You're Cute When You Scream

“Stop the car!” Jimmy shouted, lurching forward and pointing frantically out the window. I squinted my eyes to see through the darkness and fog. A rather large male deer was standing at the edge of the tree-line.

“Are you suggesting we kill that deer and bring him home for dinner?” I smirked.

“But of course,” he replied, already loading bullets into a gun and admiring his rather sharp hunting knives.

I pulled the car over to the side of the road as we quietly approached the deer. I left the headlights on so they’d shine in his eyes, practically freezing him in place. As soon as he heard some dried leaves crunch under our heavy footsteps, he attempted to make a run for it. I cocked my gun in place and shot, aiming only to drag him to the ground. I’ll leave the rest up to Jimmy.

With a knife in each hand, he slowly walked toward the deer, stalking his already weakened prey. Without further hesitation, he leapt on top of the fallen animal and stabbed it multiple times continuously, despite the fact that the deer was already dead. Blood squirted out and splashed onto Jimmy’s face and clothes, practically dying him red.

“Can we gut him here?” he asked with a smile.

I sighed, glancing down at my cell phone. It was already 11:32 PM. “Alright but make it quick,” I replied.

He then proceeded to finish his deed – slicing open the stomach, sticking his hand inside, and ripping out its guts. As I walked over to help him carry the deer to the truck, I noticed him displaying the guts across the forest floor.

“Dude, what are you doing?” I asked, almost feeling disgusted.

“We can make a fake murder scene here, just to mess with the cops,” he laughed.

“Ah, now I get it,” I mumbled feeling stupid for being creeped out by something so genius. We got back in the truck with the deer tied down to the roof of the car.

The snow continued falling at a heavier pace now, making it incredibly difficult to drive. “Damn, I’d be pissed if we had a long way to go still. I hate driving through bad weather,” Rev groaned, kicking his feet up on the dashboard.

“Yeah, try being the one actually driving,” I said rolling my eyes.

“Stop the car!” he shouted suddenly, causing me to slam on the breaks unexpectedly.

“What now? Another deer?!” I growled, seeing a dark form in between the snow flurries.

“No, I think that’s…Randi,” he gasped.

“What perfect timing,” I grinned, “now we can give her our surprise.”

*Randi’s POV*

The timing of all that has happened recently is really strange. Christmas is my favorite time of year and here I am, treading through snow, wearing barely enough to keep myself warm, and hoping that Katie was wrong and that we will both be fine.

Not too many cars drove down the road I was walking down – not that I would expect many, seeing as in just a few minutes it would be Christmas Eve…why the hell would anyone be driving down this road anyway?

Suddenly, a strange loud sound echoed through the woods. I could’ve sworn it sounded like a gunshot…oh no, what if they got to Katie on the other side of the road? Even though my legs were stiff, I pushed myself to run forward until I found the source of the noise.

Before I could do so, however, bright lights drove toward me, blinding me. I shielded my eyes with my arm and stopped walking once I saw the vehicle slow down. The tinted window was lowered and I saw one of the faces I never wanted to see again – it was them…they escaped! I let out an involuntary scream as I slowly felt myself backing away.

“Hey there, Randi, need a ride?” Shadows asked with a smile, the creepiest sight I’ve ever seen. He can’t be legit happy…ever.

“Not from you, I don’t,” I replied, starting to ignore them.

“Wait,” the Rev said sticking his head out the window, “if you go now, how will you get your presents?”

Presents? I looked back at the truck and saw that the entire back end of the truck was filled with wrapped boxes.

“Let me guess, you got me at .37 mm that you can use to kill me with?” I laughed.

“Nope, but I can’t tell you what it really is. Shads picked it out himself. It was so sweet,” the Rev smiled, while Shadows turned red and whacked Rev.

“He’s kidding, I just picked out something for everyone,” Shadows defended.

This has gotta be the oddest thing I’ve ever seen. I mean, hell they’re acting like two school girls.

“Look just get in the car, Randi, we’re gonna need your help carrying all these in anyway.”

“Sorry, boys, but I can’t do that. Burn victim remember?” I said showing them my bandaged hands.

The Rev kicked the door open and scooted over to the middle of the bench seat so I could sit up front with them. Against my better judgment, I got inside and closed the door. I glanced over at them as Shadows drove forward back to the house.

Shadows looked fine and all, not really a single scratch on him…but the Rev was a different story. His face and shirt were entirely covered in blood and it wasn’t just splatter…it looked like he just dived through a damn puddle of the stuff.

Just as I was about to ask what that was from, a bloody deer head fell down onto the windshield…apparently it had been tied to the roof of the car. I cringed as I tried to look away, but it was right in front of my face, thus making this a rather awkward and gross car ride. I knew I should’ve just kept walking…

*Normal POV*

Ronnie left shortly after we had shared words. I almost wished he would’ve stayed…only because I was actually suddenly lonely. I laid down on the bed, trying once again to get sleep, but the best I could do was stare out the window and watch the snow fall.

I shouldn’t be here right now…none of us should be. We had everything planned out so nicely back home. Why is this happening to us? I sighed loudly as I tried to hold back the tears that had just been trying endlessly to exit my eyes.

The door opened once again and someone came inside and sat down on the bed. I glanced over my shoulder, nearly disappointed when I saw that it was Syn instead of Ronnie…that’s odd. He was looking thoughtfully at the clock as the neon digits turned from 11:59 to 12:00.

“It’s Christmas Eve,” he said quietly.

“I’m surprised you even knew that. It doesn’t strike me as a holiday you would celebrate,” I said bitterly.

Instead of the crude response I expected, I got a much different response. He reached over and wrapped his arms around me. He didn’t speak a word; he just laid there next to me, hugging me.

