If you recognize it, the credit belongs to JE.
A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I am back at home and at work from a great vacation. Thank you for all your patience while I was away. Hopefully now I can get back into my regular rhythm for updates.
Chapter 10 – October - Treats and Tricks
"Girl, I'm telling you this need to be tighter," Lula advised pulling the shirt I was wearing in the back to tighten it across my chest.
"I'm okay with tighter, but the buttons are popping," I complained pulling a little of the material back to loosen the effect.
"See, that's why this needs to have some spandex in it. You'd have a little wiggle room," Lula suggested causing me to shiver at the thought of me in a spandex outfit like the orange one she was currently sporting. It took all my will-power not to exclaim, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" when she first walked in RangeMan this morning.
We finally came to a compromise regarding the fit of the shirt and then moved on to the hemline of the skirt.
Lula was helping me get my Halloween costume pulled together. I wanted to do something with a Navy theme for Hal. I couldn't come up with anything original so when Lula suggested getting a set of dress whites for a female officer and then "modifying" them to be more attractive, I thought it was my best bet. Of course now that I was looking at myself in a skirt that Lula wanted to be only ten inches long and a shirt so tight you could see the texture of my skin underneath the idea didn't seem as patriotic as it once did.
Still, I had been locked up for nearly four weeks and I was losing my mind so a visit from Lula was a welcome distraction. I thought after the last note from Tyler that I should move around more to draw him out, but apparently I was the only one who felt that way.
"Okay White Girl, I'll drop this off to Sally. He said he could get it fixed up by tomorrow," She told me.
"Thanks Lula," I responded, "And thanks for lunch too."
"Girl, you know I had to bring in some chicken cause the grass they feeding you in here ain't going to cut it with a real woman like me," She said as she gathered up the pieces of the costume in her arms.
I saw her to the front door and let out what was apparently an audible sigh as she walked away and the tinted glass door closed behind her. Bobby was in the lobby sorting through a delivery of medical supplies that had been dropped off and he jumped up to wrap his arms around me.
It seemed selfish to complain about being inside so much of the time when it was the best way to keep me safe, but I was weeks past being stir crazy.
I leaned into his chest and absorbed the feel of him. Over the last couple of months all the guys had become more open with me and were much more comfortable touching me. When I was on the floor and a team left for a take down they would walk past my desk and each one of them would touch me in some way: a pull on a curl, a touch on my hand or shoulder and then Les placing a sloppy wet kiss on my lips.
I asked Les about it last week and he told me, "Beautiful, we think of you as our own good luck charm. Since you've been staying at RangeMan we haven't had a single injury so we all try to get some of your luck to rub off on us before we head out."
I thought it was a sweet idea so I tried to look at the schedule each day in order to insure I was always around when a dangerous take down was on the books.
Bobby nestled his chin in my shoulder and said, "This will all be over soon and you'll be clear to come and go all you'd like."
"I think if it were my choice I wouldn't mind staying in so much, but it's knowing that I can't leave that makes it so hard to stay. Still this has to be a new record for me for not trying to escape," I stated hoping it would make him laugh.
I could feel a slight rumble in Bobby's massive chest telling me he agreed with my statement, "We were on alert for it at first, but we think there is a certain man that is communicating with you regularly that may have something to do with you staying in, so we've relaxed a bit."
At the hint of Hal I took a deep breath. It was true, I was trying harder to consider my safety because of Hal's confession that it would tear him apart if something happened to me. For the first time I was beginning to see the effect one of my crazies had on people other than me.
"Can I ask you something?" Bobby questioned timidly.
"Sure," I said pulling away a little to look at his face.
"What is the deal exactly with you and Hal?" He wondered seriously.
"He asked me to keep him in the loop while he was gone," I tried offering as an explanation.
"And…" Bobby prompted aware that my explanation was no where near the whole truth.
"And somehow that developed into us communicating daily and a few phone calls on holidays." I added.
"And…" Still Bobby wasn't convinced that was the whole story.
"And along the way as we got to know each other we began to go from friends to something more." I said.
"How much more?" Bobby asked.
"I love him and he says he loves me too." There, that should stop the questions.
"Shit," Bobby let slip and then he hung his head a little.
"What?" I asked realizing Bobby was now the one hiding something.
"Well, when you first starting coming around RangeMan we all noticed you," Bobby began while taking my hand and leading me to a bench to sit beside him.
