I had sprinted at least six blocks before I started to run out of breath. I had just been running instinctively without seriously thinking of what I should do. The only thing in my mind was that I had to run as far as possible from that condo.
Panting heavily, I sat on the curb and looked up at the gloomy sky to actually start thinking. I looked around and realized that I didn’t know where I was. Great, one more thing to add to my list of problems.
I glanced over at some of the small houses around me. Should I knock on one of their doors and ask for help? No, that was probably a bad idea, because one, I would be putting whoever was living there in danger, and two, they probably wouldn’t believe me or want to talk to me. I was covered in dirt, barefoot, and worst of all I had a crap ton of blood smeared on me. I wouldn’t want to talk to me.
And what about Shawn? Wouldn’t he be fucking pissed when he didn’t find me chained to the floor? I face palmed; it probably hadn’t been a good idea to run on the sidewalks in plain sight. Shawn could have easily seen and caught up to me by driving his car.
What the hell could I do then? I was lost, covered in blood, and Shawn was probably after me by now. An idea hit me. I could hide in a backyard until night came, which was when I would try to find my way home. I then frowned; that plan was shit. What if I got found and arrested for trespassing? And how the fuck would I find my way home in the dark? The only thing insured by that plan was that Shawn probably wouldn’t find me, which I guess was my biggest goal. I sighed to myself; trespassing it was.
I stood up and began walking around. I should probably find a house with no cars in the driveway and no lights on. I wouldn’t want to break into a backyard that had kids playing catch or something. I looked left and right, searching for a house that seemed like a good match. When I finally found a good house, I heard a car slow down behind me.
It must be Shawn. I stiffened, and then considered running. Fuck! I couldn’t outrun that guy! I glanced at the car over my shoulder, unsure of what to do. I met the confused eyes of…Las Vegas!? I stared at him silently in equal confusion.
After a couple of moments Las Vegas cleared his throat awkwardly. “So…hi Jake.”
I nodded. “Hi.”
There was another long moment of silence. I spoke again: “Uh… so why aren’t you in school?” I asked, trying to make some sort of casual conversation.
“I skipped. Why aren’t you in school?” He asked.
Crap. What the hell could I say to that!? “Uh…I’m skipping too.”
Las Vegas nodded uncomfortably. “Are you hurt?” He asked, glancing down at me.
“Huh?” I looked down at the blood on me. “Oh, this isn’t mine.” I said, trying to get him to worry less. Sadly, it backfired. Las Vegas paled and looked at me quizzically. “Oh, uh, but I didn’t hurt anybody! This is actually…pig blood! Yeah, I was helping someone… kill their pig…to cook it...because they have pigs.” I lied, trailing off when Las Vegas looked at me in disbelief.
“Putting that aside.” He muttered. “Where have you been this week?” He asked.
“Killing pigs.” I quickly replied without thinking.
“Enough with the fucking pigs!” Las Vegas yelled angrily. “I’m worried about you! On Monday I saw you with cuts and bruises, and now, after you being gone for days, I meet you here and your covered in blood! What the fuck is going on?!”
Crap. What the hell could I say to that?! Possibly nothing... In this situation, there probably wasn’t a single lie that could sound legit. I averted my eyes and stared at the ground uncomfortably.
“Forget this.” I heard Las Vegas grumble, starting up his engine again.
My head shot up. “No! Wait!” I yelled, running next to his car. He was my only ticket home! If I didn’t get help from him, I was screwed!
Las Vegas braked and glared at me. “What?”
“Please…Just please help me out. I… I don’t know how to get home.” I admitted, looking at him pleadingly.
“Huh? How can you have no idea? What the hell is going on with you?” He asked. When I didn’t answer him he got angry again. “How the hell can you expect me to help you when you look this suspicious and wont even tell me what’s going on?!” He exclaimed, grabbing my shirt violently and jerking me closer.
“Because I’m desperate!” I yelled back, not making a single move to get loose.
