I awoke abruptly by Joel roughly grabbing my shoulders and shaking me, "Charley, get up. Now." He grumbled as I wiped the sleep from my eye, I recoiled from his actions and scooted against the headboard. "Let's go." He growled grabbing my wrist and pulling me from the bed, I quickly found my footing and followed. My fears grew stronger as we walked further and further from my room.
"Are you still mad at me? I'm sorry, Joel I'm sorry," I started to whine as he yanked me down the stairs. As I finished a string of apologies he whipped around and started to speak to me in a low tone.
"Charley, I have been holding off for so long, I've put my habits at bay for you, but I can't, I-I I just can't any longer I have to do things that you might not like and I cannot trust you here alone." Joel grabbed a black bag from the kitchen counter and I felt my hopes of survival fall. "Please just shut the fuck up and listen to me." He swiftly pulled the bag over my head, I stayed put and kept my stoic face on, unable to cry nor allow myself to feel desperate. He was taking me to a second location. It had already been around a week and now a second location, I knew my chances of being found were now close to zero. I heard Joel unlock the door, then grab my wrist, and drag me to the driveway. The car door opened and he pushed me head down into the car, I sat as directed and he buckled me then slammed the door.
Habits.. What kidnapping more people? I couldn't fathom the habits Joel had adopted from his crazy family, most of which I have been fortunate enough not to meet. The driver's door opened and Joel started the car. I leaned my head on the window, I couldn't see anything through the hood but I tried to make it feel like when my mom and John would go on long drives down to the lake. How the car would swerve through the mountains that secluded us, the same mountains I'm probably lost in currently. It was only a 30 minute drive when Joel abruptly stopped the car and killed the engine. We sat in silence only for a second.
"Charley?"
"Yes?" I replied lazily through the hood trying to keep it out of my mouth.
"I'm sorry for what you are going to experience these next couple days. I understand you are used to such a higher quality of life but I have such convictions that hold me back. You have gotten so far since you first arrived in my care," He says it like I just flew into his arms. "I hope that this does not prevent any more improvement from you."
I nodded my head in reply and let him drag me out of the car, I followed his step into some harder ground, metal, I suppose. He walked only a bit further before some jangling went on, and he placed cool metal cuffs around my wrist. "Joel?" I questioned, scared of what was going to happen. The hood was tugged off of me and I squinted trying to see my location. I was in what seemed to be a blue shipping container, around my wrists were shackles that were smelted to the floor. The door had been closed and a small lamp lit the area with dimness. "Joel, please don't leave me here." I started to beg.
"Stop." I felt the tears coming on, the fear, the abandonment. "I will be back in a day's time, I just have to do this."
"Please take me with you, I can come with you, I'll be good, I promise. I promise Joel I'll follow you forever, and you won't have to worry. But please, please don't leave me here." Joel started to walk towards the exit, I followed him grabbing at his shirt in an effort to keep him here. "Joel please don't leave me here, take me back to the house and I can wait there. Please Joel I'm good, I'm a good girl" I started to choke on my tears, my hands were yanked backwards as I met the end of my line.
"Joel!" I began to scream for him as he silently shut the door. I wanted him to come back, come back for me. I want him to be here for me, I didn't want to be alone. I slumped against the cold rusted wall of the shipping container and waited. He left me nothing, no warm clothes, no food, was he leaving me to die? I closed my eyes, as they were tired from straining and waited, jumping at every sound I heard.
I jumped up at the creak of the door, it had been hours since I heard anything. The slow swing let light into the container and I was excited to see Joel, to be saved. I was blinded by the light but pulled forward regardless. Standing in the open was Joel, blood smearing across his face and clothes, holding a large black tarp.
"Joel?" my voice quivered. He dropped the tarp and continued to just stand there. Whatever was in the tarp fell to the ground hard, echoing through the container. I knew, I knew what it was before I saw the fingers but I didn't want to believe it. "Joel, what did you do?" I asked, a tear rolling down my cheek. He came inside the container and moved the body closer to me, before pulling out a saw from the tarp.
"Don't ask questions Charley." He slowly unrolled the tarp and out came a young woman, whose abdomend was no longer intact. I quickly ran to the corner and vomited, my stomach unable to handle what I saw. I turned around to see Joel sawing away at her arms, cutting the body in pieces. I was shocked, how could he do this? He said he'd never kill me, but he's killed another. I walked closer, after the arm was detached.
The natural blonde had her eyes open, staring at the ceiling, but she was long dead. Her tan skin was dry, and cracked, blood that had splattered on her face had stained. Under her fingernails were more blood, but I couldn't tell if it was Joel's or her own. I imagined she fought back, I would've, her screams probably filled the air when he did it. Unless he put a gag in her mouth or something else to block off any noise. She probably was wooed by his charming personality, a real Ted Bundy over here. She could've been me, I could've been charmed by him, and his pearly white teeth, I could've followed him. I wasn't, It's not like that between me and him, we are different.
