The Turning Point
prologue in five parts to the short film “Blood Run”
by Chantelle Tibbs
PT. V
I’m sure you’ve seen bags go over heads in many movies. I promise you the experience of it is much more horrifying than Hollywood could ever portray. The lack of oxygen and the darkness are only the tip of the iceberg. It’s being handled and not knowing where to punch, who to kick. The sounds around you that you can’t quite make out and the realization that even if you do it won’t change anything. I felt myself shoved into a vehicle. I heard an engine start and made the choice to count the turns. Four left turns, two right, one slight right and then a complete stop. I braced myself for the worst.
When the bag came off my head I was sitting in the front passenger seat of a sedan parked at a park staring at Dee Stanley. Jen’s voice boomed from the back seat.
“You wanted Dee, you got her. “
More like she got me.
Dee’s eyes locked with mine. They were black as ever.
“There he is.”
Dee pointed to a couple walking in the park arm in arm.
“Who?”
I asked. My voice sounded far weaker than I wanted it to.
“Look closer.”
I peeled my eyes off of Dee and stared harder at the couple walking. It was Dan and his wife whose name briefly escaped me. It hit me that I never pictured the two of them together. They looked like highschool lovers arm in arm, laughing. She was beautiful. A sinking feeling came over my heart. I felt ugly.
“I knew he was married. What do you want from us?”
“She’s glowing.”
I looked down at her stomach instinctively as the two grew closer to the car. She was pregnant.
Dee reached into her pocket. I jumped. She pulled out two bottles of what seemed like medicine. Upon looking at them closer I could see they were prenatal vitamins.
“She’s pregnant?”
I didn’t know what else to say. Why did Dee have prenatals? Why was Dan’s wife pregnant? What the fuck was going on?
“Recognize these?”
Dee handed me one of the bottles. As I read the label I could see they were the prenatal vitamins I had been taking before the miscarriage. The same purple label and wholesome white letters wrapped around the bottle. I opened the bottle and poured two of the white capsules into my palm.
“When you got them did they have a safety seal?”
“I don’t know.”
Dee handed me the second bottle. I opened it quickly. Silver foil covered the top. I peeled it back without having to be asked and pushed through cotton until I reached two gigantic sized, green tablets. My heart began to pound so hard I couldn’t feel myself breathing.
“What is this?”
“It’s a prenatal vitamin. The white capsules, the ones he bought for you, are not.”
I tried to open the car door. It was locked. Panicked, I tried the handle again. Dee put her hand on my shoulder gently. I brushed it off aggressively.
“Get away from me! Let me out! I want…what the fuck is this? What are you doing?”
Dan and his wife were long gone. I figured if I called out for help they could turn back. Maybe someone else would hear me. I needed to make it out of the car. I screamed as I felt Jen’s hands from the back seat cover my mouth. I tried biting her to no avail. Dee moved in close to me. Her eyes pulled me into her.
“I take no pleasure in telling you that Dan was drugging you with a compound that would terminate any pregnancy along with your own life. It’s a miracle you are alive ma’am.”
Her voice carried a silent reverence and an overwhelming pity I couldn’t ignore. She was telling the truth.
I jangled the car door until it suddenly opened, spilling me out onto the curb. I fell twice trying to get up. I heard the car doors open and close behind me. Looking around I could see we were alone. I tried to scream but nothing came out. My breathing heavied as I panted and puffed out long deep breaths in a rhythmic fashion. Dee and Jen walked up and stood over me. Dee’s hand once again touched my shoulder. I let it. Her hand was grounding and warm. It brought me comfort. I looked up at her with childlike eyes.
“It was a girl.”
I felt nothing.
“No one’s going to let him get away with this.”
Jen chimed in. She sounded horrified. It hit me that it must be the first time she was hearing what Dee had just told me.
“I want to die. Please?”
Jen walked off over to the car. I heard her kick something and mumble to herself.
“I can fix it so you never have to feel this way again. But I need your help.”
“Help?”
“I want Camille.”
“What?”
“Blay Reyes’ niece, I want her.”
“She disappeared. No one in my office has been able to find her.”
“Where are they keeping Blay and the other women with symptoms?”
A blood chilling scream rattled my rib cage as I howled into the night. Dee knelt beside me in the grass. I let her hold me.
“I can help you strike him down in the worst of ways. I know you’re hurting but look around you. How long have we all been hurting? How long is too long? Some things are fate. The time is right. Help us. Help me. Give me Blay. She will lead us to Camille and what that woman carries in her blood will make it so that we will never find ourselves at the bottom of the food chain again.
Read the Turning Point from the beginning.
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