Chapter 10

Mellie

 

Holy shit! How much did I drink last night? My head is fucking killing me! It’s worse than the time Michelle and I thought that it would be a great idea to do shots of tequila. I still don’t remember much from the night except vomiting everything that I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. I really don’t know how her and I both ended up in the shower together either. Some things are probably better left unknown. But my skull feels like it’s about to explode. I go to rub my temples to ease the ache and realize that I can’t move my hands. What the hell? My hands are behind me and no amount of tugging is freeing them.

I open my eyes and blearily look around the room…a room that I’ve never been in before. I keep looking and realize that I’m in a basement of some sorts. I look forward and see Morris tied to a chair directly in front of me. His arms are behind his back and there is duct tape over his mouth. I’m figuring that I’m in the same predicament since I can feel something over my mouth and can’t move my arms. His eyes meet mine and boy do they look pissed. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen him look so fierce. I would be scared if I didn’t know that it wasn’t directed at me.

And suddenly is all starts to come back to me. Morris and I outside in the back-parking lot talking and then seeing a pipe coming at my head. Motherfucker! This is all my fault. I purposely parked in the back by the alley way so that I would be close to the back door. The guys have told me a million times to park out front where it was more populated. Did I listen…nope. I wanted to park in the back because walking through the front and smelling the coffee has been setting me off. I figured that it would be fine as long as I parked close to the door. Obviously not.

Morris is looking me over from head to toe. I want to tell him that I’m fine other than this killer headache. I try to speak but the duct tape doesn’t let me do anything more than make some incoherent sounds. I just stare into his eyes hoping that he sees how sorry I am for getting us into this mess. Is it my fault that some crazy ass kidnapped us…no. Is it my fault that I didn’t listen and follow any of the guidelines they gave me…yes.

I start thinking about everything that has just happened and remember something very important. I saw who hit me with the pipe! I need to tell Morris that I saw who has been stalking me! Just as I’m trying to figure out a way to do so I hear a door open, one that I can only assume leads to upstairs, and hear footsteps on the stairs. And down comes the person I assume has been making my life miserable. I kind of thought that I would at least know the person, but I have no freaking clue. I look over at Morris and I can see recognition hit his eyes. At least one of us knows what we’re dealing with.

“I’m sorry that I had to hit you on the head, but I didn’t have a lot of time.” It takes me a minute to realize that I’m the one being spoken too. I just shrug since what the hell else am I supposed to do while tied up. Crazy eyes walks over and begins to remove the duct tape from my mouth. Even gently that shit still hurts and I end up making a whimper. Morris, I guess heard and is trying like hell to get out of his restraints. He needs to stop. The last thing I need is him hurting himself or setting our captor off.

“Morris…stop.” I croak out. He stops when he hears my voice and looks at me incredulously. One of us has to stay level headed and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be him. Plus, he won’t know how to deal with this particular brand of crazy like I might…like I hope.

“Ummm, thanks……I’m sorry I don’t know your name.”

“That’s okay, we’ve never been introduced. I’m Ashley.” Why does that name sound familiar. I know I’ve heard it before. I’ve seen her in the shop before. She usually just sits at a table in the back with coffee and her laptop. She always keeps to herself. I always felt bad for her for being alone. I was even going to go sit with her for a bit one day but got pulled away on a supply call. When I looked again she was gone. Shit I’m a bad judge of character.

“Ahhh, hi Ashley. Umm, would you mind telling me what we’re doing here?” I need to keep her talking. I saw on one of those crimes shows that said you should keep them talking that way it buys you time for someone to find you. I’m not sure how long we’ve been here but I can see it’s getting dark outside from the tiny window. I hope like hell that someone has noticed that we’re gone. I mean Marc should realize that neither of us are at home.