Las Vegas tightened his grip angrily for a moment, and then pulled me into his car with a single movement. “Fine, I’ll help you.” He gritted. “But you owe me.”
I smiled at him thankfully. “Yeah, I’ll pay you back somehow.” I sighed in relief.
Las Vegas just grunted and started to drive the car again. After about ten minutes of driving in silence we were driving on streets that I recognized. Las Vegas showing up could have just been one of the best and worst things that could have happened.
“Jake, I’ve seriously been worried about you for the past couple of days.” Las Vegas said, breaking the silence.
I thought for a moment. “I’m sorry.” I said sincerely. I knew that it wasn’t a good answer, but I was sorry. For making him worry, and for putting him in danger by making him drive me home. He was already on Shawn’s blacklist, and I needed to do my best to make sure that he didn’t get killed.
There was another moment of silence before Las Vegas spoke again. “Seriously Jake, I want to help you. You’re obviously in way over your head on something.” He said, giving me a look of concern.
He didn’t even know the half of it. “If you want to help, then please pretend that you never saw me today and that you never drove me home.” I said seriously. “And don’t dig into this. I might be over my head, but I can handle it.” I lied. I knew that I couldn’t fucking handle it.
“What part of ‘handling it’ involves being covered in blood?” He asked.
“…The part of it where I kill a pig for dinner?” I said, not wanting to get into it.
Las Vegas frowned. “I hate you.” He sighed. “And the pig better not be some shitty metaphor; I’m not that smart.”
“Don’t worry, it’s just a shitty lie.” I gave him a puzzled look. “And why would I make a metaphor using a pig?”
Las Vegas shrugged. “I’ve seen stuff like that in horror movies. Someone gives a person a hint about the killer or something by using a weird riddle or metaphor.”
“I’m having a hard enough time coming up with lies, let alone metaphors.” I said.
“No shit.” He laughed.
A few seconds later Las Vegas pulled the car to the side of the road. I looked outside and saw that we were at the park. “You wanna get out here?” Las Vegas asked.
I looked outside cautiously. “Not if there are people...” I said cautiously, glancing outside. I still hadn’t thought about how I was going to get the blood off of me.
Las Vegas sighed. “Here, take this.” He said. He took off his large sweatshirt and handed it to me.
Once I put it on myself, I noticed that it covered all of the bloodstained shirt as well as my blood-covered hands. “Wholly shit this is perfect.” I said. “Thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it.” He sighed. “I’m just lucky that I don’t have to give you my pants. It’s a good thing those are black, or else the blood would have shone through.”
I nodded. “Yeah.” I then looked down at my feet, which still had dried blood on them. “…Do you think that I could also borrow your socks?” I asked awkwardly.
Las Vegas rolled his eyes. “Sure, why the hell not.” He took off and gave me his socks.
Once I put them on I looked up to him thankfully. “You have no idea how much you just saved me just now. Thank you.”
Las Vegas shrugged. “What are friends for?” He said.
“Not normally this.” I said. “So thanks.”
Las Vegas waved. “Don’t mention it. I’ll see you Monday.”
I exited the car and smiled. “Yeah, see you Monday.”
Las Vegas drove away. I let my smiled drop then. I couldn’t get too excited; I wasn’t safe yet. Shawn could still show up at any time and kidnap me again. And knowing how much the universe hated me, that wasn’t too farfetched. Feeling anxious, I broke out into a sprint towards home. I wouldn’t get caught now! Not when I was so close!
After running at full speed down three blocks, I spotted my house. A wave of relief washed over me as I managed to reach the front door. I actually made it. Maybe the universe didn’t hate me so much after all.
I looked nervously at the driveway and saw that my mom’s car was parked. Shit. Hopefully she would buy the story I came up with on the run over.
I opened the door to the house slowly. When I saw my mom with her phone pressed to her ear I resisted the urge to cry. In the past couple of days, there were times when I thought that I would never see her again. However, if I wanted her to buy my story, I needed to suck it up.
“H-Hi mom.” I said, trying to sound like my throat was sore.
