The thought chilled her to the core and once again brought up the question of why Jimmy had done this? Why would he kidnap Samantha? Why would he kidnap me?
Not to kill her, obviously — unless of course killing was just the dessert after a very satisfying meal.
Her eyes once again took in Samantha.
What has he done to you?
More important, what is he going to do to me?
Dozens of different possibilities ran through her head, none of them pleasant, all of them frightening. After a few moments of this she tried to block everything out but her mind wouldn’t stop.
The phone beeped.
Ten minutes since the call.
Time was moving slowly.
Megan shifted her arms and stretched herself so that she was on her toes for a moment all in an attempt to ease an ache that had started to develop in her back. At first the stretch worked, but then the ache returned the moment she allowed her body to sag against the ropes again.
Samantha moaned.
Megan twisted around to look at her, but her friend still had an empty look behind her eyes.
She didn’t bother trying to communicate with her, not yet, maybe not ever. It all depended how badly Jimmy had hurt her.
Don’t let him touch you! her inner voice ordered. Even if he threatens to hurt you, make him pay dearly.
Megan could see herself hitting him in the balls every time he tried to fuck her to the point where he lost all his desire to do anything. Of course if she did that he might kill her, and then her family would never find her.
They might not find you anyway!
She thought about the entrance to the fallout shelter and how she had never known about it or heard anyone ever talk about it. That said, someone had to know about it, and Jimmy had been able to find it, so there was a chance she would be found.
Still, would she want to give in to Jimmy just to stay alive? If rescued could she live with herself after being raped repeatedly?
She thought about that girl in California who had been kidnapped as a young teenager, or maybe even before she was a teenager, and held in that perverts backyard in a tent for something like twenty years. The girl had given birth to his children and raised them in the tent, finally being found only when the family went to the police station or something — Megan hadn’t paid too much attention when the story had been on the news but now was curious on what that girl’s mind was like.
Will Jimmy make us bear his children?
The thought sickened her, especially when she imagined it all taking place in the small little concrete room, one which didn’t even seem to have a toilet or shower.
Worse, she saw herself giving birth while standing tied, Jimmy trying to pull the child out, his actions those of someone who had no clue what they doing and screwed everything up.
And then, even worse than that, she saw the baby as a girl, one who grew up thinking this was all the world was, her body there solely for Jimmy, who would spend years molesting her.
No! No! No! Megan’s mind screamed. The horrible timeline would not stop, however, and got more and more disturbing until she finally tried to rip her hands free, the ropes tearing the damaged skin to the point where blood actually hit her face.
The cell phone beeped.
“Shut up!” she screamed and kicked at the purse.
Her foot caught one of the straps and jerked the purse in the air, but at a sideways angle which caused several items to fall out, the lipstick getting a good bounce and rolling all the way to the wall.
The phone, however, stayed within.
She let the purse fall back to the floor and removed her foot from the strap.
On cue the phone started to ring, the growls of an angry dog once again echoing through the fallout shelter.
This time her mother didn’t leave a message, not that it mattered since the phone still beeped every ten minutes to remind her of the first message.
“Will you guys be home for dinner?” Kelly Hawthorn asked once Jimmy and Alan told her they needed the car. “I was going to make spaghetti.”
“Um yeah,” Jimmy said. “I think?” He turned to Alan while saying this last part. “How long will this take?”
Alan shrugged. “I don’t know. They just have to measure us.”
“Us?” Jimmy said.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you,” Alan said with a shrug. “I’m going to prom too. Let’s go.”
“Wait,” Kelly said. “Who’re you going with?”
“Some senior chick. I guess her boyfriend bailed on her.”
“And how did you come into the picture?” Kelly asked.
“Art class. We sit together.”
“What’s her name?” Jimmy asked.
“Good question,” Alan said while scratching his head. “I should probably figure that out.”
“Seriously, who is it?”
“Rachel something or other. Long brown hair, cute face—” he checked to see if their mother was looking and when he saw that she wasn’t cupped some imaginary breasts “ — and huge… ”
“Huge what?” Kelly asked while turning toward them.
“Huge stores of art talent and opinions on history, science and philosophical theory,” Alan said.
Kelly nodded. “Go on, get those tuxes. Oh, and Jimmy?”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“See if you can teach your little brother how to be respectful toward women and understand how to treat them as a person not some eye pleasing object.”
“Hey!” Alan snapped. “I look for more than just beauty in women. I know they need to understand how to cook, clean, and fold clothes.”
“Oh you better run,” Jimmy said.
Alan did, though his mother was still able to nail him with some spray from the sink.
A few seconds later the two were in their mother’s car heading into town, both of them laughing.
“You know,” Jimmy said as they neared the shop where they could rent tuxedos. “We should probably stop by Taco Bell on the way home.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom is so going to poison your food.”
“Well what do you know,” Brett said as Jimmy and his little brother walked into the clothing store on the corner, one which had been pretty busy lately thanks to the upcoming prom and their tuxedo rental program. The place even had a large banner telling those planning on attending prom to hurry up and get their tuxedos before it was too late. “You don’t actually think he’s going to prom?” He stood up while asking this and then added, “Let’s go make sure he gets something nice.”
“Ah man, just leave him alone,” Matt said.
“What?”
“Leave them alone.”
“Like hell I will. I told you what he did to me yesterday.”
“Yeah, after we took his bike.”
The two were sitting on the bench in front of the old rundown video store; one which Matt had worked in for two years before it finally closed its doors and sold off its inventory. They had been there for twenty minutes watching the grocery store a few doors down, hoping someone would help them buy beer.
“Since when did you become such a pussy,” Brett demanded.
Matt shrugged. “I’m just not in the mood.” Truthfully he hadn’t been in the mood since a year earlier when Jimmy had shoved him up against a gym locker between classes back in the corner of the Men’s Locker Room where the gym teacher couldn’t see from the office, pissed that Matt had told everyone what he had rented from the video store. Matt couldn’t remember what the movie title was, just that it had been a kinky soft core porn flick, nor did he really care. Instead all he remembered was the look in Jimmy’s eyes, a look that said if you ever fuck with me again I will kill you.