Such a Beautiful Lie to Believe In

The sound of creaking, burning wood collapsing could be heard in the background. That would be my condo completely falling to the ground right before me. My life, my perfectly normal life was in that house…and now all hope for normalcy’s return lies in those burning ashes.

My head and heart were just killing me. I was racking my brain, trying to find another escape route out of this horrible situation; and well Brian just kind of killed my heart with his piercing words.

In your dreams

I guess in a sense he is right because now I know the real him…or so I thought.

“Alright now that this dump is burned to the ground, let’s get the hell out of here,” Zacky complained, looking bored out of his mind.

Matt stepped forward and looked down at me, still trapped in Brian’s grasp. “Yeah, I’ll agree with that, especially since we’ve got some business to attend to.” Somehow, I think that “business” is me…which didn’t exactly make me feel so safe.

Once the guys started heading to the end of the driveway, I dropped down to my knees so that Brian would have a near impossible time moving me. “Joie, don’t be stupid and make this any harder than it has to be,” Brian sighed, sounding incredibly annoyed.

“What’s the matter? Can’t handle forcing me to walk like this?” I challenged.

He shook his head and grumbled, “Oh, that’s it.”

He removed one of his arms from my waist and brought his hand down slapping my ass hard and it stung. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I yelped as I jumped up a little in surprise, giving him just enough of an angle to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder. I balled my fingers up into fists as I began banging on his back.

“Let me go you asshole! That hurt,” I shouted.

He chuckled, “Oh really now, Joie? If you think that hurt, then I don’t want to imagine what your reaction will be once we get back home.”

We caught up with the other guys now, who were just standing at the end of the driveway, looking absolutely ridiculous. “What are we just going to stand around here looking at the fascinating air particles?” I asked, suddenly not caring what would happen to me.

Brian claims I’m in for a world of pain when we get back to their house. But really, what could they do? Hit me a few times, give me a few bruises? I’m sure I can handle whatever they got, I mean c’mon they’re just a bunch of average guys…even though they seem to think that they’re so special.

Before any of them could reply with some sort of smartass remark, a black Escalade appeared out of nowhere. “Hey Jason, thanks for getting here so quickly,” Johnny said as he got up front with this Jason guy.

“Oh, no prob,” he said, pulling away from my destroyed home.

“So, have you heard any news from Matt yet?” Matt asked. What, is he talking in third person now?

“Nah he hasn’t called back. Last I got from him was a confirmation of the basics. Here take a look,” Jason said, chucking the phone back at Matt.

He flipped open the phone and went over to the text messaging tab. There was a text that read, “Alright so what I’ve got is 2 girls and a dude…Kathy & Brittney, and Alex. From what I’ve gotten off the streets, they were last seen at their house before it caught on fire.”

Since I was stuck right in between Matt and Brian, I was able to easily look over and read the text. And needless to say, my anger was becoming apparent. “Leave them out of this you bastards!” I growled.

“Hmm, I’m sorry Joie, maybe all those flames and smoke back there fucked with your head, but we’re the ones in charge here not you. And we aren’t stupid. You spent all day plotting with them I bet, and that’s a risk that we just can’t afford to take.”

A risk? What kind of risk would they be taking? They’re just normal guys with names and faces…neither of which Alex or Kathy know, and well Brittney doesn’t know anything about this.

“They didn’t do anything to you, so don’t involve them in your psycho games,” I replied, glaring straight ahead of me out the windshield.

Matt suddenly gripped my jaw and spun my head around so that I was forced to look at him. “Don’t challenge us or insult us ever again, or you will be sorry,” he growled, speaking each word slowly.

I tried to pull away from him, but even with the slightest move I would make, his fingers would crush into my bone. “Ok,” I gasped, simply agreeing to what he was saying so that he would let me go. Here I thought that he would fall for my little lie…but apparently he didn’t, as I would soon find out later.

The remainder of the ride was quiet until we pulled up to that one place that I was hoping to never see again. I gripped onto some plastic covering below the seat so that they couldn’t get me out of the car.

“Joie, get the hell out of the car,” Zacky said whacking my head as he got out from the back row of seats. His words caught Brian and Matt’s attention, which of course began to ruin my plan.

Expecting Matt to freak out first, I turned away from him slightly all while still maintaining my hold. “Alright, you know what,” Brian said in an unusually uncharacteristic dark tone, “no more games.”

