The Westlake Boys

by K R Bicknell

  A tall dark-haired man is at the door.

  “Gotta package,” he says, “for Caleb Westlake.”

  “Okay.” I say.

  “Um, it sort of got damaged, in the truck, want to check it, make sure it’s okay? Don’t want to lift the heavy thing in here just to take it back.”

  “Sure.” I say and wonder if it’s Harry’s gift, he said it would be coming this week.

  Who delivers from a blue minivan? It is the last thought in my head before everything turns black.

  There’s a sharp pain at the back of my head. It hurts really bad and I take short breaths to keep from moving. But no, I can’t move, God, why does it hurt so bad? My eyes are stuck shut. I slowly crack them open. I’m in a dark place. Something rumbles under me. I’m in a moving vehicle, I’m moving. It comes back in a flash. The strange delivery guy. The blue minivan. There’s something in my mouth, something thick and rough and I can’t spit it out.

  “Mmmf!” The only sound I can make. I roll onto my back only to regret as pressure is put on the back of my head.

  I breathe. Short breaths, I can breathe. I am gagged and my hands are tied up, and I am moving. This is all I know. There’s barely any light, the windows are darkened. I stretch my legs. My feet are not tied. My heart is ready to burst out of my chest but I can’t panic. I can breathe. I remember what Percy always said, and I count my breaths. I don’t know how long it’s been and I don’t know where I am. The floor is hard, covered with thin automobile carpet. I’m still moving, the car, the van doesn’t stop. We must be outside of town. Oh Shit! I don’t want to panic. The cake, the cake will burn, I think, the whole kitchen will smell. What if Adele doesn’t wake up in time? What if the kitchen catches fire? Her apartment is right above. Jacob! Where was Jacob? Is he looking for me? Will anyone know? How late is it? Is Caleb on his way home? Tears escape my eyes on thinking about the boy. Oh God, I love him! And he doesn’t know. Would he look for me if he knew? He’ll look for me regardless. I know. He’ll rip the town apart, but I’m further. I turn my head and look. I’m on the floor. I can see dark shapes of the back of the seats above me. Someone is talking.

  “I think she’s up.” I hear a man’s voice saying.

  “Man, your girl is a handful.” Someone else says.

  My father, my father must have me. I have to breathe, if I don’t breathe I pass out. I remind myself.

  “Hell yeah, she is!” I hear my dad’s voice, not dad, father. He was never a dad.

  “She will be hard to tame.” The other voice says.

  “Once we sell her, she’s their headache.” My father says.

  “But a looker, I mean that body.” The other man says. I listen carefully for any clues as to where we are going.

  “Just like her mother, but she was a skank.”

  “So will she be. A professional one.” They both laugh.

  “I knew she was screwing that boy, the one who hit me. No one beats a guy up like that for a nobody.” My father says.

  “He’s rich, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m thinking we can get some money out of him before we take her there.”

  “You’re thinking?”

  “Yeah, you got her phone. Give him a call.”

  No. No, they’ll call Caleb! I breathe, calm down my breaths, and almost miss it when my father asks the other to turn. Where are we? What road? I strain my ears. They don’t speak again. North, south, east, west. I can’t tell where the sun is. At least they are not calling him. I stretch my legs as far as I can. I still have my flip-flops on. I push on the side of the van and then fold up my knees. Now we are on a gravel road. I am jostled around. I stretch my legs and fold them again. I close my hands in fists. I am not injured except the back of my head which is already feeling better. I can fight. My hands are tied in front of me. I can fight. I remember Percy, I remember the gym. Tears seep out of my eyes. My beautiful Caleb. They will not hurt him. I will fight.

  The vehicle comes to a stop. I close my eyes, let them think I’m still passed out. A surprise will have to be my only weapon.

  Bright light covers the outside of my eyelids when they open the back.

  “She’s still out.” The man says.

  “Take her out.” My father’s voice says, “Take her out and hold her.”

