CHAPTER Five
Megan went to school with the need to find out what people knew about Samantha’s disappearance and almost immediately began asking classmates if Samantha had said anything to anyone about running away or going out of town for a while. Every answer was no and by noon several students of the school were speculating about the Samantha King disappearance. Unfortunately, due to the small town mentality that nothing terrible could happen, only a few people were actually worried. Megan was one of them.
“But she wouldn’t just leave,” Megan said to Alison Ellis.
“You don’t know that,” Alison replied. “Maybe she got in a fight with her parents?”
“No. I could hear it on the phone. Nothing happened. Samantha just disappeared.”
“Megan, come on, she wasn’t kidnapped. This is Ashland. Okay. That just wouldn’t happen here.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I gotta go.” The bell signaling the start of class was about to ring and Alison wanted to get to the bathroom before going to Biology.
Grrrr, Megan moaned to herself. It was so frustrating. No one was taking this seriously. They were acting as if people just left all the time.
Her next class was World Literature; a class she had regretted signing up for the moment she stepped foot into the room last winter when second semester began. It wasn’t that she disliked reading, but the teacher was an old bitch and for some strange reasons didn’t like guys, or any girl who participated in sports - especially cheerleading. She was also vocal in her support of the Republican party and hated Obama because she felt he was a socialist Muslim who wanted to ruin the nation, one who was even responsible for the terrible oil spill in the gulf even though there was nothing he could really do about it.
Megan knew that her teacher was not alone in her opinions and wouldn’t care about them if she kept them to herself. The teacher didn’t, though, and seemed to find ways of comparing every negative aspect of Obama and the Democratic party - both real and fabricated - to the literature they were reading and then would go on a rant. Making the situation worse was that most people in town felt the same way, including her father and the school board, so no one cared when she complained. Plus the teacher had been working there since her parent’s were students and no one had the guts to get rid of her. Still, it made Megan sick every time she went on a rant, especially when it was fueled by something like a passage within the novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, which she would use to show what life would be like once Obama turned the nation into a socialist country.
Most students brushed that away and wouldn’t have despised her if that were her only flaw. The one that pissed off her fellow students was her thought that kids their age couldn’t help but get in trouble and be destructive during their free time and needed to be shackled down by the burden of homework and reading assignments in order to prevent such unacceptable behavior. It was really bad.
Even Jimmy Hawthorn, the guy who sat behind her and never really said a word to anyone unless spoken to, had voiced his opinion of her on several different occasions. She was awful, yet there was nothing Megan, or any other student in class, could do about it.
“Hey Jimmy,” Megan said a minute before the bell was going to ring. She twisted in her seat so she could see him.
“Yeah?” Jimmy asked, his eyes drifting away from hers.
“Did you hear about Samantha King?”
“What about her?” he asked quickly, his eyes back and staring into hers.
“She disappeared yesterday after school.” It surprised her that he hadn’t heard about it, even if he rarely ever talked to anyone. By now it was common news.
“Oh yeah, I think I did hear something about that. She ran away or something, didn’t she?”
“No,” Megan snapped. “Samantha wouldn’t run away. Something happened to her.”
“Like what?”
“Like she was kidnapped by someone. My dad doesn’t think so but - ”
“Whoa,” Jimmy interrupted. “Your dad doesn’t think she was kidnapped?”
“No, but I know she was. Samantha had no reason to run away. Something happened to her.”
Ms. Gliek walked in just as the bell rang. Anyone who wasn’t in their seats, even if they were just standing next to them, was marked tardy. It made Megan so angry. Teachers, even ones she liked, focused too much on stupid disciplinary rules, tardiness being one of them. If a student walked in twenty minutes late that was one thing. Marking them tardy because they weren’t sitting in their seat properly when the bell rang, that was something else.
* * *
Jimmy had expected there to be a huge uproar over the fact that Samantha King had never returned home the night before, but aside from a few speculative comments, no one was really saying that much, and apparently the police weren’t even involved yet, which was amazing. He had thought for sure every single police officer would have been at the school asking questions, similar to the scene in the movie Scream after the two kids were murdered in the beginning, and that the FBI and news media would have all descended upon the town. Instead the only one who even seemed remotely concerned was Megan Reed, the daughter of the town sheriff, and a good friend Samantha’s. It was amazing and a huge relief.
