by Angie Morel
“You two watch her while I try to find some type of cord or something,” Savannah said before turning and heading to the back of the store. She went through the door marked employees only.
That’s my cue. I took a couple of steps towards the mall.
“Hey, don’t move,” Butcher said in warning, dropping his cigarette to the floor and stepping on it.
“Oh, okay,” I said sarcastically, disregarding his order. Butcher lumbered towards me until he stood about four feet away, ready to make a grab.
Schooling my expression, I pretended to look alarmed at his approach. Since I was tall for a girl, I scrunched down a bit. Appearances are everything.
He was fooled. Grinning, he puffed up. Perfect—let him think he was dealing with a helpless, scared girl. I’d be happy to educate him, but it had to be timed perfectly. Donna was still frozen by the cash register, and with Savannah in the back room, he was the only one I had to worry about right now.
He crouched and started to reach for me. I pretended to dart to the side but came back and delivered a perfectly executed kick just on the underside of his meat and potatoes. Perfect aim—right under the balls so that the upward motion felt like his dick and balls had been kicked clean off. That was my goal. Butcher went white as a sheet, clutched his package and dropped to his knees before falling to the side, dry heaving. In my present condition, a ball kick was about the best I could do to take him down. And quite frankly, I was amazed that I hit the target with my vision the way it was.
Ultimately I was outnumbered, had the worst headache in my life, and had my hands tied together. But with one down, the second in the backroom, the third frozen in place—and any others in their group not here yet—I had to make a run for it. Turning, I pushed towards the front of the store, feeling like I was moving through Jell-O. Donna yelled something. Savannah rushed out of the backroom, screaming obscenities.
Stumbling into the mall, I didn’t notice the skateboard that Butcher left in front of the store. My right foot stepped on the end and popped it up, driving the board into my left shin, tangling it in my drug-clumsy feet. I couldn’t recover. It was just enough to knock my already unsteady body off balance. Crashing to the floor, I barely managed to twist to the side before landing. The air oophed out of my lungs in one quick rush.
The fall stunned me for a second. Not enough to where I didn’t hear running feet fast approaching from the mall area. Great. That meant others were coming. Even though I was pretty much screwed, I still struggled to suck air back into my lungs and attempted to get up from my defenseless position. When I finally got to my knees my stomach cramped again, only this time it squeezed hard, pushing whatever was inside of it up and onto the floor in front of me. Too much jostling would be my guess.
There was a sharp pain in my thigh area as I retched. I was aware enough to realize that someone had actually kicked me. Who would kick a person while they were puking? Wasn’t there some sort of sportsmanship rule about that?
Apparently not. At least not with this group. Even I wouldn’t do that, and my fight philosophy was of the win-or-die, anything-goes variety.
A few heaves later and I was done (at least I hoped). Taking a couple of deep breaths in, I kept my head down, making sure my stomach had settled.
They surrounded me. Savannah, Donna, and the unknown others. I didn’t have to look up to confirm the fact. Bringing my bounds hands up to wipe at my mouth, I realized I already felt better. The dizzy feeling was almost gone and the headache had backed off a bit. Puking was not fun, but in this instance it had the advantage of getting some of the drugs out of my stomach. Granted I’d have to ride out the stuff already in my system, but at least it was at a tolerable now. Unfortunately the throwing up had made me oblivious to the number of people that converged to this spot. My head lifted.
“You stupid bitch!” Savannah snarled, delivering a vicious kick to my thigh, in the same spot as the first one. Well, that answered the question of who kicked me. I didn’t flinch at the pain. There was no way I’d give her the satisfaction.
Savannah was to the side of me, and as I turned, ready to tell her that I was going to kill her if it was the last fucking thing I ever did in my life, a face from the past collided with my vision.
A cold-hot feeling came over me.
I had to close my eyes and open them again to make sure I was seeing correctly. There was a boy standing next to Savannah that had a badly healed, busted up nose. A boy that would not have any warm and fuzzy feeling towards me, that’s for damn sure. A boy that went by the name of Todd last year in a certain convenience store back in Boston.
