CHAPTER III. LAST CALL
Eileen enjoyed the sensation of the chilled vodka swirling around her mouth, warming to some gauged degree only she could decipher before she swallowed. Later in the evening she ignored this ritual, but her first few drinks of the day were always sipped slowly. Her practice of savoring the liquor, convinced her that she was not an alcoholic. In the middle of swallowing the perfectly warmed sip, she listened to the chugging rumble of the engine outside, and she winced. "She's back."
"No shit." Joanne already had the bottle of whiskey sitting on the shelf by the pouring station. It sure as hell did not take Eileen's liquid psychic ability to hear the roar of the bike pulling into the parking lot, and to figure out who would be on it. The mysterious young woman had shown up two weeks ago, and she had become a regular afternoon customer since then. Joanne pried gently, introducing herself and using light banter with leading questions. After a week, she resorted to her practiced verbal crowbar to finally learn the woman's name.
That was about all Joanne knew about the woman, and she was frustrated. The bartender secretly prided herself on her ability to pick up on nuances. Her talent to play the right role of either sympathy or stroking egos, was essential to increase her tips. With this woman, it was impossible. Joanne realized that should she be pressed, it would be difficult for her to give an accurate description of the woman. At least, other than the way that she dressed, or the black and chrome bike that she rode. She always wore the same concealing black outfit that left only her hands visible, and an infrequent glimpse of her face when she lifted her head.
A dark shadow appeared through the parking lot side of the glazed door, and just before it opened, Eileen muttered, "What a freak."
Joanne bit her tongue from mentioning that she thought all of the misfits in the small bar were freaks. The town had been dying for many years, and when the hospital closed down more than a decade ago, it had been the final nail in the coffin. Last Call was the just that… the last bar to hang on… and now that her mother had died, Joanne was planning her own escape after New Year's. She took a deep drag on her cigarette while her eyes followed the woman. As usual, she settled onto a barstool on the other end of the bar. Joanne shrugged and squashed her cigarette into the ashtray. She pasted on a smile that would not be returned, and made her way towards the woman, already predicting her order.
The woman always sat alone, and her uneasy presence did not welcome intrusion to whatever thoughts muddied with her booze all afternoon. "The usual, Autumn?" Joanne continued her forced smile in an effort to convince the woman she could confide in her. Autumn lifted her head, and from beneath the brim of her black hat, she gazed at Joanne with her steady angry blue eyes before nodding.
Chances were, she would be caught, but Tyler was about as good a place as any to let it happen. Autumn had been following the news online, and she could almost feel the desperation in the Prosecutor's words, when the judge announced that the trial would not be held over again. Mike Ross had managed to stall it for two months, while he searched for his missing witness.
Autumn glanced at the drunk sitting at the end of the bar. The woman was staring at her again, while her finger stirred her ice cubes. When the bartender returned, Autumn reached into the deep pocket of the long black duster for her money and she slapped a twenty on the bar. She was pissed off that she had slipped up and told the bartender her name, and more pissed off every time she insisted on using it. Autumn picked up the shot of whiskey, downed it, and slid the glass forward for another. While the bartender was busy pouring it, Autumn sucked on her beer.
It had been the same for a couple of weeks, and Autumn had considered moving on. She was tired of running. At first, just having the freedom had felt good, after the fear had eased a little. So much had changed in this new world, and not all of it for the better. When she had left a decade ago, things had seemed easier. I didn't leave. I was taken, Nichole's voice echoed. Autumn ran her fingers under the scarf wrapped around her neck. The outfit was hot and confining, but she had experienced worse… much worse.
Autumn reached for the re-filled shot, and her fingers stalled just short of the glass. Nicki's fingers. Those and Nicki's face, were about all that was visible in Autumn's strange costume. She dressed all in black, as if the dark color could hide her. She wore steal tipped cowboy boots, black jeans and chaps, a dark short sleeved tight knit top, fingerless gloves, the mid-calf black leather duster, and a black cowboy hat. And the black scarf. Her pussy clenched at the memory of Master Cain blindfolding Nicki with a cloth just like it.
