Jimmy

CHAPTER Nine



“Whoa, what is going on?” Tina asked as Alan, Jimmy and she stepped into the school parking lot that Thursday morning, their tired bodies having barely spoken more than simple greetings as they walked toward the school, a situation that was typical given the early hour. The commotion outside the school, however, was atypical, and for a moment all three of them stopped in their tracks, their eyes needing a moment to take everything in.

“It looks like they have Sheriff Deputies at every entrance,” Alan said.

“You don’t think there was a shooting?” Tina asked.

“No,” Alan said. “They wouldn’t be letting anyone inside if there had been. It’s more like they are directing traffic or something.” He turned toward Jimmy. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Jimmy said with a shrug. It was a lie. He knew exactly what was going on, or at least knew what had prompted whatever was going on and now regretted the bag of bondage tapes he had stuck in his backpack, ones that he had planned on throwing away during lunch, because for all he knew they were searching the students.

No, more likely they are asking students questions, he said to himself in an attempt to calm his mind down. You have nothing to worry about.

Still, bringing the tapes to school had been a stupid idea. He should have just left them at home and thrown them away that afternoon. Nothing would have happened during the seven hours he was away. No one would have searched his room.

If they do search your room it’s because they know something and the tapes will just be another nail in the coffin.

“Shit!” Jimmy snapped.

“What?” Alan asked.

“I must’ve dropped my pen back there,” he pulled an empty hand out of his pocket while saying this even though the pen was still inside. “I think I know right where it is.”

“I have an extra pen,” Tina said. She started to open her purse.

“Nah, that’s okay, I really like my pen.” With that he quickly turned and headed back down the sidewalk until he had rounded the corner near the dugout of the baseball field where a beat up garbage can stood. Nothing but a few pop bottles and an empty pack of cigarettes was inside. A moment later the plastic bag full of bondage tapes joined them. A sense of loss followed them down. He had spent so many hours acquiring those tapes, and watching them at night that he couldn’t stand to see them go.

Let them go he did, however, and quickly hurried back to the parking lot where Alan and Tina were waiting, the pen now in his hands, the words, “Found it,” leaving his lips.

“That was lucky,” Alan said.

“I know, but I had remembered hearing something drop while I was walking by the dugout, and sure enough, it was right there, so I didn’t really have to look much at all.” He looked at the school and the mobs of students at every door being filtered inside by the deputies. Getting rid of the tapes was a relief, though it wasn’t enough to completely do away with the fears of being caught and arrested for the abductions of Samantha and Megan. Even worse, he doubted anything would ever do away with that fear. Even if he disposed of the bodies really well once he killed them - something which he should probably do sooner rather than later - he knew there was always a chance someone would discover something that pointed in his direction.

Speculation and random bits of chatter met them as they connected with the group of students waiting by Entrance Three - the school had six entrances - most of which was an unintelligible mix of gibberish due to all the different statements colliding and bisecting each other.

“. . . probably searching for drugs . . .”

“. . . they stole a bunch of . . .”

“. . . Megan Reed is missing . . .”

Jimmy twisted around to look toward the girl who had spoken this last bit, but couldn’t figure out where the words had come from. He also knew it didn’t really matter. Grabbing Megan Reed had been a mistake because of her relation to the sheriff. Any other girl and the sheriff could have still dismissed the idea of a predator stalking the teenage girls of Ashland Creek, though with growing dismay from many in the town, but with Megan he obviously wasn’t going to sit back.

You had no choice, a part of his mind said. She would have found the shelter.

Or at least she might have caused interest in the Hood place that would eventually lead to the shelter being found.

Or maybe nothing would have come of it.

What is done is done.

Besides, he was enjoying having Megan in the shelter. Seeing her hanging from her wrists was incredible, her body perfect for such a position. In fact, she had looked so good that he hadn’t wanted to lower her this morning, but had done so fearing he would accidentally kill her - this based on the gasps her lungs where making when he entered the shelter in the predawn hours. Not that he wasn’t planning on killing her eventually - this he had decided last night while lying in bed, his plan being to slowly hang her from the neck - he just wanted to make sure he was able to enjoy it rather than find out it had already happened. Plus, if he enjoyed their deaths then at least the girls could go into the next life knowing it had meant something, even if they didn’t agree with his getting off on it.

The three made it to the door and were ushered in by a deputy who said, “Please head into the gymnasium for an announcement.”

“How come?” a student behind them asked.

“Please, just go to the gymnasium,” the deputy repeated. “Everything will be explained to you there.”

