So! I'm just finishing up the much requested sequel to my last story "Madwomen". Now if you haven't read it, I would humbly suggest that you do read it before starting this one as they really tie together. You can find it here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7663 Please feel free to comment on it!

As far as this one goes, it is longer, darker, and waaaaaaaay more complex. Though hopefully enjoyable at the same time. So all the usual disclaimers are in effect, mostly pertaining to my editing skills (Or lack thereof) and kinda bulky writing style. And... I think that's it!
So! Here we go again. Hope you enjoy it!
Four Years Later
By: Dreadnaught3200
With input from: Jason Toddman
Featuring Poetry by: Pete Sinfield
I clutched my paper coffee cup in my hand tightly. The steam from its heated surface rose into the air, illuminated by the streaming moonlight coming through the trees. Leaning back against the car I took a long swig. Drinking enough to calm my nerves and slow down the adrenaline. Having taken a minute to myself I looked up to the strong-faced figure standing beside me.
“Alright, you feeling bit better?†He asked, genuine concern in his voice.
“Yeah.†I replied.
“Ok, then tell me what happened.â€
I exhaled loudly and thought back, still coming to grips with my own vivid memories.
“I want to hear it in your words, from the beginning.†He said.
“Alright.â€
And suddenly I was reliving the experience:
Following the fever pitched workweek leading up to Canada day on July first, I’d booked myself some desperately needed vacation time. A whole seven days to rest, catch my breath and enjoy the beautiful summer weather. A few weeks previous I’d seen my Aunt Diane at a family gathering and mentioned my vacation time to her. She offered to let me stay at her cabin on nearby Emerson Lake and I enthusiastically accepted. Finally, when July second arrived, I loaded up my Ford Explorer, strapped my Dad’s kayak to the roof and took off. A full day of driving later I arrived. It was exactly what I needed; Aside from a few other cabins on the lake I was in the middle of nowhere, on the shore of a beautiful lake, under the summer sunshine. But more important than anything else: I had the most beautiful woman in the world with me.
Well… I’m sure that many people will dispute me on that one. But as far as I was concerned, she was the most beautiful woman who had ever lived. Her name was Candice and she was my girlfriend. From the moment I met her I got butterflies in my stomach any time I was near her. And as we’d gotten to know each other while going to school, it slowly became apparent that she felt the same. We’d come from very different backgrounds, but there was rarely an issue we didn’t see eye to eye on.
Candice stood around five foot five. She was of Spanish descent with dark white skin and beautiful brunette hair that draped past her shoulders, which she usually had pulled into a ponytail. While she wasn’t the most athletic girl in the world, she had a moderately muscular build from playing volleyball, and well endowed in the chest.
We’d passed the first two days of our vacation very enjoyably. We passed the time swimming, hiking, kayaking, reading, drinking beer, romancing… hell we even built a sandcastle together. Around two on the third day, I sat on one of the lawn chairs we brought with us on the beach, feeling the sand between my toes. Quietly I worked on a composition I’d been commissioned to write for my choir, while Candice continued adding to the sandcastle we’d started the day before.
Every now and again she would look over to me and chuckle as I raised my hand and conducted to thin air. I had a nasty habit of becoming so engrossed in my work that I would have no concept of how stupid I looked. Candice always said it was cute, but somehow I knew she was lying.
In any case, my pen struck the paper over and over again until a further eight bars were completed. At present I guessed my piece was about four minutes long. About half way complete. Deciding that was enough composition for the day, I folded the music into its binder and put it on the ground. I took a beer from the nearby cooler and drank it thirstily, then I decided to get up and help Candice with the sandcastle some more.
Strangely enough, she wasn’t there. I looked around a few times, nothing.
A little perplexed, I sat back down on my chair and sipped my beer leisurely. I noticed a speedboat sitting in front of the opposite shore. Looking a bit closer I saw a group of teenagers on the beach beyond chasing each other around. What could they possibly be doing? Oh well. I was content that I would never know.
Suddenly an object was thrown at the back of my head. Turning around, Candice was walking back down the beach from the cabin, having thrown a bag of chips at me.
“Eat something!†She ordered.
I must admit, I have something of a weakness for chips.
“Your wish is my command.†I replied. She just smiled knowingly; Candice knew all my weak spots.
I picked up the chips from the ground and opened the bag, starting to munch away at a few of them. Though, as my girlfriend came closer and closer I found it harder and harder to think about them. As I did pretty much any time she was near me, I forgot about everything else. Without a word she sat down on my lap and leaned in to kiss me. Lost in lalaland, I dropped the bag of chips on the ground and they spilled onto the sand.
The time blurred as we embraced each other. After, well, I don’t really know how long… She turned and faced out towards the lake, leaning her head onto my shoulder. Wordlessly we stared out onto the glassy surface of the lake. Eventually she fell asleep, a little while longer, I followed.
When I woke up, however long it had been, Candice was gone. I stood up slowly, hoping to avoid the inevitable head rush before starting back up the beach towards the cabin. Inside, I heard her sweet voice filtering down the stairs from bathroom where she was singing in the shower. Much as I would’ve liked to, I decided not to bother her.
The cabin was relatively small, the first floor mainly comprised of a barebones kitchen unit with a small table and four strait backed dining chairs, which led into a carpeted living room with a tv, a couch and a lounge chair. There was a door that led to a small bathroom decorated in green, next to the stairs that led upstairs. The upper floor comprised of another small sitting room, bathroom and two bedrooms.
