It was a castle made of dark stone, the windows narrowed, the entranced sneared opening wide as she entered. There was a chill in the air that seeped into her skin; shivering and teeth chattering seemed to be her only comfort. The faces on the patrons and the employees were pale with dark lips and narrow pupils that drilled into her soul. The hard seat offered little comfort as she sat in the corner. Above her head on the right was a picture of Marie Antoinette, while on the right was a replica of a sword and shield. Gulping, she watched the patrons laughing and talking.
"Abernethy," somebody said on the loudspeaker.
They followed a man dressed in a tuxedo with long tails.
Round tables scattered around the room seated by patrons wearing gowns and suits. Jewelry twinkled with various aromas of colognes and perfumes as they passed. They stopped at a table no light above, but a single lit tea candle in the middle of an arrangement of roses and lilies.
I knew this would be my last supper. Olwyn took the menu from the man.
"Good evening, eveyone. Your server tonight will be Andre. May I start you off with a house wine, champagne…?"
"A bottle of your house wine, please." Oliver nodded to the man.
"I'd like to have water please." Maybe it'll help my dry throat.
Let's see, what do I always want to eat? Lobster. Okay here it is. A lobster dinner with rice pilaf and roasted asparagus looks good. Olwyn looked above her menu watcing Sadie smile and Oliver wiggle his eyebrows while laughing.
"Good evening. I am Andre." He took the water glasses off the tray putting them in front of everyone. Oliver tasted the wine and nodded his head. Andre poured the wine for Oliver and Sadie. "Is everyone ready to order?"
"We'll have the steak and lobster please. The steak medium and a baked potatoe with butter for both of us please."
"Will that be soup or salad?"
"We'll have the Caesar salad."
"And for you…"
"I'll have the lobster dinner with the rice pilaf please."
"Will that be soup or salad?"
"I'll have the salad with oil and vinegar please."
"Your salads will be right out." Andre bowed before turning around to leave the table.
Olwyn watched his lingering eyes. "Daddy, I thought you said we were having special guests."
"We'll meet with them later." Oliver smiled over the wine glass.
"Where? This is major exciting." Not.
"Sounds like major fun. This place is so macro unreal. It looks like a real castle." So much so, I'm beginning to wonder where the dungeon is.
"Daddy?" It is true.
Oliver yanked Olwyn by the hand, pulling her to an office.
"The time for momma and daddy is done. The name's Mace and that's Sara." Mace pushed her into a chair. "You see. You are a means to an end. The end of this… this miserable world. You know why? Because I am going to take over with your help. Isn't that fantastic?"
"Oh stop that." Sara walked into the room. "Besides, we still have a lot of work to do. Come here."
Olwyn stared at Mace while she stood up. "Momma?"
"Not anymore. I'm not anybody's momma. Just like nobody was mine. I can finally stop spouting all that shit about God. Like He ever did anything. As for you…yeah…you were AnneMarie Reynolds. After we stole ya from that pathetic excuse of a human being…we changed ya to Omicron. Isn't that a wonderful name?" Sara pulled Olwyn to a metal table. Leather straps secured her ankles as the knees were bent and legs separated. Both wrists secured above her head. A head collar and mouthpiece put into place, stretching her neck.
Sara held up a knife, Olwyn attempted to turn her head. I can't move. I can't scream. What is she doing?
"Hey Mace."
"Yeah?"
"Look." Sara pointed to the pool of blood forming underneath.
"Shit. She's on her period. How much longer?"
"I don't know. She was supposed to lose weight so this would't happen."
"We bought her food. Remember?"
"Fuck. OK. Well, we'll just keep her here until she's done. I called the school already. And nobody will be looking for her. Made sure of that. We're in the clear." Sara smiled.
Mace looked at Olwyn. "Oh don't worry Baby Doll. You can stop crying now. Daddy's here." He rubbed her cheek, eliciting more tears. He laughed as the tears wet his fingers. "Did you have fun learning how to be a little lady? Learning about how they only vegetables?" Mace laughed. "A nicely controlled diet so you would never gain weight. We wouldn't want that to happen now would we." Mace patted Olwyn's cheek before walking away.
What am I supposed to do? So cold. Help me! Someone! Anyone!
Olwyn closed her eyes, blocking out the bright light that shone from above. I can't sleep on this thing. I can't feel my arms and the rest is just too disgusting to think about. Oh God. Please save me. Please. I beg you. Forgive me.
"Oh look. She was surprised. Well. Momma's back with the doctor. You see. You are going to be pregnant. Isn't that lovely? Now if you hold still, Momma will give you big kiss when you're done."
