Disclaimer: I own two coupons to a store that no longer exists, given to me by my managers for balancing my drawer above $1600. (So many people...coming to see Breaking Dawn...) I don't own YuGiOh. I don't own Marik or Bakura, though I'd gladly trade my coupons for them.
Friday, June 4, 2004
Still Morning
I think I fell asleep, but I'm not sure. But suddenly the honking is gone and we're going much slower. Bakura and the man aren't talking. I feel hot. I want to take the blanket off. I want to go home.
Soon, we slow to a stop. The man turns off the car and tells Bakura to get out and keep his face down so no one can see. I think he does, but I can't see so I can't be 100% sure. Suddenly someone's grabbing my arm and pulling, pulling…
I'm on my feet. The blanket is still over my head, and a large hand is at the back of my neck, pushing me along. I somehow make my feet move. Grass begins to squish beneath my feet. The man holding my neck jerks his hand upwards, and I wonder what he's doing when my foot slams against something hard. I bite my lip and fall forward, with no hands to break my fall. The man catches me and pulls me up by my armpits, and soon we are over the stairs.
A door creaks, and suddenly I am cool. My knee bangs against something as I'm pushed forward. The door swings closed again, and I keep walking.
Suddenly we stop, and the blanket is ripped off me. I blink.
A large, tan man is standing directly in front of me. His blonde hair, kinda like mine, sticks up from his head in weird directions. This seems really funny to me, and I start to laugh even though I'm scared. He narrows his dark eyes.
"What's so funny?" He grabs the front of my uniform shirt. I stop laughing.
"Mariku, please." I turn my head. A small boy, even smaller than me, is standing by the wall, watching. His hair is so light, it's practically white. And it's not cut short like most boy's hair, or even at the shoulders like mine. His hair falls all the way down his back, poking out in every direction it feels like. I'm immediately fascinated by this long white hair. I want to touch it. Bakura raises his hands. "Please don't hurt him, at least not today. He's really scared."
"Hmph." The man Bakura called Mariku drops me, and I fall on my butt. He quickly approaches Bakura, who seems scared but doesn't move. Suddenly Mariku's fingers are in Bakura's unique hair, and he's pulling and pulling. Bakura grits his teeth but doesn't make a sound. I want to say something for him, but I still can't talk. I begin to worry. When will my voice come back?
"Do you want to go back in the dark?!" Bakura squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head. Mariku grabs his shoulder and begins shaking him. "Do you want me to lock you up under the stairs and leave you without food or light? Speak, dammit, you pest!" He slams Bakura into the wall. I'm angry now. Why is he hurting Bakura?
"Leave him alone." Bakura opens his eyes, and Mariku's turns towards me. I'm standing up. I found my voice again. "I-I'll do whatever you want, just don't be mad at him."
Mariku laughs and drops Bakura to the floor. He walks over to me stares down. I shake. I've never been so scared in my life.
Suddenly Mariku's large hands are in my hair, fingers running through the strands. I want to bat them away, but I force myself to stand there as he tugs on my hair. It hurts, but not as bad as it must have for Bakura.
"I promised you cake, didn't I, Bakura?" Mariku says suddenly, not turning around. Bakura is getting to his feet.
"I-I don't need cake…"
"No, I promised you cake if we got away with it. I made some chocolate cake this morning. It has the frosting you like. It's in the fridge. Have as much as you want."
Bakura doesn't move at first. I realize I'm in a kitchen. At least, half the room in a kitchen. A refrigerator and a row of counters are set up on the wall to my left, along with an entryway to another room, where I can see a door. We must have come in there. On the wall in front of me, where Bakura is, there's another door, the stove, and farther down, stairs. There's a fireplace on the right wall, and when I twist around I see some windows and the front door. Two couches, a television, and a lamp are in the living room side of the room, and a table with two chairs sit on this side.
Bakura stares for a moment longer, then walks over to the fridge. He opens it and pulls out a pan covered in tinfoil.
