Sold My Soul

I must have dozed off for awhile, because I suddenly came to at the sound of a shotgun being pumped. Rather close to my ear. Ignoring my frantically beating heart I casually cracked open one eye, trying to play it cool. The room was bright again, and the first thing I noticed was the shotgun, being held by a man I had never seen before, pressed against my temple. Some masked men were standing by the stairs, talking - quite civilly, it seemed - with who else but -

“Brian!” I said cheerfully, but I was a little stunned at how hoarse my voice sounded. “You actually showed up!”

At the sound of my voice they all turned towards me. After a momentary flash of relief crossed Brian’s face, he didn’t look happy, or scared, or even worried. In fact, he looked hurt, and he frowned at me. “Of course I did!”

He made to walk towards us, but the taller of the two masked men grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. “Hold on, Mr. Haner. We haven’t finished working out the details of our agreement yet.” He had a thick Australian accent. Brian sighed and reluctantly turned his back to me. Ouch.

I looked back at the man holding the gun to my head. He was fairly young, probably about my own age, and he looked a little nervous. “Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic?” I asked after a few minutes. He gave me an inquiring look but didn’t say anything, so I continued. “I mean, I’m a helpless little girl, tied up and injured, and you still feel the need to have a gun like that?”

He glared at me. “Not another word.”

I was saved from the decision of saying anything else or not when one of the masked men turned back to us and said, “Jacob, untie her. She’s free to go.”

Brian crossed the room and was kneeling down beside me in seconds. As soon as “Jacob” had freed my hands, Brian took them in his own, trying to rub some feeling back into my wrists. “Would you mind leaving us alone for a minute?” he asked pointedly.

Jacob turned to the others confirmation, and the Aussie, who was apparently in charge, nodded. “It’s best to heed a man’s last request. You have two minutes.” The three of them walked up the stairs, but I could see them waiting near the top.

“What’s going on? What did you say?” I asked as Brian pulled his hoodie over his head and handed it to me.

“Put that on, and keep the hood up once you’re outside. I’ll explain later.”

I struggled with the sweater; I was feeling lightheaded again, and my hands were still a little numb from lack of circulation. “Will you be okay?”

He smiled grimly, pulling out his wallet. “Of course I will be. Don’t have much of a choice but to walk out of this fine...” he pushed a couple fifty dollar bills into my hand, along with his cell phone. “Once you’re outside, walk a block or so before you call a cab. Don’t talk to anyone, don’t call the police. Remember, it wouldn’t do any good anyway. And don’t try to get back in here, no matter what. Go back to Jimmy’s, and I’ll be there soon, okay?”

Even though I knew he’d be fine, I couldn’t help but suddenly feel terrified for him. Everything that had happened in the last hours was suddenly rushing back, and I burst into tears.

Brian leaned forward and pulled me into a hug, which only made me sob harder. “Come on Ash, everything is gonna be fine. I’m sorry I got you into this, but it’s almost over.”

“You have to promise.” I mumbled into his shoulder, clinging to his tshirt tightly. It really was too bad the only time he showed any affection these days was when we were in seemingly life-or-death situations, but I surely wasn’t going to waste the moment.

“Promise what?”

“Promise you’re going to be fine. Promise you’ll be coming back to me. Promise nothing else is going to happen.”

He pulled away a little, but only enough to wipe the tears off my face with his thumb. “I promise all of the above. I’ll even one up the deal. I promise that tomorrow we can walk to Ruby’s tomorrow to get milkshakes, just the two of us.” This time he cracked a genuine smile. “Deal?”

I managed to smile through my tears. “Deal.”

“Good.” he gave me a quick peck on the lips. “We should get this show on the road then. Can you walk?”

He helped me to my feet, and I swayed a little as a wave of nausea hit me. “Yeah, no problem.” I said, even though I was aware of the fact that I was leaning on him quite heavily as we began walking.

“It’s probably a concussion.” He said sympathetically, helping me up the stairs. “We’ll take care of it later. Just go as far as you can before you call the cab, and no matter what you hear don’t turn around.”

That scared-to-death feeling suddenly returned. “But -”

He cut me off as we reached the top of the stairs, where the men were waiting. “Well, here we are!” The sudden cheerfulness was so obviously fake, but I couldn’t tell if the others actually knew that or not. “Our agreement?”

We were now standing in a tiny kitchen, though it looked like it was used for things very different than food preparation. My nausea returned rather quickly.

The leader nodded. “Jacob will escort her to the door.”

Brian gave my shoulders a squeeze before letting go and stepping away. He smiled at me sadly, and I had to hold back tears. “See you soon Babes.”

“Not fucking likely, unless you expect her to die on her way home.” One of the masked men grabbed him by the back of the shirt, pulling him backwards a few more steps. He pulled a handgun out of his waistband and jabbed it into the small of Brian’s back. “Let’s go back downstairs, shall we, Mr. Haner?”

“Whatever you like.” Brian said pleasantly. “You know I agreed to this, there’s no need for the gun. I'm not going anywhere.”

The man seemed to feign thoughtfulness. “You’re right. In that case...” he removed the gun from Brian’s back, before quickly bringing the butt of it across his head. Brian promptly hit the floor, out cold, and I had to cover my mouth with my hands to stop from screaming. For the first time, though, I didn’t bother to stop any tears from falling in front of these awful people.

The Australian guy glanced over and laughed cruelly. “He did it for you, don’t be so upset. It was his own choice.” he gestured down the short hallway. “Now love, I suggest you leave before I change my mind about letting you go.”

Jacob grabbed my upper arm and forced me down the hall. He looked a little remorseful. I glanced back quickly to see the man dragging Brian towards the stairs. “How can you work for these people?” I asked quietly as we arrived at the front door and he paused to unlock the numerous deadbolts.

“Sure beats working against them.” he said softly. “If you actually make yourself scarce now, he’ll leave you alone. Just don’t come back, and trust me on that one.” he opened the door, and the sudden rush of cool air was a relief.

“Somehow, I find that hard to do.” I said, with as much hatred as I could. He pushed me out the door, and I managed not to stumble. Rather than answer me, he just shut the door carefully. I stared at it for a moment, listening to locks slide back into place, before slowly turning away.

The night air had sufficiently cleared my head, for now anyway, but as I started down the short walkway that led up to the house, I was seriously wondering how I was possibly going to make it more than a block.

I jumped when a gunshot suddenly sounded from somewhere in the house, and once again the tears returned. I didn’t turn around though, remembering my agreement with Brian. Instead, I did as he asked and pulled up the hood of his sweater, and kept walking. Three more shots rang out, along with a scream that was much harder to block out, but this time I didn’t break pace.