Monthly Archives: August 2014

August 28, 2014 · 3:02 pm

Taken IX

Taken IX
By: Mia L. Hazlett
8/28/14

What was that?  I heard a noise outside.  I opened the door expecting to see Mark, but I only heard a car in the distance.  There was a slight glimmer of the headlights through the trees, but the sound I heard before was closer.  Now I could only hear the barking of coyotes blended with the crickets and various evening critters.  There it was again.  Someone was still here watching us.

“Hello,” I shouted into the darkness.  “Hello,” I yelled louder.

I went back into the house and The Package was gone.  After hunting through the house, only 500 square feet, so not that much to cover.  She was nowhere.  I know I heard cars, but who stayed behind? Who was watching me? Who had taken The Package again? At this point it didn’t matter. Answers weren’t what I needed.  I needed to leave the country.  Now.

I retrieved my passport and small stash of bills.  Although I thought I would be adding 50 grand to this, my thoughts were not my current reality.  Getting to Canada was the only way out of this mess .  In three days, I would be a different person, in a different country, living a different life.

I pulled my van onto the road.  I passed the small gated path, which went to the small creek behind my cabin.  Before I could get around the bend near the cliff, I looked into the midnight trees.  There was a jumping light that hopped and then disappeared.  A flashlight? None of my business.  I needed to get out of the country.

My eyes could not adjust to the instant light.  They were in front of me and behind me.  I was no longer driving my car, but overcorrecting my swerve and slamming on my brakes.  I don’t know if the shattering glass came before or as my head whipped back.

I woke to pain.  Mark stood over me.  He held my passport and all my cash.  He shook his head side to side.  I tried to get up, but Mark punched me back down.  I was going to die.  Mark was going to kill me.  These were my last moments.  Oddly, I had always thought of death as a nameless end.  Never did it have a name.  I saw Mark load his gun as he stood on my neck.  As he aimed his gun at my head, death had a name and its name was Mark.

Copyright © 2014 Mia L. Hazlett

Leave a comment

Filed under kidnapping, Suspense, Taken

Tagged as , , , ,

August 23, 2014 · 8:33 pm

Taken VIII

Taken VIII
Mia L. Hazlett
8/23/2014

There were woods everywhere.  Woods and no street lights. Dark and only my headlights.  Trying to follow my husband was impossible.  He pulled onto a slight gated dirtway.  It wasn’t really a trail, nor a driveway or street.  He parked and opened the gate.  His taillights stopped shortly after he entered.  He relocked the gate, but did not get back into his car.  A small spot of light wavered in front of him from his flashlight.

I parked my car and stepped out.  Crickets. Owls. Rustling leaves.  A strange barking in the distance. The cacophony of the night hid my clumsy steps, as I tried to following my husband’s spot of light.  I stumbled through the branches and hid behind a tree when I saw headlights coming through the trees.  The lights scanned over a small cottage before the engine cut.

I didn’t see my husband any longer.  The tree continued to give me cover. I’m not sure if I needed the tree, the pitch black did its own job. My eyes adjusted to the frame of a small cottage, but not much else.  I heard a slight creak.  It sounded like a door opening.

Footsteps. I heard running in the woods in front of me.  I found another tree and hid behind it.  The small spot of light returned and jumped up and down.  It must have been my husband.  But what was in that house?  What would make my husband run? My husband ran from nothing.

Faintly I heard the sound of two vehicle engines starting.  Had he found my car?  Before I could turn and run for my car, I saw a speck of light in the cottage.  There was someone in the house.  I ran towards the light and fell.  In my home, this would have been a mere thump.  In this desolate place, it was a clap of thunder.  The light quickly went out.

Copyright © 2014 Mia L. Hazlett

Leave a comment

Filed under fear, fiction, husband, kidnapping, Suspense, Taken

Tagged as , , , ,

August 19, 2014 · 9:21 pm

Monster XIV

Monster XIV
By: Mia L. Hazlett
8/19/14

They only allowed me to explore the top floor of my prison. I really didn’t know where I was.  There were no windows. It had the layout of a small hotel, except everything was white.  I knew I was upstairs because of the small stairwell at the end of the bleached hallway.  No stairs went up, but there were at least three, maybe four flights, which went down.

I didn’t explore the hallways as a leisurely stroll.  Over the past, I’ll guess and say two weeks, I carried an extremely large heavy duffel bag on my shoulders.  Every two days they added more weights.  They started me heavy, and I could safely say it now exceeded my own weight.

