Just to be Left Alone (24 page)

I
grabbed a couple of bowls that didn’t match and squirted the medicine into the
blue one. I filled the needle with tap water, so it looked normal. I slid one
sleeping pill packet into the front pocket of my jeans.

I
set the fridge back to how it had looked and set the oatmeal on the bar. I had
already added loads of cinnamon and sugar to hide any medicine taste. I stayed
in the kitchen with my bright red bowl and slapped the counter to get his
attention. He strolled up to the bar and sat on the middle barstool. I kept a
neutral expression.
   

“What’s
this?”

“Gruel.
Prison food.”

He
laughed at my joke.

“Good
one, I like it.”

I
ate in silence and washed my bowl out before he finished. How long before it
took effect? Had I guessed wrong? I waited. I grabbed up his empty bowl and
washed it as he went back to the sofa. He yawned after I put up the clean pot.
I drank some water and waited. It felt like forever, but he finally started
snoring.

I
softly slipped upstairs. He’d wake up if I took down the barricade. I tried tying
the sheets together and connected one end to the banister. I prayed they’d hold
me as I shut the balcony door and started my way down. Thankfully, my vehicle
was parked below the balcony.

The
drizzle made me slip down the fabric and I lost my grip. Pain shot up my right
ankle as I hit the sharp cold gravel. I sat still and heard no noise from the
house, so I tried my weight on my throbbing ankle.

I
could put my weight on it, except it was painful. I stumbled toward the fenced
corral. I wasn’t sure if I could get anyone next door. I didn’t see the root
that I tripped over. I was face down in the slippery grass. The pain was so
intense that I couldn’t bear any weight on it. I heard a horse off in the
distance and it gave me strength to go further.

 
I heard something behind me and was tackled.
Shit, he’d found me. You could tell that he was battling the meds and his own
brand of madness. He roughly pulled me up, but my ankle caused me to fall
against him. He cursed and yanked me over his shoulder, fireman style, and
headed back to Conrad’s cabin.

I
was silent and didn’t struggle. My vantage point showed me a fresh set of tire
tracks next to my Jeep. I remained silent as he carried me up to the bedroom.

He
roughly set me on the bed, and grabbed up a discarded towel. I yanked my shoes
off and bit back the pain. He quietly and slowly gathered the drenched sheets
and headed downstairs with them.

His
silence was eerie. I towel dried my stringy hair and noticed the water soaking
into the bed. I limped to my forgotten backpack on the closet door. I pulled
out my nightclothes just as Jason came back.

“Get
changed. I‘ll throw those in the washer.”

I
just stared at him. I was not about to strip for him, ever.

“I’m
not going to rape you, idiot.”

He
stood in the doorway with his back to me, not moving, and I had no choice but
to quickly yank my clothes on. I handed him the wet clothing before hopping
back to the bed.

He
came back in after I heard his motions with the washer, minus his drenched
shirt. Thankfully, his jeans were still on.

“Give
me your ankle,” he said as he got on his knees by the edge of the bed.

It
wasn’t pretty. It had swollen up, with a blue tint to the skin. I was in
trouble.

He
sighed heavily. “Females.”

He
went downstairs, slammed the utility door and came back in as he was shredding
a shirt into thin strips. For a second I pictured him strangling me. I was quite
surprised when he used it to make a compression bandage around my swollen
joint.

“You
shouldn’t have done this,” he said in a low voice.

I
don’t care how tender he acted. He didn’t deserve an apology.

He
pulled a bottle from his back pocket and tapped out three pills. He put them in
my hand and pointed at the glass of water on the nightstand.

I
eyed them carefully.

“Take
them. It’s ibuprofen.”

I
saw the markings on the pills and quickly swallowed the pills. He stuffed the
extra pillow under my ankle before mumbling to himself all the way back
downstairs.

* * * *

I
woke to a throbbing pain and a late night sky. My stomach growled, except I
didn’t want to eat anything. He might want to get even with me by poisoning me
right back. However, I needed more ibuprofen. Jason must have heard my
movements because he came in moments later with a sandwich and tea.