  My hands are pulled up, and then my feet are pulled down. As soon as my feet are secure on the ground I open my eyes and push as hard as I can with my tied hands. The man in front of me is surprised enough to fall back. I turn and run.

  “Hey!” Someone yells and I’m tugged back.

  My father has grabbed my upper arm.

  “I told you to hold her!” I hear him yelling. I take my arms and swing my elbow to the side, ramming into his soft gut.

  “Oof!”

  The other man has grabbed me from the back around my waist. I struggle and kick my legs back.

  “Hey, hey, hey!” He yells.

  “Told you!” My father yells.

  I twist to the side and then jerk my arms up, breaking his grip. He lets go and I fall to the ground. Then I’m scrambling up and running. The gravel is slippery under my slippers but I don’t slow down.

  “Get her!” I hear someone yelling.

  I don’t know where I am but I run. As fast as I can. I can hear them pounding behind me but I don’t turn to look. We’re out in the countryside somewhere. I long dirt road, surrounded by woods, I head down the road and keep running. Someone is catching up, I can hear panting next to my ear. I keep running. A loud shot bursts my eardrum.

  “What the fuck?” The man behind me yells.

  I keep running.

  “You almost killed me!” He sounds farther back now.

  There is an old shack in front of me. I run towards it.

  “Stop, girl!” I hear my father yell, “Stop, or I’ll shoot you!”

  I keep running.

  “What the fuck are you doing shooting her?”

  “She’s getting away!”

  I swerve to get behind the shack and keep running. I can’t hear them behind me anymore but know I can’t slow down. There is another building. An old beat-up house. I run toward it, then behind it. The wind rushes past my ear, my chest is burning in pain, but I keep running. There are dense woods behind the house. I run towards them. Finally, behind an outhouse, I stop to listen. I can’t hear anything past my breath and my heartbeat.

  Another minute and I can hear.

  “Let her go.” Someone says, “You called the boy, right?”

  “Yeah, he’s bringing the money. But he’s gonna want to see her.”

  “So what, you got the gun, right? As soon as we see the money we blow off his head.”

  I sink down to the ground behind the outhouse. Caleb. He’s coming. I look at the woods behind me. I can’t go. They’re going to kill him.

  No one comes after me. It’s quiet. The men are mumbling near the van. Somewhere. The birds are chirping in the woods and small animals rustle the leaves on the ground. Caleb is coming. How do I warn him? What do I do? I am so far from the road. I pull up my tied hands and tug down the rag covering my mouth and spit out the gag.

  Time passes. My breath is calmer now. My hands are tied with a zip tie, I can’t get them loose, neither does rubbing the tie on rock work. I turn around the side of the outhouse to look. I don’t see anyone. They must be in the van. It is on and facing the road. Caleb will come from there. I stand up, walk around the other corner of the outhouse till I’m facing the house. I wonder if they’ll hear me if I run. I take the chance and then I’m behind the house. There’s a porch. It doesn’t face the road but the woods. The house is all boarded up, the wood gray and weathered. Nails are poking out of the porch railing. I hook the tie tying my hands on a nail and tug. My wrists are scratched up and bleeding but I can’t pull it off. Don’t know why I had to have such freaking huge hands.

  I keep tugging. I hear a sound. A rustling, a grinding. A car is making it’s way up the
road. No.

  I would know that black Escalade anywhere and I sob in relief and fear.

  “Stop right there.” Someone says. The men are out of the van. From so far away I see a boy climb out of the SUV. He looks way too small from here, but he stands tall and confident.

  “I want to see Hannah.” He says.

  “She’s here.” One of the men says, “Where’s the money?”

  “First her.” Caleb says.

  “Just wait one minute, boy.” My father says and then he raises the gun, “You see we’ve got the upper hand here, you show us the money or you both die.”

  I’m running now, I run to the shack next to the road and hide behind it. Caleb still hasn’t seen me. But he’s raising his hands now and he has something in them. He’s got a gun too.

  “What’s that boy, you got a toy too?” Someone asks.

