Jimmy shook the thought away while standing up and looked over at Samantha and Megan. The last image he had of them had been the lifeless poses each had succumbed too, Samantha on her knees with her head hanging down against her chest, the ropes seeming to barely hold her up, and Megan dangling from the ropes, the blow with the bucket having knocked her into unconsciousness so that her feet no longer supported her body and instead just acted like two flesh rudders as she slowly swayed back and forth, her weight never seeming to be able to settle in one spot.
Is she still unconscious? Jimmy wondered and realized he should check.
His neck protested the upward movement as Jimmy forced his body to its feet, his hands having to guide it up the door due to the dizzy spells that swirled the room.
Once up he stood with his eyes closed for several seconds fighting everything that threatened to knock him back down, and then, once recovered, carefully walked across the room to check on Megan.
Her back was too him.
Jimmy took hold of her right arm, his hand slowly but forcefully twisting her around to face him.
A gasp erupted, followed by the sound of the bucket once again bouncing across the floor as Jimmy backed away from the grisly image and tripped over it.
The metal door stopped his fall, his poor elbow taking all his weight as he crashed into it, pain messages reaching the brain quickly along with the order to cry out.
The sound faded.
Samantha and Megan did not react.
The urge to vomit followed, but nothing was in his stomach, the lunch Tina and he had eaten earlier long since digested.
God, what did I do to her? he demanded while leaning against the wall, the image of Megan’s busted face refusing to leave.
You did what you had to do to survive!
The sensation of the bucket connecting with her face returned to his arms, as did the sense of satisfaction that had momentarily followed — until he found himself falling. At the time, however, he had had no idea just how hard he had smashed the object into her face, his only thought being to free himself.
Is she even alive?
The question did not sit well and despite not wanting to look at that face again, he knew he had to check, and forced himself to cross the room again.
The face wasn’t as shocking the second time around, but was still repulsive, the metal side of the bucket having completely flattened her nose. Her mouth had suffered as well, the upper lip having busted like a fat blood filled leech and her teeth knocked loose into her mouth.
The snot filled blood was the worst part though, and it pretty much covered her entire lower face and breasts, which were large enough and thrust out far enough to catch most of the drippings.
In the midst of all this destruction a slight wheeze could be heard, one that signaled the work of her lungs as her body struggled to breath.
She’s alive.
But would she stay that way?
Only time would tell.
Chapter Twelve
Alan was in the middle of making a pot of coffee, his body still fighting the urge to go back to bed, his eyes barely able to stay open, when Jimmy walked into the kitchen and said, “Remember, only five scoops.”
Alan turned to reply but stopped and instead said, “Whoa, what happened to your neck?”
“What?” Jimmy asked, his voice panicked, a hand rising to touch his throat.
“It’s all bruised up,” Alan said.
Jimmy hurried from the kitchen and went to the mirror in the front hall.
Alan followed.
“Holy shit,” Jimmy said.
“What happened?” Alan asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit,” Alan snapped. “You didn’t come home until really late last night and now say you don’t know what happened?”
“I was with Tina,” Jimmy said.
“Not all evening you weren’t. I called to find out because we were supposed to go pick up our tuxes when Mom came home, remember?” Alan had been pretty angry about this and had even driven around the neighborhood looking for his brother thinking maybe he had gone on a bike ride after seeing Tina, but then upon coming home realized the bike was still in the garage.
“Sorry, I forgot.” He continued touching his throat. “We can go today though.”
“Yeah, and it will be packed and we will have to try them on to make sure they fit, which means we will have to wait in line for the dressing rooms.”
“So what?” Jimmy snapped. “It was probably packed last night too, and the day before. We’re not the only ones going.”
“Still, where were you? Mom and Dad were worried and thought maybe you were the next to disappear.” This was a lie. His parents had been a bit concerned but that was all, and hadn’t really thought anything bad had happened. Alan, however, had thought differently.
“Gee thanks, two girls and me,” Jimmy said. “Nice.”
“Hey, you never know with people like this, maybe they would want a teenage guy to go with the two girls. Maybe they are like crazy scientists from U of I that want to breed humans for some sort of illegal testing.”
Jimmy shook his head. “What time does the tux place open?”
“I don’t know, nine, ten.” Alan shrugged. “Maybe earlier than usual because of prom?”
“Okay, then lets go around eight thirty and if they aren’t open we can get some breakfast at the bagel place, my treat.”
Alan nodded. “Fine, and we need to go to the flower place and pick up some corsages while we’re out.”
“Pick up what?” Jimmy asked.
“Corsages.”
“What the hell are those?”
Alan shook his head. “Flower things, you idiot, for the girls to wear. Every guy gets them for their date, it’s tradition.”
“It sounds stupid.”
“Most traditions usually are.”
Jimmy sighed. “How much do they cost?”
“I don’t know.” The fact was Alan hadn’t thought about the corsages either, not until Rachel had called to remind him to pick one up for her. “I just hope the place actually has some because I think you’re supposed to order them in advance.”
“Great. Anything else I should know about so I don’t make a fool out of myself?”
“Yeah, but you’ll want to grab a pad of paper and a pen before I tell you?” He started to fill the coffee pot with water and went to pour it into the machine.
“What?”
“I’m just fucking with you.”
“Alan!” Kelly Hawthorn snapped while walking into the kitchen.
Jimmy smiled.
“Um,” Alan started, his hand nearly dropping the coffee pot. “What?”
“Just want to make sure you used five scoops and only five scoops before you hit BREW.”
Jimmy cracked up laughing. His parents knew swears were just stupid words that got people needlessly worked up and didn’t care if they used them sparingly.
“Jimmy, what happened to your neck?” Kelly asked.
“I don’t know, I must’ve slept on it weird.” He touched it. “It doesn’t hurt.”
His mother eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds and then turned toward the coffee pot which had started to brew.
Coffee in hand Jimmy returned to his room where he browsed the Internet for a while, but then grew bored of that — even the bondage sites he visited (it was all the same stuff repeated over and over again) — and headed into the bathroom to look at his throat.
The bruises weren’t too bad, but were obviously noticeable enough to draw unwanted attention, especially the really purple one under his right ear, which was where Megan’s ankle had smashed into when she first grabbed him. Thankfully he had a feeling his tuxedo shirt would cover the bruise so not too many people would ask him about it. Then again he doubted many people would talk to him anyway, so it didn’t really matter all that much.