5 Word Challenge: flashlight, doldrums, ferocity, wash, recesses

Lisa crawled out of the recesses of the basement utility room, muttering to herself angrily.  For some reason, the pilot light on the hot water heater was going out every night.  Each morning of the past week, she'd gotten out of bed and gone to the bathroom, and discovered only cold water was available when she began to wash her hands.

If Steven were there, he'd have called someone to diagnose the problem and fix it, someone who enjoyed crawling around in dark, dusty utility rooms.  But Steven wasn't there and she didn't have the money to pay a plumber or a handyman or anyone else.

Getting free of the water heater and the bulky furnace, she clicked off her flashlight and stood.  Gaining her full height, she whacked her head, hard, on the edge of an air duct that she'd forgotten about.  "Son of a bitch!"  The house was empty.  She could take the liberty of saying exactly what she wanted, there were no children to hear.  They were at that "sponge" phase, and if they'd heard her, they would be running around yelling "son of a bitch, son of a bitch," at completely inappropriate times and places.

But they weren't there.  She was surprised at how hard the fact hit her, even now, weeks later.  The reality of her life now slammed into her with a ferocity.  It hurt more than the tender spot now swelling on her scalp.

Lisa stepped out of the utility room, closed the door behind her, pressed her back to it and slid to the floor.  Resting her elbows on her knees she lowered her head and thought that she would cry, but no tears came.  She sat silently, trying not to think or feel, trying only to keep breathing.

Her cell phone rang.  She quickly pulled it from her pocket, hopefully.  It was just her mother.

"Hi, Mom."

"Hello, dear.  How are you?  I just had to call to tell you who I saw today!  It was your cousin Mindy and her new fiance!  Her charming young man finally popped the question, isn't that lovely?"

"That's nice, Mom."

"They're getting married in June.  A June wedding, they're always so special!  Won't that be lovely, with roses all over the church..."  Her mother nattered on about Mindy's wedding.  "Won't that be just perfect, dear?"

Lisa couldn't pretend to really care.  Not anymore.

"I said, wouldn't that be perfect, Lisa?"

"Sure, Mom.  Perfect."  Her voice offered a glimpse into her private misery -- if someone wanted to notice.

"Oh, Lisa, you're all down in the doldrums again.  You're impossible when you're like this.  Call me when you snap out of your bad mood."  The line clicked and went silent.

Her mother didn't know, but she didn't want to know.  It was easier to lay blame and walk away than to ask, to learn of Lisa's pain.

Steven had disappeared, he was gone.  So were their sons, Matthew and Jacob.  Matty and Jake.  They went to the park and never came home.

The letter from the kidnappers came three days later.  She was instructed to tell no one, to alert no authorities.  Every demand had been followed precisely, with no deviation.  She paid, giving up every penny that was in the bank and then some, selling most of her jewelry in order to make the ransom.

But the kidnappers didn't release her family.

Two days after the ransom drop she got a phone call.  It was Matty, the five year old, sounding small and terrified in a message sent directly to her voicemail.  "Mommy?  Mommy?  I'm scared.  Where are you Mommy?  Will you come and get us please?"

That was two weeks ago and there'd been nothing else.

She didn't know what to do, where to turn, how to live every day with the secret and the harsh and horrible fear that she would never see her family again.

Lisa slumped to her side and lay on the cold tile floor.

That's when the tears began to flow.

This is how it works: you get 5 words and with these 5 words you have to write an entry. The words might or might not be related. You decide how to combine them, and how long your entry will be. You tag your entry with 5wordchallenge and whatever other tags you like. Finally, you put the words in bold.

In one week the challenge will be passed on to someone that participated in this one, by electric firefly, who hosts this week's challenge.