At the same time he knew that things still had the potential to turn hectic and that his visions of the town being swamped with reporters and FBI agents and other law enforcement agencies could still happen, especially if Samantha wasn’t heard from. Once she was missing for a week or so people would start to panic. Until then he felt like he could relax his fears a bit, though of course he still had to stay alert.
* * *
Brett Murphy saw Jimmy Hawthorn and that new girl Tina talking in the hallway before school ended and knew he had to interfere somehow. He had to inform this Tina girl that she was much too pretty to be hanging out with the likes of Jimmy.
A look of fear spread across Jimmy’s face as Brett approached (at least this is what Brett saw).
“Hey Jimmy, how’s it going?” Brett asked.
Jimmy and Tina swiveled around to look at him. “What do you want shitface?” Jimmy asked.
Without warning Brett had Jimmy in a headlock. Tina gasped.
“Who’s the shitface now you stupid cock sucking bastard? Who is it?” Brett looked over at Tina while holding Jimmy and said, “Why do you hang out with this loser? Don’t you know he’s the punching bag of the entire - ” all the air rushed out of him as Jimmy’s elbow connected with his stomach just below the ribcage.
His arm loosened.
“Let’s go,” Jimmy said to Tina after pulling free.
Brett, gasping for air, straightened himself and looked around. The bitch who had once reported him for using a hall pass to go get a Coke from the vending machine during class hours was looking at him. God, he hated all hall monitors, especially that one.
Before she could get close he walked away, his mind thinking about one thing: Jimmy. The bastard was going to pay for this.
* * *
“I don’t know why, but he’s picked on me ever since the first grade,” Jimmy said. “It all began with the game Four Square if you can believe that,” he added with a smile.
“Four Square?” Tina asked. “Really?”
“Seriously. When I was little, that game was all the rage during recess. The school had like five Four Square patterns laid out, yet huge lines still developed all the time at each one. I wasn’t very good at the game but liked it and always got knocked out, but then one day I started to do really good and got to the King Square and was allowed to make the rules. It was really cool but everyone ganged up on me to knock me out, which obviously is how the game works, but being that young and being ganged up on and then being knocked out right away really got to me and I started crying and ran behind a tree. After that, Brett never left me alone.”
“What a jerk,” Tina said.
“Yeah, but now it doesn’t really bother me. He thinks it does, which is why he keeps at it, probably because it used to make me cry in junior high school and he once pinned me on the ground and pushed my face in goose shit. I started working out my freshman year though since they had a weight room and now every time he tries to hurt me I just push back. He doesn’t seem to realize that I could kick his ass if I wanted to.”
“Plus you sit alone everyday so people probably think it still gets to you.”
“Well, it doesn’t, I just prefer to sit by people whose company I enjoy.”
Tina smiled which caused Jimmy to blush.
After that neither one knew what to say, but thankfully their silence didn’t last long since Alan came and joined them for the walk home, the words, “so I hear you two are going to prom together,” leaving his lips.
“Yeah,” Tina said, again smiling.
“Aw, that is so cute,” Alan taunted.
“Watch it,” Jimmy said though it didn’t really bother him all that much because the more he had thought about it, the more he enjoyed the idea of going to the prom with Tina. In fact, he couldn’t believe he had previously gone so long without even thinking about asking her, his mind fine with the idea of missing what would be such a wonderful moment for the two of them. It was going to be great.
* * *
He really likes her, Alan said to himself as he watched the two hug before parting at Tina’s place, their conversation having carried them there without interruption, which seemed unreal since their talks on the way home usually consisted of several moments of silence and then a hesitant See you tomorrow before separating.
Jimmy watched as Tina walked up to her house and then gave a quick wave when she turned to look back before stepping inside, a huge smile on her face.
Jimmy had a smile too; one which didn’t fade away as he rejoined Alan on the sidewalk.
“What?” Jimmy asked.
Alan smiled. “You’re glowing.”
“Shut up.”
