Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > Stockholm Syndrome
There was some kind of leaking water source in the basement, and the eerie silence was broken only by the occasional drip, drip, followed by tiny whimpers and sniffs from Paulina, who was curled in the fetal position as tightly as she could be. It was getting very cold, indeed, and quite a while had passed since Frank had left her alone. She had almost hyperventilated a few times, and was certain she’d passed out at least once.
Other than brief periods of unconsciousness, sleep didn’t come for Paulina. There was no way she could possibly break through the barrier of thoughts racing through her mind to relax to the point of falling asleep. She still didn’t have any answers, even though she had a lot more questions. No, that wasn’t right; she did have answers. Two. She had gotten two answers, and she kept repeating those over and over again in her head.
Why am I here? For an experiment…
Who is keeping me here? A man named Frank…
Despite that she still didn’t know anything, the fact that she had some sort of answers offered some semblance of comfort to Paulina. When she considered these answers, she was able to calm down a bit, if only for a few minutes.
Finally, after what seemed like four eternities, the door opened again, and Paulina searched the frame for the small comfort of recognizing Frank’s body standing in the doorway. However, it was not Frank that she saw; it was someone else. It was a tall, hulking body that took up most of the doorframe, and Paulina vaguely recognized it. It wasn’t until she spotted a very large quantity of curly hair that she realized that this was the man that she had seen on the sidewalk. Paulina felt her hands trembling on the cement floor. This man had a good six or seven inches to tower over Frank, and he looked strong enough to pick Frank up over his own head and toss him at the wall, something that Paulina wasn’t too certain he wasn’t planning on doing to her.
The man slowly approached her, standing in front of her, looming his hulking frame menacingly before her meek body, still curled on the floor. Paulina sat up slowly, lower lip trembling, trying not to look as frightened as she was.
“Your name is Paulina.” It wasn’t a question. She nodded slowly, keeping a very cautious eye on the man in front of her. He held his hand out to her, and, having learned her lesson from Frank, she grabbed it quickly and stumbled to her feet, knees knocking together. Once she was standing, the man didn’t let go of her hand; he held it tightly in his own, staring at Paulina, examining her, as though trying to gauge how he was going to interact with her. “My name is Ray,” he told her. As though in a dance, he whipped Paulina away from his body, then roughly spun her into himself, sliding one arm around her neck and the other around to chest, to pin her arms to her body.
Paulina clamped her mouth shut, not trusting herself to make any noise whatsoever, since she didn’t yet know what would set this new man off. She also closed her eyes tightly, so tightly that stars burst into sight behind her eyelids.
“You might want to keep your eyes open,” Ray whispered in her ear, before pushing her roughly forward, her face smashing into the wall.
Paulina felt warm, sticky blood oozing out her nose and flowing down over her mouth and chin. She reached up and tried to stem the flow by wiping some of the blood off on her sleeve. The material didn’t absorb it so well, and the red liquid just got smeared around the lower portion of her face.
She felt fingers wind slowly into her hair, getting entangled in her black tendrils, before being yanked unmercifully backward, feeling a ripping pain in her scalp as she was dragged toward the stairs. After stumbling to the top, Paulina stood, panting, on the landing. She thought she was going to be pulled through the door, but in a second, her legs were knocked out from beneath her. Paulina was sent tumbling back down the stairs. She felt every bump of the jaw against cement, every crack of bone on bone, and every loud thump of her body falling off of one step and onto the next. Finally, Paulina lay crumpled in a heap at the base of the steps, whimpering quietly, heart beating loudly in her chest as she heard Ray coming down, one…step…at…a…time…
He stepped over Paulina, looking down at her huddled body. Without warning, he kicked her in the stomach, a loud “oomph!” resonating through the empty basement. Again…again…again…The men in this place were so fond of kicking while the victim was down. Paulina tried desperately to block out what was happening, but it wasn’t easy to do. Ray grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her across the ground, back to the wall. He knelt down.