"But, we all kept our distance because you were the boss' woman and we respected him too much. But last year things between the two of you seemed to change and some of us wondered if we might be able to get to know you better. You are an amazing woman and I think most of us have some sort of feelings for you." He looked away when he said the last part.
"Then when you started sending packages to Hal, it made us like you even more. You supported one of us while we were away and you haven't faltered in your faithfulness to your promise." He explained.
Bobby looked at me again before adding, "We could all see you changing over the last six months in particular; getting serious about your health, getting in shape and eating better."
I wanted to interrupt and tell him I was only eating better because I was trapped in the building and couldn't get to any of my favorite foods, but didn't think this was the right time to set the record straight.
"And even though you were locked up here you still seemed to have a happiness about you that we all wanted to be around."
That explained all the night time visitors at my apartment with movies, video games and attempts to get me to join in new takes on strip poker.
"Now I know that spark and drive is from Hal. I can see it. He is quiet until he gets to know you, but he is a great guy. He's probably perfect you in a lot of ways, but I'll admit to a little disappointment because if you and Hal are going to try being together I have a feeling that means the rest of us will never have a chance."
I put my hand on Bobby's check without thinking and said, "But you guys are with me all the time. If anybody felt that way, why didn't they say something?"
"I think we were all worried about scaring you away. Being your friend is more important. None of us wanted to risk losing that just to see if we could be more."
These guys all seemed to know how to make a girl feel good. I put my arms around as much of him as I could reach and hugged him until his arms came up and returned the action.
"I love you all," I said before moving my hand to his heart and adding, "Some more than others," with a smile.
"But," I added, "As I've gotten to know Hal and he has freely opened up to me I've felt things I never have before and I need to see where this will go when he gets home. There is always the possibility that what we have only works over distance and face to face may prove to be much harder."
"Do you really think that will happen?" Bobby asked skeptically.
"No, my gut tells me he's it for me." I confessed without the benefit of my internal editor stopping me.
"In that case I'll need to let him know what will happened if he hurts you." Bobby said with a sinister smile on his lips.
I pulled away before asking, "What would happen?"
"There would be a whole cue of people lined up to get a punch on the guy that hurt our good luck charm, but I hope I could lead the charge." He said copying Les' signature eye brow wiggle.
As he stood up to return to his supplies he said over his shoulder, "Oh, and then you might suddenly find yourself on the receiving end of a whole lot of date invitations."
I assumed he was joking about that last part and laughed as I headed back to the apartment to send Hal a note warning him about the whole strange conversation.
That night Hal had a response for me.
"Hey Steph! I laughed so hard at your last note. I could see how you didn't seem to believe anything Bobby said but I knew every word of it was true and if anything he watered it down to keep from scaring you. There were many days we sat around in the break room wondering what was going on between you and Ranger because if we thought he was out of the picture we all wanted to have a chance to go out with you."
I was completely floored at that confession. It was just too hard to believe.
"I'm sure Brown will follow through on his promise to remind me about the unspoken rule of RangeMan that 'anyone who hurts Stephanie has to answer to us.'"
He seemed to be taking their threat of violence calmly enough. I wasn't sure if that was because he was that good at defending himself or that sure he wasn't going to hurt me.
"I'm not worried about it either way. I can't imagine not having you in my life now that you are so rooted in my heart. Anything they might do would pale in comparison to what it would feel like if I thought I had hurt you."
There I go again – complete melt down sitting along in my cotton pajamas on the sofa. How I'll ever keep it together when he is here in person I'll never know.
"Don't worry about me clamming up in person. I may be quiet at first, but once I get to know people I generally open up. I think we've proven on the phone that conversation isn't a problem for us."
That had been my biggest worry when we first began to speak of love, but I felt in my gut that it would be fine when he returned so that I had begun to dismiss even that small concern.
"One of the guys came in my room last night and saw the picture of you next to my bed. I managed to print out the one of you in front of the mirror and had it beside my bunk so that you could be the last thing I see every night. That outfit has starred in some class-A dreams too."
I wondered if he would tell me about some of those dreams. Maybe that should be my next question for him. Of course I wasn't so sure I could tell him about my own fantasies so perhaps opening that slippery slope wouldn't be such a good idea.
