"Why?" Muttered Tim under his panicked breath. He was walking home, hands in his pockets and head pulled close to his shoulders. He was so overwhelmed with all the things which were happening in his life that he just could not understand how to feel at the moment.
He just did not like Anna in a romantic way, and she told him that he was in love with Lukas, which he now fully accepted. "I am not… I don't…" He did not want to hurt his relationship with Anna by rejecting her, but he did not want to start a relationship with a person he does not love and reject Lukas, whom he loves.
His head was aching due to all the different emotions he was feeling and the thoughts he was having.
Lost in thought he just wandered around the part of the city he lived in, waiting for his head to cool off. "What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" He asked the same question over and over again. He just could not think of anything to take his focus away or of an answer so he could think about the next question on his mind. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"
For hours he wandered around aimlessly, just hoping something would happen, until it did. He was too lost in thought to notice his surroundings and he accidentally wandered onto the street, just teeming with cars driving double the speed limit.
And, how one would have guessed, a car shot over the small hill and hit him, sending him flying. The driver had hit the brake as hard as he could the moment he noticed Tim, which might have saved his life.
Faster than Tim could realise what had happened, his world turned black and he faded into unconsciousness.
Tim gained his consciousness back for a short period. There were blinding lights above his head, blinding him. The air smelled sterilized and he could hear the ambulances sirens blaring loudly above him.
Without being able to say anything, his consciousness drifted away once more.
Tim woke up hours later in a dark room. He had a blanket covering him and an uncomfortable pillow beneath his head and neck. Letting his eyes adjust to the darkness for a moment, he sat up straight.
"Where am I?" He asked and left the bed. He stumbled through the darkness of the room searching for the light switch and finding it rather quickly. The room lit up and the sudden burst of light stung in his eyes.
He was in a ginormous hospital room, all alone. He would have thought he would have at least one person with him in there but all beds were empty. He walked back to the bed he crawled out of and took the medical chart at the front of his bed.
"How the fuck… ?" It seemed that he had no broken bones or fractures, just a big blue spot where the impact happened and a few scratches on his arm from the landing. "Completely healthy." He read on the chart.
He walked up to the window, looking down onto the street. "Where am I? This isn't the hospital just a few streets away from where I live. This has to be…" He thought for a moment, "No… Please no! This can't be the hospital on the other side of the city!"
He quickly turned around, surveying his room: "Oh no." The entire room was clean, the devices looked new and advanced. It seems he was in the newly built and extremely expensive hospital across the city.
"I have to flee!" He muttered, "As long as they don't know who I am, they can't charge me… right?" He grabbed his clothes and belongings from the dresser next to his bed and changed clothes in the bathroom as quickly as he could, ignoring the massive blue speck.
He checked his bag, still locked and nothing was missing, perfect. He opened the door and turned off the light to the room. He quickly scanned the halls for the stairs before rushing down, avoiding doctors and patients alike and leaving the hospital.
"How am I going to get home?" He asked himself out of breath in the front yard of the hospital. He did know the bus routes and train routes around this part of town, all he could do was walk or drive around aimlessly and hope he recognized some place.
Having caught his breath, he hurriedly continued down the street away from the hospital into the direction he thought would get him home the fastest. It was scary to walk through the city at night, alone. Around each corner he imagined a robber who might steal his belongings and possibly even hurt him.
Scared, he unlocked his bag and took out the knife he owned for self defense, hiding it in his sleeve.
An hour later, he found the first bus station which he could recognize and looked at the clock above it. "One in the morning, mom is probably furious, or worried to death." He sat down to wait for the bus. Due to the time, the bus drove in 60 minute intervals, he still had to wait almost forty minutes for it to arrive.
Tim was sitting nervously on the waiting bench. Each second he had to wait for the bus felt like two or three seconds of danger. "Lululu…" He whispered the melodie from a tv show.
Each noise from the empty street scared him, it was cold and he was looking around like a scared animal. A noise here, a noise there, each of them making him jump from side to side. Suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder and spun him around with an aggressive amount of force. Instinctively he tried to hit whoever had grabbed him but he was still holding onto the knife.
With a loud thud the person dropped to the ground, blood starting to flow. The knife was stuck in the chest of the person that dropped to the ground and a few drops of blood had hit his hands. Next to the person lay another knife and the person was wearing a cheap looking balaclava.
***
Tim stared at the scene unfolding before him. His hands held high as he stared at his bloody hands. His mind started remembering scenes he tried so hard to suppress and flashed them in front of his eyes, overlapping them with the current event.
"No… no, no, no, no, no!" He said.
Almost six weeks ago, Tim was sprinting happily down the street, jumping around and singing. He was so excited to spend his summer break with Jake, upgrading their base. His back felt so relaxed not having to carry around his school supplies all day.
He quickly entered the forest, not caring if anyone saw him or followed him. The forest's plants became denser with every few metres deeper in the forest. He could hear the birds chirping and the sun's dangerous rays were blocked out by the treetops.
"Jake!" He yelled almost at their hideout. He slowed down so he would not disturb the animals living around their base and looked at the entrance to their hideout in the distance.
Having heard Tim's call, Jake stuck his head out of the hideout with an enormous grin spread across his face. Seeing his friend so happy, Tim's heart started to flutter.
"There you are!" Jake yelled back as Tim approached, "Took you long enough."
Tim went past Jake into their small hideout to sit down: "What are we going to work on today? A new secret tunnel? A room expansion? Or just a decorative upgrade for the main room?" He stared at Jake with anticipation.
"We have to camouflage the hideout better later, but first, let us build a TV from mud and sticks. It is going to be so cozy here." Jake told him.
For hours the two of them spent their time trying to build a flatscreen TV out of mud and sticks. "Think we have to change tactics?" Tim asked, exhausted, his hands and pants covered in mud. He cleaned his hands instinctively on his shirt and looked at the mess they made.
"I think so," Jake chuckled, "Maybe one of those fat TVs they had in the past. They're almost identical to a cube, so it should be way easier and if we succeed, we can still slowly chop away at the thickness to see how thin we can get it."
Jake sighed.
"You want to take a break? Normally I am the one first out of breath." Tim mused happily. He sat back, leaning against a wall trying to wipe away his sweat from his forehead with his muddy hands.
"You're stupid." Jake said and laughed at Tim.
Tim grimaced and smeared a handful of mud into Jake's face.
"Hey! Stop that." Jake complained and started throwing mud at Tim. For a while they fought each other, covering their entire bodies in mud, turning each other into mud creatures.
The two of them laid down next to each other outside the hideout. Staring at the treetops and smelling the fresh forest air. "You know," Jake started, "I am going to move away in a few days. My father got a job offer on the other side of the country." He looked dejected at the sky.
"Just move out, get an apartment somewhere and stay." Tim suggested. "You can't leave me alone, I don't want to have to spend the rest of my days alone while Lina follows me around and annoys me."
Jake did not answer for a moment and let out a sigh.
Tim looked at Jake's sad face.
"I can't. I don't have the money for it." He told Tim.
"If you want me to, I can give you some of my money, or we can get a place together and become roommates." He suggested, trying to get Jake to stay with him. He waited for an answer but never received one. He just stood up silently and walked deeper into the forest. Tim wanted to clear his mind for a bit.
"Wait!" Jake called after him but Tim just hurried even more.
He walked deeper and deeper until he got to a small drop, maybe 4 metres and just looked at the sky through the small hole in the treetops. He heard footsteps walking closer: "Could I get a few minutes to think about something?"
He did not receive an answer from Jake as he hoped, no confirmation that he respected his wish, but a stranger's voice sounded behind him: "If you give me a few minutes of your time, sure."
