Chapter 56
Fifty-Six
Brian
Brian felt for Tabitha’s finger behind the chair and she touched the tip with her pinkie, the same pinkie they always used to pinkie promise as children.
Her sobs from behind the gag sent his stomach twisting – half rage, half terror.
There was no way out. The metal chains, although thin were impossible to escape.
If he could say anything to Tabitha, he’d tell her how much he loved her and how sad he was that he’d put them in this situation. He’d allowed OpenMeSmiler into their lives and now no one knew where they were being held. It was game over. They were going to get killed just like Mindy had.
He’d heard the psycho muttering about the other man called Dustin who he’d taken, how he’d deserved it and how easy it had been to press the knife through his body.
A candle flickered on top of an old grey filing cabinet.
Next to it sat a box of matches. Normally, light would be a comfort but the intoxicating smell of petrol coming from his lap let him know that there was no comfort to be had in this situation.
If the candle toppled, he’d go up in flames, then the wooden chairs, then finally Tabitha would burn.
The whole building would come down around them and they’d be turned into ashes.
It went unsaid that neither of them would struggle or try to make any sudden movements.
He was under no doubt between them that they could topple the chairs over but that wouldn’t help.
They’d still be chained together, but on the floor, and there was no way he could break open the metal padlock that had been looped through the links.
He flinched as the back door burst open.
Their captor was no longer masked. Brian’s eyes slowly widened as he fixed his stare on the man dragging their bloody-faced aunt through the door.
He couldn’t hate himself more. Not only was his sister going to die because of his actions, his aunt was too, the woman who’d taken them in and loved them like her own when their parents had died. Look how he’d repaid her.
Their kidnapper flung her across the room like she was a doll, her petite frame hitting the filing cabinet, then the floor, with a sickening thud. The candle tipped over in its holder, spilling wax across the metal cabinet top, reaching ever closer to their petrol fuelled laps.
The man pulled out his phone and began filming each of them in turn, laughing as he changed up the angles a bit. Snap, snap, snap – photos, too. ‘You all look so good on film. What’s it like to feel powerless?’
Aunt Claudia coughed and reached the leg of the man’s jeans.
She tugged him hard and he grabbed onto the filing cabinet, rocking it towards him as he steadied himself.
The candle slid across the smooth surface towards the edge, aided by the molten wax.
OpenMeSmiler pointed to the small petrol can and then to us.
Aunt Claudia gasped and let out a shrill cry knowing that one wrong move would leave the candle in Brian’s lap, setting them all alight.
‘Do you all know why we’re here?’
Brian nodded. It was confession time. He tried to garble some words from behind the ball gag but he could tell that no one could understand a word.
‘Come on, Claudia. Enlighten us.’
It was his fault, not hers. What was the psycho on about?
While he waited for her response, their captor turned his computer back on.
Brian felt Tabitha’s finger touching his again.
He was going to film their murders, stream them and there was nothing Brian could do to stop him.
It was all a mistake. If only the creep would remove his gag, he’d confess to watching the live streams. It was wrong.
He was ready to admit it to everyone and anyone to save his family.
Aunt Claudia had to be here because of him.
Their aunt coughed up a bit of blood and began speaking in a crackly voice, her eyes half shut. ‘I’m sorry…’
Seriously, why was she apologising?
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, still croakily but a little louder. ‘Please, let them go. I’ll do whatever. They’re innocent.’
The man who held them huffed out a laugh as he sat in front of his computer and clicked on OpenMeSmiler. He pulled his morph mask back over his face and a few screens later, he was logged in to what Brian could tell was an admin page.
A screen full of faces in little boxes flashed up.
Brian could see that there were many other pages, thousands of them, all filled with photos of people in front of their computers, ready and waiting for some action.
The man in the top right-hand corner grinned and threw a mouthful of popcorn into his mouth.
Another man who looked to be in his early twenties swigged on an energy drink while only wearing his underpants.
They didn’t know they were being watched, just like Brian hadn’t.
