FicWad

When I woke up, I was surprised for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I didn’t even remember passing out and secondly I was lying on a sofa in a well-appointed room. I was comfortable, I was relatively refreshed if still a little weak and possibly most surprising of all, I wasn’t tied up. I was still sore and hungry, so I knew I hadn’t imagined or dreamt it. Pushing myself upright, I heard sounds coming from the next room. Plates rattling, water running, a kettle boiling, he must have been making something to eat. A clock on the wall pretty much confirmed it; it was lunchtime. My eyes swept the room, I wondered if I could escape. As my gaze landed on the phone, I decided that escape would be my second priority. Rising silently from the sofa, I picked up the handset and dialled quickly, waiting impatiently for a reply.

“Hello?” came the tired reply.
“Frank?” I whispered.
“Gee?” he yelled in my ear. “Where are you? You’ve been missing for days. Are you okay?”
“Frank, shut up and listen,” I replied urgently, trying hard to keep my voice down. “You have to get Mikey out of the hospital.”
“They won’t even let us in to see him and it’s the trial in four days,” he replied.
I gasped at the news; that meant I’d been taken six days ago, much longer than I thought.
“You have to Frank, he’s going to kill him, Brandt, he’s going to kill Mikey and make it look like suicide.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he told me.”
“He told… he… he’s got you?”
“Yeah,” I replied bleakly. “Look, I gotta go, if he catches me, I’m dead. Just get Mikey away from the hospital.”
“Okay.”

Replacing the handset, I heard footsteps. Slipping back to the sofa I pretended to be asleep again. I had no idea what to expect or even how to react to him. Was he expecting me to be under his control? If so, I had no idea why I wasn’t. Was it the speed at which he had tried to do it? There was no more time to think about it, I felt a hand on my shoulder shaking me. Opening my eyes, I looked up with what I hoped was a neutral expression trying to gauge from his expression what he expected my reaction to be. My apparent lack of fear or anger seemed to please him and the corners of his mouth turned upward slightly.

“Well, well,” he smiled at me, “I really thought I’d have to give you another treatment, but maybe not?”

Inside I was leaping with joy. He thought he had me under control and he wasn’t even remotely questioning his success.

“I’ve made you something to eat. After lunch,” his smile broadened, “we’ll go out.”

I nodded; it seemed the right thing to do. I very much wanted him to keep believing I was under his control; I wanted to appear compliant but not like a zombie. I thought hard to how Mikey had been before his arrest. He had been unnaturally quiet and subdued, it was what really made us realise that something was wrong – even before he started to disappear for long spells. That’s how I had to appear now. If I could just get out of the house, I could escape and go to the police.

Eating in silence, I worked out a plan in my mind. I would get in the car as expected and we would drive to wherever, then instead of enticing a girl back to the car, I would run. Calling the police and Frank before getting a cab to the hospital to take care of Mikey. All would be well. I ate faster, keen to make good on my plan.

“I’m sorry I haven’t given you much food lately,” he said noticing that I really couldn’t seem to eat fast enough.
Much? I thought. I don’t remember eating anything. I must have been really out of it.
“If you do well, I’ll let you watch.”

It was hard not to react to that statement. What could possibly be going through his mind that he would see it as a treat to let me watch him kill a young girl? What kind of sick mind did he have? I couldn’t react. If I did, I’d have given everything away and I needed so desperately to escape. Finishing eating, I placed my knife and fork on the plate and almost immediately he snatched it away, almost throwing it onto the nearby table.

“Come on,” he said pulling me from the sofa.
As I rose he placed his hands on my cheeks and forced me to look at him.
“I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant.”

What was he…

*

… saying?

My jaw dropped, my eyes widened and if it wasn’t for the fear gripping my throat, I would have screamed. I was in an abandoned old house, standing there, just standing there while right in front of me, he was leaning over the body of a girl. There was blood everywhere. He was totally wrapped up in his own world, enjoying every moment, seemingly unaware that I was even there.

I staggered backwards, falling on some brickwork and knocking over some wood as I fell. It looked as though local boys had used this place as some sort of den but now it was a murder scene and I was an accomplice. He turned as I fell, staring at me with wild unblinking eyes. As he rose to his feet, not taking his eyes off me for a moment, I knew I had to run. There was something about his expression that told me he was still in the mood to kill.
Scrambling to my feet, I ran from the room, knowing that if I could only get to the door or jump through a window, his physical state of being covered in the girls blood would prevent him following me into the street. I had a head start, which helped and as I raced out of the room I was relieved to find that I was already in the hallway. Pulling hard on the door, it jammed at first but finally opened. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw him as he reached the hallway, but I was gone, racing through the streets as fast as my legs could carry me.

I must have been running for about five minutes before I stopped to take a breath; I was exhausted. Hiding in an alley, I fell back against the wall and slid down into a low squat. Okay, so think! I’m an accomplice to murder, I have no idea who the other guy was and even worse still, I realise I have no idea who I am! I don’t know where I live and I have no wallet or phone.
I tilted my head back against the wall. And now it’s raining. Great!