A/N: Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter! I only like to update one chapter a day, so that is why I am not updating as fast as I could. Anyway, keep the reviews coming and enjoy the chapter! This is a lot longer than normal chapters, but oh well. Review after so I can post another chapter!
Defenseless Fun
I didn't know what to do. Should I punch him like Alfred did, or should I just burry my head deeper into Alfred's chest? Before I could decide what I was going to do, the boss grabbed Alfred by his hair and dragged him to the center of the boxcar. I screamed for him to let Alfred go, but Alfred looked at me, telling me to stay quiet.
I ran to the center anyway. Tears were already falling down my cheek, as I cried, "Please don't hurt him. It was all my fault!" The boss picked Alfred up by his hair, bending his neck back, and whispered into his ear, "Is this true?"
"No!" He yelled, holding his head to make the pain of his hair being pulled have a less impact on him. "Then why is he saying that it is?" The boss yelled, throwing Alfred back to the ground. He picked him back up by the shoulders, and threw him against the wall.
All I could do was watch in tears, as Alfred slid down the wall, still staring at me. He kept mouthing to me, "Don't worry." What the bloody hell did he mean by that? Of course I was going to worry! The moment that the boss started kicking him against the wall, was when I decided I couldn't just stand and watch any longer.
I ran up to the boss and grabbed him by his hair in an attempt to throw him down. I was successful, but he jumped up immediately. "Don't pick fights you can't win, boy," he said, forming a devilish smile on his face.
"Please don't" I could hear Alfred pleading for him no hurt me. I ran to the other side of the boxcar to maybe escape my fate, but he was going to beat me up no matter what. As he ran to me, I was trying to devise a plan in my mind. I could dodge his punches, and maybe keep doing that until he grew tired. I decided to go with that plan, and readied myself as he was only a foot away.
When I saw his right arm swing, I bent over to run away, but to my surprise and horror, he wasn't planning on punching me. He was doing something that I couldn't dodge no matter where I turned. He grabbed my neck with both of his hands, and threw me down on the ground. He started to choke me with no mercy.
I tried to pry his hands off of my neck, but it was no use. He was much stronger, and I was weak. I turned to where Alfred was to say, 'goodbye' or something like that, because I could feel myself fading. I was choking on air, but those were my final breaths.
My vision started to blur and darken, but then I realized something. My vision became clear again when I propped my head up. Alfred wasn't where he was before. He was missing. I stared up at the guy who was too busy trying to kill me that he didn't notice Alfred had moved. Just past the man's face was Alfred.
He moved his finger to his lips to tell me to keep quiet. He then raised his arms slowly, as he was about to swing the lantern at the boss's head. I closed my eyes to relax because I was losing air, but it wouldn't be long until I could breathe again. I then heard a gun click, and heard, "Freeze!"
I opened my eyes again to see who drew the gun. Both the boss and Alfred were staring at the open door of the boxcar. I turned my head as far I could to see. The two men that put us in here were at the door. They were both pointing their guns at Alfred.
The boss looked up at Alfred, finally noticing him, and said, "Oh you almost got me! Nice try though." He smiled back down at me, and released me. I rubbed my hand against my throat, as the man got up, and started to walk over to the two men.
Alfred dropped down to me, and held my head gently to observe my neck, and see if it was ok. I let him, because when I was rubbing my neck, I felt imprints of his hands. Alfred looked sad. "What's wrong?" I whispered to him. The three men were just watching us with their guns pointed at us. I paid no attention to them, though I started to hear the boss whisper things to them.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he said, a tear escaping his eye. This was all because of me. I should have listened to him, and not moved from my spot, but I just couldn't watch him get tortured like that. "But you did though. I am alive now because of you," I said, holding his head, like he was holding mine. It was harder than I thought though, because my hands were still weak from the lack of blood flowing in them, and he was taller than me.
We stared at each other for a few seconds before we both started to lean in closer to each other. It was funny how he was thinking the same thing as me. I closed my eyes just after he did, and leaned in the rest of the way, so we could kiss. I didn't care who was watching.
On my lips, he said, "From now on, I will keep you safe, ok?" I moved my hands down to his lower back, and said, "Sounds wonderful." For eleven seconds we stayed like that before the sound of a gun shot rang through our ears. Our eyes shot open to check if either of us had gotten shot.
When the answer was shown that we were both safe, Alfred and I looked to the men. The boss has shot a bullet through the ceiling of the boxcar. "Are you guys done?" he asked, pointing the gun back at us. Alfred wrapped his arms around me, and stared at the man sternly. I could tell Alfred was furious at him for ruining the moment. I leaned into Alfred, and wrapped my arms around him also.