‘Innocent.’ He shook his head. ‘The world is full of cruelty and it’s fuelled by animals such as yourself, Claudia, and you, Brian.’
He shook his head. He was not a cruel animal. He was the victim.
‘Hah, sad little Brian. I can see you’re thinking, poor me. You happily watched, you abused from afar and you laughed at Mindy and Dustin. You did dirty things to yourself while watching Mindy in her bedroom, didn’t you, Brian?’
Tears streamed down his face as the shame hit him. He was a bad person. He was all that was wrong in the world but Tabitha wasn’t any part of this. He hoped the candle would drop into his lap because his life was over. As for Tabitha, she deserved to live. His sister had never hurt anyone.
‘Tabitha, you keep bad company but not as bad as Brian’s.’ He turned to face Brian again.
Brian couldn’t stop his whole body from trembling.
‘Your little friend is a wrong ’un, you know. Curtis is no better than your aunt.’ OpenMeSmiler kept shaking his head in disapproval.
Not Curtis. He’d done nothing wrong. He hadn’t even wanted to log on to OpenMeSmiler.
‘That poor schoolgirl. You’re friends with someone who ruined a girl’s life.
She never did go back to that school, did she?
Not after Curtis mocked her and sent her intimate photos to everyone.
I’ve seen your conversations, all of them.
You, Curtis and even Abel all humiliated that girl.
Abel then spread photos of your sister. Does it hurt now it’s closer to home?
You knew what Abel was like and yet, you introduced him to your sister.
’ Their captor shook his head. ‘I’ve been in your lives for weeks reading all your pathetic messages, watching how you enjoy making other people miserable, watching you all treat people badly, and I decided that shame needs to find a new home.
’ He reached over to his screen and clicked the mouse a few times.
Brian spotted a thumbnail of himself in his bedroom. Wearing jogging bottoms, in his gaming chair, he had his hand stuffed inside them. He knew exactly what that video was. His mouth behind the gag was dry and he felt himself choking up.
Aunt Claudia had edged a little closer and their captor hadn’t noticed. Please don’t look at the screen, he kept thinking. He willed her to get close enough to topple the man threatening his future.
Tabitha’s finger trembled so he moved his away. He needed to think. His heart started banging harder as the candle rolled a little, then it stopped against the tiniest mound of cooler wax. His aunt’s face contorted in pain as she forced her top half into a sitting position.
OpenMeSmiler started ranting about how everyone deserved what they got.
He turned back to his screen and now it was filled with people, all being watched.
His laughter rang through Brian’s ears. There was nothing funny about having your life ruined but how could he tell himself that he was a victim when he had been a part of it all.
He looked into his lap as their captor filled the screen with his video.
‘He loved every minute of being a watcher. Every. Single. Minute.’ Brian forced himself to glance at Aunt Claudia.
As she was about to bring her fist up to the back of their captor’s head, he swung around and knocked her to the floor. She screamed and fought, kicking and punching.
One hard thud of her foot into the filing cabinet sent the candle jumping over the wax barrier and dangling over the edge. Maybe he wasn’t as ready to die as he thought he might be. If he could scream, he would but the gag was filling his mouth.
Loud beeping filled the room. OpenMeSmiler whacked Aunt Claudia across the head, sending her into the metal back door.
He flicked to another screen and they watched as a police car pulled up on the opposite side of the road, next to the block of flats.
‘It looks like we have company, kids, so it’s time.
’ He clicked the button marked execute and Brian wanted to cry.
The very video he never wanted anyone to see had now gone out into the world.
OpenMeSmiler howled with laughter. Cody – the boy he’d befriended and trusted was never real. ‘Time to go, Claudia.’
His aunt gargled and coughed as their captor yanked her up like she was a doll to a standing position and dragged her out of the back door, slamming it behind him.
The candle bounced one final time before flying through the air in Brian’s direction.
He closed his eyes as he waited to whoosh up in flames.
He mumbled his last words from behind the gag.
He only hoped that Tabitha heard him and forgave him ‘I love you, sis.’