  “I. Want. To. See. Hannah!” Caleb yells, slowly but loudly.

  “Now just see...”

  The shot is deafening in my ear. Someone shot a gun. Another shot follows and then all is silent. I peek around the shack. The van is moving. It peals out and speeds down the road. There are bodies on the ground. Caleb.

  I run.

  He’s on the ground. He’s bleeding. His eyes are open. There is so much blood. My hands. I press on his chest with my hands. They are immediately covered with warm liquid.

  “Hannah.” I hear him breathe.

  “Caleb!” I sob, “What did you do?”

  “I found Sirius.”

  There are sirens, then cars and people running.

  “There’s too much blood!” I am screaming, “Stop the bleeding, there’s so much!”

  Someone pulls me off of him and then he’s lifted up and into the back of a white van.

  “No!” I scream, “he’s bleeding!”

  “Shh,” the hard body behind me says, “Hannah, are you okay? Hannah?”

  I stop screaming. Harry is holding me.

  “He’s bleeding, Harry!” I sob, “They shot him.”

  “Hannah,” he shakes me, “Are you hurt?”

  I shake my head dumbly.

  He lets go and climbs into the ambulance and then it speeds away loudly, sirens blaring.

  Someone takes care of me. I don’t know who. There are people in uniforms. My hands are cut loose. There is another body on the ground and it is taken away in another ambulance.

  People ask me questions. I don’t know what they are saying. Someone says the word shock.

  “Caleb.” I finally say.

  “They are taking him to the hospital.” A nice older lady says as she washes his blood off my hands.

  I tell myself to hold it together. Caleb needs me.

  “He needs blood.” I hear my voice saying as I stare at the large stain on the ground.

  “They’ll get it to him, Sweetie.” The nice lady says.

  I’m taken away somewhere. People keep talking to me in soft voices. My mother is there and she hugs me tightly. She is sobbing. I ask her why, I’m okay. They keep asking me questions I don’t know the answer to. I understand one, they ask me if I’m hurt. Eventually, I remember and put my hand on the back of my head. It’s sticky. They take me to another room. Someone cleans it and puts something that stings on it. Now I feel again. My heart is beating. When I come out my mom is there.

  “Caleb?” I ask.

  She tucks my hair behind my ear, “I’m sorry, Baby, so sorry.”

  “What are you sorry about?” I ask her, “Where’s Caleb?”

  She leads me upstairs. This hospital is too quiet. No one I see looks in my eyes. My heart has stopped beating and I can’t breathe. We enter a room and I see Jacob. He immediately envelopes me in a tight hug.

  “Caleb?” My voice asks. I feel like I have to know before I can breathe.

  “He’s in surgery.” Harry’s voice says from behind me.

  I sink my face into Jacob’s chest and breathe, and once more. His chest is shaking. He is crying. I pull him to chairs against the wall and he sobs into my shoulder. I hold him up. I can’t think. The world slowly comes back to me. We are in a waiting room. There are other people there. Solemn, quiet. We sit. Harry and mom holding each other’s hands. Looking at the floor. I kiss Jacobs eyes, face, his forehead.

  He is quiet now. “He’s never going to forgive me.” He whispers.

  “Sure he will.” I say.

  “I let you get taken, from our house.”

  “No, you didn’t.” I tell him, “Adele!” I remember, “My cake!”

  He looks at me puzzled.

  I take a breath. “I baked a cake.” I say.

  “I’m sure it’s okay.” He says.

  “Adele’s okay?” I ask.

  He nods.

  We wait. For hours, eventually, Harry sends Jacob home. He tries to send me home too but I can’t go.

  C

  I'm fucking ecstatic when I see her number on my phone. She never calls me.

  I press the button on the steering wheel.

  "I'm almost home, Baby." I say, "Were you missing me?"

  "Sure she is." a rough male voice says.

  "Who is this?" I ask, do I have the wrong number?

  "Your fucking father in-law." he says. My blood chills in my veins,.

