It's up to Me to Make You Bleed

“Hey man, give me a break!” I whined as he watched Brent’s car zoom around the corner of the racetrack.

“Now why should I do that, when I’m so about to kick your ass?” Brent retaliated, picking up speed.

“Boys, dinner’s ready!” Mrs. Haner shouted from downstairs.

Brent kept his eyes locked on the screen as the black and white checkered flag came into view. I shook my head and laughed as I dropped the PS2 controller on the carpet. I already knew the game was his…racecar games weren’t my forte. I was more of a swordsman/ninja kind of guy.

“About time you kids got down here,” Mr. Haner chuckled, digging into the meatloaf.

“You know Zacky, lately you seem more like my second son than Brian does! I haven’t seen him in days,” Mrs. Haner said.

“Don’t you think that’s a little strange?” I asked.

She shrugged, “He’s just been really into hanging out down at the Sullivans’ lately. If I’m not mistaken I think I remember Julianne saying that Matt’s there as well.”

“Brian’s gonna get grounded when he comes home, right, Mom?” McKenna asked with a little evil smile.

“If he ever comes back,” his dad teased.

Wow, I can’t believe they’re just letting Brian practically live at someone else’s house. I shrugged off the strange feeling of concern I got and dug into the mashed potatoes.

“Boys, can you help me with the dishes?” Mrs. Haner asked as she began wrapping up the leftovers.

“Sure, Mom,” Brent said walking over to the table.

“You know, all this talk about Brian being missing really makes me want him to come back home. I guess I better give Julianne a call,” she sighed, dialing the phone.

“H-hello?” someone asked as they finally answered the phone.

Mrs. Haner gathered a shocked expression on her face. “Courtney, is that you? My goodness you’re alright? I can’t believe your mother didn’t tell me! So, I couldn’t help but notice that my son seems to have gone missing and I’m willing to bet that he’s at your house. Would you mind getting him for me?”

It took Courtney a while to respond…she didn’t quite sound like herself. “M-Mrs. Haner, my mother is d-dead. Y-you have to call the…call the police before they kill me too-.”

Her voice was suddenly cut off as a long, beeping tone echoed in the background. “Well that was strange,” she whispered, walking back over to the refrigerator.

“Wait, I’m sorry didn’t you just hear what she said?” I asked, shocked.

Mrs. Haner turned around and smiled, “Of course I did, Zacky. You know how Courtney is though; she’s obsessed with those horror movies. She was just trying to spook me!”

“Mom, that didn’t sound very…fake,” Brent said, noticing the same thing I did.

“Why don’t you two go over there and check it out…just to be safe?” she suggested.

She still didn’t seem very convinced that that call from Courtney could be anything of real concern, and that was a little worrisome. Brent and I went back up to his room, unsure what to do about this whole ordeal. Why would Courtney think she’d be killed in her own home?

“Dude, we gotta do something. This just doesn’t feel right,” Brent said in a hushed tone as he closed the door behind him.

I nodded, “I agree. Courtney sounded so…scared.”

“But what bothers me is the fact that my mom said Brian’s been over at that house for days…does that mean he’s in danger too?”

“Or the one causing the danger,” I said grimly.

“Think about it – your mom is good friends with Courtney’s mom, and yet she hasn’t heard from her lately. Courtney was thought to be missing; now suddenly she’s back and Mrs. S didn’t tell your mom that? Brian and Matt have been there for a week now…ever since we went exploring in some caves…I haven’t heard from them since.”

“Damn, dude, that does sound pretty sketchy. I can’t imagine my little bro doing something like this but what else could’ve made her so frantic?”

“Right. I say we sneak over there tonight and do a little investigating.”

*Brian’s POV*

Courtney stopped breathing, I stopped moving. Her body was laying still and naked on the metal table. Blood was still pouring out of her wounds, as if she were still alive. I stared into the four holes I had indented into her neck. What happened to me? Actually, that’s not a good enough question – first of all, what made me agree to do this…what made me enjoy doing this…what made me suddenly feel guilty?

“That’s a wrap,” Jimmy shouted, turning the camera off and cradling it in his hands as it if were a baby.