What are the chances, I thought wildly. It’s that bad luck thing again, following me around. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize me. Leaning forward, I let my hair hang in front to partially shield me.
“Who do we got here? Hey, bitch, look at me,” Todd said, my vomit the only thing between us. Through the strands of hair I saw him take a swig from a bottle of alcohol that dangled from his fist.
Well, no way to avoid this now, I thought with a sigh. Lifting my head, I shook the hair out of my face and looked him dead in the eye.
Todd looked at me, his grin disappearing as confusion puckered his brow. Then he sucked in a breath as recognition hit. Pointing a finger at me, he started laughing and whooping. I made sure to appear unconcerned. I swear—I can never catch a break. It must be against the laws of nature to have something actually go my way.
“Holy fuckin’ 7-Eleven! No way! No fuckin’ way!” Todd, or Clutch as he was known now, said between breaths.
“Wait, you know her?” Savannah asked incredulously, looking between the two of us. She didn’t sound too happy about this piece of information.
“Oh,” Todd said smugly, his crooked nostrils flaring, “do I ever know her. You see my nose? That was courtesy of her fuckin’ friend, Candyman.” His smiled dropped like a rock. “He with you?” he asked, suddenly serious. He looked at Savannah. “Where’d you get her from? She with a guy named Rolo?”
“Rolo? Yeah, he’s back at the house that I was telling you about. You know my cous—”
“Yeah, yeah, you gotta take me there. Ooh hoo hoo!” he said, excitement and dreams of revenge making him giddy. He took a hard pull from the bottle in his hand, not stopping until the remaining inch or so of amber liquid was consumed. And then, in jubilation, he wound up and pitched the empty bottle at the brick wall to the left of the Gymboree store front. The bottle shattered on impact, sending glass bits tinkling to the floor.
I watched with detached interest as a couple of the shards landed in my frothy reddish puke. Todd clapped his hands together hard a few times. The sound of the claps echoed through the mall like cannons. As he was doing this, a different kind of sick feeling overcame me. Savannah was going to lead him right to the house, blindsiding Rolo and the others.
“Yeah, well, I brought her back for you. We could tie her up…or wait! Let’s Barnes and Noble her!” Savannah said, like the idea just came to her.
“No, I got me another plan,” he said as he rubbed his crotch and grinned lecherously. “Ya know… I might let a pretty girl like you make it up to me. You work real hard I might even forgive you after a while.” He was busy humping the air in front of me. Savannah crossed her arms and glared at me, like his interest was somehow my fault.
A burst of laughter escaped me. “If that little worm comes anywhere near me, I’ll rip it right off,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Why don’t you check with your friend Butcher there, see how he’s feelin’ after meeting my foot.”
Feeling vulnerable, I got to my feet (only wobbled once), relieved when no one tried to stop me. Scanning the crowd I counted eight, including a moaning and crying Butcher, who no one in this group seemed to care about. Shit. Not very good odds for an escape attempt.
“We’ll see about that bitch,” Todd growled, not smiling anymore. “You know why they call me Clutch? It’s because once I get you in my clutches, y
ou’re history.”
“Wow Todd, oh, I mean Clutch, that’s really terrifying. I don’t recall that happening back at the 7-Eleven. Refresh my memory. Didn’t you get noodled? Rolo knocked your dumbass out, as I recall.”
“He took a cheap shot, you fuckin’ twat,” Todd snarled, stepping in the puke puddle in his haste to punch me in the face.
Chapter 26
There was a wooden bench bolted to the floor in the middle of the mall one business down from the furniture store where Savannah’s group “lived”. My hands and feet were tied to the arm and leg portion of the bench with telephone cable, and it was snug, allowing for very little movement. Across from this bench was a black leather massage chair that someone would be occupying throughout the night, or so I was told.
I wondered who my babysitter would be. Certainly not Butcher, he was still green in the face and could barely walk on his own. And was he ever pissed, drilling me with his eyes as he limped down the mall earlier. I’d given him a smile and a wink in return. Of course the effect was somewhat ruined by the swelling of my eyes and the blood on my face.