Mariku reaches behind me, and suddenly my hands are free. Mariku tugs on my arm. He leads me through the door, which I find out leads to a bathroom. A sink and toilet are on the left, a single shower on the right. There's one window, small and so high up I will never be able to reach.
Mariku shuts the door. He turns to me, folding his arms over his chest. He stares. I fidget.
"Take off your clothes." He says suddenly. I blink. He has to be joking. Why would this weird man want me to take off my clothes? I want to laugh, but I'm too afraid to.
Mariku doesn't laugh. He continues to stare at me. "Either take them off for me, or I'll rip them off your body."
Not good. Father will be mad if this man ruins my uniform. He'll have to give Ishizu money to pay for a new one. I start unbuttoning my shirt, thinking about Father and my brother and sister. Rishid saw them take me, I know that, but do Father and Ishizu know I've been stolen yet? Are they looking for me? Is Father worried, or does he not care?
"Dammit, go faster." Mariku bats my hands away, grabbing my shirt and ripping it open, tiny plastic circles scattering everywhere. I yell out and jump away, reaching for the door. Mariku grabs my sleeve and pulls, and my shirt is off. I don't care. I grab the doorknob. It won't move. Locked.
"You little shit…" I'm on the floor, and Mariku's hands are at my zipper. Then he's pulling my pants down, my underwear too. I don't know what happened to my shoes and socks. I'm suddenly naked, not a thing on my body besides my gold armband. Mariku doesn't take that. I cover it with my hand so he doesn't try.
Mariku stands up and takes off his own clothes. I've seen naked men before, both Father and my brother, but they're family so it doesn't count. This is weird.
Now we're both naked, and Mariku grins down at me. "Like what you see?" He says, gesturing to his privates.
Why would I like seeing it? This is weird. Does he make Bakura do this, get undressed with him?
Mariku pulls me up by my hair. "You know what to do with that?" He doesn't really ask. I look up at him and shake my head no. He laughs. I don't think this is funny. I'm scared.
"Touch it." He says. I do. It feels hard and weird. Why is this man making me touch his private business?
"Move your hand up and down." I look up. I don't like this new order. It seems wrong. Mariku scratches him head. "Ah, I guess that's enough for one day. Get in the shower."
I do, and Mariku turns the water on. It's cold at first, so I stand back. Mariku gets in with me; I think this is weird. Rishid, Ishizu and I used to take baths together when we were little, but Ishizu stopped when I was really young. I don't really remember when. Rishid would take baths with me for a while, until Father told him that it was 'faggy' and that I was too old for it. I didn't know what that word means. I still don't, but some boys in my class use it so I think it's a bad word.
The water turns warm. Mariku has his back turned, trying to grab something from the thing that hangs down from the showerhead. I put my hands in the water flow. It feels good.
Mariku turns back. "Stand up straight and lift your arms up." He says. I do. He bends down, looking at everything. I don't like this. Nobody's ever looked at me this way before. His hands find the tattoo on my back, and he traces it. I try not to cry. I don't like people touching my tattoo. It hurt to get, and I don't like it. He takes his hand away. He shows me what he has in his hands; a red bottle with the words SHAVING CREAM on it and a black razor. I start to put my arms down, they're sore, but he tells me to keep them up.
"Have you ever shaved before?" He asks as he squirts some of the shaving cream into his hands. It's white and foamy. I shake my head. "I can do it for you today. I'll have Bakura teach you how to do it yourself." He puts the cream on my underarms. "I don't like hair, so I make Bakura shave. He's pretty good about it."
I stay silent as he shaves off the hair underneath my arms and on my legs, even the hair by my private parts. This is really uncomfortable for me. No one's touched me there since I've been in diapers.
When I'm hairless on everywhere except the top of my head, he turns around again, this time coming back with a bottle of shampoo. It's not the brand Rishid and I are supposed to use. It looks more like Ishizu's scented shampoos. Her shampoos always make her hair smell really good, so I steal them sometimes. This one is Milk and Honey scented.