“Are you alright?” he asked, placing his finger beneath her chin and lifting her face. Paulina was leaning with her back against the wall, having found that it hurt less if she was upright. She had been staring down at her toes before Ray spoke. As he did so, she couldn’t help but look into his eyes, wishing he couldn’t see the tears shining in her eyes. She nodded quickly, hoping it would make Ray let her go. He nodded as well, freeing her chin of his grip and sitting beside her against the wall. All was quiet for a few minutes, save for that damn, dripping water. Then…
“Paulina.” Again, not a question, but more like a command for attention. “Do you believe in God?”
Paulina looked at him, wondering if this was supposed to be a trick question. Would he continue to hurt her if she answered incorrectly? She decided to tell the truth, since she, at least, still had control over her beliefs. “Yes…” she said finally.
“Why?” Ray wasn’t looking at her, but straight ahead, as though the answer were floating around in front of him.
“Well…” Paulina thought. “Why shouldn’t I have something constant that I can believe in, that I know will always be there for me?”
“You can’t answer a question with a question,” Ray informed her. “For two reasons: One, it creates an unsolvable cycle; two, you’re not supposed to ask questions.” If not for the seriousness of his tone, Paulina would have laughed. “How can you believe in a God that allows bad things to happen. Look at what’s happened to you: you’ve been kidnapped, no one knows where you are, you have no hope of getting found, and you’ll never seen anyone you know ever again. Why would God allow bad things to happen if He had the ability to stop it?” Judging by the tone, Ray wasn’t attacking her; it seemed as though he was genuinely wondering what the answers to his questions could be.
“In the Bible, it tells us that God gave us free will, meaning that he doesn’t know what we’re going to do before we do it, so how could he do it? Think of it like…think of it like a father and his child. They’re taking a walk, and the child falls, and let’s say it gets hurt. Is it the father’s fault that the child got hurt, just because he was with her?” Paulina stopped talking for a moment, realizing that she had asked another question. Whether he didn’t notice, or chose to ignore it, Ray nodded his head to indicate that she continue. “No,” she answered herself. “He couldn’t have stopped her from falling, or from getting hurt. But what he can do is pick the child up, and comfort it, and help it heal.” She looked over at Ray to see what he thought of her explanation.
“Very--very wise,” Ray said thoughtfully. “But why does there have to be bad in the world at all? Why can’t everything and everyone just be pleasant? Why does pain and suffering even have to exist?”
Paulina didn’t know. Was she supposed to have every single answer just because she was religious? Still, she doubted “I don’t know” would be deemed an appropriate answer by this man, especially when he could kill her at will and think nothing of it. “Balance,” she finally answered, although it sounded fishy.
“How do you mean?” Ray pressed. He pulled one leg into himself, wrapping his arms around the shin and leaning his head forward to sit on top of his knee.
“Well, for every good thing, there has to be a bad thing to balance it out. Imagine if the world were mostly good things: every time a bad thing happened, it would be about a million times worse, because we wouldn’t be used to it. It’s kind of like…Kind of like building up a tolerance to bad experiences. Or imagine that only good things ever happened: they wouldn’t be good things. We wouldn’t be able to appreciate the good things, because we wouldn’t know that it was possible for anything different to happen. It would be monotonous. At least, with the bad things, life is interesting.”
“Interesting…” Ray repeated, nodding. He finally turned and looked at Paulina. After examining her for a moment, he stood, stretching his limbs and putting one hand in his pocket. “Hmm…If your analogy is correct, with the father and the child…then, I advise you to stop thinking so much. ’Cause you’ve just started falling.” Having said his piece and done his damage, Ray turned his back on the young girl sitting against the wall, taking the steps one at a time once more, and closing the door gently as he walked out. The darkness fell, the key clicked, and the water continued to drip…drip…drip…
Whoah...Two chapters and already so many subscribers/raters/commenters? I'm glad that so many people like my idea. I really wish you'd comment a little more, though...work on it? Thanks. Also, subscribe, if you haven't. And rate. Look out for the next chapter, probably to come out later this week. So yeah. OverAndOutxx
PS: I didn't mean to make this a whole religion thing, and I don't want to start any big thing with it. I just...well, you'll see. It'll all make sense later on.
