Sweetie You Had Me

Five tensed men gathered around the small living room coffee table, all of them talking at them same time. Their loud, deep voices echoing against the walls of the warehouse. They angrily argued with each other, the stress showing through their creased brows. Sweat rolled down their foreheads as they desperately tried to come up with a way to save Julie. But Brendon was not apart of this group. He was sulking in the corner, tired of their constant, inconclusive bickering.

He was sitting away from the five of them on a burgundy couch across the way. He didn’t want to be apart of this discussion anymore. He was tired of arguing with them. He had tried to put in his word for the past four days, but none of them had listened to him, not even Ryan. Sure, he would have expected Pete to completely ignore him, but not Ryan. That was just odd. Well, this drastic turn of events must have really been messing with their minds.

Brendon had no problem making his utter disappointment and annoyance blatantly known to the others. How difficult was it to come together on something? I mean really, it’s not like William could be everywhere at once, and there was six of them. He knew they wanted to kill two birds with one stone in this effort, but he was starting to worry about how much longer Julie could last down there with William. Either way, he was furious with William. He was ready to strangle him, to say the least. He was so frustrated with the whole situation; he was having trouble being patient with the rest of the guys. Everyone wanted to go with his own idea.

“We should get the WDC to help us,” someone announced.

“No! We shouldn’t get so many people involved,” another voice rang out.

“Maybe we should-” Brendon couldn’t take it anymore. He moved away from the corner intending to join the discussion, but the arguing continued, as though he was still in the corner and had never left. Brendon glared at the faces that loomed above the table. He looked down to see the several crumpled pieces of paper towel depicting the maneuvers of the trashed plans. Pete illustrated with a black ballpoint pen in a football play sort of fashion. Pete and his gang were O’s, Williams' Danies were X’s. And in all the plans, Pete always planned for a ton of X’s. Suddenly something clicked in Brendon’s mind and he suddenly thrashed out at all of the men with a loud outburst.

“Everyone shut up,” he said, his voice forceful and firm. He reached across the table and stole Pete’s pen and paper towel, earning him a dominant growl. “This is what we’re going to do…“

---------

Five days. Five days Julie had been down in the dungeon. Or at least she figured it must have been at least five, she honestly didn’t know because she hadn’t seen the sun for the longest time. She suffered from William’s constant abuse, scratches now lining her arms and legs. She was weak from hunger and even thirstier than she was before. She was in desperate need for something to run down her throat. She was catching a cold from breathing in all of the moldy air. She would be thrown into horrendous coughing fits that made her lungs ache. Her lips were cracked and chapped worse than ever before. The only thing that hadn’t really changed was he mind set. She was still waiting to die, in hope that if she were gone everything would be so much better.

She still sat at the stonewall, her head resting against it. Her eyes were firmly closed, trying to sleep. She really hadn’t gotten much sleep since that first night. She was cold, tired, and hungry, and she really, really just wished William would kill her already.

She sighed, probably for the millionth time in five days. She was less scared now, than she was bored. She had accepted the fact that she was going to die in this dirty, dingy dungeon, and she really didn’t care anymore. She had become rather indifferent about her entire life. She really didn’t care about anything. All she really wanted right now was to die, and let the burden that she was onto the people that she loved just disappear.

She didn’t care so much anymore about her infected wounds. Nor did she care about her desperate need for food. She just wanted to keep the others safe.

Her skin was malnourished, thanks to the lack of sunlight coming into the dungeon. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark and now she could clearly see the outline of the dungeon. She passed the time studying the uneven lines of the stone. She traced the lines with her eyes over and over again until she couldn’t any longer. When she found that she was at a loss, she tried to close her eyes and sleep, but sleep would not come. She tired to let her tiredness take over her, but she found it nearly impossible. She decided that it was no use anymore. With a sigh she tried to fall asleep again.
-------
“That’s never going to work,” Pete said, folding his arms as he stared at what Brendon had mapped out on the paper towel. Brendon scowled at him.

“Yeah it will,” he insisted, “They always go hunting tomorrow, it will be the best time to attack without having to deal with the whole damn clan!”

Pete glared daggers at him. “But William,” he started, “If William’s not home, there’s no point in going.” Brendon growled at him, slamming his hands down onto the table. The other four guys backed away slightly, seeing Brendon’s rage.

“This isn’t about William,” he replied, “We are doing this to save Julie.” He said clenching his fists.

“And you know how I feel about that,” Pete replied, “Don’t you Brendon?”

Brendon sneered at him. “I’m not arguing with you. I’m going to save Julie tomorrow, with or without you.” He turned on Pete and stalked away from the table., grumbling about his arrogance and idiocy.

“Wow, Pete,” Andy said, his eyes staring after Brendon with surprise in them. “You really pissed him off.” Pete only laughed and grinned.

“Yeah, well, he’s PMsing.” Andy and Joe laughed, agreeing. Ryan was silent though. He was just as worried about Julie as Brendon was. He found no point in starting an arguing, but Brendon had always been the passionate one.

“I’m going with him tomorrow…” Ryan said quietly. The others looked at him, surprised, but didn’t say anything.

“I think I am too,” Patrick finally said. Andy and Joe looked at each other nodded, agreeing with Ryan and Patrick. They all stared at Pete. A growl erupted from his scruffy throat as he felt their gaze on him.

“Fine, but only so you pansies will leave me alone,” he said, storming out of the room, muttering to himself. The four others smiled, amused.

“I guess they’re both PMSing,” Joe said, laughing. Ryan and Andy laughed as well, grinning madly.

“I HEARD THAT!!!!!”