Tim spun around and saw someone running at him, holding a hunting knife. He jumped out of the way, dodging the blade by a hair's width and running back towards the hideout. "Jake! Help!" He screamed.
The footsteps behind him slowly got closer, inching their way forward and towards him.
He screamed again for help from Jake and heard a grunt behind him. But he was too scared to turn around and look at the scene so he just continued running. He ran past their hideout, Jake nowhere in sight and left the forest into a busy crowd of people.
He turned towards the forest, waiting for his pursuer to emerge or Jake somewhere hiding like him, but that never happened. "Jake?" He yelled back into the forest, the people surrounding him just looked at him annoyed and disgusted. They all just walked a big circle around him.
"Jake?" He called again, panic rising in his chest. His muscles tensed and he did not know what to do so he just sprinted back into the forest. "JAKE!" He screamed with all his might. He tripped over a lot of roots and branches which slowed him down.
He ran into the hideout, Jake nowhere to be found. He ran back the route he had sprinted along while running away, trying to search for him. He heard a faint and heavy breathing from around a bush.
"JAKE!" He screamed and panicked as he dropped to his knees in front of Jake. He was laying on the ground, barely conscious and covered in blood. The hunting knife was still stuck in his chest.
Tim grabbed Jake, trying to pick him up, carry him to the hospital or at least out of the forest. But Jake grabbed his hand, tears streaming down his face: "You… fucking moron… run…" He muttered with all the energy he had left and Tim could hear the air escaping his lungs through the wound in his chest.
"No! I am gonna help you." He said, "I promise I will!" He also started crying as Jake was bleeding out in front of him. "Please… just hold on."
***
Tim's heart shattered as he stood above the mugger. He was writhing in pain on the ground but made no sound. It was a horrifying sight to behold for a 19 year old, well, for anyone to be frank.
"No…" He muttered, "No!" The blood dripped from his fingers.
He tried focusing again, gaze fixed on the blade stuck in the chest of the mugger. His mind raced with the possibilities. Would he go to jail? Probably. If he stayed though? Definitely. "I should run."
He turned and started to speed away. But something came to mind. "Shit!" Reaching the first corner he turned back around, sprinting. He grabbed the knife still stuck in the person and pulled it out trying not to lose any momentum. He took off, blood spraying and covering the bus station.
Tim was sprinting down the streets, drunk people were waddling around and homeless people were sleeping everywhere. He still held the knife in his hand, the blood had already dried.
He had no idea where he was going, just hoping he would find his way home. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins and his blood was boiling beneath his skin. Sweat dripped down his skin into his clothes.
"Where?" He muttered, "Where do I go?" Tim did not know what to do, where to go. "Do I go home? No!" His eyes were jumping from object to object while he was running to better his depth perception at this speed, "Mom would kill me. Anna? Where does she even live?"
He kept running, not knowing what to do next. Slowly, the adrenaline wore off and so did his running speed. His sprint turned into a jog and then a walk and then… his legs gave out and he fell to the ground.
His breath became visible due to the cold before his eyes and he crawled to the side, leaning against a wall to rest. "I stabbed someone…" He muttered, his face turned towards the sky and his scalp leaning against the walls.
It was not raining, but the atmosphere and tension in the air made it feel like it should. "What am I going to do?" He did not seem very out of place where he sat. He did not get any attention from passerbys, not even the blood caught the attention of the people. All that even though he sat under a light.
He pulled out the knife from his pocket and stared at it. "I'm a monster." Tim's eyes became watery and he pushed his face into his arm crook.
"Be quiet, shit face!" Someone said.
Tim lifted his face to see who just insulted him and before him stood a 16 year old, maybe 17 year old. And "stood" is the wrong word to describe it, the boy in front of him was sitting in a wheelchair, his legs frail and thin but his arms rather fit for his age.
"The fuck you looking at?" The boy asked Tim as he noticed his gaze, "Stand up. Drop the knife— or keep it, I don't give a shit— and follow me." He turned away from Tim and just started his journey somewhere, expecting Tim to just follow him.
And Tim did. He slowly stood up before trying to hurry after the crippled boy. Taking the boys word into consideration he put the knife into a trash can he walked past while following the wheelchair.
"My name is Alex. My… Eh, friend told me to keep you in my sight, saw what you did to that bastard. You just blanked out and suddenly bolted away. I needed to call in a favor to find you. Don't do that again." Alex told him, "I would have kept the knife as a trophy. You're an idiot."
Tim looked at him bewildered. Why was he watching him? Why was this… child, so relaxed about him having stabbed someone? "My name is—"
"Tim. I know that, how else would I have found your adresse?" Suddenly Alex stopped and turned around, pointing somewhere.
Tim followed his finger and noticed for the first time in a while his surroundings. He was home. This stranger… this… this child had brought him home after having, maybe, murdered somebody.
"Thank you." Tim said and turned to walk inside.
"Ah ah ah! Not so fast." Alex stopped him and pointed at Tim's bloody fingers. "I know a place where you can change and clean up. I told your parents you are staying at a friend's house for the night when you were hit." He turned away, "Lets make it true, it would be weird to get in in the middle of the night covered in blood that does not belong to you."
Tim nodded and continued to follow the cripple.
***
Tim followed the crippled boy onto a porch. The grass was a beautiful shade of green and the flowers looked extraordinarily pretty. Alex grabbed the door handle and pulled himself up the three steps to the front door with his arm strength.
"Do you… do you live here?" Tim asked, his mind still fuzzy.
Alex unlocked and opened the door, waving Tim inside. "No. Is my brother's place, the guy who wanted you to stay in my sight. He moved out of our place during summer break while we were on a holiday. He is a dickhead, but he is my brother and we love each other. Like… in a brotherly way, I ain't gay or some shit like that."
Tim nodded. "And who is that brother of yours? He doesn't want to harm me, does he?"
Alex chuckled as he closed the door and darkness descended over the room. "He wants to, and he already did as far as I am concerned." he continued laughing and turned on the light. The hallway in which they stood was so clean.
"My mother would love this place. It's so clean." Tim said as he followed Alex down the hallway.
"Go take a shower, I will get some spare clothing from my brother's room. Just… make sure you don't wash them before you return them. He is kind of weird—"
Suddenly the door next to them burst open and a naked girl jumped at them. She was holding a chair leg and starting hitting Tim. "Die!" She screamed and continued to hit him while he was cowering on the floor.
Alex had already vanished into a different room, presumably into his brother's room.
Tim tried to look through his arms which he held in front of his face to guard it. "Stop." He screamed, "Please, who are you?" The girl slowed and he realised who she was: "Lina?"
"Tim?" She asked confused, then rage filled her face, "You traitor, I should've known you were part of this! He locked me up for so long!" She sped up while beating Tim.
His already dirty clothes started to rip apart. "Alex! Help!" His voice was filled with pain and confusion. Each hit felt like the first, until his skin started to scratch and he started bleeding, then it started to burn. "Ah!" He screamed in pain.
Instinctively, he kicked Lina's legs, making her stumble backwards before he rolled over and onto his back and angrily kicked her down the stairs. It all took just a moment of his reflexes to kick in for him to hurt Lina.
Having heard the screams of the two, Lukas came hurrying down the stairs in nothing but a towel to cover his genitalia while his muscles and scars were dripping wet. "Shit! TIM?" He screamed in confusion.
At the same moment, Alex returned with a set of fresh clothes, ignoring the chaos before him. "I made sure to get some that are too large for you, so it will be a little bit seductive for my brother." Then he lifted his gaze and pretended he just now noticed Lukas, "Oh, hi."