"I always have Bakura use girl's shampoo." Mariku explains while slathering my hair with the gooey stuff. My hair is thick with foam. "It makes his hair feel soft and smell nice. You'll be using it too."
I don't want to use the shampoo to smell nice for him. He shouldn't care what I smell like.
Finally we're done and we get out. He puts his clothes back on; I reach for mine and he slaps my hand. It hurts, but I don't yell. "I'll get you something to wear. You're not allowed to wear these anymore."
"When can I go home?" I ask. Mariku stops, his hand on the door. He doesn't look back at me.
"I don't know. I'll work on it."
I'm left alone in the bathroom. I sit on the toilet, naked, swinging my bare feet. The air coming out of the vent makes me cold, but I'm afraid he'll hurt me if I close it. I close my eyes and imagine I'm home.
I try to imagine my family. Did Ishizu go to school today, or did she stay home after I was taken? What about Rishid, did he go to his job as a cashier at the gas station? Will Father go into work at the museum later today? I can't tell if I want them to go or stay home. I don't want them to worry, but I really hope someone is looking for me. I don't want to be here any longer. When will someone find me here? It'll take a few hours, probably, but will I be stuck here overnight? Will I miss the water park trip? Would Rishid and Ishizu go without me?
I have a bad thought. What if I'm here for a really long time? Like, maybe weeks? Or even a month? I open my eyes. The bathroom is still the same. I haven't been magically transported home.
The door opens. Mariku appears, and he throws something at me. I catch it-black sweatpants.
"Those are Bakura's." Mariku says. "I'll buy you some of your own clothes later. For now, you'll just have to share with him."
I don't want to share clothes with Bakura. I don't want Mariku to buy me new clothes. I want mine back. I want to go home and forget about this.
I put the pants on, and they fit okay, which surprises me because Bakura is really skinny. I don't like how he didn't give me a shirt, but I can't do anything about it.
Mariku opens the door and lets me out when I have the pants on. Bakura is sitting on one of the chairs, staring at the table. I don't see any cake. Mariku tells me to sit down across from Bakura. I do. Bakura doesn't look up.
"You boys are probably hungry." Mariku says, walking over to the refrigerator. "Bakura likes grilled cheese sandwiches. I have bacon. Do you like grilled cheese with bacon, Marik?"
I didn't know he knew my name. I don't like that. That means stealing me wasn't random. He wanted me. He won't just let me go.
"I'm a vegetarian." I get out, even though I'm scared he'll get mad.
He goes about getting the ingredients together. "I'll just make Bakura's with bacon, then."
Bakura and I sit in silence as Mariku butters the bread and throws the slices into the pan. He puts cheese and tomato slices on both, and bacon on one. Then he puts the tops on.
Grilled cheese doesn't take a long time to make. He slides the sandwiches onto plates and sets them down in front of us. He walks over to the refrigerator again and takes out two cans of soda, which he also gives to us.
I'm still scared, but my stomach is growling, so I eat. It tastes good. Bakura eats too. He doesn't look at me. Mariku grabs a chair and drags it over to the table, sitting on it backwards with his legs spread and arms folded over the backrest. "How old are you, Marik?"
I swallow. "Eleven."
"So is Bakura." Mariku grins. "You're both so old. When Bakura first came to live with me, he was only seven years old."
I stop chewing. Bakura's been here for…four years? He's a whole different color than Mariku, so I don't think they're related. Mariku probably stole him too. Isn't anyone looking for him? Will that be me? Will I be here for four years?
No. I can't be. Someone will find me. I won't be here much longer.
"What's your family like, Marik?"
I force myself to keep eating. I want him to stop asking me questions. "I have a brother and sister and a father."
"No mother?"
"She died when I was a baby." I take another bite. I don't understand why Mariku gets to ask me all these questions while I have so many questions myself. I want Bakura to talk too. He hasn't spoken since Mariku hurt him earlier.