The three did as they were told, all of them deciding to bypass their lockers since they had no coats and would carry their bags with them to class anyway.

* * *

“F*ck this shit,” Brett said. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Matt asked.

“To your place, man. I want to see what the fag threw out.”

“Who cares?”

“I care,” Brett snapped. “And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna sit for an hour during some stupid assembly shit while I could be watching whatever is on these tapes.”

“Man, they’re garbage.”

“Yeah, and he just happened to throw them away when he saw the police at the school. What’re you stupid? He was worried the police would see what was on these tapes. Probably thought the cops were searching everyone just like you.” Brett shook his head. “And f*ck man why would you toss out that premium California shit I gave you to hold. Do you know how much that f*cking bag cost.”

“What would you do if you saw the police at the school,” Matt snapped. “And f*ck, I was gonna grab it on the way back anyway, I just didn’t want to be caught with it at school.”

Once Matt had seen the police at the school he had decided to throw out the bag of marijuana that Brett had given him to hold the other day, his reasoning being that his older brother would steal it. Matt didn’t like the stuff anyway, and the last thing he wanted was to get caught with the shit right before graduation, especially that much of it. Apparently he hadn’t been the only one tossing stuff out, though he had never in a million years expected to see Jimmy Hawthorn dumping something. The fact that it was a bunch of VHS tapes made it even more unusual, which, of course, caused him to mention it to Brett. Naturally Brett couldn’t let something like that slide - the guy was obsessed - and grabbed the tapes and the discarded bag of Marijuana.

“Grab it on the way back from school,” Brett said. “Look up, you see that sky? You know what those dark clouds mean? Please tell me you aren’t that f*cking retarded? God is going to be pissing on us all day from up there and you think the dope would have stayed good in that garbage can?” Brett shook his head. “The baggers at the grocery store are smarter than you.”

Matt didn’t reply to this, his mind thinking he only had a few more weeks and then everything was good. He was going away for college and Brett wouldn’t be there with him.

“Come on, let’s go to your place. I know no one is home. We’ll chill in your basement.”

“I can’t ditch school,” Matt protested.

“Dude, we just tell everyone we thought they wouldn’t let anyone in, that there was some sort of emergency like the time that pipe burst in the bathroom and flooded everything.”

Matt shook his head again.

“Don’t be such a p-ssy,” Brett said while pulling out his car keys. “Come on.”

Matt followed him to the car.

* * *

“Wow, this is serious,” Tina said.

Jimmy nodded.

“Can you imagine being grabbed like that while walking home from school?”

“No,” Jimmy said.

“I mean, why would they get close enough to the guy’s car?” Tina asked. “Unless maybe they knew him?”

“But that would mean someone in town was behind this,” Jimmy said.

“You don’t think that’s the case?”

“I don’t know, but if it was who would it be?”

Tina shook her head. “You know them better than me. It’s scary though.”

Jimmy felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see a teacher he recognized but had never had class with before standing in the bleacher aisle with her arms crossed. “Pay attention,” she said.

“Sorry,” Jimmy whispered.

Down below the sheriff and the school principal continued to talk about staying safe and walking in groups of three and four when coming to or leaving school from now on, how leaving school for lunch was now forbidden, about the phone number that could be called if anyone knew anything, and how a temporary town curfew was being discussed - angry boos followed this last part.

“They better not f*ck up prom,” a girl below them said, her voice loud enough to turn heads all across this section of the bleacher.

The teacher who had tapped Jimmy on the shoulder headed toward her and quietly demanded to know which one of the girls in the group below had used the dreaded ‘F’ word. None of them confessed.

Give them to me, Jimmy thought to himself. I’ll make them confess. An image of each girl hanging from her wrists appeared in his mind, weights slowly but surely being added to their ankles to loosen their tongues.

Instead the teacher just told all of them to see her after the assembly, probably because each one of them would have detention unless one of them came forward. Such punishments didn’t seem right, kind of like putting a dozen people in prison unless one confessed to the store robbery or something, but no one would cry out against it.

* * *

“Man this is sick,” Matt said while watching a tied up girl in a red leather outfit being forced to suck on a flesh colored dildo. “Turn it off.”

“Wait, this ones probably almost over,” Brett said, his mind completely fascinated by the tape they were watching. “The other one didn’t last too long.”

The two were in Matt’s basement which his parents had allowed him to set up as a hangout for his friends. Most of the time though their group would head somewhere else, the basement only used as a place of last resort due to how close the parental units always were. During ditch days, though, the place was great.

