Chapter 14
EZRA
I stared around Gary’s living room, not quite sure what I was seeing or why I was seeing it. My uncle was a strange man, something my mom always blamed on the concussions from hockey, but this took it too far.
“You kidnapped me from my home so I could decorate your house with Christmas lights and put up the tree?” I glanced toward Gary where he sat on the threadbare couch with its horrible leopard pattern.
It was the same piece of furniture he’d had when I’d left.
Oil and sweat stains clung to the fabric.
Gary had a glass bottle of rum clutched in his fingers and he was drinking it straight, chugging the alcohol like it was water.
I wished all the drinking meant he’d have slower reflexes, but he was a marvel in that he was still as strong and fast as always.
Maybe it was the years of his body growing used to guzzling gallons of the stuff.
He waved the bottle at me. “Your mother wants to see that I didn’t fuck with you, so get to it. It can be like old times. Watch the Home Away From Home movies. They’re your favorite, aren’t they?” His mouth twisted again and it was more of a devious sneer. “I remember them being your favorite.”
My stomach churned, that familiar prickle of fear crawling up the back of my neck. I took a step back and swallowed around the anxiety that scratched my throat. “No.”
He shrugged and waved his bottle toward the box of tangled Christmas lights. The gun was resting on his thigh, a threatening reminder of the power he held. “Get to fucking work, then.”
I moved cautiously toward the box, eyeing Gary, waiting for one of his sick games.
Nothing came as he took another swig of his rum.
I crouched and pulled out a knot of lights, and my nose crumpled at the sight.
This was another little project he made me do every year when I’d lived here, and I fucking hated it.
He wouldn’t let me leave until the job was done, so I supposed he was starting his torture already.
I dragged out the knot and laid it on the shredded carpet before I peered back inside the box to see what else was there.
An advent calendar with half-opened panels brought back another flash of memory—a happier one of me and Mom.
A year where Gary had gone away with friends for the month of December, or at least, we’d thought that was the case.
We’d enjoyed the first half of the month, laughing with ease as she bought us an advent calendar.
Each morning we’d wake and open the panel, pulling out a chocolate that we’d split to share.
It’d been nice. Different. I think I was about fifteen at the time.
Then, Gary had come home early, furious for no reason that we could understand.
He’d yanked down the lights we’d hung on the walls and smashed all of Mom’s new baubles that we’d placed on the tree.
It was the last happy moment I truly remembered with Mom.
Instead of throwing the advent calendar away, she’d placed it in the box with the Christmas lights, and I remembered looking at it and thinking it reminded me of our relationship. Hidden away and abandoned.
The sight of the calendar only made the nausea curdling in my stomach worse and I shoved the memories aside.
Gary grunted. “Your mother’s a dumb bitch, you know that?
” He grabbed the remote control for the TV and fiddled with it until he had what he wanted— Home Away From Home 2.
“I told her that your father was a loser. A fucking loser, to be exact. Then when she was pregnant with you, told her to get rid of you. Told her you’d be as bad as your father. I wasn’t wrong, was I?”
I ignored him as best as I could, taking a seat on the frayed carpet to slowly pull at the knotted Christmas lights.
Maybe if I gave him what he asked, he’d let me go so I could return to Sam.
That’s all I wanted. Me and Sam and my new family.
I didn’t care about revenge on Gary anymore.
He could live until he was one hundred for all I cared.
“Your father was a fucking prick.” He laughed like he was a genius, then choked as he took another gulp of his rum. The stench of alcohol was joined by his sweat, the odor a horrible mixture that made me gag. He glared. “You’re a fucking problem child. Always have been.”
I shrugged, not willing to egg him on. He could say what he wanted, but I knew what he craved—a reaction from me, and I wasn’t going to give him one. He sat up straighter and yanked his gun off his thigh, and I froze as he waved the weapon around.
“This is power, boy. I am power. You’ll learn to respect me like your mother learned. She had some balls, accusing me of abusing you and threatening to go to the cops about it. Hah.”
I didn’t say a word as I yanked at the lights until I got a piece of the strand loose and dragged out the long chord before working on another part of it.
Gary was full of himself, thought he was a gift to the world, and angering him would only get me hit across the head.
If I was right about Eleanor, Sam would come for me. He’d protect me.
Gary fell back against the couch, the shiny silver handgun resting on his thigh again.
I eyed him cautiously. It was better to always have focus on him in case I needed to move fast. Every molecule of me was aware of him, but not for the same reason as I was with Sam.
Gary scared me, but Sam, even the serial killer version of him, made me feel safe.
My skin prickled at the thought of what Sam would do to Gary. I hoped it would hurt.
“Get up here.” Gary grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking me as I yelled out in pain, and slammed me onto the couch beside him. He pointed the gun at my temple, and I froze, every ounce of me paralyzed. “Watch this fucking movie with me. Then, you can keep going.”
I exhaled and kept my mouth shut even as I ached to tell him to go to hell. Don’t piss off the crazy man with a gun, Ezra.
“You love this movie, don’t you, kid?” Gary laughed, his breath puffing over my cheek, and I pushed down the urge to gag at the smell of his breath. “Fucking watch it.”
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to look at the screen as the Christmas movie began, and once again, the movie showed Michael on vacation with his family, including his new stepmom.
His father disappointed him, making him feel small in the film.