"Whatever you want to do to us, just get it over with. Do it all to me, just don't hurt him," Alfred said, sounding more serious than ever before. "Him? It just accord to me that we don't even know your names!" the boss said, "How about we get to know each other, while my two men get some… things for me." He stared at his men, and they nodded and walked out of the boxcar.
I gripped Alfred tighter. He always calmed me, but I couldn't help but still feel scared. Was I scared of losing Alfred after I just made him mine? The boss sat down in front of us and said, "What are your names?" Alfred and I stayed silent.
"Oh come on! I'm going to be torturing you both, so why should I know your names?" the boss said again. He turned to Alfred. "I know your name is Alfred" he said, "I saw your driver's license. I just wanted to know what your partner's name is." I could tell that he was getting ready to punch Alfred.
When Alfred didn't say anything, I spoke up, "Arthur. My name is Arthur." Alfred looked down to me, a tear in his eye. "Arthur and Alfred! Ha! The double A batteries is what I'm gonna call you two! My name is Brice. No, that is not my real name, but you can call me that," the boss responded.
Alfred and I didn't say anything. The last thing we wanted to do was engage in a conversation with him. "Gosh, I feel like I am having a conversation with a brick wall," he said. I have a feeling he is bipolar. The way he went from killing me to wanting to have a pleasant conversation, scared me. "The two other men with me are Tom and Jensen. Again, not their real names, but you can call them that," he said.
Alfred rested his head on the top of mine. He kissed my hair, and held me tighter. The man saw that we didn't want to have a conversation, and said, "Ok. Fine, but it will only make your torture worse." Alfred winced at this, and the man stood up, and walked out of the boxcar.
When we were sure that he was gone, Alfred pulled away from me, and said, "Arthur, I want you to run." "Run?" I responded, "What do you mean-," "I mean run. Run away from here. Now is our chance. I will be right behind you, but I need to get you away from here. I need you to be safe," he replied.
"Alfred that is impossible. They have loaded guns, and I am not going anywhere without you by my side," I said, staring up into his beautiful blue eyes. I want to see them for the rest of my life, so there was no way I was going to risk leaving him behind.
Alfred smiled, knowing that I would never say, 'yes' to his plan. He started to lean in to kiss me, but noises from the door to the boxcar indicated that the three men were coming back. "Whatever happens," Alfred said, with worry in his eyes, "Remember that I love you." "I won't remember that unless you tell me every day for the rest of my life. I will not leave here without you." I said, getting mad at him for saying things like he was going to die.
Alfred smiled, but when the men came in, it became short lasting. Brice spoke, "Tom hold the scrawny blonde one, and Jensen hold Alfred. I will set up." Set up? What did he mean by set up? And….. What does he mean by scrawny and blonde?! I decided to shake it off, as the man by the name of Tom grabbed both of my arms, and locked them behind my back.
Alfred and I stared at each other, but then turned our attention to Brice, as we watched him 'set up'. That was when I notice that they brought a crate, three chairs, and a small table that had wheels on it. What were they planning to do to us? He opened the crate, and started to pull out things like metal chains and knives. I heart beat faster every time he pulled out something.
He start to connect the chains to cuffs, and hung them over a hooks attached to the wall of the boxcar. I didn't notice them there before, probably because it was too dark. I then realized what he was doing. He was probably going to chain us up on the wall, so we wouldn't be able to fight back when he tortured us. Maybe I was wrong, I hope I was wrong, because I did not want to see Alfred go through pain any more.
Brice sat the knives, his gun, and other tools on the table he brought in earlier. This process took the longest ten minutes of my life. I was waiting anxiously for what he was going to do next, all while he was organizing the tools he was going to use to torture me and Alfred. When he placed the last knife down, he turned to me, and said, "Tom, give me Arthur. I think he is the key to teaching our friend Alfred here a lesson. Don't you think?"
"Sure thing boss," Tom said. Alfred's eyes widened. He stared to me, and screamed, "Please don't do this!" "Don't blame me! You did this to yourself," Brice said, smirking. I was roughly handed over from Tom to Brice in a matter of seven seconds. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to make things worse. Though tears ran down my face from both sadness and fear, I was glad it was me instead of Alfred. I stared at him, and tried to smile to make him feel better.
I closed my eyes and tried to curl my lips up, but I couldn't help but cry more. I now knew how it felt to watch someone be tortured, and I didn't want him to go through that. I don't think my smile worked, because he started crying. He knees weakened, and he fell to the floor even though he was being held up by Jensen.
