86. Willow
WILLOW
The last pull of the ropes is followed by the pain from the immediate rush of blood to my hands. I didn’t even realize how tightly bound the ropes were. No wonder Jeremy was hesitant to use his knife in the dark. I can feel his hand on my shoulder ready to assist if I need him to.
“Go. I’ll be right behind you,” Jeremy whispers before gently pushing me forward.
I can’t see a damn thing in front of me.
I can hear the thudding footsteps of James off somewhere in the darkness.
I need to remember what Jeremy said. Turn right, then left.
Turn left again, then right instead of straight.
The handle will be on the left. I just keep repeating the directions in my head.
Right, left, left, right, handle on left.
My damaged hand is clutched to my chest while the other skims along the wall.
“You motherfucker! I’m going to kill you both. When I get my hands on you, I’m going to drag you in front of that little bitch and make her watch while I gut you,” James screams from somewhere off to my left.
Jeremy’s hand tightens on my shirt holding me in place. The sound of heavy steps echoes off the brick walls. I’m frozen in fear, holding my breath as the steps get closer. I press my back against the wall and close my eyes praying he doesn’t come down this path.
“I can hear you. I don’t know how the fuck you’re still alive, but I will find you. You can’t save the little bitch. You couldn’t save her fifteen years ago, and you sure as fuck aren’t going to save her now. You’re going to die down here in your personal hellhole that you’ve kept me trapped in.”
I can hear the rage in his voice. He’s not going to stop until he finds Noah. He probably still thinks I’m restrained to the chair, and when he finds out I’m no longer there…I don’t even want to think about that.
“Noah!” he screams, and from the sound of his voice, I can tell he’s moved further away.
“Go,” Jeremy whispers.
We take a left, then another left. My footsteps are silent.
The only sound I can hear is my heart pounding in my chest. My undamaged hand is still trailing along the right wall feeling for where the edge is so I know when to turn right.
I can feel Jeremy still behind me, his hand barely touching my shoulder blade just to keep some sort of contact.
The bricks suddenly disappear as the path opens to the right.
I feel the left wall and can tell this is the divide where we need to turn. We’re almost out.
“Shit,” I squeak as I trip over something in the dark, and my sound travels through the darkness.
Jeremy grabs me by the shirt just in time and pulls me against him to prevent me from falling. I quickly freeze, listening in the dark for any sound of movement. I know he heard that. There’s no way he didn’t.
“Go. You’re almost there,” Jeremy whispers even quieter against my ear. He’s barely breathing as he slowly releases his hold on me.
My hand runs along the wall on the left searching for the handle that Jeremy talked about. I keep walking slowly until my fingers brush against a brick that’s turned weird. I follow the edge and realize that it’s multiple bricks, only slightly angled. This has to be the door.
“I found it,” I whisper, and I can feel Jeremy tap his finger against me twice, letting me know he heard me.
We haven’t heard a footstep from James in a while and that terrifies me. If we can just get up the steps, we can lock him down here. How long can a person survive without food and water? A week? We could just keep him down here until he starves to death. Let him suffer.
*Click*
My hand hits a brick that shifts. I feel it, finding a hole big enough for a few fingers to slide behind the brick. I pull and it pops away from the wall. It’s a handle. Another click and a sliver of light appears along the door's edge before the light fills the tunnel. We’re going to make it.
My eyes squint from the bright light streaming in from the staircase. When my eyes adjust, all I can see is the man I love lying back against the staircase. The knife is still sticking out of his stomach, and blood is everywhere.
“Noah,” I scream, not able to control the pain in my voice.
“Found you.”
My stomach drops at the sound of James’s sick, twisted voice.
He was waiting in the darkness for us.
Jeremy quickly pushes me into the doorway closer to Noah before his body is slammed from the side and he goes flying into the darkness. I can hear the crashing ‘umph’ as their bodies hit the ground, then the sickening sound of punches as they fight each other.
“Willow. Get the gun!” Jeremy screams.
The gun?
“Hurry!”
I quickly flip on the switch filling the maze with light.
Blood can be seen smeared on the ground from where he must have dragged Noah’s body.
Jeremy and James are on the ground only ten feet away.
James is on top for only a moment before Jeremy punches him hard in the face sending him flying into the wall.
“Willow, get it. Shoot him!”
My heart is pounding as I scan the floor for the gun finding it against the wall caught on a small pile of busted bricks. I quickly rush to grab it, glancing at the thing and realizing I haven’t shot a gun in over five years.
