by Chad Leito
Baggs obeyed and sipped on the wine.
“Drink it all. You need to relax.”
The wine was strong and bitter. Baggs rarely drank wine; it was too expensive for him to purchase it at the bars.
“Darius plays for the London Cyclones,” Lilly told Baggs. “He’s their best home run hitter.”
“I don’t know about that,” Darius said. His voice was deep and smooth. “You ever been to a baseball game, Baggs?”
“No,” Baggs said. He felt nauseated. He looked outside as they zoomed past his parents’ apartment complex.
“I’ll get you some tickets. If you’re a friend of Mr. Snow’s, you’re a friend of mine.” He smiled. “Hell, you can even come hang out in the locker room after a game.”
“Get him two tickets,” Lilly said, leaning her head on Baggs’s shoulder. “I want to go with him.”
“Bite, can we stop the car, please?” Baggs asked.
Bite frowned with his big, muzzle-like mouth. His lips were chapped. “Drink some more wine. Finish that glass, then I’ll get you some more.”
Baggs took a drink. Lilly and Darius Till shared a knowing look when they thought Baggs wasn’t watching. They sent a baseball player and a model to try to get me to ride with them? What could be so bad that you need to use those kinds of lures? Baggs wondered.
“Finish your cup of wine, two more big gulps,” Bite said.
Baggs obeyed. He was so anxious that he barely even tasted it. Bite filled his glass again, then put the bottle back in its compartment.
For a few seconds, it was quiet in the car. The only sounds were the grumble of the motor and the wheezing inhalations and exhalations of Pinky and Pointer. Baggs glanced at them and thought, they seriously look dead. It’s like we’re riding with corpses in the car. What the hell happened to them?
“Where are we going?” Baggs asked.
Lilly and Darius shared another look. When they weren’t trying to entertain him, they seemed nervous.
“My Boss’s mansion,” Bite said, “like I told you.”
“What are we going to do there?”
“Oh my god! Do you really not listen? What is wrong with you? I already told you, we’re having a party, damn it!” Bite raised his voice and his eyes conveyed a dark message to Baggs. “You’re going to have fun, damn it!”
“Don’t yell at him,” Lilly said. She got on her knees and kissed Baggs’s cheek. She brushed his hair.
A terrible idea came into Baggs’s mind. What if these people are friends of Baldy’s? What if they’re taking me out to some abandoned train yard to chop my head off?
Baggs looked at the locked door. He wished he had never gotten into the limo. If he had taken a different route home today, he would have never run into Bite and never gone on this terrible journey. But if I didn’t run into him today, he would have found me some other time. He was waiting for me in the fog.
“I’m sorry that I yelled at you, Baggs,” Bite said coldly. “It’s just that I want you to have a good time tonight, and you’re not loosening up. You’ll have fun once you get to my boss’s mansion. How about this, if you’re there for thirty minutes and you’re not having a good time, I’ll take you home. I promise.”
Darius chimed in: “If you’re not having a good time after thirty minutes, I’ll take you home myself if you want to leave.” He laughed. “But boy, I don’t think you’re going to want to go home.”
“Okay,” Baggs said. He knew that he was being awkward, but he still wasn’t convinced that they weren’t taking him to a train yard to put a bullet through his skull in some abandoned bathroom.
Ten minutes later, the limousine pulled up to a twenty-foot tall iron gate. The gate was flanked with huge stone pillars that had statues of gargoyles sitting on top. Out the window, Baggs could see an enormous mansion in the distance; this one trumped the houses that were built in Rolling Gardens.
The limousine driver talked to a guard, the gate opened, and they began to move along a private road between fields of green grass. They drove over small bridges and through a series of neatly trimmed trees. To the left of the road, there was a pond with a glowing fountain spraying water high into the foggy, night sky. After going further down the path, the limousine stopped in front of wide, marble steps that led up to great wooden doors that were inlaid with glass and crystals.
So I guess Bite wasn’t lying about the models or the mansion, Baggs thought. Maybe I was wrong about this guy. Maybe everything is going to be okay.