“Everyone celebrates that holiday, even people you think are the bad guys,” he said simply. “Just accept it, Myra, there is still some good in me.”

My eyes shot wide open. What is going on…what brought this out? I couldn’t say anything in return, I was just too shocked. Hopefully he’ll assume I’m asleep. I wish I was really asleep and dreaming. Then at least I’d have a legit explanation for this absurdity.

After living through a double rape, withstanding the shock of being kidnapped once again, and being stabbed several times, it’s understandable that I would get about twelve hours of sleep that night, waking up at noon the next morning.

As my eyes opened, I saw Syn asleep next to me, cuddling with the teddy bear I gave him at a carnival a few years ago. Why the hell would he still have that thing with him? The more I stared at him, the sadder I became. He looked so innocent and nice sleeping there with Fluffy, the teddy.

In fact, I bet this is how he would look every morning had I not caused them to turn psycho. What him and the Rev told me last time must’ve been true – I really did fuck up their lives. I didn’t have much more time to feel remorse because Shads kicked the door open, wearing an apron and oven mitts.

He gasped, “What the hell are you two still doing in bed?! Lunch is almost ready.”

I just kind of stared wide-eyed at him while Syn stirred a little before waking up and greeting Shadows. “Merry Christmas, Myra,” Syn smiled as he got out of bed and grabbed a shirt off the floor to cover his bare chest.

“Uh, same to you…”

“You don’t sound very happy. If I remember correctly, this is your favorite holiday, next to Halloween, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” I said dumbly, still shaking off this strange feeling.

On the way downstairs, I ended up running into Randi who not only had a confused expression on her face, but looked totally disheveled and leaving Matt’s room. “What the hell happened to you?” I asked, eying her up and down.

She dragged me away from the stairs and waited for Syn to go down there first before saying. “I…I had sex with him!” she gasped.

“You…had mutually consented sex with M. Shadows?” I said, completely shocked.

She stared at the ground. “Yeah, it’s true. God he was a beast in bed! I don’t know what came over me…him being nice for a change was such a turn on,” she gushed.

“Eww,” I groaned covering my ears, “I don’t need to hear about how he is in bed!”

What once was a room of torture seemed to have gotten an overnight make-over. The living room had a large plasma TV playing Frosty the Snowman, multi-colored lights and garland adorned the mantel on the fireplace, and a large tree was propped in the corner of the room, reaching almost as high as the ceiling. It was covered in ornaments and lights. Without a doubt, it had to of been the prettiest Christmas display I’d ever seen.

Randi and I exchanged impressed glances as we made our way into the kitchen. The guys all smiled and welcomed us. But then I noticed someone was missing…Katie. “Hey,” I whispered nudging Randi, “where’s Katie?”

Randi suddenly looked sad. “We took two different paths to escape the other night. I guess we ended up leaving at the wrong time, and now she’s going to miss this bizarreness.”

I shrugged, “If she got away then she’ll come back and bring help along the way.”

Randi scoffed, “If these crazy guys would just stay this way, I wouldn’t want to leave.”

“Nice of you two to finally join us,” Johnny said as he set a plate down in front of us.

“Hey now, he slept in just as long as us,” I laughed, nodding toward Syn.

“Maybe that’s because I didn’t want to get out of bed with you,” he replied.

“Don’t get me started on getting busy in bed,” Shadows cackled, winking at Randi, who started blushing.

Everyone seemed to be laughing and having a good time – just like things used to, could still be. In my slight pause in the fun, I glanced around the kitchen and saw Ronnie standing kind of by himself in the corner, without a smile on his face. That’s strange.

He’s part of the ‘gang’ now…why wouldn’t he join in on the crazy emotional change? Maybe I’ll talk to him about that later. This is what I’ve always wanted, and I’m damn well going to enjoy it.

As the night approached, snow continued to fall and pile up outside. I ended up snuggling up with Syn on the couch while Randi was sitting over with Shads on the same recliner that fried her, ironically. We were all watching the Little Drummer Boy, obviously the Rev’s favorite Christmas show.

“Can we open the presents yet?” Zacky whined after the show ended. Just like Ronnie, he seemed to be not only a little distant, but deep in thought as well.

Matt shrugged, “Sure I don’t see why not.” The guys all exchanged a weird variety of gifts from guns and knives to DVDs and Best Buy gift cards.

Matt brought a small package back for Randi, who looked skeptically at him. “What is it?” she asked, probably shocked that he really even got her a gift.

“Open it and find out.”

Randi didn’t waste any more time digging into the box, pulling out a necklace with a ruby flame on the end. “I picked that one because you’re such a god damn fighter…it’s like there’s a flame raging inside of you. Plus, I heard your dad was a fireman so…,” Matt explained. She loved it.

“I hope you don’t think you didn’t get anything,” Ronnie whispered, sitting down next to me.

“Well, I didn’t really expect –,” I started to say.

He interrupted by sending something flying down into my lap. I glanced down to find my iPod and headphones waiting for me. He must’ve gone back to the house to get this later that night. I wonder if he knows what happened to Pablo and Chris… I smiled and thanked him for it, even though inside my mind I wasn't smiling. I needed to talk to him - and soon.

Syn returned with a gift of his own in hand and I had to admit…I felt rather popular getting gifts from two guys. This box was thin and long. I anxiously opened the box to reveal a small picture frame containing a picture ofBrian Syn and I on our very first date. Our smiles were so big then…we were happy at first.

“Remember how we were then, Myra? I know you still have feelings for me. Let’s start over again, what do you say? Be my girlfriend.”

The room went silent.