Psycho{Completed}

  1

I struggled with all the strength I had to break free of the rope and chains that bound me to the chair I sat in, desperately hoping and praying for them to become loose or until they broke. I kept thinking that but in reality, I knew that it wouldn’t happen. I wasn’t nearly strong enough to break free of my restraints. This was the time when I wished that I had been. 2

As I finally let out a final scream for someone to help me or at least hear me, my prayer was answered…but it wasn’t the answer I had been looking for. It was a man who had stormed through the shut door. He entered the room and didn’t bother to shut the door behind him. In his hand was a video camera and in the other was a stand for the camera. My tear streaked eyes followed this man as he placed the stand two feet in front of me and hooked up the camera onto the stand. The stand had a wire in it so that you could plug it in to something. I watched with intimidation as he walked over to a computer and some devices and plugged in the wire into it. Everything had been turned on. As he turned on the camera and I saw that it was streaming live, I let out a whimper, staring directly into the camera. 3

He turned around to face me with almost a smile forming across his face. His smile seemed so devious and creepy like his eyes. Once he looked at me and I had been staring at him, I never felt so terrified in my life. My heart pounded in my chest, my chest heaved up and down heavily, and my eyes were full of fear. Everything about this man scared me. 4

“Hello, my dear.” He said to me, giving me a smile. Again, I whimpered but this time I did it loudly. He walked closer to me, each step perfect and sinister. A small flow of tears flowed down my face as he stood beside me so he wasn’t in the way of the camera. I struggled one more time to free myself from the restraints. 5

He leaned down towards me and pushed a lock of my long brown hair out of my face. I instantly jerked at the touch of his bare hand as I cried silently and whimpered again. Even though he seemed to be turned on by my whimpering, he gently put a finger to my lips. “Sh…” He silenced me. Instantly, I stopped making any possible noises, afraid of what he would have done to me if I didn’t be quiet. 6

Soon, his hand brushed my cheek as to praise me. “That’s a good girl. If you continue to be the good little girl you are now, everything will be smooth, I promise you that.” His hand then moved up to my hair, using his hand to run through my hair. “And aren’t you so pretty, little girl?” 7

He could tell how terrified I was of him and the whole situation. He had been able to see it in my eyes and on my face. In fact, he had been able to tell how I felt during every second that passed. As he spoke to me, his breath felt hot and heavy. 8

“Now, why don’t you tell me your name, sweetheart and how old you are?” He stated. I looked at him and he seemed to refuse to stop looking at me. My entire body began to shake as I took a deep breath and spoke for the very first time around him. 9

“Eliz-Elizabeth and I’m fifteen.” I cringed. Afterwards, I heard him hum very softly and then I heard him chuckle a little bit. I was able to tell that he was having fun messing around with me. He probably already knew my name so this could have been one way for him to mess with me. It was also a way for him to get me to talk. 10

He turned to face the camera. “You hear that, Clifton? This sweet and beautiful girl is named Elizabeth and she’s only fifteen years old. Pretty name, don’t you think? Do you think she’s as beautiful as her name is? I bet you she is.” 11

“What-What do you want? Why-Why am I here?” I asked him with a plead in a tearful voice. 12

“You hear that? She wants to know why she’s here.” He laughed. His laugh made me want to scream because of how deranged and crazed it sounded. “Elizabeth, my sweet dear, you want to know why you’re really here?” He sounded as if he was asking me rather than having him just come out and tell me. I didn’t say a word or nod or shake my head. 13

“Well, I’ll tell you anyway and everyone else in the city who is watching television right now. You’re here because I fucking love you. I fucking love the way you look, how your voice sounds, how you turn me on when you have fear written all over your face, and just for being you.” He let out a small laugh. “I fucking love you so I took you and you know the great thing about that is? Everyone thinks you just simply went out to the mall tonight and won’t be back for another three hours.” 14