She’s pacing back and in forth in front of us like she took a triple shot of espresso and can’t stay still. She’s a little taller than me, has long dark muddy, brown hair, dark brown eyes that look almost black, a straight pointy nose and thin lips. Her body is on the fuller side, not fat but not really thin, just somewhere in between. Her green sweater and straight legged jeans are baggy on her like she doesn’t want to bring any attention to her body. She’s not wearing any makeup and is as pale as a vampire. Her hair looks like a rat’s nest right now. You can tell that she tried to comb it back into a clip but it’s a complete mess now, like she’s been running her fingers through it and just pulling them away whenever they got stuck. Honestly, she looks bat shit crazy. She always looked mousey whenever I saw her but at least put together. She stops pacing in front of me and just looks at me intently.

“You didn’t listen to any of my warnings. So, I had to bring you here to make you understand.” She says it with a duh implied. Right because I can just figure out what crazy-town here is thinking.

“You mean the roses?”

“Yes. I figured that would make you listen. It’s so nice getting roses isn’t it? I love when someone sends me flowers. I always make sure to appreciate them.” She’s looking at me with a weird dreamy look on her face as she says that but suddenly frowns. “But you didn’t appreciate mine. I never saw them on your counter in a vase.” No shit, huh? Maybe because they were freaking black? She’s just staring at me and I realize that she wants some sort of an explanation. I probably shouldn’t say the real reason I tossed every single one of those suckers.

“Oh, well I wasn’t sure who they were from. You never put your name on the card. If you had told me that they were from you I would’ve made sure to put them on display.” Not freaking likely! She’s now smiling at me, well her smile reminds me of a killer clown, but I’m hoping I said the right thing.

“Yeah I couldn’t tell you that they were from me because of HIM!” She swirls around to point at Morris. Geez, she really seems to dislike him. And then it hits me why her name sounds so familiar. He told me about how mother set is him up on some random date with a chick who seemed like a crazy clinger. Guess he’s a better judge of character than I am. I just thought she was pitiful and sad. If we get out of this, I really need to work on that.

And fuck! With her clothes being so baggy I didn’t notice the huge ass kitchen knife that she has tucked into her back. That’s really not good. I really doubt that we would be lucky enough for her to stab herself with it. As she’s glaring with nothing but hatred at Morris, I pull on my bindings, and judging how my wrists are chafing she used rope. I try to twist my hands around and can feel that she definitely used some sort of rope. I might actually have a chance of getting these undone. It’ll finally pay off growing up with an asshole for a brother!

When we were younger, Marc went through the whole boy scout faze. He did really well, especially when it came to tying knots. Unfortunately for me, he thought it was funny as hell to tie me up and leave me in my room or a closet. I really don’t know how I haven’t killed him over the years. But since he found that he liked doing this, my dad thought it would be a good idea to teach me how to get out of them. They worked during the day, so we would be alone after school for a good two to three hours. That’s a long ass time to be tied up thanks to your brother.

Every time that Marc would learn to tie a new knot, my dad would work with me to make sure that I could get out of them. Why they didn’t just make him stop, I’ll never know. They probably figured that he wouldn’t listen, so it was better to just be proactive. It royally sucked back then, but I will totally kiss all of them if it helps me out now. It’s also a good thing that I’m a bit of a freak. I’ve always been able to move my fingers all the way back on my hand. It looks really gross and freaks people out, so of course I always did it a ton. I can’t even manage a half split, but my fingers are really bendy…go figure? But it was really useful at helping me get out of the knots. Go- Go Gadget Fingers… please don’t fail me now!

“And why couldn’t you tell me because of him?” She turns back to me and I realize that while I was trying to figure out the bindings that she removed the knife from her back and is now holding it. It looks exactly like the one Michael Myers seems to favor. Seriously, when did my life turn into a horror movie?

“Because, he would’ve just lied to you about me. Men always lie to get what they want. They start out nice and then just lie to you all the time. They make you think that they love you and then just throw you away like you’re nothing but TRASH!” Whoa there! Morris said that they went out once. Where the hell is this bitch coming up with this?

“What would he have lied about Ashley?”

“He wouldn’t have told you that we were together and that he was cheating on you.” She calmly states like she’s discussing the freaking weather. Okay, obviously this bitch isn’t playing with a full deck. Fuck, I don’t think that she’s even playing with half of one. Morris is trying his hardest to get out of the rope and is shaking the chair move from side to side. Shouldn’t he be out of them by now? Isn’t this something that they teach them like the first day of Navy SEAL training? If not, after this I’m writing a letter to the Navy and suggesting that they start.

