You Rock Like Escape The Fate

"Willy?” I said, wondering if she was still awake. We’d been on the road for at least six hours and she did most of the work in getting the boys safely in the limo, so I figured, she’d be asleep.

“Yeah, Lee?”

“Look, uhm…you know we can’t tell them, right?”

“Tell them what?”

“Why we’re doing this. They can’t know it has anything to do with Jason. They’ll think we’re insane, which we probably are, and leave the place, thinking that since they’re grown men, they can take care of themselves. If we lie and say this is some kind of vacation, they might feel different about it and stay without giving us trouble,”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah…oh and I called Daisy and Shannon, you know my old friends from Michigan? They understand the situation completely, minus the kidnapping part, and agreed to bring us supplies and stuff on a weekly basis, so we don’t have to leave camp,”

“Oh my goodness, I love Shannon! She was always so nice, such an awesome friend. I haven’t talked to that girl in ages,”

“Yep. Now get some rest, I’ll be stopping in about an hour so I can get my own shuteye,”

“Alright. Nighty-night, Liesl,”

“Night, Hayley,”

A few minutes passed and I could hear her snoring. I heard Leila stirring in the back and I thought about how sweet she seemed. I have always been one to love kids, and I was excited to know that I’d pretty much be her full time nanny for the next month or so. I also was very glad we brought her along, I hated the idea of leaving her with her mother, an unsafe place to be, since I can only bet Jason would go to wherever he knew Leila was to get to Craig. That could have meant both Leila and her daddy getting hurt, which I would NEVER have allowed.

“Daddy?” I heard her little voice say.

“It’s okay, sweetheart, he’ll be awake soon,” I said. God this whole thing made me feel like one of those creepy people you hear about in the news, and honestly, that’s not what we wanted. We just couldn’t let these guys get hurt. Or Leila, especially.

“Who are you?” she said, in her three-year-old accent.

“My name is Leisl. But you can call me Lee if you want,” I said. “The lady next to you is Hayley, and you can call her Willy,”

“Okay…do you like Barney?”

I laughed a little at that question. How adorable was this little girl, am I right?

“Yes, I like Barney. Do you?”

“Yeah…he sings nice. But not as nice as daddy!” she corrected, and I could imagine her cute little smile. We talked more about Barney, and the Teletubbies, even a little bit about Dora and Boots, but at one point I could hardly keep my eyes open. I was most definitely not about to kill all of us in a car accident on the way to trying to save them from a psycho murderer. That would be just sad.

I took an exit somewhere in the middle of Colorado and pulled into a motel parking lot.

“Goodnight, Leila Rose,”

“Ganight, Miss Liesl,” Aww. She called me Miss Liesl.

---

I woke up several hours later to hear Hayley sounding frustrated in the back and Leila whining.

“What’s wrong back there?” I said, undoing my seatbelt to get out and help. I opened the back door to see a half-conscious Hayley attempting to unbuckle Leila’s carseat belt.

“Leila says she has to go potty…” she said in her groggy morning voice. I rolled my eyes and unbuckled the little three year old, holding her in my arms and shutting the door on Hayley, who I’m sure went straight back to sleep.

“I have to go potty, Miss Liesl,”

“Okay sweetheart, we’re gonna find you a bathroom real quick. Can you hold it?” I asked. She nodded and brought her thumb to her mouth, as I spotted a Denny’s not more than a minute’s walk from where we stood. I took her to the restroom and got some breakfast for the three of us, then headed back to the car. Or limo. Whatever, same thing.

I put the food next to me in between the two front seats and moved Leila’s carseat in the passenger seat, facing the back of it. I let the little girl climb in and get comfortable and handed her some food, then got prepared to get driving again. I knew the sleepy stuff that Hayley had found to put the boys on would wear off after four days, so we had to get a move on. There were still four states left to get through.

Leila and I talked like best friends for hours on end until she decided it was time for a nap, and drifted off to sleep. I smiled at her sleeping face and wondered if I would ever have my own little girl to love and care about, I wondered if that could ever really happen for me. Growing up, I always had that fairytale dream of getting married and having my own family with my own Prince Charming. In the real world, though, I realized the chance of that actually happening.

We had made it through the next four states and were driving through Michigan, getting closer by the minute to the thirty six acre wonderland we were going to live in for the next month. It had been five days since our stop in Colorado, and I was getting very, very worried that the boys might have slipped into comas or something. They did wake up every once in awhile, but they stayed loopy while awake. I hoped they would be okay.

“Wha-…What the crap is going on?” I heard a sleepy voice say. I looked in the rearview to see Bryan coming to. I smiled and held back my urge to scream ‘Hallelujah!’ that they were okay, then thought about my reply. Hayley was asleep after caring for little Leila, so it was just me.

