Come Get Me

by Michael Hunter

  “Oh you want more? Well, it would seem our dear Maria has a thing for you.” He added when he noticed Jim was watching him. “She seems to have decided that since our little drugged up Jilly has made your heart go all pitter patter, she would just have to remove her.”

  After his little speech he quietly started giggling as if something was funny. Jim wished he could see everything like Pete did. Maybe he would be laughing too but he doubted it. Yup, good old Pete was gone. He was going to die and he thought it was all funny.

  Maria suddenly came storming back into the room followed a few seconds later by Johnny. Neither of them looked very happy. Seeming to want someone to vent her anger on she walked directly over to Pete and planted a stinging smack to his face.

  “Shut the hell up ya damn freak,” she yelled. “I heard you talking all the way in the other room. Don’t think I didn’t hear all your snide little remarks but that’s ok. I have plans for you.”

  Turning her attention to Jim she said, “It’s about time you woke up. I heard the freak talking to you. He was actually pretty close to the truth. I’m actually kind of surprised he was smart enough to figure out his own name much less anything having to do with what I’m going to do. I guess he’s a lot smarter than we all gave him credit for.” She turned and kicked him it seemed just for good measure. Maybe she hoped he would eventually match her image of him if she abused him enough. Thinking about kicking someone into stupidity made Jim snicker at the absurdity of it, but if there was anyone that would try it Maria was surely going to be first in line. This thought just made him laugh even more. He didn’t even try to stop himself. If he was going to die he might as well enjoy it. He looked up to find Maria looking at him. She still didn’t look very happy. Forcing himself to calm down he figured it was time for some real answers.

  “What’s all this shit really about?” He demanded. “It can’t all be just because I didn’t fall madly in love with you when I got here. There has to be some other reason for all this.” The look in her eye wasn’t pleasant but he didn’t care. He was trussed up like a Christmas pig and he wanted to know why. “And another thing,” he added, “what in the seven bells of hell have you done to Jill? She looks like the poster child for drug abuse. Oh yeah, last but certainly not least, will you quit looking like the evil step-mother from some fairy tale and say something. Usually we can’t shut you up but now when I want you to talk I get nothing.”

  “My, my, my,” she said looking at him thoughtfully, “we’re just all kinds of full of questions tonight aren’t we?” she looked at Pete then continued, “Freak boy, here figured out some of it. Isn’t big handsome Jimmy intelligent enough to figure out the rest?”

  Jim was sick of the games so he just gave her a bored look and said nothing. He figured it was better to put on a brave face. If she thought he wasn’t afraid maybe she wouldn’t try to do anything.

  “To answer or not to answer, that is the question,” she said when she saw he wasn’t going to talk. She tried to sound like she was really having a hard time deciding but he knew she’d talk. He was right when he’d said it was usually hard to shut her up. If there was a chance for her to brag about something she would do it. Now he just had to wait and see what came out when she started talking. “Well, I guess it won’t hurt anyone if I explain everything to you. Except you that is, since you won’t be leaving here alive. That usually ends up hurting a little bit.” Jim didn’t find anything about the whole situation the least bit funny but she must have since she started laughing. Johnny joined in but he didn’t seem to think it was as good a joke as she did. Jim’d almost forgot he was there he was so quiet.

  “So where to begin?” she asked when she’d calmed down. Jim couldn’t help but look her in the eyes when she talked. He didn’t like what he saw. He’d heard you could see things in people’s eyes but had never believed it. He did now. All that was behind Maria’s eyes was insanity and hate and it was all directed at him. He didn’t know what he could’ve ever done to deserve something like that. He didn’t have time to dwell on it though since she was still talking. “The story is so long I don’t really know where to begin.” She glanced at Johnny from the corner of her eye. “Johnny, where, oh where, do you think I should start?”

  “I guess you should start where ever you want,” Johnny said sheepishly after a few seconds of internal debate.

  “That is usually where normal people start isn’t it? But since when am I normal? Plus, it’s just oh so boring to be predictable like that but I guess for speeds sake it will have to do. So, Jimmy,” she said turning her gaze back on him, “let me tell you a story. Let me take you back, way back to yesteryear, not just yesteryear but all the way back to a time you should remember quite well. Why would you remember it? I’ll tell you why. Because it was back in your heyday, back when you were a big man on campus, as it were. Its high school where my tale begins, and no not a tail from my butt so don’t ask.” This was mostly directed at Pete. At the mention of a tail he’d perked up and raised his hand to ask a question. When his dreams had been dashed he sadly went back to cleaning his finger nails.

  Maria seemed to be taking quite a bit of pleasure being the center of attention. She’d slowly started walking around the room waving her hands in the air as if she was trying to paint a picture of what she was talking about. If anything it made her look even crazier. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a grown woman walking around in her negligee telling a story surrounded by candles. It was almost but not quite comical. There was no doubt she was just as gone as Pete but whereas he was calm most of the time she was off the deep end. She was totally gone. He shot a glance at Johnny to see what he was making of the performance and was heartened to see he didn’t appear as sure of himself as he had. Jim could tell just by the look in his eye he still worshipped her but he also might be realizing she wasn’t all there. Jim quickly turned his attention back to Maria as she turned her attention back on him.