She snapped her head around and looked at me in shock, which then flowed into relief. “Honey! Where have you been!? I’ve been so worried! You didn’t come to school at all this week! Where on earth were you!” She yelled, her tone slipping from relief into anger.
“I’m sorry mom.” I rasped out. “I felt really sick on Monday, and tried to go to school. But after P.E I only felt worse, and because I knew that I couldn’t go home with a parent or trusted adults consent, I decided to skip school and get some sleep. I’m so sorry. I tried to call you’re cell phone when I got home, but I was either pressing the wrong numbers or your phone was off; I’m sorry. I stayed home the entire week, but I couldn’t call in sick because I needed you to consent to it. I’m actually feeling a bit better though, so I tried to take a walk. I should have waited here for you to get home… sorry.” I finished, trying to look as weak as possible. I didn’t like lying to my mom and taking advantage of her trust in me, but I knew that I had to do it so that way she wasn’t in any danger.
Her angry expression softened. “Dear, I’m so sorry, my phone was out of battery for most of my trip.” She walked up to me and put her hand on my forehead. “You don’t feel warm, but you look so tired! And look at all this sweat! Oh, you’d better get to bed right now!” She said, starting to help me upstairs by the arm. “And don’t worry, I’ll call the school later explaining what happened. I can’t believe my baby went through all that alone! I’m sorry.”
I smiled weakly. “Thanks mom, and I don’t blame you at all, so don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault that I got sick.”
Mom smiled and helped me into bed. “Sleep tight Sweetie, and try to get better.”
I smiled weakly. “Thanks mom.” I sighed, trying to sound tired. She smiled lovingly at me one more time before turning off the light and closing the door.
As soon as I heard her footsteps disappear down the stairs, I threw the blankets off of me and turned on my lamp. I knew that I wasn’t safe; there were still fucking bugs in my room! I went to my closet and threw it open. Was there anything that I could use to protect myself in case Shawn came? Little did I know that it was already too late for that.
I froze when I saw a familiar figure sitting in the bottom of my closet. Shawn was staring at me expressionlessly. That couldn’t be good.
Shawn and I stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. I then slowly closed the closet door.
I was frozen in shock for a moment before I started freaking out. How the hell did he get into my closet!? How long had he been there!? And why the fuck wasn’t I doing anything!?
In a panic, I glanced around the room, looking for anything that I could use to defend myself. My eyes landed on a textbook on my desk and I ran to grab it. Once I got my hands on it, I held it up like a weapon and waited anxiously for the closet door to open.
A few agonizing moments later the door opened slowly to reveal a still emotionless looking Shawn. He began to walk towards me.
“Stop.” I whispered. “Or I’ll- listen to me!” I whisper yelled, taking steps back away from the still advancing Shawn.
When I felt like he was getting to close, I swung the book at his head. He easily caught it before it could hit its mark and threw it onto the bed, grabbing my wrist with his other hand. I winced slightly since my wrists were still raw from the cuffs.
Shawn looked into my eyes. “Alright Jake, it’s question time.” He softly muttered, pulling me closer to him. “First, is that your blood?”
I shook my head. “It’s Spike’s.” I whispered quietly, halfheartedly trying to get my wrist out of his grasp.
I saw a twinge of annoyance on Shawn’s face. “Gross.” He remarked. “Next, how did you get here so fast?” I noticed his gaze intensify as he asked.
“I ran.” I said, wincing after as he gripped my wrist even harder.
“Liar.” He hissed angrily.
“I got a cab.” I tried again.
“Tell me the truth.” Shawn said.
“I-I hitch hiked.” I said through clenched teeth, beginning to claw at his hand with my free arm
“Are you lying?” he asked, ignoring the hand clawing at his.
“No, a woman asked if I needed a ride. She was sort of shady and probably thought I was in a gang or some shit because I was covered in blood.”
Shawn smirked. “That could have been a plausible lie if you weren’t wearing man’s sweatshirt.”