“Well, we’re taking you guys to a vacation. Boss’s orders. How’d you sleep?”

“Where the hell is Leila?!” He cried, shooting up in his seat.

“Calm down, she’s right here! Jesus, Bryan, chill out! We’ve been taking very good care of her, isn’t that right, Miss Leila?”

“Yeah, Uncle Bryan! Miss Liesl is very nice and Miss Hayley gave me cookies!”

“Okay, good…And you, don’t call me Bryan. Leila is the only person in this world that’s allowed to call me by my middle name. It’s Monte, thank you very much,”

I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Sure thing, Bryan,”

He growled and glared daggers at me, and then his jaw dropped as we pulled into a thick, forest trail and drove through the woods. This driveway was too narrow for a minivan, it was good that this limo was…slim.

He stared at the cabin we pulled in front of, as Ronnie and Max started to wake up around the exact same time. Wow, when they said Ronnie and Max were alike, they really meant it. They didn’t even take the stuff at the same time… o.o

“Alright, look, guys, this is the place. Welcome home. Don’t get all fidgety and try to run away, okay? I’ll explain why we’re here when we get everybody inside, so let’s go. How’s Craig back there, Hayley?”

She had awakened when the car jolted to a stop, eyes flitting nervously around to make sure we hadn’t gotten into some horrible accident. Her paranoia derived from something that she never talked about, something that I don’t even like to think about, from when she was a kid.

“Yeah, his breathing is normal. I figure he’s just a late sleeper, no worries, Lee,” she replied, putting her ear to his mouth to check his breathing rate. I reached my arm back and checked his pulse from his wrist. Normal. Thank god. Suddenly, Max turned his head to see Ronnie by his side, and flipped.

“WHY AM I IN A CAR WITH HIM!? GET ME OUT OF HERE, FRIGGIT!!” he cried, as Ronnie started shouting profanities at no one in particular, referring to the boy sitting next to him, looking just as furious. I quickly covered Leila’s young, innocent ears and yelled at Ronnie to shut up.

“Would you stop cussing around a three year old, please!?” Hayley shouted, and the whole car silenced.

“Hi Uncle Max. You sleep a lot,” the toddler said as I removed my hands from her ears and left the car. I pulled Bryan out of the car first and he looked at me, venom in his stare. I resisted the urge to look as hurt as I felt, and dragged him to the front door, letting him in and sitting him on the dusty couch so I could get the rest of them.

“I hope you drown!” he shouted after me as I slammed the door. What the heck? Then again, he does think I’m a psycho kidnapper, but still, we have been treating them nicely! Besides, Leila has been enjoying her stay on the Escape The Fate Limo Express, so the boys have nothing to worry about. Hayley helped me get the other three boys to the house, and trust me, carrying Craig in took forever, then I got the bags and luggage from the trunk while she hoisted Leila onto her hip. We walked in and she sat down on the rocker across from the two couches. Ronnie sat as far from Max as he could possibly go on one couch, Max on the opposite end, and Bryan, looking very awkward and angry was in the middle. Craig’s sleeping body took up the entire second couch, so I was left with standing room.

“Look, boys, our point of bringing you here isn’t to be insane psycho fans and do weird crap to you. No, and there is a reason we brought little Leila Rose along. We need you guys to trust us, and we need you to get along with us while we are here. Please tell me this won’t be a feud, you guys,” Hayley said, looking seriously at Max, Bryan, and Ronnie.

“What do you want with us?” Max asked, looking very eager to get as far away from Ronnie as possible.

“Nothing bad, I can tell you that. In all honesty, we are just as clueless as you guys are. But this place is where the seven of us will be living for at least a month, your boss’s orders,” I answered.

“You mean Joe wanted this?”

“Yes, sorta. Just leave the questions for when you get home, okay? That way you won’t look so hostile when you ask them,” I suggested, hoping they wouldn’t make me lie any more. I hate all forms of lying, and this wasn’t gonna get me anywhere. I couldn’t help but feel awful at the look Bryan kept giving me. All it said was, “You better not hurt her,”

Explain this to me…why was Bryan so protective of little Leila? She’s Craig’s kid, not his. Does he really think I could hurt that sweet little girl?

Never. Not in a million years. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to hate Bryan this whole trip.

Now that we had the boys safely at the cabin, we had to figure out a way to get Jason in prison, away from where he could hurt the four men in the living room with us.

“Friends, you guys? Just think of it as a vacation, and it’s not like you’re missing any tour dates, okay?” Hayley said.

Max was the first to sigh and nod his head, followed by Ronnie. Those two were the most social in the group, so I was glad they got our message. Craig began to come to, and I’m not sure, but I think I blushed when he opened his eyes and saw me. Great. His first real impression of me, and I blush.

Wait a minute…

Bryan never nodded.