Beyond the Palms

by Amanda Aggie

They walked over to the vent; he picked her up on his shoulders and her one by one, searching for the key. Ten tries later, she finally found one that turned.

  “John! I think I got it!”

  The lock clicked, and the vent popped open. Eleanor lifted the vent cover on the hinges. What was inside was not what she expected.

  “It looks like a bomb.”

  “That’s not funny, Eleanor!”

  “No, I am serious. Hand me your phone.”

  He did as he was told, she took it from his calloused hands and took a picture of the bulky object in the vent. She handed it down to him for evaluation.

  “That’s not a bomb. Grab it and bring it down here if you can.”

  She reached her arm inside the vent and grasped the metal mass that laid inside. Pulling it toward her, she finally was able to pull it out completely. She handed it to John, and he set her down on the bed behind them.

  “What is it?” She asked uneasily at the amount of quiet that surrounded them.

  “I’m not sure. It smells really sweet, though.”

  Eleanor came closer to it and took a whiff.

  “You’re right. It looks like a propane tank.”

  She said, pointing to a canister that was attached to it.

  “That looks like the propane tank for the grill that we take camping.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know but I don’t like it, and that is the final straw. We’re leaving; there is just too much weirdness here.”

  “OK, I agree. I mean, I could see for insurance or liability reasons for the recorder. This, though…. I don’t have an explanation for this. The best I have is a large air freshener.”

  “Let’s pack up, ill message the kids.”

  As Eleanor got to packing, John tried to call Jack’s phone. It kept ringing, but John tried a few more times before he gave in and sent him a text.

  “Jack’s not answering, and neither is Thea.”

  “Let’s just get packed, and if they don’t call back in ten minutes, we will worry about it then.”

  The two of them packed all of the family’s belongings within the ten minutes she allotted.

  John tried his phone again. Still no answer. He called Thea, and the same thing happened.

  “That’s not like them; they usually always call back or at least send a text. You said the kids are downstairs?”

  “Yes, Jack is in the arcade, and Thea is at the restaurant.”

  “I am going to go check on them. You should come too. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself.”

  Eleanor nodded and followed him to their door.

  John turned the handle and pulled toward him, but the door stayed shut. I snapped back to a rattle like it was locked.

  “What is wrong, why won’t it open?” Eleanor pried for answers.

  “I don’t………”

  He tried off before finishing his sentence.

  “It’s the deadbolt. Quick let’s check the windows.”

  Realization rolled across Eleanor’s face.

  “Oh my, oh no! I don’t want them to take my kidneys!”

  John grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye.

  “You have to stay with me; if you lose it, then you’re not helping, ok?

  She nodded, tears bubbling up in her eyes, ready to let the flood gates open. They both walked to the windows and found no luck. John searched for service in the room.

  “They shut the internet off even.” He tossed his phone on the bed. He put his face in his hands to think. Eleanor tapped his shoulder a few moments later.

  “John…… John….. John!”

  He sat up and looked; gas spilled out of the contraption from the vent. The smell of sweetness filled the air. He ran to the front door and yanked on it as hard as he could, hoping the lock would give away but had no such luck. He felt himself growing tired and found it hard to concentrate. He lost his strength first. He turned to look at Eleanor, who was already passed out on the floor. He sunk into blackness against his will.

  Thea sat at the wooden table, searching through her phone for something to keep her occupied. It has been 15 minutes, and still, Alex hasn’t returned. She collected her stuff deciding that she wasn’t going to wait any longer. She approached the door but was stopped by James walking inside the room.

  “Hey there! I brought wine!”

  He held the two glasses up to show her.

  “I saw Alex on his way out, and he asked me to keep you company. Sorry that it took so long for me to get over here. I had a couple of customers that came up.”

  “Oh, no problem! You had me at ‘I brought wine.’ I am pretty sure that wine is my version of a Klondike bar.”

  James laughed, it echoed in the smaller room but was infectious none, the less.

  “So, what would you do for a glass of wine?”

  “Well, it would probably be enough to convince me to get in a strange van.”

  They both laughed; Alex sat down in the seat across from her, placing her glass on the table. She picked it up with a small petite hand dainty grasping the stem of the glass. She swirled the liquid and then brought the glass to her lips and took a sip.

  “That is what I needed after the last few days that I’ve had. I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing, but it seems this one has just been eventful.”

  “Oh, I am sorry. I know that you guys have had a lot going on with your brother getting hurt and trying to win over Alex’s heart.”

  Her mouth dropped open.

  “Hey, now! I think that might be jealousy I hear in your voice.”

  “It might be.”

  He smiled and bit his lower lip. He leaned closer to Thea over the table.

  “I am just saying, I am not sure what he is thinking. I know that the second I get a chance, you’re mine, and that’s a promise.”

  Thea sat back in her chair. She smiled but didn’t say anything in response. He sat back in his chair too, and stared at her. His eyes stared into her soul. She wasn’t sure whether to take what he said as a compliment or to take it as creepy. He was very… very attractive, but something about him screamed danger, and she wasn’t sure if she liked it. The emotion in his eyes said he meant what he said, but it reminded her of the way someone would look at food when they have been starving for days. It was like the way her cat at home stalked its toy; James’ pupils grew big as he became more in tune with his prey. It was uncomfortable, she shifted in her seat, and his stare broke off.

