The Girl in the Window

Chapter Five

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Athena sat on the floor for a couple more minutes before standing up and trying to tug on the door handle again. Her body was trying to shut down. Her body was in too much pain. Every inch that she moved was agonizing. She tried to open the door, but no matter how hard she shook and pulled the door handle, it would not budge. She remained locked in here with no way to escape. There was no way to tell what time it was. No way to tell if it could be night or day. There were no windows in the room to tell her whether it was night or day. 

Remembering her phone in her pocket, she whipped it out. She thanked whoever was listening to her that it was still working and turned it on. She tried to text her brother but noticed that she didn't have service. Her text wouldn't send. "Damn it!" She frustratedly hit the send button a dozen times before giving up. She roughly stuffed her phone back into her pocket. 

She turned around and looked around the room, desperate to find anything that could open the door. She ran over to the table by the chair and took the gray, rusty tray off of it. Running back to the door she tried to place the tray between the door and wall but failed. It was just too big.

"Damn it!" she screamed again as she threw the tray on the ground. It made a loud clattering noise until it lay still. She needed to calm down and make a rational decision. 

She turned back around and threw her hands down in frustration. She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before she opened them again. She then remembered the knife sticking out of the wall and ran over to it. She struggled a little pulling it out of the wall, but finally, it came out. She stumbled back a little and hit the back of her knees against the chair causing her to sit down hard against it. She had a light vision of her being strapped to the chair and an electrical poker against her temple. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt electricity pulsating through her body. She screamed and tried to get out of the restraints that had snaked up around her body. Electrifying pain shot up and down her body before she was pulled back into reality. 

She shook the vision out of her head. She sat there for a couple of minutes, gathering her breath before she ran back to the door. She tried to slide the knife in between the door handle and the wall. Wiggling the knife back and forth and up and down. Athena started to pray to anyone who was listening that this would work. That she would be able to be free. 

Finally, to her surprise, she heard a small click. She pulled the knife out and slowly reached for the knob. Her hand shook as it turned, and she pushed it open. The hallway outside had a large window at one end with its blinds opened to reveal a bright, yellow, morning light.

She reluctantly stuck her head out of the doorway and looked up and down the hall. Seeing no one, she held the knife out in front of her and turned toward the stairs. A knife wasn't going to do anything against Effie, but it gave Athena slight comfort. She looked down the stairway—no one again. Looking beside her, she saw a door propped open.

Curiosity killed the cat. I'm not the cat today, she prayed with hope. Athena had always been curious about everything. Her mother had once called her too curious. That is why she joined the paper and became a reporter. She got to be curious without anyone telling her not to be also she got paid. Please, let me not be the cat. Oh, why do I have to be the curious cat?

When she was a young girl, she would get in all sorts of trouble for being curious. Mixed with her love for adventure, she would always venture too far from the house. Her mother was always a mess whenever she would walk too far. Her mother had resorted to making rules and putting locks on the door that she couldn't reach until her brother was big enough to protect her.