Jim decided to take a chance and turn around to see what it was.
“It’s Johnny Langill.” He heard as he wormed his way around. He almost stopped moving when he heard the voice but it was too late now so he kept going. At least if someone was going to talk to him he’d like to be able to see who it was. When he finally squirmed enough so that he was almost facing the other way he was surprised to come almost face to face with Pete. Sitting a few feet away Pete was propped up against a wall near where Jim had been laying. He didn’t know how he’d missed him before but there he was regardless.
“I think it has something to do with that damn purple dinosaur. I think he made him do it,” he said giggling to himself.
Jim almost couldn’t speak for a minute. Pete was the last person he’d expected to see here. “What do you mean it’s Johnny?” he said recovering himself. “And how did you get out of jail?”
“All I know is that one minute I’m sitting in a jail cell minding my own business and the next thing I know the lights go out,” he answered sounding slightly confused. “Then I heard some loud bangs I guess were gunshots, then silence. A few minutes later keys are rattling in my cell door and it pops open. Before I could even ask what was going on somebody hit me and I was out. After that the next thing I see is Johnny. He picks me up and throws me in here like a sack of potatoes. Do I look to you like a sack of potatoes?” Pete looked at Jim so seriously he almost started laughing. He would have if the situation was just a little different.
“He’s pretty strong,” Pete added when Jim didn’t answer. “You wouldn’t think it from looking at him though. He must work out or something.” This sent Pete into another giggling fit for some reason but Jim ignored it.
“What the hell did they bring us all the way out here for?” he whispered. “Do you know what’s going on?” He hopped Pete knew more than he was letting on. If they were both clueless then they were even more screwed than he’d thought.
“Well my dear Watson,” Pete said after calming down a little, “I’d guess we’ve been brought here for a very good reason. Not a reason we came up with mind you but one that someone here thinks is pretty good. Oh yeah, if the reason, whatever it may be, wasn’t good enough I’ll add this. It probably won’t matter too much since we’ll probably die in some horribly painful way before we find out anything else about the afore mentioned reason for us being here. Do you understand?” Pete said everything as if he was just telling someone that it was dark outside. It didn’t seem to bother him one bit he might only have a few more minutes to live. He was totally calm. If his demeanor wasn’t bad enough he started cleaning his finger nails, at least the ones he could reach, as Jim laid on the floor staring at him. He at least could try to get him free or something. Instead he didn’t seem to have a care in the world.
“Oh you want more? Well, it would seem our dear Maria has a thing for you.” He added when he noticed Jim was watching him. “She seems to have decided that since our little drugged up Jilly has made your heart go all pitter patter, she would just have to remove her.”
After his little speech he quietly started giggling as if something was funny. Jim wished he could see everything like Pete did. Maybe he would be laughing too but he doubted it. Yup, good old Pete was gone. He was going to die and he thought it was all funny.
Maria suddenly came storming back into the room followed a few seconds later by Johnny. Neither of them looked very happy. Seeming to want someone to vent her anger on she walked directly over to Pete and planted a stinging smack to his face.
“Shut the hell up ya damn freak,” she yelled. “I heard you talking all the way in the other room. Don’t think I didn’t hear all your snide little remarks but that’s ok. I have plans for you.”
Turning her attention to Jim she said, “It’s about time you woke up. I heard the freak talking to you. He was actually pretty close to the truth. I’m actually kind of surprised he was smart enough to figure out his own name much less anything having to do with what I’m going to do. I guess he’s a lot smarter than we all gave him credit for.” She turned and kicked him it seemed just for good measure. Maybe she hoped he would eventually match her image of him if she abused him enough. Thinking about kicking someone into stupidity made Jim snicker at the absurdity of it, but if there was anyone that would try it Maria was surely going to be first in line. This thought just made him laugh even more. He didn’t even try to stop himself. If he was going to die he might as well enjoy it. He looked up to find Maria looking at him. She still didn’t look very happy. Forcing himself to calm down he figured it was time for some real answers.
“What’s all this shit really about?” He demanded. “It can’t all be just because I didn’t fall madly in love with you when I got here. There has to be some other reason for all this.” The look in her eye wasn’t pleasant but he didn’t care. He was trussed up like a Christmas pig and he wanted to know why. “And another thing,” he added, “what in the seven bells of hell have you done to Jill? She looks like the poster child for drug abuse. Oh yeah, last but certainly not least, will you quit looking like the evil step-mother from some fairy tale and say something. Usually we can’t shut you up but now when I want you to talk I get nothing.”
“My, my, my,” she said looking at him thoughtfully, “we’re just all kinds of full of questions tonight aren’t we?” she looked at Pete then continued, “Freak boy, here figured out some of it. Isn’t big handsome Jimmy intelligent enough to figure out the rest?”
Jim was sick of the games so he just gave her a bored look and said nothing. He figured it was better to put on a brave face. If she thought he wasn’t afraid maybe she wouldn’t try to do anything.
“To answer or not to answer, that is the question,” she said when she saw he wasn’t going to talk. She tried to sound like she was really having a hard time deciding but he knew she’d talk. He was right when he’d said it was usually hard to shut her up. If there was a chance for her to brag about something she would do it. Now he just had to wait and see what came out when she started talking. “Well, I guess it won’t hurt anyone if I explain everything to you. Except you that is, since you won’t be leaving here alive. That usually ends up hurting a little bit.” Jim didn’t find anything about the whole situation the least bit funny but she must have since she started laughing. Johnny joined in but he didn’t seem to think it was as good a joke as she did. Jim’d almost forgot he was there he was so quiet.
“So where to begin?” she asked when she’d calmed down. Jim couldn’t help but look her in the eyes when she talked. He didn’t like what he saw. He’d heard you could see things in people’s eyes but had never believed it. He did now. All that was behind Maria’s eyes was insanity and hate and it was all directed at him. He didn’t know what he could’ve ever done to deserve something like that. He didn’t have time to dwell on it though since she was still talking. “The story is so long I don’t really know where to begin.” She glanced at Johnny from the corner of her eye. “Johnny, where, oh where, do you think I should start?”
“I guess you should start where ever you want,” Johnny said sheepishly after a few seconds of internal debate.
“That is usually where normal people start isn’t it? But since when am I normal? Plus, it’s just oh so boring to be predictable like that but I guess for speeds sake it will have to do. So, Jimmy,” she said turning her gaze back on him, “let me tell you a story. Let me take you back, way back to yesteryear, not just yesteryear but all the way back to a time you should remember quite well. Why would you remember it? I’ll tell you why. Because it was back in your heyday, back when you were a big man on campus, as it were. Its high school where my tale begins, and no not a tail from my butt so don’t ask.” This was mostly directed at Pete. At the mention of a tail he’d perked up and raised his hand to ask a question. When his dreams had been dashed he sadly went back to cleaning his finger nails.