The Past Will Always Haunt You

He or She who reads this tale

Please note that the story is not as it may appear. For there may be certain things that pass you by. Things that you might miss, and need to spot again on a reread. A little, what's the word, hinting? Hinting in the letters. Individual letters.

He or She who spots what I direct them to spot, please feel free to share what you have spotted, in the form of a comment. And I will let you know at the end of October if what you found was correct!

With that in mind, you may now proceed with the story at hand.

Cheers

GT

***

If you had asked her five years previously, Katie would have told you that Halloween was her favourite time of the year.

For the last few years, however, the festival had had a whole different meaning, and it wasn't a positive one. Ever since the 'event.'

Since the 'event,' the sounds of the cackling of fake witches on houses and in gardens, the Halloween music that always played on the radio, the Jack O'Lanterns, cobwebs, fake ghosts and skeletons and other decorations that normally punctuated the festival seemed hollow. So, the four other girls who had gone through that experience -- her closest friends since school -- would just gather at one of their houses with a few drinks, some DVDs and, at last year's event, Mandy. Not a person called Mandy, though. The other kind. They could enjoy each other's company,

For Halloween of 2018, however, the five of them had decided not to do that. If they kept doing it, it would just keep dredging up memories of that night. Five years was long enough to brood, it was time to move on.

So, they had done just that, and gone to a Halloween party at the house of one of the new Trainees that had just started at Katie's law firm. It hadn't been a work function, as Katie was close with Maggie -- the Trainee in question -- personally, having offered her assistance in the early stages. She had been there herself, a year previously. Starting a training contract was tough enough. Starting one at a major London law firm was something else.

Katie's friends had initially been sceptical, but when they found themselves amongst people their own age, who had had similar upbringings to them, and who were just trying to have a good time, they had fit in perfectly, and had had a thoroughly good time dressing up, enjoying the music that had once been a cruel reminder of their past, and generally getting drunk and having fun.

Now, they were driving back to Katie's house in Haslemere to crash for the night. The car was a 2011 Nissan Micra K12C, owned by Chloe, the group designated driver. She was dressed like Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, her naturally silver-blonde hair done into braids and a bright blue dress similar to the one worn by the character in Season 3 adorned her body. Were it not that her eyes were grey in colour, one could have mistaken her for the actress who played her.

Katie herself was an Attack on Titan fan, and had done herself up like Mikasa Ackermann from the show. Being half-Japanese herself (also from her mother's side, her father was English), with the white shirt and brown scarf, various belts and buckles around her torso, and dark trousers, she too looked convincing. Her normally long, black hair had been cut to about neck length.

In the back seat sat three other girls. Behind Katie sat her best friend, Hana, who was dressed in her oldest, most tattered clothing, with her brownish hair tied up into a bun and hidden behind her hood, and a large hockey mask covering her face a little like Jason Voorhees in a hoodie. Katie was quite sad that she was wearing the mask, as she liked to look at Hana's face, with its light brown complexion and Persian features. Only her black eyes stood out through the eyeholes in the dim light of the car.

In the middle was sitting Emily, a very pale looking young woman with red hair, blue eyes and a very nervous looking demeanour. Dressed in black, ninja-style clothes and her hair long and curly, she was made to resemble Black Widow, Scarlett Johansson's character in the MCU. Next to her was her younger sister, Amy. At just nineteen, she was the youngest of the group, and had only been fourteen at the time of the 'event.' She was wearing a plain black dress and brown jacket, and had been made up like Scarlet Witch, Elizabeth Olsen's character in the MCU.

Aside from Chloe, who didn't drink, everyone else in the car was completely drunk. The car was alive with conversation, mostly about Brexit and the political situation in England. Katie wasn't participating all that much, but that was because she was just slumped peacefully against the window, staring into the dark, her head swimming. She didn't really like politics all that much.

It was about twenty minutes from home, as the car was driving through a quiet country lane, that things started to go wrong.

