Chapter 6 – Odd twist..?

"I may be out-numbered, but my chances of winning this fight aren't. Now, big guy holding Cal, put him down, and enter the cell on your left. The one you got him from. Refuse, and I'll shoot him." Hesitantly, Ezekiel put me down, letting me stand on my own, and he walked in. Winter noticed the subtle hint I was giving, and tapped Ryan and Boges on the back of the hand, flashing her eyes toward me. I just stood there, waiting.

"Sligo, let the kids go. Scottie and I can stay, and the cops will never know," said Ezekiel, still doing his best for me.

"Scottie, join your partner. Viper, come out, then lock their door." Scottie and Viper both did as he said.

"Vulkan, please, let the kids go!" I knew Ezekiel meant well, but begging would just make it worse.

"The rest of you lot, in the other one," he continued, completely ignoring him. I started heading in with the others, but Sligo held me back. I had a horrible feeling… Harry locked the door behind my friends, and waited for further instructions.

"Where do I go, Sligo?" I asked, concerned I wouldn't be with my friends.

"To sleep? With the two older guys. Right now? You stay right here with me. We were in the middle of something just before your friends showed up, and now they get the pleasure of watching."

"No, Sligo don't! Leave him alone!" cried Winter.

"What's he doing?" asked Ryan, clearly as scared as Winter. But no one was nearly as scared as me.

"Please Sligo, just leave me! Even shooting me would be better! Anything but this!"

"Cal? What's he doing?" yelled Scottie, coming right up to the bars, despite the guns pointed at his head by Harry and Viper. Sligo came up to me, cracking his knuckles loudly. He swung his fist back, but I had a better idea. As soon as his fist started moving forward, I ducked my head, running straight at him. I felt my head connect with his gut, and heard a satisfying 'oomf!' He lost his balance, falling backwards, and I flew toward the stairs!

Suddenly, someone grabbed my ankle, tripping me. I hit the ground with a thud. They pulled me back towards them, away from the stairs. I managed to roll over to see Sligo yanking me toward him. Instantly, I knew this wouldn't be gentle…

…

An hour later, Sligo began to slow his hits. He'd taken breaks occasionally, letting Harry or Viper fill in for him. He slammed me against the wall by the stairs, gave me a hard, final blow to the gut, before dropping me to the ground. I could barely breathe. I could barely see. I could barely hear. And I couldn't feel my arms or legs.

Finally, he threw me into the cell with Ezekiel and Scottie, as they stood against the back wall, avoiding doing anything that could get me more hurt. As soon as he locked the door and left with Harry and Viper, Ezekiel and Scottie rushed to my side.

"Cal! Cal, are you ok buddy?" asked Ezekiel as he got down on his knees, despite all the blood on the floor… and on me. "Cal! Come on! Wake up!" Wait… wake up? I WAS up… my eyes were open! I blinked hard a couple of times, and then I… I don't know..?

"Win! Win, he's up! Ryan! Winter! Boges! Cal's up!" It was Scottie. But I was always up… and did he say 'Win'? That's my mum…

Suddenly, everything came back into focus. I sat up and screamed! I was in a small white room, Ezekiel and Scottie leaning over me, as I lay on a bed. Mum, Boges, Winter and Ryan rushed into the room, looking pale.

"Cal! Oh thank god!" cried mum. She ran up to me and hugged me.

"What's going on? How'd I get here? Where am I?" I noticed an IV drip coming from my arm…

"You don't remember anything?" said Winter, sitting on the bed beside me. I shook my head.

"Last I remember we were with Sligo, in his new home." I looked down to my hands. There were no bandages, but no scars either. I rolled up my shirt, but there were no bruises… "How long have I been in here?"

"About a week. But Cal… Sligo has been dead for nearly a year…" said Boges. "Don't you remember? He was sucked under in the bog."

"What? No… Where am I?" It didn't make sense! One minute I'm being tortured by Vulkan Sligo, the next I'm in a small room surrounded by friends and family, where Sligo is apparently dead… again.

"You're in the hospital," said Ryan.

"But how'd I get here?"

"We were walking home, remember?"

"Yeah."

"Then what?" he asked, trying to see what else I knew.

"Umm, I felt weird, and I told you..?"

"Yep, you said you felt it before you were attacked, last year."

"Yeah, then you spun around, to see if you could see anyone…"

"But I couldn't."

"Yeah, but right at that moment, a guy jumped me from behind… and a car screeched into view, another guy grabbing you!"

"What? No! Boges grabbed you, yeah, but you fainted, whacking your head hard!"

"No, not Boges! It was a guy called Viper. And the one who had you was Harry. Sligo and Three-o were in the car."

"Sorry dude, but that's where you're wrong. Boges got you, you fainted… then you didn't get up. We saw blood, and I rang mum. Boges had been walking home from a friends' place, when we crossed paths…"

"I had wanted to surprise you, but it didn't turn out so good," said Boges, staring at the floor.

"Anyway, mum arrived with Ezekiel and Scottie, and when they saw the blood, they instantly called the ambulance."

"So Sligo never got me? I was never shot or beaten? I never saw Sligo kill Three-o? It never happened?"

"Nope, but it sounds like a good thing! You said you were shot?" said Winter, concerned.

"Yeah. Sligo had shot my hand, after I refused to hang up the phone. I had been talking to you, Winter, but Ryan had told you what happened, and you kept asking questions. He didn't like it, so yeah, he shot me. Then later on, after catching you as well, pretending to trust me, he caught me giving you food you weren't meant to have, and he shot my other hand. But what was really odd, was that I felt everything! I felt the bruises, I felt the bullets, I felt him ripping off the electric tape… But it never happened."

"Well, you've had quite a hard time then! Maybe that's why you started shaking uncontrollably… Ezekiel and Scottie were taking watch, and you started shaking. We ran out to get help, but Scottie yelled out that you were up, and we ran back in," said mum, and she started crying. "I'm just so happy you're ok!" I let her pull me into a hug.

"Me too, mum. Me too…"

Yay! That's it folks! But if you really want a twist, review, and I can write up a sequel, where maybe he wasn't… wait! I can't tell you! Review XD ps, sorry last chap was short!