  “Would it surprise you if I told you I had a huge crush on you back then?” she asked. “You must’ve known. There was no way you couldn’t. I mean I worshipped the ground you walked on. I followed you everywhere. Basically I made a total fool of myself but that didn’t matter to me as long as I was close to you. Unfortunately, instead of returning my feelings you acted as if I didn’t exist. Sure, you were nice if you saw me in the hall or happened to notice I was stalking you. Sometimes you even deigned to talk to me but usually nothing more than a quick hello or something but oh, how I lived for those little things. I tried working up the courage to actually carry on a conversation with you a few times but you were always too busy with your mean, little friends. I know they poisoned you against me. That’s the only reason I can think of that you never talked to me. Because of them.” She was becoming more and more excited as she spoke. Facing him she took a deep breath. This seemed to calm her because when she started talking again her voice sounded a little closer to normal.

  “Tommy, Rob, Pete, and Jim bestest friends forever,” she said in a sing song voice. “Never letting anyone or anything come in between their close knit group. You know a lot of people thought you four might be gay or something. But I knew you weren’t. You had all the time in the world for girls, just not me! I would’ve treated you way better than any of them did. I would’ve treated you the way you should’ve been treated. I would’ve given you anything and I mean anything. But no, you thought all you needed was them. What bullshit! You didn’t need them! All you needed was me!” She’d become agitated again and had slowly been walking towards him. Before she was finished speaking she was so close he could feel the spit flying from her mouth as she yelled. She stood looking at him for a few seconds, shoulder heaving from her excitement before suddenly spinning and walking towards Johnny. He stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders as she approached and whispered something to her. Jim hoped he was trying to talk her out of continuing what she was doing. She shook her head so whatever it was obviously had
n’t worked.

  Jim took this break in the story for another opportunity to look around and try to figure some way out of this mess. He hadn’t had much luck before but maybe he’d missed something. Peeking at Jill he saw she was still dead to the world and Pete just continued rocking and mumbling. He was just getting ready to give up when he noticed something odd. He’d seen Pete rocking but he hadn’t seen him moving. Each time he rocked back he used his feet to push himself a little closer to the wall. Looking over Pete’s head Jim saw an open space with night and starry sky behind it. He was slowly working his way to one of the windows. Jim was sure it was just by accident but if it wasn’t and if he got close enough he might be able to jump out and run for help. The only thing tied on Pete was his hands. If he got out he really might be able to find help and bring them back but Jim didn’t hold much hope of that idea working. Pete wasn’t suddenly going regain his sanity and save the day. He was just sitting there rubbing his hands together and rocking back and forth without a care in the world. Nothing else. There was no grand escape plan forming behind those dark little eyes. He was in his own world where he was safe and nobody could hurt him. Why come out now?

  “Now then Jimmy boy, let’s flash forward,” Maria said catching his attention. “When you left town, you just left. No words of goodbye, no telling me how you really had loved me all those years and would send for me when you could. No nothing. You just left without a word or a backward glance. Do you know how bad that hurt me? I was heartbroken. I couldn’t understand why you’d left me. You didn’t bother saying anything least of all goodbye. One day you were there then next you weren’t. I just didn’t understand what I’d done wrong. What was I to do?” She looked at him like she expected him to answer. Not knowing what else to do, he just silently stared back. She was deep into her delusion but as long as she was talking they were relatively safe. All the stuff spouting from her mouth was sort of true but only sort of. He remembered her from high school and how she was almost always in the places he was but that was it. She must’ve somehow gotten the idea that they’d had some type of relationship with each other. He didn’t know how though. All he could remember saying to her was hi.

  “I knew we were meant to be together,” she said as she walked over to Jill and slowly ran a finger down the side of her face. “But we weren’t. You left to go God knows where and do God knows what with God knows who and left me here with no idea of when I might see you again. Then I thought maybe you were testing me to see if I really did love you and would wait for you. I knew I would but I also knew I had to figure out a way to get you to come back. Then, one day, a few years ago it came to me. I had an epiphany.” She brutally pushed Jill’s head to the side, spun and walked back to the center of the room. Stopping with her hand raised and looking up at the ceiling Jim almost thought she really was having a true vision then he remembered who he was thinking about and just shook his head.

  “It was like a sign from the heavens. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. I knew that day I just had to make it so you had no choice but to come back. After that the rest was easy,” she said smiling, “Do you want to guess what my idea was?” she looked at him expectantly. He wasn’t about to try to answering anything. He didn’t know what was right or wrong in this situation so he figured being quiet was safest. “Boy,” she said looking at Johnny, “I thought he was a lot smarter than this. It’s a good thing we didn’t end up together; our children probably would’ve made the freak over there look like a genius. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, my idea. Well, since you won’t guess I’ll just tell you.” She took a few seconds to gather her thoughts. While she did this she just looked at him with shinning, evil eyes. Her hands idly roamed over her body in many provocative ways but Jim didn’t think she was trying to entice him anymore. It seemed more out of habit than anything. He didn’t have much time to think about it, which was fortunate.