“And now you’re blushing too. My God man, you’ve completely fallen for her.”
“I . . .” Jimmy stopped. “Okay, maybe I like her a little, so what, I’m allowed.”
“Yes, you are allowed,” Alan said as the two started walking. “But only just a little, and you can only like her, not love her. Those are the rules for Mr. I Never Will Be Infatuated By A Girl like all those losers at school.”
“Oh, you are so asking for a beat-down,” Jimmy said.
“You couldn’t hurt a fly,” Alan said.
“Wanna bet? I elbowed Brett is the stomach right before leaving and was going to punch him too if a hall monitor hadn’t been coming around the corner.”
“Epic! No wonder you’re glowing. You’ve kicked ass and have a hot girl going to prom with you. Jesus.”
Jimmy didn’t reply and Alan wondered if he was pushing it too far. The trouble was that Jimmy’s relationship was exciting for him and he couldn’t help it. His older brother had been alone for so long due to his self imposed prison, and now it looked like Tina might help him break free.
“So, what happened?” Alan asked.
“Nothing really, he just put me in a headlock and I elbowed him right under the ribcage.” Jimmy shrugged. “I may have knocked the wind out of him, but I don’t know for sure.”
“Sweet.”
“It was nothing.”
“Yeah, but you know how everyone is. By tomorrow people will be saying you beat him up.”
“True.”
Physical contact always turned into more than it really was in school. Simply being pushed against a locker could turn into a person having the shit kicked out of him by the end of the day. Jimmy had experienced this quite a bit. Someone would trip him in the hall or knock him off balance so he hit the divider between two doors, and he wouldn’t retaliate even though he could beat the crap out of them, and within a day word about the ‘fight’ would have spread, especially on Facebook. Jimmy never seemed to care though, probably because he knew if the kids really wanted to fight with him they would be in for a world of hurt, not to mention the threat of being expelled once the school board got involved.
“It’s too bad Brett wasn’t in the weight room that day when you showed everyone up,” Alan said.
“He’s had to have heard about it.”
“Yeah, but if he had seen it he probably wouldn’t be such a jerk.”
“The guy’s a dumbass and is always going to be a jerk. Being able to out bench someone with free weights isn’t going to change that.”
“Most seemed to shut up after that though.”
“They did, didn’t they,” Jimmy said, the sagging smile getting a booster shot of ego enhancers.
“Of course your strength is no match against my mad Kung Fu skills.” Alan did a pretend hand chop with his statement. Laughter followed.
* * *
Samantha heard the latch of the door click open and looked toward it. Despite being forced to do it, she was embarrassed by what was sitting in the bucket. She had no idea why this embarrassment filled her - it wasn’t like she was trying to impress Jimmy with her lady like qualities, yet her actions and the resulting smell caused her face to go red.
Jimmy’s face and the small gasp that escaped his lips as he walked in only added to her embarrassment. Several hours had drifted by since her use of the bucket, but during that time the smell had not weakened. Actually, it had probably gotten worse.
Samantha wanted to say something, but no words came.
Jimmy didn’t say anything either. Instead he just took the bucket from between her legs and went back outside for a few minutes. When he came in again the bucket had been emptied and washed out. He set it aside.
Samantha’s body ached from standing and she wanted down. Boredom had gotten to her as well. During the peak of it she had actually wished for Jimmy’s return just so she’d have some company. Now, however, she wanted to be alone again, her mind cursing her earlier wishes.
“Please let me down?” she begged.
Jimmy nodded and walked over to the tied-off rope end and undid it. Samantha collapsed to her knees and then down to her butt. Pain erupted everywhere. The sudden freedom to move around had its costs.
Jimmy stepped over and undid the ropes from around her wrists. This added to the pain as the blood raced back. The pins and needles attacked.
Once again Samantha found herself grinding her teeth together as a way of distorting the pain. It wasn’t really a conscious action.
Jimmy walked over to the shelf and took a new bottle of water down and handed it to her. He then grabbed a bag of pretzels, opened it, and tasted one. Satisfaction ran through his face as the pretzel went down. He brought the bag over.
Hunger twisted her insides at the sight and she stuffed several in her mouth. A large gulp of water helped down the mouthful.