First, it was a loud bang, then the car slowed down and began to steer violently to the left, then the right. It was followed by another, equally loud bang, and the car began to skid. There had been a tire blowout on the wheel, keeping the car steady, and waited for it to gradually slow down, applying minimal pressure to the breaks. Eventually, Chloe managed to get the vehicle to stop at the side of the road, and killed the engine. Although they were out of danger, everyone in the car was, obviously, completely rattled.

"What the fuck just happened?" Katie spluttered.

"That definitely felt like a tire blowout," Chloe said. "I'll go look."

She opened the door of the car and got out of the car. She saw immediately that the front right tire had burst, and was deflated. She sighed, and turned to approach the boot. That was when she saw something that caught her by surprise.

"Err, girls?" She said, in a confused and slightly nervous tone. "The front and back right tires are both blown out."

"What? At the exact same time?" Katie got out of the car herself and went to come around.

She froze.

"Chlo?" she said. "This tire's out as well..."

She checked

"And the back one."

"You mean all four tires on the car have blown out? At the exact same time?" Amy asked, in a shaky voice, from the back seat. "That doesn't just happen."

"Maybe you hit something?" Emily offered.

"Yeah. It might've been something metallic in the road. You guys stay in the car. Chloe, you call the AA. I'll see if I can find a street sign or something," said Katie.

Chloe took her phone and AA membership card out and began to enter the number into her phone. Katie, meanwhile, began to walk along the road. She didn't want to walk too far from the car. But they were on a two-way street, so there was plenty of chance that a car would come by in a second. So, she moved at a steady pace.

***

At the car, Chloe had finished entering the number, dialled the number and held the phone to her ear.

It wasn't ringing.

Chloe looked at the phone, and saw at once what the problem was. There was no signal.

"Hey, guys -- can any of you get signal on your phone?"

The other three immediately took their own phones out and checked. They were met with a chorus of no's.

"Fuck!" Chloe said loudly, in frustration. "We must be in a dead zone! How the fuck are we going to call for help now?"

"Why don't you walk a bit up the road? Dead zones aren't as big as you think."

"No. I'll wait for Katie to get back," Chloe replied. "Better we don't get separated."

"Wise move," Emily said. Then she let out a sigh. "Just our fucking luck, isn't it? Our first Halloween in years and we end up trapped in the arsecrack of nowhere with burst tired!"

"Luck really doesn't seem to be favouring us at the moment," Amy remarked.

"Well..." Chloe struggled to maintain her composure. "At least we didn't end up like that girl."

The three girls in the back seat froze. It was the first time in years that they had spoken properly about the 'event,' and the fact that it had been referred to openly was like someone had shouted "Hey look! There's an elephant in this room! Someone get it out!"

"I'm sorry," Emily said, shakily. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"No. It's fine. I'm sorry too. I just..." Chloe paused, her voice cracking. "I still think about that day. All the time. I still see her face in my dreams. I can't ever talk about it with my family, you know?"

"Well, don't let us shut you down," Hana said. "If you ever want to, you can go right ahead."

"It's fine," Chloe said. "My mood isn't quite there. You guys can if you want to, though. I wasn't the only one in the car that day."

"No. I don't want to either," Hana admitted.

Emily and Amy offered their own affirmation.

"Well, how about we talk about something else, so long?" Chloe offered. She turned to Hana. "How's things with that guy you were seeing?

"You mean Craig? Nah. He and I aren't seeing each other anymore."

"Why not?" Amy asked.

"Take a guess," Hana muttered. "I'll give you a clue -- it hangs between his legs, and he doesn't stop thinking about it."

"No kidding," Chloe said.

"Yeah. I told him early on that I was waiting until marriage. He kept spouting this stupid shit about how my Muslim faith was oppressing me as a woman, that it was teaching me to be abstinent and that religion was utter bollocks."

This visibly made all the girls cringe. They knew full well that Hana was Iranian Jewish, that she was an atheist anyway, and that her abstinence was nothing to do with any kind of faith.

"Eventually, I got fed up, and I told him that if he wanted to fuck someone, I suggest he start with himself."

"Good going," Emily said. "Guys like that are toxic."