"Anyway, he was trying to describe it to the team and he couldn't get the words right. I finally punched him to make the point that I didn't appreciate him thinking about my woman like that. I can't believe I was getting jealous over a twenty-six year old punk who was drooling over your picture. I'm probably going to need to work on that when I get home. I know how most of RangeMan feels about you and I'm going to have to learn to accept the guys hugging you and touching you. But between the two of us if Les kisses you in front of me I'm going to have to deck him."
I laughed aloud at that confession. I hadn't told him about Les' favorite good-luck ritual and now thought I better warn Les. Still, the look I imagined on Lester's face would almost make it worth it to keep my mouth shut and just let the pieces fall where they may.
"I am getting excited about seeing what kind of Halloween costume you have dreamed up for this year. When I was on watch during our training exercise last week that is how I kept myself awake. I kept picturing you in all my favorite possibilities. I'm hoping you and Hector can work some magic to get me a picture of whatever you come up with. Speaking of Hector - that is another call I need to make as soon as I get back. I need to thank him for the CD's and for finally getting me some real pictures of you, but I also need to confirm his status as completely uninterested."
I figured I could help with that by telling him that Hector told me he would rather look at a CD of photos of Hal than of me. Of course, it might make him too nervous to thank him for the project in the first place.
"I know you have to be getting stir crazy. Talk to the guys if it gets to be too much. Maybe they can come up with a way to get you some safe time away from the building and the pool. I know swimming isn't as much fun now that it is being done under armed guard. But, I'm so proud of you for keeping it up. I can't wait to see you cutting through the water beside me. I may swim into the wall staring at you in a bathing suit, but it would be worth it to see you wet."
I wonder if Ranger would be upset with me for turning on the air conditioner in October?
The next few days passed in a blur. Lula brought the costume back somewhere between what I wanted and what she thought was best. If I didn't take any deep breaths I might be able to button the blouse and if I didn't have to bend for any reason I might be able to pull off wearing the skirt and keep a hint of dignity. Of course it could be a moot point because it seemed silly to have a costume just to wear it around my apartment.
Tank walked by as I was fingering the material of the skirt wondering if I should attempt stockings and a garter, or if the skirt were too short to even bother.
"Little Girl, tell me that isn't your costume for Halloween." My large friend said leaning against my doorway.
I nodded that it was. "Why? Don't you think it will look alright?"
"I think we're in danger of Hal killing us all with his bare hands if he sees you in it. From the looks of it there will be very little left to the imagination and some of the guys are just creative enough for that get-up to cause some real problems if they decide to tell him how you looked," Tank explained.
I smiled at the idea of their descriptions of me getting Hal riled up. Then I remembered my earlier thought that I didn't have anywhere to go on Halloween and my smile quickly faded.
"What was that?" Tank asked seeing the change in my expression.
"I just remembered that it may be a fun costume, but the whole idea is sort of pointless since I won't be doing anything but sitting in the apartment on the 31st." I told him.
Unexpectedly Tank knelt in front of me and put one of his large dark hands on my cheek nearly covering the entire side of my head. "You leave that to me to worry about." Then he placed a kiss on the top of my head and got up to walk away.
Two days before Halloween I was working at my desk running an endless pile of searches for Rodriguez when I had a feeling I was being watched. When I turned in my desk chair I saw Tank, Bobby and Lester smiling at me from the opening of my cubicle.
"What?" I asked concerned about what seemed to have them so happy.
Lester pulled an envelope from behind his back and handed it to me. I was confused at the gesture until Bobby said, "Open it and you'll see."
In the envelope was a stack of tickets to the annual costume ball and fundraiser for the police department. Most of my friends would be there and from the number of tickets in the envelope so would most of RangeMan.
"Does this mean…" I started afraid to get my hopes up.
Les stepped past the other bulky shoulders in the doorway and said, "That's right Beautiful, if you can handle begin surrounded by a bunch of thugs we are taking you to the ball."
I jumped up and flung myself shamelessly at Les. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I practically screamed at him.
"If I'd know that was the reaction we would get, I would have given you the tickets myself." Tank teased.
I let go of Les, and received a set of puppy dog disappointed eyes in return. Moving on with a smile I hugged Tank and Bobby with equal enthusiasm.
"I don't know any thugs," I said to negate his attempt at humor, "But if my friends are going then count me in."
Les spoke up again. "We had to do something. We could all see the walls closing in on you despite your attempts to hide it and once Tank told us about your planned costume we had to see it for ourselves."
