Witch: A Horror Novel (The Cursed Manuscripts) Iain Wright (best business books of all time txt) 📖

Jesus Christ.

Chapter Three

Ashley bumped into Jude and made him yelp, but his sudden shock was almost entirely from the sight of the woman kneeling on the floor in front of him. It was so utterly unexpected that his breath caught in his throat and he failed to speak.

Ashley, being made of tougher stuff, was less silent. “What the fuck? What the actual fuck!”

A woman was imprisoned in the centre of the room, chains attached to her hands and ankles. Apart from a thick gold locket hanging around her neck, she was completely naked. Jude immediately hated himself for examining her unwashed body, but he couldn’t help it. She was beautiful beneath all the grime, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Jude had the sense of her being wounded, but he couldn’t work out where.

Strange markings covered the room. Symbols on the walls and floors.

“We have to help her,” said Ashley, her words clipped and breathless. “We have to help her.”

Jude reached out a hand to the woman. Whoever she was, she was clearly in a bad way. But as soon as he did, she shrieked at him like a wild animal. She thrashed at her chains and tried to bite him. Her eyes bulged.

What the hell?

Ashley and Jude stumbled back through the doorway, crying out in terror.

Chapter Four

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Ashley put her hand on Jude’s arm and yanked him back into the previous room. All the while, the naked woman screamed. Jude was screaming too, totally freaking out. If she didn’t calm him down, he’d go into a complete panic. The problem was, she was fucking freaked out too. In fact, she had to cover her ears to block out the woman’s wild screaming before it sent her mad.

Jude stopped screaming long enough to form a few words. “This is fucked up. This… This is fucked up.”

Ashley knew she would have to take charge, so she grabbed Jude by both arms and shook him. “Listen to me! We can deal with this, okay? Let’s just…” She shook her head. “Shit! I don’t even know what this is. You’re right; it’s fucked up.”

Jude turned and looked back into the other room. “She won’t stop screaming, Ash. What the hell is wrong with her?”

“What the hell do you think is wrong with her? Some sicko had stripped her naked and chained her up in the woods. She’s probably been, I don’t know, abused and that. I need you to calm down and think this through with me. Don’t freak out on me, Jude, please.”

Jude gave her a skittish nod. His breathing was shallow and rapid, but he attempted to get a hold of himself. After a few seconds, he nodded at her again. “I-I’m okay. We need to help her. Hold on…” He pulled out his phone and dialled. Then he pressed his lips together and moaned.

“What is it?”

“I don’t have any reception. I can’t make a call.”

Ashley tried not to panic. “Okay… that makes sense. We’ll have to carry her out of here and call for help as soon as we can get a signal.”

Jude nodded, white as a sheet.

Ashley stepped back into the other room. The woman glared at her, still screaming. She thrashed against her chains, more like a wild animal than a human being.

Has someone kept her here so long her mind has gone? Is it too late to even help her?

Ashley put her hands up and spoke softly, then realised there was no way she would be heard over the screaming. She had to raise her voice, which made it hard to sound soothing. “We’re not going to hurt you. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

Jude stepped into the room behind her, echoing similar assurances. “We’re going to get you out of here. My name’s Jude. This is my friend, Ashley.”

The woman finally stopped screaming. Ashley felt the pressure leave the inside of her skull and sighed with relief. The piercing shrieks had actually been causing her pain. Now that she was quiet, the woman stared at them. Her bulging eyes were bright blue, but bloodshot. Beneath the caked dirt and sweat-streaked grime, she was beautiful. Ashley would happily trade her own rapidly growing breasts for the woman’s supple, modestly formed ones. There was barely an ounce of fat on the woman.

When did she last eat?

Why the hell is she here? Who did this to her?

There was a rancid stench in the room, and she wondered if the woman had been going to the toilet, but when she looked around, she saw nothing gross. No shit on the floor or buckets full of piss. In fact, the only thing on the floor was some strange dark brown markings. The largest was a thick triangle in the centre of the room. The woman knelt in its centre. Several smaller shapes covered the surrounding floor, as well as the walls, but they made no sense to Ashley – just random lines and squiggles. Nothing obvious revealed the cause of the smell other than the woman herself, but Jude clearly noticed it too because he held the crook of his arm over his nose and his eyes were watering.

Ashley dared take another step. The woman flinched like a cornered animal. She had stopped thrashing at her chains, and they now lay slack against the stone floor. Ashley looked for a keyhole but couldn’t find one. Then, suddenly horrified, she realised the chains were attached directly to the woman’s flesh. Her hands had been mutilated, the chains running straight through her palms. Likewise, a second chain pierced the backs of her ankles in a continuous loop kept in place by a steel bracket on the stone floor. Ashley put a hand to her mouth as her stomach did a nauseous backflip. “This is bad,” she mumbled.

Jude followed her line of sight, and she gave him a moment to figure it out for himself. He, too, covered his mouth in revulsion.

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