He lunged forward and got his fingers intentionally tangled up in my wild strands of hair. He pulled his arm back toward him, which in turn forced me forward. My fingers scraped against a small, sharp piece of plastic from under the seat as I continued with my struggle. He tugged one more time, and this time my fingers were completely ripped out from underneath as I flew forward. Instead of catching me, he stepped aside so that I fell out of the Escalade and onto the ground, the concrete scratching my knees and palms on contact.

Matt, who had been watching the whole thing, walked over to the other side of the car and began clapping. “It’s nice to see that the good old Brian is back. Who knew you could be so…sinister?” he laughed.

“You haven’t seen anything yet dude.”

“Good to know. Now, why don’t we get her inside so that the fun can begin?” Matt said, kicking my ass with an unusual amount of strength, which made me skid across the pavement a little, and then I landed flat on my face.

I groaned as I sat back up and glared at both of them. “Are you going to be able to walk on your own, or do you need some assistance?” Matt asked with an evil glint in his eyes.

“Uh I think I’ll take care of it myself,” I said standing up and keeping a distance from those two. And of course, Brian had to notice this.

“Aw, what’s the matter, Joie? You used to always want to be near me and now you’re avoiding me. I’m hurt,” he said, sounding oh so upset as he wrapped his arm around me, practically choking me, as I was rammed right up against him.

“I didn’t know you were such a douche bag then,” I growled, trying feebly to push away from him.

He laughed, “Oh, you think I’m a douche bag now? Just wait till we get inside.” Him and Matt shared laughs all the way up the stairs leading to the door. What are they planning that’s going to be so bad?

The door slammed shut behind me. The only source of light was coming from a rustic chandelier with dim lights overhead. A chill crawled up my spine as Matt and Brian stared me down with incredibly creepy smirks on their faces.

“I can’t believe what you’ve done to us,” Matt said, shaking his head in disappointment.

I scoffed, “What I’ve done to you?! Are you mentally inept? You tricked me into signing a contract that forced me to stay locked up in your house! Excuse me for trying to get away from that.”

He shrugged, “Well, you signed that of your own free will, it’s not my fault that you were drunk and didn’t think it through. And then you go and break Brian’s heart by pretending to commit suicide right in front of him! That’s just horrible.”

Before I had time to state my opinion, the sound of metal sliding cut me off. I glanced over my shoulder to find that there was nothing but empty hooks holding an empty sheath on the wall.

“You just crushed my heart, Joie. Now it’s time for you to feel my pain,” Brian whispered menacingly from behind me. Where the hell did he come from?

Light reflected off of something and I realized all too late that he had taken a knife off the wall. Without warning he slashed the knife out at me, making contact with my shoulder. This particular knife he was using had a jagged edge at the tip and was about five inches long.

Each edging of the knife dug through my shirt and deep into my skin. The edges were so rough and the room was so silent that I could hear my skin ripping and blood spurting out like a gushing water fall. My left hand immediately flew up to try and cover the wound, but it was in vain. Thin streams of blood crept between my fingers and dripped onto the floor.

“I’d run if I were you,” Shadows said, casually leaning up against the wall looking as if he was enjoying the show.

At first I didn’t pick up on what he was saying, but then I realized…Brian still had the knife. He was about to swing at me again, but I got out of the way just in time. “Brian stop it!” I pleaded, barely dodging each swing.

He laughed, “A little too late for that, don’t you think?”

Tears were starting to form, clouding my vision. Ok, now I was a little scared. I didn’t know what else to do, other than to keep backing up until there was nowhere else to go. And that plan was doing just fine until my foot ran into something that tripped me. Wondering what I could of possibly tripped on, my eyes looked all over the place and I finally saw that it was Matt who had tripped me. But there was a problem with this all…I never hit the ground.

Brian yanked on my wrist, practically giving me whiplash in the process. I squeezed my eyes shut when I noticed that he was pulling me close to him with the knife still in hand. He could end up gouging my eyes out with that if he wanted…oh shit. My eyes widened once the thought crossed my mind.

“You’ll never be able to see what I had to see, Joie. But because I just love you all too much, I’m going to ensure that you won’t be able to see it even you wanted to.” Wow, it was like I totally predicted that.

Now, I wasn’t sorry for what I did, especially after what has been said since they found me. Saying sorry was becoming such a commonly used statement, that it really didn’t even mean much anymore. I’m hoping that Brian won’t pick up on that.

“N-no, Brian, please I’m sorry! You have to be able to see where I’m coming from –,” I attempted to apologize but he didn’t even stop to hear it anymore.