Todd and the others were inside the furniture store deciding on a plan of action for tomorrow. Todd had decided they’d leave for the house in the morning. His eagerness was like a virus, spreading to all of them.
With blood still dripping from my nose, I put my head back, looking up at the glass canopy that encompassed the ceiling. It was arched and appeared to run the entire length of the mall, with curved steel beams alternating with the sections of glass. Although the skylight allowed plenty of natural light to flow in during the day, it would be dark soon and the moonlight wouldn’t penetrate the darkness that would invade the mall three levels down where I was located.
Being this far down didn’t prevent me from hearing wing flapping and chatter from the birds that found a way inside, roosting along the metal rafters. If only I could become a bird and fly away from here. Wasn’t there something in Forrest Gump about that? My heart squeezed as I thought about what Claire said.
Peas and carrots.
I had to find a way to save them. That’s all there was to it. Todd and his followers would show them no mercy. That much was proven to me earlier.
After my comment about Rolo knocking him out at the convenience store, Todd lost it, needing to prove to the others that he was a badass. In his mind I’m sure he envisioned an easy victory, only needing to deliver a few hits before the whimpering and crying began. Fool. He didn’t know me at all.
At first, I was able to use my bound hands to try and block. The way I moved defensively and my continued resistance surprised him. Even though I wasn’t at my best, he soon realized I was made of tougher stuff than any girl he’d ever dealt with. Plus, he was acutely aware of what my kicks could do to a certain part of the male anatomy, so his body was angled when he threw punches, which weakened the impact.
He finally managed to football tackle me, which left me stunned for a few seconds. The back of my head smacked the hard floor in addition to the wind getting knocked out of me from the weight of his body landing on my chest. That gave him the opportunity needed to straddle my torso, trapping my arms under his thighs. He punched my face and upper body for a couple of minutes, until he was tired. He’d paused briefly a couple of times, catching his breath, sure that I’d beg him to stop. I didn’t have it in me to ever give him, or anyone, that satisfaction. I never made a single peep.
Todd’s fists had bloodied my nose, ballooned up both eyes, and cut my lip. But I could take it. I could take all the beatings they wanted to dole out as long as they didn’t mess with me in other ways. If they did, I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to hide my terror. I had issues with that. I’d rather die than get raped, and unfortunately both of those options, dying and getting raped, were real possibilities in my present position.
I could wonder all I wanted about how this had happened and why—but I knew how, and I knew why. It was because of my stupidity…again. When would I ever learn? This is what happens when you let emotions get the better of you. And the worst part—I didn’t just put myself in jeopardy—I put all the people I loved at risk.
As I stared at the ceiling, dark thoughts troubling my mind, a flick of movement touched the edge of my vision. I cocked my head. Did I just see something? The spot it came from was the railing to the right, third floor up. Probably a bird. I was about to look away when a head peeked over the railing.
A boy. There was a little boy looking down at me. He put a finger to his lips. Shhhhh.
I couldn’t have been more surprised if a clown dropped down in front of me and honked my nose. Discovering that my mouth was hanging open, I closed it and gave him a slight nod. And just like that he was gone. What the hell was that about?
Noises came from the direction of the furniture store.
Quickly I lowered my head, not wanting them to wonder what I was looking up at. Three figures emerged from the store and walked towards me. My mind was still on the boy. Who was he, I wondered? He definitely wasn’t part of Todd’s group. From my vantage point he looked really young. Did they know about him?
I refocused my attention on who was approaching. It was Savannah, Cheeto, and the tall boy with pale skin and hair. I didn’t know his name.
“My, don’t you look nice,” Savannah said, being the first one to reach me. By the ballooned-up feel of my face, I knew it had swelled up nicely in the couple of hours that I’d been sitting here. Savannah strolled around me as the others drifted closer.
“I bet Rolo would love to see you now,” she whispered from behind.