I came into the hallway the next morning for my routine weight walk.  The difference this time, the bag was alive.  The noise was muffled, but my bag now hopped and moved across the floor.  Maniacal ordered me to pick it up and begin my routine.  I obeyed. Whatever it was calmed as I picked it up.  Two steps in- it went frantic.  I was ordered not only not to drop it, but to also run.  Again, I obeyed- until I dropped it.

It only took seconds to pick it up again, but now it was wild. My routine consisted of down the hall and back twenty times.  I was up to thirty-five right now, and sweat stung my eyes.  My momentum was gone and my bag had no sign of life.  At fifty he let me stop. I wanted to drop the bag, but I remembered it was once alive.

Footsteps came and opened the bag.  The pit bull took small breathes.  It was a dog, but when I looked in its eyes, I recognized that fear.  I had seen that fear in Hope’s eyes.  They taped around his muzzle and he was probably close to suffocating.  Footsteps walked to the end of the hallway and opened the door to the small stairwell. Maniacal cut the tape off his muzzle as a sat on the floor in front of them. Exhaustion possessed every cell of my body.

I was ordered to go to Footsteps.  Still out of breath and feet from the stairwell, I heard Maniacal yell, “Attack”, and turned to see the pit bull running at me.  I don’t know how I made it down the first flight of stairs, but as I reached the third, pit bull was closing the gap.  There were two more flights coming at me fast as skipped stairs and still maintained my speed and balance.   I heard a yelp as he lost his balance and fell down the flight directly behind me.

Fear and adrenaline battled inside me for the next two seconds as I ran out of stairs and slammed into the cement wall.  Before I could recover, there was a loud blast and a final yelp. Footsteps appeared with a gun and ordered us back upstairs. I carried the dog up five flights of stairs and collapsed on my bed.

Before I fell asleep, Maniacal spoke into his phone while looking at me, “She’s ready.”

Leave a comment

Filed under fear, fiction, horror, Monster, violence

Tagged as , , , , ,

August 8, 2014 · 4:46 pm

In My Head VI

In My Head VI
By: Mia L. Hazlett
8/8/14

Daddy picked me up from school today.  We got my sister from daycare and now we are going to go to the mall. I love the mall.  Usually Mommy just comes to pay one of her bills at the store on the end near the escalators.  Daddy said we could go to all the stores and get whatever we wanted. It was kinda weird, because he used to never let us get stuff.  Now, he bought us anything we wanted.

Daddy asked me how I was doing and about school. I told him I was really good and I loved school.  I asked him if he would come to my play next week because I was going to be the narrator.  He said he couldn’t wait. I also asked him if he would sit with Mommy.  He told me, “We’ll see.”  That means no.  That has always meant no. But that was okay, as long as he came.

When we were going back to the car, Daddy got a call from a girl.  Her picture came up on his screen.  He tried to hide it, but I already saw it.  My sister kept asking if that was Mommy and Daddy got mad at her and yelled for her to be quiet.  She started to cry and I held her hand.  I wanted to go home now.  This wasn’t the best day ever.  Daddy called the girl on the phone sweetie.  That’s what he called me.

When Daddy pulled into the driveway, the front porch light came on and I saw the front door open, but Mommy didn’t come outside.  As soon as I saw the “P” light up, I took my seatbelt off and ran into the house.  I never wanted to see Daddy again.  I heard my sister crying downstairs and then the door closed.  I looked out the window and Daddy was on the phone smiling.  He was probably talking to his new “sweetie”.

Mommy knocked on my door and brought in the bags full of all the stuff Daddy let us get.  I told her I didn’t want it and I never wanted to see him again.  She sat on my bed and I ran to her and told her that Daddy had another girl he called “sweetie”. I wanted to be his only sweetie.  I was Sweetie and my sister was Sunshine. I began to cry and begged Mommy to never find another “dumplin’”.  I would do anything she wanted.  I just wanted to be her only “dumplin’”.  She promised me that I was her only dumplin’.   When she left my room, I heard her call my sister. “Gumdrop, it’s time for your bath”, she said.

From now on my sister and me would only answer to Dumplin’ and Gumdrop.  We were no longer anyone’s Sweetie or Sunshine.

Copyright © 2014 Mia L. Hazlett

Leave a comment

Filed under children, daughters, divorce, family, fiction, In My Head, parents

Tagged as , , , ,