They continued chatting for a while, enjoying that the conversation starting to flow again. For a few minutes, it took their minds off the situation they were in, and allowed them to pass the time a little until Katie came back.

***

Further back along the road, Katie was shining the light on her own phone, trying to see if she could find a street sign. But she hadn't. Thinking back, she didn't even remember if she'd seen one when they had been driving along earlier. It was looking increasingly likely that they would have to flag down a passing car.

As she was thinking this, her light caught something glinting in the road. Surprised, Katie instinctively shone her light on it.

It was a long sheet of metal with some very nasty looking nails on it, very similar to the "Talon" nets used by the police to protect from terrorist vehicle ramming attacks, and the "stingers" used by American law enforcement. Except it was clearly homemade, and clearly had pieces of tyre on it.

Katie's blood ran cold. There was no doubt in her mind that this was what had burst the tires. And it had clearly been placed there deliberately.

Before she could think any further, Katie detected movement behind her. She turned around to find herself looking right into the face of a masked figure, dressed in black and wearing a black ski mask. They had clearly been trying to sneak up on her.

Katie instinctively attempted to scream, but the figure lunged at her and clapped a gloved hand over her mouth. Her scream echoed into it, and she attempted to wrestle with the masked figure, but whoever it was, they were too strong for her. Eventually, they managed to get her into a headlock, and unclipped a small canister with a face mask on the front from their belt.

Despite Katie's efforts, the attacker pressed this against her nose and mouth, hit the trigger, and held her firmly as the Halothane gas inside the canister worked its magic. Katie's struggles became weaker, and her arms and legs began to give way. Before too long, she was unconscious, and the attacker laid her to the floor.

***

The sound of the attack hadn't quite reached the girls at the car yet. They were now talking about their plans for the following year, when some of them would be going off into full time work, and Amy would be on her year abroad in America.

The first they became aware of the danger was when they heard the sound of heavy footsteps, and what sounded a heavy breathing. Like someone was trying to lug a heavy object a long distance. At first, they thought that maybe they had had the answer to their prayers, and someone had found them. But then they remembered they were on a quiet country road, in the middle of nowhere, in the wee hours of the morning. If anyone was going to be on foot, it would be Katie. Why would she sound like that?

There was also the rustling of leaves, which even if it was Katie, was still quite a scary sound.

"Shhhhh," Chloe hissed at the girls. They paused, and listened to the noise.

"You reckon it's Katie?" Hana asked.

"It has to be," Emily said.

Chloe got up and walked a few paces in the direction of the noise.

"Katie? Is that you?" She shouted.

The noise stopped.

All four of the remaining girls held their breaths, now starting to get very nervous. The noise started again.

"Katie, this isn't funny," Chloe shouted, barely hiding the panic in her voice. "If it's you, just shout."

There was no sound, other than the heavy footsteps, breathing and dragging noises.

Chloe returned to the car and whispered urgently to the girls.

"Listen, I don't think that's Katie. I think someone's coming. And I think they might not be friendly."

"Shit!" Amy whispered in terror. "What should we do?"

"There's a tire iron in the boot. And I think there's a hammer in there as well," Chloe said. "I can get them."

"Are you out of your mind!?" Hana snarled quietly. "We don't know how many there are. They could have an even more dangerous weapon!"

"And they could have Katie!" Emily whispered.

"Sorry, sorry, you're right," Chloe uttered, although her voice betrayed some frustration. "Do you have another idea, though!?"

"We run," Hana said. "We keep running until we find help."

"Okay. You guys run, I'll try and distract them."

"No, Chloe!" Hana protested.

"I'm not taking no for an answer," Chloe snapped. "You guys can run faster than me. And you have a clean conscience. You go."

The girls seemed mutinous, but they saw that Chloe was serious. So, they slowly climbed out of the car, and looked around. The coast appeared to be clear.

"Okay, on three," Hana whispered. "One... Two..."

Before she could shout "Three," they heard a soft, but rather menacing voice call out from behind them.

"Run, and I kill your friend."

The girls froze and looked round.

