It's up to Me to Make You Bleed

If they know the truth, then that must mean they were the ones who have been playing me. How could that have happened? I had the absolute upper hand before I wasted my time playing around.

Even with my dad’s help, I’m not sure that we can succeed because I have no idea how long they’ve known, or if they’ve even actually figured it out yet.

Denial can be a powerful deterrent.

Regardless of what they know, I’m willing to bet they won’t be expecting another grand escape. Sarah and I have to get the hell out of here before they get back from the hospital.

I threw the articles back into paper frenzy on the floor and rewound the videotape back to where they had stopped it. I sprinted up two sets of stairs and headed directly toward Matt’s room.

Sarah was sprawled on the bed, a bag of candy on her right and a liter of soda on her left. And she was watching The Hangover. I don’t get it…

She has to have some sort of inkling by now. I know her and Matt haven’t been together very long, but there’s no way he’s been able to keep this all a secret from her, especially when the secret involves three of the five band members.

“Oh, hey, Chelsey! Why are you just standing there? Come watch the movie!” she smiled, beckoning me toward her.

I smiled briefly before glancing back over my shoulder. As far as I could tell the house was still empty. I closed the door behind me and sat on an empty spot near the edge of the bed. “So, Sarah, there’s something I need to tell you…”

Her happiness faltered noticeably, although did not entirely vanish. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, for starters, my name is actually Courtney Turner. And I’ve known these guys much longer than a couple of days.”

She looked completely shocked – her eyes bulging and her mouth slightly ajar. She struggled to locate the remote from under a mountain of sheets so that she could pause the movie. “Why did you use a false name if you’ve known them previously? They didn’t seem to really recognize you when we met.”

“That’s the next thing I need to tell you. Matt isn’t who he seems to be either. None of them really are. The reason they didn’t initially recognize me was because they thought that they killed me ten years ago.” I waited for a similar reaction, but it never came. “You don’t look surprised at all.”

“You know that day when we were at the hotel? They didn’t know that I was hiding out in the back of the car, and I saw Matt and Jimmy killing someone, or trying to. He said he was killing someone who had killed his sister or father…something along those lines.”

“Last time I checked all of his family members are still alive. I have extensive files on all of them, so I can assure you that was a lie.”

“I know that, Courtney. I know everything,” she replied.

Confusion prevented me from responding right away. If she knew all along, then why the hell would she stay? “If that’s the case then why did you act all shocked when I told you my real name?”

“The information you revealed didn’t surprise me, but the fact that you opened up to me did. That means you trust me.”

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. “How the hell do you know anything about this situation?”

She leapt off the bed and grabbed her purse off the floor. She stuck her hand inside and dug around before she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a leather badge and tossed it over to me. “I’m FBI Agent Sarah Moore.”

I glanced down at the badge that confirmed her words. Why would she wait this long to tell me all of this? “Do you know what I am?” I asked.

She nodded. “You work for Societal Slaughter. You have a personal vendetta against Matt, Jimmy, and Brian for what they did to you back in 2000. Did you know I was the only female candidate brave enough to take this assignment? Everyone thought that because of their lady killing habits, they wouldn’t last long enough to complete the task.”

“And what is the task?”

“To take down the biggest participants in the snuff film industry, so that we can send a message to anyone else stupid enough to continue filming.”

I laughed bitterly. “That’s a great goal and everything, but these are my targets. If anyone is taking them down, it’s going to be me.”

Sarah’s face darkened briefly. I don’t think she really enjoyed my challenge, but she dropped it nevertheless. “It doesn’t matter how it happens, it just needs to happen. And if you prevent it from happening, then that will make you an enemy of the state.”

“Why would I stop it from happening? I want them dead more than anything!”

“If that was the case, then why have you taken so long to do it?” she smirked.

*Brian’s POV*

The hospital was reluctant to release Jimmy, especially after his noticeable lack of memory or awareness of what happened to him. Jimmy’s rage was enough to persuade the nurse to sign the paperwork.

“That bitch is so lucky she discharged me. Otherwise we’d have a whole new special to tackle – killing an entire hospital,” he muttered.