“I can’t believe it had to end so soon. I was working up so many more things I wanted to do to her,” Matt sighed.

Jimmy walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, “No worries, my friend, there will be plenty more where she came from. Imagine all the fun we can have now!”

I turned around and leaned up against the wall, unable to look at her body anymore. Doing this to other girls wouldn’t be hard at all…but killing Courtney for real…that was something I didn’t think I could do.

“I’m gonna upload the clips onto the computer,” Jimmy announced as he headed back upstairs.

Matt and I were left alone with the rotting corpse of the girl we once both fought over. “I guess we should get her outta the house,” Matt commented, digging around in a pile of supplies before pulling out a couple of black, heavy-duty garbage bags.

“I think…I think I’ll let you handle that one on your own. I’m a little shaken up right now.”

“Don’t worry about it, man, I had a blast too. And hey, at least we get to relive the memories over and over again after Jimmy makes that tape!”

He opened up the garbage bag and curled Courtney’s body up into a ball before sliding her off the table and into the bag. “Good think garbage pick up is tomorrow,” he laughed as he dragged the body upstairs.

*Zacky’s POV*

It was midnight, and we were tired of anticipating what was to come. Everyone in the house was asleep by now, so we quietly slipped out the kitchen door wall and down the patio steps. Courtney’s house was just a couple of houses down the street, which made it all the more weird that Mrs. Haner wouldn’t ever just stop by there to check on Brian or whatever. I mean, she drives past their house everyday.

As we got closer to the house, Brent spotted someone in the driveway and tugged on my hood, sending me tumbling down behind a large bush. We parted some of the leaves so that we could have a better view. Matt glanced around a couple times before heaving a rather large garbage bag into the trashcan. He slammed the lid shut and walked back inside. We waited until the foyer light turned off before approaching the trashcan.

“What do you think he threw in there?” I asked.

“Uh, trash…,” Brent replied, trying to get a better look into the dark house.

I rolled my eyes as I opened the can and stared inside. A couple of smaller white garbage bags were scattered across the bottom of the can, below the large black one. “It smells fuckin rank in here,” I muttered, calling Brent over to help me lift the bag out.

We dragged it over to our hiding spot, just in case one of them came back out. I untied the top of the bag and pulled the plastic off to find…Courtney’s body. “What the fuck?!” Brent whispered, backing away from the body.

Courtney was covered in blood and completely naked. Her face was covered in deep, scarring lacerations…her skin was a pale blue color. Oh God, please let her still be alive! I knelt down and listened for a breath…a heartbeat…a pulse…anything! My fingers trailed along her neck and down to her wrists, where I managed to locate a very faint pulse. She was just barely alive.

“Get anything?” Brent asked, worried.

I nodded, “She has a small pulse, but we need to do something quick before she dies…she’s already unconscious from blood loss.”

“Well what are we gonna do, man? We can’t take her to the hospital…they’ll have too many questions.”

“Let’s take her back to your place and at least clean her wounds and get her some water to keep her hydrated,” I suggested.

He agreed, and went to fill the garbage bag with random twigs and leaves, to make it look somehow like there was still something in the bag, should one of them come out and check. We carried her back to Brent’s house and sneaked in through the basement. Luckily, there was a bathroom down there.

Brent went up to his room to grab Courtney some clothes to cover her up. We took out the first aid kit and applied disinfectant to any opened areas of flesh. Next, we carefully bandaged or wrapped out the wounds.

As I was wrapping up a scratch she had on her arm, her eyes began blinking rapidly as she bolted upright, colliding into my head. “Zacky…? Brent…? What’s going on? Don’t let them find me! Please don’t let them find me,” she cried, gripping my arm.

“Court, who did this to you?” I asked.

She stared down at the tiled floor, unsure if she should say anything…but her reluctance alone only confirmed our worst thoughts. “Jimmy, Brian, and Matt turned psycho one night after watching some snuff film they found back in the caves…everything went downhill from there….there was so much blood,” she cried, her body violently trembling.

“It’s ok, Courtney, we’re here for you now. But you know it’s not safe to stay here…we’re in my house and Brian is sure to return sooner or later,” Brent explained.

She nodded, knowing all too well it was true. “I think I know where I can go,” she whispered.