He was wailing, even though nothing had happened yet. Between his cries, he kept yelling, "Please! Please stop! No, please let him go!" I was about to cry even more with him, but I needed to stay strong for him. I didn't mean to, but I yelled at him, "Alfred, you are only making things worse for me. Just stop already!"
I tried not to cry when I said this, but tears escaped my eyes anyway. At this point, Brice had already chained up my left hand in the cuffs above me, and was moving onto my right hand. As he changed it, Alfred looked at me, tears in his eyes, and said, "I'm so so sorry Arthur. I- I love you! I just wanted to protect you!"
Alfred fell over again, crying. I only said my last words in that tone to keep me from crying, but I never knew Alfred would be so hurt over that. I guess he really did want to be the hero. It was too late now. I lowered my head and cried silently, awaiting the torture that was about to come. I tried to focus on the wind outside, but Alfred's crying kept getting in the way.
Brice then spoke, "Hold Alfred's head in a position where he can see Arthur, and can't turn away." Jensen bent down and held Alfred's face up roughly by his chin. When I realized what they were making Alfred do, I yelled, "Please don't make him do this. You can torture me as much as you want, just don't make him watch!" At this point I was crying more than Alfred was.
Why was this happening? I tried to move, but my legs were tied together and my arms and hands were chained to the wall. "Alfred!" I yelled, as Brice was choosing which knife he wanted to use on me, "Alfred I love you!" I looked away from Alfred, because I didn't want to see him sad anymore. I felt like that was worse than any torture.
I turned my attention to Brice who was now walking towards me with a larger than normal pocket knife. I looked at the jagged blade on it, and winced just thinking about the next ten minutes of my life. His smile started to widen with each step closer to me he got. When he got just one foot away, he turned to Alfred, who was being forced to watch. He said, "Now Alfred. As you watch your boyfriend get mutilated by me, I want you to keep in mind that it is in fact all your fault. Then when his unconscious body is lying on the ground when I'm done, I want you to think about how there was nothing you could do to save him."
Alfred didn't say anything, he just closed his eyes, tears falling as his eyelids closed completely. I didn't know what to do. I was pretty much defenseless for everything that was about to come my way. He threated to shoot me in the head if Alfred didn't open his eyes to watch, so I decided to keep eye contact with Alfred through the next torturing moments.
Brice then turned his attention to me after he was done threatening Alfred. "I'm sorry your boyfriend did this to you." I didn't know what to say. I knew that this wasn't Alfred's fault, but I know that if I said anything against Brice, it would just make my torture worse.
"Hey, look at me, dammit!" Brice yelled, roughly grabbing my chin, forcing me to face him. I tried to keep my focus on Alfred, but his grip was too strong. I glared at Brice, feeling like lasers were coming from my eyes and searing into his soul. "I am gonna let you choose what you want to happen to you. Do you want a slow and agonizing torture where I keep you barely conscious, or do you want me to knock you out, and you to wake up surprised at what I did to you?"
He laughed viscously as Jensen and Tom laughed along from their spots, holding down Alfred. Alfred cried even louder. I considered this for a moment. Both options were terrible, but I'd rather know what he was doing to me, rather than waking up to immense pain all at once.
"First one," I murmured. I guess it was better if they had to keep me barely conscious. "Great," Brice smirked, holding the knife up to my face. The cold metal started to touch the top of my cheek, just below my eye. I felt like tip of the blade could jab my eye if I made just one small move. The more Brice smiled, the deeper the knife went into my skin, or vice-versa.
Then there was the moment, where the barrier between my skin and the inside broke, and blood started to leak out. He moved the knife from the top of my cheek to the bottom of my jawbone. I winced at the pain, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. "Does that hurt?" he said, in a psychotic way that sent a chill down my spine.
I said this for Alfred's sake, "Not really." Only after I said those words was when I realized that I had made such a stupid mistake. Brice's bipolar personality kicked in, and he started shouting words that I couldn't understand, because they were so loud and fast. Spit was flying from his mouth. I wondered what set him off, but then he turned to me again, making me pause my thoughts. "I'll try a different approach with you," he laughed, "Here hold this."
He was wanting me to hold the knife. For a second, I was confused because it would be hard for me to hold anything with my hands tied up, but everything made sense when he stabbed me in the shoulder. I was being his literal pin cushion for knives. I had to admit, that did hurt. In fact it hurt a lot. I had never felt such pain in my life.
I screamed from the knife going directly through my skin, muscles, bones, and all. Blood started pouring out around the knife. I heard Alfred scream, then start wail again. I kept hearing his voice over and over again, keep saying "Please stop this! This isn't right – just – Please!" I stared up from the ground to him, and said, "Alfred… its fine. I'm fine."