“I
made you a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I even put food out for your
prissy cat, but she’s hiding”

I
took the items wordlessly. I would force myself to eat them and pray they
weren’t tainted. He fished three ibuprofens from his pocket and handed them to
me. I gladly swallowed them.

“It
won’t be much longer. Conrad will be home soon.”

“How
do you know?”

“Someone
was here while I went out to look for you. You noticed the tracks, didn’t you?”

I
ignored that. “What do you have planned?”

He
sighed. I waited

“It’s
very simple. We’ll wait for him to show up and I remove him from our lives, for
good. Then we can be together, like before. No worries and no stress.”

He
made it sound so simple—simple for a crazy man.

“How
are you going to do that?”

He
smiled and then reached down to his ankle. He had a gun.

It
was a small revolver with six shots. He could’ve already shot me. Double Damn.

He
put it back in his ankle holster.

My
stomach changed its mind about the food.

“Eat
your sandwich. You need your strength.”

I
took a small bite and chewed as he watched me. I swallowed the vile mouthful.
His hand reached up to trace my cheek and I forced myself not to flinch.

“Stop
frowning, everything will work out in the end.”

Please,
God.

He
finally left me alone, after watching me eat half of the sandwich. I digested
what he said. He planned to shoot Conrad. How else was he going to make him go
away? This was much worse than some trip into insanity. This was a one way
ticket to hell.

An
hour later, I heard movement outside. Was Jason booby trapping the balcony? I
heard a scratching noise and then the door slowly open.

“You
okay up there?” Jason yelled up to me.

“Just
trying to get comfortable. I’m fine.” It wasn’t him outside?

My
eyes strained. It was Conrad sneaking in. God, I loved him.

He
motioned for me to stay quiet. He saw my backpack by my propped up foot.

I
mouthed, “Fell”, to him.

He
nodded. He was an imposing dark form. He stepped toward me and I saw that the
rain had stopped.

I
opened my arms to him. He leaned over the bed to quickly kiss me. I stared into
his eyes as I saw him reassessing his plan. It’d be hard to sneak me out when I
could barely walk.

I
made a gun out of my hands and pointed downstairs. I saw the white of his eyes
get bigger. I patted my ankle when I heard something else.

“Samantha,
when were you going to tell me that our guest had arrived?”

Conrad
and I stiffened.

“I
believe she was trying to tell you about this.”

He
turned the light on and the gun was pointed at us. Triple Damn.

“I
am neither deaf nor stupid. I heard you climb up the balcony. Now, what to do
with you.” He sighed and stood there for a moment.

“Are
you going to shoot me while she’s watching?” Conrad asked.

Jason
shook his head and said, “I think Samantha has been through enough, so I’ll save
her that amount of sorrow. I have to handle this with some sensitivity.”

“Sensitivity?
You kidnapped her twice and have us at gunpoint, and yet you care how she
feels? She’s affected either way, don’t you think?”

“Yes,
she’ll have some baggage, but she’ll be fine in a month or two.”

“What?”
Conrad and I asked in unison.

“I
know you guys don’t understand and that’s okay. I’m used to being
misunderstood. Now, Conrad, let’s go downstairs and have a drink. We have some
things to discuss.”

When
Conrad didn’t move Jason waved the gun at his chest.

“You
guys can talk up here. I’ll be quiet,” I said as I fought my fear that Conrad
would never come back.

“No,
this needs to be man to man. I’ll come get you in a little while. Stay here and
rest your ankle. I’d hate for you to experience more pain. Come on, Conrad.”

Conrad
stroked my fingers before stalking toward the door. Jason motioned for him to
go first and then he followed as he kept the gun pointed at Conrad’s back.

I
prayed this would not be the last time I saw Conrad alive.

I
was not about to sit here and just wait for something to happen. I was going to
get downstairs and somehow stop Jason from blowing a hole in Conrad.

I
moved inch by inch until I was leaning off of the mattress. I worked between
squeaky floor boards and the men’s shuffling downstairs. I could make out small
phrases from the guys.

“You
can’t keep acting this way, Strickland.”

I
couldn’t make out Jason’s response.