  “I thought about it for what seemed a long time but actually wasn’t,” she began, “Finally, I figured out just what it would take. I knew if something happened to one of your precious little friends you would probably coming running home right away. I could’ve gone after your mother but I figured that was too old hat. You know something that someone else would do but not me. I’m better than everyone else so my plan had to be better than what someone else might come up with. The thing about my plan though, was that it had to be something drastic. It couldn’t just be some little accident. Why would you rush home for that? It had to be deadly. So the logical choice was killing one of them. I figured that would do the trick. Then, once you were back I would be here to comfort, console, and love and nurse your damaged emotions back to the way they should be. Then you would finally love me and we would be together forever and ever!” She sounded like she really believed her plan would work. Jim cast a quick glance at Pete to see what he was doing. He was a little closer to the window but still not close enough to jump out. Pete’s eyes flicked in his direction and Jim saw one of them wink at him. He thought he was seeing something at first but decided he hadn’t when he looked at Pete’s hands. His bonds were loose. Almost loose enough for him to get free. In a few more minutes he probably would be free. Then he could make a break for it and get help. At least that was what Jim was hoping for.

  “Ok, at least I know why I’m here now,” he said trying to give Pete as much time as he could. “But why did you take Pete and Jill? They didn’t have anything to do with any of this. Well, I guess Pete did, but he was out of the way stuck in jail and probably on his way to the loony bin.”

  “Well,” she said looking towards Jill, “little Jilly over there is here simply because she’s just like all those other girls you used to date. She was trying to take you away from me. See, you did everything that you were supposed to do as part of my plan. You came home and we reunited with each other but then you made a mistake. You went and met Jill and picked her instead of me! How could you go and do something stupid like that? You’re mine! Don’t you understand that? She sure didn’t seem to. When I found her earlier I tried to explain it to her nicely but she just got all smart and started asking all kinds of dumb questions so since she wasn’t cooperating I brought her out here to explain things a little better.” She looked at Jill angrily for a minute before continuing.

  “Freak boy over there is here because my loving dolt of a partner got just a little bit ahead of himself. He thought it would be a good idea to change the plan from what I’d originally designed. I actually was content to leave Petey sit in jail and rot but Johnny boy thought of something else. It’s something I don’t really like, but I guess it might work. We don’t really have much of choice now either way but he can tell you that.” Maria was beginning to go into pout mode again but she surprised him.

  “Why don’t you tell them what you had planned lover boy,” she said teasingly.

  To Johnny’s credit that looked like the last thing he wanted to do but he took a deep breath and fixed Jim with a glare. “Well, let me tell ya, when you left all that while ago she was pretty messed up. I’m talking not eating, not taking care of herself, stuff like that. She was bad. Hell, all she really did do was drink and cry. Other than that she just sat in her place day in day out doing nothing. I didn’t really understand why until one day when I went over to check on her she finally told me. She was drunk as a skunk and was barely coherent but I understood enough to know what you done. I thought that was a pretty mean thing for you to do leaving her like that but then again I was happy too. See, I was there and you weren’t. I was there for her when she needed somebody. You weren’t. I’d loved her for as long as I could remember but every time I tried to tell her, all she wanted to talk about was you. But now all of a sudden you weren’t there anymore. You left. I knew she and I would finally end up together now. But no, she said she wasn’t going to let you go that easily.” Johnny paused here like he was remembering something he didn’t really want to and Jim guessed he was. He actually felt somewhat sorr
y for the guy. Johnny’d been in love with the crazy bitch all these years and all she’d ever wanted was Jim. If it’d been him he would’ve just moved on but it didn’t seem Johnny was able to do that. He held out hope all those years she would eventually love him back and she never did. Johnny himself was probably half crazy by now.

  “She went on and on about how you’d come back for her one day,” Johnny said starting his story again. “She said you’d realize you’d made a mistake and you would come back and take her away with you and ya’ll live happily ever after. I tried doing things to get her to love me, hell, just to even notice me, but none of it worked.” Johnny was getting angry now. All of his pent up aggression was about to come poring out. Jim could see that trying to explain anything to Johnny right now was going to be a waste of time. “Then a little while ago she got her idea,” he said continuing. “I guess over the years she’d at least decided she could trust me so she told me about it. I couldn’t believe what she wanted to do at first. Then I thought of all the crap I’d been listening to about you and figured why not.” A change was slowly coming over his face as he talked. He actually looked like he was getting happier about something. Jim didn’t know what was going on but he hoped it was something good. Pete was still slowly struggling with his ropes so he still needed some time. Johnny was doing a good job giving it to him. Maria surprisingly was just standing nearby twirling her hair. She must’ve known about Johnny’s feelings. There was no way she couldn’t. Then Jim understood. She’d used those feeling as a way to get him to help her. Maybe in her own demented way she did care about him but Jim doubted it. At this point she probably didn’t care about anything but the revenge she thought she was taking on him.