Horrible gagging sounds echoed from the TV as the girls head was pushed farther down the fake penis.

Matt looked away and once again told Brett to turn it off, but his friend wouldn’t listen.

“Can you imagine if that was your dick,” Brett asked. “Man that would feel so good.”

“You really want to tie a girl up and make her do that?”

“F*ck no. That’s sick. But to have a girl do that just cause she wants to. It’s like pure heaven.”

“Until she loses her lunch all over you.” He watched the screen for a few more seconds. The girl was told to stop by a leather clad woman who got up on top of the fake penis and started f*cking it, the tied up girl using her tongue to pleasure the woman while she did this. “Man, seriously turn it off. I don’t want this shit on in my house.”

“What’s the matter? Is it turning you on too much?”

“F*ck you,” Matt said and went over to the TV to turn it off.

“Fine,” Brett said. “Let’s see what’s on the others.” Brett hit the STOP button while saying this and went over to the bag of tapes. “Here, this one says SB-927 on it. What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know. Man, why would Jimmy watch this shit?”

“Because he’s a sick twisted motherf*cker.”

Brett was right about that.

The next tape started up.

“Great, this ones in another language to,” Brett said as something French looking was displayed across the screen.

“I don’t think people care what language it’s in,” Matt said.

“You’re the expert.”

A shot of two girls appeared, both of them in white blouses and black jumpers. The two looked like schoolgirl students, but were probably around nineteen or twenty - Matt hoped - and were both kneeling with their heads bowed in a bright room. The footage was grainy, almost homemade looking, and the sound, despite being in another language was soft and difficult to hear, the absences of microphones obvious.

“Pretty cute, really,” Brett said. “The one with the dangling earrings and the blue eye shadow kind of looks like your sister.”

Matt glared at Brett.

“Did your sister ever go overseas?” Brett continued.

“One more word and I’ll f*cking take that pipe over there and smash your head in,” Matt said.

Brett must’ve heard something in his voice that startled him because he didn’t say anything else.

On screen the two girls shifted positions so that they were both kneeling with their butts up in the air. An older woman, once again clad in leather, though less leather than the woman in the other video, lifted both their skirts exposing their bare butts, and began to spank them with a long thin rod.

The girl’s screams sounded real, as did the painful looking hits.

Two minutes into the spankings Brett hit the fast-forward button and waited. Eventually the spanking ended and the two girls started playing with each other, and then were ordered to a large black dildo on a small round table. Together the two started sucking on it.

“Same storyline, different girls,” Matt said. “That’s all this shit ever is.”

“Yeah,” Brett agreed.

The two continued to watch, the morning hours quickly turned to afternoon hours as they went through most of the tapes, their minds both fascinated and disturbed by what they saw. One video was so intense that Brett was the one to turn it off, the words, “I can’t watch that shit,” leaving his mouth. The fact that the video contained an actual enema scene made his description both literal and figurative.

“What are you gonna do with these?” Matt asked at one point, this after they had watched a man being tied up and f*cked in the ass and mouth at the same time by two women with fake penises.

“I don’t know, broadcast them on the TVs at school and tell everyone its Jimmy’s,” Brett said.

“Yeah, um, I don’t think people will believe you. If he were actually in the video that would be one thing, but anyone could have thrown these away. People will think you’re just messing with him and then will wonder why you have the tapes.”

“Good point.”

The two went silent, the only sounds being a woman crying out as she was whipped.

“I wonder if Jimmy’s girlfriend knows about these?” Brett said after a while.

“What?”

“If she doesn’t maybe we should inform her about them so she knows what a sick perverted bastard he is.”

“Again, you have no proof they’re his,” Matt said.

“Ah, but if she confronts him about it he may not realize that right away, and might accidentally reveal it to be true. Right?”

“Right,” Matt said. “You gonna do it today?”

“Nah, I think I have a better idea.”

