But just then the door opened as she gasped at what she saw. There was a fridge at the end of the container with a human skull on the glass.
Lavida screamed. “Shut up!” Stan snapped as the door opened. “Don’t make a sound! Give me your phone. That was careless of me...you might call for help.”
“Please don’t leave me here,” Lavida sobbed. “Please!”
“You’ll be fine,” Stan said. He slammed the door and shot a bolt home and grabbed a flashlight from a cabinet. Lavida could not make up her mind which was more scary: moving five feet ahead next to the fridge or moving closer to Stan to be away from the fridge!
“There’s nothing to fear,” Stan said. “There comes a day when we must face our fears, Lavida. And the sooner we do the better. There is nothing better like going out in absolute bravery, like a soldier.”
Lavida found that her voice was dry and almost a whisper. “Please! Don’t. I don’t want to die.”
“Please don’t say die!” he snapped suddenly. “Don’t go out like them,” he pointed the flashlight at the fridge. Lavida shuddered. “They went out in fear. What a waste. Can you imagine facing immortality with fear?”
Lavida had no idea what he was talking about, but her skin crawled as he grabbed a gleaming knife from the top of the cabinet. She backed away towards the fridge and fell on her knees, her hands up. “Don’t do it. Please.”
Stan paused. “You will understand. For now you cannot. But I will show you kindness and see if that will make you face the knife bravely, as that is of extreme importance, Lavida. What a waste. All I need is one person to face the knife without fear, and my mission will be accomplished, but they all crumble like a sand castle! Ladies who are so composed out there on the street just turn to jelly when they see the knife! Okay, I will get you something that may help you to be brave. You see, I am very kind.”
He dropped the knife, opened the door, stepped out slammed the door shut again. Lavida began to scream and bang on the door, but the sound was so muffled she could hardly be heard from outside. A picture of a human skull on the fridge door-glass! The thought was unbearable. Lavida clawed at the door, crying.
She clearly heard the sound of Stan’s car being driven away, then faintly heard the sound of police sirens that seemed to be getting louder. Yes, louder!
Lavida heard the sound of vehicles, then a gunshot. A car drove towards the container as she began to shout again. The door opened and light flashed from outside as a voice blared from outside.
“It’s over, Stanley!”
Stan was trying to close the door when another gunshot was heard, and he was thrown back into the freight container in a heap.
Lavida sprang out of the container and found herself caught in a blazing light so bright that she was momentarily blinded.
“Hold your fire! That’s the girl!” the voice blared again.
Lavida found herself carried by a strong officer towards the police cars. “You’ll be fine, Miss,” he kept saying.
“Are you okay, Ma’am?” another officer spoke as he approached her. “I’m sergeant Wash,” he said. “We had tracked down this man. He’s a killer and gets his girls online and then lures them away through a date before they vanish into thin air. We have officers in his basement right now and there are some victims imprisoned there...he was probably to knock them off later. Well, Rowland, there goes the White Point killer. Mystery solved. I will need a report of victims compiled.”
*
“At last you are here,” her father spoke as Tina walked into the room.
“Sir, I would like you to know that I was in town when she left,” Malcolm said. He had met Tina at the door and had asked her why she had snuck out.
“Why didn’t you lock me in the kennel? You think I’m a freakin’ dog?” Tina had snapped.
Malcolm didn’t know what to do with her except flex his muscles and try to look formidable. He was supposed to watch her and stop her from being wild, but he just didn’t know how to handle a firebrand like her. Even though her father seemed to have succeeded in confining her to a life of misery most of the time, she seemed to do everything she could around this place to keep her parents worried, and when they were away she took it as an opportunity to be away too.
“That will be all, Malcolm,” Tina’s father spoke. When Malcolm was gone, he spoke: “Come on, Tina. You, your Mom and I need to talk. As you know, we have a threat...the family name is hanging by a thread.” He sighed. Tina frowned. She had never seen her Dad worried before. This shit must be serious.
Of course it was serious! Matt was in possession of a group sex thing that involved her in the video, taken without her knowledge.