I walked through the sitting room and to a small closet in the kitchen near the front door. Opening it, I had to dig through both our suitcases to get at the solid plastic case underneath. Finally reaching it, I opened it and retrieved the twelve gauge shotgun that my uncle had lent me. He’d taught me how to shoot and had taken me hunting on several occasions. He offered to lend me the shotgun for this trip to do a little hunting on my own. I enjoyed it, so I accepted. Candice wasn’t too excited about the idea but she didn’t protest.
After checking to make sure the barrel was clean and the shells were still in good order, I closed the case and put the suitcases back on top of it. Probably best to keep it out of sight.
It occurred to me that those chips were probably still out lying on the sand. I should probably clean those up. Casually, I strolled out of the cabin and back down the beach to my faithful chair and spent a little while cleaning up the chips and score paper strewn over the beach. I glanced up as a car passed on the road, but soon looked down to my work.
When the beach was clean I turned around and headed back to the cabin. Candice sat at the table, combing her hair.
“Any idea what you want to do for dinner?†I asked her.
“Do you think maybe we could go to town and eat out?†She replied.
“Oh, you don’t like my cooking?â€
“Well, no, it’s not that…â€
“So no, you don’t like my cooking.â€
“No! I mean, yes! I mean… Shut up! You’re just trying to confuse me!â€
I chuckled.
“I think it would be fun to eat out, that’s all.â€
“Ok, we’ll eat out.â€
“Sweet I think that’ll…â€
Suddenly we heard a smash at the front door. Dust and splinters were thrown into the air as the door was ripped from its frame. Our eyes shot over in that direction as my heart leapt into my throat. Candice looked back to me worriedly.
“ALEX BEHIND YOU!â€
I felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck, as someone or something slammed a hard object onto the back of my head. Immediately I fell to the floor, reeling in pain. The world started to spin, I had no time to think or react before I was overtaken by darkness.
It’s a strange feeling but every now and again when you are overrun by a particular emotion, it is enough to make you conscious of that feeling even when you are asleep. Inarticulate voices filled my head, the confusing dreamscape I entered finally started to slip away. I felt myself fighting to take back my consciousness. I tried shut the voices out and concentrate on opening my eyes. What happened? Candice! Who had done this? Candice! They felt like they weighed a ton. Finally I felt my eyes lifting. With one last heave I dragged my eyelids all the way open.
The sun was still out over the lake, my chair was still propped up on the beach. One by one my senses came back. What happened? Who hit me? As soon as I remembered the hit, the soreness of the back of my neck became apparent to me. I tried to raise my hand to massage it. I tried, but nothing happened.
Slowly I looked down, my hand felt a little strange. It was an oddly familiar sensation, almost as if I was… I saw my right wrist tied to the arm of one of the dining room chairs with white rope. Suddenly I started to panic. My arms had been tied to the arms of both chairs at the wrists and elbows. I started to pull all over my body. I couldn’t move an inch. My ankles and knees were tied to separate legs of the chair, and a rope had been tied around my thighs, holding them to the seat of the chair. There was a long rope that ran around my chest many times, though as I studied it I realized it didn’t wrap around the back of my chair but ran to a second chair.
“Mmmmmph!†A gagged voice cried behind me.
I turned my head as far around as I could. It was Candice. Bound in a predicament identical to my own and gagged with duct tape wrapped around her head. I tried to speak to calm her nerves, but my own voice was muffled. It was only now that I realized I was gagged the same way.
Candice looked to me in fright. I could see the fear in her eyes. As much as I could, I tried to reassure her. But truth be told, I was just as afraid as she was.
Think Alex! Think!
I had to stop and think this through logically. It was probably robbers who had done this to us. I looked around to verify my theory… But nothing was missing. The TV, all the kitchen equipment, our bags, nothing was disturbed. What kind of robber would tie us up, but not steal anything?
But if it wasn’t a robber, who was it?
Candice quietly started whimpering into her gag. All I could do was lean my head back and rub it against her slowly. It was the only way I could offer her any semblance of comfort in this hapless situation.
“Hey Alex. Been a while.â€
The voice sent an icy chill down my spine. It was a voice I’d hadn’t heard for many years, but I knew exactly who it was. It was burned into my memory like a brand. Lara. The memories of years previous came flooding back as I recalled how she and her sister had kidnapped me and toyed with my mind. Now, she was back.
I looked over to the stairs, where I heard the voice come from. Quietly she walked down the steps and appeared in my field of view. She had gotten taller since I last saw her. Her hair was longer and much wilder, and she looked generally disheveled. But her eyes hadn’t lost any of the icy, menacing ferocity, which had so frightened me four years earlier. Now that I saw those eyes again, I felt the same instinctive fear.
She walked towards me, slowly. Leaving plenty of time for me to think... and fear.
“Nice to see you again.†She said.
She turned to Candice. I couldn’t see her reaction very well, but it seemed she felt the same instinctive fear that I did.
“I’m sorry honey, you must be a little confused aren’t you?†Lara said patronizingly.
Candice started to jerk and struggle and Lara approached her, gently taking hold of her bound left hand.
“Let’s just say that your squeeze toy and I have something of a history…. We have unfinished business, him and I.â€
More to come. Please leave a comment!