“Yeah,” Matt nodded, “let’s just focus on getting back home for now.”

Home was the last place I wanted to go right now. Once we get there, the truth will be revealed. We’ll know if Courtney survived. We’ll know everything.

“How are we going to determine if Chelsey is actually Courtney? It’s not like she’s going to admit to it,” Matt noted.

Jimmy snapped his fingers. “I got an idea. Let’s tell Johnny that it’s really Courtney. He’s sure to remember her from all those years ago. She’ll be caught off guard and will respond to him while we listen in.”

Jimmy dialed Johnny’s number and told him to meet us at the house for a big surprise. We all would be in for a surprise.

*James’s POV*

As I pulled into the garage, I found it difficult to get out of the car. I know I told Courtney that I needed to hear from her sometime tomorrow, but something didn’t feel right.

I grabbed my cell phone and called the one person who could help me. “Walter, I need you to give me a location of some personal targets. Courtney may be in danger.”

After a brief pause, he responded. “Well it looks like both you and your daughter are free from assignments right now, so personal targets should be a breeze. Give me the name or names and I’ll give you your location.”

“Uh…let’s see…,” I mumbled, racking my brain to make sure I remembered the correct names. “Matt Sanders, Jimmy Sullivan, and Brian Haner Jr.”

I could hear him typing the names into the database. He read off the address as I scribbled it down on a napkin. “Wait a minute, aren’t these the guys that Courtney was going after?”

“Yeah, but I think she may have walked into a trap.” I don’t know exactly what was going on at that house, but Walter didn’t really need to know.

“Then get the fuck over there, James.”

“I’m on my way.”

The drive to their house was brief and filled with contemplation. I needed to actually make my way inside. And unfortunately, the best way for me to accomplish that was to reveal my true identity right off the bat. As long as I capture their attention, that’s all that matters.

Of course their house had one of those fancy gated driveways. I groaned in distaste and drove a little further up the road to park. The fence that surrounded the property wasn’t very high at all. I jumped up and grabbed some of the metallic bars before scaling my way up, then slid down the bars on the opposite side.

My feet hit the ground with a thud as I took off running down the asphalted driveway. Much to my surprise, there were a couple of vans from a local beer company lined up just outside the house. Are these guys really so pompous that they would order their own private stock of beer?

Doubt it. I approached the truck and ran my fingers along one of the logos. Upon close examination, I noticed a thin yellow strip peeking out through a chip in the design.

I laughed humorlessly to myself and stared back at the truck. “It’s the FBI,” I muttered to myself. This wasn’t good.

“Hey what are you doing here?” a man wearing a suit asked as he approached me.

“It’s a private matter, thank you,” I said, trying to politely make my way past him.

“Get lost, pal. This is a federal investigation.”

“Oh, is that what this is? In that case, you might find my vehicle to be more interesting than myself.”

The agent rolled his eyes. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

I stepped forward and smirked. “It means that I have an illegal amount of artillery in the back of my car, some of which includes explosives that can be activated with a single click on my cell phone. Amazing what technology can do these days, isn’t it?”

The agent narrowed his eyes at me before pulling out some sort of walkie talkie and sending his men over to my car. Too bad they’ll never get in thanks to my personally designed security system. They’ll be busy for quite some time now.

Now that the distractions have fled the scene, I can get on with my job. I knocked on the door a couple of times and listened to the knocks reverberate off the walls inside. Thankfully though, someone answered soon after.

It was none other than Brian himself.

“Are you with the beer company?” he asked, sticking his head out the door to look at the trucks in the driveway.

“No, that’s not why I’m here. My name is James, and I’m Chelsey’s father. She’s told me so much about you and I decided that it was about damn time I met you, wouldn’t you say?”

His facial expression altered slightly. “Uh, I…I didn’t know she was that serious about being in a relationship with me.”

“Oh yeah, she can’t get enough of you.”

“That’s great to hear…?”

“James,” I supplied again.

“Right. That’s great to hear, James, but this isn’t the best time.” He began closing the door, just like that, right in my face.

