Nothing she could do would work, however, and her body would continue to slowly twist in the air, her feet unable to touch the ground until Jimmy returned.
She hoped it was soon even if worse was to come. She didn’t care what it was just as long as he lowered her.
No, don’t give in to him!
The part that was in pain ignored the words from the stubborn part of her body, a part that was quickly shrinking.
Her body twisted around and came face to face with Samantha who stared back at her.
Megan wanted to apologize but couldn’t find the words and then twisted away, her body unable to control the sway the rope caused.
She kicked her legs, her mind thinking that if she jerked on the rope hard enough something would snap. Unfortunately all she managed was to create more pressure on her wrists, which was something she couldn’t handle.
Her body twisted back the other way and once again she was looking at Samantha. I’m sorry, she mouthed, no sound arriving, her lungs still straining to get in normal breaths of air.
Samantha did not acknowledge her. She didn’t react in any way at all, her own body slowly twisting away.
* * *
The ache in his groin and testicles reached the unbearable mark six minutes into his ride home and he was forced to jump down from the bike and walk. While doing this he noticed an obvious increase in the amount of Sheriff Department vehicles that were patrolling the area, but was relieved when none of the deputies paid him any attention.
He probably didn’t hear my name, just the screams from Megan.
Still, he felt very uncomfortable out in the open like this and wanted to get home. At the same time he knew that pacing himself would be best because he didn’t want any one to think he was running from something.
No one was waiting for him at home, but just to be sure it wasn’t a trap, Jimmy entered through the front door and then hurried out the back door, Alan giving him a puzzled look from the family room couch where he was watching TV.
No one swarmed the house upon his arrival, and eventually Jimmy left the cover of the bushes in back, ones that were completely in shadow now that the sun was nearly set, and went back inside.
“What was that?” Alan asked.
“Oh, nothing, I just wanted to see something,” Jimmy lied. “I think Brett was following me.”
“Again?”
“Yeah, so I left the bike on the front porch and then ran around to the side of the house and waited. I figured I could jump him when he tried to take it.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“That’s good, but you should have had me hide with you. I want a piece of that bastard as well.”
“Oh, sorry. Next time.”
“Yeah. Battle?”
“Um, okay.”
The two battled for nearly an hour, Alan winning every game, even the ones where Jimmy should have dominated given the level they chose. Jimmy wasn’t surprised, though. While playing he had only been able to think about two things: one being the fear that the police would find him, two being the image of both Megan and Samantha hanging from their wrists.
Stop! Stop! Stop! Megan had cried while Jimmy lifted her off the ground, her words turning into screams as the rope bit into her flesh, her legs kicking every which way in an attempt to relieve the pressure by finding something to stand on.
Samantha, on the other hand hadn’t protested at all, her body simply sagging against the ropes as he lifted her off the ground by them, her whimpering the only evidence that she was even aware of the situation.
Watching them both being lifted like that had been incredibly stimulating and for a moment he had considered sticking around with them just so he could watch as they suffered. But then the fear of the phone call and what Megan’s father might have heard once again expressed itself and he knew he had to head home.
He thought about his bondage tapes; the idea of getting rid of them weighing heavy on his mind. He didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want to destroy items that he had once waited days to receive, his eyes constantly watching the mailbox, his heart racing every time he saw the mail truck outside, his mind trying to picture what the scenes would be like, but unable to even comprehend what it was he had ordered. It had been an amazing moment, though one that he hadn’t realized would mark the start of his dissatisfaction with the staged scenes, especially when so few of them had long term hands over the head displays. He also never again waded through countless hours of piss poor movies just because their was a chance it would contain a hands over the head scene, something which he done for years, first with movies and shows on TV, and then, once he had his drivers license, with movies he rented from every video store he could find.
“Another battle?” Alan asked.
“Nah, I have to get some work done.”
“Oh, okay.”
With that Jimmy headed into his room and waited, his ears listening for Alan to head back up the stairs. Once that happened he dug into his closet and pulled out an old box, one that was completely filled with VHS tapes. A series of red numbers marked the front of each. It was his way of coding the tapes so that his parents wouldn’t see the titles if they ever stumbled upon them, titles like Asian Schoolgirl Bondage Vol. 5, Pain and Punishment Vol. 2, and European Girls Bound and Fucked.
The first bondage tape he had ever ordered had been The Witchfinder. He had thought that with such a title the movie would have countless scenes of medieval dungeons where peasant girls were chained up in shackles and tortured without mercy until they confessed. Instead the dungeon location had been nothing more than a painted on brick wall with modern day bondage items, the girls wearing costumes that didn’t have any historical accuracy to them, their torture more of an erotic torment. Jimmy had still gotten off on it many times, but had also been incredibly disappointed.
Other videos hadn’t been so bad, but none of them had ever given him the scenes he really craved. Even the Internet had been a disappointment, though that hadn’t stopped him from searching out images and videos daily, his eyes always on a lookout for something good.
The really sad thing was that his favorite bondage scene moments, before grabbing Samantha and Megan, had been ones he had stumbled upon on TV when he was younger. The People Under the Stairs, The Lair of the White Worm, Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity, The Howling 2, No Retreat, No Surrender 2, Chained Heat 2, American Ninja 4, and Burial of the Rats had all been movies he saw on TV or rented from the video store without knowing whether or not they would have a scene in it, and watched with growing anticipation as the story unfolded just to see, his heart always starting to race if a female in the movie was ever taken prisoner. The Howling 2 was probably one of his favorite moments. Alan and he had just finished picking out pumpkins to carve for Halloween from a local farm and he had gone into his room to make sure the VCR was taping the movie, which he had read about in TV Guide. The description hadn’t said anything about a girl being strung up from her wrists, but had mentioned they would be in Transylvania and that there would be castles, which meant the possibility of dungeons, which was enough for him to tape it. Sure enough a scene came on where the main female girl was captured. After that Jimmy sat down and waited to see where the girl ended up, heart racing, mind unable to focus on anything but the TV screen. And then the scene arrived. It started out with the camera zoomed in on a wall of skulls while a girl moaned in the background. The moan was what really got him excited. After that the camera started to shift to the left. Jimmy’s heart raced even faster, his groin tingling, his mind begging for a ‘hanging from the wrists’ scene, and then, there she was, hanging from her wrists. It was an amazing moment, one which other guys might compare with an early discovery of Playboy or Penthouse. Afterward Jimmy had watched the scene over and over again, his hand constantly bringing him to orgasm until finally he grew tired of it and went in search of other scenes.
What happens when you get tired of Samantha and Megan? Jimmy
asked himself suddenly.
An unpleasant answer followed.
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.
* * *
“Fuck 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 fuck man why would you toss out that premium California shit I gave you to hold. Do you know how much that fucking bag cost.”
“What would you do if you saw the police at the school,” Matt snapped. “And fuck, 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 fucking 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 you
r 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 pussy,” 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 fuck 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.
Jimmy Page 15