Autumn slipped her fingers underneath it again. Feeling the ridge from the thin scar grounded her, and reminded her that all of it was real. Sometimes, Autumn lost time. Mostly just minutes or hours, but sometimes days… and once, more than a week. Her hand brushed absently down her long golden braid which was slung casually over her shoulder, following the swell of her breast that was outlined against the knit top. She rarely buttoned the long coat unless she was riding.
Autumn downed another shot, and she pushed the glass forward again. While the bartender walked towards her with the bottle in her hand, Autumn looked over her head at the neon clock. She had lost another hour.
Afternoon customers filtered in and Autumn ignored them. They made their way down the bar and began joking with the bartender and the woman with the vodka. One of the men had tried to buy her a drink a few days ago, but Autumn had pushed it away and left. The man never offered again. At first, the boisterous men would say callous things loud enough for her to overhear. Autumn sipped her drink and stared through eyes filled with such an intense hatred, that their conversation would quiet and they turned away from her. Now, they left her alone.
Autumn was broken. The hospital could not fix her, any more than it could fix her friends. Nicki had been the only one able to speak and make any sense, so it had encouraged the doctors and convinced them to give her a little more freedom. It had taken four months for Nicki to earn the privilege of going outside, and even then she had been supervised to make sure she would not hurt herself.
Autumn stared at the bar and unconsciously raised her fingers, digging under the scarf and trailing them around the scar on her neck. Nicki had survived ten years in captivity, and the doctor's fears made no sense to her. Why the hell would I want to commit suicide, now that I'm free?
The next time that Autumn looked up, it was dark outside. She stared at the clock with uneasy anger, and she realized that she had no idea how long she had been gone this time. She remembered looking at it three hours ago. Autumn pushed her glass forward for another shot. The men had already left the bar and headed home to their football and beer, and the lucky ones would find the supper their wives or girlfriends had waiting for them.
Autumn sipped her drink while the vodka drunk glared at her. She had never spoken to the woman, so Autumn had no idea why the woman obviously disliked her. Not that it mattered. Autumn could care less what any of them thought of her. Except Cain, Nicki's voice taunted. Autumn's eyes flew towards the door in panic. It was closed, and she knew that he was not coming here. Not to this place, five hundred miles from where he was locked in jail. That must drive you crazy.
The thought of Cain locked in a cell, somehow did not seem right. Not even after what he had done to her. Autumn's mind began to travel again, and this time it wandered to the cabin. Not the one that Nicki had shared with Cain… the first one. The one Nichole and three friends had shared for the summer, before they started college.
It had been Sallie and Lucy's idea, but Saundra and Nichole had quickly agreed. Nicki vaguely remembered playing with the girls in grade school. The four of them were practically sisters, and they spent most weekends sleeping over at one girl's house. Their moms appreciated the break during the summer, and they rotated the girls from one home to another. They were good girls, all of them smart and pretty. The mothers had congratulated themselves for getting them through high school intact.
Joanne
looked down the bar to see the strange girl smiling. She hoped that this daydream would last for a while. Sometimes, the look on Autumn's face was frightening. Other times, it was filled with such sadness that Joanne had actually caught her own eyes brimming with tears. At times like that, she was not so sure that she really wanted to know Autumn's secrets.
Autumn took another sip of whiskey. Yes, we were good girls… before we went to the cabin, Nicki whispered.
"My bedroom is bigger than this," Saundra laughed. Nichole looked around. It was a little place, with only one room that was comprised of a small kitchenette and two fold out sofas. It was also theirs, and they had no mothers hovering over them, telling them what to do.
"Nichole, you and I can sleep over here," Lucy announced, sitting on the sofa by the window.
Nichole put her suitcase by the end table, and looked over Lucy's shoulder, down towards the lake. There were a lot of people lounging on the beach. Several were grouped into couples, but Nichole was encouraged by several boys that seemed to be unattached.
The girls spent most of their time down by the lake, sunning on the shore or diving off the dock. They did a little hiking on the foothills of the mountain, but mostly they wanted to flirt with the guys at the lake.
