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“Wow, I kicked your ass, just like I started to kick Brett’s ass once he was down on the ground,” Alan said after winning the second game. They had played in a neutral level — neutral meaning neither one had a clear advantage, this one being Facility — and Alan had started out in the bathroom area, which he mined really well and then ventured out in the main areas. Jimmy, whose mind wasn’t really on the game, started on the opposite side of the level and began mining those starting locations, but then ran into one of his own mines killing himself and got thrown into the cycle Alan had created. After that it was one sided for the rest of the game and Jimmy never even came close to beating Alan. “Did you see that dumbass trip over the bike? Man that was priceless.”

Jimmy smiled.

“And that guy that was there. What was that like his brother? Man that guy is cool. He like totally realizes Brett is a loser. Good thing too because he lifted me off him without any trouble and probably could have kicked both our asses if he’d wanted to.”

Jimmy knew that lifting Alan was no easy feat because even though he was only a sophomore he was no lightweight. The two of them worked out together all the time, and while he was no body builder by any stretch of the imagination, he was stronger than most in the school and could handle himself pretty well.

“The only problem now is that I really have to watch my back because he is going to be royally pissed,” Jimmy said.

“Oh, I know,” Alan said.

In the movies bullies would back off once they realized their victims had outgrown them and could stand on their own two feet. Brett wasn’t like that though, and Jimmy doubted most real-life bullies were. No. Rather than seeing this as a fight he couldn’t win, Brett was going to escalate things and would keep escalating them until they got out of control. It was just the way he was. And given how stupid he was he would act without thinking, which could cause a serious problem. Jimmy wouldn’t put it past the guy to ram him with his car when he was on his bike just because he would think it was funny and would not consider the resulting consequences.

“The only way to stop him for good is to beat the living shit out of him to the point where he is hospitalized for a while,” Alan continued. “That would probably teach him a lesson, especially if he had to pay the bill.”

“Maybe, but more likely it would just make him more determined to do something worse, or I would end up in jail for assault,” Jimmy said. “I’m telling you, he’s like one of those dogs that’s too far gone to be redeemed and needs to be put down because he won’t stop biting people to death.”

“Ah man, you just insulted some poor dogs.”

Jimmy smiled.

“Another game?” Alan asked.

“Nah,” Jimmy said with a shake of the head. “I think I’m gonna call it a night.”

“Oh, okay. I’d probably just beat you easily again anyway, so for the sake of your ego it’s probably better not to do another round.”

Jimmy laughed and said, “I’ll get you tomorrow.”

“We’ll see,” Alan said while putting the controllers back on the shelf. “We’ll see.”

“Good night.”

“Night.”

Only Jimmy didn’t go to bed. He tried, but thoughts about that nights situation kept him up, as well as thoughts on the entire Samantha King thing, ones which made sleep impossible, especially once the sexual fantasies started. Once that happened he had no choice but to get up and take care of the situation.

* * *

Alan was still awake when Jimmy left around eleven thirty and wondered what he was doing. It was one thing to go riding once or twice a day on the bike, but after eleven at night, and after already riding a few times that day, it started to get weird and was making him think something else was going on. Something that Alan couldn’t even begin to comprehend because Jimmy was so different from everyone else, different to the point where normal teenage activities just didn’t fit with Jimmy.

* * *

Samantha had taken the shelf off the wall and then sat down with it, the long board cradled in her arms ready to be used as a weapon.

The waiting was difficult.

With her back to the wall she listened to every second tick away in her head, knowing that at any moment Jimmy could walk through the door. At that point she would spring up and connect the board with his face and then run like hell.

She slowly drank a bottle of water while waiting and ate several different bags of stale chips and pretzels. The cans of food she left alone because of the risk they had spoiled. What she didn’t know was that the Hood family had been concerned of this as well and had gone about getting foods that wouldn’t spoil, along with military rations of all kinds. Samantha didn’t realize that the small square packages on one of the shelves were the same type of rations soldiers over in Iraq and Afghanistan were consuming, and really she didn’t care. The chips and pretzels were fine and she ate them rapidly to fill her aching stomach.

The worst part of the wait came when she suddenly needed to use the bathroom, and it wasn’t urine that wanted out. The urge hit and there was no denying it, yet she still tried to wait.

Any second Jimmy could walk in and if she wanted to surprise him she could not be squatting over a bucket. But then ten minutes, and then fifteen minutes went by, and the urge became more and more powerful.

If you had gone earlier you would have been finished, she scolded herself. Now if she went there was the likelihood that Jimmy would walk in.

Samantha could not wait, however, and retrieved the bucket. She put it up against the wall where she had been sitting so she could press her back against the concrete as leverage. Leaning against the wall to her right was the board. If Jimmy came in while she was going she would grab it and nail him with it. The fact that she would be naked with stuff coming out of her would have to be ignored. Escaping this situation was too important, and people who saw her running from the Hood place would eventually understand. Actually, being half naked would be better because people would notice her.

Using the bucket as a toilet when she had to pee was disgusting, but mild compared to what she did now. Taking a shit with your back braced against the wall into a bucket was pure humiliation — even when alone.

Jimmy did not enter while she was doing this and she even managed to clean herself off with a rag. Samantha was then back against the wall, waiting, board in hand, bucket as far away as possible.

And then she dozed off.

There had been a ten-minute battle in which her eyes fought to stay open, but in the end they fell shut and her body drifted off into a deep sleep.

She dreamed of Jimmy chasing her. The air was thick and made it difficult to run for her, but not Jimmy and he quickly caught up. And then she was back in the room hanging from her wrists, naked, while Jimmy forced himself into her. His penis then became a knife and suddenly started slicing her body open upward. The sound of skin tearing filled the air.

The sound changed as her eyes opened but did not disappear with the dream. She jerked her head around trying to see where she was but could not focus on anything, her mind confused as to why she wasn’t asleep in her own bed.

The sound grew louder.

Samantha looked to the left.

The door was opening.

Oh shit.

Both hands scrambled to find the shelf board. It was in her lap yet her fingers could not grasp it.

Using the wall, Samantha stood up and let the board flip over into her waiting palms and then took hold of one end. Jimmy entered the room at the same time.

A terrible charley horse lumped up in her left calf and she nearly fell over. At the same time she swung the board in a wide arc toward the door.