While on the outside I gave no reaction, inside I flinched at her words. How could she know? How could she even have a clue about what happened? Remaining silent, I gave Savannah a bored look as she stepped in front of me. She must be trying to get a reaction. That was all.
“Well, maybe he’ll get the chance since we’re leaving to kill his ass and take over the house tomorrow. Clutch thinks we need to take you. But I think he really wants to take you just so he can kill you in front of Rolo,” Savannah snorted. “Now that would be sweet. Funny what a small world it is, hmmm? Oh, by the way, thanks for the gun.” Savannah pulled it out from the waistband of her jeans and waved it at me.
I rolled my eyes. Inside though, fear was spreading like a virus. How was I going to stop them from going to the house? While I had little doubt that Rolo could take care of himself, there were four others that weren’t so good at it, which meant Rolo would focus on trying to protect them—so he’d be distracted on top of being outnumbered. All the training we did to prepare for a banger attack wouldn’t help our group when faced with people wielding guns.
Of course the biggest weapon from this group was revenge. Todd would do whatever was necessary to get Rolo, even if it meant sacrificing his own people. I had to find a way to stop this from happening, or to warn them—something. However, all of my plans and schemes involved actually getting free first, which I wasn’t quite sure how to accomplish.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I said, starting with that tactic.
“Not a fucking chance,” Savannah countered with a growl, sticking the gun back into her pants.
A sigh escaped. Even though I didn’t have to go, and fully expected the answer to be no, my bladder must’ve perked up when I said that and decided it would be a good idea. Now I really did have to pee. The last time I went was this morning back at the house.
Cheeto approached. He gave me a creepy look before sitting next to me on the bench. The albino boy plopped down in the massage chair.
“Awww, I think Cheeto likes you. Maybe if Clutch doesn’t kill you, he’ll give you to Cheeto to play with,” Savannah said sweetly.
“I gotta tell ya, if Clutch doesn’t kill me, the smell of you all will. It’s just like you smelled, Savannah, when you came to the house. But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll fade back to the lovely scent of shit and cooked cabbage and neglected armpits soon enough. How yo
u people can let yourselves go like that is beyond me. Seriously, it brings water to my eyes,” I paused. “And that’s not even taking into consideration your horrendous breath. Your group has got to find some toothbrushes, man.” My head shook in disgust. I knew I shouldn’t be pushing any buttons, but damned if I could stop myself.
Savannah stepped up to me, quivering with rage. She drew her hand back and slapped me across the lower part of my face. Apparently she didn’t think my description of her smell was funny. The boys didn’t either. Despite the flare-up of pain, I smiled. A coppery taste filled my mouth. My lip split open again.
Savannah stared at my bloody smile, and then fisted her hands and walked away in a huff. I kept smiling. It didn’t take much to get her riled up, that’s for sure.
Albino boy got first watch. I spent some time studying him, trying to figure out if he was a fairly normal kid stuck in a bad situation, or if he was bad and enjoying the things that were happening at the mall. My instinct told me he was a follower—which was a gray area between the two. Sometimes followers were asked to do horrible deeds, and they would even though they didn’t really want to and knew it was wrong. Followers were inclined to think it easier to do the deeds rather than say no or cause conflict with the person who asked them to do it. A lot of kids got into trouble that way back in my neighborhood. Values start to change and those deeds got easier and easier until it was commonplace. I knew how it went. You only needed one unstable person with persuasive skills to start a landslide of violence. It tends to start slow but takes over quickly, blinding people to reason. It was a darkness that even normal people could find themselves lost in.
I thought about the others. Besides Todd, Savannah was my biggest concern. She obviously wanted me dead so bad she could taste it. Regarding the other girls in the group, there was one about my size with long black hair that might give me trouble. She appeared to be attached to Clutch’s hip, which ultimately meant that she’d do whatever he wanted. There was a small mouse of a girl that I had instantly dismissed, and Donna wouldn’t be too much of an issue. She’d been neatly categorized as a watcher, not a partaker, back at Gymboree.
