I had been living on my own for about a year. I was 18 and once I graduated from high school I decided to take a gap year instead of going to med school as my parents wanted me to. They were both lawyers and wanted me to be successful as well. They threatened to disown me if I didn't go to college and followed through once I didn't budge.
Once I left, I found a cheap apartment and I got a job working at a restaurant. I enjoyed my job but being on my own left no time to do anything except work and pay bills. In January I turned 19 and I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
I had had an awful shift where some guy grabbed my ass, and another left a 3 cent tip. My boss had let me go early after another waitress spilled a glass of water on me leaving me soaked.
It was 9, dark, and freezing thanks to the storm the winter had brought in. I could feel my uniform freezing under my winter coat. My hands were red from the cold and I shoved them in my pockets trying not to get frostbite on my way home. Which though unlikely, with how my life was going anything was possible.
My hair was blowing in my face as I walked in the brisk wind, and I held onto the straps of my old black backpack as I tried to stay warm. I was walking past the other apartment buildings closer to school, and then my job, and the three bars which were in town.
As I walked past the bar called Moon Time, I walked a bit faster. They had a bad reputation and fights and assaults had been known to happen there frequently, leading to the police coming a couple of times a week. I had to cut behind it to get to my apartment across the road.
I walked in between the two buildings and as I passed the back of Moon Time's building near the dumpsters there was a guy bleeding out on the ground, he had been shot in the stomach. And above him stood someone in a black leather jacket, dark jeans, and a black beanie on his head, holding a gun. There was also one man next to him and he was bulky and had his hands crossed. He was in a wife beater, jeans, and had a baseball cap on backward.
"Help me," The dying man said as he looked at me. As the two men turned around I realized I was fucked. I noticed the one with the gun used to go to the same high school as me and we were in the science class when I was a sophomore and he was a senior.
His name was Atlas Jacobs and he was known for getting into fights and he supposedly threatened the principal to let him graduate. He had sat next to me in biology and cheated off of me every day. He had pale skin and bright green eyes, he had dirty blonde hair which was medium length and perfectly pushed back. I went to run and he pointed the gun at me and I realized I was fucked.
"Don't," he said calmly and I stopped not wanting to test him, he pointed for the man to grab me and he did and brought me closer, he stunk of beer and cigarettes and was weirdly sweaty despite the cold.
"What are you doing! Help me!" The man pleaded on the ground and Atlas kicked him in his injury, causing the man to scream in agony, I winced at the sound.
"Shut up Brian, you had your chance for redemption and you fucked yourself," Atlas said, before shooting the man in the face and I felt dizzy as I watched the red blood pour out of this man's head.
"Now what will I do with you?" He asked me, as he reloaded his gun. I tried to slow my breathing but I could feel myself completely panicking.
"I won't say anything," I said and Atlas looked at me as if examining me.
"She is lying, I am sure the second we let her go she is running to the cops," The older man said, slurring his words. Atlas lifted the gun and I closed my eyes as he pulled the trigger. I felt warm liquid hit my neck and body and I turned around and the old man who had been holding me was dead.
"God, he was annoying," Atlas said as he looked at the body, and then he looked up at me.
"You were saying," He said to me, and I was physically shaking now.
"I won't say anything, I promise. I want no trouble," I said, and he examined me.
"Do I know you?" He asked me and I thought for a moment and wasn't sure if I should be honest or not. I was afraid if he remembered me that he would kill me because I could identify him. But I also didn't want him to know I was lying and kill me because of that.
"I am Jessie Killingmore. I went to Peekskill High with you," I said and his face dropped as he realized I knew exactly who he was.
"That was what I was afraid of," He said before raising his gun up.
"How can I prove that I won't say anything," I begged and he dropped down the gun and glanced at me for a moment.
"You can't," he said looking at me, his green eyes twinkling under the moonlight he raised the gun up to me.
"You can take me with you, take my phone away, and leave me somewhere where you can keep an eye on me until you figure out if you can trust me or not," I begged, some tears falling down my face as I started to shake. Atlas put down his gun and he looked at me.
"Okay," He said before he put his gun in his pants, and he grabbed my wrist with his hand and he pulled me up to his chest.
"Where is your phone," He asked me, and I looked up at him.
"Back pocket of my skirt," I said, and he stared into my eyes as he reached into my back pocket and I flinched as he threw my phone in the trash and it shattered into pieces.
