Chapter 6 – Until The EndJane held the paper in her hands, staring upon it with a puzzled expression on her face. She was certain that she’d thrown the whole diary itself upon the ground, when being captured by the Huntsclan, leaving her call for help behind. But apparently she was wrong.
Could these pages have come off the diary while it was in my pocket? She thought, recalling desperately stuffing her diary into her pocket that night to avoid from being caught with it out. That must've been the case, it was the only way...
She felt almost happy to see the pages from her diary again as they reminded her of better memories, better times back before all this had happened.
Maybe I could make another note? she thought, staring across at the one open window, sealed off by steel bars. It was too small for her to fly out of but maybe if she let one go out of the window it would get blown in the wind over to someone, anyone who could help her.
But as she placed the pages down across from her, she noticed something odd happen. Slowly, the page that had just been blank
'You've got to help me' it read. She picked up the page puzzled, and read them over again, wiping at the ink on the page as if not believing what she was seeing.
'I could use some help myself,' she replied before lying back against the bed and trying to drift back off to sleep.
… Ben – The Next Morning…
Ben rose his head feeling incredibly dazed and confused, as sunlight seared in through his open window and spilled upon his body. Everything that happened to him the night before was all like a distant nightmare, yet specific parts of it seemed to flash through his mind clearly, as if happening before his very eyes.
Had any of last night been real? Ben thought, as he slowly clambered out of his bed, throwing his covers aside. But as soon as he got up to his feet the question was answered for him. He felt an intense pain tearing through his left leg and his balance buckled underneath the weight of his body.
He sat back down upon his bed, grimacing in pain and examining his left leg. Sure enough, sinking deeply upon the flesh that hung on the back of it was a thick, bright red scar. The very sight of it sent a chill up Ben’s spine and an incredible anguish through him. But it wasn’t a physical pain, it was psychological, a memory flashing through the back of his mind. Ben remembered the fight he had gone through the night before just to survive, and the deep cut he had received upon his left leg in the process.
That man... Ben thought, the memories slowly returning to him
Who was that? "Okay," he said to himself, as his mind continued to rush but his heart gradually slowed its rate down once again "This must have happened, this must all be real. But why? What is happening?”
It obviously had to do with that girl who went missing He thought, as if answering his own question.
I remember I was lying down in the shrubs trying to hide from them, and I’d just found her diary… again. It was right where I’d left it… But why had I gone out again? Ben’s head was still spinning from some of the damage it gone through last night, which made remembering everything what had happened even harder.
Wait, that’s it! The answer suddenly flooding through his mind
Aaron had forgotten his book that’s why I went out. I had it with me there in the shrubs that was right before they found his…Then suddenly Ben stopped, feeling his stomach drop in fear. Aaron’s nametag. He had completely forgotten about it, and the fact that last night one of the men had picked up the nametag thinking it belonged to Ben who’d been hiding in the darkness.
They had Aaron’s name, and they thought he had seen them outside the apartment complex. They thought he was a witness.
"Oh sh*t!" Ben exclaimed, rushing up to his feet, ignoring the shredding pain in his leg as he desperately threw his shoes on and headed out the door over to Aaron’s house.
He stopped on the door and threw his fist against it desperately "Aaron! Aaron!" he cried desperately, concerned for his friends well being. But there was no response. Just a dead still silence filling the air around him almost as if the entire neighbourhood had fallen under been taken hostage.
He gripped the handle firmly trying to open it, but as he pushed forward it stopped completely. Something was holding it back.
Had it been locked? Ben thought, before bending down and staring through the tiny gap between the door and the edge of the door frame.
It wasn’t locked, there was nothing holding the door shut. Well, nothing that had been designed for that specific purpose at least. The door was being held shut, by something else. But what?
Desperately Ben stepped back and threw himself shoulder first at the door, hoping to break through whatever was holding it closed. But unfortunately he just slammed into it hard and collapsed to the ground with an ugly thud, clutching his shoulder in pain.
He lay there groaning and seething for awhile before struggling back to his feet again and taking another lunge at the door. It hurt even more then it did the first time, but Ben felt himself falling through the door frame and realized he had successfully broken through what had been holding the door shut this time.
He got back to his feet and glanced behind him, noticing that the door had been barricaded off by wood. He panicked at the sight, feeling every hair on his body stand up as he cautiously crept down the hall not sure whether the house was completely empty or not.
"Hello?" he said in a half whisper, half cry tone of voice "Aaron?" he continued, as he carefully followed his way down the hall and over to his bedroom.
He edged the door open carefully after seeing it was shut, his hands raised not necessarily to try and attack whoever may be in there but to prepare himself for any unexpected attack. As the door slowly creaked open in a dull, echoing drone,
The room was completely empty, almost literally. Most of the furniture had been smashed or broken in some form with belongings spread out and run through all over the floor, which was also covered by thick shards of glass that had collapsed upon it from Ben’s bedroom window which appeared to have been shattered.
"Great," Ben said, his heart sinking "This is just great. What am I going to do?" he continued concerned, cradling his face in his hands. Ashamed and afraid by what was going on "They’ve got Aaron, and this doesn’t exactly sound like their first kidnapping... This is not good."
For a moment, Ben considered calling the cops, but what was he going to tell them? He had no idea who these guys were or where to find them, all he had was a story. They would never buy it, especially from a teenage boy who they’d probably pose as just ‘some punk kid’ trying to pull a prank. But what else was there to do?
He could wait for his parents to get back, but that wouldn’t be for several hours, god only knows what could’ve happened in that amount of time.