“Just please don’t hurt me. Oh god, please don’t hurt me. I’m not worth it.” I begged. 15

“I just told you that I fucking love you, pretty little girl! I won’t hurt you. Remember what I said about being a good little girl, Elizabeth? Do you think you can be a good girl for me, huh?” He breathed heavily as he caught me squirming in my seat, trying to free myself. “Nod your head up or down to answer.” 16

Slowly, I nodded my head yes. He brushed my cheek with his hand again. “That’s my girl. Good girl. Now why don’t you tell everyone your feelings right now? Go on, speak to the camera.” 17

“Terrified. Trapped. Cold.” I did as he said. 18

He grabbed onto my chin and lifted my head up to look him directly in the eyes since I had been lacking that. “Are you sure that’s all?” I nodded my head yes as I silently cried.  “Alright, good girl. Good girl.” His lips brushed up against mine. I closed my eyes and kept them shut tightly as he kissed me on the lips. He licked at my lips before he stopped and then I opened up my eyes just in time to see and feel him stick his hands up my shirt and underneath my bra. I winced as he squeezed my breasts from under my shirt and bra. I squirmed around in my seat and a minute later, he stopped.19

“Oh, you feel so good.” He turned to face the camera again. “If there’s any guys watching this, you must be jealous that you’re not the one touching Elizabeth like this. I’d bet you’d all kill to be with her.” He laughed a third time. 20

“Elizabeth, tell me what your daddy does?” He asked me. 21

“He’s a police officer. The sheriff.” I answered. 22

He put his left hand in his left pocket and it stayed there. “Tell me something, does he like to watch television?” He nodded his head to me as to get me to answer him. When I didn’t, he yelled at me. “Answer me!” When he yelled, I became startled and nearly shook with trepidation. 23

“Yes, he does, when he has time off.” I quickly said. 24

“Does he have time off, tonight?” He asked me.25

I nodded my head yes. 26

“Very good. Is he watching the television right now?” He asked me one last question. 27

“I guess so.” I stated. 28

“Very well then,” He suddenly pulled out a gun out of his left pocket and put it to my right temple. I screamed with fear and began to cry out loud, begging and hysterically crying for him not to kill me. He ignored everything I did. 29

“Sheriff Jim Lipton, if you’re watching this, which I’m most certainly positive you are, you have exactly three and a half hours to come for your daughter Elizabeth or I’ll pull the trigger and her pretty brain will be splattered all over the floor and walls.” He threatened. 30

“Let me go! Please just let me go and don’t kill me!” I hysterically cried to him, turning my head away from him. He kept the gun securely to my temple and not once did his hand tremble. He seemed calm and in control. My cries only fueled him. 31

“Let you go, huh?” He mocked me, pressing the gun harder into my head. I felt so certain that he was going to kill me and he wasn’t going to do it in privacy. He was going to kill me on television and everyone in the city who was watching their televisions would witness it. And some of them would probably enjoy it because they would think it was only fake. 32

My breathing got heavier and before I knew it, I had a hard time breathing. I tried to stay calm even though I knew that was impossible to do and tried to take deep breaths. My entire body tensed and cringed, thinking he was going to pull the trigger and half my skull was going to be blown away with blood sprayed all over the walls and floor. 33

“What’s wrong?” He asked me. I didn’t turn to look at him. All I did was wait for him to pull the trigger. In reality, I really didn’t want him to but if he did, I wished he would just get it over with. The sooner he stopped making me suffer by ending it with just one bullet, the less time I would have to stay strapped in this room with some deranged, psychotic man. 34

Soon, his face turned into a smile. “Oh, you think I’m going to kill you right now?” I still didn’t look at him. Fear froze me in place. “I see what’s wrong. You think I’m going to kill you right here and now. Let me tell you something. Look at me.” I tried moving my head away from his gun. “Look at me!” 35