After a moments confusion, Tim jumped up, realizing what he had done. He sprinted down into the basement, behind him Lukas. And Alex called after them from the top: "Of course! Go somewhere the cripple can't follow. FUCK YOU!"
"Lina! Are you okay?" Tim murmured and went onto his knees, kneeling above Lina's body. He was not sure whether she was unconscious or dead. He hoped for the first option. His hands hovered over her body. He wanted to check her heart but was scared of touching her chest.
"Out of my way!" Lukas said and pushed Tim away. He simply put his hand between her breasts, "Nothing sexual about it when you're trying to save someone's life. You fool." Then he checked her breathing.
Tim looked at him worried.
"She is alright, maybe some blunt trauma at the back of her head and a concussion, but not dead." He told Tim, whose eyes had already wandered down Lukas' body. "Thank you for finding me this attractive but not while someone might be seriously hurt because of you." The towel had fallen off while Lukas ran down the stairs.
"Sorry…" Tim said and turned his gaze away.
Lukas stood up and grabbed Lina's shoulders. "Go take a shower, Alex will show you where it is." He started to pull her into the room she came from as Tim grabbed her leg, stopping him. "The fuck?"
"What are you doing?" He asked, "You didn't kidnap her, did you?"
Lukas just looked at him annoyed: "Ming your own business, please." He pulled once more with a little force to rip her out of Tim's hands and continued to drag her away, leaving Tim confused and scared.
Alex called from the top of the stairs: "Didn't you hear him? Get the fuck up here and follow me!"
***
Tim crawled after Lukas and Lina, trying to take a peek into the room. His eyes went wide as he saw Lukas putting Lina onto a chair next to a broken one, tying her to it with a rope that was just sprawled across the basement floor. "Is Lina a… masochist?" He muttered, "This can't be a kidnapping, can it? They would have shut me up by now. But they left me unattended and I could just leave." He scratched the wounds on his arms, believing it would relieve some of the burning sensation, but no, he just made it worse.
Lukas finished tying her and wiped his hands against one another to shake off the dust and Lina's sweat. He then turned back to the door and walked out of the basement room. He hadn't noticed Tim at first and made an abrupt halt right in front of the sitting Tim.
Tim tried to look away from Lukas' goods on display right in front of his face. His face reddened.
Lukas' face was emotion- and expressionless as he stared down at Tim. An idea sprang to mind and a sadistic grin spread over his lips. He took a half step closer to Tim, pretending he stumbled.
"Sorry." Lukas said with a shocked expression on his face.
Tim jumped back, hitting his back against the stairs and letting out a pained squeal before holding his back and leaning to the side.
Lukas went closer again, pretending to worry: "Are you okay?" His scared voice echoed through the basement, "Did I scare you?" He tried to grab Tim's shoulders who got scared and tried to push him away, making him stumble again. He threw himself to the side as if trying to avoid Tim but Lukas' penis slightly brushed against Tim's face.
Lukas jumped up, grabbing the towel. He muttered an excuse before running up the stairs with the towel covering him.
Tim sat there, his face blank and expressionless. He slowly got up, in a robotic manner and walked up the stairs. "Where do I go?" He asked Alex who had seen the whole thing.
"This way." Alex went to the stairs to the next floor and used the wheelchair elevator to get up while Tim slowly walked behind him.
Under the shower all his emotions hit him at once. Tim, standing below the showerhead, looked down in horror. He had stabbed someone, Lina was in the basement tied up and he touched Lukas' penis.
"It touched my face." He whispered while staring at himself in the mirror, hand at his cheek touching the spot and tears running down his face. What should he do? All these bad things happening to him at once.
He felt the blood in his body flow downwards.
In front of the door sat Alex in his wheelchair and Lukas, wearing clothes again. They were listening, wanting to know what Tim was doing and how he was feeling. They first heard him cry, then they heard something different.
"Is he…" Alex wanted to ask something.
Lukas stood next to him in silence for a moment. "Yes… he is pleasuring himself."
***
Anna awoke. It was 5 in the morning and the sun was already shining into her room. She slid out of her bed in nothing but an oversized shirt she used as a pyjama. A yawn escaped her tired lips and she rubbed the sand from her eyes.
She opened her bedroom door and walked into their kitchen, not worrying about someone seeing her like that. Her mother would not wake up for another 2 hours and her father had left them when she was still young.
She grabbed the cereal box and poured it into a ginormous bowl. In the morning she was always extremely hungry. She took a spoon full of cereal before noticing she had forgotten the milk.
Searching for it, she opened the refrigerator. "Oh no." She said plainly. "The milk is empty."
Closing the refrigerator again she sighed and put her spoon into the sink. She grabbed the bowl and walked to the living room and sat down onto the couch. She took a handful of cereal, literally and stuffed her mouth with them. Finally, she turned on the TV and leaned back, feet on the table.
What she saw shocked her. Her mother had left on the news channel and they were in the midst of explaining an event. The headline paralysed her in shock before she used their recorder to rewatch the entire section she had missed.
"Tim, what did you do?" She muttered while stuffing her face with cereal.
On the news was a censored video of a boy who looked like Tim at night, stabbing someone and running off with the weapon. Then there was a second clip of him following a teenager home.
"Please don't be the boy on the news." She muttered while muting the TV and searching for Tim's phone number in her contacts. She tapped on his name and then the call-button.
Her phone rang loudly. She had put down her bowl of cereal and was now leaning forward. She stared at her phone and at Tim's name as the phone vibrated and slowly moved around on the table.
"Pick up." She muttered. Hands in front of her mouth in a thinking posture.
Then her phone screen turned black before showing that Tim had indeed not picked up. "If he is still sleeping, maybe it wasn't him. I don't think he could sleep well after doing this." She glanced back at the silent TV, they were currently showing pictures of the crime scene, the body censored.
The bus station floor was covered in blood and so were some of the walls which were lower. The person had apparently drowned in his own blood. And that took a while. Around the crime scene she could make out children who were crying and screaming. Those poor first graders had found the body with their parents.
She stood up, leaving the cereal, and rushed into her room. Anna took off the shirt revealing her entire naked body and took some clothes from her pile to put on. She had about an hour and 10 minutes before she had to be at work and an hour and 40 minutes until she had to open the shop. If she hurried, she should have time to visit Tim and make sure he was okay.
Anna ran face first against the door, hurting herself. She slowly unlocked the door, closed it after stepping out and locked it again. Then she ran again.
She bolted past people on their way to work and nightshift workers on their way back home. It did not take long for her to reach Tim's house. After only 4 minutes she already rang the doorbell, over and over until Tim's sleep deprived brother opened the door, cursing at her.
"Where is Tim?" She asked, arms crossed below her chest.
"Your shirt is the wrong way around." His brother said, "At a friend's house, for a sleepover."
Anna noticed his gaze and crossed her arms in front of her chest, covering it from his eyes. "Which friend?" She asked, hoping he would not say—
"Lukas' house." He said to her disappointment, "I think that was his name. Went there and did not come back yet. But it's early, so just wait a bit."
It was obvious she got frustrated at his answer. "Are you his girlfriend or something? Why so angry?" He asked.
"Just… worried." She muttered and left the porch again. She looked around, where could he live? She did not know where, but she knew where she could learn his address from: The contract Lukas had signed to work in their shop had his address on the front most page.
Anna sprinted off again and towards their café. Then she remembered something. "Mom put it into the safe." She had no key to it, or the pin to open it. "Do I just… wait in front of his school like a weirdo? Or do I wait for him to visit the café in the afternoon?"
She contemplated for a moment before deciding on one of the two options and heading off.