* * *

Many years earlier Megan’s father had dragged the family up into Wisconsin to camp out on Redstone Lake, a place he had traveled to a lot with his family while growing up, a place that he claimed was haunted in an attempt to scare them. The family had two small tents for the trip, both of them old Boy Scout tents that their father had used as a kid, ones that had been sitting on a shelf in the garage her entire life, an inch of dust sealing them, hundreds of insects calling the folded over portions home. At first things had been fun, but then at some point during the night the weather changed and a storm came upon them. Within minutes the wear and tear the tents had experienced became known as water leaked in from just about every part of the sagging roof. Unfortunately the floors of the tents weren’t as worn out as the tops of the tents because the water that filtered in through the ceiling and walls pooled easily, soaking everything and making it impossible for them to sleep even after Megan and her brother had folded themselves into a small seemingly rainproof corner. Even worse, the storm made it difficult to find the car, which was nearly a mile a way, and once there they quickly learned that even though they were no longer being rained on, the mugginess inside the car wouldn’t let them dry out or sleep. They also couldn’t lie down thanks to the decision to take the car rather than the van because of the gas prices. It had been a horrible night, the worst of Megan’s entire life until yesterday, one which she would now give anything to be experiencing over and over again if it just meant she was free from this god awful place.

At least you’re back on your feet.

For a while Megan didn’t even realize she was allowed to stand, nor did she remember Jimmy even coming in this morning - just bits and pieces of him moving about and talking which all could have easily been memories from the other day. Instead, once she had woken up, she had felt the pain of her body being held up by the ropes, and the shortness of her own breath as she tried to breath, and assumed she was still hanging. But then her legs realized they were touching the ground, but not standing upon it, and quickly corrected the situation.

Pain followed and for the first time Megan realized why Samantha had screamed the other day once she had been able to stand up. It was the blood returning to her fingers, only now it wasn’t the annoying tingle one got when they slept on a limb all night. This was pure agony, almost as if the blood were shocking the tissue back to life.

Not wanting to scream even though Jimmy wasn’t there to hear it, Megan ground her teeth together and waited it out. Eventually it faded, but until it did Megan wasn’t able to think of anything else, her mind completely focused on what felt like millions of tiny razors flowing through her veins.

Time came and went.

Megan had no way of marking its passage. What seemed like minutes may have been hours, what seemed like hours may have only been minutes.

She stared at her friend while thinking this, her body swaying back and forth as it dangled from the ropes, her toes acting like weak anchors on the cold concrete floor.

“Samantha?” Megan said.

Her friend didn’t reply.

“Samantha!” Screaming her friends named sapped all her energy, which was startling. Seeing her friend hanging lifeless was worse, however, so she screamed again, and again, and again, until finally her eyes fluttered open.

Not dead!

Samantha’s eyes moved around a bit and then closed again, her body making no effort to stand, her head not even turning as her eyes took everything in.

“Samantha, wake up!”

Nothing.

“Samantha!”

Anger built.

A part of her wanted to wake Samantha because she felt that while awake it would be harder to slip into death. Another part, the bigger part, wanted her awake because Megan couldn’t stand to be alone, and with Samantha unconscious she might as well have been alone.

Please wake up. Her exhaustion was too much to say it out loud this time. Please!

Samantha still didn’t stir, and this time when she pissed herself again, no moan of relief followed. This more than anything else frightened Megan. She didn’t want her friend to die.

Later she wondered if maybe death would be better. After all, it didn’t seem like her father was going to find them.

If only you had tried to call sooner!

With that thought Megan spent what had to be hours berating herself for being so stupid, the anger she directed at herself unlike any belittlement she had ever experienced. It was awful.

* * *

“My mother actually called the school once she heard about Megan Reed,” Tina said at lunch. “She wants me staying after and waiting to be picked up.”

“What?” Jimmy asked.

The two were eating lunch, only this time they didn’t have the second half of the table to themselves because the school had suspended off campus lunch privileges. There still was a chair space between them and the others who had reluctantly sat down on their side of the table, and no conversation had breeched it, yet Jimmy still felt incredibly closed in by them and guarded his words, his mind not liking the possibility of others listening in even though what they said wasn’t private and those near him wouldn’t even care.

“At first I said no but she told the school to put me in detention if I didn’t stay on campus and to cancel my prom ticket.” Tina shook her head. “I don’t think they will really cancel my ticket, but I’m not sure if I should risk it, you know.”

Jimmy nodded. “I think staying would be good just to be safe. It would really suck if you couldn’t go.”

“It would,” Tina agreed. “But I bet they would let me in if I came even if my ticket was canceled. I mean, how would they really know?”

“They might, but still, why risk it? And it’s just one afternoon.”

“She wants me staying after tomorrow too.”

“But seniors get to go home at lunch time tomorrow.”

“She doesn’t care. She doesn’t want me staying at the house all by myself. I think a part of it is because she knows I went through it and found the prom ticket after she took it from me. It’s like a punishment.”

“Has she said anything about that?”

