The Trapped

1-7- Craig

The door slammed shut on that kid. Andrew, was it? Malcolm? I think it was Malcolm. No, wait! He wanted me to call him Mal. For some reason, I always thought his name was Andrew. There went my bad memory again!

 Whatever his name really was, Mal seemed nice. Hoped whatever was going on the other side of that wall wasn't hurting the poor guy.

Mal banged on the wall. A hollow metal-y sound rang through.

"Craig!" He said to me. "Are you still out there?"

"Yes, I am," I said back, real full of myself.

"I'm trapped!" Mal said to me. "Can you help me out of here?"

I thought for a sec, then started snooping around. "Sorry, Mal, don't see nothing in here that could help you out."

Mal let out a long breath. I can't imagine that stress! But it was the usual for him. "Is anything different in the room?"

The lady's murmurings were getting louder. I realized that the clock was slowly moving downwards, right towards the square pond that had collected there earlier.

"Mal, the lady's moving pretty fast down towards the water," I said.

Mal went quiet for a time. "Maybe if I press the button again?" Mal pushed the button.

The lady, who was dropping about as slow as a feather a minute earlier, started dropping real fast. She splashed right into the pool and started struggling.

I ran over. "She's in the pool!" I yelled. I don't think Mal could hear me through all that metal.

The lady was really struggling to breathe under all that water. I tried to help her by bailing some of that water out. Trouble was, the room was so flat, the water just kept rolling right back on in! Not thinking of anything else, I reached my hands into the water, found her face, and, with her finally in reaching distance, ripped her duct tape off. When she kept gasping, I pinched my nose, took a deep breath, and dove in.

Meeting her underwater, I saw all the bubbles she was creating in her panic. Using the bubbles as a guide to find her, I moved my head forwards until our lips met. On contact, I blew some air into her mouth. It was like a kiss, but a lot more panic-y, so not as sweet as it could've been.

Hoping that helped, I pulled myself out of the pool, dripping wet, and I scanned the room, looking for something to use. I saw the Katana and figured it was the best option. I grabbed it, and started hacking at the chains. Looking close, I realized one section of them chains were rusty. 

After five good swings on the rusty part, the girl could use her arm and shoulder.

She reached out to me, still struggling, and I grabbed her arm, pulling her up.

She gasped, coughing a lot. I kept holding her  before saying, "We don't have much time. Can you lockpick?"

 "As a matter of fact, I can," I smiled. "My maw taught me when I was five. Been doing it ever since."

"Great." She said exhaustedly. She held her tongue out. On top of it was a little bobby pin. Maybe the lady had her hair up before she was duct-taped, and hid the pin in her mouth? "Use the bobby pin on my tongue to get me out of here. The lock's on the back." She sounded funny when she talked this way. I took the pin off of her mouth brushing against her lips, and her tongue disappeared. Were lips usually that soft? I wasn't sure. My memory wasn't all there.

"Hello?" The lady asked, looking at me.

"What? Oh, sorry. Just thinking..." I tried to focus on helping this lady. That's what Mal would've told me to do.

"Will you be alright while I try to crack it open?" I asked.

The lady nodded. "Let me catch my breath for a moment. After that, you can try. But if I raise my hand, I need you to come help me so I don't drown." I held her up, hoping that I could get her out of these chains as fast as possible.

"Got it," I told her. She paused, still catching her breath. The gasping slowly became heavy breathing, and the heavy breathing became normal breaths, until the lady said, "Ready," closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded.

I let her go, as she splashed into the water.

I hoped my lockpicking skills didn't leave me!