Other than brief periods of unconsciousness, sleep didn’t come for Paulina. There was no way she could possibly break through the barrier of thoughts racing through her mind to relax to the point of falling asleep. She still didn’t have any answers, even though she had a lot more questions. No, that wasn’t right; she did have answers. Two. She had gotten two answers, and she kept repeating those over and over again in her head.
Why am I here? For an experiment…
Who is keeping me here? A man named Frank…
Despite that she still didn’t know anything, the fact that she had some sort of answers offered some semblance of comfort to Paulina. When she considered these answers, she was able to calm down a bit, if only for a few minutes.
Finally, after what seemed like four eternities, the door opened again, and Paulina searched the frame for the small comfort of recognizing Frank’s body standing in the doorway. However, it was not Frank that she saw; it was someone else. It was a tall, hulking body that took up most of the doorframe, and Paulina vaguely recognized it. It wasn’t until she spotted a very large quantity of curly hair that she realized that this was the man that she had seen on the sidewalk. Paulina felt her hands trembling on the cement floor. This man had a good six or seven inches to tower over Frank, and he looked strong enough to pick Frank up over his own head and toss him at the wall, something that Paulina wasn’t too certain he wasn’t planning on doing to her.
The man slowly approached her, standing in front of her, looming his hulking frame menacingly before her meek body, still curled on the floor. Paulina sat up slowly, lower lip trembling, trying not to look as frightened as she was.
“Your name is Paulina.” It wasn’t a question. She nodded slowly, keeping a very cautious eye on the man in front of her. He held his hand out to her, and, having learned her lesson from Frank, she grabbed it quickly and stumbled to her feet, knees knocking together. Once she was standing, the man didn’t let go of her hand; he held it tightly in his own, staring at Paulina, examining her, as though trying to gauge how he was going to interact with her. “My name is Ray,” he told her. As though in a dance, he whipped Paulina away from his body, then roughly spun her into himself, sliding one arm around her neck and the other around to chest, to pin her arms to her body.
Paulina clamped her mouth shut, not trusting herself to make any noise whatsoever, since she didn’t yet know what would set this new man off. She also closed her eyes tightly, so tightly that stars burst into sight behind her eyelids.
“You might want to keep your eyes open,” Ray whispered in her ear, before pushing her roughly forward, her face smashing into the wall.
Paulina felt warm, sticky blood oozing out her nose and flowing down over her mouth and chin. She reached up and tried to stem the flow by wiping some of the blood off on her sleeve. The material didn’t absorb it so well, and the red liquid just got smeared around the lower portion of her face.
She felt fingers wind slowly into her hair, getting entangled in her black tendrils, before being yanked unmercifully backward, feeling a ripping pain in her scalp as she was dragged toward the stairs. After stumbling to the top, Paulina stood, panting, on the landing. She thought she was going to be pulled through the door, but in a second, her legs were knocked out from beneath her. Paulina was sent tumbling back down the stairs. She felt every bump of the jaw against cement, every crack of bone on bone, and every loud thump of her body falling off of one step and onto the next. Finally, Paulina lay crumpled in a heap at the base of the steps, whimpering quietly, heart beating loudly in her chest as she heard Ray coming down, one…step…at…a…time…
He stepped over Paulina, looking down at her huddled body. Without warning, he kicked her in the stomach, a loud “oomph!” resonating through the empty basement. Again…again…again…The men in this place were so fond of kicking while the victim was down. Paulina tried desperately to block out what was happening, but it wasn’t easy to do. Ray grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her across the ground, back to the wall. He knelt down.
