Chapter 5

When Lance finally woke up from his especially long night of torture he did not move, and chose to simply lie in his curled up ball of silence.

“He’s not moving anymore. Do you think he’s awake?”

“I’m awake.” Lance stayed in his ball, and only moved his head to face the other two men. He watched them with half closed eyes, as he fought to stay awake and away from his ever present nightmares.

“Did you have a nightmare, again?”

“Why?” Lance glanced around nervously until Johnson spoke.

“You were just twitching and jerking a lot is all.” Lance slowly shook his head, before closing his eyes against the pain that he still felt from the night before. He sat up and looked directly at the two men.

“This is not gonna last very long is it? I’m not going to be able to keep you here like this, am I?” No one answered him, and he sighed as he stood up and looked blindly around the room.

“I just don’t want to go back.”

“Yeah well, you can’t get everything that you want. Sometimes you have to accept your responsibilities.”

“Even if I’d rather die?”

“Look, you may have fooled Johnson with your crazy talk, but I am not going to fall for your shit! The hospital that you went to couldn’t have been that bad, and I still say that you’re lucky you didn’t get sent to prison instead!”

“How can you say that, Marns? Didn’t you see those scars earlier?”

“You saw my scars?!” Lance grabbed at his stomach and hugged himself tight.

“You don’t know where he got those, Johnson!”

“Where did you get them, Lance?”

“They are mine, and how I got them is only my business.”

“Hah! That’s a joke.”

“They are mine!” Laughter filled the air and Lance grabbed his ears to ward it off, but then his eyes flew open when he realized that it wasn’t Johnson or Marns. It was them. They were back.

“You’re going back! You’re going back!”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are, because you’re a crazy son of a bitch!”

“No, I’m not. Go away!” Johnson and Marns looked at each other with surprise on their faces, and then both turned to watch Lance again.

“You need me! I’m never going away!” It laughed harder at him, and he cringed in pain.

“No, I don’t! I don’t need this!”

“Who is he talking to?”

“I don’t know. He’s crazy.”

“Just shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!” While Lance was screaming a high pitched siren interrupted his wails. Everything went silent as all three men waited for it to sound again, and Lance fell to the floor when the distinct sound of a police siren pierced the air.

“Yes! They’ve found us!” Marns grinned as he looked to Lance who had a look of genuine horror on his face.

“I can’t go back. I won’t go back.”

“Oh, yes you will. You have no choice.” Marns grinned as he saw his words causing Lance more pain. Lance grabbed his head with his hands and looked down to the floor with tears in his eyes.

“This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.” Marns chuckled to himself, and looked over at Johnson who was fighting over the joy of being found and the pain radiating from their young kidnapper.

“Isn’t there anyway that we can keep him from going back?”

“Didn’t you here him screaming to himself, Johnson. That boy is a menace to society. He deserves to be locked up for the rest of his miserable little life, and more.” Lance stood up and slapped Marns with all of his might before going to the door and scanning the vicinity for any form of life.

“They aren’t here yet. There’s still hope!” Lance bolted back to his small table and collected together all of his papers and magazines in his arms, dumping them into a trash bag. He then turned toward the two men, and his eyes dropped again.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Maybe if you turn yourself in they’ll go easier on you.”

“They’ll still send me back. I have to get away from here.”

“There’s no use, Lance. They’ll track you down, and eventually you will have to go back!”

“You’re right, the only way out of this is death.”

“No, Lance! Don’t kill yourself!” Lance turned to look at a very worried Johnson, and shook his head while looking down toward the dirt floor.

“It’s the only way out.”

“But, you’ll go to Hell!”

“I’m already going to Hell. I might as well save myself some agony while I’m still here.” He looked around the room searching for a knife of some sort when he saw the gun hanging off of Marns’ hip. He picked it up and held it firmly in his hand.

“Now you’re fingerprints are on there, ya know.”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m dead.”

“He has a point there.” Johnson looked over to his partner and shot him an evil look.

“What? He does.” Lance nodded and then flipped off the safety before bringing it to his head and taking a deep breath.

Chapter 6