I quickly turned my head to stare him square in the eyes. His blazing, ice blue eyes haunt me terribly. New tears form in my eyes. “Now, you look at me.” With his free hand, he grabbed me by the cheeks and squeezed them hard. When I struggled and tried to look away, he squeezed hard and turned my head to face him and spoke in a slow, rasped voice. “Let. Me. Tell. You. Something.” I stopped struggling once I figured out I would always loose the fight. 36

“Alright, now that I have your attention, just hear me out, okay?” He said, not letting go of my face. “I know that you’re scared. I can see it written all over your face. Only if you could see yourself right now. I’ve known who you are for quite some time but it’s not until now that I fully understand you.” His grip on my face tightened, causing me pain. I knew that a bruise was forming. “You see, it all has to do with this whole situation. You are now officially in your last few hours or maybe you won’t be. You’re very horrified that I’m going to pull the trigger on you. Maybe I won’t. Your emotions are telling me who you really are.”37

“My father...will come for me. I just know it.” I replied. He drew his gun away from me and lowered it. He clicked his tongue before removing his hand from my face. 38

“You bet he will. But what you should be asking yourself is, ‘Will he ever find my location?’. He has no idea of where you are and no amount of police officers and SWAT members will be able to help him.” He stated, destroying my hope. 39

I thought for a few minutes before I spoke. “You wouldn’t really kill me, would you?” I had so much sorrow and fear in my voice for I knew what the man’s answer would be. 40

“What’s the fun in that?” His voice cracked, letting out another deranged laugh. 41

“But I thought you said you loved me.” I pressed. 42

He shook his head. “But messing with your daddy is much more fun than loving some teenaged girl. Think about it, Elizabeth. Think about how insane he would go if he discovered his precious little girl strapped to some chair with half her brain blown to bits.” 43

This time I shook my head and became somewhat serious. This man who seemed to enjoy all of this didn’t act a bit serious at all. He seemed psychotic, deranged, and a nervous wreck. Trying to be serious but horrified at the same time, I stared at him. There was something about him that made me want to stare at him.44

Seeing how serious I looked at him, he pulled out a knife out of his right pocket. My heart stopped for five seconds. I felt myself go weak then speed right back up again. “Why so serious?” He brings the blade closer to my mouth. He sticks it inside my mouth and keeps it at the ends of my lips. I whimper once again for the tenth time. 45

“Please…don’t….do…it.” I cried to him slowly. “Whatever you want…I’ll do it, I prom-promise!” 46

“Aw come on, have some fun.” The blade almost cuts the end of my lip. There is no way for me to fight him back because he had me bound down good. 47

“Please don’t hurt me! You told me before that you wouldn’t!” I begged. 48

“Let’s put a smile on that face of yours.” He smiles devilishly. As he starts to cut the end of my lip on the right side, I scream so loud that it scares him and causes him jump up and stagger backwards. He staggered backwards, the knife suddenly cutting open the right end of my lip. Blood comes gushing out as pain comes along with it. I screamed in pain, begging for the pain to go away. 49

He takes the knife once he recollects himself and comes back up to me. He sees what he has done to me and nearly admires his work. I sat there crying while bleeding and in pain. “I didn’t intend on doing it like that, you have my word on that. I guess I’ll have to do the other side.” He said, some compassion hidden deep within his voice somewhere. 50

I became hysterical. “No more! Please no more!” He paused for a second before he nodded his head. “Actually, there’s something else I want to do.” He pulled out a cell phone. It was my cell phone to be exact. He flipped it open and dialed a number. Then, he placed it to my right ear and held it there. 51

“Now, I called your father. What I want you to tell him is of your condition. Just talk to him and I’ll give you further instructions.” He said just before my father answered on the other line. 52

“Hello? Elizabeth, is that you?” He answered frantically. 53

“Daddy?” I said through tears. 54

“Oh god Elizabeth, as soon as I saw you on that television screen, I sent out the police and SWAT team to look for you. In fact, I’m looking for you right now.” He replied. “I won’t stop until I find you and get you safely away from that psychotic monster.”55

