The room was dark, the air was cold, the walls were silent. In the back of my head grew the memory of my friend Jade who had told me to come here. I didn't want to, but in some way she had slowly changed my mind, and I could still remember how anxious I was to come here. The trees had been so green, and the air only seemed breathable in the direction of this house. It was as if nature was altered to get me here, but I knew that wasn't possible, or was it? I could see her dark brown eyes in front of me, even in this pitch black room, the depth of them and the soft humming as she always seemed to be humming on a song without words. Almost as if she had a tune in her mind, but just couldn't get the words to the melody.
Jade had become my friend some years ago when I was feeling lonely. Back then I had just moved to town, and only knew people like the cashier at the neighborhood store. It was then when I had no one to talk to but my friends on the net and some old friends over the phone, that I met her. I could still remember her red dress, and the way her long curly black hair flowed over her shoulders. She had been standing in front of me in the ticket line to the cinema. In my loneliness I had decided to go to some movie that all TV channels were advertising about. Some action thriller, and I thought that if my life were as boring as it had been ever since I moved, at least I could see some action on a silver screen.
I had actually felt shy standing behind her, trying not to stare as I let my eyes wander from her head to toe. She was shorter than me, but most people were. Being 6'5 I've come to look down on most, yet never had any thoughts of being disrespectful. I had the chance to inhale her soft perfume, to see her graceful movements as she slowly walked before me. She had paid for her ticket, and when she turned around she had looked me in the eyes with her narrow Asian eyes and walked away. I had bought my ticket in a hurry, but when I tried to find her, she was nowhere to be found. I searched the hallway, but no intense red dress was to be found.
I had watched the movie and even if I'll have to admit that it was an exciting and well made cinematic experience, I still couldn't take my thought from the slender lady in red. The twinkle in her eyes as she had looked at me for a glimpse of a moment. When the movie was over, I had rushed out, and waited outside until the last person came out, but no luck in finding the mystery lady. It had been difficult to sleep that night. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was taken back to the moments behind her, the scent of her perfume, the fragrance of her hair and the glimmer in her eyes as she turned around.
It took two weeks before I saw her again. She had been driving a red Volvo station wagon, and I had rushed towards her, but to no avail. For days after that, I was on the look out for what I assume to be her red Volvo, but every time I saw one I got disappointed when the driver was someone else. As time passed, I looked no more. It was a dream, and I couldn't continue running after someone that appeared to be impossible to catch, a glimpse and then disappear as a ghost.
The air was getting thicker and I felt it moving as if a window had been opened, or a door. No light revealed anything, not even a shade of gray. The inner vision as I entered the mansion gate, and moved to the front porch. The soft smiles from the servant woman who had shown me to the office, and the quick conversation I had with the female superintendent. The walk in the hallway, and the surprise as I was lead down to the basement. I had an appointment with Mistress Dark, and I sat down on a wooden chair at the bottom of the stairs, and the silence as I waited. The waiting and silence that was cut with a sharp voice from a nearby speaker commanding me to undress, and to enter the door on my right. The difficulty I had to breath as I saw the wooden pole in the center of the room in the pale light of a single spot. The strange eagerness that I felt as I placed my hands in the cuffs far up on the pole, and secured them to my wrists, and the loneliness I felt as the spot darkened.
The air was motionless again, and the room was silent as before. No movement, no sound, nothing. Time passed and I tried to listen to any sounds, but there were none. I was alone in the room, and not using the space very much either. I remembered how I finally had met Jade, when she one day rang my doorbell. I can't describe how surprised I had been, or how dry my mouth suddenly became, but it was surely a moment I'll never forget. The surprise I got when she introduced herself as my new neighbor, a real story to tell the grandchildren. Several weeks, yes even months of looking, only to find her living next door one day. How time had passed, how we got closer and closer, and slowly wiping out the mental walls of what was her apartment, and which was mine. We began to eat meals together, watch videos, listen to music, and so on. Then one day she asked me if I would do something for her, a kind of sexuality test. I was surprised by her question. After all, it wasn't as if we were innocently living next door to each other. She explained that she wanted me to go to a mansion where they served sexual pleasures. I was stunned by her request, and said no.
It was now two hours from that no. How easily had she not twisted my thoughts? How strange wasn't the feeling I had when I had to go to the mansion, not knowing what to expect, not knowing why. Standing here in the center of the room, secured to a pole was maybe her test to see if we would match on another level than the usual? I didn't know, all I knew was that I couldn't go anywhere and the feeling I had that someone was watching me grew and grew. What would happen? Would I come home with long red stripes over my body? I began to fear the fact that I was left in the hands of someone else, not knowing what Jade had arranged for me.
Suddenly a bright red light broke the darkness. The silhouette of a woman was all I could see in the red light, and a dark female voice saying.
"Welcome to my realm."
She moved closer, but the light made it impossible for me to make our any facial features. The air was moving, causing goose bumps on my skin, and shivers down my spine.
"I know why you have come. For this."
I could see her raised hand and a transparent plastic bottle in it with some clear liquid. She opened the cap, and moved her hand towards my neck, where she squeezed out a drop. She withdrew her hand, and stood silent. Suddenly the cold drop began to itch like crazy, and with my hands tied, I tried to reach with my chin, but couldn't get there.