I shoved my arm forward and stopped him from moving it any further. “I suggest that you make time, then,” I smiled, though my voice held anything but pleasantries.

Brian attempted to continue closing the door, but soon realized that it was pointless, and stepped aside in aggravated defeat. “This is a rather impressive place you got here. What exactly do you do for a living?”

“Play guitar in a band,” he mumbled.

“Oh you’re one of those guys,” I nodded, with a tone of disapproval.

“Look, I’m glad that Chelsey found it appropriate to tell you about our lives, but I really don’t know what you want right now?”

I stepped forward and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Relax, Brian. I just want to get to know you.”

*Jimmy’s POV*

Nothing could be done until Johnny arrived, so everyone kind of went their separate ways. I wanted to spend some time in my room, but stopped abruptly in the doorway once I saw that it still looked like a crime scene in there.

I glanced down into the living room below the balcony and saw Brian talking with some random guy, looking either uncomfortable as hell or simply pissed off. And of course Matt was probably spending time with Sarah, hopefully saying his goodbyes.

Johnny arrived about half an hour later. I led him down to the basement so that we could have absolute privacy. “What is it, dude? What’s my surprise?” he asked, practically dancing around with excitement.

“Do you remember my stepsister?”

“You mean Courtney…? Of course I do.”

“That’s what the surprise is about.”

“Oh God, did they find her body?”

“No, but I think I may have.”

“What…what do you mean?”

“Don’t you think Chelsey has quite a few similarities to Courtney?”

He paused to consider the possibility. “I mean, I guess they look a little bit alike.”

“I need you to do a favor for me. None of us feel confident enough to go up to her and outright ask her if she was Courtney. So, can you call out ‘Courtney’ and see if she slips up and responds?”

I could tell that Johnny didn’t quite understand the situation, and I honestly couldn’t expect him to. “Well, I guess I could do that…” he said in a confused tone, nodding to confirm.

“Great,” I grinned, “make sure you let us know what she does. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be reunited with her?”

Johnny smiled. “It sure would be.”

*Normal POV*

If anything would ever work out according to plan, I may very well die from shock. This whole secret side that Sarah had will probably end up being inconvenient for me in the future. I mean, honestly, how could I not see it coming? No normal girl would be able to stay around these lunatics this long.

A sudden stomping sound emerged in the hall just outside the door. Sarah and I exchanged confused expressions, both turning to face the door and watch as Johnny burst inside.

“Is everything okay?” I asked suspiciously, noting his lack of breath.

He crouched down for a little bit to recover and then glanced back up at me. “Courtney…” he breathed. “Is it really you?”

My facial expression probably gave me away instantly, though I tried to mask it with my words. “Uh, what are you talking about?”

Johnny just smiled and ran over to me, hugging me tightly. “They never found your body, you know? You’ve been alive this whole time?”

I awkwardly hugged him back, hoping that I came across as uncomfortable. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s me…Chelsey…”

This was a trap…one of them must’ve used Johnny to test my reaction.

Johnny’s eyes searched my face for signs of deceit, not for their own benefit, but rather for his own…he genuinely wanted to see me alive.

“I’m sorry, Johnny, but I don’t know who this Courtney person is. I wish I could help, though.”

He backed away from me slowly and forced a smile. “It’s okay…sorry for that.”

Sarah waited a couple minutes after Johnny left before speaking. “Whew, that could’ve been a close call.”

“Well, it wasn’t. That in itself should prove my capability in this case.”

“Regardless, that still means that some of them suspect, or possibly even realize that you are Courtney Turner. My men have already arrived and are waiting outside to begin the invasion. We need to leave now.”

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, she did have a point there. I didn’t know what her men were supposed to do during their invasion, but I can’t be here should Matt, Brian, or Jimmy figure out the truth.

Sarah grabbed her purse and ran over to the window. She shoved it upward and used a pocketknife to carve a hole out of the screen. She crawled out the window and shoved a grapple into the wooden windowsill, using the attached rope to slowly descend to the ground.

I waited until she landed on the deck before approaching the window. Just as I was about to crawl out the window, something tugged roughly on my hair, pulling me back stumbling onto the ground.