But he still couldn’t explain the two zombie-people who were in the car with him.
Well, if things go bad, I may be able to sneak out. I’m only about three miles from home, five at the most. I can walk that distance.
“Home sweet home. Let’s party,” Darius said.
Bite held his right hand up. “First, I’m going to tell Baggs something.” He looked at Baggs, his fake eye glistening in the pale light. “My boss’s name is Mr. Snow. And I want to tell you a story about Mr. Snow before we go in, so that you know what you’re getting yourself into. When I was young and dumb, like you, I thought I was a big shot, like you probably do too. I was invited out to Mr. Snow’s house, just like you.
“Mr. Snow, God bless him, can be a little harsh on people. We went out back and we had a chat. He said something to me that I didn’t think was very nice, and when he turned his back, I held up my middle finger to him.” Bite smiled. “Now, I’m only telling you this so that you don’t make the same mistake.”
Baggs nodded.
“Don’t go repeating this story around, you hear?”
Baggs nodded.
Bite continued. “So I held up my middle finger to him when his back was turned, but what I didn’t know was that he could see my reflection in the window. He went inside, as though he hadn’t seen. I thought he hadn’t seen. Night went on pretty normally. Lots of booze, some pretty girls like Lilly, that kind of stuff. Around midnight, though, someone stopped the music. I looked around and noticed that everyone seemed to be staring at me. I didn’t know what was going on. I’ll admit; I was a little scared.
“Then Mr. Snow came into the room. He told me to get on my knees. Now, everyone didn’t seem to be staring at me, everybody was staring at me. Something you need to know about Mr. Snow; he’s the most intimidating man I’ve ever met.”
Baggs nodded, thinking, what kind of man does Bite consider scary?
Bite went on. “So, I start getting scared, and I get to my knees. He then calmly explains that he saw me hold my middle finger up to him when he turned his back earlier.” Bite stared at Baggs. “Guess what he asked me to do.”
“I don’t know,” Baggs said weakly.
“He asked me to bite off my middle finger, so that I could never flip him off again.” Bite looked at what was left of his finger with his one good eye. “And so I did.”
It was silent in the limousine for a moment. Baggs wondered, what happened to Bite’s eye then.
“You must understand, now, that that’s why they call me Bite; it’s because I bit off my own finger.”
Lilly spoke up from where she was leaned against Baggs. She was examining her own hand, as though considering what Bite had just said. “How did you do it? I don’t think that I could bite off my own finger.”
Bite laughed; the sound seemed to make the temperature in the car drop ten degrees. “If I didn’t bite it off, other things were going to happen to me. In the end, I thought that losing my finger was a hell of a lot better than the alternative. Let’s go.”
He opened the door and stepped out onto the pavement, which was well lit by dozens of lights in the doorway. “C’mon, big guy,” Bite said. Baggs got out, and was followed by Lilly and Darius. “Pinker, Pointer, c’mon,” Bite said into the limo. Slowly, with popping joints and grunts of effort, Pinker and Pointer moved out of the car. It was strange watching them move after they had been still for so long. It was like watching a corpse begin to stir as it becomes animated. The two of t
hem still did not look around much, and their expressions remained sickly relaxed and dull.
The night was cool, and a chilly wind blew over their backs as the group made their way to the door. Baggs noticed that Darius moved with a level of grace that wasn’t customary for someone so big. As Pointer and Pinky climbed the marble stairs, they groaned with open, relaxed throats. Their joints continued to pop and creak as they moved upward. Lilly walked closely beside Baggs. When standing, he was a full foot taller than her and could see down her dress. She caught him looking, and didn’t readjust her clothing. She smirked at him.
As they made their way up the stairs to the mansion, Baggs couldn’t stop stealing glances at Bite’s missing finger. He had to bite his own finger off, Baggs repeated in his mind, trying to take in the gravity of such an event. He still hasn’t explained why he limps, or how he lost his left eye. Working for this Mr. Snow sounds dangerous.
The handle on the front door was shining silver that had been delicately molded to look like it had metal vines growing over it. “Home sweet home,” Bite said, repeating what Darius had said in the limo, and he pushed open the door.
