HAUNTING
ASHA
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
My first conscious thought was of my breathing as I woke. My breathing was the only sound in this eerily quiet, unfamiliar space. Our house would be loud by now-servants being ordered about by my mother, my sister or brother begging our father for something he’d deem insignificant. But now there was only my breathing. It was the first clue subconsciously that something was terribly wrong. The second was when my mind finally registered the few clues to my whereabouts that my senses could actually obtain.
My brain felt cloudy and heavy. The weight that one could feel when they’d been drinking. Or had awoken from too long a sleep. But I instinctively knew that wasn’t the cause of this feeling at all.
My nostrils stung with the heavy smell of mildew and dampness that seemed to fill the air. The smell of mildew was only outmatched by the scent of urine: stale and fresh.
Acrid.
I wanted to gag as my lungs fought the desire to inhale more deeply, hoping to find fresh air as a reprieve from this…stench.My innate desire to survive was the only reason I continued to breathe. Each inhalation took more of my already depleted energy than it should. The air was heavy and wet, weighing down the space like a fog.
The overpowering smell did little to help me clear my mind. My head felt like a never-ending weight on my weak neck. It rolled toward something without a thought. My brain was fuzzy, my synapses barely firing having laid dormant with little brain activity for days. Somehow, I knew I wasn’t alone in this hell.
Where am I? How long have I been here?
“Sasha?”
The voice so close I could feel the heat from his mouth. The smell was something I would never forget: it was foul and stale but also carried a hint of cruelty and sorrow. I wasn’t sure how someone’s breath could smell foreboding but that’s how it seemed. Like the odor was a warning. My natural reflex was to move away and I could feel the springs pushing against the backs of my legs painfully. I was tied up. Or down. I was immobile and the realization didn’t hit me until I had the desire to move away from the stench.
The voice.
That voice was still unfamiliar as I tried to piece together what I was doing here. And where was here? My entire body felt as if it were frozen solid. London was rarely warm but the event had called for me to dress up. Which meant a bandage dress and heels, which provided no coverage. My body was covered in goosebumps and I was sure that asking for a blanket would be futile. The wall that I was leaning against felt damp as though it was weeping for what it knew was to come for me and was preemptively mourning.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Why am I here? Where is here?
I knew I wouldn’t pull the answers out of the air and I doubted that I would be provided any by the person whose voice floated around me like a poisonous vapor.
“Saaashaaaaa” the voice sounded playful as it attempted to lull me into… something. A sense of calm? To elicit fear or to quell it by providing me with a false sense of lightheartedness? As though evil couldn’t be wrapped up in a jovial package.
I could almost sense how giddy whoever this was currently felt. They wanted me, well Sasha and now that they had me I knew they felt as though they’d accomplished something so profound in their life.
My teeth ground at the thought that they wanted my sister, my twin, here and part of me was thankful that I was the one in this spot instead of her. I was scared. Not only at the thought of being in this dank, dark room with a stranger who was clearly obsessed but hoping that they wouldn’t figure out they had the wrong twin and then attempt to get her. I knew I was going to have to do whatever was necessary to ensure that he didn’t figure out the mistake he’d made. I could only imagine how batty that would make him and since men weren’t known for their rationality anyway, I didn’t want to do anything else to set him off.
I waited. Feeling as though my heart rate increased with each second that ticked by. I could hear his breathing over the sound of the blood rushing through my veins the longer he waited to do something. I fully understood now what people meant when they said the anticipation would kill them. I felt like waiting on whoever this was to do something was more torturous than whatever they had in store for me.
“I’ve been waiting for you for such a long time, Sasha.”
The mattress dipped and I felt fingers brush tentatively over my exposed leg. I immediately tried to recoil but my legs were held in place. It was odd to feel so disconnected from certainparts of my body and I knew then I must have been drugged. It was as though my brain were foggy, my limbs nearly asleep and it was only when my reflexes took over that I even remembered that they were there.
“There’s no way for you to leave. Your legs are tied, as are your hands. I’ve been planning this for months, Sasha, so you might as well get comfortable. I know these aren’t the best accommodations, nothing like what you’re used to. But in time you’ll grow to enjoy them. Or at the very least get used to them.”
The voice edged closer and closer as he spoke and something in me refused to let my body coil back in disgust the way I wanted to. It solidified that I was going to endure whatever this was going to be until I could get away from this man.
“Nothing to say? You’re always such a chatty girl when I see you on TV. I loved your work on the show. You shone so brightly in every scene you were in; I was surprised you didn’t get more work. It’s too bad you won’t have the chance now.”