“You have to hurry up or he’ll kill me.” I said to him. 56

“I know, baby. I heard him. Are you okay still?” He said. 57

“He cut my lip Daddy, with a knife. I’m in pain and I’m bleeding. It hurts so much and it won’t stop!” I cried. 58

“That bastard. I’ll kill him for what he has done to you.” My father shouted into the phone.59

“I’m scared. I don’t want to die! Don’t let him kill me!” I cried to him through the phone. 60

“Everything will be okay. I’ll come for you soon so don’t you worry sweetheart. I’ll come and save you.” He tried to assure me that everything would be okay. So badly did I want to believe him. But would he actually save me in time? 61

“I don’t mean to interrupt your little conversation with your daddy but I’m afraid I have to do so.” The man took the phone away from me and started talking to my father. He answered the phone. 62

“Good evening Sheriff Lipton. I believe you know of your daughter’s situation.” He said. 63

He stayed quiet for I knew my father was saying something to him. 64

“My name is not important but what is important is your lovely daughter. You have three and a half hours to come here. And if you don’t, you understand what’ll happen.” He stated. 65

My father spoke to him. 66

“Sheriff Lipton, if you want to know anything about me, I’m a man of my word. I may love this pretty girl but I do as I say. And I promise that if you don’t come before or on midnight, I’ll pull the trigger and the bullet that goes in her head will take half of her skull along with it. And did I say that you can’t come one minute after midnight?”67

As my father spoke, the man just laughed at him. 68

“You may think you are in complete control of this situation but you are wrong. I am in control. If you were in control, you would have known the location of where your daughter is but you don’t!” He sneered. 69

Once he gave my father the location of where we were, I felt more than certain that I was going to be saved. He hung up the phone and turned to me. That’s when he started to mess with me again. “Don’t be so sad, I’m sure daddy will find a way to save you. You have three and a half hours but it’ll take him longer to get here, if you know what I mean so there’s no reason for you to get your hopes up. In the meantime, we can have some fun.” I gave him a startled look as he spoke to me in a strange voice. He brushed my cheek a third time and his attitude changed when he saw me staring at the camera. 70

He walked to the camera and shut it off after saying into the camera, “Showtime is over.” He turned around and gave me a look. “I think you rather have the camera off for this next event.” He walked over to me and unstrapped me. Taking out the gun and putting it back to my temple, he stood me up and the both of us walked out of the room. 71

He held me close to him as we ended up in a hallway. We came to a door that he opened up. Forcefully, he shoved me into the room. The room looked just as bleak and bare as the one we just came out of. There was a bed on the far side of the room. As soon I noticed the bed, I seized. With roughness, he kept pushing forward, the gun still secured in place. 72

“Keep walking. Over to the bed. Now.” He pushed me towards the bed. Once I reached the bed, he pushed me. I fell face first on the bed. He turned me around on my back. The instant he saw me lying in my short mini skirt and black top, his hands reached for me. I clamped my legs together the second his hand touched my legs. 73

“Open up your legs,” He ordered me as he put away his gun. No matter what, I refused to spread my legs back apart just so he could go inside me. I knew what he wanted and I didn’t want to give it to him. “I said open up your legs. I tell you to do me one little thing and you can’t even do the pleasure of doing it.” 74

I eased my legs apart to please him. He pushed between my legs with a look of pleasure and satisfaction written all over his face. He pushed into me even further than before, rubbing and grinding into me. I cringed. “You may look pretty but you feel even better.” He moaned, letting his head tilt forward with his hands placed on my legs. In disgust, I gasped and held back anything I was going to do. 75

“That’s right. Stay quiet and relax. Enjoy your last few hours, my dear. It’ll all be worth your while but only if you don’t resist me.” He sighed. 76