A loud, high-pitched shriek echoed through the cavernous mansion and came out the front door. A female was producing the sound, and hearing such a noise made Baggs shiver. Someone is being tortured, he thought.
“Big man first,” Bite said, holding his arm out as a gesture inviting Baggs inside.
But Baggs stood there, finding that he couldn’t move. I want to go home, he thought. Though he was big, he was only fifteen years old. He wanted out of this situation. He wanted to be locked inside his parents’ apartment, knowing that they were sleeping in the other room.
“C’mon, Baggs,” Bite said.
Someone is screaming in there, Baggs thought. In his mind’s eye, he saw Bite chewing off his own finger. He imagined the man with his eyes closed in agony, screaming as his own blood ran down his chin.
The shrieks inside changed tones, and Baggs reevaluated what he thought he was hearing. They’re shrieks of delight, he now thought. He hoped that this was the correct assessment.
Lilly took his thick right hand in her slender left one and pulled him inside. He walked obediently. He thought about turning and running, but between Bite and Darius, he would be easily caught.
The mansion was palatial. The ceilings were painted with angels, harps, and clouds. Baggs tilted his head to look upwards and was dizzied by the incredible height of the entryway.
“This way,” Bite grumbled, and he began to limp along in front of them. Pinky, Pointer, and Darius came into the front door before Darius pulled it shut.
They walked through a regal, high-ceilinged hallway. The walls were covered in gold wallpaper that shimmered in the light of crystal chandeliers. There were fish tanks inlaid into the walls with rare, deep-sea creatures inside. Baggs saw octopi, and strange, phosphorescent creatures that glowed and displayed needle sharp teeth.
As they walked, the shouts and echoes from dozens of conversations grew louder. They came out of the hallway, and Baggs felt as though a weight was lifted off his shoulders as he saw that he was, in fact, at a party.
There were about two hundred people in one room, and it was not at all crowded because of the size. The floor was made of assorted white rock, which was cut out in the center of the room to house a massive pool with a volleyball net running through the middle. There were wooden bars flanking the walls, with bartenders in tuxedos standing at attention, ready to serve drinks. Waiters paced the room, holding silver trays above their heads and serving Hors d’oeuvres to the guests. This ceiling, like the one in the entryway, was high above Baggs’s head and painted with angels flying in a bright blue sky. There were four huge cages in the room, one in each corner, and each held a cheetah that watched the festivities with dark orange eyes. The cheetahs did not seemed perturbed by the ruckus and movement caused by the humans below them; they acted like they had seen dozens of parties that were just like this one. Most of the men were at least wearing dress pants and button-up shirts, but some wore suit jackets, too. Baggs felt out of place in his grocery store uniform. There were lots of women in bikinis, talking to people as though their dress was normal. There were dozens of men and women in the swimming pool playing volleyball. Some wore swimsuits; others were in their underwear. Electronic music played quietly from speakers that were not visible.
“C’mon, let’s get a drink,” Lilly said, and she pulled Baggs through the crowd along side her. Baggs did not see Pinky, Pointer, Bite, or Darius for the next hour. Drinks at the bar were free of charge. Baggs and Lilly stood around, sipping on cocktails, and talking. She told him that she was trying to be an actress, and they spoke about her career for a while. After half an hour, Baggs was drunk. He was beginning to think that maybe Lilly actually liked him. All of the skepticism he had had that a girl so beautiful could be interested in him was disappearing as their conversation went along and he consumed more alcohol.
“Oh my God! Let’s play volleyball!” She told Baggs. “They just finished a game, let’s get in.” Lilly finished her drink (double vodka in cranberry juice) and then slipped her dress off her head so that she was in her underwear. Baggs looked at her body, lusting after her. “C’mon, let’s go play.”
“I don’t have a bathing suit.”
“Lots of people are just in their underwear.”