***
Anna was hurrying to the school which Tim and Lukas visited. She had stopped visiting school after the eighth grade and that is over 2 years in the past. For that reason, she did not know she was over 2 hours early.
In the distance the school came into focus. "It's open!" She muttered. The doors were being held open by a chair taken from a classroom. Anna walked past the chair, entering the school building.
Her eyes darted from side to side, scanning for Lukas and Tim. The halls were empty, only the janitor and a handful of teachers were visible.
"What are you doing here?" A teacher asked her confused, "Who is your homeroom teacher? What class are you in?" The teacher was walking towards her, his heels making a tapping sound while he walked. He was balancing his mug filled with coffee on a bunch of books and documents. "11th grade? 12th?"
"Not in this school, searching for a friend." Anna said and brushed past the teacher.
The teacher's feet slipped on the wet and freshly mopped floor and he dropped his coffee onto the ground, the mug shattering to pieces. "Get back here!" He screamed while she hurried away.
Anna continued hurrying down the halls. "If I remember correctly his class was around here." She said, ignoring the teachers talking to her. She started reading signs while walking past room after room. "No, no, no…" Then she saw it," Bingo."
She kicked open the door to make a cool entrance but the room was empty. Only the homeroom teacher was sitting inside, his naked feet on the table while he was cleaning in between his toes. It was disgusting to see how the dirt just flew around, sometimes even dropping into his coffee.
"Where… is everybody?" She asked, her eyes narrow and her breakfast coming back up her neck.
"What do you mean? School starts at 8 in the morning, it is not even 6 yet." The teacher just continued doing what he was doing. Then he noticed Anna's gaze of disgust. "Relax! I'm gonna clean that after I'm finished."
"Okay…"
"Leave now please. Tim isn't coming to school for a week or ten." He said, waving her away.
"How—"
"How do I know? Tim draws your face sometimes."
"Oh… I didn't know that." Anna left the room, closing the door behind her. She was sneaking back out of the school when her phone vibrated. "It's 6. Gotta hurry!" She yelled and just bolted back out of the school.
"That's her! She broke my mug!" The teacher from earlier yelled after her, a security guard next to her.
Anna lifted her hand and, without looking back, presented her middle finger. "FUCK OFF!" She screamed.
***
An alarm clock was screaming at the top of its lungs( or as loud as it was set to because they don't have lungs, but whatever, shut up). The ear piercing sound woke Tim. "God damn it…" He muttered under his breath, still tired and weak from the past night.
"What time is it?" He asked and sat up, turning to the alarm clock. The display was turned away so he had to turn it so it would face him. It was 10 in the morning. "Already 10…" He whispered.
Suddenly, he felt something move beneath the blanket. Not knowing what it was, he took off the blanket from his legs. "Hm."
Next to him, or on top of him, was Lukas. He was laying face down, arm and shoulder on Tim's waist, holding him. His grab was firm.
Tim's tired gaze wandered along his own body, then the body of Lukas, both of them were naked. "Shit. What happened?" He rubbed his forehead, "Shit." He wanted to stand up, hungry and eager for breakfast, but Lukas would not let go.
"Don't go…" Lukas whispered in his sleep, not opening his eyes, "Alex will bring breakfast, he heard the alarm, no worries." Lukas tried pulling Tim closer. A smile decorating his wet lips. "Let's cuddle."
"Sure…"
Half an hour later someone knocked at the door. Not waiting for a response, the door opened and a wheelchair drove into the room. "Cripple delivery: Breakfast for two." Alex said with a chuckle. On his lap he was carrying a platter with half-assed looking food on top. "Made with hatred for the two of you." He told them and slid the platter onto the table next to the bed.
Tim tried sitting up again, Lukas' head resting on his chest.
Alex just glanced over annoyed and hit Lukas in the head with a hard plastic bottle. "Get the fuck up. I made breakfast, so you better enjoy every last bit of it, or else." He threatened.
Lukas jumped up in pain, holding his head with tears running down his face. "I like pain, but not like this!" He complained while Alex was driving out of the room again.
"Then wake up on time, dear brother." Alex shrugged with his shoulders and sarcasm in his voice.
Lukas slid out of the bed, picking up his clothes and throwing Tim's at him. "Dress up, eat and do whatever, don't care." Lukas was pulling up his pants and closing the zipper while speaking.
Tim stood up as well, his clothes still drying somewhere and the replacement laying on a chair across the room. He walked over to the chair, walking with his back turned to Lukas, trying to cover himself.
He put on the clothes and walked back to the small bedside table with the platter on top. On top was slightly burned bread and different toppings. Two cups next to the food and a bottle of orange juice on the bed which was used to attack Lukas. "Looks interesting."
Lukas grabbed a piece of bread, threw a piece of cheese, cucumber and salami on top and hurried out of the room and down the stairs.
Tim's eyes followed him down the stairs. He made himself a sandwich as well before walking down the stairs and putting on his shoes. "I'm leaving!" He yelled through the house.
"We don't give a shit!" Alex screamed at him and Lukas did not respond at all.
Tim opened the door and left.
***
Tim's head was hurting, emotions bottled up. He grabbed the door handle and pushed it open, entering the coffee shop.
"Morning, Anna!" He said, walking up to the counter. He placed his hands on the counter, leaning forward to search for Anna who was outside his sight. Eyes darting from side to side.
"I'm here." She called to him from a table she was serving. Anna waved at him and the people sitting at the table mimicked her( for some reason, I ain't no psychologist or something, don't ask).
Tim rushed over to help her carry their dirty dishes back to the kitchen. "Let me help." He said while taking some of the plates she was holding. With a smile on his lips he followed her into the kitchen.
In the kitchen the two of them put down the dishes into the sink for them to be rinsed and put into the dishwasher by Lukas once he comes in about an hour.
"Want me to rinse them?" Tim asked. Not waiting for her to answer, he turned on the water.
Anna grabbed the faucet and turned it back off. "Leave some work for Lukas, he should have to work for his paycheck." She said, a vein showing on her forehead because she thinks of Lukas. She threw a handkerchief at Tim for him to dry his hands again. She then turned back to the exit of the kitchen, grabbing Tim's arm to pull him with her.
Tim just followed her silently. "About last time…" He tried to speak. The words got stuck in his throat and it dried up parallel with her hands.
Anna walked up to the counter to serve a customer. "Yes yes, sorry about that." She said before continuing with a smile, "What can I get you?" She quickly nodded while writing down the customer's order and giving him a small piece of cake from the tray of free baked goods. "Coming right up, please wait at a table." She said and turned back to Tim after the customer had paid and went to an empty table.
"So…"
She sighed, "I did that to make Lukas angry. I apologise for not asking in advance, but I was so angry… eh, sorry." She walked past him with a let down expression.
Tim's head also hung low but a small smile spread across his lips. He was so scared about the reason she had kissed him. "Good… good. I was scared for a bit." He muttered, "I did not want to hurt your feelings or something."
Anna spun around in less than a moment walking back towards him, opening her mouth: "Don't you dare think I have any kinds of feelings for you that extend over friendship! And worry… because of that crazy guy."
Tim held his hands up. "Sorry…" He whispered, kind of hurt but also a little happy.
"And where the FUCK have you been the night? I went to your house but your brother told me you were sleeping at Lukas' house. And what did you do last night? Saw you on the news this morning."
"I—"
"Don't!" She dared him to speak with her eyes, "We will talk later." Anna turned back around to finish the order of the previous customer.
"He… he attacked me!" Tim said, scared she would get angry.
To his surprise she just went silent.
"Are you… okay?"
She put her hand to her forehead. "Please just— Be quiet 'til later." She picked up the two plates and walked away, leaving Tim alone behind the counter.