As he grinded into me, he finally reached to pull down my skirt. As an instinct, I slapped away both his hands. At first, he just gave me a look. The look of anger. And then before I knew it, his hand collided against the left side of my face. He gave me no time to react, no time to rub the left side of my face to cover the red hand print.77

“No, no, no, you will allow me to do whatever I want.” He shook his head. “If I wanted to remove that small skirt of yours from your body, I can. Do you want to know something about me?”78

I shook my head no as an effort to get out of whatever he was trying to do to me. I looked down at both his hands. He held no gun or knife. Relief washed all over me. For the moment, he wasn’t going to hurt me.79

Thank god he’s not going to hurt me anymore , I thought to myself. He sat me up on the bed and moved his face a little closer to mine. What is he doing? He’s not going to pull another knife out, is he? 80

Before I had time to respond to him, he grabbed me by the back of the neck, forcing my face closer to his. “I don’t live life with rules. I live life without rules because I believe that the only sensible way to live life is without rules. I just like to watch everything burn. It’s not about money or anything like that at all.”81

“And you’re a monster who kidnaps teenaged girls for the fun of it and then kills them just to see everyone’s reaction to it.” I spat at him.82

He sounded as if he had been offended by what I said. “No, I’m not a monster. Not at all. Don’t call me a monster. Don’t talk like everyone else does. Your father is a schemer.”83

“All he plans is to put away scum like you. He doesn’t scheme against anyone or anything. He makes plans to make this city a little safer. You’re just on the wrong side of the law.” I snapped at him.84

“You people have all these rules and you think they’ll save you, huh? I am right? These so called plans haven’t been working that great lately. Your father is not at the top of his game anymore.”85

"Shut up. None of that is true.” I replied to him.86

“Are you so sure of that? Think about it.” He stated. “If his plans don’t work as well as everyone thinks then why are you so certain that you’re not going to die? Why’s that?”87

I hesitated. Was he right about everything was he saying? And why did I think a little bit that my father was going to come up with a good plan and save me with it? “I’m not so certain. I’m hoping that nothing will happen to me. I don’t want to die.” My voice began to crack with sobs. That’s when he let go of me and pushed me back.88

"Nobody wants to die. Sometimes things just have to be that way.” He said.89

“Why can’t you just let me go? Why do you have to kill me?” I nearly pleaded with him. “Please, let me go.”90

He stared down at the bed for a minute and thought. For that minute, I wondered what he was thinking. It was a bit strange that he knew how I felt all the time but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He then looked up at me.91

His haunted and blazed eyes pierced through me. They looked so fierce and sharp as they seemed to nearly stab me. I turned my head away to the right, ignoring him and his direct eye contact. With one hand in one swift movement, he grabbed onto my chin and turned my head to face him directly. And with his other hand, he pulled out the same knife he used on me earlier. The knife had a small sample of my blood on it.92

I used both my hands to try to pry his hand off me. He refused to let go of me. He brought the blade up to my face and pressed it up against my left cheek hard. I struggled with him again. He quickly removed his hand from my chin. He then used his now free hand to touch the open cut on my right mouth where he cut me before. Pain shot through my mouth and I violently jerked away from him, the blade almost cutting my left cheek.93

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” He asked me. “I know it does, believe me on that. Eventually, the pain will go away and the only reminder of that pain will be that hideous scar. But what about the emotional pain? That will never go away. Your emotional pain will be a reminder of the horrible pain you felt at first and how you will be forced to go around with that hideous scar on your face, resembling half a smile. For the rest of your life, you’ll only be smiling half way, see what I mean?”94

He stood up from the bed, walked over to a small table, picked up a small round mirror, and sat back down on the bed next to me. With the knife in one hand, he used the other hand to hand me the mirror. Cautiously, I snatched the mirror from his hand and held it up to my face to inspect the cut he inflicted upon me.95

