I stomped back and forth before the two boys several times, hands clasped behind me, chin lifted, eyes narrowed sternly. I really wanted it to sink in who was in charge and who had to listen to who. Crisply, I spun on them and looked each in the eye. My little brother… his little friend. With a clearing of my throat, I explained:
"There will be no going into the closet today."
A funny thing to declare, admittedly, but necessary. My eyes squinted, darting my shrewd gaze between the two of them.
"There will be no thinking about going into the closet."
"You can't tell us what to think!" My little brother huffed.
"And yet, I just did," I retorted with a sly grin. "And if you don't want Mom and Dad to flip their lids, you'll obey my commands, gentlemen. Are we clear!?"
The two boys pouted first at me, then at one another.
I simply raised my voice. "I said, are… we… clear?"
A joint muttering of what sounded like agreement was good enough for me. I beamed at both of them, bowed ostentatiously, and traipsed out of the room in good spirits. Babysitting wasn't so hard! You just had to be tough. And me? Erin Cooper? Yes, I was quite tough when I needed to be.
However, it wasn't until I was back in my bedroom, sprawled out on my bed listening to the latest B12 album on Spotify that I realized: I'm not actually that tough. I jolted up in bed, brow furrowed. Why had they listened to me so quickly when, usually, it's like pulling teeth just to get them to… uh-oh.
"Billy!" I cried, marching back down the hall. I reached my brother's bedroom door and thrust it open without bothering to knock. "I knew it!"
The two little creeps were all dressed up in what looked like cowboy clothing; little boots; hats; jeans; big belt buckles; holsters. And more importantly: they're little grubby hand were clasped around the closet door.
"Let go of that door handle, Billy," I threatened with a menacing finger point of doom.
Billy swallowed nervously and eyed his friend.
"Billy…"
"Just go man," his friend David urged.
"David!" I shrieked, and deciding negotiations were over, lunged for the two of them with outstretched arms.
They gasped and yanked the closet door open, piling inside just as I closed the distance and my fingertips grazed my brother's goofy little vest. I came up empty, however, and fell to my knees as the two kids I was supposed to be babysitting vanished into the closet. I growled ferociously and got up to stand in the doorway.
"Alright! That's it! Get out here this instant or you're both dead!"
Not only did no one respond, the closet itself seemed impossibly quiet for a little enclosure housing two young boys. I squinted and barked my order again. Nothing. I stomped my foot impatiently. The two of them were always hiding in the closet for long stretches of time and I had specific instructions not to let them this evening! My babysitting paycheck was on the line!
"Fine, Billy! Now I'm really mad!" I leaned in and stuck my arm through the hanging coats and shirts, groping blindly for someone to snatch hold of. And yet… I couldn't grasp a single thing. With a frown, I leaned in a little more. It's like my hand was reaching into some impossibly deep chasm. When I came up empty again, I really lurched forth with an angry grunt to grab someone and-
Everything went white.
I blinked and my head spun. Suddenly I felt nauseous and as if all the wind had been knocked out of me.
Was I twirling? Everything felt upside down.
I screamed. Then…
I opened my eyes, gasping, panicked. The sun was impossibly bright overhead and I lifted a hand to shield my strained eyes. Uh-oh. As I looked around me, a creeping realization settled into the depths of my belly: I wasn't home anymore. In fact, I wasn't anywhere close to home. I was in a desert. Or, I thought it was a desert. There was an endless expanse of dusty, sandy, horizon. There were cactuses. I saw a tumbleweed roll by a little hovel beside a lakebed. And that sun… I squinted into the bright blue sky and wished a cloud would just pass over it or something. Everything glowed gold beneath it's powerful rays.
Then there was sound. Yes, sound! I spun around, hand still acting as an awning against my brow, and squinted towards the noise. Clopping, like… hooves? Then my suspicions were confirmed as three men atop horseback came galloping around a bend in the nearby road. They were dressed as my brother and his friend had been: hats with round and wide brims, dirty boots, jeans. One wore a poncho. Another a mask.
It just occurred to me how I must look. Flushing a bit pink, I gave myself a once over. I was still just as I was in the comfort of my home. A tank top, shorts, and bare feet, which the moment I realized I was barefoot, I started hopping from one foot to the next to get the heat off the bottoms of my feet. It was in this embarrassing dance I was rode up to and examined by the men.
"Holy hell, what are you doing out here dressed like that!?" The man leading the pack asked. I squinted up at him. He was tall and tan and his light blond hair was cut short. A very short beard clung to his wide jawline and he was smiling.
I flushed even pinker. Great. This guy was hot. Just what I needed.