He left the shop while she was still at the table, talking to customers. His mind was filled with panic: "Does she hate me?" Tears of fear filled his eyes, "Am I a bad person?" His legs started trembling and sweat started pouring from his pores.
Some people looked at him with worry while others looked at him annoyed or disgusted as he moved towards a wall to keep himself standing.
"I… I killed someone." He thought back to the moment his knife punctured the robber's chest, the moment he pushed Lina down the stairs, "Did he lie? To make me feel better?" He asked and thought about the day Jake died.
If he had not left him, they probably would not have been attacked, Jake might still be alive if it was not for his emotional outburst and him running away to think alone, instead of talking to Jake about his feelings. "I am responsible for all their deaths." Weirdly, the tears dried, "I'm a monster…"
"Most people would say you deserve death." Alex told him, having sneaked up on him with his wheelchair, "Did you ever see a movie, or a show and, after seeing what someone did, thought a certain person should die?"
Tim looked into Alex's eyes, nodding.
"That is how a lot of people would think about you, if you told them what you did. Having killed three people and all." His words hit Tim hard. This 16 year old boy was lecturing him, a 19 year old, about the things he did and his feelings. "Do you feel that way about yourself? Or are you willing to accept your misdeeds and live with them, trying to atone for your sins for the rest of your life?"
"You're telling me I deserve death?" Tim asked.
Alex just shrugged. "If that is your conclusion, sure, why not?"
Tim looked away from Alex, into the crowd: "I think… I think I will kill myself." He started crying at the thought that he would die, "It will stop the pain, and I will atone for what I did by paying with my life!"
***
Tim got home at around 2 in the afternoon. On his way home he pondered about his decision from earlier, which Alex had put into his head. Was he really ready to do it? What if he chickened out?
Tim went up the stairs as he heard his father screaming and calling for him. "TIM! God damn it! Get down here, this fucking instant!" His father had never screamed this loud at him, or at anyone for that matter.
"Coming!" He yelled back, scared. He stopped abruptly on the stairs and turned back around, hesitating to walk back down and into the living room. "What is it?" He asked with a panic filled voice.
When he walked into the living room he saw his father sitting on the couch, arms crossed, his mother not home. In front of his father were a bunch of pictures all over the table. "Oh no." He muttered.
The table was being defiled by pictures of Tim and Lukas, naked in bed. "What in god's name is wrong with you. This is disgusting!" He stood up, angry at his son, "You are a disgrace." He lifted his hand, letting Tim notice for the first time that he was holding a belt in his hands.
Tim practically turned to stone upon seeing his father reach back, belt in hand, and swing down upon his side. The hit came so surprisingly, he just fell to the ground, not registering the pain for a good few seconds. But, after seeing his father reaching back for a second time, the pain hit him. "Aah!" He screamed out in pain.
"Be. Quiet!" His father hit him again. The sound of his belt hitting Tim was sickening and terrifying to hear.
He wished for his mother to be here, she would protect him but she is either at work or grocery shopping. And his brother on the other hand is just as scared and terrified as he was. "Stop!" He begged. Tim had never imagined he would have to beg for mercy from his own father. The pain made him believe his father might actually kill him, and he noticed how scared of death he was the moment his instincts kicked him, making him tackle his own father.
His father, Tim tackling his stomach and waist, fell backwards to the ground, dropping the belt. "What—" He had no time to express his confusion as his head hit a sharp corner on the coach, which was exposed due to years of Tim and his brother chewing at the piece while they were younger.
With a loud noise of bone hitting wood his father stopped moving and just lay on the ground. Tim on top of him.
"What have I done?" He whispered, asking himself.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" His brother screamed. He had slowly creeped down the stairs to take a peek at what was happening and only saw their father on the ground, unconscious.
"I don't…" Tim looked at his brother, then felt a warm fluid touching his socks and feet. He dropped his gaze, and so did his brother, seeing that Tim was standing in blood, fresh blood, coming straight out of their father's head. Tim's pupils widened and he yelled at his brother: "Call an ambulance!"
And his brother did.
The two of them were sitting outside their house, talking to a police officer about what happened and Tim could hear some of them talking in the distance. They were saying this was nothing but self-defence and that his father had deserved it, physically abusing his child was pure evil and deserving of death.
He would get off scotch free. Not punished. Another murder under his belt. "If hitting me was deserving of death…" Tim's mind raced at the conclusions he was coming to. He looked at his crying brother before looking back at the stretcher his father was on.
"Dad is going to be okay? Right? RIGHT?" His brother asked the officers, getting more and more anxious and scared at every passing second his father not moved.
The policemen lowered their eyes, taking off their hats: "No… He is… Your father is dead." One of them got down onto his knees, trying to hug the boy and console him, the other one walked over to Tim.
"No, thank you." He just said, staring off into the sky. His expression was blank and his skin pale.
***
Anna just finished her work for the day and was putting away her uniform. She grabbed her purse and other belongings which she brought to work like every other day.
She left the room and entered the kitchen, Lukas was standing inside, cleaning the dishes while her mother was serving the customers. She threw the keys at Lukas: "Give them to mother, I'm finished for the day." And they hit his head.
"Ouch!" He complained, "Why are you always throwing things at me?" He picked up the keys which had fallen to the ground. His angry eyes fixed at them. Throwing the keys onto the table next to him he continued to wash the dishes.
Anna left the store through the back entrance only for employees, entering the alley behind the store. She took out her phone and a coke she stole from the store's inventory.
She uncapped the bottle and took a sip, tapping a few times on her phone's screen. She called someone and she lifted the phone to her ear. "Hey. It's me, Anna." She nodded, "Yes, been a while. Remember the favor you owe me?"
She took a few voluntary steps away from the door, making sure that her mother would not immediately be able to hear her if she left through the door. "Good. I need you to do something for me, after that, let's never speak again." Anna smiled after a few seconds of silence and hearing the answer of the person she had called.
It took about two hours for Anna to meet with the person she had called earlier. She was waiting behind the coffee shop in the same alley she had called from.
"There you are, took you long enough!" She muttered as a limousine drove into the alley, halting in front of her.
The door opened only a few centimetres next to her, almost hitting her. She just stepped inside and the door closed behind her. She glanced out of the window as the limousine started driving again, leaving the alley.
"Been a while. You've grown in the last two years." In front of her sat a man. He was at least 40 years old. The man was wearing an expensive suit and a gold watch. Sunglasses covering his eyes and tattoos visible beneath his clothes.
"Yes." She said and crossed her legs.
"What do you need all this for? And are you sure you don't want one of my men doing it for you?" He asked, taking off the sunglasses while leaning forward.
Anna scoffed, "Do you really think I want to owe you anything?"
"You could just pay for their services. And I think you deserve help for what you did two years ago." The man said, laughing.
Next to him sat a woman who poured him a drink while they spoke.
The man took a sip and offered Anna a glass, but she declined: "I don't drink." her hand raised in an apologetic gesture.
"At least tell me what you want to do with this." The man told her again.
Her eyes narrowed, scanning his expression and the areas outside the window. "It seems you already know." The limousine had driven to the place she wanted to use the tools given to her by the man.
"But it would mean so much more to me if you told me, instead of my informants." His voice got quieter, "It is already a huge favor that I did not tell him what you're doing. That boy is a partner of ours, and we owe him a lot more than we owe you. So be kind, yes?"
"Sure…" She sighed.
She left the limousine after having told him what she was about to do and changing into the clothes the man brought her. She was carrying a big gym bag filled to the brim. One last look into the car and a nod of approval from the man then she closed the door and they drove away from her.
Anna turned to the house she was about to break into and walked onto the porch, making sure nobody would see her.