Mariku asks me a bunch of questions, and I'm not very comfortable answering them. They seem like personal questions, ones that are your business and no one else's. He seems pleased by my responses, and I'm happy that I haven't upset him.
Bakura and I get done eating and Bakura takes my plate, bringing it over to the dishwasher. Mariku gets up.
"I have to go over to Akefia's for a bit. I'm locking the door. You two behave, got it?" He makes eye contact with Bakura and hands him a little gun thing. Bakura nods. He tells me that the thing in Bakura's hand is a stun gun and he used it to steal me, and Bakura has his permission to use it on me if I misbehave. I nod, and Mariku leaves.
I want to walk around, explore the house, or even find a way out. But Bakura grabs my arm and leads me over to the couch, pushing me down onto it.
I want to ask him what is going on, why I was stolen and why he's here. But he just turns on the TV and sits down, staring at the box.
He's turned the news on, and I watch boredly. I never really understood why Ishizu and Rishid were so interested in the news. It just seems like a bunch of old people talking about clothes and clouds and cars. I don't care about any of it, so I've always just ignored the news. I don't see why we're watching-
And then there's me. My picture on the screen, white text and a red background.
AMBER ALERT
Marik Ishtar
Age: 11
DOB: 12/23/1993
Sex: Male
Ethnicity: Middle Eastern
And on and on. There's a buzzing noise, kinda like when there's a storm and they give a warning on TV. A voice interrupts, and a strange man is giving the information. He says my name wrong, like there's an L instead of an R. It gives my height and weight, tells everyone that my hair is blonde and my eye color is purple, even though there's a picture of me up on the screen. They talk about the car I was abducted in, even gives the license plate number. They even mention the fact that Bakura jumped out of the car for a minute to grab me.
I turn to look at Bakura. He's staring at the screen, not even blinking. The door opens. I jump.
"Dammit…" Mariku stares for a minute before coming over, grabbing something from below the TV stand and pushing it into the VCR. My picture disappears. The Disney logo comes on.
"I know you guys are a bit old for Disney movies, but Aladdin is a classic." Mariku says as he gets up. He walks over to the kitchen, not looking at us.
"What did you do with the car?" Bakura asks. "They have the license plate number."
"The car didn't belong to me." Mariku says as he dials the phone. "Akefia and I pushed it into a river. They can't trace it back to us. You guys are safe."
I don't feel very safe. I'd be safe if I were back home with my brother and sister, not here with this weird man that makes me shower with him and touch his privates.
Then the Arabian Nights song comes on and Bakura and I lose ourselves in Aladdin's adventures.
Friday, June 4, 2004
Evening
Bakura and I watch movies all day as Mariku runs around the house, calling this 'Akefia' person several times and locking himself in his room for periods of time. Bakura ignores him for the most part. After Aladdin we watch The Lion King, and then we're out of Disney movies to watch so Bakura puts in a movie called American Pie that we found on the shelf. Mariku comes in and yells at us, then turns the television to Cartoon Network. They're having a Scooby-Doo marathon, and I'm happy. I haven't watched Scooby-Doo in a long time, but it's familiar so I feel better.
Mariku makes us dinner. Pizza. I eat a slice, then eat a second when Mariku motions for me to take more. My stomach's starting to hurt from the cheese I've eaten today, since I have a hard time eating dairy products, but I don't say anything. At least he hasn't made me drink milk.
The phone rings, and Mariku answers it. He talks for a bit, and looks relieved. I assume it's Akefia, but I can't be sure. Finally, Mariku stands up and tells us it's time to go.
I'm excited. We get to go home? Oh, thank Ra! I've been so scared…
Bakura takes my arm. He says it's time to go 'next door.' I'm confused. Doesn't Mariku want us to stay with him? Wasn't that the point of stealing us?
