There is No Escape VIII

The four teens met in the middle of the hall and looked up. There was Ashley kicking and screaming, and none of them could say a single word.1

“Hello, Xander,” the shadow said. The voice was very deep and scratchy. “How are you doing, my boy?”2

X said nothing, he couldn’t, he just continued to stare up at the figure and Ashley’s flailing body. 3

“Please! Please! Let me go!” Ashley cried. There was the sound of her choking as the shadow tightened his grip around her throat.4

“Not just yet,” the shadow growled. “C’mon, Xander, won’t you answer an old friend? How have you been? Has your FATHER been treating you correctly?” The voice said to X, but very calmly. X still didn’t say anything. “What’s wrong, Xander, cat got your tongue? ANSWER ME!” the shadow screamed. Ashley let out a stifled scream; she was still kicking, her arms and legs moving around in all directions.5

“I can’t say much, since he’s never home, sir,” X muttered just loud enough for the shadow to hear it. X looked down at his feet and began to shuffle them.6

“What a nice parent, huh?” the shadow said with a laugh. X said nothing but continued to look at his feet. The shadow began to shake Ashley as hard as he could. “You know, she made a nice play toy once that…boy was outta the picture. I can tell she is not a virgin, very experienced. You gave me a lot of pleasure that I have been denied since I started working with your friend X’s dad.”7

“PUT HER DOWN!” X and Tom shouted at the same time.8

“With pleasure,” the voice laughed, and they heard Ashley scream at the top of her lungs as his grip loosened.9

“NO! WAIT!” the four of them shouted in unison. The shadow tightened his grip and Ashley stopped screaming.10

“What, you don’t want me to drop your little beautiful slut of a friend?”11

“She’s not really a friend,” X whispered, Tom nodded his head, and he never thought that the shadow heard that.12

“Well, in that case…”13

Ashley’s body started falling from the third floor. She was screaming it was so loud; it tuned out the Senses Fail song that was in the back round. They watched her body kicking turning over, it seemed to take forever. They watched the body as it met the ground. The screaming came to a sudden stop; there was a loud sound which I cannot describe. Ashley’s hand jumped a little then she was motionless.14

“You kids have still got four hours until your little faggot friend shows up,” the shadow said and laughed backing away from the railing.15

At first none of them did anything, and then Leah and Mel broke out in tears. Tom and X slowly approached the body. Tom and X stopped about two feet from the body and looked at each other. X motioned for Tom to check the body. Tom took a deep breath and a step forward. He got down on one knee and slowly put two fingers out to Ashley’s neck. Her hand jumped, which caused Tom to stop for a second then he touched her neck. There was no pulse.16

“Ashley?” Tom whispered. There was no response. X bent down and put his hand on her forehead and closed her eyelids over those blank hazel eyes. They slowly stood up and walked back over to the girls. “We need to find a safe place, better yet, a way outta here.”17

“I agree,” Leah said softly. “Do you think we could trigger an alarm or something?”18

“I doubt it, you probably need keys to get to that,” X said. “How about we figure this out while sitting in Hot Topic with booze, and cigarettes,” he said holding the bottle and the carton up giving a forced smile.19

“Sounds like an okay idea,” Tom said. He put his arm around Mel’s shoulders and they walked up the stairs to Hot Topic. All of them got behind the cash register and sat down opening the bottle of Smirnoff. They all lit a cigarette and took a swig from the bottle. “X, why did that dude know your name?”20

“He works with my dad,” X said softly raising the cigarette to his lips.21

“What exactly does your dad do?” Mel asked.22

“Steals things,” X choked shaking the hair out of his eyes. 23

“Good one, X, seriously, what does he do?” Tom asked.24

“He takes money from people’s bank accounts, and houses. Why do you think we have so much stuff? He has a bunch of people that work with him; I think that dude was one of them. My dad is exactly…fair when he decides who gets what. That’s why my mom is dead; they wanted to get a message to my dad. Same thing with these killings, my dad is connected to all of them in some way. It must have been just bad luck that we’re stuck in here tonight, but we are. That guy doesn’t like my dad very much; my dad probably owes him money, a lot of money.”25

“That’s bull shit,” Tom said to him taking another drink from the bottle.26

“No it’s not. Let’s say this turns out like every other horror story or movie ever written and in the end that dude says what I just said. Besides, you should believe me, since you didn’t last time. That guy actually fucking admitted to it,” X snarled.27

“I know he did—."28

“You know, I think I’m gunna stand out side, I’ll be right back,” Mel said and proceeded to stand by the railing.29

“Fuck,” Tom said, “she’s pissed at me.”30

“I wonder why,” Leah said sarcastically. 31

“Shut up, I’m sorry X for beating you up, now do you think she’ll forgive me, no.”32

“It’s because you’ve lost your temper, and she doesn’t like you when you do, it scares all of us,” Leah said to Tom.33

X lit up another cigarette and leaned up against the wall. “Do you think we’ll be okay in here?”34

Suddenly Mel’s scream erupted. They heard her just screaming, “TOM!”35

“Well, I think that answers that question,” Tom said and ran outside. No one was out there and Mel was hanging over the edge of the railing holding on for dear life. 36

“TOM HELP ME!” she screamed at him. Fear had flooded Tom; ice was spreading through his whole body. What was he supposed to do? He ran over to the edge and held a hand out for Mel, but she was too far down for him to reach. 37

“What the fuck?!” Tom growled. “Just hold on a sec.”38

“What else am I going to do you fucking moron,” Mel screamed. 39

Tom reached for his belt and undid it quickly; his pants almost fell around his ankles, the stopped at his knees. 40

“TOM, STOP THINKING FROM YOUR PANTS!” X laughed, Tom thought that X had too much to drink. Tom sent his belt over the railing, “Take this!”41

Mel was nervous but she took one hand from what she was holding and grabbed the belt. She put her other hand on the belt as well, and Tom slid forward a few inches. He started pulling as hard as he could, and soon Mel was over the edge. He held her in his arms and kissed her neck. He didn’t want to let her go ever again. She was crying and Tom felt that amazing feeling of another’s tears flowing down his cheek.  42

“Dude, we need to find my dad’s ‘co-worker’,” X said.43

“Are you fucking insane? We’re going to find another place to hide out, and none of us move without a buddy. Got it?” Tom said suddenly in power of the group. They began to walk in several different directions. First they went down the stairs, then up another set on the opposite side of the mall. Tom was holding Mel close to him, her waist touching his. Her head was resting on her shoulder as her tears slowed and eventually stopped. They came to American Eagle. 44

“I don’t think that he’d think we were here, Tom,” X laughed. 45

“Yeah, I agree,” Tom said.46

“I beg to differ…”47