“And how long have you two been together?” I’m trying to keep my voice as even as possible. With the way that she is gripping the knife, I’m getting extremely worried that she’s about to stab one or both of us. I love Morris with all my heart, but I have a little life inside of me to think about. I can’t let her get anywhere near my stomach with that thing. He really needs to get out of that rope and do something.

“For about a year.” This crazy train is really starting to go further off the rails. “But he just dropped me out of nowhere. And then the next thing I know, he’s with you!” Whoa, the venom in her voice is making my heart race even more. Fuck…what if she thinks that he’ll be with her if she kills me. This cannot be happening. I work even harder at trying to undo the knot. I can feel that my fingers are all scraped up and it’s getting slippery, so I’m sure that they’re bleeding. I try wiping them on my palms the best that I can. If it gets too slippery, I’ll never be able to get them undone.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know that he was with someone. I would never date someone else’s man.” Which is true, that’s horrible. My answer seems to appease her a little because she has that creepy ass smile back on her face.

“Yes, I figured that out after a while. I’m sorry that I got mad at you and wrote all of those bad things. I was just so angry.” She’s looking at me with hope in her eyes. So, I just nod, hoping that it conveys that I understand.

“But, then I really thought about it. I shouldn’t have been mad at you. He’s a liar and I figured out that he was lying to you too.” Again, I nod because seriously what the hell else am I supposed to do here? “I tried to make you understand that he would just end up hurting you too. I watched you all the time.” Creepy. “You were always so nice to everyone. You always smiled and said hello to me when I came in to get coffee and watch you.” I really need to start being a bitch to people. “I didn’t want him to hurt you too. But then I saw the ring on your finger and realized that you would be stuck in his life forever if I didn’t do something to help you.”

“So, that’s why you’ve brought me here today? To help me realize that I shouldn’t marry him?” She starts to jump up and down while clapping her hands. She kind of reminds me of a child who never grew up. Again, with that awesome creepy smile.

“YES! Yes, I knew that if I brought you here that you would understand!” She looks so damn proud of herself.

“Okay, but why didn’t you just talk to me when you were having coffee?” You know and stalking me like a freaking psycho. “Morris isn’t there a lot. You could’ve come up and talked to me at any time. I would’ve listened to you.” No, I wouldn’t have, but I would’ve sent you to a doctor who can prescribe you the meds you so desperately need!

“Because I needed to show you my scrapbook, but it’s private and I didn’t want anyone else to see it.” I’m honest to God terrified to see what she has in this thing.

“Okay, Ash, do you want to show it to me now?” Please someone find us already. I want to end this episode of the Twilight Zone please! She’s smiling hugely at me again…so creepy!

“No one has ever given me a nickname before. I knew that I really liked you and should help you. Stay right here, I just have to go up to my bedroom and get it!” Where the fuck else am I going? She turns and practically runs up the stairs. Hopefully, it’ll take her a few minutes to bring it back.

I look over at Morris and see that he has kicked up his effort to get himself free. It’s then that I really look at him. Where I just have my hands tied behind me, he’s completely shackled to the chair. I didn’t notice but she has zip ties at his ankles holding them to the chair. Fuck! That means that she probably used zip ties on his wrists too! No wonder it’s taking him so long! Okay time to double down on my efforts to undo this fucking knot. I’ll give it to the crazy bitch, she did a good job, but not good enough! I can feel it loosening more and more. I realize that Morris has gone silent, well his chair isn’t moving anymore anyway, and I look at him. He has his head tilted to the side and is staring at me with a questioning look. I can see the minute he figures out what I’m doing. He starts shaking his head no vehemently.

“Yes, I’m undoing the knot. You have zip ties, don’t you?” I whisper only loud enough for him to hear. He nods his head yes at my question.

