well boys
we did not make the deadline
but it's ok! we got a fun story out of it
s/o to tragicvenus for practically cowriting this with me atp lmfao & check out her book 'breaking the ice'
v talent v amazing

[ 9. So Close ]

Hayes didn't say another word to me other than, "Goodnight," after he tied me back to the chair and left me alone in the dark.

From where I was sitting, I couldn't see much of anything. There was a dim green light glowing from the direction of the kitchen, presumably a stove-top clock. I couldn't see anything in the living room, just dark shadows in the shape of furniture. My eyes were well adjusted to the darkness, but there wasn't much to see.

I was sure Hayes was asleep.

It had been maybe two hours since we came back inside from smoking on the back porch. The house was eerily silent. I wished he was a snorer so I'd have some indication of his slumber, but I'd have to play the guessing game.

There was no time like the present. My minutes were numbered, so I needed to get a move on. He zip-tied my wrists behind my back again, but they weren't bound to the chair. I had stuffed the lighter in the waistband of my sweatpants in the center of my back.

While he was tying me back to the chair, I was terrified he would see the imprint against the gray fabric of my sweats. Or worse, do a full-body cavity search just in case I'd smuggled a weapon from thin air, or something.

But I'd gotten lucky. I pushed my shoulders back and lowered my hands as far as I could until my fingers grazed the waistband. I pinched the metallic top between my pointer and middle fingers and managed to lift it into my palm.

The hard part was going to be lighting it at a strange angle and melting the zip-tie. I tried to turn my wrist so I was holding the lighter right side up, but it was painful. I figured the wrist pain was better than a second degree burn. My thumb flicked the spark wheel and I glanced to my side to see if there was light on the floor around me from the flame, but nothing. So I tried again and again and again until I felt the heat against my knuckle.

I bit down on my bottom lip and crossed my wrists with what little room I had to give. The lighter went out in the process. I relaxed my shoulders to give myself a second to catch my breath, panic starting to rise as I realized this was more difficult than I imagined. I thought I heard a sound from Hayes's direction, so I froze in place. When nothing followed, I relaxed and tightened my grip on the lighter.

This time, I adjusted my wrists so that my right hand, holding the lighter, would strike the flame near the tie at the back of my left hand.

I held my breath as I flicked the spark wheel once more. It was an inch away from the zip-tie, so I tilted my right hand closer. The fire immediately burnt my skin so I stopped, grinding my teeth through my frustration.

I couldn't do it without burning myself. It wouldn't be possible from the angle I was in.

With little choice left, I took a few deep breaths in, exhaling into the night like a whispered cry. My eyes shut tightly and I lowered my chin to capture the neckline of my shirt in my mouth, biting down on the fabric.

Before I could change my mind, I flicked the lighter to life and pressed it to the zip-tie. My skin instantly seared and I let out a breathy whimper into my T-shirt. I refused to stop until I was free. A few blisters on my hand were nothing compared to the fate that awaited me the next day.

It must have taken five minutes to melt the zip-tie. The pain was agonizing and I felt my resolve wavering with each second that ticked on. I might have imagined the sizzling sound, but then again maybe I didn't. I didn't open my eyes until—

Snap.

My wrists swung free from their cage and the lighter fell to the floor with a deafening clunk, the crinkle of plastic seemingly like a crack of thunder. I sat completely still while I waited for Hayes to come running at the drop of a hat.

I didn't hear a peep. I cradled my burnt wrist to my chest, trying not to cry out in pain now that the attack had ceased and I was left with the lingering, boiling ache. This was my chance. I had to move. Now that I had my hands, one and a half at least, I could get to that knife.

It took some maneuver, but I managed to half crawl, half drag myself, over to the table. With shaking hands, I sliced my ankles free and leapt from the chair, trying to silently make my way to the carpet where my footsteps would be suppressed. I, once again, waited a moment in case Hayes heard anything.

The coast was clear. Too clear. I was terrified.

I didn't wait a second longer. The door swung on its hinges when I threw myself out of the house. If Hayes wasn't awake before, that definitely woke him. My feet didn't stop running.

Holy shit. I managed to escape.

Maybe I only had another thirty minutes on this planet after Hayes inevitably caught up and knocked me upside the head with a heavy object. Or maybe this was my getaway free card. Either way, the feeling in my chest was something close to a barred supernova, fighting to explode into a blinding light. I felt unstoppable, invincible... untouchable. I was night and darkness and the endless sky of stars all at once.

When I ended up on the busier road outside of Hayes's suburban neighborhood, I paused to catch my breath. It was silent all around me and dark, save for the streetlights every block. It wasn't desolate, per say, because it was like the edge of the city. There was a shopping center straight ahead and a gas station next to the neighborhood entrance.

Headlights came my way. I squinted in the darkness, wondering if this was really my only option. It wasn't like I could walk home. I could catch a ride to somewhere safe, maybe, and borrow their phone to call Ron?

My burnt wrist felt like it had its own heartbeat, throbbing painfully at my side. I raised my good hand in the air, trying to appear non-threatening.

The car swished past me in a blur of taillights.