“No. It’s really weird. The whole thing gives me a bad feeling.”

The two went quiet after that, though the lunch room was anything but. The extra students were making it incredibly loud, so loud, that Jimmy and Tina had to shout to each other, though the two didn’t even realize it.

“Is the library even open till five thirty?” Jimmy asked after a while.

“I assumed it would be,” Tina said. “Why wouldn’t it?”

“Budget cuts. The state has missed most of its payments this year so the school has been cutting several things, the library staff being one of them.”

Tina was about to ask where he had learned this, but then remembered that Jimmy had an economy class, and figured the teacher had told them all about it.

“I think it now closes as four fifteen or something like that,” Jimmy added.

“Great, what am I gonna do after that?”

“I don’t know. Your mother should just let you go home. Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

“That’s what I said. I told her I walked home with you and Alan, but she doesn’t care. It’s crazy.”

“Maybe I should come meet her so she’ll be comfortable with me,” Jimmy said. “Adults always seem to like me for some reason.”

“My mother’s different,” Tina said. “You could be the greatest guy in the world and I still don’t think she would like you.”

“Wait, I’m not the greatest guy in the world?”

Tina laughed.

* * *

Brett couldn’t help but think about the videos he had found while sitting in the waiting area of the Dean’s Office, and the fact that Jimmy got off on them. He had always known Jimmy was f*cked up, but never knew exactly what it was that was wrong with him. Now he did. Even better, the school would know soon as well because during the school prom he was going to show everyone what a pervert Jimmy was. It was going to be great.

The inner door to the Dean’s Office opened and Mr. Williamson stepped out for a moment, looked around, saw Brett and said, “Mr. Murphy, if you would be so kind as to step inside.”

Thoughts of Jimmy disappeared as Brett left his seat and followed Mr. Williamson into his office, the words they won’t do anything to us echoing through his head. He had spoken them while sitting in Matt’s basement after the school had called Matt’s house, the Caller Id alerting them to the source of the call. Matt, of course, had freaked out and wanted to go right back to school, but Brett told him to quit being such a chicken shit and stay. In the end they had gone back, mostly because Matt decided to go with or without him, and Brett couldn’t stay there by himself. He also didn’t want to go home because his brother would give him shit, so he headed back, the four hours of class time that remained looming before him like a mountain he didn’t even want to start climbing. Thankfully the dean had decided to see him which cut out a huge chunk of his science class - during a lab no less which was even better. The detention afterward wouldn’t be that bad either. He had nothing else to really do.

* * *

“Not today,” Jimmy said. “Her mother is making her stay after because she’s scared she’ll be kidnapped like Samantha King and Megan Reed.”

“While walking with us?” Alan asked. “What, does she think we’re the kidnappers or something?”

Jimmy let out a weak laugh at that. “Maybe, who knows? I guess I can understand her concern. The thing is Tina doesn’t think her mother is really concerned for her safety and is just using this as a way of imposing her will on her, you know, because she doesn’t really like Tina or how defiant Tina is to her.”

“God, it makes you realize how lucky we are that Mom and Dad get along and never got a divorce,” Alan said.

“Yeah.”

“I mean, look how screwed up that situation is.”

“I think it’s not just her parents having been divorced, though,” Jimmy said. “There’s more to it. She hasn’t really told me much, but I get the feeling her mother isn’t really all that stable. I guess she just left the family right after Tina was born too to live with her own mother, which is just weird.”

“Still, we’re pretty lucky.”

“Yeah.” He paused. “Hey! Where’s my Coke?”

“What?”

“You said you’d buy me a Coke today since you drank most of mine yesterday. Where is it?”

“Sorry, I forgot,” Alan said. “You want to go back?”

“No,” Jimmy said. They were already halfway across the parking lot, one which looked as if it had been rained on at some point during the day, not that it had cleared out the horrible humidity that had descended upon the town. “That’s okay.”

“I’ll grab you one tomorrow, I promise.”

“Ha, I get to go home early tomorrow because I’m a senior.”

“Shit. Monday then.”

“Deal.” A second later Jimmy added, “But if you forget Samantha and Megan won’t be the only teens disappearing from around here.”

“Ooooo, look how scared I am,” Alan taunted. “I’m shaking.”

The two stepped from the parking lot onto the sidewalk. Up ahead was the garbage can Jimmy had dumped the tapes into this morning. Given the rain they were probably ruined, not that he would have grabbed them anyway, especially while walking with Alan.