"Um, I… I think something funny happened to me," I said.
"Well, I'd say so." He laughed and his two companions joined in.
"My brother and his friend… two little boys… they went in the closet and then…" I spun around, looking everywhere I could but all that met me was the endless desert. A fresh terror rose in me when I realized I had no idea where my little brother had gone to. He was my responsibility. I gulped and looked back to the man. "Where the heck are we, anyway?"
"New Austin."
"New… huh?"
"New Austin, miss…?"
"Huh? Me? Oh, um… Erin."
"Erin, I'm Jake. This here's Burt and this here's Greg." He gestured to his two cohorts, then casually reached for his belt and withdrew a revolver from its holster. "You wouldn't happen to have anything valuable would ya, Erin?"
"I…" My eyes glared at the gun. "Wait… what!? Are you freaking robbing me?"
"Well, if you got somethin' worth robbing, I reckon yes. We are."
"Oh my God! You lowlife creeps!" I growled, balling my fists. "Look, I'm trying to find my brother and his friend! I don't know where we are or how I got here, but stop being ridiculous and help me! What's wrong with you people! Who do you think you are!? You think just because I'm-"
The man pointed his gun at the sky and fired. The bang it made was so insanely loud, I froze on the spot, clenching everything I could clench as my eyes went wide.
"Seemed to have the desired effect," Jake said jokingly and his cohorts laughed again. He fixed the gun's nozzle on me. "Now Miss Erin, if you would kindly shut yer mouth up and turn out your pockets, I'd appreciate it."
"I don't even HAVE pockets, you psycho!" I pulled at my shorts to show the truth of my statement. "And be careful with that toy gun! It sounded like the real thing!"
"Toy? You… you callin' my gun a toy?"
"I mean, it is… right?"
He took aim at me and thumbed back the hammer.
"Want ta find out?"
"N-No!" I said, taking a step back, but Jake only laughed again.
"She's a funny one. Burt! Tie her up and throw her on your horse. We'll take her with us. See if she's ransomed or anything back in Blackwater."
"WHAT!?" I stepped back again. My heel hit a rock and I slipped onto my butt. The big man with the poncho, Burt, had already dismounted his horse and was strolling up to me with a big heavy rope in his hand. He grinned and I could see gaps where teeth should've been.
"This isn't funny!" I yelped, crawling back from the trio. "You three are insane! You can't just… just tie me up! I have rights! I'll sue!"
"Sue? Sue who?" Bart laughed and stomped forward till his shadow fell over me. "C'mere girl. Hold still."
"EW! NO!" I tried kicking him but he only grabbed my foot and flung it aside. I shrieked as he took hold of me and started wrapping that stupid rope around my hands. When he'd tied them tightly together, he circled the remainder around my waist and arms, pinning my hands down below my belly. Everything felt… very tight and secure. He grabbed me and stood me up to start marching me back to the other two.
"This is insane!" I protested, struggling but the ropes showing no slack. "You tied me up! Like, seriously?!"
"Bring her here," Jake said, curling a finger and grinning.
"No no NO!" I pleaded but I was shoved to him anyway. Together they hoisted me up and swung my leg over the horse. I fell into the saddle just before Jake, his firm chest pressed into my back and his arms around either of my own. I look back. "You can't do this to me! Where are you going to take me!?"
"Shuddap," was all he said before digging his spurs into the horse's side and yanking on the reigns to get us turned around. With a jolt we were suddenly moving back along the road the men had arrived on.
My mind raced with questions. How did this happen? Was the closet some sort of… portal to a different place? Why were these men acting so crazy and lawless!? And where in the HECK was my brother and his stupid friend!? I couldn't focus on any of these questions. The saddle was rough on my rump, bumping me along without remorse. I asked Jake to slow down but he simply told me to shut up again and I was getting quite sick of that already. There was desert and more desert on the road until we climbed up alongside a cliff face and rode into more familiar looking scenery. Trees. A farm. Things I could recognize. Though we passed them all and rode over a bridge them up another road into a vast plain before finally coming upon what looked like a little city of sorts.
"Oh thank God," I muttered as we trotted into town and I saw other people going about their day. They were are all dressed sort of… funny, though. Like this was some old-timey reenactment of like the Civil War era or something.
We rode before a long building with a low roof and the men dismounted to tie their horses up. I sat there feeling entirely uncertain of what might happen next. An older woman walked out of the building and my heart soared with hope.
"Ma'am! Ma'am!" I wailed, tugging at my bound hands. "Help me! Call the police! These three men just grabbed me and tied me up! Do you have your cell phone on you!?"