Jimmy just stared at her.
Samantha realized something as she took another handful of pretzels. She was naked from the waist down. Jimmy could see everything, and he was looking.
Where were her pants?
Her eyes caught sight of them over by the blankets on the opposite side of the wall. In order to get to them, she would have to crawl, which would expose herself even more. It was not an action she wanted to take part in.
“Can you bring me my pants?” she asked, hesitation staining her words.
“If you do something for me first,” Jimmy said. He then stood up and unbelted his pants.
No, she thought while backing away.
“Don’t make me force you,” Jimmy said. “All I want is another handjob.”
A handjob? She questioned. Why was that all he ever wanted? Here he could have her body at any time, yet he never took it. What was wrong with him?
Are you complaining? a voice asked.
No.
Knowing everything would get worse if she denied him; Samantha crawled over and sat before him. She then reached up a hand and took hold of his erection.
Jimmy shivered beneath her.
“Don’t close your eyes this time,” he said. “And look up at me.”
Samantha obeyed him, her hand slowly moving back and forth against him.
Jimmy groaned and his body started to hunch forward. His hands were restless and couldn’t figure out what to do. His knees shook.
It took about thirty seconds and then he came, his seed splattering her hand and shirt. It was warm and sticky and sickening.
“Keep going,” Jimmy gasped.
Fighting the urge to be sick, Samantha continued to move her hand back and forth, the thick liquid oozing between her fingers and him.
More dripped out and eased itself to the floor.
Jimmy pulled away with a gasp, his hand grabbing himself and squeezing the last of his seed out.
Samantha held her hand out before her, semen clinging to it. The hand felt contaminated. She wanted to clean it off.
Jimmy saw this and suddenly said, “Lick it all off.”
“What?” she asked.
“Lick it off your hand. I want to see you put it in your mouth and swallow it.”
“No, I can’t.” Her stomach turned over just thinking about it, nausea building.
“If you don’t I’ll hang you for twenty minutes.”
Her hands still had numb spots from the last time and she knew she didn’t want to do that again. But she also didn’t want to put that disgusting stuff in her mouth. No. She couldn’t do it. Just the thought was going to make her sick.
“One, two, three - ” he began, his own hand wiping the residue from himself onto his bare leg.
Samantha took a deep breath and brought the hand to her face. Hesitation gripped her. Her eyes looked up at Jimmy. He was staring down at her, his face hard, his eyes mean.
She stuck out her tongue and touched it to one of the globs on her finger. The taste was unlike anything she had ever had inside her mouth before, and it disgusted her. It seemed salty and - she didn’t know what flavor it was.
“Do it,” Jimmy ordered, his impatience growing.
Samantha ran her tongue against her finger and scooped up a gooey strand. This time the taste was ten times worse than the small sample she had taken and caused her to gag. The urge to vomit almost got the better of her, yet somehow she forced it back down. She then took another lick from her hand, this one nearly falling off her tongue as the weight of the glob shifted, and quickly swallowed it. No gag followed and she took another quick lick and then another and another until her hand was cleaned off.
Once finished the sickness hit again. Like before, she managed to fight it off. She wondered if it was a fight worth winning. Did she really want that stuff swimming inside of her?
“I’m going to reward you tonight,” Jimmy said while handing her panties back. Satisfaction and excitement filled his words. “You’re not going to stand all night.”
“Really?” she asked while pulling the panties on. Relief at having that area covered nearly overwhelmed her.
“Yes,” he said. “Stand up and put your hands behind your back.”
She obeyed.
Jimmy began wrapping the rope around them and then pulled the knot tight. “Walk over to the pipe.”
She did.
“Sit with your back to it.”
She sat and he tied the rope around the pipe. This gave her about a foot or two of movement in her arms and also made it so she could move to the side and lean against the wall. Her mind was so warped by this that she actually said, “Thank you,” and hoped the night would never end. She just wanted to sit there forever. It felt so good.
* * *
“Do you know a girl in your class named Samantha King?” Rebecca asked Tina that night at dinner, one which had started out pretty quiet thanks to the bitterness from the night before.
