Free Psycho Save Us by Chad Huskins Page B

several
loops of duct tape had sealed it tightly against her head and something like a
zip tie had been added for good measure.  Her sister appeared done in the same
way.  No matter how they both struggled, nothing loosened these gags.
    They wound up clutching
one another again.
    Emotions swirled
about Kaley.  Her sister’s terror was the most powerful.  She was redolent with
it.  But other emotions ebbed and flowed throughout the house, permeating the
walls and permeating her .  Like wading through water at first, but then
someone had added cement to the mixture.  It was thick and oppressive on her. 
Distrust, lust, and anger welled in her.  She felt the abductors falling apart
already.
    Minutes later, Kaley
and her sister heard more raised voices.  Then the door flung open again and in
walked three men.  One of them was the burly white man from before, but the
others were black men.  This gave her hope.  She hoped they were men from her neighborhood
who would recognize her, realize they’d made a mistake and grabbed the wrong
kids (who were the right kids?) and would set them free with the promise
not to tell anybody.
    But this didn’t
happen at all.  Instead, the men said nothing as they dragged both Big and
Little Sister over to the space heater.  More handcuffs were produced, and
though Kaley struggled the whole time it didn’t stop them from cuffing her and
her sister to the space heater.
    One of the black
men, a tall one built like a basketball player and wearing gold chains with a
cross about his neck, turned and said, in the most rational voice one could
imagine, “Let’s see her kick you now.”
    The white man,
who before had spoken in the foreign language, now spoke in strained English,
“She not a problem.  Not problem for me.  I not worried.  Room secure.  My
people—”
    “Yo people call
you a regular fuck-up,” the black man said, wearing a half smile of
satisfaction.  “That’s why yo ass got some help tonight.  Now get the fuck in the
livin’ room an’ let’s talk the rest o’ this out like men do.”  But the burly
foreigner with steel studs in his mouth didn’t go anywhere.
    Another black
man, this one short and skinny and wearing pants pulled so low his underwear
was showing, waited by the door, shifting his weight back and forth,
fidgeting.  He touched the pistol tucked in his waistband impatiently, glancing
up the hallway like he was expecting someone to show at any time.
    The bigger black
man knelt so that he was eye level with Kaley.  “This yo sista?”  Kaley didn’t
move.  “This yo sista.”  It wasn’t a question this time.  “Imma kill her if you
try anything again.  White boy over there says you tried to dip.  Don’t.”  He
pulled out a pistol.  Kaley didn’t know what kind it was.  Cars were the limit
of her boy stuff knowledge.  He touched the gun to Shannon’s head.  Oh, God, it
was touching her sister’s head !  “I won’t kill you, I’ll kill her . 
Got that, lil’ girl.  Now, I’m very sorry this had to be you tonight,” he said,
and Kaley sensed immediately that he wasn’t sorry for anything, “but that’s how
this cookie right here crumbles tonight.  A’ight?”
    Kaley nodded
vehemently.
    He gave her a
second, judicious look.  “Stay cool, an’ this’ll all be over soon,” he said.  She
didn’t think so, but she certainly felt that he believed that.
    The two black
men filed out quickly, and Kaley watched with mounting terror as they all
left.  She was terrified because she knew what was going to happen.  She knew
the same way she’d known this was all going to go down like this tonight, only
now she was listening to that charm her grandmother had passed down to her
instead of ignoring it like she always did.
    The burly
foreigner with the avid eyes and the red bear tattooed on his arm and the steel
studs in his lips was going to kill them.  He was already thinking it.   She
shouted through her gag,