Angel in the Full Moon. Don Easton

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pushed on a segment of the dark brown board and Hng heard a metallic click. A magnetic latch behind the panel opened to allow the panel to protrude slightly from the wall. Pops pulled on it to release the rest of the magnetic latch and a thick square section in the wall opened up to reveal a passageway.

      “See how it is done?” asked Pops. “There is a wooden handle on the back of the door for you to pull shut after you go inside. I do not think you will ever have to use this room, but it is good to be safe.” Pops demonstrated once more, by closing and opening the door again.

      “I understand,” said H

ng, admiring how perfect the wall looked when the secret door was closed.

      “Follow me,” said Pops, crouching down as he took a few steps into the passageway.

      H

ng followed, pausing briefly as Pops reminded her to close the door behind her. After, she turned and accepted Pops’s hand to stand up as she entered the secret room.

      Pops flicked the switch on the wall and a bright overhead light recessed behind wire mesh in the ceiling lit up the small room. Hundreds of shiny brass-coloured screws shone down from where the bare plywood was screwed to the ceiling. The walls and floor were covered in crimson enamel paint.

      H

ng saw a toilet in the centre of the room, close to a sponge mattress on the floor. On one wall was a large calendar. How long do I have to hide if the police come? The room was dank and musty. Hng shivered and saw a propane bottle attached to a portable heater sitting beside one wall. It was not turned on.

      “Nobody would ever find me in here,” said H

ng.

      “That’s right. They won’t,” nodded Pops with satisfaction.

      Everything made sense to H

ng except for one thing. Two piles of chains lay on the floor on each side of the room. She walked over and picked up a handful of chain and asked, “What is this for?”

      Pops just smiled.

      She saw that one end of the chain was bolted to a metal ring on the floor ... and she spotted the shackle on the end that dangled in her hand. Fear gripped her body like a vice as she slowly turned her head to stare up at Pops.

      “Put it on,” he said. His voice was menacing as he loomed over her, threatening her with a fist.

      H

ng shook her head, too frightened to speak. She stepped back and quickly tried to swing the chain at Pops’s face, but he grabbed her around the throat with one hand, smashing her down on the floor and landing on top of her.

      H

ng tried to yell and clawed frantically at the hand squeezing her throat. He grabbed at her fingers with his other hand. She heard a sound like the crunch of celery and felt the searing pain in her fingers when he snapped them backwards.

      H

ng writhed and kicked out violently with her feet. Pops punched her hard in the side of her ribs. She continued to squirm and gasped at the intense pain in her side with every breath she took. His next punch buried deep into her stomach, forcing what air she had to come gurgling past the hand clamped to her throat and out through her mouth and nose.

      She realized Pops was standing at the opposite end of the room with a bemused look on his face. She leapt to her feet and dashed toward the passage door. The chain went taut and she fell on her hands and knees, far short of her goal. It was then that she looked down at the shackle chained to her ankle and realized that she had been unconscious.

      H

ng knew she had nothing to lose and screamed as loud as she could, while cringing and waiting for the next attack.

      Pops did not move. Instead of trying to silence her, he started to laugh. She screamed again and again ...

      “Go ahead!” yelled Pops. “Louder! Louder!” he shouted with glee. His laughter and H

ng’s screams filled the room. “Come on, you can do it!” he shouted. “Let me hear you scream!”

      H

ng’s screams eventually became hoarse rasping cries of anguish. She stopped and held her face in her hands, before dropping to her knees on the floor and sobbing.

      “Please, Mister Pops,” she cried. “No. Why are you doing this to me? Please let me go.”

      “Maybe some day I will,” he said. “Or maybe I won’t.”

      Pops took a red felt marker from his pocket and with a smile at H

ng and a flourish of his arm, circled a date on the calendar that was exactly two weeks away. He made three more circles on the calendar in the week following the first circle.

      “You will have two weeks for behaviour modification,” he said. “These circles represent something special. There will be a different surprise for you on each red-circle day.”

      Pops hesitated as his hand hovered near the light switch and said, “I’ll leave this on. Have a good sleep.” He ducked into the passageway and H

ng heard the click and the creak of the secret door as it opened and closed behind him.

      She immediately got to her feet and walked to see how far the chain would let her go. She could just reach the centre of the room where the toilet and mattress were. She carefully checked out the chain where it was attached to the floor. There was nothing she could break or undo.

      She hopelessly looked around before sitting on the floor, using a loop of chain to smash at the padlock. She tore the skin on her leg and bruised her ankle before giving up.

      She started to cry and sobbed uncontrollably as she crawled over to the toilet and dipped her broken fingers in the water. The coolness of the water did little to soothe her. Eventually she quit crying and stared blankly at the calendar on the wall. What does it mean? What surprises do the red circles hold?

      As her eyes settled on the other pile of chain on the far side of the room, her terror reached a new crescendo.

       chapter five

      “You there, Jack?” whispered Laura, from where she sat in the darkened room of the property manager’s corner office. The blinds were open just enough to give her a glimpse of the entranceway outside, as well as a view of the main

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