Chapter 22 I Gotta Take a Piss
TWENTY-TWO
I GOTTA TAKE A PISS
LINC
“I gotta take a piss,” I said, swaying as I stepped away from the group. The night had been a blur of passive-aggressive comments and bullshit, so I’d had more than my fair share of apple pie moonshine shots to deal with it.
“Go behind the trees. The line inside is insane,” Tom said, his arm wrapped around Sarah’s chubby friend, who was dressed as Alexander Hamilton.
Kimmy tugged at the hem of my shirt but kept watching the costumed jackasses. “Hurry back. I want to dance.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be right back,” I muttered, yanking out of her hold.
Her shiny pink lips poked out in an exaggerated pout, and I rolled my eyes.
Kimmy and I had been fooling around for months, but she was still taking every chance to try to catch Tom’s attention.
This whole thing is getting old.
“Try not to embarrass yourself,” I said, just loud enough for her to hear.
Her forced laugh followed me to the trees, and I let out a heavy sigh. It was my own damn fault for holding out hope that she would get over him, but fuck! Did she have to be so pathetic?
If she’s pathetic, what does that make me?
I stomped through the trees until the glow of the bonfire was only a dim light.
As difficult as it was to see, I’d spent most of my childhood running through those woods, so I made it to a small pocket of trees off the beaten path with very little trouble despite my drunkenness.
Unzipping my jeans, I took out my dick and started to pee.
My relief was short-lived.
A stick snapped behind me, and I turned toward it, spraying piss all over my boots and the overgrown grass.
“Well, fuck,” I groaned, turning back to the tree and finishing.
Leave it to me to be the drunk asshole pissing himself in the woods.
Once my pants were zipped back up, I ran the toes of my boots through the tall grass. Glancing down, I shrugged. “Good enough.”
The bushes rustled to my left, and I slowly backed away. There was no way I was fucking around with a wild animal. I spun on my heel and made my way back through the trees, zigging and zagging around trunks. Branches snapped behind me, and I broke into a sprint.
The bonfire burned bright ahead, and I laughed at how much of a pussy I was being.
It‘s probably just a raccoon foraging for a late-night snack.
Slowing my steps, I took a deep breath of the smoky air and wiped the sweat from my forehead. Tom had cranked up the music, and a little dance party now surrounded the fire. Despite his being wrapped around another girl, Kimmy stayed in his orbit, dancing halfheartedly with Laura’s jealous ass.
Fucking pathetic. Time to move on.
As I reached the edge of the bonfire’s gentle glow, I stepped into a deep hole. The toe of my boot caught, and I stumbled forward.
“Hey,” someone said from behind me.
Startled, I turned and fell face forward into the muddy grass. The raw scent of earth filled my nose as dirt and grass clung to my sweat dampened skin. My ankle throbbed, clearly twisted. Gently, I lifted it from the hole.
Aggressively wiping my face, I turned and shouted, “What the fuck is wrong with—”
As the words left my mouth, I was hit in the head. Landing on my belly, I saw stars. Pain radiated through my skull, leaving me disoriented. In front of me were three blurry bonfires, the dancing figures taking on a sinister appearance as I struggled to my knees.
A foot between my shoulder blades shoved me back to my stomach, and two large hands grabbed my ankles.
“Help! Hey! Fuck, help me!” I screamed, my throat burning as I thrashed around.
Not a single person turned. Digging my fingertips into the ground, I fought against the person’s hold.
I got a foot loose and landed a solid kick to their gut.
There was a deep grunt and then a sharp, sudden pain in the back of my ankle.
I screamed, tears rolling down my cheeks as hot liquid poured down my calf.
“Let go of me, you sick fuck!” I screamed, spit flying from my mouth. Sweat rolled down my forehead into my eyes, making them sting. I couldn’t get my limbs to move the way I wanted. The moonshine coursing through my body left me sluggish and uncoordinated.
My attacker chuckled, yanking my cut ankle until it felt like it was going to fall off.
Desperation kept me fighting, jerking and flipping, using every bit of my weight against them.
I sucked down greedy mouth fulls of muggy summer air in between shouts for help, my words becoming more and more garbled.
They dropped one of my legs, and there was another cut, this time to my calf. Blood-soaked denim pulled at the fresh wound as they dragged me back to the trees.
Spots filled my vision as the pain grew unbearable.
No matter what I did or how loud I screamed, no one was coming to save me.
The silhouettes of my friends danced around the flickering light, taunting me, and I screamed out one last time, my voice gargled as a blade sank into my back over and over until I blacked out.