Trapped with a Way Out

by Jeffery Martinez

  "In your dreams…" The dark brown eyes of the giant went back to Rodriguez and William. He watched William for a while as he waited for Vincent to get to his feet. "Who's the girl? I thought you were a natural girl repellent, Max. This one's got jugs bigger than my hands, which is saying something."

  William stammered something and hid behind Rodriguez, shielding her burning face. Rodriguez frowned at the distasteful remark, but kept his temper. "I don't appreciate you talking about my sister like that, Jack-bean."

  Vincent sniggered and then laughed outright at Rodriguez's words, while Jake blinked and worked his jaw, assessing the blonde. "How old are you, Blondie?"

  Rodriguez's mouth twitched and he hid his hands in his pocket, slouching back a bit to make it seem like his age was irrelevant. "Eighteen."

  The man blinked again. "You're pretty big for eighteen…you'd be good for football."

  "I play quarter back for my high school team."

  The man nodded, holding some respect for the well-off teenager now. He saw that Vincent had managed to stand up, and he ruffled the black hair, then cocked his head as Vincent hissed and batted his hand away. "You're fluffier than normal, First. Not as…matty. You been to the groomers lately?"

  "Stuff it Jack-bean….and don't call me that." Vincent leaned against the door, a red mark throbbing on his forehead as he crossed his arms. "Rodriguez and female Rodriguez, what are you two doing here? I'm sure as Hell that I didn't invite you over for a play date."

  Female Rodriguez? Play date? "Um…yeah." Rodriguez moved his weight from one foot to the other and he cleared his throat. Why had they come? "You're sick, how are you managing that?"

  Jake watched Vincent as black bangs hid the teen's expression. "I'm fine Rodriguez."

  "My mom's worried about you."

  This caused the giant to arch an eyebrow, but he didn't interrupt them. William was also surprised, and she reappeared from behind Rodriguez, remaining close to him and flinching when Jake decided to test her out by sending her a friendly wink.

  "Go home Rodriguez…and take female Rodriguez with you before Jack-bean takes her up the beanstalk."

  Rodriguez, more comfortable now as he considered Jake to be something of a gentle giant as he harmlessly teased his sister…and from what interaction he had seen between Vincent and the giant. He began to relax. "I wanted to see what you're trying to hide, Vincent."

  "That's nice. Now go home. You're not seeing anything today."

  "What's in there, then?" Rodriguez pressed. Jake took the initiative to speak up.

  "He's hiding the Amazon jungle in there." He chuckled and tapped on the door, upsetting Vincent who moved to cover the door handle with his back. "He stole the Rocky Mountains."

  "Now you know. Mountains." The red eyes were unable to hold up against the strong green gaze, and the weight forced them to the ground. "Now go Rodriguez." Vincent's hand gripped the door handle behind him, hoping to hear their departing footsteps. He heard footsteps, but they were approaching, not leaving. His expression fluidly slipped into a regretful scowl. "It's none of your business, Rodriguez."

  "I want to see what you're hiding."

  "Get lost." Vincent moved to face the teen when he felt a hand try to coax him away from the door with light tugs. Green eyes went to the window, but found that it was covered, so Rodriguez continued with the door. He reached for it. Vincent pushed him away. He grabbed Vincent. Vincent grabbed him. And everything deteriorated into a contest of shoves and a wrestling match as they fought for the door or to keep it away from the opponent. Vincent managed to trip up Rodriguez's footing so that he stumbled back, away from the door. Panting a little, Vincent triumphantly pointed down the hall and ordered the blonde to leave.

  Vincent was suddenly struck by a solid wall of force. Jake held the door open, trapping the protesting teen on the other side while Rodriguez crept forward and peeked into the room. His jaw fell a bit as he gazed at the tiny room, made smaller by the amount of stuff that was stacked and organized so meticulously, planned and laid out to supply the greatest measure of free space. Jake was right. It was like a forest or a mountain range in there… Rodriguez flicked on the light to get a better view of the layout of this man-made geographical replica. But the light didn't turn on. He stared at the switch and tried it a few times, and then looked though the space made by the hinges of the door, where Vincent was glaring at him.

  "You don't have electricity?" He demanded with a cool air that sparked with storming outage.