I smacked his arm and then rubbed my hand as I asked, "Are you sure this is okay? Security and Tyler have been planned?"
Bobby smiled and answered me, "See, the fact that you are thinking about that now tells us you will be careful. We figured with twelve guys there and room full of police officers as long as you promise not to leave our sight it will be fine."
I did a little happy dance not caring that the guys were laughing at my expense.
"We aren't laughing at you, Little Girl. We love seeing you happy. It's contagious." Tank explained.
Apparently I still didn't' have the ability to have a private thought without blurting it out to the whole world so I decided to not even try and hide what I was feeling.
"This is great news guys. Thank you so much. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go tell Hal." I said as I began to trot away.
Just as the elevator doors closed I could almost make out Bobby's voice saying something that sounded an awful lot like "Lucky Bastard."
When I brought up my e-mail to tell Hal about my plans for the 31st I was surprised to see a note from him.
"Hey Steph, I know this isn't when I usually send you notes, but we got word that we had to ship out tonight to go after the mark I've been telling you about. I can't give you any details except that the Intel is pretty certain and with the plan we've come up with we are confident we can take him out. If we're successful I hope it means I could be home for Thanksgiving. So, keep your fingers crossed for me."
This was such good news. I didn't like the idea of him being on a dangerous mission, but I knew he wanted to do this and if it meant he could come home early, then I was all for it.
"Unfortunately, by the time you get this I'll be gone and I didn't have enough notice to pre-write any notes for you so I'll be silent for a while. I have no idea how long this will be. We will have to gather some information of our own to insure this is the same guy. Apparently, he is pretty slippery and hard to ID. We do have permission to take him out with what ever means are necessary. That makes the mission much easier. We prefer to protect civilians, but this guy has sacrificed the lives of so many servicemen already with his treason that the loss of a few innocents might seem harsh, but would be a small price to pay for keeping him from hurting more people."
I realized then the difficult position Hal was in. I knew he hated taking lives. He was trained to do it, and could get himself in a zone to do it effectively, but when he was finished if any lives were taken that were not absolutely necessary he battled with the guilt of his actions. If this mission meant the loss of civilian life I knew he would do it, but he would have a hard time with it.
"I hope you find a way to celebrate Halloween and please do what ever is necessary to get a picture for me of you in your costume."
I didn't think getting a picture would be a problem.
"I'll be thinking of you while I'm gone. This puts me one step closer to seeing you again and when we finish this mission I will be singularly focused on returning to Trenton. Please be safe. I love you. Hal."
I quickly sent him a note even though I knew he wouldn't get it until I returned telling him about the ball and promising him a picture of my costume which I teased him by saying was selected with him only in mind.
The morning of the ball Cal had gotten us an early time at the aquatic center before they opened. It was easier to secure the building if only RangeMan staff were there. I woke up feeling giddy at the thought of going out that evening and even had a slight feeling of butterflies in my stomach.
I usually wore a training suit to swim: one piece with more conservative lines in standard black. Today I was feeling a little more adventurous so I pulled out a two piece from the bottom of my duffle bag. It was turquoise blue and not overly skimpy, but I had a feeling it would garner a few double takes just the same.
When I stepped out of the locker room to meet Cal I heard him exclaim, "Good God woman! You're trying to get me killed aren't you?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked concerned.
"This isn't how you normally dress to swim. This…" He said motioning to my suit "Is the kind of thing that kicks off tirades by jealous boyfriends."
I laughed at the idea of Hal being jealous and wondered why there was suddenly concern about it in the first place. Cal managed to get over his aversion to my bikini and we took our places on the starting blocks to sprint a few laps in the pool first.
As was the usual case when we swam I rarely saw any of the guys in the pool area but could see a head or two just beyond the glass doors watching out for us so we could concentrate on torturing my muscles. When we started that was the same as always, but when I jumped out of the pool when we were finished I realized there were six men in black standing around the pool.
When Cal told me my time for the last trial we'd run I was thrilled to see I'd shaved off another three seconds. It may not seem like a big deal, but I was steadily getting better and that was a giant improvement. I jumped up and down and hugged Cal.
At the end of my jumping I could vaguely hear a great deal of throat clearing and coughing. I couldn't guarantee it but for the first time I thought I heard the sound of a camera clicking.