The open cut was on the right side of my mouth. The end of my lip on that side was now cut open. I had stopped bleeding but there was some dried blood on my mouth still. It still hurt like hell no matter what I did or not. The cut was more than hideous and I couldn’t bear to imagine what it would look like once it was stitched up and it became a permanent scar. 96

I placed the mirror down. The two of us sat there in silence for a few moments. Humming noises came from his throat while I stared at him without saying a single word to him. I looked around the room and noticed a clock on the wall. It was 9:05 pm. He saw that I was looking at the clock so he spoke up. 97

“Three more hours left until curtain call for you, my love.” He reminded me.98

“Don’t remind me.” I scoffed. 99

He seemed as if he was offended by how I spoke to him. Unaware of what he was going to do, he grabbed a fistful of my hair, wrapped it around his knuckle, and tugged on my hair. “I don’t like the way you’re speaking to me. I haven’t killed you…yet and I’ve been trying to make your last few hours wonderful but yet you go and disrespect me? How about I smash your face on the floor and then make you swallow all of your teeth? Hm?” 100

Roughly, I tried to pry his hand off my hair. The more I tried to pry his hand off, the tighter his grip got. It felt like he was going to rip my hair out along with part of my scalp. I clawed at his hand, digging my fingernails into his hand. He let out a manic laugh. 101

I kicked out at him and swung both of my fists at him, aiming for his chest and face. With his free hand, he blocked my punches and pinned down my legs with his legs. I screamed out which caused him to laugh in a deranged way. He stood up, still having a tight grip on my hair and dragged me off the bed and onto the floor. No matter what, he refused to release me. 102

He knelt down on the floor and yanked my head back to fully see my tear-streaked face. He quieted me down with kisses to my lips and forehead. My crying soon stopped afterwards but I kept lashing out at him. Tired of me fighting against him, he suddenly smashed my face down against the hard floor. I yelled out in pain and he pulled my head back. Blood gushed out of my nose and mouth. 103

“Would you like to keep those pretty teeth of yours inside your mouth?” He asked me. I nodded my head slowly and he patted my head gently as he released my hair and ran his fingers through my hair. “There we go. That’s a good girl. Since I know so much about you, do you want to know something about me?”104

“What?” I asked him, flinching. 105

He leaned into me closer with is mouth right up against my ear. “Like my name for starters,” 106

“What is it?” I asked him, wondering what his name could have been. 107

“It’s Jack. My name is Jack.” He whispered in my ear in a secretive tone. 108

His name was Jack. Who would’ve known that his name would’ve been that? 109

“Your name is Jack?” I looked up at the man named Jack. Slowly, he nodded his head to me as if I barely understood what he said. He moved his right hand up to my face and pushed a lock of my hair out of my face. 110

“So your name is really Jack? I thought that it would have been something else. Maybe like John or Jim or something.” I said to him as I stared deep into his eyes. His eyes suddenly didn’t seem so haunting anymore. Instead, his eyes were thoughtful.111

“There’s a lot of stuff about me that no one knows but me. And you’re going to be the second person to know.” He stated gripping onto his knife. “Do you want to know how I got a scar on my face like you?” He lifted the knife in his hand and waved it back and forth.112

I was confused as I carefully studied his face. He had no marks or scars on his face. “But you don’t have any scars on your face.” I pointed out. With his free hand, he wiped away at the right side of his mouth with his thumb and index finger. He had makeup on his face. He wiped the makeup off his face to reveal a horrid scar that represented half a smile. His scar was identical to mine. I nearly gasped.113

“Now, do you want to know how I got the scar? And are you going to let me tell my story?” He asked me. I nodded my head yes as he grabbed the back of my neck and forced me forward and pressed his knife against my unharmed cheek. He licked his lips and smacked them together.114

