If Only I Knew How to Hate You

Alex

My head… Bailey!

I fall. Owwww...

It takes forever before I manage to clear my thoughts. Then I realize I have my cell and my fingers slowly manage to pull it out, and dial Missy’s number. I mess up several times, but finally manage it.

“Heyo, there!”

I wince. My head… “Missy?” I whisper hoarsely, still trying to sit up right.

“Uh… are you okay? Oh crap, did Bailey beat you up?!”

“Shut up,” I groan, holding my head… it’s sticky. Not good. “Ung… who- I just- Bailey’s gone,” I manage, trying to get my tongue to cooperate. “Old guy… broke in… took her away. I don’t… get it.”

There’s silence for a minute, only her breathing. Then she swears one word so softly, I realize that there’s a big piece that I’m missing obviously, and the situation is getting worse. Finally, she speaks again, her breathing much faster- scared? “We’re coming over. Stay there.” And she hangs up.

Stay? Easy. I lean my head back onto the wooden floor, feeling too weak at the moment to move. The time clicks by for a few minutes, until the door swings open and Missy stomps in. She freezes, though, upon seeing me. “Alex!” She shrieks.

“Holy- shut up,” I hold my head as though it’ll keep the sound out. Ugh, more blood.

She hurries over, Zack right behind. “What- oh…. Oh my,” she takes a shaky breath and sheds her purse and jacket. “Zack, go get stuff. Rag, first aid kit, and all that. Hurry!”

Numbly I sit against the wall, slumped. “Okay… now you’re here. But I have to know- who was it?” My words are slightly slurred, but I think she gets the message. My eyes flicker shut momentarily as blood drips down. Missy’s nice enough to help out, though everything hurts.

“Nu uh. First tell me what the heck happened,” she orders.

Sighing, I try to figure it out. “We… we started talking. She thinks she hears a noise. Then we both hear one, and… and she says how she thought a familiar car was following her. We go towards the front door to… to go look… and then he hit me.”

“Go on!” She says impatiently.

“Then… I’m not sure. They argued… the guy said he’d kill me or something. Then- then Bay said… said to kill her instead.” I frown. “He- he wasn’t serious, was he?”

“Finish the story,” she sidesteps the question, not looking me in the eye.

Frowning, I think. “Then… he asked why. She- I think she started… to say… that she loved me?” I think for a minute. “Well… he started mocking her. And then he took her away.” I groan in frustration. “And I couldn’t do anything about it!”

“I’m sorry,” she sighs, shaking her head and wiping away a small tear. “But- maybe its best, you know, that you didn’t.”

“She’s gone,” I snarl at her, angrily, my hands in useless fists. “There’s nothing good about that!”

“It might have gotten worse,” she says quietly. “You don’t know him.”

Zack returns and starts working on my head wound. “Fine,” I snap. “Then tell me what the heck I don’t know already!”

Missy sighs and sits down, clutching her bag close. “Well, the man, if I’m right, is named Drake Richards, and he’s her only living relative, her uncle.” Her head drops in her hands, shaking her head. “I can’t believe it,” she whispers to herself. “I just thought it was like the movies, but its real, and she’s gone…”

“Uncle?” I repeat in disbelief.

“It gets worse,” she sighs and sniffles. I stare at her in horror. Can it, really? Her living blood relative treating her so… rude? Wrong? “She’s mentioned her brother, right?” I nod quickly. “Has she ever said anything about… seeing someone die?” I nod again. “Well, it’s the same- she saw her little brother get murdered. Hung, to be precise,” she shakes her head slowly.

“Wha… how?”

“Well, it goes back to the beginning, her family. Her parents. They weren’t really… that good, I suppose. Bay’s never really said much. Just enough, um, that- that I guess they died. Drugs, or some drunken fight. It seems to change when I ask her…but, but when it happened, she um, she grabbed her baby brother and ran. They were on the streets for a few years, until they were caught. Some foster homes, I guess, until the State found they still had a relative.”

“Drake, now…” Missy shifts, uneasily, glancing at Zack who’s done with my head. “Well, he… he lived alone, I guess. He was a taxidermist. You know, the person whose career is stuffing animals? He did that- but he was also a…well- a serial killer, evidently,” she chokes out, covering her mouth and shaking. “He killed people and then stuffed them with crap and stuff, and would drop them around a town, scaring citizens. No one knew, though…

“Bailey saw it, though. She’s had nightmares before, she’s said. Sometimes he tried to make her help, and she’d refuse, so he’d hurt her. Other times she had to help because he threatened to hurt Jake.”

“That’s…” my voice dies, unable to actually believe something so… so… inhuman. She actually grew up around that? Bailey? My heart hammers wildly in my chest, shocked. “What happened, then?” I manage.

Missy shrugs with a hard swallow. “I’m not sure. But things started to get worse, I suppose. They attempted to run away several times, and he started getting sick of it. Finally, he decided he’d had enough. Bailey believes, she said, that he knew he wouldn’t have a problem with controlling her, once her brother was out of the picture.”

“No,” Zack whispers from his spot beside us, his mouth hanging open. I probably look the same- stunned and horrified.

Biting her lip, she nods. “Yeah. So… one night, Bailey entered the room and Kevin tied her hands together and tied her to the bedpost. She watched as he grabbed her little brother- time had gone, and he was about eight by then- and wrapped a noose around his neck. Tied it to the ceiling fan… and…” Missy purses her lips. “I just… well, yeah.” Her own hand climbs to her throat, biting her lip with wide eyes.

“What then? Didn’t she do something?” Zack tries vainly.

“Well, Drake had been wrong,” Missy shrugs. “Bailey wasn’t going to just give up. She said right after she knew her brother was… you know, she started screaming and yelling- so he tried to drown her in the tub. Bay got lucky with one kick that sent him against a corner, and momentarily knocked him out. So, Bailey ran away. Disappeared and went to some school for a while. Said it was easy to trick some papers, I suppose…”

“What about him? Drake?”

“Well, he got caught about three years later, when she was seventeen. When she saw they needed witnesses, she figured it was time to pop up again, and revealed everything she knew. He was sentenced to life. Since she was underage, they tried to get her to return to some foster homes, but she worked something out- and she’s been fine… well, ‘till now.” Missy turns paler than a ghost. “We have to call the police! If it was really him, then they have to go after him- and there’s no way he escaped just to say sorry and repent.” She adds frantically, standing up unable to stay still.

Revenge is the word on all our minds. I swallow hard. “Call the police, then.”

“I’ll do it,” Zack offers and grabbing his cell phone, stands and dials as he heads to the kitchen. Missy helps me up and leads me to the couch, needing something to do.

“How’s your head?” She offers.

I glower. “It’s fine. I just want Bailey back.” I sigh. “Mind you, it does seem out of wack, the uncle problem and everything… but I’m still worried sick about her, now. I- I just- before she left, I saw tears in her eyes. And Bailey never cries.” My stomach drops as my eyes meet Missy’s who’s filled with despair and fear like mine.

We can’t help but secretly wonder… how this could actually end well.