Embarrassed, Baggs took his clothes off. Even as a fifteen year old, he was tremendously hairy, with dark curls lining every inch of his body. No one seemed to care, though. They got into the pool, which was filled with warm salt water, and joined the game. Baggs guessed that the people playing volleyball wouldn’t accept him and would treat him as an outsider. But, Baggs found that everyone was nice to him. With his drunken brain, he was letting loose and starting to enjoy himself. People whistled and cheered as he spiked volleyballs down on the other side of the net. After he made good plays, Lilly hugged him, pressing her warm, near-naked body into his.
She likes me, Baggs now thought. He had gone from thinking she’s trying to lure me into something dangerous to thinking she really likes me in a little less than an hour. Lilly was good at what she did.
But just as he was beginning to think that everything was okay and that he was safe, Bite came over to the side of the pool, knelt down, and called for Baggs. A man was standing behind Bite. Baggs walked to the edge of the pool. His beard was dripping wet with water.
Bite looked at Baggs with his one real eye and gestured with his hand that was missing a finger to the man above him. “Baggs, I want you to meet my boss, Mr. Snow.”
“Nice to meet you,” Baggs said. The alcohol eased the nervousness he had felt earlier when imagining meeting the man that had commanded Bite to chomp his own finger off.
“Are you having a good time?” Mr. Snow asked.
“Oh, yeah! Great time!”
Mr. Snow looked at Baggs. This guy isn’t intimidating, Baggs thought in his drunken state. Mr. Snow was a man in his late twenties or early thirties. He stood at five and a half feet tall and had dainty, slender hands. His hair was short and neatly trimmed and gelled. He wore a plain, black suit. “Come with me, Baggs. I want to talk with you.” Without seeing if Baggs was following, he turned and began to walk towards the back of the house.
Baggs did not move for a moment, and Bite reached down and tugged on his hair. “Do you have a death wish, kid? Move.”
Baggs dragged himself, dripping, out of the pool and stood at his full height. He looked over the crowd of people and saw Mr. Snow walking towards a door that led to the backyard.
“Dry yourself and then move your ass,” Bite said, offering Baggs a towel.
Baggs rubbed the towel over his body until he was moderately dry, and then walked in his underwear through the crowd of people until he reached the back door. Mr. Snow had left it ajar. He stepped through.
“Shut the door, Baggs. I want to take a walk with you,” Mr. Snow said. The back patio was
dimly lit with light shining through the windows from inside and by candles dispersed among tables draped with white cloths. In this new light, the warmth that Mr. Snow had shown inside was gone. His jaw was tight. He was staring at Baggs with an unwavering, stony expression.
I was wrong. He is very intimidating. Baggs’s mouth was dry. He obediently shut the door. Mr. Snow began to walk down a paved path through his back yard. Baggs followed.
They walked in silence until they couldn’t hear the noises from inside. The fog had cleared some and the moon reflected off multiple ponds in the back yard. Owls hooted from trees high above. The lawn that surrounded them was trimmed as finely as a fairway on a golf course. As they got further away, Baggs wished that they weren’t alone. This man, who was a full twelve inches shorter than Baggs, and one hundred pounds lighter than Baggs was frightening him a lot.
Mr. Snow spoke and Baggs jumped a little. “Bite told me that he saw you fighting someone,” he said.
They walked on a few more paces. Baggs was scared that if he talked, Mr. Snow might get angry. He made Bite chomp his own finger off. I wonder if he did something to Pointer and Pinky to make them that way?
“I pay people back, Baggs,” Mr. Snow said. “It’s something that I believe in. I believe in something else, too.” He wasn’t looking at Baggs, but was looking away from his house as he walked. “I also believe in people paying me back. I make them pay me back. You take something from me, you pay me back. End of discussion.”
Baggs’s heart was beginning to thud in his chest. For perhaps the tenth time he thought, I shouldn’t have gotten in the limo. “I haven’t taken anything of yours, sir.”
Mr. Snow didn’t directly respond. “If you did take something of mine and then you gave me something back, I think that that would be a beneficial exchange for the both of us. I could make you very happy. I could get Lilly to sleep with you.”
Baggs’s breath caught in his throat.
“I could get you a nice place to live. I could get you a nice car.”
Neither of Baggs’s parents could afford a car.