He turned to me and I flinched as he lifted his hand up. He stalled for a moment before he wiped my face with his cold hand and he ripped off my jacket and handed me his leather one. He pulled my arm so I was face to face with him. Two inches closer and we would be kissing, I felt my heart race.
"Do not cause a scene," He said firmly to me, and I knew it was a warning. I nodded my head, he then grabbed my hand and pulled me into the club. We were surrounded by smoke as we passed the hookah lounge and then sweaty bodies as people ground on each other in the nightclub.
He walked over to the bouncer at the front and they opened the doors for him. We walked out of the front door and there was a tinted black sports car waiting outside. He opened the door for me and gently helped me into the back and climbed in the front seat and another man who had been following joined us and atlas sped off as I quickly put on my seat belt.
He drove out of the bad side of town, and towards the more rural side. We had driven about twenty minutes without seeing a house until we pulled into a dirt driveway. We drove down a long road until we saw a wooden cabin that was giant. It was two stories high and the only light was from the front porch.
There was a four-car garage and a shed next door to the house. We pulled into the garage and inside there were motorcycles, an SUV, and another red sports car. It was literally the only house for miles, I realized that even if I escaped I would never make it back to civilization.
He shut the garage and then got out of the car and opened up my door. He pulled me out by my arm and he dragged me inside. I knew I was inconveniencing him by still being alive so I didn't complain as he pulled me. As we left the garage we entered a giant living room with a very high ceiling. There was a giant white leather couch and a huge TV and the floors were dark wood.
On the couch, there were two men making out with two girls.
"Get a room," he ordered and the men's eyes went wide and they quickly dragged the girls away, and Atlas pushed me roughly towards the couch.
"Kaleb, watch her for a second," He told the man who sat next to me.
"I am Kaleb," he said and I shook his hand. He actually seemed like a sweetheart. His eyes were brown and he had pale skin. His hair was blonde and shaggy.
"Jessie," I said in response. We sat there in silence for a few minutes awkwardly.
Atlas came back with a beer in his hand and he was dragging a man who looked half asleep and was in a shirt and pajama pants. He had short brown hair and he was tiredly putting on a black pair of glasses.
"Thomas fix this," He said, motioning to me on the couch before Atlas sat on the recliner in the room.
"What is the problem sir," Thomas said, looking at Atlas obviously terrified of him.
"She saw me kill two men and I need a way to assure she won't speak about it, or if she gets called into court she won't have a chance to speak against me," Atlas said. Thomas looked at me with wide eyes and started thinking of a solution.
"Well," Atlas said and Thomas sent me a look of sympathy as he desperately tried to think of a way to get me out of this situation.
"I am not sure," Thomas said and Atlas stood up and grabbed me, dragging me to my knees and pulling out his gun.
"If you can't think of something then I have no other choice," Atlas said and Thomas eyes went wide. I braced myself to be shot when Thomas finally spoke.
"The Spousal Testimonial Privilege," Thomas said, and Atlas let me go, and I fell onto my hands as he dropped me.
"What is that," Atlas said as he sat down on the recliner, the gun still in his hand.
"It states that in a court of law a married couple can refuse to testify against each other, therefore they can not speak to the police about anything they may have heard or seen," Thomas said.
"So that handles the legal aspect but how about getting her not to snitch to the police," Atlas said and Thomas looked at me.
"After you get married, have her move here and don't let her ever have an opportunity to," Thomas said, pushing up his falling glasses, giving me a quick sympathetic glance, and Atlas contemplated this for a second.
"Fine, get Carly to plan a wedding for tomorrow," Atlas said before standing up. He stopped to kneel in front of me and I was completely defeated.
"Do you have any objections," he said and I looked into his eyes looking for some sort of indication that he was joking about seriously going through with getting married.
I didn't respond, unsure of what I would even say to him. Atlas smirked at me and then stood up and looked at Kaleb.
"Kaleb, bring her to the holding room, it should give her some time to think things over," Atlas said and Kaleb helped me stand up and brought me to the basement where I was brought into a small room with no windows and only one door which locked from the outside.
There was a toilet and a twin bed with a single blanket in the room. I kept Atlas's jacket on because I was freezing down here, and I got into the bed and under the blanket. I thought about my options, get married or get killed and I realized I had no choice. I went to bed realizing the severity of the situation I had just gotten myself involved in.