When my celebration was over I took the towel offered to me by Junior and headed to the locker room to shower and change. Vince was stepping out of the room with his blank face on. I knew he had just done a sweep to clear it for me to enter, but he stayed in front of the door when I approached.
Instantly I knew something was wrong. "I'm not going to like this am I?" I asked.
Vince shook his head no and handed me a post it note to read.
"Love the new suit. It is much more your style and such a relief to see you refusing to conform to their dull color scheme. I think you are finally ready."
I screamed and the sound of my frustration echoed off the walls and the water. It didn't do any good, except to make me feel better.
Cal wrapped me in his arms taking the note from me at the same time. He mimicked my yell with one of his own.
Looking at Vince he said, "Do you want to tell me how in the hell Tyler got in here and back out with eight guys on site?"
I jerked my head up. That was a great question, but I didn't want Cal to take out his anger on Vince so I rubbed over his heart with my hand and it got his attention focused on me instead.
He looked at me for a minute and then slowly let out a long breath. "I'm sorry, man. But, this guy is getting on my last nerve. He could still be here and we don't know how he slipped past us."
I was given an extra towel to wrap up in and escorted out of the building through a few seconds of brisk air to the fleet of waiting SUV's in the parking lot. I didn't question why I wasn't allowed to change because I understood the guys' unwillingness to let me in the locker room alone. Still I would have gladly slipped on some sweats over my suit to keep from being so exposed. Suddenly my bravery in changing swimwear no longer seemed like such a good idea.
When we arrived at Haywood they dropped me off right at the elevator and I took it alone to four for a shower and some conservative clothes. I broke down while I was standing under the warm stream realizing how much danger I could have been in this morning and seeing the threat in this note that I was ready as meaning he wanted to make his move. I felt like I needed to bow out of the costume ball in order to stay safe even though the thought of not going made me sob even harder.
When I noticed my skin had pruned up I decided to face the outside world again and get out. I threw some gel in my hair and blew it dry, surprised when I saw my face surrounded by flowing curls instead of the wild frame I usually wore. I put on light make up and wrapped the towel around my body to think on the bed.
When I stepped out of the bathroom I screamed briefly at the sight of four men in black in my living room.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded while waiting for my heart to return to normal.
Cal spoke first, "Waiting for you."
"Here I am," I said sarcastically.
Les was sitting on the sofa and held his arms out to me. I found myself pulled to them without conscious thought to go. He positioned me in his lap and wrapped a throw from the back of the couch around me to protect my modesty. There was no other reason for the cover up – all the Merry Men were portable furnaces and Lester's body heat alone could have kept me toasty.
I knew where I stood with Les which made a relationship with him easy. He treated me like a sister so I knew I could lean on him for strength and there were no strings attached. It was a comforting thought at the moment because I needed some arms around me and his seemed to be doing the trick.
I melted against him as he whispered in my ear too low for the others to hear, "That's right Steph, I've got you, just relax." He rubbed my back with his left hand in a hypnotic way. "Better?" He asked after a few minutes.
I nodded, not trusting my voice to give away how upset I had been in the shower. I should have known I wasn't fooling the guys though.
"Good," Les said loud enough for everyone to hear. "Now that you have that out of your system, let's talk about the measures we need to take for tonight to be a good time."
I jerked my head up causing the blanket to fall off my chest exposing a greatly loosened towel.
Les pulled the cover back up quickly, "Beautiful, I'm just a man. You can't do that to me sitting in my lap." And with a full bellied laugh the tension was gone.
"You mean I can still go? I thought the note would make it too dangerous." I confessed.
"There is definitely more danger, but I think it might be a great opportunity to catch him if he tries to make a move on you tonight." Tank explained.
"But for this to work," Bobby picked up, "You will have to work with a few restrictions."
There it was. I knew someone would put a pin to the balloon of my fun at some point. I could almost hear the loud pop.
"Give it to me." I said more bravely than I felt.
Cal started, "You have to have one of us with you all the time."
"What if one of the cops asks me to dance?" I questioned to show them how difficult it would be to abide by that.
"Then stay at the perimeter of the dance floor so that one of us can see you." Tank answered.
"What about the bathroom?" I challenged hoping they didn't plan on escorting me in.
"We will clear the room and stand outside the door. It would be helpful if you could get one of the girls like Lula, Connie or Mary Lou to go in with you though." Bobby answered.