“Well, for some reason she only tied my hands with rope. I dunno, probably thought that zip ties would hurt me or some shit. Seriously, when we get out of this, we are having a long conversation with your mother about not talking to strangers and not setting your son up with them!” His eyes widen and nods slowly. “I’m close to getting the rope off. Once I do, if you can somehow distract her, I’m sure that I could get the knife away from her.” He starts moving his whole body while shaking his head no. If he doesn’t calm down, he’s going to fall over.

“Hey, if you have any better ideas, please, by means let me know.” I pause, and he just narrows his eyes at me. “Are you even close to getting out of those zip ties?” He narrows his eyes at me even more as he shakes his head no.

 

“I guess that I’m our only hope than. No one knows where we are, so it’s not like we can sit around waiting for someone to just stumble upon us. My head is freaking pounding and I have to pee like a racehorse. I am done listening to crazy. I’m getting the fuck out of here whether you like my plan or not.” He looks mighty pissed at me right now, but screw it, he can bitch at me later. I almost get the knot completely undone when Ashley comes running back down the stairs. Oh yay…she has a book that rivals the freaking dictionary. She stops right in front of me and lowers herself so that she’s at eye level with me. She puts the knife down on the ground by my feet.

“See, I couldn’t just show this to anyone. It’s special and has all of my memories in them.” You would think that I would be more scared about being kidnapped. But nope, I’m terrified to have a look into her mind. I feel like it’s a black hole that I may never recover from. She places the gigantic book on my lap and opens the front cover that has way too many crudely made hearts on it. “I call it my book of love and betrayal.” I really don’t want to look.

I eventually get the courage to look down and I’m confused as to what I’m looking at. The first few pictures are of a younger version of her and some guy that I’ve never seen before.

“That’s Josh.” She says pointing to mystery man. “He was my first, everything. But he lied to me too. He said that he loved me, but then he just left me for someone else.” Good for you Josh…way to not stay with crazy. “So, I had to make them both understand that it isn’t okay to lie and steal someone’s boyfriend.” Oh no…I have a bad feeling poor Josh didn’t get rid of her. I swallow down the bile that is rising up my throat.

“And how did you make them understand?” I ask in a low voice that’s beginning to tremble. I can see Morris staring at her with wide eyes. Yeah sweetie this doesn’t sound like it has a happy ending for Josh and his poor new girlfriend.

“I took them like I took you.” She says it as simply as she would tell me a color. Holy mother of God…this bitch is totally off the reservation! “But Amber.” Back to venom…poor Amber. “Well, she wasn’t sweet and nice like you. She yelled at me and told me that I was a crazy bitch and that Josh would never love someone like me.” Bad move girl…you never purposely piss off crazy.

“Yeah, that was a very mean thing to say.” Truthful…yes…worst thing to say…oh yeah.

“See, that’s what I said too! I tried to tell Josh that he shouldn’t be with someone who is mean. But he just wouldn’t listen. He told me that I was a mistake and that he would never love someone who is crazy. He said a lot of other mean things too and I started to get really angry.” I really don’t want to know anymore but I need to keep her occupied. I am so close to getting my hands free! I just need like one more minute.

“What happens when you get angry?” Please lie to me.

“I didn’t mean to do it. I was just really angry you know?” Nope, no I don’t, you crazy psycho! Who the hell hurts people when they get mad!?! But self-preservation just has me nodding my head yes. “I didn’t realize that I hit him so hard with my crowbar. I swear that I didn’t mean to…I loved him…I didn’t want to hurt him. But he was just saying such awful things! I hit his head a few times and he stopped moving.” I think that I’m going to throw up. I can’t even help the tears that are streaming down my face. I look into Morris’ eyes and I’m scared that this is one of the last times that I’m going to be looking into them. I try to convey how much I love him, but my tears just keep coming making everything blurry.

“Amber kept screaming at me that I killed him and that she was going to make sure that I went to jail forever. I told her that I didn’t mean to and that she had to be quiet, but she just kept yelling. I had to make her be quiet. So, I hit her too and she finally stopped yelling.” Oh my God! She killed both of them! I lose my battle with my stomach and barely have enough time to move my head to the side before I throw up. Tears are running down my face and I’m trying to catch my breath. She jumps up and moves to a table on the side wall.