At that moment, my vision started to get blurry, and his cries started to fog out. I was slowly fading into darkness when I my face started to sting from a slap across the face. "Wake up! I'm not through with you!" I heard Brice yell, so loudly, that I was brought back to my senses. He grabbed the handle of the knife, and roughly pulled it out, causing the pain to advance. I cried out, but stop myself in a half scream when I remembered that Alfred was watching.
I tried to move my arms to get out, but I was too stuck to even have a chance of escaping. I looked to see what Brice had in his hands; possibly being his next tool for torture. When I looked down, the floor was already being dripped on with blood. MY blood, which made me feel sick inside.
I focused on what I looked down for, and saw that he was holding a flame torch and a metal rod. Almost immediately realizing what he was going to do next, I decided to ditch my dignity, and start to plead for him to stop. All of my attempts failed as I watched him heat up the rod with a content smile on his face.
Tears were falling down my face, burning as some of them fell into the cracks of my recent wound. When he felt like the metal rod was hot enough, he put the blowtorch down, and said, "I am not as crazy as you think. I did actually stab your shoulder with reason," he started to aim the rod at my shoulder, "You know what they say… X marks the spot!"
He jabbed the burning rob at my shoulder that had just recently gotten stabbed, and burned my skin at the touch. Alfred screamed long before I even started to feel the pain. I screamed and screamed, and at this point, I didn't care what Alfred or anyone was thinking. I felt like my skin was melting off. He slowly stuck the rod in the prior stab wound, now burning my insides as well.
I screamed louder than I thought I ever could. My whole entire right arm was burning from the inside out, and I felt like was melting. I felt like I was undergoing hours of pain, and my head was starting to hurt.
I started wailing when he pulled the rod away. He put the rod down, and turned to me. He said, "Awe Arthur, don't get so sad so soon. We've only just started!" What? Just started? I feel like I have been going through this torture session for hours already. Has it really only been a short amount of time? My left arm was still burning, and I felt myself getting hazy.
I started to bang my head against the wall of the boxcar, hoping that I could knock myself out, and run away from the pain, but my attempt wasn't working. What made me stop was a gasp that came from Brice. I turned to him, and he was holding a video camera. He said, "I almost forgot to threaten your mom for ransom money! I might just have to do all that again, but on camera."
He turned the camera on, and said, "Say hi, Arthur! This is for your mother!" "You can't even send it to her. You don't know where to send it too," I smirked, spitting blood on the floor that fell from my face cut into my mouth. "She lives next to Alfred right? Her address was on his phone. Lucky for us, he didn't have a password."
I frowned from defeat. "Now… Arthur. Say hi to mommy! This will be the last time she gets to hear your voice if she doesn't pay…. 5 million dollars," Brice laughed, getting closer to Arthur. "What? She doesn't have that kind of money! That is too much!" I screamed at him.
"Nothing is too much to save your one and only child," he said. I felt like he knew too much about me.
"Now, I don't think your mom can see your injuries properly. Let's take your shirt off shall we?"
He set the video camera down on a table, facing me, and took a knife to cut my jacket to shreds, so it would fall off of me. He did the same with my shirt. He purposely cut me a few times on my arms while doing so. I only winced because those were nothing compared to the pain I was feeling in my right shoulder.
When he was done Brice picked up the video camera again, and started to show me off like I was just a canvas for his master piece. I felt the cold air from the outside of the boxcar, blow through the cracks and towards me. I was hungry, cold, tired, and in so much pain. I didn't know how this could get any worse.
I started to shiver. The cold air was really getting to me now. It was actually distracting from my shoulder, so I allowed it, but it was starting to get too uncomfortable. In the meantime, Brice was just making threats to my mother now about how if she didn't pay the money within a week, bad things were going to happen to me. I didn't really care. Just as long as he didn't hurt my mom.
He turned the video camera off when he was done, and set it back on the table. He turned to me, and said, "I just want to make something clear, because really… All four of us thought that you'd put the pieces together by now."
"What do you mean? And Four? I thought there was only three of you?"
"Well… Three of us played the part of the bad guy. Did it not occur to you that someone set this whole thing up?" He looked at Alfred then back at me. I was so confused.
"Well, ya, but I thought it was you? What should I piece together?"
"Alfred?" he turned to him. Alfred looked confused, but didn't say anything, "Should I tell him now?"