I was touched that they had gone through so much trouble planning this night for me. I wanted to tell them just to forget about it, but I really wanted a night out and it seemed like they had covered all the bases. I jumped up and asked when I should be ready to leave.
Tank smiled and said, "2100, meet us in the garage. Little Girl, we will keep you safe. You can have a good time tonight." He accented his promise with a kiss to my hair and I believed every word.
I decided to make good use of my time and took a long nap before getting ready for the party. I decided to go with a naughty look and wore a white garter with my thigh highs which peek-a-booed out with nearly every step. The shirt and skirt were both tighter than I wanted, but I managed to get in them both. I pinned the hat in my hair slipped on my four inch Mary Jane heels and was very happy with the overall look when I stepped up to the full length mirror.
Since I knew the guys had everything I could possibly need I didn't bother with a purse and I knew I would be dropped off at the door so I didn't grab a coat either.
At 9:00 on the dot I stepped on the elevator to head down to the garage.
There were whistles, claps and a few cat calls when I stepped out into the sea of men waiting for me.
Les was dressed as Zorro and got down on one knee to confess, "Senorita, if you would do me the honor I will keep the ruffians away and sweep you off your feet."
I laughed and took his hand allowing him to plant a kiss on my knuckles.
When I looked up Hector was smiling with his camera in his hands. "Nice," Was all he said but he was looking at the viewfinder so I knew he meant the photo, not the outfit.
We loaded up and headed out. Cal groaned when he slid in next to me in the back seat and saw the straps of my garter and the lace of my thigh highs peeking from under my skirt. I admit that I was pleased with the reception of the guys to my choice of costumes.
I had a blast at the ball. I danced with all the Merry Men, most of them several times, and a few of the guys from the police department.
I was sorry Ranger was not there as I remembered him being a great dancer. He was in the wind and probably wouldn't return for four to six weeks. Still I had more than enough testosterone surrounding me to keep me busy.
Finally I felt nature's call and located Lula and Les to inform them I needed a potty break. Les had Vince sweep the bathroom and the two of them stood outside the door while Lula and I went in. We talked for a few minutes at the sinks before entering our separate stalls with one empty one between us.
Never being one to engage in conversation while hovering over a toilet there was a few minutes of silence before I heard Lula flush and then heard her door open with a thud. I followed suit and when I stepped out I noticed Lula lying on the ground as a feeling of panic grew from the mild butterflies I had carried all day.
Then I saw him. Tyler stepped out dressed as a cop with facial hair and a buzz cut totally different from the last time I had seen him. I was concerned about the guys outside the door and my eyes briefly darted to them.
Tyler answered my unasked thought, "They are fine. I had another entry point."
His eyes directed me to look up to the open air vent above me.
"Unfortunately you will need to exit the same way as me and since I don't know where your loyalties are yet I'm going to need to make this easier for myself. With lightening speed he injected a syringe in my thigh. I softly made a noise which his hand over my mouth covered up.
"Don't fight it, doll. As soon as you are out I'll hoist you up and pull you out. I'll try to do it without ruining your outfit. I admit that seeing you in it made me hasten my plan and take you tonight. I didn't think those idiots parading as soldiers deserved to see you dressed this way any longer. It was such a relief to see you come to me here."
As he spoke his voice began to sound further away and there was a slight burning at the injection sight. My brain was getting fuzzy. I was trying to stay conscious but could tell I was losing the battle.
I looked at my leg with concern on my face about the pain I was feeling. Did the idiot use something I was allergic too? I'd been drugged before and it never hurt going in.
Tyler saw the look on my face and dropped the syringe to rub the injection site. "Sorry about that. They said there would be some muscle discomfort but this drug gives me the most time with you unconscious to get everything set up and it will immobilize you so that I am in complete control."
I knew I should panic but I didn't have it in me. Instead I felt myself go limp into his arms. I didn't fully lose consciousness, but I was unable to keep my eyes open and knew I was missing a lot of what was going on around me. Most importantly I had no muscle control at all leaving me completely powerless to fight him off.
I felt the harness he rigged pulling me upward and within ten minutes I knew we were outside. I wondered if the guys even knew I was gone yet. I wanted to yell and scream at Tyler for interrupting my fun and possibly hurting my friend. I could feel him putting me in a van and realized this Halloween brought me a trick I had not planned for and I held out no hope for it being redeemed with a treat.