I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember

Another two weeks had past and nothing out of the ordinary happened, other than Poison kissing him on the forehead every now and again. Frank continued to stay on his best behavior and focused only on staying that way. In no time, he had become used to being a good boy and being kept in chains most of the time. He also gotten used to Poison. Frank didn’t feel bothered, hateful, or scared of him anymore. It was impossible to be when he kept him fed, clean, and warm. Even if somewhere deep inside Poison he still wanted to touch Frank sexually; he never allowed Frank to know. In fact, with how nice was being to Frank, you would think Poison simply kidnapped him to take care for him for strictly platonic reasons.

Poison had started bestowing gifts on Frank to keep him from becoming bored, such as coloring books, movies, and even a handheld gaming device with a bagful of games. Frank thanked him and immediately got lost in the tiny screen of adventures and fun. Two hours later, Kobra came barging in demanding his handheld game console be returned to him. Poison was lounging on the couch after just getting out of the shower. He had been sketching another picture of Frank when his brother had come barging in on their quiet time together. Poison had glared at his younger brother before standing up to him and telling him to get over it. Kobra argued that it belonged to him. Poison told him he didn’t give a shit and that it now belongs to Black Opal. Kobra looked over at Frank to see him wearing a green mask that looked to be similarly constructed to look like one of the Killjoys. Kobra stopped his bickering instantly to stare at his brother with a look of sympathy and pity, rather than anger.

Frank watched them stare at each other, before something heavy was chucked out of nowhere onto his lap. Frank jumped in surprise until he saw it was another handheld console. Everyone looked towards the doorway to see Sable leaning against the doorframe with an amused look on her face. She told the brothers that they were acting like two little kids, and said that Frank could have her device instead. Kobra gave her a grateful nodded before snatching his console out of Frank’s hold, and leaving the room without a word. Sable could tell something was wrong by the look on Kobra’s face as he passed her by, and immediately waved goodbye to Poison and Black Opal before shutting the door behind her.

At the end of the week, Poison had to leave to attend another auction. He may not have participated in rounding up the prizes like he always did with the other Killjoys, but that still didn’t mean that he could just skip the auction whenever he wanted to. His presence was mandatory. With a kiss to Frank’s forehead, he left the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Frank was still a little tired and had decided to take a nap. Poison returned some time later with some cake and ice cream for Frank.

As the weekend was coming to an end, the whistle went off again to alert the Killjoys of an emergency. Poison was putting the finishing touches on the last page of his third sketchbook when he heard it ring. He immediately jumped up to his feet and slipped into his blue coat and black combat boots. Frank watched him put his belt on that carried his bowie knife by his side. With a kiss to Frank’s head, Poison left the room in a hurry with a slam of his bedroom door behind him. Frank listened as the faints sounds of hollering and footsteps pounding throughout the house faded away in minutes. He wasn’t sure what was going on at the moment, but decided that he would ask Poison later when he returned. Until then, he was going to snuggled back into the warmth of the sheets and wait it out.

Frank was shaken awake a few seconds later by who he thought was Poison. Frank’s eyes widen as his ears picked up on a feminine voice, and he saw that it belonged to some red-headed girl standing over him in what looked like a potato sack dress.

“Hey, get the fuck up! We have to go NOW!” The girl whispered sharply before her nails dug into Frank’s arms.

Frank pulled away as he abruptly awoken and instantly sat up. The girl before him was an actually person rather than a dream sitting front of him and she looked like she had been beaten up in a fight. “Wha- who are you? H-How did you get in here?”

The girl placed a finger over her busted lip and shushed him loudly. “Shut up or they’ll hear you! My name is Amelia and I’m a prisoner just like you.”

Frank shook his head in disbelief. “I-I don’t understand. How-“

“I don’t have time to explain that right now! We need to get out of here before they come back!” Amelia interrupted before making a grab for Frank’s arm to drag him out of the warm comfort of his bed, but was met with resistance from Frank’s chains. Frank let out a whimper at the chain’s grip on his delicate skin before he noticed a machete sheathed at Amelia’s side. She followed his gaze to her weapon and immediately a lightbulb went off in her head. She unsheathed the long blade and hovered it over the weak chains keeping Frank to the bed.

“I’m gonna have to break it, ok? Trust me, this will work. I’ve done it before.” Amelia promised before quickly dropping the end of the machete on the chain without waiting for his nod of approval. Frank squealed and hid behind his hands. When he peeked past his fingers he saw that the chain had indeed broke. He was finally free. Had it always been that easy, Frank wondered to himself before Amelia made a second grab for Frank’s arm. This time she yanked him out of the bed to stand at her side. Frank was about to let her drag him behind her when he saw the bright green of his mask on the floor. It must have been knocked onto the floor by Amelia, Frank thought to himself.