I slumped. Who the fuck would stop for some guy on the side of the road in the middle of the night? I wouldn't. The gas station felt too obvious to try to seek refuge, so I started walking the opposite way. I squinted into the night when another set of headlights approached. Once again, I raised my hand and braced myself for the gust of air as they flew past.

Instead, the car slowed.

My heart leapt from my chest. I couldn't believe they actually stopped. I stood idly as the window rolled down. It was an older man who looked as apprehensive about letting me in as I was.

"I've just got to go in the direction of the city. I'll get out when you need to break off," I said desperately, my voice much more broken than I expected. "Please, man. I don't have any money, but when I get home I can transfer some."

The man frowned, glancing up into the rearview mirror. In the backseat, two little girls slept in car seats. He ran a hand down his face and nodded to the passengers side. "Try anything funny and you're dead, alright?" the guy said. It scared me more that I didn't even flinch at the threat. Hayes spewed them out like it was a hobby of his.

"Yes, yes. Thank you."

I glanced over my shoulder, down the street I'd just run from. A pair of headlights began to illuminate the quiet suburbia. If there was any chance that was Hayes, and there was, I had to go now. I ran around the side of the car and slipped into the seat, silently begging the man to drive already.

We didn't speed off in a trail of smoke like I hoped, but the vehicle did start moving. The radio played softly around me, but I couldn't hear much over the sound of my blood rushing to my brain. I glanced over my shoulder out the back window, but the man sputtered, "Don't look at them," so I faced forward once again. To be seen as a threat to these children when I was the one in danger made me nauseous.

It was suffocating, being in a city I wasn't familiar with and expecting to know what the hell I was doing. It was all so familiar yet completely brand new.

The man turned on to a busier road, maybe a main street of some sort. I stared out the window at the various small businesses and chain restaurants as we flew by them, each one just a part of the system. My mind wasn't working right. Everything seemed orchestrated, maybe even articulated just for this moment. For me to look at in my final hours.

I took a wary glance in the side mirror. There was nobody behind us.

My shoulders instantly relaxed. He may have been following me, but for now, I lost him. I had the upper hand. All I had to do was follow through and find immediate safety

"Could I borrow your phone?" I began to ask, my throat choppy and grated. The man seemed to weigh his options, but something caught my eye outside. "Wait, can you slow down?"

Something wasn't right. There was a woman in an angel costume crossing the street ahead of us with her head down, a pep in her step that seemed unusual for this time of night. The vehicle slowed just as two men wearing Halloween masks came around the corner the woman came from with equal vigor.

"What the hell—"

The man started speaking, but I didn't stick around to hear the rest. I hopped out of the car and rushed to the woman's side. She didn't look at me when I approached. In fact, she tried to cross the road again when I was within a few feet of her, petite, feathery wings bouncing with every step. "Are you okay?" I asked.

She faltered and glanced at me, her cheeks flushed and tears in the corners of her eyes. "No."

I looked up. The two men in the popular horror movie franchise masks were getting closer and closer. The woman changed course and brushed past me, leaving myself as the only thing between her and these thugs. I straightened my posture, the hairs on the back of my neck sticking straight up. It was cold outside and I was in nothing but my tee, but I was quickly heating up with anger.

"Can I help you?" I shouted out before they could get much closer.

"Who the fuck are you?" the shorter one asked.

I peered over my shoulder. The woman was gone. I untensed, only a bit, and turned back to the men. I was granted only one split second of realization before a fist knocked me straight to the ground. What the fuck? I clutched my jaw with my burnt hand, red hot pain seeping up my face.

With both men standing over me now, I hardly registered the sound of the kind man that picked me up off the side of the road yelling, "Oh, hell no," and then his tires peeling out in a squealing departure as he abandoned me. I tried to scramble backwards, but the taller of the two kicked my side.

Light poured over all three of our bodies from behind me. Please, no cops, I thought to myself. I heard the click of a car door opening beneath the familiar grumble of an engine. No, please. That's the only thing worse than cops.

"Nah," the shorter one said and shook his head, falling back a few steps. "Nah, man. Come on. I don't like that."

My head swiveled towards the light. I saw a built figure, naked from the waist up, in nothing but sweatpants and socks. Even with all light displaced behind him, I could make out the curves of muscle down his front and the breadth of his biceps. The headlights formed a glow around his body and I couldn't make out his face. But I knew he was looking right at me.

The taller man gave me one last kick in the thigh, for good measure, I supposed. He tried to stand tall against Hayes's approaching figure, but just looking at them, there was a distinctly stronger opponent. He, too, backed away until the both of them were making a break towards the way they came.

I managed to get to my feet, but not without keeling over momentarily. Hayes stood still as if he knew I was too weak to run. When I was back in standing position, he took a step closer.

"So close, little thief," he tutted, his voice strained. Those eyes were dark again, black as the sky. I held his eyes while he looked me up and down, eyes zeroing in on my wrist as I put light pressure on my injured side. "I hate being woken up, by the way."

Like every other time I was face-to-face with Hayes without constraints, and with zero percent chance of success, I did what I always did. I ran like hell.