A sense of loss and disappointment still filtered through him while nearing the can, one which forced him to glance inside while walking by.

He stopped.

The tapes were gone!

Other stuff was still in the can, however, which meant it hadn’t been dumped.

Who would have taken them?

What if it was the police? What if they can track who the tapes belonged too?

Jimmy had no idea if something like that was possible, but didn’t doubt it in this day an age.

“Jimmy, what’s wrong?” Alan asked.

Jimmy looked away from the can. His brother was several steps ahead of him.

“You look like you’re about to throw up?”

“No,” Jimmy said. “I think. No.” He waved a hand. “I thought I forgot my history book, but it’s already at home.” Once the lie started he went with it. “Yeah, it is certainly at home because I was working on note cards yesterday for my presentation next week.”

“Okay,” Alan said. Something about his tone told Jimmy that his brother wasn’t convinced.

The two started walking again.

* * *

“I’m sorry, but the library is going to be closing in a moment,” a middle aged woman who looked every bit the part of a high school librarian said. Most students disliked the lady and thought she was a bitch, but Tina had never had any problems with her and always tried to be nice.

“Oh, okay. Um. Do you know where I could wait until five thirty?” Tina asked while sticking a bookmark in the novel she had brought with her. “My Mother doesn’t want me walking home because of the missing girls, so I’m waiting for her to pick me up.”

“Oh dear,” the librarian said, hands folded against her chest. “Such a tragedy. Those poor girls.” She paused a moment. “It is good your mother is concerned. Most don’t seem to care what their children do these days. So many young girls just tossed into the world without care or concern.”

Tina waited, but then, when the woman didn’t continue, she asked again about a place where she could wait.

“I suggest you go ask in the office because I really don’t know where you could go. All the after school activities are finished for the year.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Tina said while grabbing her things. “I’ll just head down to the office.”

“Oh my, what is that you are reading my dear?”

Tina looked down at her book. It was Necroscope by Brian Lumley and it sported a wicked looking skull on the cover, one which often did startle people who weren’t ready for it. “It’s a novel about a young man who can communicate with the dead who also fights vampires during the Cold War.”

“How dreadful.”

“It’s pretty good. Way better than the romantic vampire garbage that most people read today.”

The librarian smiled. “Not a Twilight fan?”

“God no!” Tina wanted to add a vomit sound to this, but held back.

“Thank goodness. There is at least one sane girl in this school.”

Tina smiled. She had heard stories of some of the fights that had broken out when the school got the Twilight books, fights that had gotten pretty vicious, especially when someone shouted that Jacob was a loser. Jimmy had told her all about it, said some crazy mothers had even called the school because they were angry that their sons and daughters - daughters mostly - had not been allowed to use the book for English reports. The teacher hadn’t banned the book from being used as a report topic, but instead had only allowed one or two students to do a report on it, and parents had gotten upset because they felt only their son or daughter would be able to give the story justice in front of the classroom.

“I’m an Anne Rice fan myself, though I do enjoy a really good horrific vampire story as well,” the librarian added.

“Well you might want to check out these,” Tina said while lifting the book. “My boyfriend loaned me this copy and said that there are a dozen more.”

“I will do that. And now I better close this place down. Good luck finding a spot to wait.”

“Thanks,” Tina said and headed for the doors. Ten minutes later she was sitting outside of the girl’s locker room on the far left of the school, her body lounging across a old wooden bench, her book open, her eyes going from line to line waiting to see if Harry Keogh managed to outsmart the Soviet supported East German police as he searched for the grave of a man he needed to talk with.

It was an exciting scene.

A breeze came out of nowhere and turned several pages forward in the book. Tina swore and flipped the pages back until she found where she had been.

Her eyes did not return to the page, however, but looked over at the deserted field. With school over in two weeks (three for anyone who had to take finals) the practice fields were empty, the sport programs over for the year. An eerie thought settled in as she realized how alone she was. Sure, there were janitors and teachers and office officials still in the school, but out here there was no one. Isolating her even more was the area she had chosen to wait. During the outdoor sport seasons the area would have been packed with girls coming and going from the locker room, but now there was no one. She was completely alone.

What if the kidnapper is watching me now?

Beyond the sport fields was the sidewalk she always walked home on, one that everyone said Samantha King and Megan Reed had been on when they both disappeared - though no one could understand why Megan Reed had gone that way when her house was on the other side of town.

Tina shivered at the thought of someone coming out at her while walking home. Thankfully she always had Jimmy with her.