“Oh geez, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Really! You didn’t think that telling me how you killed two fucking people would upset me. She walks back over to me and I flinch when she reaches her arm out. “Shhhhh, I’m not going to hurt you. See, this is just a tissue so that I can wipe your mouth.” She grabs my chin and gently wipes my mouth for me. Bipolar much? I manage to get my right hand free and start working my left. I know that I should take the opportunity to grab the knife, but I just have to know.

“What happened after you hit them?” I get both hands free but keep them behind my back to make sure that she doesn’t know. I need to wait for a good time to go for the knife. She’s taller and weighs more than me, so I need surprise to be on my side. Plus, she’s insane and has killed before. I really don’t feel like being another one of her victims.

“I had to wait until it was late at night. My old house was in the middle of a lot of woods, kind of like yours.” Thanks for reminding me that you’ve been there. “My mama left me the house when she died. She really liked her privacy, always saying that people couldn’t be trusted. She was right. So, I got a wheelbarrow and took them each into the woods. I didn’t have any neighbors for miles, so I just left them there. I would go back and check on them sometimes. But all the animals eventually ate them, so I stopped visiting them. I decided to move and see if people in a new town would be nicer to me.” I just stare at her. I can’t even form a coherent sentence right now.

“I moved to South Amberly about a year and a half ago. Everyone seemed really nice. I thought that maybe mama was wrong and that we were just living in a bad town. I saw Morris one day coming out of work. He looked so handsome in his uniform, but I was too scared to talk to him. I followed him for a bit and saw that he went into a restaurant and had dinner with an older couple. I figured that those must be his parents. I thought that he was so sweet to have dinner with his parents and thought that maybe I finally found a good guy.”

Holy shit! She stalked him before he ever even met her! I look at Morris whose eyes are so wide it would be comical if we weren’t stuck here with a crazy ass killer. This bitch is certifiable! She looks over at him and smiles before it turns into a frown.

“I found out where his mom shopped and followed her in one day. I figured if she liked me then she could get him to. Moms always have a way of making sense. So, I started talking to her about how I was new in and town. She told me how Morris was new to the area to. I told her that it would be nice to make a new friend and she agreed that we should meet!” Yup, definitely having a long conversation with my future mother-in-law. If I thought I was a bad judge of character, she’s a million times worse!

“Morris took me out and it was awesome. He was such a great guy! I was so happy that we were going to be together. He seemed so nice and like he really liked me.” Morris is shaking his head no behind her back like he’s trying to make me understand. Yeah, I got you honey, I know you didn’t, but please don’t let the crazy chick see you.

“It sucked that he said he had a work call and had to go. But I understood because his job is important, you know? You can’t have bad people out in the world.” Pot meet kettle. “I made sure that he saw me all the time so that he knew that I was there for him. But he just started being mean to me for no reason. And then one of his friends said how he was in love with someone else. I couldn’t believe that he was cheating on me with someone else!” Whoa, whoa, whoa, crazy town, you weren’t actually with him.

“I saw him looking at you before I went into your shop the day that his friend said that and realized that he meant you. I got really angry and thought that you should know what a cheating bastard he is!” She picks up the knife, turns and walks over to Morris pointing it in his face. If looks could kill she would be dead with how hard Morris is glaring at her. I’m terrified that she is going to stab him and realize that with her back to me, now is the only chance that I may get. I look at the huge ass book and realize that it’s better than nothing.

“WHY DO YOU THINK IT’S OKAY TO CHEAT?” She is screeching at him like a banshee. This is it! I move my hands forward and slowly pick up the book trying to draw as little attention to myself as possible. I know Morris can see what I’m doing but he’s keeping his eyes on her to make sure he doesn’t give me away. I get up and rush toward her and swing the book with all my might. I end up hitting her in the back of the head. Not hard enough to do any damage, but it surprises her, and she drops the knife. Everything after that seems like a combination of slow motion and fast forward.

She turns to look at me with that crazed look back in her eyes and I just snap. I am not letting this bitch kill me, the man I love, or my unborn child! I tackle her like I’ve seen football players do. I’m sure as hell that it wasn’t anywhere near as graceful but whatever, it worked. We’re both rolling around on the ground. I guess we see the knife at the same time and both try to scramble for it.