  "Where's Hannah?" I ask.

  "She's safe, don't you worry none about her. Now there's something I want from you."

  "I...I need to talk to her." I'm panicking. I pull over on the side of the road.

  Where the fuck is she? What do I say?

  "I need you to bring me some money, just a little of the millions you have and you get her back." he says.

  "What?Where?" is all I can think of to say. My brain has turned off.

  "Just..." I hear him mumbling to someone else, is it her, is he talking to her?

  "Five hundred thousand dollars." he finally says.

  "I...I don't have that kind of money." I say like a moron.

  "Then get it from your Daddy, you're not getting her back until you do."

  "Where? Where do you want me to bring it?" I ask.

  "State route 56, south of Vesuvius, take a left after the turnoff." the man says.

  "I need to talk to her, I need to make sure she's okay." I manage to say. If I hear her voice maybe my heart would beat again.

  "Nothing doing, she's perfectly fine, but she can't talk right now. You just get here by five or you'll find her corpse." he says, and then when I don't answer, "You hear me boy?"

  "I heard you. If she's hurt, even has a scratch on her then I kill you." I say coldly. I'm ice now, and I can function again.

  "No, you don't threaten me, I have your bitch."

  I hang up the phone before I hear more. That man is dead, either way.

  I close my eyes and take a breath, I can't lose it now. Then I call Dad.

  He tells me to take an empty bag, there's no way we can get that much cash on such short notice. Not that we're letting him live anyways. He says to wait for the police. I'm not.

  I need to get to her.

  I need to see her.

  I stop at Percy's since he's close. He takes me to the back and hands me a gun.

  "You know how to shoot, right?" he asks.

  I nod.

  "You gonna get her back?"

  I nod again.

  He hands me a backpack filled with rags and trash to show the guys.

  As I walk out the door he says one last thing, "Don't get killed."

  I'll try but right now I don't fucking care.

  Hannah, she's what matters. I have to get to her.

  H

  I wander the hospital. I find the cafeteria and get coffee for Mom and Harry and then wonder if I should have brought decaf. The hospital is gray, the walls tan, the floors gleaming. I note the paintings on the walls of the waiting room. I wonder, why they have so many beautiful ones. Then I think it’s for people like me. The people who don’t want to think about what’s going on in the rooms down the hall. Who�
��d rather study mundane pictures on the wall and make up stories about their creators.

  Harry sits silently, Mom tries to talk to him but he doesn’t answer. I want to show him the painting. I want him to see the canal, how the water is blue on one side and gray on the other. It must be Venice, I think. There’s a lot of colors there. Has Caleb been to Venice? I wonder. Has Caleb....? My heart hurts.

  Someone walks into the waiting room. Someone in green scrubs.

  “Mr. Westlake?” He asks.

  Harry stands up.

  “Your son is a strong man.” The stranger says, “He made it through the surgery.” Someone sighs.

  “The bullet pierced his lung so we have him in the ICU right now on a ventilator but just another twelve hours and he should be out of danger.”

  The surgeon leaves.

  “Oh God, thank god!” My mom sighs.

  Harry is still frozen.

  “Did you hear, Baby?” My mom asks, cradling his face, “He’s gonna be okay.”

  “Don’t.” Harry says curtly and turns away from her.

  “Everything’s going to be okay now.” My mom says to his back.

  “Nothing is okay. Nothing is fucking okay.” Harry says coldly and I can’t help but think that he sounds just like his son, “My son is fighting for his life!”

  “But Harry.”

  “None of this would have happened if you weren’t in his life.” Harry is pointing at me, “If you hadn’t come into mine.” He looks at Mom.

  “Harry?” She is crying.

  “I don’t know what I was thinking. My boys are my first priority, they should be my only one, and I couldn’t protect him. I think ...I need,” he runs his hand through his hair, “I can’t be around you right now. You should leave. “ he says looking at me, “Both of you.”

  “Harry!” Mom sobs again. I nod and taking my mom’s hand, walk out of there.