Lukas' phone vibrated and he dried his hands. With his hands dry, he took it out to see the notification. An app he had downloaded had sent him an alert that the motion activated cameras had just been activated.
He opened the live feed to see someone crouching on his porch, grabbing something from inside a bag.
Lukas quickly sent a message to Alex to arm himself, someone was breaking in.
***
Anna took out a tool to pick locks and lifted her head to the door. With frightening accuracy and efficiency, she picked the lock and the door slowly opened. The inside of the house was dark.
"Nobody home, it seems." She whispered. She put the lock pick back into the gym bag and lifted it onto her back before she entered. She closed the door behind herself and darkness descended over her eyes. She had to turn on her flashlight.
"How clean, as if someone with germophobia lives here, or they just moved in." She lifted the light to light up the stairs, "Wheelchair elevator?" It was weird, why was he working a low paying job in their café even though he can pay something like that, these things cost around 6 grand.
She lowered the flashlight again and continued creeping along the hallway. Next to her was the basement door and she grabbed the handle. "Locked." She thought for a moment. Should she pick the lock or first search the rest of the floor?
"God damn it!" There had to be a reason the basement was locked, so it was a priority. She dropped the bag again and grabbed the lock picking tool and started playing with the lock. "Why is it taking so long?"
Confused, she used the flashlight to search for the name of the lock, "Shit!" It was a lock made by a corporation which earned multiple awards for their incredibly secure locks. She put the lock pick back and started rummaging through the bag. There had to be something.
"GOT IT!" She accidentally yelled. She quickly silenced herself and grabbed the tool she found. It was a blowtorch. She tried activating the blowtorch and noticed that she had to open the valve for the gas. With a quick movement of her hand she opened it and the flame activated. "Ah!" She jumped back in surprise, the heat and size of the flame was incredible. She turned the valve to close a little and the flame shrunk.
She held the blowtorch to the lock and it started to melt, slowly but surely.
Suddenly, a light turned on down the hallway in a room. "Shit." She could hear something coming closer, but the lock was not fully melted yet. She panicked and kicked down the door. The rest of the lock just ripped out of the wood holding it.
In her panicked state, she forgot to grab the bag and just ran down the stairs. "Another wheelchair elevator! Rich asshole." She muttered and kicked open the door at the bottom of the staircase.
In front of her was a ginormous room, as big as the whole property. Not thinking clearly she just ran inside and tried to block the door, but everything big enough was bolted to the floor. Then she had to slow down and noticed what everything in the basement was. While the majority of the items down there were boxes, the unboxed items were tables and chairs carrying knives, swords and all kinds of weapons and torture devices. "What the fuck…"
Suddenly, a muffled scream started again and she spun around to see Lina sitting nude on a chair. She was tied to it and around her was a ton of makeup. She quickly ran over: "Are you okay?" Anna ripped out the gag.
"Thank you!" Lina cried. Her panicked voice sounded again: "Untie me! Please hurry."
Having forgotten about the blowtorch, or not wanting to hurt Lina, Anna started to search for a knife she could use to break the rope. "So much choice." She grabbed a blunt stiletto and tried to cut through the rope, it worked, but not well.
She could hear the wheelchair elevator start working and descending, slowly. She accelerated, scared she would get caught as well. Then she heard a click, the elevator was down and the person was disconnecting from it. "Sorry." She whispered and left Lina alone again, dropping the stiletto.
Anna ran to a small basement window, too small for Lina to use, but barely big enough for herself. She grabbed a chair, positioning it below the window and grabbing the frame to pull herself up.
Behind her, the person who had just come down into the basement grabbed something heavy. She was sure she had enough time if the person had grabbed a knife or something and broke the window. She pushed out her head and shoulders, and as she tried to pull her arms through a sharp pain suddenly hit her.
Suddenly, she could not move and was writhing in pain. Reflexively, she kicked the wall and pulled herself back inside, dropping to the ground crying. She looked at her stomach. A broken stick was sticking out and she lifted her head to the window. Below it, an arrowhead was stuck in the wall.
"FUCK!" She screamed, her hands over the wound.
"Be quiet, god damn it. You interrupted my movie night." The person said. It was Alex. He drove closer to her and she noticed the weapon on his lap: "I really love crossbows. They're quite handy, aren't they?" He stopped over her head, "He finally instals a way for me to get down here and within a few hours you force me to use it."
She spat at Alex but hit herself.
He glanced at Lina still screaming and crying and insulting them: "She was brought here by Lukas, so I can't harm her, but you, you came here by yourself and I caught you." He started laughing, "Thank you, thank you. Finally!"
He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away from the window. A blood trail left behind her. With another arrow loaded into his crossbow, he shot through her shoulder, nailing her to the plank he pulled her onto. "That is surprisingly fun." He shot through her knee.
Anna started to scream in pain and he pushed his shoe into it. "Be quiet, yes? Don't want to alert the neighbours, Lukas just moved in and wants to make a good impression." He pulled his foot out of the shoe, leaving it in her mouth as tears flowed down her face and fear was displayed in her eyes.
He pulled out his phone, calling Lukas: "Am I allowed to kill her? It is in your house, but I caught her, right?" After a moment a smile spread over his lips. It was a sadistic and fear inducing expression and he, still on the phone, shot through Anna's chest, puncturing her left lung and a noise of air leaving her sounded. He held his index finger in front of his mouth as he listened to Lukas over the phone.
***
Tim was sitting in Jake's and his hideout. He had to sneak in, because the area around the hideout was barricaded off. The police were searching for clues about Jake's murder and Tim was told he should keep away from the area.
He was sitting on one of their selfmade chairs, made out of sticks. His legs were fully extended and pointing towards the hole in which he had hidden Jake's body.
"How long have I been here?" He asked himself and looked at his watch. It was almost midnight. He took a mouthful of his water as if it was alcohol. "I miss you, Jake." He whispered, "We will see each other again, soon."
He was silent for a moment or two, then he chuckled: "No. You're in heaven. I won't be. But I hope we will be able to see each other again, even if just for a moment."
"How am I even going to do it?"
Tim sat there for a few more minutes, before standing up. He had to bend forward to get out of the hideout and, to his horror, it was raining and he had forgotten his jacket at home. He now had to go home, in the middle of the night, in a thin shirt through heavy rain and incredibly strong and cold winds. "Shoot." He cursed.
His way through the rain was as unpleasant as one might imagine. His clothes were sticking to his body, cold and wet. And his socks were drenched and his shoes filled with water, it felt like he was walking through a swamp. Cars were driving past him, splashing him with water.
He saw his house just a few more steps away. Then he stopped.
"Please… no…" Someone cried on his front porch.
He hurried around the corner as he recognized the voice. Before him sat Lukas, on his knees. He was crying in front of Anna's body. "No, no, no." He was holding a small knife and Anna was laying lifeless before his knees. There was a fast cut on her throat and blood had spilled over the ground.
"Anna…" Tim muttered in shock.
Lukas turned to him with his panicked expression: "I… I wanted to visit you and… and…" His voice turned into uncontrollable sobs. "I was about to ring the bell as she… grabbed my shoulder and spun me around." He was retelling what Tim did to the robber.
Tim just stood there, scared.
"I… it was an accident, please believe me. I didn't do it on purpose!" Lukas crawled towards Tim's legs, grabbing them and dropping the knife. "Please…"
Tim grabbed Lukas' and started crying, seeing one of his friends dead before him and his love interest drenched in rain and blood in front of him. They were both scared, Tim thought. The 2 of them had killed someone, they were both… "Monsters…" He muttered.
