Page 45 of Agony

“How long do you think this will take? Jareth said something about a couple of days?” I asked nervously.

“It won’t take that long. I promise,” he said, squeezing my hand again.

Today seemed to be a day filled with promises. Jareth promising this wouldn’t be pornography and Arsen promising that this wouldn’t take as long as Jareth said.

The one thing I hadn’t been promised was that I would be safe.

CHAPTER12

9:07 pm

“Who the hell shoots in an abandoned building?” I asked, more to myself than Arsen, wrinkling my nose.

He held my hand tightly as he pulled open the dilapidated door and walked in. I could almost swear his hand was sweating, but I chalked it up to the sudden humidity that seemed to smother us as we walked through the building. I was happy that Arsen came to get me because he seemed to know exactly where he was going.

We walked down a long hallway with doors on either side; some were missing, somewhere boarded up, and others were just sitting on their hinges.

“Kinda feels like walking into a nightmare, doesn’t it?” I asked with a nervous laugh.

“Sometimes,” he replied softly.

Okay?

If all Arsen had to offer me were one word answers for the most part, I was seriously starting to regret letting the money get the better of me.

In the distance, I heard the unmistakable sound of Max’s laughter.

“Haven’t heard that in a while,” I said to Arsen.

He didn’t respond. He just continued to lead me down the hall to the only dimly lit room on the left. I stepped in behind him curiously and looked around. We were in a huge space in the abandoned building that had props set up and other things strewn all over the place.

I noticed Max sitting on a director’s chair watching a small screen, with Jareth behind him, arms crossed over his chest. They both broke into laughter this time, causing Arsen to clear his throat loudly.

“Hey Neve! Glad you came!” Max said, turning off whatever was on his screen and walking over to give me a quick hug.

“Can someone tell me what this is about now?” I asked, pulling away from him.

“You’re gonna be the star of the film, sweetheart,” he said with a grin. “For once, this one takes a backseat to someone.”

I glanced up at Arsen who refused to meet my eyes.

“We thought you would be more comfortable with Arsen. Or at least Jareth did. I didn’t know anything about what was going on between the two of you until he told me,” he said, with a smile.

“But all good things come to an end, right?” he continued.

“I’m confused,” I said slowly. “What kind of film is this exactly?”

“Dark and gritty.”

CHAPTER13

9:32 pm

It took Arsen almost half an hour to calm me down. I had a dangerous understanding of what was going to happen now. This was a fucking snuff film and one of us was going to die.

I thought these things were an urban legend,I thought to myself as fresh tears spilled down my face.

“I can’t do this,” I said to him frantically.

---