Lucy was the only one of them that had come close to having sex, if letting a boy feel your boobs through your cheerleading sweater was 'close'. Other than that, sex was accomplished by their own hands, and later, with the small vibrating devices they kept hidden in their bedrooms. Nicki smiled when she remembered how Nichole used to put her pillow over her pussy to muffle the noise so that her mother would not catch her.
Three weeks into their vacation, four men had rented the cabin down shore. The girls were sunning by the dock, and Nichole looked up from her book after Sallie kicked her. She followed her gaze to the shoreline.
The men were a little older, but damn, the blonde guy on the end was handsome. Nichole looked at the bronze, muscular chest, and her eyes lowered to his shorts. She tried to imagine his penis and balls, slapping against the top of his long legs. When she looked up, he was staring at her and smiling a little. Nichole only looked at his eyes for a second, before she hid behind her book. She could feel her face reddening in embarrassment.
Nicki could not really remember how they had become so close, but by the time they were halfway through their vacation, it seemed like they were spending every day with them. The men rented a catamaran, and they would take the girls sailing on the lake. They were older, almost twice the girls' age, yet they made them forget all about the other boys. Maybe it was just the thought of doing something their mothers would not like. The men treated them respectfully, and they seemed to just want to get to know them and to enjoy their company.
When the summer came to the end and Nichole and her friends said goodbye, they really never expected to see them again. All four of the men were very rich, with either inherited or wisely invested money that financial planners took care of. Nichole's mom would have called them playboys. Of course, her mom was old fashioned, and she just did not know how nice the men were. None of them had made an attempt to do more than steal a kiss, though the girls had subtly let them know in their naïve way, that they were more than ready for experimentation.
The girls had been in college for two weeks, sharing their off campus apartment. Sol was still calling Lucy almost every day. "Really?" The remembered conversation, echoed in Autumn's mind. "Oh my god. Really? Yes. Oh my god. I'm sure we can go. Oh god, Sol. I can't wait." By the end of the call, Lucy had all them clamoring for information. "Sol says that they're stopping by to take us to dinner. There's some kind of investment meeting in Atlanta, or something."
The girls erupted into cheer. "When?" Saundra asked. Sallie was licking her lips, a nervous habit, and Nichole was fidgeting with the tail of her braid.
"Friday night. Sol says their picking us up at seven, and we should just wear jeans and comfortable shoes."
Sallie frowned and pouted. "It doesn't sound like they're taking us anyplace too nice."
Lucy smiled and twirled around the room. "They rented a boat, and they're taking us sailing on the river. Please don't tell. I think they wanted it to be a surprise."
Nicki remembered how Nichole's stomach had fluttered at the thought of seeing Cain again, and she could barely concentrate on her classes. When the doorbell rang on Friday night, she ran to the door. "Hello, Nicki." He reached out, and she pushed by Sol to hug him.
She looked up into his clear deep blue eyes and used her finger to push his wavy blonde hair off his face. "I missed you, Cain."
They had gone on the boat. Nicki could still see the full moon shining across the water while they were drinking wine and eating lobster. Lobster? No, Nicki, it was snow crab, Nichole reminded her. Autumn could almost taste the melted garlic butter. The red wine was good, and Nichole settled back against Cain's chest while they sat on the cushioned seat and the boat rocked gently with the waves. His strong arm around her felt good, and she remembered feeling safe.
Joanne looked down the bar, and she watched the clouds cover the girl's eyes. Autumn was getting angry again. Then, came the sadness. Joanne looked up at the clock. In another thirty minutes, she could close down, clean the bar, and get home to her dog. She picked up the phone and called a cab for Eileen. Anything to keep herself busy, and not get sucked into the depressing vortex drinking shots of whiskey and beer on the other end of the bar.
Nicki thought that it was either the result of the wine and the rocking of the boat, or maybe it had been lying in Cain's arms. Whatever the reason, Nichole must have fallen asleep, and she was surprised when she woke up on the ground and found herself lying on prickly pine needles. The sun was filtering through the trees overhead, and when she tried to raise her hand to loosen her collar, her arms rose in unison. She stared in confusion at the leather cuffs wrapped around her wrists, locking them together. It was not her shirt that had seemed too tight. Nichole discovered a leather collar circling her throat.