  "I will in a bit. I paid the rent…it was only out yesterday and part of today. Nothing big." The boy tried to downplay whatever effect this was having on Rodriguez, but to no avail.

  To Vincent's displeasure Rodriguez went into the room and had a good look around, turning on the currently useless sink. Vincent heard the creak of the knob being turned for the water. "Water will be turned on when the power's back. I paid for the rent today, like a said." Rodriguez still didn't come out. "Jack-bean, move your big ass." He muttered, and was allowed to go around Jake to get into the room as well…or at least stand in the doorway. Rodriguez was glaring at the futon he had found when he lifted up the mass of comforter.

  "This is not okay, Vincent." He dropped the comforter and glared at the covered window.

  Vincent watched him calmly. "It's okay. It's not like I'm living on the streets."

  "Shut up! This is not okay!" The boy stalked over to Vincent and then stood close, glowering down at him with bright green eyes. Then his hand gripped the black sweatshirt and pulled Vincent out of the doorway and into the hall as Rodriguez attempted to drag him. "I'm taking you back to my house."

  "No!" Pale fingers tore at the hand attached to his clothes. "You stupid fat ass! Let me go!"

  "You're coming!" Rodriguez yanked on Vincent and managed to move him a few more feet until a heavy hand caught his wrist. Jake pulled Vincent away and shoved him towards the open door. It was quiet as Rodriguez read into the blank look on the giants face, and he remembered what kind of situation this really was. Jack-bean wasn't a gentle giant. He was a man-eater with a sense of humor. The big hand pushed Rodriguez towards William, causing him to come close to falling.

  "Max's not going anywhere, Blondie. You said you would look, maybe talk, but not do anything else." A thick finger pointed at Vincent as the man continued to look down at Rodriguez with his blank, dark eyes. "There are people worse off than this stray mutt, Blondie. He's surviving on his own. He doesn't need rich ass kids like yourself trying to adopt him like he's a pet you found out in your back yard… Now, I got business with him tonight anyway. He's busy, so come back to play some other time."

  Rodriguez stood with a stiff and determined posture. "I'm not scared of you, Jack-bean."

  The brown eyes became pitch black as the giant looked down upon the blonde head and the defiant green eyes. He worked his jaw and then spat out over the ledge of the walkway, into the tops of some trees. Moving his arms from his sides to cross them over his chest, he allowed his eyes to narrow. "You should be, kid."

  It was quiet, and Vincent watched the giant carefully, looking for signs that would suggest that Rodriguez was in danger.

  Jake jerked his head back at the red eyes. "I've known this brat behind me since he was ten, eleven years old, and I've known his uncle all my life. The only man my father ever served under… I think I have more say about what's going to happen to him than you do, a kid who doesn't even know who his uncle is. There's a reason why people know First and W.C.D., Blondie. You're out way over your head here."

  Rodriguez didn't move, not intimidated by the man before him. "Move Jake…you seem like a descent enough guy…." Rodriguez was cut off when William kicked him, giving him a dead leg so he staggered to stay on his feet.

  "Let's go Alex. We know where to find him, that's good enough. You can't take the boy by force." She looked at Vincent and waved without a smile, then turned and went to the stairs. Rodriguez couldn't deny her words, and he couldn't meet Vince
nt or Jake in the eye, so he followed William quietly. They both disappeared down the stairs.

  The two remaining presences were silent. Faces that had appeared in nearby windows, left them. Jake turned around and found Vincent staring at his converse.

  "Punks got into our territory…spray painted one our walls…and claim not to fear us anymore since First's gone soft and W.C. 'dead', so the rest of 'us' are weak now too… You got responsibilities…a name to uphold cuz of your uncle, Max. You're somebody people recognize, someone they remember… No more rumors like this or that's only going to mean more trouble for everyone, got it?" Vincent looked back over the ledge at the end of the second level's hall, and he watched the wind that was ramming into a tree. Jake watched the pale skin and then moved his eyes to an idle hand.

  "You skipped out! What the Hell were you doing? Nothing? Nothing ain't an answer, First!" Someone yelled at the skinny teen that stood in the middle of the alley, standing before a jury of his peers. The oldest of the Junior leaders, the son's of Senior leaders, stood against the brick wall, facing Vincent, watching for his response. The teen refused to answer.