“I was about your age-seventeen when I was with the most beautiful girlfriend any guy could ask for. She gave birth to our gorgeous daughter who I loved to call Lizzie. One night, my girlfriend accuses me of cheating and we get into an argument. She goes into an outrage and attacks me with a letter opener and slices the right side of my mouth with it. Then, she leaves me and takes our two month old daughter. I haven’t seen Lizzie since!” As he said the last sentence, his voice cracked and muted sounds escaped from his throat. He sounded like he was about to cry.115

“I’m sorry Jack.” That was all I could say to him. I didn’t know what to say to him. I was too afraid to say something else to him incase it was the wrong thing. He dropped his knife but he kept his hand on the back of my neck.116

“No you’re not. People always say how their sorry but do they mean it? Most of the time, they don’t.” He snapped at me.117

“Well, have you ever tried to find her? Didn’t you at least see her once?” I asked him. Soon, his eyes blazed with anger and resentment. His facial expression changed. I bit my lip and tensed my body in fear of him hurting me. Apparently I had said the wrong thing.118

“I did find her in fact. Just recently. She’s just as old as you are and very beautiful. I’m so happy I found her but you know what? She can’t stand the sight of me! She’s terrified of me and she doesn’t even know who I really am! Lizzie just sees me as some psychotic killer that she saw on the news. Why is that?” His eyes bore straight into mine. I didn’t get what he was asking me. “Why is that Lizzie?”119

I seized when called me Lizzie. Sure, that was my nickname but all along, he’s been calling me Elizabeth. Lizzie is the name of his daughter. “What did you call me?” His hand was removed from behind my neck and it formed into a fist.120

He turned his attention to the clock on the wall. I looked too and that’s when I discovered that half an hour had past. That meant that I had two and half hours left. Jack spoke nothing of the time as he stood up and grabbed me by the wrist, yanking me up. I just looked up at him confused.121

“Don’t you like to be called Lizzie, my dear?” He said to me, his grip on my wrist tightening. I nodded my head yes. He removed his grip and ran his fingers through my hair. “I’ve always called you Lizzie. Even when we were separated for sixteen years.”122

I froze in fear. I couldn’t believe what he just said to me. I shook my head as I backed away from him. “No, you’re lying! That’s not true! You’re not my father!”123

“You don’t remember a damn thing about me. We would have been together if it wasn’t for your mother. She’s the one who left not me! And her and her husband Sheriff Jim Lipton brainwashed you into thinking he was your father.” He stated. I didn’t know what to say.124

“If I’m your daughter then why are you going to kill me?” I asked him. He let out a manic laugh and slapped his knee.125

“I don’t want to kill you.” He laughed. “But sometimes, thing have to be done according to-126

“Plan?” I cut him off. He just gave me a look and shook his head. That’s when I remembered that he doesn’t make plans. Only schemers make plans.127

“Actually, no. I already told you that I don’t use plans. I’m like a dog chasing cars. I’m ahead of the curve. All I do is take someone's plan and I turn it on itself like I did with you tonight. Now, do you understand?” He used hand gestures as he spoke.128

I nodded my head as he continued. “Sometimes things have to be done and not according to plan. Do what is unexpected. Has a little chaos and anarchy ever hurt anyone? Apparently it does. I just do the opposite of what’s expected. And it’s not about money. It’s about sending a message. This city deserves a better class of criminal and I’m going to give it to them.”129

I took a few minutes to understand everything he said before I replied to him. “So, does that mean that I’m not going to be killed and you’ll let me go? Isn’t that the exact opposite?”130

His face lightens up. “Ah ha! Now you get it! See, here, I thought you would be stupid like your mother but you’re not. You and I are very much alike.”131

“But I’m not a killer like you. And you won’t even get to know me for that long because I’ll be dead. So why did you kidnap me?” I replied.132

“It’s all part of my social experiment. You see, before you wok up, I announced to everyone that if they didn’t want to witness a poor, innocent teenaged girl to be killed then they would have to take matters into their own hands. They would have to kill Sheriff Jim Lipton and prove it to me. That’s what my men are for.” He explained.133