Alfred didn't say anything which worried me. Brice then turned back to me, and said, "Alfred is the one that hired us to 'kidnap' you guys. How could he have seen that dead body just as he walked into the gas station? Why did he stop at that particular gas station? How has he been so cheery all this time?"
I didn't believe him. It couldn't have been true. Alfred was just a college student who lived in a house next to my mom. He was so nice, and he always wanted to be the hero. I turned to Alfred, "I know he wouldn't do something like that. You're lying." Alfred gave me his warm smile that I was longing to see.
"We knew you wouldn't believe us. That is why we gathered up proof just in case this got out of hand and the cops showed up. The only reason we are telling you is because we were only paid to keep this up for three days. Those three days are up…so. Sorry Alfred!" Brice said so innocently. I hated him and there was no way I was going to let him brainwash me. I could see right through his little trick. This was the worst torture of all, and it was directed towards Alfred.
Brice showed me what looked like Alfred's phone. He showed me a conversation between him and them on text message. It said that his real name was Matthias on the screen. The whole conversation showed that they were talking about how they should put blood on the gas station floor, and about a field of abandoned boxcars up in Colorado. All the proof was there, and that was starting to scare me. I struggled to release myself from the cuffs, and failed again.
I took another look at the phone showing me all of this, and it was indeed Alfred's. It had a hamburger and an American Flag sticker on the back of it, and it was a fourth generation I phone, which might seem crappy for some people, but I could only afford a blackberry flip phone. I stared at Alfred who was confused at what was going on, and why we were staring at his phone. "What is it Arthur?" Alfred said, struggling to get free from the two men. Or… were they even holding him tight?
Was he even trying to get free? I had just seen all of the proof. There was lots of evidence that proved Brice right, and absolutely nothing to prove him wrong. I didn't know what to believe anymore. I can't trust anyone. Not even Alfred. Everything weakened in my body as I was struggling to find out who was right and who was wrong.
Had I really fallen for someone so false? This was aggravating. This was why I had no friends. No matter what you do, it never works out and they end up backstabbing you. I should have never trusted Alfred or fallen for him in anyway. Tears started to escape my eye. "Arthur, you're not actually going to believe them, right?" Alfred asked, a hint of worry lingering in his voice. I wanted to believe him, but all the proof was telling me that he was the reason I am like this right now, and he is now forcing my mom to pay 5 million dollars.
I responded to him with my head down, "I- I don't know." Brice… or I guess Matthias… started to laugh, and said, "Good choice." He patted my head. He threw Alfred a key that probably went to my cuffs, and said "When we leave you can unlock Arthur. We want our money within a week also, ok?" Matthias winked at Alfred, yet Alfred just glared at him. He was probably mad that they sold him out. Before Matthias starting to pack up all of his things, he leaned down to Alfred and whispered something in his ear. I could barely even hear their regular voices, so I couldn't make out what he whispered.
I couldn't believe this. I wanted to cry, Hell… I was crying. I fell for a cold hearted guy that only cared about money. He was a good actor, but I won't be fooled anymore. The two men holding Alfred down, finally released him, and Alfred scrambled for the key. He got up immediately to ask me if I was ok. I turned away from him. I do not ever want to talk to him again. He should stop acting too. His friends already sold him out. I can never trust another word he says. He is a liar and I was stupid enough to ever fall for him.
When he saw that I didn't answer him, he turned to Matthias who was getting everything out of the boxcar that he brought in earlier. He screamed, "Tell him the truth! You're a liar. I would never do something like that!" I didn't listen. That is what everyone would say, guilty or not. Matthias turned around one last time before closing the door, and said, "Arthur watch out for him! Once you fall asleep he might try and kill you!" I looked up, now scared that I was even in the same room as Alfred.
When everything was cleared out of the boxcar and the three men left, Alfred turned to me and said, "Artie please, please, PLEASE believe me. I would never do something like this! I would never want to hurt you. Just please, listen to me!" Tears were falling down his face. His crystal blue eyes made me want to fall for him all over again, but I just couldn't trust him. I couldn't trust anyone.
When I didn't answer again, he carefully and sadly unlocked me from my cuffs. I almost fell to the floor, but he caught me. I immediately stumbled out of his arms. I didn't want to be held by him. I didn't want to fall into his trap again. I most certainly didn't want to talk or kiss him again. I just wanted to be alone.
A/N: Well… Arthur is brainwashed and Alfred is being accused for everything. That chapter sucked, and I am so sorry that I am doing this to Arthur and Alfred... Who do you think is lying? Alfred or Matthias? Write it in your review and have a nice day!
New chapter coming out either Monday or Tuesday. You still need to review to get it though!