Lukas his face, not visible due to their positioning, twisted into a grin, before he looked into Tim's eyes, back to his scared expression.
Tim noticed his own eyes going back and forth between Lukas' lips and eyes. He was terrified by himself, how could he have the urge to kiss him in this situation? Tim looked longingly into Lukas' eyes and both of them made no noise before he pressed his own lips against Lukas' lips.
Lukas was in shock, this was… surprising. But it made things easier for him. He kissed back and the two fell to the ground, rolling around in the rain.
***
Tim and Lukas were sitting with their backs against the wall. Both of them were out of breath and breathing heavily. A few drops of Lukas' saliva were dripping from Tim's mouth.
Feeling the weight of the drops on his lips and their warmth, he quickly licked them away, not caring if they were his or not. He just had Lukas' tongue in his throat, why would he care?
Lukas was the one and only good thing he could think of that still remained( Don't you dare mention the dog, let us just pretend he does not exist, don't feel like killing an animal). He felt his hand tightening around Lukas' hand and turned to look at him.
Lukas' face was blushing, but his face still expressed the horror of what he had just done.
"What are we going to do?" Tim asked.
Lukas turned to look at him. "Let's just run away, together." His voice was still filled with sadness, "I deserve death, don't I?"
"Run away? We can't just—"
"If we don't, I don't see any meaning in me remaining alive." Lukas interrupted him. He sat up to look into Tim's eyes: "Please. I'm a… look what I did! I'm a monster, Tim." He took both of Tim's hands into his own. He breathed out slowly with closed eyes, then looked into his eyes again. He wanted to say something but was interrupted by Tim.
"If… if you want to die, lets do it together."
"Wait… what?" Lukas faked confusion.
Sadness washed over Tim's face: "I… I killed people, Lukas. I… this is hard! I already thought about it, doing it myself scares me… but together? That's different."
Lukas' plan was in motion, and Tim did most of the work himself but still fell for it. "How would we… how would we do it?"
Tim stood up, pulling the confused Lukas up with him. "I don't know… drugs? Using gas? Or maybe just jumping from a building, hand in hand." He was scared, but not of dying. Tim was scared of dying alone, and now? Lukas was open to die with him, by his side. Now it was not as scary anymore.
"I…" Lukas got an idea, "I know a place, lets do it there." A sigh escaped his lips. He dropped his hands and stopped holding onto Tim. "But I have to say goodbye to some people. You should too."
"I don't have anyone… everybody is dead." He started crying again. "When?"
"Huh?"
"When are we going to… you know, do it?" Tim asked.
Lukas looked down onto the ground, thinking for a while. Lifting his head, he spoke again: "How about tomorrow?" His eyes were very questioning.
Tim nodded before he turned away and unlocked the door, walking inside. "I'm… see you tomorrow." He said and closed the door behind himself, leaving Lukas standing in the rain next to Anna's corpse.
***
Lukas stepped out of a taxi. "Thank you." He said after paying and getting his change. He turned away and started walking, the taxi behind him waving at his back and driving off. Before him was a big building. It was one of those buildings in which everybody could rent a small warehouse for a monthly payment. Of course, Lukas thought this was the best place to drag Tim into.
Inside, he walked up to the reception. "Good morning." He said,
The receptionist lifted her head with a smile: "Good morning. I am Maria. How can I help you this lovely morning?"
Lukas smiled back at her. "How nice… My name is Lukas. I would like to rent a small warehouse, approximately 100 square metres of free floor space, just one big room."
"Of course, that is what we do here. But its storage units we rent. They are in a big building, not singular warehouses." She typed something on her keyboard and narrowed her eyes, leaning forward slightly. "Hm… It seems we don't have any empty 100 square metre rooms, there are still a few empty 80 square metre rooms and one 144 square metre room. Interest in one of them? Of course, before you answer, I am going to inform you, the smaller ones are at 64 a month, but the larger one cost 80 a month." She lifted her head to look into his face.
"Oh!" He was surprised, "It costs less than expected. Give me the '144' for a month." He thought for a moment, "Do I get the keys directly after the payment? Or do I have to wait for the beginning of next month?"
"You will get the keys for the storage unit right after you've finished the payment."
"Perfect. Then I would like to pay right away, so I can… well, it does not really matter, does it?" He had a sly smile covering his face, not reaching his eyes. His hands were resting on the counter.
"It does not, unless you want to violate any of these—" She turned the screen around, to face Lukas, "—rules. Read them please, take your time. And afterwards, if you still wish to proceed you may tell me if you want to pay cash or card."
Lukas nodded and started to read the rules and all the shit that one has to read and accept to rent a storage unit( never rented one, shut up). It took him almost half an hour to finish.
After having signed the agreement and having paid for the month, he was standing in front of the storage unit's entrance, key in hand. He quickly unlocked the door and entered.
His eyes wandered. "The floor is a perfect square, so 12 metres times 12 metres." He smiled, thinking about what he would use to decorate the room, what it should look like, "I can work with this."
He called Alex who picked up in seconds: "The transport, is it ready?"
***
Alex was down in Lukas' basement. The chair Lina sat on had been put into the center of the room and a group of men was transporting everything in it out of the basement, not out of the house, just into a different room.
Another group of men was painting the walls, a dark and extremely absorbent red. Over it they were smearing teddy faces in black paint with their hands, not using any type of tools. Behind Lina was a large TV and Alex was setting it up to be in a good position for anyone entering the basement.
"The LEDs?" Someone asked him.
"Replace the lightbulbs with weak red bulbs and put the LED stripes at every edge of the room, everywhere the walls meet each other or with the ceiling and floor." He told the man who called in a few others with boxes of LED stripes.
Lina was not unconscious, but pretended to be. Her heart was racing, scared.
Alex moved towards her: "Open your eyes. I am going to untie you now, but don't think about running away, all the men you see down here are armed and told to hurt you if you leave the basement." He pulled out the gag from her mouth and gave her a snap against the forehead to scare her, "Understood?"
She did not reply verbally, but nodded understandingly.
"Good," He started loosening the ropes, "you these buckets? They're filled with honey, smear your whole body with. And with 'whole' I mean every fold and crevice there is. Lukas wants to pretend he is a killer with a sweet tooth, don't know why though." He pointed to the containers of honey next to Lina's chair as she stood up and stretched her arms. He rolled back a few steps. "Once you're finished, sit back down, I will tie you back up."
"What?" She asked scared, "You're not killing me, are you?"
"No! No… We want the police to find you down here like this." He told her, "You should make up some kind of heroic story, that paints you as the hero of the story between Lukas, Tim and yourself." He took out his phone and rested his chin on his left arm, starting to scroll through videos on the internet.
Lina looked around the room, nobody in the basement was looking at her. While it made her feel better, knowing that nobody would hurt her and she would soon be free, she was hurt that nobody thought of her body as attractive.
She crouched down and opened the first container of honey, dumbing her hand in it. A whole handful was lifted out and slowly dripped down from her hand as she smelled it, then licked it.
"Smear the chair first, you won't be able to reach your back, that will take care of it." Alex told her, not looking up.
And she listened, with her other hand as well filled with honey, Lina started to drench the chair in honey and her own body as well. First her arms and legs, then between her legs and below the folds of fat on her body, afterwards she tried reaching as much of her back as possible and smeared her torso and chest.
Moving slowly because it felt weird, she sat back down into the chair.
"Don't forget your neck, head and face. You can leave your hair dry if you want, but face and neck are important."
"Okay…" She whispered, standing up again. She quickly did as she was told and was tied to the chair by a man with rubber gloves.
Within an hour they had finished decorating and cleaning out the basement and left. Alex as well left, but before he did so, he turned on the TV behind Lina, it was displaying the storage unit Lukas had rented and it was filled with men in similar clothes to the ones who had decorated the basement.