“Maybe,” Tina said. The name sounded familiar but she couldn’t put it to a face.
“Well I was talking to Martha today and she said a girl named Samantha King was kidnapped while walking home from school yesterday.” Her mother spoke slowly, the way people did when something terrible had happened and they wanted to show concern, yet didn’t really feel it.
Now Tina knew exactly who her mother was talking about. Her disappearance had been an impromptu topic in a few of her classes today. Some had even gone so far as to speculate on her being kidnapped, but most thought it unlikely?
“Everyone I talked to says she ran away,” Tina said.
Rebecca shook her head. “Martha says the girl was an honor student and was planning on going to college in the fall. Girls like that don’t just run away.”
“Maybe you’re right? After all, you’re the expert when it comes to running away.”
Her mother slammed her palm on the table after that causing the dishes to jump, and said, “You know, I’ve just about had enough of your attitude and guilt-trip attacks. You think you know everything that happened between your father and me, but you don’t.”
“Maybe if you had picked up the phone once in a while, you could have filled me in,” Tina said.
“Maybe if you had picked up the phone yourself, I would have known you were interested,” Rebecca said back.
“Yeah, blame the kid,” Tina said. “That always looks really good. While you’re at it, why don’t you just go ahead and tell me that you left because of me too. Tell me everything was fine until I showed up.”
“You were the reason I left, but not in the way you think,” Rebecca said.
“So it was my fault,” Tina said, unwanted tears starting to fall. “Good, I’m glad we cleared that up, though now I guess I have to accept the fact that my father was a liar because he always said it had nothing to do with me.” With that Tina left the table and headed for the backyard.
“Tina, stop,” Rebecca called from the table.
Tina ignored her and stepped out into the backyard.
A few seconds later, her mother was at the back door and called out to her. “Tina, I’m sorry, that didn’t come out right.”
Tina tried to ignore her but could only walk so far before she hit the fence of the neighbor’s yard.
“Tina, at least come back and finish your dinner!”
Tina didn’t respond, her mind wishing she had grabbed her purse on the way out so she could drive into town. Now she didn’t want to walk back into the house to get them, not with her mother trying to be all sentimental. No. Instead she would rather have her mother stop pretending like she cared and leave her alone, almost as if the two were roommates that hated each other rather than mother and daughter.
Now how are you going to get the dress?
Earlier that afternoon before Rebecca had come home from work Tina had gone into town and looked at some of the prom dresses that were on sale, several of which she liked. Her favorite had been a beautiful burgundy gown that had fit her nicely when she tried it on, her body “displayed like a delicate flower” according to the salesman. Unfortunately the price had been too high for her savings account which had dwindled considerably since her move to Ashland Creek that winter, the local businesses barely able to provide part-time work for adults, let alone teenagers. Had Tina been a year older this wouldn’t have been a problem because once she turned eighteen she could access the money left to her by her father, which had been an eye bulging sum - apparently her father had made some really smart investments during the stock market bottom in early 2009. Now though it seemed her only option was to ask Rebecca for some money, which she had been planning on doing at dinner.
Guess again, her mind taunted. And then, Just face it, you’re not getting that dress.
Her fingers gripped the fence rail while thinking this, her knuckles turning white.
* * *
Jimmy had never planned on letting Samantha sit on the ground all night, but after seeing the embarrassment on her face about the bathroom bucket, and then actually feeling bad for forcing her to eat his semen even though it was a huge turn-on, a soft spot had gotten the better of him and he couldn’t help himself.
Ideally he would have used handcuffs or some form of locking shackles to attach her to the pipe, but he didn’t have either. Thankfully he was confident that his rope work was solid. He also was pretty sure that her exhaustion from standing up for an entire day coupled with the mental exhaustion of being in a state of constant fear would make it so she pretty much fell asleep right away. The blanket he had wrapped around her added strength to his theory, though he was sure it would fall off once she started moving around.
Either way, he knew she would be grateful for being allowed to sit all night long, which made him feel good as he started up the stairs to the trap door, which he slowly eased open.
Voices echoed.
Startled, Jimmy lowered the trapdoor back down, his mind having been prepared for someone to be around at some point, but not expecting it.