  “Man, this wine is really strong.”

  “Or maybe, someone is just a lightweight.”

  James teased, lifting his cup to take a swig.

  “What kind of wine is this?”

  James ignored her question. He stood up and walked closer to her chair. He halfway sat on the table and crossed his arms.

  “What do you see in him anyway? He is not exactly the kind of guy that will protect you or would be halfway decent at…. attending to your needs.”

  His eyes grew dark, the small invisible hairs on Thea’s arms stood up on end and goosebumps formed over most of her body. She tried to scoot back her chair. James’ hands gripped the arms of her chair, keeping it from being able to move away from the table.

  “Oh, I guess it doesn’t matter. Here soon, I’ll be able to place my bid, and you’ll be mine whether you want to be or not.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She tried to fight him and get up to leave. He shoved her back into the chair and twirled a lock of her hair around his index finger. He grabbed her head and pulled it into him, burying his face into the top of her head. He took a deep breath. Thea tried to pull away, but he was too strong, his arm wouldn’t budge.

  She pushed at him as hard as she could, she tried to kick her legs, but his body blocked them from moving more than a few inches. She finally took the high heel of her right shoe and slammed it into the top fabric of his. She felt the heel pierce the fabric, and she knew that had to hurt hitting the top of his foot. He jumped
back just enough that she was able to take her other heel and slam it into his stomach. She didn’t have the strength to impale him with it, but she knew it would still hurt.

  She thrust her chair back and tried to stand up as quickly as she could. Both heels broken, she knew it would be better to ditch the shoes than run with them. She quickly pulled them off and tried to run to the door. Her head spun, she thought it was from getting up too fast. She felt funny and was sure that it was due to the adrenaline that ran through her body. James had recovered before she got to the door and grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. Thea went to scream, but her tongue was numb, and she couldn’t muster the energy for the sound to escape her mouth. Her face went numb first, and within seconds, she was paralyzed. He held her close to him, setting her on the ground, and her muscles went. It was within 30 seconds that she had gotten up from that chair to now. It happened so quickly. She tried to steady her head to understand what was happening, but she couldn’t. Her head flopped around as her vision started to go.

  “Well, that took a little longer to kick in than I expected.”

  She tried to steady her gaze to look at him.

  “It’s a sedative mixed with some sort of date rape drug or something. One of our members is a scientist, and he cooked it up a few conventions ago. It’s a lifesaver for people like you that mess up the order of things. It makes it so they don’t have to be in the room for us to knock them out.”

  He pulled a small white and dark blue pill capsule from his pocket and held it up for her to see before he put it back. She had caught a glimpse of the thing in his hand before everything started to go black, she couldn’t fight it anymore. The last thing she saw before the darkness was James smile too eagerly.

  17

  Keep You Friends Close

  Eric walked back through the door, hands on his hips, he turned and faced Alex. He sat next to an unconscious Jack. Alex had taken his shirt off and tried to use it to clean the boy up as much as he could.

  “Well? Do you understand now?”

  “Understand?”

  “Why I have to do this.”

  “I get why you did it. I just think there were other options, but to you, this fixed all of your problems at once.”

  “Yes! You understand.”

  “I don’t agree with your actions. Quite frankly, I’m furious with them. Sitting here for the last hour or so hasn’t changed that.

  Eric’s phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and accepted the call.

  “James, tell me something good…perfect…use the cart and bring her up. Eddie just let me know that Maria is bringing the parents up…yes, Alex is right here…I am not sure; we will figure that out when you get here.”

  He hung up the phone, and the two of them sat there in silence for a moment before anyone made a noise.

  “Eddie is bringing their parents over now, and James will be on his way up with Thea in a moment.”

  “You’re telling me this why? I am obviously one of your prisoners now.”

  “I don’t intend for you to stay in there, I just have to know you won’t screw this up first.”

  “What am I going to do Eric? It’s pretty clear that you have taken this too far to go back now. There has to be a way to at least save her and the boy.”

  He looked at Jack, defeated.

  “There has to be another way. What if I adopted him?”

  “You want to adopt a child who has been beaten and caged with the hope that he forgives you after you murder his family?”

  “It worked for you didn’t it,” Alex said, returning his gaze to his uncle.

  “I was also very young; this is a full-grown kid. I don’t remember my family; he will. Alex, you just need to accept that there are no other options here. James has offered to take care of the kid. He wants Thea too. I told him that you might want to do it, well humanely, and that I would have to clarify with you first. The parents, however, will join the rest of them.”

  He gestured to the other cages.

  “Of course, he wants to ‘take care’ of Jack. He has been begging us to allow children into this for years. No, I will take care of them. If they have to die, I will make sure they don’t feel pain when happens.”

  His uncle stepped forward and unlocked the gate. He cracked it open, and Alex crawled up to his feet and walked through the now open doorway. His uncle put a hand on his shoulder.