Alex used the wheelchair elevator and dialed the number of the police. He put it to his ear and started speaking: "Hello? I kidnapped a girl and am about to murder a boy. My name is Lukas and I live at… well, you are probably tracking me, just get here before she dies. I am highly armed and my house is filled with traps. Fuck you. CRIPPLE POWER!" He turned off his phone.
***
Tim was waiting on his porch, sitting on the ground. He was scared of the events which were about to take place. Lukas would come to take him away, for the 2 of them to die together.
"Are you okay?" His brother asked him. He left the house and sat down next to Tim. While he was still in pain about his dad dying in front of him, he wanted to console his brother, be there for him.
Tim just kept looking onto the street, waiting for Lukas, or Alex, to come pick him up.
His brother noticed his silence and sighed. "You know, you shouldn't bottle up your feelings like this." He told Tim, "Talk to me, or do what I did, talk to a therapist… or any other trusted person in your life."
Tim ignored his brother for a few more moments: "I did… and I am going to fix it."
His brother just patted his shoulder and tried to smile, but it felt wrong. "You can't… Tim, you can not fix the dead."
"I am not fixing the dead… I am going to atone for what I have done." He muttered, his brother almost not being able to understand him. "I promise…"
His brother let out a weak and painful laugh before starting to cry. He turned to Tim: "I miss him…" His voice was loud and ugly, "I miss dad, he was an asshole, but I loved him nevertheless."
Tim grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. Weirdly, he did not feel sorry for what he had done, but he felt bad and guilty for the pain his brother was suffering. And he wanted to make him feel better. "It's alright…" He muttered.
"No, it's not." He cried into Tim's shoulder, "It will be, in the future maybe, but not now." Tim's brother's tears drenched the shirt Tim was wearing and smearing snot all over his shirt and shoulder. "Is it my fault?"
"No! No, it's not." Tim answered.
Then his brother looked into his eyes: "Yes it is! If I had come down to protect you, to… to stop dad, all that, it would not have happened. Dad would still be alive and breathing." His fingers pressed into Tim's flesh, scarring him, making him bleed.
Tim thought for a moment, "Maybe…" He whispered.
"Hey!" Someone called and Tim lifted his head in sync with his brother. It was Lukas who called. "Thought you weren't saying goodbye to anyone." Lukas lips were carrying a confident smile but in his eyes Tim could see pain and fear.
To Tim it seemed that Lukas was trying to appear confident and happy, trying not to scare Tim with his own fear. Tim stood up and walked towards Lukas: "There you are!"
Tim's brother was confused by Lukas' words. "What does he mean?" He asked, "You're not leaving me alone, are you?"
Tim stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. "I told you, I am going to pay for all I did. And I won't leave you forever. We will see each other again, I promise you." He told his brother, "I love you, see you soon."
With a smile covering his brother's lips he followed Lukas down the road.
They drove with a taxi to the storage unit Lukas had rented. "Wow." Tim whispered after they had entered, hand in hand, "So this is it?"
"Yes." Lukas answered and started to cry silently.
Tim pulled him into a hug and started to cry as well. "Thank you for doing this with me…"
"You know… My mother taught me how to dance, but I never got to use it." Lukas whispered shyly, "Would you…" He tried to ask him, but was too scared to finish his sentence.
"Sure…" Tim said, "I would love to dance with you."
Lukas' face lightened up a bit and the lights changed, as well as the atmosphere of the room. "Thank you." He said and held out his hand, inviting Tim to take it and dance with him as classical music started playing through the air.
Tim took Lukas' hand.
***
A group of police cars surrounded the property on which Lukas' house was situated. The doors flew open and armed units came running out, entering the porch with caution, because the person who called had warned them about traps.
They used an extendable pole to tap onto the steps leading up the front door, scared of explosives which may activate from certain amounts of weight. "Clear." One of them whispered into their microphone.
He signaled the other men to move in. Someone came to the front to pick the lock silently, not to alarm the perpetrator. The door crept open, slowly.
The basement door was taken off the hinges and a blinding light was coming out of it. The frame was surrounded by arrows pointing inside and the other rooms, as well as the next floor, were dark.
All of them entered through the front door as well as the backdoor, guns drawn and pointing forward. Two or more entered each room and all of them spoke through the radio, "Clear." followed by the room they checked.
A group of them followed the arrows down the basement stairs and the blinding light turned off, not to hinder them further.
One man stood in front of the door, listening for any sounds and lifted his hands, signalling a countdown. "3… 2… 1…" He kicked open the door and the men still on the stairs hurried down and entered the basement. All of their guns and flashlights were scanning the room, searching.
"God… What is all this?" Someone asked.
"This guy has to be in some kind of cult."
"He's crazy…" A third person said.
The room was empty, but the walls and the floor were smeared with weird cult-like symbols surrounding ginormous Teddy faces, smeared onto the still wet red paint. It was too light for blood, maybe watered down, but where would they have gotten this much?
Then a TV screen turned on, static noise on the screen and lighting up an unconscious girl, smeared in honey and naked. She was tied to a chair.
All flashlights turned towards her in a swift and clean motion. "What the hell…"
The TV turned black again and music could be heard playing, coming from the TV. The darkness slowly receded and they could see a room.
The room was decorated like a gala in a fantasy novel. And in the middle of the room were 2 people, dancing hand in hand. They looked out of place in the room.
"That looks like Tim!" Someone said.
Another 2 turned to him: "The boy whose best friends both vanished?"
"Yes, and well, I think we found the second one on the chair over there."
Lukas was holding Tim's hands, smiling. There feet were moving to the rhythm of the music which was playing.
Tim's eyes were filled with fear, but also admiration and determination: "How… How is it going to happen."
Lukas gave Tim a kiss to shut him up and slowly pulled away: "Shush!" He muttered, "Don't want to ruin the moment, do we?"
Tim shook his head. His face was red and his heart raced then, suddenly, he could hear a faint noise. "What is this… sound?" He asked, looking around confused.
Lukas kept his eyes on Tim and grabbed Tim's chin to turn back to himself. "Gas is…" He tried to say but his eyes fluttered and he almost fell to the ground. Tim had to hold his shoulder.
Their eyes met as Tim started to feel it as well. His vision got blurry, his legs weakened and he had no strength left to dance. His legs gave out and he held onto Lukas' body. "I…" His voice got stuck in his throat and the words never reached Lukas' ears.
"It's alright." Lukas muttered as his expression shifted to something more sinister. He let his hand glide over Tim's cheek: "You know… It was hard to come up with a plan, with all this."
Tim's eyes widened but his vision stayed blurry. He started crying as he understood what Lukas was implying.
"If you just had not run away that night." Lukas' voice was soft, like a lullaby, "Jake would still be alive, and breathing. 31 days did I have to wait to get you in here." He grabbed something small and put it over his own mouth and eyes. It was a small gas mask, easy to carry and conceal, "I had fun…" He muttered.
The air left Tim's lungs and he started to wrath around trying to breathe, scratching his own throat as a result.
Lukas slowly and softly laid him onto the ground, so he would not hurt him. He glanced into Tim's eyes: "You have beautiful eyes, you know that?" He snickered. He pressed his finger around Tim's right eyeball, grabbing it as Tim tried to save himself with no power left to move his muscles. Then he pulled it out, making sure not to rip the cord attached to its back which he softly turned and turned until it ripped by itself.
Lukas stood up, leaving Tim's lifeless body on the ground and leaving the room, never to return again. The eye was still in his hand as it was his trophy to keep, not the police's or Tim's.