I can vaguely hear Morris trying to get out of that chair. I’m sure that he’s been trying really hard all this time, but I don’t think that he’s going to get out in time. My fingers barely brush the handle on the knife when she elbows me in the side of the head. My head feels like it’s going to explode. The headache that I had before multiples and I roll to my side and hold onto my head. That gives her the opening that she needed. She grabs the knife and straddles my midsection. I try to move but she weighs so much more than me. I can’t lift her off of me. She raises the knife above her head and I realize that this is it…the moment that need.

I don’t see any flashes of my life or anything. I just start thinking about everything that I’ll miss out on. I’ll never get to marry the man of my dreams. I’ll never give birth to the little life inside of me. I’ll never get to argue with my brother ever again. I’ll never get to tell my parents how much I love them and that they were the most amazing parents that anyone could’ve asked for. Michelle and I won’t grow old together and end up in the same nursing home, driving the staff crazy.

Morris struggles so much to get free that he ends up toppling the chair over. He’s now at eye level with me and I just stare into those green eyes that have had me hypnotized from day one. If I have to die, at least I’ll get to die looking into the eyes of the man I love. Just when she’s about to bring the knife down I hear a loud boom and look up to see her falling backwards. I shut my eyes quickly but it’s too late. She wasn’t just falling backwards, someone shot her right between her eyes, and I saw her final moments. That’s something that is going to stay with me for a very long time.

I open my eyes when I feel hands roaming my body. I look up into the very scared eyes of my brother and just completely lose! I launch myself at him and wrap my arms around his neck. He squeezes me so tightly that I can’t breathe but I don’t give a shit right now. I’m alive and my brother is hugging me like he needs to make sure that I’m whole. I close my eyes and just cry into his neck. More like sob but he doesn’t seem to mind. He’s whispering things into my ear that I can’t make out, but it doesn’t matter. Just hearing his voice is enough to start to calm me.

“Mel, baby, are you okay?” I can hear Morris frantically asking me. I open my eyes and look over Marcs shoulder and see Declan, at least I think it’s Declan, cutting his hands and legs free. The second he’s free he scrambles over to us and practically rips me out of my brother’s arms. Thankfully, Marc seems to realize that Morris needs to get his hands on me and releases me easily. Morris hugs me to his chest and I inhale as deeply as I can. Safe.

“Baby are you hurt?” I nuzzle my head into his chest and shake my head no. He lifts my head to look into my eyes. “Are you sure? Do you hurt anywhere?” His hands are now roaming all over my body too.

“Just my head and my fingers.” I look down at them and see that I scraped a lot of the skin off when I was trying to get out of the rope. They’re bleeding but not badly. I look Morris over and see that his wrists are steadily dripping blood.

“Oh my God look at your wrists!” I screech at him. They have deep cuts on them and look really painful.

“I’m okay honey. Barely even feel it.” I just snort at his macho bullshit. I know damn well that he can feel that shit.

“How about we get you both out of here and to the hospital?” JJ squats down to look us both in the eyes. I look around and see that the entire place is filled with police officers. Marc, JJ, Declan, Damon, and Rocco are all in their SWAT gear. The others are in their uniforms. “We called for a few ambulances. They should be outside soon, if they aren’t already.”

I look around again and see Ashley staring sightlessly at the ceiling. I can’t believe that she killed people and tried to kill us.

“Yeah, I’m more than ready to get out of here,” I say and make a move to take the hand that Rocco is holding out for me. Morris is still holding onto me tightly not allowing me to move. He has his face buried in my neck and just keeps placing small kisses there.

“Bro, I know that you don’t want to, but you’ve got to let her go so you both can get up. She’s not going anywhere man. I will walk you both out and put you into the same ambulance…okay?” Marc sounds like he’s talking to a wounded animal. It takes a few seconds, but Morris finally releases me after kissing me again.

Rocco helps me up as Marc gives Morris a hand. The minute that I stand though I get really dizzy. I stumble toward Rocco and then everything goes black.