“So you’re going to kill me whether he comes for me or not. Why are you doing this?” I realized.134

He strokes my cheek with his hand. “Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie,” He sang. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? Jim is in the way. Your mother was in the way before I had her slaughtered like an animal. You belong to me.”135

“You killed my mother?” I let out a shriek. My shriek only brought a smile to his face.136

“What’s wrong? Lizzie’s angry because Daddy killed Mommy? I already told you, things just happen. I didn’t plan to kill. I decided to at the moment.” He teased.137

Suddenly, I became angry at him. Before I knew it, my fist collided into the side of his face. To my surprise, he didn’t stagger back. He barely reacted to my punch and it was a hard one. Instead, he punched me so hard in the face that I lost consciousness.138

When I woke back up, I wondered two things; the time and where I was. I had a headache that was minor and small recollection of what happened. When I finally opened up my eyes, I found myself sitting in the same chair and strapped to it like I had when I first woke up in here.139

Just then, Jack stormed through the doorway and into the room. With a disturbing look on his face, he came over to me. “So glad you could join me again! I hope you’re comfortable. It is after all, the best seat in the house!”140

If that was supposed to be a joke than it wasn’t funny at all.141

“How much time is left?” I asked him.142

“Only forty-five minutes left, my dear. Unfortunately for you, no one has killed Jim and he hasn’t come yet.” He stated, grinning. “But on the bright side, you have me to entertain you. For now, you’re stuck with Daddy.”143

I sighed and cursed under my breath. No one was going to come for me. The sheriff, who I had thought was my real father, hadn’t come for me. And no one killed him. I should just accept the fact that I was going to die. I wasn’t going to be saved.144

Jack turned the camera back on and left me sitting in front of it for a minute before he came over to me. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at my temple again.145

“Hello ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to my little “social experiment”. So far, no one has killed Sheriff Jim Lipton and little Elizabeth here doesn’t have much time left. Look at her; she’s crying, scared, and injured. And she just found out who she really is.” He said into the camera.146

I stared into the camera as tears began to flow down my face. I had always been afraid to die and this time was no different. I didn’t want to die at all. I would have done anything to please him if it would have helped save me. If he wanted me to do something, even killing, I would have done it. I looked over to him then back to the camera, giving him pleading looks. None of them worked.147

“Time is running out.” He said.148

I sat there for forty-four minutes with the gun placed right at my temple. During every minute that past, I dreaded it. Each minute that past, I prayed and hoped to God that something would come and save me. With only one minute left, I was out of luck. When only thirty seconds were left, I was doomed.149

I looked up at Jack with my tear-streaked face. He looked over at me and smiled. With his free hand, he stroked my cheek one last time and tried to quiet me down by saying, “Shh…don’t cry Lizzie. Shh…”150

When the thirty seconds were up, he put his hand on the trigger. I tensed my body, waiting for him to pull the trigger and the bullet that was going to go into my head, blowing half my skull away.151

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, I screamed and all of a sudden, I heard a loud, deep voice that saved me from being killed. “Stop! Don’t do it!” I turned to look in the direction of the doorway to see who it was. It was Sheriff Jim Lipton. Relief and happiness washed all over me.152

“Please don’t kill her! I made it in time.” Jim shouted.153

“Yes, you did make it in time but there’s something you’re forgetting.” Jack replied, a malice grin appearing on his face.154

“What’s that?” asked Jim.155

“You weren’t killed.” Jack half-smiled, half-laughed as he lowered the gun from my temple and quickly brought it down to my lower stomach. Before anyone knew it, he pulled the trigger and an unbearable and agonizing pain racked throughout my stomach and body. I violently lurched forward and the last thing I saw before darkness completely took over me was Jack and the last thing I heard was Jim’s scream of horror and Jack’s malice and disturbing laugh.156