Fuck! How could I be so stupid?
He brought his face closer to mine. “Who are you protecting?” He asked.
“Does it matter?” I asked.
“No shit it matters. You could have told them everything.” He seethed. He let go of my wrist and slammed my shoulders into the wall. “Now I’ll ask again; who gave you a ride?”
I looked at him in distress. “You’ll kill them wont you?” I asked softly.
Shawn grinned darkly. “What tipped you off?”
I felt tears start to prick at my eyes. “I-I can’t tell you then.”
“Is their life worth as much to than your mother’s then?” Shawn asked forebodingly.
I was about to break down at that point, but I knew that it wouldn’t help the people I cared about. “Shawn, I can promise you that I didn’t tell them anything about you, the kidnapping shit, Spike, or even why I have blood on me. I refused to tell them anything. And I know that’s not much…but please, don’t kill anyone. Please, I’ll do anything for you not to kill anybody.”
“I guess you wouldn’t tell them anything if you cared about the person.” He said thoughtfully. Shawn sighed. “Fine, I’ll make a deal with you. You tell who the person is, and I promise not to kill them.”
“How the hell do I know that you’ll do that?” I asked suspiciously.
“You’ll just have to take my word for it.” Shawn said with a smirk. “And I’m not done yet. In exchange for me not killing them, you’ll never lie to me again.”
I paled. “W-what do you mean?”
“I mean, if I ever catch you telling me a lie again, no matter how small, they’ll be dead before the day is over.” Shawn explained.
Never tell him a lie again!? How the hell could I do that?! I sighed, I would have to find a way if I wanted Las Vegas and Mom to stay alive. Anything that involved no one dying was a good deal to me. “Fine… it was Las Vegas.” I said reluctantly.
Shawn twitched. “Las fucking Vegas? What the hell was he doing there?”
“Skipping school.”
“I can’t believe that I just agreed to not kill Las Vegas.” Shawn muttered angrily.
I looked at him hopefully. “You mean that you’ll actually go through with the deal?”
“Yeah, besides, there’s only so long that you can go without lying.” Shawn said. Thank god, if Shawn didn’t go through with the deal, I would’ve never forgiven myself for telling him. “And, I have another deal to go with this one.”
I frowned. Not another deal!
Shawn noticed the look on my face. “You’ll probably like this one, don’t worry.” He said. “Anyway, since you got kidnapped by Jade, I couldn’t help but feel a bit responsible for it. I wasn’t there to protect you. And because I was in school, I was too far to reach you fast enough, and too busy to keep tabs on you. So, to be safe, I figured that it would be better to let you stay here and go to school until I find and kill Jade.” Shawn explained, though he didn’t look happy about it.
“Wait, you didn’t catch Spike?” I asked.
“No.” Shawn muttered angrily. “Because of someone Jade was able to steal my car, and it took me forever to hotwire his.” He said agitatedly.
“I have no regrets.” I said.
“Of course not.” Shawn said with an eye roll. “And the conditions are that if I think you told anyone about me or call the cops, you’re going straight back in there forever and I’ll kill whoever you told, cop or not.” He added, putting emphasis on ‘forever’ and ‘kill’.
I nodded in agreement. There wasn’t a way in hell that I would turn that offer down. At this point I would do anything to be able to stay out of that underground prison.
Shawn finally let go of my shoulders. “It’s a deal then.” He said with a smile. “Now wash that disgusting blood off of you and burn that sweatshirt.” He said, moving over to the windowsill. “I’ll see you soon babe. And I mean soon since I’ll be watching you through the cameras.” With that he jumped out of the second story window and landed on his feet like a motherfucking cat.
I just shook my head, nothing he did could surprise me at this point.
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Sorry if its not what people hoped to happen, but it looks like Jake has some days of freedom in his future...though limited. Also, if I had a dollar for everytime I wrote 'blood' in this chapter.....
And it looks like we've reached 800+ comments (some of which are mine XD), and just thanks again for all of the encouraging words :)