Growing up in Texas, my grandfather taught me how to shoot a shotgun when I was young because you weren’t allowed to go out on the ranch without one.
And I always had a handgun in my car for my protection, but ever since he died, I stopped practicing my aim.
I didn’t even bring them to Michigan with me.
I find the safety, click it off, and with shaky hands, I raise the gun and aim it at the man I once knew to be my father. He and Jeremy are too close to safely shoot. I need them slightly farther apart. I need to have a clear shot.
Jeremy suddenly screams in pain and bends, clutching his leg. It’s the exact thing James needed to get the upper hand.
*Crack*
He punches the side of Jeremy’s head, slamming it into the wall. I watch in horror as his eyes roll back into his skull and his body slumps against the wall. James’s body is heaving deep breaths as he struggles to stand.
I can see more blood pooling on the ground, and when I look at Jeremy, I can see blood pooling from a gash in his thigh. The knife is on the floor against the wall and when James takes a step toward it is when I let my presence be known.
“James,” I growl as the gun continues to shake in my hand.
My wrist is screaming in pain, so I grip the gun with both hands trying to steady it. He slowly turns to face me. Blood is dripping down his face from his nose and a split lip. A bruise can already be seen forming where Jeremy punched him in the face. His lip curls as he snarls while looking at me.
“Well, well, well. Look at you. Do you even know how to shoot a gun, baby girl?” he asks, with a tone of condescension.
*Bang*
The gun goes off, the bullet hitting exactly where I wanted, going right into his thigh. He drops to the floor in pain as blood begins to flow from the wound.
“You stupid fucking bitch!” he seethes as he grips his leg and stares up at me. “I’ll fucking kill…”
“Shut. Up!” I scream, aiming the gun at his head this time.
He raises an arm up to shield his face as if that would prevent the bullet from ripping through his arm and embedding into his skull at this distance. I can finally see a look in his eyes…One that I thought I’d never see. An emotion that I never believed a monster like him could even feel…
Fear.
As he stares up at me, I can feel the rage simmering under my skin. For years, he tormented my mother and me. We walked on eggshells around him, that much I remember. Now, staring down at him, he’s no longer the monster I’ve feared. He’s broken. His mortality is now evident in his features.
His eyes are sunken in. His skin is more ashen now from years in the darkness.
His teeth are nearly all gone. He’s emaciated now, grimy clothes hanging off his body.
His nails are a blackish-yellow, broken from malnutrition and decay.
He looks weak. And I couldn’t be more elated at the sight in front of me.
“Shoot me. Become what he wants you to be. He wants you to be a fucking killer, just like him,” he shouts at me.
I take another step forward still keeping the gun trained on his head, at the spot right between his brows. One shot and it will all be over.
“You won’t do it, will you, Willow? You’re too weak. You couldn’t stab me before when I was tied up, what makes you think you can end me now?” he demands.
“That’s where you’re wrong, James. I’m not weak. I’m stronger than you. I survived your abuse for years. I made it out. I’ve lived an amazing life. I grew up with a loving family that supported me to try anything I ever wanted. I became a lawyer. I fell in love. And now…”
I take another step forward, watching as he scurries backward and places his back against the wall. With another step closer, I press the barrel of the gun right against his forehead. My hands aren’t shaking anymore. I’ve never felt as calm as I do right now.
“Now, I’m going to be able to kill the monster who’s haunted me all my life. Not many people get to say that they killed their monsters…But I will.”
“Willow, please…I…”
*Bang*
The gun goes off.
Blood, brain matter, and bone fragments explode out the back of his skull splattering across the wall. His eyes are wide as they lifelessly stare up at me. His body slumps against the wall as blood trickles out of the darkened hole, burned from the heat of the barrel.
As I lower the gun, I can’t help but chuckle softly. He was never a monster, only a man. A man who needed to hurt others just to feel strong. He was always the weak one. Not me. And not my mother. We were strong. She sacrificed her life to protect me and she was the strongest of us all.
“Wi…Willow?” Jeremy’s voice groans from the other wall.
I rush over to him and grab under his arm to help lift him up. He’s bleeding horribly. Damnit, I need his help to get Noah…
Shit! Noah.
“Go,” Jeremy says as if he can sense my thoughts.
I run through the door to find Noah lying where he was before. He hasn’t moved. I can’t even see the rise and fall of his chest, and my heart begins to break. I kneel next to his body and silently pray as I press my fingers to his pulse point on his neck.
*Thump* …*Thump* …*Thump*
“He’s alive!”