When he came back, did he look out of breath, or were his clothes disheveled?" She blinked up at Harris seeming confused at his question. "What do you mean?" "Were his clothes undone or messed up from how they looked when he left?" She quickly shook her head. "No, He looked wet though, like maybe he sprayed himself off with a hose or something." Nodding Harris prompted her to continue. "He came inside and went into the kitchen; I think he got something to drink. Lisa started asking where Meg was, but he didn't say anything. After a little while, he came back into the room and untied Tasha, then he took her out into the darkness just like Meg."

"Did he say anything before he took her? Was his mask removed after he drank his water?" This seemed to catch Jenny off guard. She quickly spoke up almost stumbling on her words. "No, he didn't say anything, and I think his mask was back on, I didn't see his face," Harris spoke again. "Did you hear the bang again after they left?" She nodded again. "Yeah, just like before." "Did he come back? What did he do when he returned?" She paused again for a minute or two and then began to speak. "He looked wet again, I think he was watching TV or something. He just ignored us and went into the other room." Harris pushed again. "He did this with all your friends, did the time between when he took them and when he came back ever change?" She shook her head, "I don't think so." Harris finally asked the big question. "What happened to you? How did you escape?"

She lit another cigarette her fifth by his count. The poor table would need to be replaced. "I was the last one, he took them, one by one into the darkness. Then he came for me. He untied me from the rope and grabbed my wrist then started walking me outside. He was breathing hard and… and I could feel his eyes watching me." Harris interrupted. "What do you mean, watching you?" She sighed. "Creepy-like, sort of the same feeling you get when you pass by someone who makes you uncomfortable and they just keep watching you. It was like that." Harris spoke again. "Where did he take you?" She froze for another moment then started speaking again. "Outside, past the backyard and up the hill. There was a cave there. He took me towards that." Harris spoke again seeming more confident now and speaking in a stronger tone. "He took you to that cave?" She nodded, looking down. "Do you think that is where he took your friends?" She nodded again. Immediately Harris looked toward the glass behind her with a deadly serious gaze, after a moment he returned his attention toward Jenny. "What happened next?"

"He…he, He said he was going to have some fun before he let me go. And" she sniffled. "He started pulling his pants down. So, I ran." Harris leaned forward. "He was going to rape you?" She nodded again. "Where did you run? Back the way you came?" She shook her head. "No, I ran further up the hill. I don't know how long I ran but I eventually found a road and started running down that." Harris was in full detective mode now, and his voice echoed his confidence. "When we found you, there were no handcuffs Jenny, what happened to them?" She blinked looking up towards him. "Huh?" He repeated the question. "What happened to the handcuffs." She looked at her wrist. Speaking toward the table she said. "I slipped out of them." After that, she slowly moved her hands into her lap. "The officer said you had some blood on your jacket. How did that get there?" She was silent again, looking hard at her lap.

After an uncomfortable amount of time, Harris reached over and wrapped his hand around her smokes sliding them back across the table toward himself. He spoke in a firm tone as he looked directly at her. "There was no man, was there Jenny? No handcuffs, no rope, no photos. Just you and your friends in David's house. What really happened out there Jenny, why are you lying to me?" Her eyes, squinted in frustration as she bit her bottom lip shivering slightly. With a deep inhale of breath, she looked up at Harris under the hood of her eyelids and looked like a true monster in sheep's clothing. "They had it coming, No one could understand the love me and Chad felt for one another, no one. Especially not that bitch Megan, she was just using him. None of them understand what we have, none of them."

The end!