The woman scowled at me, then her eyes glimpsed the men and their holstered guns and she hurried off without a word.
"WHAT!?" I cried, watching her go in horror. "Seriously!? What's wrong with you!? Is this whole town insane! I can't-" Jake leaned up and shoved a rag in my mouth. I choked on it and grimaced, but before I could spit it out, he tied a second cloth around my lower face, from chin to nose, and knotted it tight behind my head. "Wmmnd thmm fmmng hrn ymn dmmng!?" I grumbled, though gagged as I was now, it didn't sound very clear.
"Big mouth," Jake scolded me, tying off the cloth extra tight to, I assume, shut me up. "That'll be the end of your trouble-makin'."
"Mmmmmmmph!" I protested, trying to shake the gag off my head.
"Shush," he said and signaled his men to follow him inside the building.
When they were gone, I looked around wildly. A few people were in view, but most seemed determined not to look at me. With an impatient grunt I tugged at my bound hands, but the rope around my body held them where they were. I wiggled my nose and moved my jaw around but the gag stayed on me. That's when I noticed two figures approaching me cautiously from around the side of the building… two short figures.
My eyes widened with fury.
"Erin, you idiot!" My little brother Billy said as he rushed the last bit of distance to me. "You followed us!? Are you crazy!"
"Mmmmm!" I answered.
"She got herself captured already," Billy's friend said with a shake of his head. "This is bad."
"MMM!" I agreed.
"Hurry up and get her down before those guys come back!"
The two of them took hold of me and helped me dismount. I landed hard on the ground and a rock dug into the bottom of my bare foot. I wailed in pain and started hopping up and down.
"Gee, she's really excited to see us," Billy said.
I turned an enraged glare on him. Before I knew it, though, the boys were shuffling me off down the road. I was mindful now of where my vulnerable feet stepped, glancing back nervously over my shoulder, certain the three riders would come bursting out of that building with guns blazing, but they didn't. We got down the road and around the corner into some sort of old school bar before we stopped rushing.
There was hardly anyone inside. The few that were, two old men and a woman alongside the bartender, didn't seem too phased by the fact my brother and his friend just brought a bound and gagged girl into their establishment. They rushed me past and up a set of curving stairs onto the second floor, where they stuffed me into the open door of a bedroom and slammed it shut behind us.
Billy doubled over, wiping his brow of sweat. "We made it. Oh God… we made it. We're not going to die."
"Not yet at least," David added, stepped beside the window and peering out the blinds. "We got lucky."
"Mmmm," I hummed impatiently.
"Oh, right."
Billy walked over and pulled down my gag. I spit out the rag.
"What… the hell… is going ON!?" I shouted. "Where are we!? How did we get here!? Is that what you two have been doing in the closet all this time!? Taking some sort of… sort of Chronicles of Narnia trip to the old west!?"
"It's a video game. Red Dead Redemption."
"Red Dead 2," David corrected.
"Right. It's the second one."
I look blankly from one boy to the next. "A… video game? You're saying all three of us are in… a video game right now?" I laughed. "Oh, God… I'm on drugs. That has to be it. You two drugged me and this is some crazy hallucination. I'm in bed still. I'm listening to B12, I know it. I want to wake up now. I'm ready to wake up."
"She's losing it," David said.
His words brought me back to reality. "Shut up! And you," I said to Billy, "get me untied and then we're going home. We're all just going to go home and forget this… this dream or whatever it is ever happened. Understand me?"
Billy and David exchanged glances.
"Billy… untie me. Right now."
"Well, see sis… the thing is, we can't go back until at least one full day in-game has passed. Don't worry that's only like an hour in our world. But until then, we're kinda stuck here. And you… you're most safe right here."
"UNTIE ME BILLY!"
"Get the gag back on her, Bill!"
"DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"
But they did more than think about it. They stuffed that rag right back in my mouth and retied the gag to keep me quiet. Then they threw me on the bed and tied my feet up to keep me still. Finally, they ran a rope from my hands to my feet so I sort of had to curl into a ball and lay like that. I was beyond livid all the while, sweating, red-faced, mumbling profanities under my gag.
"It's for your own good!" Billy said.
"MMMMMMMMRRR!"
"We'll get you in a little bit," said David.
"MMMMMMMRRR!"
"She's real mad. Don't worry though, she'll calm down, um… eventually."
"MMMMMMMMRRR!"
Then they left me.
I laid there in my little ball, fuming at the door for a long time till I realized I was seriously just left bound and gagged in the old west… in some 'video game' world or something. And I had no idea how or when I was going home. I could think of only one thing to say about this whole predicament.
"MMMMMMRRRRR!"