Mariku comes with a strip of cloth in his hand. He says that he has to blindfold me just for now, but if I'm good and don't try to run away he won't have to tie me up or anything. I nod and he puts the blindfold over my eyes.
I can't see anything, so Bakura leads me. I hear a door open again, and we're outside. We go down the stairs again, but then Bakura tugs my arm in the same direction. I think we go around the stairs. Then we make another turn. And another door is opening.
I feel wood beneath my feet. The door closes. Bakura takes the blindfold off me.
We're in another house. Or at least it feels like another house, but it's all one room. There's a refrigerator and counters to my left and a stove to my right. A table with two chairs sits in the middle. Next to the stove is a bookcase, then a double bed, which is pushed up along the opposite wall, along with a chest of drawers. In the back, the room extends to the right a bit, so I can't see what's there.
"This is your home now. You'll be living here with Bakura." What? No, I already have a home! I don't need another one!
Mariku is smiling, and he touches my hair. He talks to Bakura for a few minutes, but I don't really listen to what they're saying. Mariku tells me that Bakura is in charge of me, and if I try to run away, Bakura will be punished. I bite my lip. I don't want to be here, but I don't want him to hurt Bakura either.
Mariku leaves. I'm grateful, but I'm even more scared now. I feel like someone should know where I am by now. I feel like I should be going home.
Bakura is at the bookshelf, taking out books, so I wander over to see what's in the other part of the room. It's not a lot. A wooden desk and chair with an old-looking TV on the side, facing the couch that's been pushed there. There's a door; I open that and I find a bathroom. Sink and toilet on my left, tub and shower on my right.
There are three windows in the room. All of them have bars on them. Two have big plants in front of them, so all you can see when you look out are leaves. But I can see out of one, and I can see a house. I wonder if the people living there think it's weird that Mariku has a shed that has the lights on all the time. I wonder if anyone cares.
"We do laundry in the bathtub." Bakura is behind me, and I jump.
"Wha…"
Bakura looks annoyed. "We don't have a washing machine, and Mariku doesn't want us to use his, so we do laundry in the bathtub. On Wednesdays. I always do laundry on Wednesdays."
I nod. Bakura walks over to the table and starts scribbling in a notebook. "I've been following this schedule for the past few years, and I expect you to follow one too. I get up at nine A.M. and I have school until two. I-"
"How do you have school if there are no teachers?" I say. Bakura looks at me, and I realize that his eyes are a weird shade of reddish brown.
"I teach myself." He says. "Mariku gives me whatever books I want, and I used to be able to print off worksheets…" He makes a note in his notebook. "We can teach each other now. We have to stay smart."
I open my mouth to answer, but instead I just nod. Bakura keeps writing away, not looking up at me.
"Mariku brings groceries on Sundays. That's the holy day, so we don't have anything else scheduled for that day," I don't tell Bakura that I'm not Christian. I don't think the gods will really care that I rest on Sunday because it's Christian. They probably have bigger things to worry about. "Saturdays we clean. The floor is mopped, the mirror and windows are cleaned, and we scrub the sink, tub, and the toilet."
I don't like cleaning, so cleaning all of this every week seems a bit much to me.
"Mondays through Fridays we have school from ten to two." He keeps going. "I always eat breakfast at nine before I shower and get dressed, then we can eat lunch at noon. Dinner at five or six, depending on how hungry we are."
He taps the pencil to the page a few more times.
"After school I take a break and do something fun until four. That's free time. Then I work on school stuff or read until dinner. After dinner I do my chores and then I have more free time until nine. Mariku usually comes in between nine and ten, if he comes in at all. Then I watch the ten o'clock news and go to bed." Scribble scribble. "You don't have to follow the exact same schedule, of course. But I think it would be efficient for us to get up and eat at the same time, and we can teach each other during school hours."
I don't say anything at first. I don't know what to say to him. Why would he make a schedule like this, follow it so closely? He's free to do whatever he wants here, why bother keeping up with school, with cleaning things?