"She would drug men," I nodded understanding he was trying to justify it, probably more to me than himself. "And then steal their money, after she used them for sex." I had to turn away as Joel finished the job. The noises of the saw against the skin were sickening, but I had nothing to vomit. I could only imagine the pain, and whatever else he did to her.
"What are you going to do with the pieces?" I asked, nervous at his answer. Did he expect me to help him, to become some Bonnie and Clyde, but more murderous rather money dealing. We're to become infamous killers working in a blue storage container and a house in the middle of the woods. I wouldn't be prosecuted if I were to be caught, I had to, he forced me. I'm positive the jury would side with a wounded girl, taken at 17 and forced to kill, he'd go away for life if he didn't get the chair. But Bonnie and Clyde didn't end up in the court system, did they.
"We scatter them in the forest, it's time you do your piece and become a part of the family. Animals will eat away at them and eventually the bones will decompose and they will be nothing more than dust. It helps the ecosystem, gives plants a little more hope out here, makes sure they did something good in the world." I pressed myself against the wall of the container, the cold metal freezing my hands and back. Joel finished cutting the body, his shirt and pants splattered and stained with bodily fluids, ones he surely could never get out of the fabric.
"I can't help you, I'm sorry." I moved further away as he bagged the parts in decomposable baggies. He stopped and looked up at me, staring me down his icy looks sent chills down my back.
"You are family now, you must, and maybe if you do a good job and don't complain you'll have some privileges back." He continued to tie the bags, thinking he had made a winning argument.
"Joel, please," I said once more, my voice trembling in the air barely reaching him. He didn't react to me but instead chose to continue and terrify me into submission.
"You don't want to make me angry again." He muttered under his voice, before he turned on me and placed the bags outside of the container and walked back to me playing with the necklace around his neck. "Do you promise to be good when I let you out, we have played a game of mouse and lion many times before and I have proven that the lion will always win." He grabbed my wrists and softly held them, playing with the key awaiting my answer.
I sighed knowing I didn't have much of a choice, "I promise I'll be good." Joel smiled at me, before leaning down to kiss me, I couldn't move away as I had trapped myself and was not released from my shackles. I stayed frozen, as to not cause anger from him, he didn't linger too long before he moved his face from mine and released me. I followed like a trained hunting dog, out of the container, he begged me to pick up the bags which I did of course. They weighed more than I expected, and I had to stop myself from gagging. There was no stench of a rotting body yet, but I could imagine what she would smell like in a couple of hours in the sun.
Joel picked up the rest of the bags and a couple shovels from the back of his car. I followed him into the forest, at eight places he put markers, all within a space equal to a football field. I followed him closely and dropped a bag when he told me too, the thud in sync with every stomach drop. We walked together through the woods, our breaths becoming heavier with every couple of steps. The snapping of twigs echoed through the trees and into the air surrounding us. Once Joel dropped the last bag by the stump of a tree, he handed me a shovel.
"Take the shovel and dig around a foot deep into the ground, put the bag in and cover it up then make it look natural." Joel had me watch him, his hole was done in only a couple shovel fulls. He then grabbed the bag after putting his shovel down and laid it in the hole so it fit, I couldn't tell if it was her foot or arm but truthfully I really didn't want to know. He grabbed the shovel again and used the extra dirt to cover the hole back up before getting on his hands and knees and smoothing it over, placing the leaves and branches back over it so it would blend in seamlessly. "Do you understand?"
"Yes." I held my shovel and walked to the next bag, I gazed at the forest in front of me, the trees beckoning me to run. Their whispers called to me, telling me to start my escape. My legs told me differently, for they knew, they stood their ground and glued me to the dirt. A sharp whistle rang in my ear and I turned around, Joel was looking at me calling my attention back to the task at hand. I nodded to him to reassure him before placing the tip of the spade on the ground and jumping onto the back. The dirt lifted with ease and soon enough my hole grew deeper and the pile of dirt grew larger. I placed the bag into the hole and took my shovel to cover it up before dropping to my knees to place forest debris onto it.
After an hour of both Joel and I worked to catch our breaths, we had finished the job. If an innocent person were to stumble upon this land they would see nothing to raise suspicions. Joel grabbed my shovel and led me back to the container, he went to his car and pulled out a folded pair of clothes and changed behind the car while I faced the other way. When he finished he led me to the passenger side of the car and softly ushered me in. I sat down and played with the dirt under my nails, Joel shut the door and locked it from outside before turning to the container. He stayed inside the container for five minutes before coming out and shutting the doors. Joel locked the container with a large metal chain, he tugged on it twice before coming back to the car and starting it. I looked at him while he started it, dirt lingered on his face except for around his eyes where he had wiped it away.
The car started effortlessly, and Joel drove us out of the woods and back to the house.
Updated as of July 11, 2020