  “You’re doing the right thing.”

  Alex nodded, but he wasn’t so sure. Eric examined his form, noticing the bloodstains on his light-colored dress pants. He handed his nephew’s belongings back. Alex took them hesitantly; they both turned toward the front door as they heard the hinges squeak. Eddie walked in, pushing a slim heavy-duty cart. He pulled the bags of laundry that were placed on top of John and Eleanor out of the cart and piled them on to the floor. Alex walked over and looked in; the two of them were just thrown in there in a heap. Their bodies laid abnormally tangled together. His uncle pulled him away.

  “Well, let’s get you cleaned up. Eddie and I will take care of this.”

  He directed Alex toward the door. Alex hung his head and followed the demand.

  He took the elevator up to his room and unlocked his penthouse door. Walking inside, it looked the same as when he left it. Hard to believe that everything that has happened today would have him coming home like normal and proceeding as if nothing ever happened.

  He didn’t know what to do. He simply was out of hope for trying to fix this. How had he been so unlucky to be born into this life? It didn’t seem fair. All he ever wanted was to be a doctor and help people. He couldn’t do it without his father’s help, and now all he wished was to go back and chose something else. He should’ve left and changed his name and just disappeared. Maybe then, it would’ve saved the lives of people he had come to care about. Elizabeth wouldn’t have gone mad in that cage. Thea and her family would be returning to live their version of normal. Maybe he would be happy.

  It was too late to take any of this back, and he knew that. All there was, was to go forward.

  He stripped off his shoes, socks, and pants. Grabbing a towel out of the basket of clean clothes, he headed to take a shower and try and forget as much as possible about the girl he has come to care about and what he would have to do to her.

  He thought about what his uncle had done, and the more he did, the more uncomfortable he became. After racking his brain to come up with a way out of it, he decided on only one option. He decided that he would have to confront Jane. He knew that his uncle kept what they did a secret from her. She lived in a bubble, but he also knew that she was interested in Jack and that they have seen each other a few times in their week that they have stayed at the hotel. Maybe, she would be willing to help.

  He hated having to bring her into this, but maybe this was a way out to everyone. If he could somehow get the family out of the convention room and back to the States, as long as they stayed quiet about what happened here, his uncle wouldn’t risk the others finding out about what had happened. James wouldn’t gamble it either because he would ascend in his place. He had a medical practice now; he didn’t need the money from his father to continue his way of life. His father was also not around to force him to stay.

  The whole reason that he took this hotel over was that his father left it to him, and he justified the few over the many. Having these people control themselves for an entire year only to hurt a few innocent people here seemed like a better option. If this didn’t exist, these people would have killed thousands in the course of the year. Six wasn’t so bad compared to thousands. Alex didn’t like it, but he agreed that it wasn’t totally bad.

  He couldn’t let this family become part of the few. He had an attachment to Thea and had grown to like her family. Especially the fact that Jack was just a kid, he couldn’t justify hurting him; he had barely begun to live his life. He knows for sure that he couldn’t hurt Thea. He wasn’t a monster that could hurt anyone, let alone he
r.

  Her image came to his mind; he sat down on his couch and closed his eyes. Her sweet smile, the way her nose crinkled when she laughed. The long bouncy blonde curls that she had earlier today when she came into the room. He knew when he saw her that she was there to raise hell. He found it cute when she looked mad. It was like watching a toddler get upset; you knew they were upset but couldn’t help but laugh at their overwhelming sense of adorableness. He knew that if she wanted to, she could do some damage though she had a fierceness about her that radiated off of her. She was confident in everything she did; he only wished he felt that way half of the time.

  He wished he could go back; she must hate him to some extent; he shouldn’t have pushed her away. If he had known that his uncle would’ve tried to hurt them anyway, he would have handled things differently. Alex would’ve never talked to Thea after finding out what room she was in, or he would’ve never let her go that night on the beach.

  There had to be a way to get Thea out, but Alex also knew she wouldn’t leave without her family. Therefore, he had to come up with a plan to get them all out. He had an idea, but he would need Jane’s help too.

  “That’s where I will start.”

  He said out loud to himself before grabbing his stuff and heading out of the penthouse.

  About an hour later, he sat in front of Jane, his cousin. He had explained everything the best that he could. He expected her to freak out, much like he did when he learned about his father’s doings. Instead, she sat there blankly, trying desperately to wrap her brain around the whole idea.

  “Janey, say something, please.”

  She just sat there staring at the salt and pepper shakers that sat in the center of her dining room table. She was zoned out; her brain had crashed; Alex was sure of it. Fifteen minutes had passed of silence before she finally looked up at him and responded.

  “What do we do? How am I going to help? I can’t even get into the convention room. I have tried over the last few years. I have had suspicions about what goes on up there. I guess I never thought of it being that extreme, though. I have overheard conversations or seen my father leave at weird times, sometimes he would have bloody clothes and would say that some event happened, but others in the restaurant would have never heard of it. I have noticed the some of the guys I would talk to would disappear, and I thought they just weren’t interested, but maybe he was doing things instead. The whole James thing seemed to set him off last year. Now I know why.”