I
got myself to the floor and scooted to the stairs on all fours to see what was
happening.

“She
is mine. You’ve dirtied her long enough.”

“Dirtied
her?”

“Yes,
I’ve been listening in on your calls the last few days. I know what you want to
do with her. If you had screwed her then I would’ve killed you way before now.”

“Something
stopped you.”

Finally
at the top of the stairs, I looked down. Jason was by the couch, with a drink
in his hand. Conrad was standing by the bar with a drink at his fingertips.
Jason took a big gulp of his and Conrad’s eyes floated to me for an instant. He
knew I was there and just didn’t want to give it away to Jason.

“Let’s
get down to business. I want you to evaporate from her life.”

“How
do you mean for me to evaporate?”

“You’re
an Indian who snuck in here like you snuck into our lives. Sneak your way back
out or I will have to dispose of you myself.”

“What
if I don’t want to sneak away? What are you prepared to do?”

“Simple.
I’ll shoot you.”

How
could he be so matter of fact about this? It was murder.

“Things
are never that simple. Do you honestly expect her to stay with you after all of
this? Be realistic.”

Jason’s
face turned scarlet, but he took a moment to contain himself. I slid down the
first flight, while Jason was distracted. He walked closer to Conrad, drink in
hand. I saw the glint of the gun in Jason’s waistband.

“You
have two simple choices. Leave by choice or by force.”

“Let
me think about this for a minute.”

Jason
laughed. “I’m feeling generous, so you can have that moment.”

I
slipped down the rest of the steps and hugged the side of the wall while Conrad
kept Jason’s eyes focused on him.

Conrad
raised his glass to Jason.

“A
toast. To the well loved, Samantha Malone.”

Jason
raised his glass and said, “Yes, to Samantha and to the one who loves her
best.”

They
both downed their drinks. Then Conrad threw his empty glass at Jason’s head.
Jason ducked. Conrad punched Jason is the jaw before Jason had a chance to
recover. Jason went for the gun. Conrad drove himself into Jason abdomen. I
jumped up and looked for something to smash over Jason’s head. There was a one
foot tall marble statue on the bookcase. I grabbed it and waited as the guys
grappled each other in front of me.

Conrad
punched Jason in the face again. Jason was slammed against the corner by the
bookcase. I took my chance and clobbered the statue on his head. He fell to my
feet in a tangled heap.

I
dropped the statue and jumped over Jason, right into Conrad’s arms. I didn’t
care how bad I hurt, as long as I was in Conrad’s arms.

He
was breathing heavily. Then he stiffened. There was a scuffle behind me. I
turned my head to see Jason getting up. Blood streamed down the right side of
his head where I’d conked him.

His
hand went to his waistband, except the gun wasn’t there. Quickly scanning the
floor I saw it beside the stairs, where I’d been standing earlier. I dove for
it. Jason grabbed my injured ankle and I hit the bottom stair. Fireworks shot
off in my head. I heard Conrad shout my name. I tried to move but nausea
threatened me.

“Look
what you made me do?” Jason howled.

I
felt arms wrap around me. Conrad whispered into my ear as he pulled my head up.
I was going to vomit. I swallowed it down, barely.

“Baby,
are you okay?”

I
heard Jason yell in rage, “Get your fucking hands off of her.”

Jason
jumped on top of Conrad. I had to stop the spinning room so I could get the gun
before Jason did. I focused my eyes on it. It was mere inches from my head. I
stretched over and hoped one of the two images I saw was the correct one.

I
felt the cold steel. I had gotten it.

I
swallowed more hot bile as I lifted my head up. They were rolling around on top
of each other by the bar, keeping each other away from me. I had to do
something.

Jason
slammed Conrad’s head into the corner of the bar molding. Conrad fell to the
ground and didn’t move. Jason crawled over to me, putting his hand on my
face.
 

Conrad
slowly got up on his knees. Jason looked into my dazed eyes. Conrad smashed the
bar stool onto Jason’s unsuspecting head.

Conrad
pulled Jason off of me, before dumping him to the side and then leaned over me.
He held me for a minute, tenderly. I heard sirens in the distance and tried to
talk.