I totally shut my mouth once I saw him raise his knife. If he really is out to get my eyes, then I better damn well be able to dodge him. He smirked wickedly as he slashed the knife downward. Just in the nick of time, I managed to move my head to the right so that his knife missed my eyeball by a couple of inches and dug into my cheek instead. I cried out as he ripped the knife out from under layers of the thin skin, sending shredded bits of flesh flying out with the knife.

“You’re lucky you were able to dodge that,” he said.

“Lucky?!” I gasped, “how the hell is it lucky that the entire left side of my face is being dyed red as we speak?”

“Ok, I see how you’re going to be,” he mumbled as he turned and slammed the knife into the drywall. Was he giving up already? Well, I didn’t know who I was really dealing with here.

“Joie…,” he said quietly, almost sadly.

Feeling a bit of concern, I looked over in his direction only to find that he was grinning evilly. “Come over here for a minute, baby.” Ha, with that look on his face he expects me to go anywhere near him?

“Are you insane, why would I do that in this situation?” I voiced my thoughts.

“He said get the fuck over there,” Matt interrupted, shoving me as hard as he could over in Brian’s direction.

I stumbled over my feet a few times before Brian caught me, purposely gripping onto wounded shoulder. I hissed as I tried to hide the fact that I was in pain…and that I was grossed out by how the blood just oozes out when the wound is pressured ever so slightly.

“Aw, my bad I forgot about that little scratch. Let me make you a little more comfortable,” he said, trying to sound so sweet as he slammed me into the wall nearby.

“What the hell do you have some sort of anger management issue?! In case you…you didn’t notice I’m bleeding out of my shoulder and face! Isn’t that enough?” I screamed, even though I was slightly out of breath.

“It will never be enough. You fucked up big time, Joie. We aren’t the kind of guys that you should be messing with, and now you’ll see why.”

There they go again, making themselves sound like they’re so damn superior. Where do they get such an ego boost from? Just because they’re arms are unnaturally pumped and covered in tattoos doesn’t make them any better than the next guy. Needless to say, my curiosity got the best of me once again and caused me to zone out on the psycho pinning me to the wall.

I’m pretty sure he managed to get my attention once he started slamming his fist into my face nonstop. He had placed his other arm up against and across my chest so that I couldn’t do anything but struggle to breathe and squirm around. Punch after punch, all I kept seeing was stars as I begged my body to just pass out already. There was no time to speak…all I could do was be there and take it until he was satisfied – but at this rate, he might as well just keep going at it until he punches my damn eye out of its socket!

But I wasn’t giving up. There was something strange going on here and I wasn’t about to become blind before I could do any research. I built up as much strength and resistance as I could until I managed to slide right out from under him. He didn’t see it coming, seeing as it was mid-punch, and he ended up getting his fist jammed in the wall, which brought a smile to my face, hands down. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to enjoy this…I had to get to the front door.

“Matt…get her,” Brian breathed out, frustrated that he was now completely stuck.

I glanced over my shoulder to see that Matt had gotten up off his lazy ass and was chasing after me…but what I didn’t see was that he had gotten the knife out of the wall. The faster I ran, the more blood seemed to gush out of both openings. I wiped off the dripping wet blood as much as I could, but all that ended up doing was smearing it all over my hands.

I grasped the door knob tightly in my hands, despite the fact that I couldn’t really get a good grip because my hands were soaked. Just as I began to open the door, I felt a stinging sensation in the back of my neck. This feeling turned into burning pain as I fell onto the cold tile floor feeling suddenly numb. My neck was wet with a warm liquid more commonly known as blood.

“Did you really think you’d be able to escape?” Brian laughed as he joined Matt in towering above me.

I felt around on the back of my neck until my finger slipped into the deep hole that Matt had made with the knife. All of the sudden, if felt as if I couldn’t move anything below my neck. My arm was frozen midair. “W-what did you do to me?!” I cried.

Matt shrugged, “Nothing special…I just stabbed the nerves in the back of your neck that control movement up and down the spine. You’ll be paralyzed for a good 30 minutes. Just enough time to get you locked up, which should complete your punishment.”

That bastard paralyzed me?! How would he be smart enough to know a tactic like that? I turned away from them and stared up at the door knob which was now dripping blood. They were some kind of monsters that much I knew for sure. And I am going to find out what makes them so different from the rest of society, what gives them their confidence boost. It looks like I’m gonna have to find the answers to all these questions on my own.

And besides, what could be better than doing an inside job? All the evidence I need is right here in this house. And mark my words, I will find every single shred.