She heard a moan on the ground next to her, and she tried to sit. Her mouth was dry, and her head spun when she pushed herself up. It was then that the first burst of fear hit her. She had cuffs locked onto her ankles, and other than the strange restraints, she was naked.
Nichole found herself sitting on the edge of the ashes of a campfire. Her friends were spaced around it, and they all had been bound the same way. None of it made sense, and Nichole looped her arms over her bent legs to cover herself. She searched around in confusion for Cain. How did I end up in the woods? Some of the previous night seeped in. She remembered the boat, but after that, Nichole had no idea.
It was several minutes before the girls had regained enough consciousness to be truly scared. They stared at a rock sitting in the middle of the ashes. In red paint, maybe blood?, was the single word, 'RUN'. "Lucy, what's going on?" Nichole whispered.
Lucy and Saundra were silently crying, and Sallie looked like she was in shock. "The last thing I remember is laughing with Sol, because you all fell asleep on the boat," Lucy sniffled. "We were drinking wine and we walked to the bow so we wouldn't wake you up."
The girls continued to stare at the rock, still trying to get their bearings and trying to understand what was happening. Saundra stood up on shaky legs and wandered around the circle. She was looking for their clothes or the men's footprints, but she saw no sign of them through the pine needle carpet.
There was a whooshing sound and an arrow embedded into the ground beside the rock. 'RUN', it reminded them. Nichole and Lucy pulled Sallie up, and the little woman's eyes seemed to focus better. It always took Sallie longer to adjust to strange situations, and the girls were used to it. This time it was different, because they were all trying to clear the fuzzy confusion fogging their minds. There was another whizzing blast of wind, and a thudding twang as an arrow hit another rock surrounding the ashes.
Saundra screamed and took off, clutching Sallie's hand. Lucy and Nichole were a fe
w seconds behind them, running blindly through the woods. With her naked breasts bouncing between her bound arms, Nichole ran behind Lucy, watching her bottom and realizing uneasily that Cain must have done this to her… and that he had seen her nude.
Saundra turned them back down the mountain and an arrow sped by, lodging into a trunk in front of them. The girls screamed in panic and turned and bolted away from it, dashing up the mountain and distancing themselves from safety. All four of them were crying, while they ran and battled the branches and brush with her bound hands.
The first casualty was Sallie, when her barefoot slipped on the side of a forested ridge they were racing along. Saundra let go of her hand and the girls screamed while she slid on the leaves, ten feet to the bottom of the ravine. They were preparing to follow Sallie, though only Saundra made it onto her butt to slide down. Another arrow hit the ground where she had been sitting before she scooted forward and slid to Sallie.
Lucy and Nichole sobbed and changed direction, running through the brush and further uphill. They heard Sallie and Saundra crying. Saundra screamed, and the sound was abruptly cut off. "It's them, isn't it?" Lucy wailed.
Nichole's lungs were burning and her feet felt bruised from the twigs and rocks. "We can't keep going uphill, Lucy." Nichole slowed down, panting and running her hands down her cramping legs. She watched Lucy, still running and barely winded. She had years of cheerleading to keep her in shape. When Nichole tried to speed up to catch Lucy, an arrow passed by so close to her face, she felt its breeze. It quivered in a tree trunk two feet to her left, and Nichole sobbed and changed course. She could hear Lucy battling the forest to the right of her, but the sound faded until all that was left were the sounds of the woods.
Nichole ran for what seemed to be hours. There was not a place on her body that did not feel scraped or bruised. She had long since stopped crying, and she could barely walk. She had not seen or heard any of her friends, and there had been no arrows since the one that diverted her path from trailing Lucy. Nichole stopped and sat down on a fallen tree, and a second later, an arrow imbedded six inches from her thigh. There was a note tied to the shaft. Nichole unfurled it and sobbed. 'RUN'.
Flashback Mountain Page 3