“Are you alright?” he asked, placing his finger beneath her chin and lifting her face. Paulina was leaning with her back against the wall, having found that it hurt less if she was upright. She had been staring down at her toes before Ray spoke. As he did so, she couldn’t help but look into his eyes, wishing he couldn’t see the tears shining in her eyes. She nodded quickly, hoping it would make Ray let her go. He nodded as well, freeing her chin of his grip and sitting beside her against the wall. All was quiet for a few minutes, save for that damn, dripping water. Then…
“Paulina.” Again, not a question, but more like a command for attention. “Do you believe in God?”
Paulina looked at him, wondering if this was supposed to be a trick question. Would he continue to hurt her if she answered incorrectly? She decided to tell the truth, since she, at least, still had control over her beliefs. “Yes…” she said finally.
“Why?” Ray wasn’t looking at her, but straight ahead, as though the answer were floating around in front of him.
“Well…” Paulina thought. “Why shouldn’t I have something constant that I can believe in, that I know will always be there for me?”
“You can’t answer a question with a question,” Ray informed her. “For two reasons: One, it creates an unsolvable cycle; two, you’re not supposed to ask questions.” If not for the seriousness of his tone, Paulina would have laughed. “How can you believe in a God that allows bad things to happen. Look at what’s happened to you: you’ve been kidnapped, no one knows where you are, you have no hope of getting found, and you’ll never seen anyone you know ever again. Why would God allow bad things to happen if He had the ability to stop it?” Judging by the tone, Ray wasn’t attacking her; it seemed as though he was genuinely wondering what the answers to his questions could be.
“In the Bible, it tells us that God gave us free will, meaning that he doesn’t know what we’re going to do before we do it, so how could he do it? Think of it like…think of it like a father and his child. They’re taking a walk, and the child falls, and let’s say it gets hurt. Is it the father’s fault that the child got hurt, just because he was with her?” Paulina stopped talking for a moment, realizing that she had asked another question. Whether he didn’t notice, or chose to ignore it, Ray nodded his head to indicate that she continue. “No,” she answered herself. “He couldn’t have stopped her from falling, or from getting hurt. But what he can do is pick the child up, and comfort it, and help it heal.” She looked over at Ray to see what he thought of her explanation.
“Very--very wise,” Ray said thoughtfully. “But why does there have to be bad in the world at all? Why can’t everything and everyone just be pleasant? Why does pain and suffering even have to exist?”
Paulina didn’t know. Was she supposed to have every single answer just because she was religious? Still, she doubted “I don’t know” would be deemed an appropriate answer by this man, especially when he could kill her at will and think nothing of it. “Balance,” she finally answered, although it sounded fishy.
“How do you mean?” Ray pressed. He pulled one leg into himself, wrapping his arms around the shin and leaning his head forward to sit on top of his knee.
“Well, for every good thing, there has to be a bad thing to balance it out. Imagine if the world were mostly good things: every time a bad thing happened, it would be about a million times worse, because we wouldn’t be used to it. It’s kind of like…Kind of like building up a tolerance to bad experiences. Or imagine that only good things ever happened: they wouldn’t be good things. We wouldn’t be able to appreciate the good things, because we wouldn’t know that it was possible for anything different to happen. It would be monotonous. At least, with the bad things, life is interesting.”
“Interesting…” Ray repeated, nodding. He finally turned and looked at Paulina. After examining her for a moment, he stood, stretching his limbs and putting one hand in his pocket. “Hmm…If your analogy is correct, with the father and the child…then, I advise you to stop thinking so much. ’Cause you’ve just started falling.” Having said his piece and done his damage, Ray turned his back on the young girl sitting against the wall, taking the steps one at a time once more, and closing the door gently as he walked out. The darkness fell, the key clicked, and the water continued to drip…drip…drip…
Whoah...Two chapters and already so many subscribers/raters/commenters? I'm glad that so many people like my idea. I really wish you'd comment a little more, though...work on it? Thanks. Also, subscribe, if you haven't. And rate. Look out for the next chapter, probably to come out later this week. So yeah. OverAndOutxx
PS: I didn't mean to make this a whole religion thing, and I don't want to start any big thing with it. I just...well, you'll see. It'll all make sense later on.
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