“Dude, if he came through here half an hour ago, then he’s probably long gone by now,” a recognizable voice said.
“Yeah man,” someone else said. “Besides, where the hell would he be going? He probably just pulled in here to take a piss or something.”
“No.” This voice belonged to Brett. “I pulled up and waited so I could clip him with my door or something, but he never came back out, so wherever he was going, he went through this way.”
“But there is nothing through there but forest and soy fields, man,” the first voice said, one which Jimmy now knew belonged to Matt.
“And the school,” the other voice said, this one belonging to Ron. “You can get there through there.”
Matt and Ron were Brett’s little sidekicks and had pretty much been by his side since the fourth grade when all three shared a class, one that Jimmy had unfortunately shared with them as well. As single identities the two couldn’t inspire fear in anyone, especially Matt who was about five three when walking with good posture. Alongside Brett, though, who would have been a formidable obstacle on the football field if he had the grades to play, the two had been able to instill fear in plenty of classmates and under classmates in earlier years. Now most didn’t give a shit and just saw them as idiots, ones who the system was going to leave behind eventually, but the three didn’t realize this and still felt like they were in control over everyone. They thought the lack of confrontation by other classmates was out of respect or fear, but really it was due to indifference. No one cared anymore.
“I don’t give a f*ck where he’s going,” Brett said. “I just want to be here when he gets back. The little shit has been disrespecting me and needs to be taught a lesson.”
“Man, I don’t want to sit around here waiting for him,” Ron moaned. “What if he’s already gone?”
“If you want to be a p-ssy go on home, I don’t give a flying f*ck.”
“Do we still have beer inside?” Matt asked.
“We should unless some cocksucker stole it all,” Brett said.
“So there,” Matt continued. “We can chill here for a while with a beer and see if he comes back.”
No, no, no! Jimmy silently screamed. He didn’t want to wait around for them to get bored and leave, especially with his bike tucked away in the bushes because they would find it if they decided to look for it. Even worse, he didn’t want any sort of confrontation near the fallout shelter even though it was well hidden because if he could find it by accident one day when not even looking, they could do the same, especially if they were interested in why he was hanging out here.
Jimmy lifted the trapdoor a little more so he could see out into the yard of the Hood place. Brett and Ron were sitting on the back porch lighting cigarettes - or what appeared to be cigarettes. A second later Matt came out through the broken window with some beers, the plywood covering the window, which they had probably pried open a bit at one point, slamming back in place.
“Seven?” Brett snapped when looking down into the bucket. “How much did we drink last time?”
“Don’t know,” Matt said, “but this is all that’s left.”
“F*ck me. I’m gonna have to get my brother to buy us more.”
“Man, can’t you find someone else to buy us beer,” Ron whined. “He charges too much.”
“Maybe you can find someone to buy it, shithead.”
Ron didn’t reply.
Jimmy considered his options. The three were about thirty feet away, which meant he could get on his bike and ride away from them without a problem, so long as he didn’t get tripped up somewhere. The only trouble was he didn’t want them seeing him anywhere near the fallout shelter.
What a mess.
He lowered the lid and looked back down at the main door at the bottom of the stairs and thought about heading back inside with Samantha, but really didn’t feel like it at the moment. He also had to pee really bad thanks to the handjob, something which always happened after he ejaculated and didn’t feel like using the bucket.
Thank God they weren’t back there when I went to clean out the bucket, Jimmy said to himself. He had taken the bucket all the way around to the hose on the other side of the house and sprayed it clean. While doing that he would have been completely vulnerable and while the metal pale would make a great weapon, especially if he hit one of them in the face, he would still have to contend with the questions on why he was hanging out at the Hood place, both from them and from the police who would undoubtedly investigate the fight, especially if he used the bucket as a weapon. Without it, however, he wouldn’t stand a chance. One on one he could take any of them down without too much trouble. Three on one, well, that was a different story.
He lifted the trapdoor again and looked out. The sun was setting, but not fast enough for his liking.
He lowered the lid and waited.
Once it was dark, he would be able to sneak away, though hopefully the group would get tired of waiting and leave before that. Until then he was stuck.