  "We told everyone, Max! They noticed that you weren't there! This was a big deal!"

  "Not like anyone died because I wasn't there." Vincent moved a foot as he spoke, and then looked up coolly at the forming glares. "I don't see the big deal."

  "You fucking brat!" Jake snarled and moved to the boy, close enough to tower over him. Vincent smirked up at his face.

  "So you think it was a big deal, Jack-bean? I thought you were the biggest thing around here…nothing's big to you…"

  "Damn it!" He grabbed the boy's arms and shook him, sick of the mouthing off. "This is a big deal! If you do this then others will do this! They look at you and see a leader, now you better start acting like a goddamn leader or…"

  "You plan on stepping on me until I turn into jam for your bread, Jack-bean? Or will you swallow me whole?" Vincent snickered and pulled away from the stilled hands, and moved back, like he was planning on taking his leave.

  "Get back here!" Jake grabbed at a pale hand, catching only the fingers, and he wrenched Vincent over to him again. The pale teen gasped, and then swallowed a cry of pain as he felt his fingers pop out of their sockets, and then was pulled by them again. Jake crushed them in a fist, sending Vincent to his knees with a hiss. Jake had felt the fingers pop, and he knew what he was doing now, though he hadn't planned on it. He kept Vincent there, on his knees. "You're a dense little bastard, Max… I have to do this just to get you to listen." Vincent didn't respond, and he was quiet as he received his lecture from the others by the wall. When they were done, they began to leave while Jake pulled Vincent to his feet and took his hand. He forced one of the fingers back into place, a jolt of white hot agony searing through Vincent's nerves as he threw his head back, biting down on his tongue. "Sorry about that…" Another finger was pushed back into place as a whine climbed up Vincent's throat. He shook his head to dislodge it, and gasped.

  "Don't worry about it…Jack-bean. They'll…heal fine…right?"

  "Yeah. I've done this loads of times." Jake muttered, finishing off with the third finger. Vincent had to sit down for a while and Jake let him stagger off on his own, to go to the wall. When he saw that Vincent would be fine on his own, Jake left.

  With the end of the flashback, Jake touched a thin shoulder with his knuckle, to get the teen's attention. "Let's go."

  Jake had never seen the pale, red-eyed child before, but it wandered up to him with a shy little smile. Other boys were with Jake and they laughed and greeted the odd child. Almost immediately, the pale boy melted into the background as the silent member of the group. But this was Jake's place. He was supposed to be left alone, included at times and heard when he contributed, but left to his own devices. Not forced to talk or initiate anything based off of another's incentive. But this little boy had climbed up on the trashcan next to where Jake was leaning against the wall of a building, and had perched on the secured lid, tapping restless heels on the metal can at times. He was looking up at Jake, though the teenager's dark eyes refused to go to the child's. Someone else noticed and stepped in to satiate the boy's curiosity.

  "This here is Jake. And Jake, this is Max." The other teen's interest was diverted when two boys stumbled out of their collected group, fighting and growling in response to one calling the other a 'bitch'. The boys ran from the wall, into the middle of the back alley behind an anonymous building where their fathers were conducting some business. The alley branched two ways from the building, allowing sound to roll down the pavement.

  The boy called Max looked up at the quiet, unreadable face that remained, and he smiled. "I'm Vincent, but lots of people like to call me Max so that's the name I go by a lot."

  Jake's eye twitched in annoyance. He had been left to babysit the shitty little brat. "We've already been introduced, kid." He grunted in a low, impatient voice, crossing his arms to show he wasn't in a social mood.

  The boy's head ducked away for a moment, and then turned up to watch the big teenager again. "You're really tall."

  Jake ignored the comment, though he gritted his teeth. He would have let it pass over his head, like he usually did, but the brat kept on talking.

  "You're tall and big…like a giant. I've never seen anyone as big as you. Do you have to eat a lot to get that big? Do you sleep a lot? Do you have a really big bed? Do you have extra big spoons and bowls and stuff? Is your dad as big as you? Is he as big as a house? Do you like the story Jack and the Beanstalk? I like that story. I like a lot of stories. Can I call you Jack? No. Jack-bean? That's a cool name. Can I call you Jack-bean? Hm? Jake, can I call you Jack-bean?"