It felt a bit like my life. My family had let me down, and now I’d found a new one, including an amazing boyfriend.
Gary was once again trying to steal away my happiness.
“I hope you don’t want to piss.” Gary laughed.
“Because you can’t leave this couch until I say so.
” He shoved the bottle of rum at me and pressed the opening to my lips, and even as I struggled, he tipped the alcohol into my mouth.
I choked around the swallow and burn of the rum, and he cackled like a madman.
“Fucking be an adult, you little bitch.” The nozzle of the gun came to my temple again and the anxiety stung at me as I opened my mouth, letting him pour a generous amount between my lips. “Fucking grow a set.”
“Yes, Gary,” I said in a monotone voice after I swallowed the burning liquid.
He grumbled and fell back on the couch. “Don’t fucking piss, kid.”
I took a deep breath in. I could do this, at least until Sam showed up.
If he shows up, my traitorous brain provided.
He will. He fucking will.
Fifty minutes into the movie, the urge to use the bathroom began. I hadn’t pissed in about five hours, at least, but I hadn’t expected to be kidnapped by my uncle, either.
“Get me another bottle of Captain. In the top cupboard, you know where.” He waved his hand impatiently toward the kitchen, and I rose.
“And don’t you fucking think about sneaking off to the bathroom.
I’ll cut off your dick, you hear me? Or better yet, I’ll visit that little boyfriend of yours and put a bullet in his head. Fucking bitches, all of you.”
I shot him a glare and moved toward the kitchen.
I found his rum where he’d always had it, in the cupboard above the sink.
I opened the bottle exactly the way I knew he’d want me to.
Everything became a habit with Gary, and the longer I stayed here, the more I realized how scared he’d had me before I’d left.
He needed a gun to control me today, but back then, when I was terrified and alone, he’d used his influence and his words. I’d changed, but he hadn’t.
I wasn’t that scared teenager anymore.
The thought was eye-opening. I had no doubt Sam was coming for me, but I wasn’t waiting around. I needed to finish this once and for all. Show Sam I could take care of myself and be at his side when he took down the evil in this world. Gary was the first step to forever.
I spotted Christmas lights sitting on the table, perfectly positioned into a circle that made me think it was Mom who did it before she left for work—or so I could only assume. Gary wasn’t the type of dude to be this neat and Mom always tried around Christmas, especially with the lights.
I grabbed them and stared. They were heavy in my hands, the multicolored bulbs a reminder of all the times Gary forced me onto a ladder even when I was scared.
He didn’t care about my fear, he lived off it.
Maybe it was time for a taste of his own medicine.
The lights, a reminder of my terror, were the same thing that was going to end that feeling for me, and give it to him.
Anger like I’d never felt before thrummed in my chest, a fury that pounded so hard in my ears that I thought there was a drum in them.
I moved before I knew what I was doing. I grabbed the string of lights and snuck back into the living room, stretching the lights between two fists.
I swung the string around Gary’s neck and pressed my foot into the back of the couch, pulling the lights against his neck as hard as I could.
I was already in a manic state, the need to kill, kill, kill him surging inside me as I wrenched the lights roughly, the sounds of him choking filling the air.
He attempted to grab the string, dropping the empty bottle of rum in his hand so it rolled across the carpet. His gun fell onto the couch as he grappled at the lights, but they were pressed too tightly against his neck.
Adrenaline pumped through me, filling me with an urgency and a newfound strength I didn’t know I had.
I kept my foot planted on the back of the couch and listened as his choking grew louder and louder until it all fell silent and he went boneless where he sat.
I waited, afraid that he was acting, but when nothing came after another minute, a breath of relief left me and I released the lights.
I walked around the couch to get a better look at him, taking in his wide, frightened eyes with glee.
The scent of urine hit my nostrils and I shot a look at his crotch. He’d pissed himself.
I laughed loudly.
I glanced up at Home Away From Home 2 on the screen and smiled as one of the most popular one-liners from the movie came, and I said it at the same time as the character. “Merry Christmas and a Happy fucking New Year, you asshole.” I kicked Gary’s lifeless body as the words left my lips.
The front door crashed open, and I froze, panic surging inside me again. This was it. I’d never see Sam again. The cops would take me and I’d end up in a small cell with no privacy to piss or shit. I’d deal with bullies like Gary for the rest of my life.
Sam and Bee came running through the door into the living room, both halting at the sight of me and Gary.
Relief poured through me and I rushed over into Sam’s open arms, burying my face into his chest. “Sam, I did it. I ended it. He threatened you and Eleanor and fuck him. I wasn’t going to let him control my life anymore.”
Sam smiled, eyes watering as he dotted kisses on my forehead.
Bee whistled. “Shit, Ez. You sure got him. And it’s kind of . . . flawless. No blood. We could work with this. Get rid of the body. We’d need to drive the car into the garage and carry the body out to put it in the trunk. Then—”
Sam whistled to catch her attention and she looked at us. I felt him shake his head as I clenched my eyes shut.
“I’ll handle this. You get him home,” she said.
“No.” I pushed away from Sam and squared my shoulders, eyes open and a newfound adrenaline pumping through me. “I killed him. I’ll help with the cleanup. I’m here to stay and that means getting my hands dirty. Tell me what to do.”
Bee grinned. “Let’s get to work.”