Sara held a rolling pin and rolled it up and down Olwyn's stomach causing her to wince. "Doesn't that feel good? Squashing away all of that extra fat from your body." Sara glanced at Olwyn and smiled. "Oh. Still crying? I guess then I have to tell you a little story then. Once upon a time, there was a woman with palsy. Pathetic if you ask me. Nobody who isn't perfect deserves to live. But I'm getting ahead of myself. You see, a small town country doctor is easy to influence with the right uh…bribe…all it took was a promise of a condo in the Bahamas. Not that he'll be enjoying it. You can't if you're dead. Well anyway, the doctor switched you for a stillborn and told mommy dearest that her baby died and she bewieved him. Aaah. Isn't that just twaggic?" Sara laughed. "It was a good day that day. We finally found a good incubator. You. All we needed were your ovaries and from that we could harvest your eggs and voila. Magical beings that you can't kill. To think that day will be the greatest day." Sara held up the rolling pin in an imitation of the Statue of Liberty. "The day we take over the world!"
Sara went into an adjoining room and closed the door.
Olwyn closed her eyes and cried. They're not my parents anymore. They're monsters. I'm going to breed monsters to destroy everything.
A man in a white coat stood above her. The calendar says it's the third. I think it was the first when we got here. I must've fallen asleep for two days. She watched the man standing between her legs. He looks like what Count Dracula would look like. What's he doing what'd he-- "Mmmm. Mmmm." No stop! "Mmmm."
"It's done. Now we wait to see if it took hold," the doctor said, with a European accent.
"How long?" Sadie asked.
"These things take time Ms. Sadler. I suggest we wait three days. In the meanwhile, I'll keep her on IV fluids."
"Fine," Sadie said. "I told the backers to come back in four days anyway."
The backers? Who are they? More evil people? The monsters were supposed to be on the outside. Not inside.
"Shh. Olwyn. It's Pipperelle. I'm going to release you. Everybody is waiting outside. We tracked four men on their way. We suspect more will be coming."
Olwyn's arms flopped to her side. The bindings around the ankles were released. The head harness and the mouthpiece were removed.
Olwyn licked her lips. "I got… I got preg… nant."
Pipperelle blew out a puff of air and shook her head. "Let me get you something." Pipperelle jogged into the inner office and returned with scrubs. "Better than what you have."
Olwyn nodded her head and tried to sit up. "Something's prickling my arms."
"That's circulation returning. We have to hurry. Those darts won't last long. They're meant to tranquilize. Not kill."
Olwyn looked into Pipperelle's eyes. "Thank you. Did you get my letter?"
"We'll talk about that later. Yes I do mean later."
Olwyn hopped down, her body enfolding as it hit the floor. Pipperelle grabbed one side of her and walked her to the entrance.
Someone in a black suit, taller than Olwyn, stood by the front entrance. "You did find her."
"Yeah. They started the process."
"Shit. Didn't want that. We'll take care of that later. I'll take her to the van and take of care of this. You know what to do."
Pipperelle nodded her head and jogged back to the office.
"Kallistrate?"
"Afton. She has other things to do at the moment." Afton took hold of Olwyn's side supporting her as they walked to a white van.
They entered the van through a sliding door, it slammed shut behind them. Afton took off her mask leading Olwyn to a bunk in the rear. "Okay. Pipperelle said they impregnated you already. If we caught it in the early stages there shouldn't be a problem in removing it."
"Will it feel anything?"
"That would be hard to say, although research has shown at an early stage pain is not felt."
"Are you sure?"
"How about a nutritional supplement? I was told you like chocolate. We have chocolate."
Afton popped the can open and gave it to Olwyn.
Olwyn glanced up to a shelf above Afton's head. "What are those things on that tray above your head?"
Afton turned her around, "Oh…uh…heh heh…those are tranquilizer darts. Powerful enough to bring down an elephant." She reached up and grabbed the darts. "It's good there's a protective covering on these. That would be bad." A safe box was opened and the darts put inside one-by-one.
A dart fell onto the carpeted floor by Olwyn's feet. She grabbed it and stuffed it under her thigh.
"I'm missing one. Did you see a dart on the floor by your feet?" Afton counted the darts. "There should a dozen here. There's only eleven."
"I don't see anything." Olwyn bent over to look around her feet. She kept her hand beside her thigh, covering the dart.
"No don't get up. I don't want you to fall. That would mean more trouble." Afton lay flat on the floor and began to crawl underneath the cot.
Olwyn took the cover off and stabbed Afton in the butt. "I'm sorry, Mother. I'm so sorry, but I have to see this through. I can make it. Physically anyway. Thank you." Olwyn leaned over and kissed Afton's head.
Olwyn peeked her head outside the back door before hopping down. She squatted as she ran to the front entrance. Looking inside, she saw no one. Standing by the door, she heard people gathering everything from the office. As someone exited, she snuck behind a stack of boxes.
She heard somebody talking. "Take all of this to the truck waiting outside."
It sounds like Kallistrate. Sounds angry too.
"We'll go through it and add it to the information we already have. It won't be long until this organization is put to rest. Forever if I have anything to say about it," Kallistrate said, as she exited the office.
Olwyn peaked around the stack and saw a man dressed in a dark suit coming towards the office. He revealed a syringe filled with something yellow.
Pipperelle is still in there. I don't like the look of that liquid. It's yellow. It has to be poison. Right? Aren't poisons brightly colored?
"Olwyn!"
The world turned black.
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Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it.