Bakura looks at me. He sighs, running a hand through his white hair and tries to smile at me. "I'm sorry, I know you're really scared. I just have a certain way of doing things here, and I'm a little uncomfortable with sharing the room, now that you're here."
I nod, looking down. Bakura comes over and takes my arm, leading me to the table and letting me sit down. He sits down across from me. We're silent for a minute.
"Why?" I finally get out. Bakura looks up.
"Why what?"
"Why did you guys take me?" I gesture with my hands. "I was fine where I was, and you're fine, so I don't…I don't…"
I can't stop the tears, and they spill over. Bakura doesn't comfort me, but I don't mind.
"I tried to get him to leave you alone, but he wouldn't listen." Bakura says quietly. "He said I wasn't enough for him anymore, and that I was probably lonely in here by myself anyway, so having another boy live with us would be a good thing, beneficial for all of us." He moves his hair out of his face. It just falls back. He leaves it alone. "He saw you a couple months ago at the museum, when he was picking out a Valentine's Day present for me."
"My dad works at the museum." I say. I wonder why a grown man was giving Bakura a present for Valentine's Day, but I don't ask.
"I think he told me that. Anyway, he kinda became obsessed with you. He volunteered at your school to learn about you, your name and everything. He found your grades, and he said you'd be a great friend for me, because we were both so smart."
I'm not sure if I like this, Mariku knowing all this about me. Why did he care about me so much? Why not some other boy? Then I feel bad for wishing this on someone else. But still…
Why me?
"He started planning the kidnapping a while ago with Akefia. Akefia's Mariku's best friend, but he's mean in a different way than Mariku." Bakura looks at me sadly. I'm nervous now. I thought Mariku normally treated Bakura really well, with making him cake and buying him presents and everything. But I guess he's mean to Bakura too. "Akefia watched your house for a few days to figure out your family's schedule, but he couldn't figure out a time where he could be sure you would be home alone. So they decided the best bet was to grab you when you were walking up to the bus stop, since nobody would be close enough to help you."
It's weird hearing about this from Bakura. He looks sad, and after a minute, he wipes his eye on the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
"I-I'm sorry." Bakura says. "I didn't want to help, but Mariku said he'd cut me up and leave me underneath the stairs in the dark…"
Bakura stands up. The tears in his eyes are gone; his face is cold again. "Anyway, you can have the bed tonight." He says, wandering over to the chest of drawers. "I have some pajamas you can borrow. I'll sleep on the couch for now."
Part of me thinks that it would be polite to tell Bakura to sleep in the bed, that I would sleep on the couch, but then I think about being in between the covers, with a mattress underneath me, and all I can think is that I'll be able to pretend that I'm home.
So I nod. Bakura lays out the clothing, then goes into the bathroom. I hear water running as he gets ready for bed. I put the pajamas on, grateful that Bakura gave me a T-shirt to wear. When I am done I stand there awkwardly; not really sure what to do.
Bakura walks in and gives me a brief look before pointing at the desk. "The laundry basket is under there. Just throw your dirty stuff in there, we'll wash it on Wednesday.
I turn down the covers, and it makes me happy to see that they are thick. I look over to Bakura. "Was everything here when you first moved in?"
Bakura is arranging the second pillow and an extra blanket on the couch. The blanket looks like he took a bunch of his old clothes and sewed it all together. It looks kinda cool, and definitely warm. He doesn't look up. "The bathroom stuff, yeah, except for the mirror. Out here was just the cabinets, I think those were there before he planned on me moving in, the drawers and a bed. I had a different bed than this." He points. "Mariku keeps adding furniture he finds at thrift stores. I just got the stove about a year ago, though, before he was afraid I'd hurt myself."
Bakura is silent. He's probably feeling guilty because he helped steal me. I feel bad, for some reason. I feel like I should tell him it wasn't his fault.
But it kinda is. I crawl into the bed. Bakura shuts off the lights.
