chapter 72
Dana regained consciousness, but didn’t open her eyes. She could sense the light through her eyelids. Her head hurt worse than before, only this time she remembered what happened.
The struggle.
The fall.
The blood.
She heard Larry muttering about her being out of it. She knew he didn’t think she was awake...she guessed that’s why he hadn’t put her back in that tiny room. The strong scent of cleaning fluid roused her from her uneasy slumber. She knew Larry was close. Her skin crawled as she felt him brush past her time and time again to get more cleaning supplies. The key now was to figure out how to escape.
She could feel that her hands and legs were still tied. She let her eyes flit open briefly to assess the situation. From the floor she could see she was lying on linoleum, and could make out what looked like the bottom of an appliance. Okay, she was in the kitchen. She thought hard back to when she was first able to look around. The kitchen was in the back of the house near the sliding glass door. It would be hard to get out that way. She needed to hurt him and then run...run free. But how? There were no blunt objects around her and her limbs were bound.
It was hopeless.
Dana wanted to cry. No one would find her. How could they?
Bang. Bang. Bang. There were three loud raps on the door.
Larry ran to look out the peephole. F*ck! He recognized the guy from the radio station.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Could he pretend he wasn’t home? Yes. He’d have to. He fell to the floor and crawled across the room. He didn’t want to risk his shadow being seen as he moved past the front window.
The banging became more insistent.
“Larry, open up!” Jonny yelled. “Open up now!”
“Help! Help!” Dana yelled instinctively.
“You bitch, you’re awake!” Larry whispered loudly.
“Help me! Help me!”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” His body shook violently with anger. Dana obviously wanted to get away from him, too, just like The Bitch. They were all alike. He grabbed the knife that earlier he had used to free her and pressed the blade against her throat.
Dana stopped yelling. The cold steel was painful and frightening against her skin.
“Please Larry, don’t hurt me.”
“Why not? You hurt me.”
Bang. Bang. Bang. “Open this door now!” Larry heard the doorknob jiggle, then the noise of someone pushing their weight into the door. The loud thwack was rhythmic. He could hear the door start to splinter from the incessant force.
Larry pushed the back of the blade into Dana’s neck. “Do as I say and you won’t get hurt.”
Her eyes welled with hopeless desperation. She couldn’t form the words. Her mouth made some sound of agreement. Panic was taking over. She tried to breathe, her heart leaping out of her chest.
Larry pulled Dana up from the floor, angled her body and dragged her to the little room under the stairs.
“Oh, no, no, please don’t put me back in there!” she begged. Tears she could no longer hold back streamed down her face.
Larry turned the knife letting the tip slide against her skin. Dana saw drops of blood begin to fall. “Do as I say.”
Helpless, she obliged and let him put her into the cramped space. He then took a large piece of duct tape and pasted it over her mouth. “Don’t do anything dumb or I’ll really be forced to hurt you when he leaves and he will leave,” he flashed the knife in front of her eyes, “one way or another. I’ve come too far...you’re mine.” Larry had completely cracked. The pressure, the magnitude of what he had done pushed him beyond the limits of sanity. He’d lost it.
Larry locked the door behind him, stood up and calmly caught his breath. He could hear the front door start to give way. He ran to the back of the room and pressed his body up against a side wall so he was hidden from view. He held the knife at attention. He was ready.
The door splintered loudly. He heard it give way. Someone was in the house. He held his breath to keep his location secret.
Jonny felt the door give beneath his body and forced himself inside. It was quiet. Too quiet.
“Dana!” Jonny yelled. “Dana!”
Dana could hear everything from inside the room. She was paralyzed with fear. She wanted to warn him, but was afraid if she made a sound Larry would go after Jonny.
“Dana!” he called moving through the townhouse, his eyes darting back and forth looking for something, anything.
Larry’s heart raced in his chest. Jonny was getting closer and closer to him. But he was ready.
Jonny stopped in his tracks. On the floor in front of him was a large bloodstain. “No...no...” he said frantically.
The distraction was the window Larry had been waiting for. He burst from behind the wall catching Jonny completely off guard.
Before Jonny had time to react, he could feel the knife against his back.
“This was a big mistake, Mr. Disc Jockey,” Larry growled pushing the blade into his skin just enough to scare him.
Jonny felt the sharp point. “Larry,” he said as calmly as he could, “Look man, I don’t mean you any trouble. I’m just looking for Dana.” He tried to steel himself. Fear was taking over and he needed to keep a clear head.
“Dana’s not your concern, man,” Larry spat. He deftly moved the knife to Jonny’s throat. “I think you should go now.” Larry wrapped his arm around Jonny tightly. “Stop moving or I’ll kill you, I will.”
Jonny was physically much bigger than Larry. He knew he could take him down. He just had to figure out how to maneuver around the knife.
“You don’t want to do that Larry,” he said trying not to raise his voice.
“Yes, I do...you’re ruining my life!” Larry could feel the hot, fast breath of Jonny on his arm.
“Larry, you can’t be with Dana if you do this. Right now, you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“You must think I’m an idiot! I’m not stupid!”
“No one said you were Larry,” Jonny said, feeling Larry’s grip start to loosen. He prepared to pounce.
“You shut up!” Larry yelled, pushing the blade closer to his neck. “No one understands me. No one except Dana and now you’re going to take her away from me!” Larry began to cry. “You can’t do that!” His behavior became more erratic.
With that, there was a crash through the back sliding glass door. Cody burst into the room, leaping toward them. He pushed Larry away from Jonny, tackling him to the ground.
“Jonny, find Dana!” he shouted. Larry struggled beneath him, no match for Cody’s strength. He began stabbing the knife forward, trying to hit Cody.
Dana heard the commotion and flung the weight of her body forward against the door of the small room under the stairs.
The noise was the perfect distraction. Larry looked toward the sound. Cody grabbed the knife from Larry, the blade slitting the palm of his hand. He winced at the pain, but managed to toss the knife away. Cody flipped Larry onto his stomach and pulled his hands above his head gaining control of the madman.
Dana was panicked in the darkness. Unable to see, her senses were heightened. She heard Cody and Jonny’s voices and the commotion that ensued. She didn’t know what was happening...if they were okay.
Sirens wailed in the distance, the noise growing louder.
Suddenly the door opened. Her eyes, blinded by the bright light, slowly came into focus.
She saw Jonny and Cody.
And she was free.