Then suddenly, Ben remembered the diary itself. He remembered holding it in his hands that night after getting it back from the wreckage of the apartment building. He had written in it himself, calling out for help when he thought he was in danger, only to get a response.
Could that have been her? He thought. It was in a way logical, after all the diary did belong to her. But other then that the idea seemed near impossible.
Even if the diary was hers, how was it possible that I was reaching her? I mean, what is it some kind of magical diary? Ben continued to ponder, still feeling very confused over everything that was going on.
It doesn’t matter Ben thought, eventually making a decision
It doesn’t matter how this is happening, it just is. If I can get through to her I might be able to help her and she might be able to explain what is going on. Maybe she knows where Aaron is too?"I’ve got to try it," he said aloud "It could be our only hope."
And with that he rushed back to his house, heading back into his room and finding the old, worn book right where he'd left it. The writing on the page had long since gone, but he could still remember what it had said.
"I could use some help myself," Ben said, remembering reading it straight from the page the night before "It must be her," he continued "Why else would she need my help?"
But he wanted to make for sure first and scattered through the belongings that covered his desk, eventually finding a pen that he drew to the page and began to write upon.
'Who are you?' he scrawled, watching the ink dip into the page. It stayed there for a second before being completely absorbed by the page itself, sinking into the paper.
'My name is Jane… Who are you?'
'My name is Ben Burnley,' Ben replied eventually, still trying to fully adjust to what was going on 'and I know you're in trouble, I can help you.'
He watched carefully as the ink sunk into the page, before slowly dissapearing as his heart raced, waiting for answer. But nothing came, the page remained blank.
'What's happening?' he added after not getting a reply.
… Jane …
'... I know you're in trouble, I can help you.'
Jane couldn't believe what she saw.
How did this guy know about what was going on?But suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door, and she rushed to hide the diary before the door was opened, and in stepped the Huntsmaster.
"Now I don’t know if I made it clear or not last time," he started gruffly "But things from here are just going to get worse."
"Well, we could go through everything that happened yesterday all over again," Jane replied, getting irritated by the Huntsman "but I think I’ll save us time and give you the short version. I’m not telling you where he is…"
"Ah determination," the Huntsmaster laughed mockingly "I like that. It makes breaking your spirit a lot more of a challenge and frankly the last few people we’ve held captive were really too easy, it was no fun at all." He added sadistically.
"What are you going to do?" she asked "Torture me until I let this out?"
"No," he replied "Why should I put you in physical pain? That’s just going to put you one step closer towards death, and you’re no use to me dead."
"No," he continued "What I plain to do is plague your mind and soul with an unbelievably feeling of guilt."
"Believe me," Jane replied "I don't care what you do, it will never compare to the guilt I will feel if I know I was responsible for my master's death."
"Alright then. If it has to be that way then so be it." he"Men, you can bring him in now."
Jane watched unsure of what was going, before eventually she saw five or six Huntsman dragging in a practically lifeless body of a young boy, roughly her age with long blonde hair and blue eyes that were only just hanging open.
"Hope you don't mind company Jane," he said, gesturing to the near lifeless teen's body his men gripped firmly in their hands.
"Who is that?" she asked in shock
"Oh no one in particular," the Huntsmaster replied "Just a case of wrong place, wrong time. But nothing we won't take advantage of. Men" he added, ordering to of his Henchmen to grab her firmly by the arms and hold her in front of the boy who had been slumped lifelessly into a chair.
"You see Jane," he continued "You can try and keep that information to yourself thinking it would be better to kept locked away to try and save a life, but you don't realize that someone is going to die regardless," he added, before producing a thick rope in his hand and taking it over to the chair that boy sat lifelessly in, wrapping it tightly around his throat.
Jane watched in sight as she saw him trying to choke this boy of about 17 to death. The boy struggled and fought against his grip, trying to struggle out as he spluttered and coughed in pain his face slowly turning shades of red.
Jane trying to turn away in horror, but the men holding her also had a firm grip on her head making her watch every second of this boy's torture.
She tried to close her eyes, hoping that eventually the Huntsman would stop and let him go, but when she opened them again she could see that he still had the rope firmly strung around the boy's neck; who's eyes were slowly growing heavy and closing as he let out one final rasp, his head as he passed out.
"Okay!" she shrieked eventually,
"Sorry?" the Huntsmaster replied
"Just stop it," she said "Leave him alone. I’ll tell you where he is."
"Go on," the Huntmaster said, loosening his grip and letting the boy fall forward off of the chair.
"Okay," she replied "Well, he’s not in Wilkes Barre anymore."
"Really?"
"No," she continued “He left about a week ago..."
"Where to?" he asked
Jane swallowed before reluctantly continuing, sealing the fate of not only her but also her master.
"Philadelphia," she replied.
"That's it?" the Huntsmaster asked
"Yes," she continued "That's all I know. He told me he was going down there to see
"The Philadelphian Dragon," the Huntsmaster said to himself, Jane only just over hearing.
"What?" she asked
"You two," the Huntsmaster said, pointing to two of his henchmen and gesturing to the boy "Lock him up."
"Thankyou," he added turning to Jane, a forced smile brimming upon his face "You've been a great help to us."
"Yeah, no problem," she replied blackly as he shut the door behind them. She then turned around and headed back to her bed, suddenly remembering the diary as it lay there. She didn't know who this guy was.
Ben, was his name. But he somehow knew what was going on, and wanted to help her. She had to take the chance, even if it could be a trick. She just had to. It was her only hope.
'I need your help,' she wrote on the page 'Where are you?'