Were the two even kidnapped? What if this was just some hoax they were playing?

This was a thought some people had voiced today after the assembly, though most thought it unlikely. One girl disappearing right before prom and graduation could be explained with the runaway theory, but two girls, both back to back like this was a stretch.

Then again, they were good friends, so it wasn’t completely improbable. Still, Tina now fell into the majority that thought something bad had happened. The question was what and why?

Tina shook her head and went back to reading her book, but unfortunately her eyes could no longer focus on the story because they kept looking up and scanning the horizon, one which was growing darker and darker as thick clouds once again moved in.

Behind her the door to the locker room was thrown open with a bang causing her to jump up from the bench and twist around, book clutched against her chest. A second later a janitor pushing a huge cleaning contraption that held a garbage can, broom, mop, bucket and other sanitation tools wedged everything through the door.

Tina eyed the tools on the cart and hoped that one day she would not be skilled enough in their uses to be considered a professional.

The guy stared at her for several seconds and then said, “What’re you still doing here?” It was a voice that was trying to hold authority, yet fell short; a voice that would still cower to teachers in the hallway despite being the same generation as them. Teachers in turn would talk down when replying to that voice and treat its owner as if they were students themselves.

“Um, waiting for my Mom to pick me up,” Tina said. She was still standing, her book clutched against her breasts, which were heaving in and out with each breath.

“Schools closed. No students allowed on the grounds.” A second later he added, “No loitering. It’s against the law.” He seemed proud of himself after that statement.

“But I’m waiting to be picked up.” A part of her had known someone would probably say something to her while she waited outside between four-thirty and five-thirty, which was why she had chosen such an isolated spot. Her mind had never pictured a janitor saying something, though, and now she thought about Samantha and Megan and how often serial killers and perverts took jobs as janitors at schools so they could be around young girls without looking suspicious. “My Mom should be here any second.”

“Go wait somewhere else.”

“I can’t,” she said, and then once again, just in case he had any ideas, added, “She’ll be here soon!”

The janitor continued to stare at her and for a moment Tina wondered if he was considering how easy it would be to grab her and take her to his car, an act that would probably go unseen and unheard on this side of the school.

“I’m reporting you,” the janitor said and turned to head back inside.

Tina sighed and took a much needed breath, her lungs having halted its production line for a moment. A second later she started to wonder if she would be in trouble for waiting out here like this, and for not doing as the janitor said, but then let the thought fade because her mother had insisted she wait and the library was closed. Besides, chances were the janitor wouldn’t even report her given the odd social position they carried in the school, one that had them hovering above the students but below the teaching staff. Most likely the man would feel just as uncomfortable walking into the dean’s office as a student would, and even if he did get up the courage to do so and report her, the dean probably wouldn’t care. In fact, if she remembered correctly, she once heard second hand from someone about a janitor that reported overhearing students talking about doing a ‘bigger than Columbine’ school shooting and reported it. Nothing was done until a few weeks later when a teacher reported hearing the same students making similar comments. An investigation uncovered evidence that what the students had been saying was true.

Tina sat back down on the bench and tried to get back into her book, but once again had a hard time focusing.

A horn honked.

Tina looked up and saw a car pulled alongside the walkway that encircled the school, the driver looking at her through the windshield, face and body blanketed by shadow.

For a moment she had no idea if the driver was trying to get her attention, or someone else, and looked around to see if someone else had been waiting without her knowing.

No one else was present.

“Tina,” a familiar yet unrecognizable voice called from the car. “Your mother asked me to pick you up so you didn’t have to wait too long.”

“Who - ” Tina started to ask but then realized it was Scott Goldman, the young man who was part of the same knitting club as her mother, one who she knew her mother was screwing during her nights away because she had pretended to be her mother once when Scott called looking for her.

“Come on, let’s go,” Scott said.

“She told me she would pick me up at five thirty,” Tina called back, an image of the two missing girls floating in her mind.

“Yeah, but she said she knows the library closed and thought you wouldn’t have a place to wait and told me to take you home and stay with you until she came home.”

Tina shook her head. “Thanks, but I think I’ll wait here anyway.” Even without two girls missing Tina would never have considered getting in the car with him, not when his favorite pastime seemed to be knitting with a bunch of women and f*cking the ones twice his age. No thank you.

“Tina, your mother wants me to take you home.” His voice was growing harsh, yet couldn’t mask the juvenileness that it still carried. “Now get in this car.”

“No.” Tina turned and looked back and wished the janitor really had gotten the principal or dean or some school official.