Emerging from behind a tree was the person that had attacked Katie -- dark clothes, ski mask and all. To the girls' horror, he was supporting Katie with one arm -- she was clearly unconscious. And he had a knife to her throat.

Chloe's eyes filled with tears of absolute terror. As did Hana's.

"Please... please don't harm her," Chloe's voice mumbled.

"You'll do as I say..." the voice said. "... And no harm will come to her."

The girls all nodded fearfully.

"Good," the stranger gestured in the direction that the car was facing. "Start walking in that direction. I'll guide you."

The girls nervously complied and started following as the stranger guided them. They walked only a few metres up the road, took a side street and eventually came upon a large, white van.

"Open the back," the stranger ordered.

When Chloe opened the back, she saw that there were five pairs of leg shackles connected to the floor, each that had a large metal bar vertically connecting the floor and ceiling behind them, with a set of handcuffs attached.

"This is how it's going to work," the stranger said. "First, Emily..." he pointed at her with his knife. She visibly started when he said her name. How the hell did he know who she was!?

"...You will secure your sister, Amy first. Then Hana will do you," he pointed at her. "Then Chloe will do Hana, and I will do Chloe. And remember, my knife is on Katie's neck."

There was nothing more the girls could do. Miserably, all four girls did as he instructed -- each girl gave their allocated person a reassuring and apologetic look or kiss on the cheek before lying down to have their turn.

Once all of them were done, and Katie had been strapped in, the stranger took out his halothane canister, grabbed Chloe by the cheeks and forced the mask over her mouth and nose. She tried to struggle, but there was nothing she could do.

"Sweet dreams," the stranger whispered to her.

***

When Katie woke up, she felt dizzy and quite weird. It took her a while to get her bearings. But by the time she finally remembered her final moments before being knocked out, she leapt to her feet in feral rage. But it took her only a few seconds to realise a couple of things.

The first was that, although she could move about, she couldn't move her hands. This was because they had been handcuffed behind her back.

As she made this horrifying discovery, another one presented itself from just looking down.

She was completely naked.

Katie let out a scream of terror. "HEELLLLP!"

But when she looked around properly, she realised that even screaming was futile. She was in a large, reinforced glass cage. There was a door at one side, and it was quite clearly sealed shut with a tight lock. There were ventilation ducts around the edges of the walls, but there was no way any sound could escape.

Then Katie heard the sound of crying, almost right next to her ear. One other person was in the cell with her, sitting on the floor.

It was Hana.

She too was naked, and her hands cuffed behind her back. Katie had never seen her with no clothes on before, and it was a strange feeling. But she could not help but feel a little jealous -- Hana was a very striking girl. Her body was lean and toned with its ample breasts and bum, a muscular stomach and tanned skin. And she was weeping softly. Katie approached, cautiously.

"Hana?" she said, in a soft tone.

"K-Katie. I'm so glad you're awake. I thought you were dead."

"Wh-where are we? What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know. I only woke up five minutes ago myself."

"What happened?"

"I... I..." Hana's tears began to flow more freely. "I never saw his face. Only his voice. He showed up at the car with you on his arm. He held a knife to your throat. He tied us up in his van, and told us he'd kill you if we didn't do what he said. Then he put us to sleep with that gas of his. That's all I remember."

This wasn't good, Katie thought. All five of them had been kidnapped. And where the fuck were they now?

She looked around outside the glass box they were imprisoned in. At once, she could see another glass box which, like the one she and Hana were in, was illuminated by a single light bulb. Inside, Katie could see that Emily and Amy were in it. They too were naked and handcuffed. The boxes were quite close together. But they couldn't communicate with each other verbally, and without their hands, hand signals weren't an option either. In any case, they didn't look like they'd woken up yet. Aside from the two boxes, they were completely surrounded by darkness.

Chloe, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. That was worrying to say the least.

Katie went and sat down next to Hana. She couldn't put an arm around her, but she moved close, and Hana rested her head on her shoulder.

"Listen, whatever happens, I promise I'll do my best to keep you safe," she whispered semi-reassuringly.

Hana's weeping continued, and they just sat like that for several minutes.