  The boys had moved down one of the allies and they were getting farther away as all of this passed. Jake's eyes were large and twitching, and his hands were shaking fists he had dropped to his sides. He finally snapped and turned on the little boy. "Do you ever shut up?" He snarled, startling Vincent so badly that he fell off the garbage can, almost taking it down with him. Vincent sat on the ground, gazing up at the other boy timidly.

  "Sorry. Please don't smush me Jack-bean. I'll be quiet. Please don't smush me…."

  That was the last straw. A shutter closed on Jake's mind…and his hand closed around the boy's arm. He dragged him down the alleyway opposite of the other boys' direction and made a turn down another, then turned into another, and into another…where no one would find them or hear the boy protest and beg him not to 'smush' him.

  "I'm sorry Jack-bean! Please!"

  There was a dull thwack as a large hand forced Vincent into the wall, his head only partially cushioned by the hood on his sweatshirt as the strength lolled his head backwards, into the wall. It was dark, without windows on the buildings' walls that built up the isolation. The white noise of the city was cut out as well, and without that sound, there was little hope of being heard. Vincent whined softly at the pain in his head, and then whimpered as he felt his feet dangle, held up by the angry fist. The white collar of his shirt could be seen as the sweatshirt was pulled forward in Jake's grip.

  "Shut up!" He snarled, lowering his volume for the sake of not pushing his chances of being found by some wandering soul. His face lowered into the child's, causing red eyes to grow as bid as saucers, terrified of the glaring black gaze. Jake shook him sharply and then hissed. "You think you're a funny brat, don't yah? Well, you're not, you stupid little punk!" He shook him again. Vincent would have cried for help, but his diaphragm was paralyzed with fear, and he was having a hard enough time swallowing air without wasting it on words. Jake held him against the wall, glowering at the boy, hearing all of the names he had been called in the past, all of the comments and sniggers, and he saw every one of those laughing faces in the scared boy, who, at eye-level, had lost the mercy of his small and meek characteristics provided by youth, that were forgotten now to Jake... Because of their level eyes, Jake forgot that this was a child half his size. The eyes of a demon helpe
d to have this effect as well.

  "I'm sorry." Vincent whispered, finally managing to breathe again, and he did so quietly. His hands were holding onto Jake's fingers, to make his position more comfortable as he trembled against the wall.

  Jake sneered, and his grip tightened. "You're scared of me, aren't you?" He looked at the red eyes that spoke for the mute boy. "You're scared of me! Of course you stop now! You're scared now! I got you scared now, so you're sorry! Right? RIGHT?"

  Vincent could feel the heat of his breath and hear the teen's teeth grating and snapping together as he raved and pushed the boy harder against the wall. He was quiet, hardly about to understand what Jake was saying as panic clouded his mind. Finally he managed to gasp in a wavering voice. "Don't….please don't….please don't….don't kill me."

  Jake's eyes widened. Stiffening, he looked into the red eyes and read the pale features. He snarled but also laughed, though he wasn't amused by the plea. "You think I'm going to kill you? Of course you would! You think I'm a terrifying, mindless, violent brute! You think I'll crush you!"

  "Please don't crush me! Or smush me!" Vincent yelped, desperate to get away but too scared to move. "Don't kill me!" Tears were beginning in his eyes, and the jerk that separated him from the wall made them spill onto his cheeks. They flew from his face entirely as he crashed back into the wall. He gasped, wide eyes bulging for the air that had been knocked out of his lungs. It happened again so quickly that he could not tell that it had happened, believing that his pain was only part of the first assault."Stop! Stopitstopitstopit!"

  "Shut up!" Jake pulled Vincent up by his face, away from the wall. "Shut up!"

  Vincent sobbed, stark white and trembling. "I'm sorry Jack! Please! I'm…!" He hit the wall again, and this time he saw stars and black blotches in his vision.

  "My name is Jake, you piece of shit!"

  A hoarse sound spoke. "I'm sorry Jack. I'm sorry Jack." It became a whispering mantra, the only thing left in Vincent's mind. He could hear the voice yelling at him and the words, but his mind never connected them to what he was saying.