“Wait a second.” Frank cried as he tried to reach for his mask. He wasn’t sure why but he didn’t want to leave it behind.

“NO! We don’t have time for this! We have to go before they kill us!” Amelia shriek back before yanking him off his feet and out the bedroom door. Frank winced from the pain of his arm almost being yanked out of its socket and decided to follow her so she wouldn’t dislocate his arm. Amelia pulled him this way and that behind her until they reached the front door. Frank was surprised that they made it there alive without any of Killjoys chasing them. But then of course a memory quickly came to him pertaining to the Killjoys being called away earlier. That explained why no one was trying to stop them from escaping out the front door. Frank’s brain was running rather slow, which could also explain why he didn’t notice that Amelia had been carrying a machete on her when she was waking him up. The blade was still unsheathed and looked pretty old but still sharp.

Frank swallowed the lump of dread in his throat. Amelia opened the front door and saw that the field around the house was empty all the way to the woods. She could already taste the freedom on the tip of her tongue and was eager to get back to it.

Amelia looked down at Frank. “We need to run for the woods. They won’t be able to track us down there.”

Frank didn’t say anything as he looked up at her. He could feel the perspiration on his skin becoming cold from the light breeze slipping through the cracked doorway. What season was it?

Amelia’s eyes widen in panic at his confused state just standing there. Why wasn’t he running? “Well what the hell are you waiting for!? I said RUN damnit!!”

Frank nearly jumped out of his shoes at the loud shrill of her voice, and instantly took off in a run for the tree line. Amelia followed close behind before grabbing ahold of his other arm as she passed him to make sure they wouldn’t lose each other in the forestry. Frank had no idea what was going on, or what he was doing. It was almost like his brain had been asleep for centuries and was now processing everything at an incredibly slow pace. Out of fear, Frank followed Amelia’s orders without a second thought, and allowed her to drag him along behind her through the thick forest without protest. It wasn’t until both of their ears picked up the sound of passing vehicles that his mind began to finally register with what was going on. They both stopped and turned towards the sound. They knew what it was, and what it meant. Amelia’s face lit up with joy and relief. Frank’s face was down casted and filled with panic. Amelia ran forward but was yanked back a step by Frank. She looked behind her to see Frank standing with tears in his eyes while vigorously rubbing his wrists over each other.

“N-No. I-I can’t. I can’t go with you. I-I’m sorry.” Frank whimpered as he took a shaky step back.

Amelia stared at him in shock. “What are you- You can’t be serious! Our families are right through those trees! Our freedom is right through those stupid fucking branches! You can do this, kid. We can do this together.”

Frank squeezed his eyes shut as his head dropped down towards the floor. The tears trailed down his cheek as he started to cry. “You d-don’t understand.”

No, YOU don’t understand! If you don’t get out there onto that road, then you’ll be stuck here. They’ll kill you. They’ll kill you just like they killed the rest of us. We’re not the first, and we won’t be the last, but we can be the exception. The police will keep us safe. We’ll be under heavy guard or put into witness protection! There is no way they’ll be able to find us. Now come with me if you want to see your family again.” Amelia offered for the last time, as she reached a supportive hand out for Frank to take.

Frank stared at her dirty palm with small dried blood splatter sprinkled on it. He could remember Poison threatening to kill his family, and how easily he was able to walk through the halls of his home undetected. It would have been so easy for Poison to have killed his parents, but he didn’t, and Frank was grateful for that. He didn’t know what would happen if he dared to take Amelia’s hand. What would happen to his parents? Would they be put under protection from Poison and the Killjoys, or would they be found brutally murdered by them? Frank couldn’t stand the thought of losing his parents, but at the same time, that wasn’t only the reason for what he was about to do.

Frank looked into Amelia’s eyes and shook his head for the final time. Amelia’s eyes turned to pity as her hand slowly lowered to her side. Without a glance back, Amelia turned around and shot through the last wall of forestry to flag down a vehicle. Frank listened as a car came to a stop, the sound of a door closing and then the sound of the vehicle driving off.

Frank fell to his knees as he began to cry. He couldn’t help but beat himself up over his decision. He decided to stay with his kidnapper, instead of escaping to freedom. It had nothing to do with any lack of hope in the local law enforcement to keep him and his family safe from harm. No, as much as he didn’t want to admit it…some sick part of him wanted to stay here, and as much as he wanted to deny it, it was all because of his kidnapper, Poison.

Oh my god, what the hell has he done to me?