“Tina, I’m not going to ask you again.” Scott got out of the car and stood with his arms crossed.

“F*ck you!” Tina shouted and started back toward the girl’s locker room.

Scott followed.

Panic developed as she neared the door, but it wasn’t overwhelming because she knew he wouldn’t follow her inside the girl’s locker room.

“Tina!”

Tina grabbed the door handle and pulled, but nothing happened. The door was locked.

Shit!

The panic increased.

“Tina, get in that car right now!” Scott said. His voice was too close.

Tina turned. Scott was standing ten feet away from her, anger covering his face.

“I’m serious!”

Tina ran.

Scott followed.

The main entrance to the school wasn’t far, just up and around the corner from the locker room doors. The only problem was she had to scale a large hill that went up the side of the school, one which equaled two flights worth of stars inside of the building, thereby making the locker rooms a part of the subbasement even though they had their own outside doors.

Making matter worse the grass was wet from the rain earlier and about halfway up Tina slipped, her right leg just seeming to disappear the moment she put pressure on it, the ankle crunching as she landed. A horrible numbness vibrated through the leg, one which made standing impossible.

Thankfully Scott was having trouble with the hill as well and couldn’t reach her level and by the time he started to get the hang of it the numbness had cleared and she managed to stand back up.

The rest of the climb was no easier, but she made it without slipping and then around the building to the main entrance, which she charged into much to the dismay of the hall monitor at the front hallway desk.

“Whoa, slow down,” the monitor said. She was the same young lady that often walked around the lunch room, the school officials thinking the presence of hall monitors would discourage any rowdiness.

“There’s a man chasing me,” Tina said.

“What?”

“A man is chasing me.”

The woman glanced at the entrance, which was still empty and said, “Are you sure?”

“YES!”

Just then Scott came in.

“That’s him!” Tina shouted.

Another hall monitor had come on the scene now.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Her mother sent me to pick her up,” Scott said. “But she ran away from me.”

“My mother told me she would pick me up herself,” Tina said. “And he tried forcing me in his car.”

Scott put his hands up. “I did not try to force her into the car I just told her to stop acting like this and get in the car.”

The hall monitors looked back and forth at each other for a moment and then the young man turned to Tina and said, “Do you know him?”

“Not really. My mother does, but I’ve never really met him.”

The monitor turned to Scott. “Her mother asked you to pick her up even though you two have never met knowing two girls have disappeared?”

Scott shrugged. “She just didn’t want Tina waiting for ever at the school.”

“What’s going on?” another adult asked, this one having come out of the main office.

The hall monitors explained the situation.

“Okay, into my office, both of you. I want to call her mother and find out what’s going on.” He then whispered something to the one hall monitor. Tina couldn’t hear all of it but was sure one of the words was sheriff.

From there the three headed into the office, Tina keeping the school official between herself and Scott.

* * *

“Hey Mom,” Alan said. “Have you noticed anything odd about Jimmy lately?”

The two were in the kitchen, Alan helping clear up the dinner mess the family had left. Jimmy himself was down in his room and their father had flipped on an episode of The Office.

“Jimmy? No.”

“Really?” Alan asked.

“Have you?” she asked. She seemed to be examining an old sponge while asking this, one which probably added more bacteria than took away when applied to the dishes.

“Well, I don’t know,” Alan said, his voice careful because he knew Jimmy had a way of appearing out of nowhere at times, his movements almost naturally stealthy. “He just hasn’t seemed himself lately and - ”

“I’m going for a bike ride!” Jimmy called, his presence in the entryway having gone unnoticed until he spoke.

“Okay honey!” his mother called. “Be careful.”

Alan waited until his brother left and said, “See, that’s what I’m talking about. Why all these sudden bike rides?”

“He just rides at night after dinner,” she said while tossing the sponge into the garbage can. “I have friends who go on walks every night or jog in the morning.”

“Yeah but he goes a few times every day. In the morning he wakes up at like five and goes on a ride in the dark and at night once everyone goes to bed he heads out again sometimes.”

Kelly opened a new sponge and wetted it.

“It’s . . . I don’t know?” Alan added before she could reply.

“He’s just restless.” She started scrubbing the plates.

“Maybe,” Alan said, though he knew it wasn’t that. Something wasn’t right. It wasn’t just the bike rides. Jimmy’s entire personally seemed different, almost cautious at times like he was giving more thought to things. At first Alan assumed it was because of Tina and the prom, but now didn’t think that was really it.