Punk had sped his way to the motel Tim was at in a flash, barely letting the car stop when getting out outside of the motel building, heading straight for the room that had it's light on, kicking and punching at it with anger.
"Open this door!" Punk yelled while connecting his fists and feet with the hard wooden door.
He watched as the door opened, Tim standing with a smile on his face as he looked face on with his former cell mate.
Punk would have knocked Tim into southern daily light having had his youngest son in his arms. Little Thomas was clearly a shield for Tim, holding him whilst the three year old slept.
"You put him down." Punk said, watching Tim walk back into the room, Punk following in and shutting the door with a slam, spotting his other son lying on the bed sleeping. He was so glad they weren't harmed.
"I have to admit. They are cute little things. But cute…" Tim turned around after carelessly putting Thomas down on the bed beside Tate, "Cute doesn't come from killers." Tim looked into Punks angered eyes.
"I don't know what it is you want from me. Just give me my sons, leave them and my wife alone. They haven't done anything to you." Punk said.
"Do you want to know why I'm doing this?" Tim asked, "It's not because I hate you, or I discredit you… No, it's because… you should still be rotting in prison like all the other murderers out there." Tim came closer to Punk, "You shouldn't be afforded this luxurious life with your beautiful wife and great kids. You killed a man. Hell… I only snorted and dealt some drugs and I had to spend more time in that hell hole than you." Tim said with jealous anger.
"I was in there for the wrong reasons. I never meant to kill anyone." Punk fought back, to keep his good name as clean as he believed it was.
"But you still did." Tim reminded him, "What do you think little Tate and Thomas will think when they get older? When they find out daddy is a cold blooded murderer? Huh? Do you think they're going to appreciate you like they do now?" Tim said, watching Punk get more and more agitated by the minute.
"What is it you want from me?" Punk asked him, "Is it money? Is it just to make me feel bad? What?" Punk said, wanting this over so he could return with his sons to his obvious terrified wife.
"No." Tim shook his head, "I want to play a game with you." Tim began to circle around Punk, the only thing Punk kept his eye on was his sleeping children in the corner, "If you win, you get to go back and live your great life… you lose, well you don't just lose… you lose your whole world, your life, your reason for breathing, your reason for living… your wife." Tim said as Punk became more alert to what Tim was saying.
"What have you done to her?" Punk said, grabbing Tim around the neck and pushing him up against the wall.
"There's going to be time limits for you to get to her in each round. The more rounds you complete, the more you get closer to saving her." Tim said, not even phased by being held up against a wall.
"I'm not playing a fucking game with you. What have you done with my wife?" He asked, cursing himself for leaving AJ alone at home.
"No game? No wife." Tim stated as Punk unflexed his muscles and let him down.
"And my kids?" Punk looked over at his sons.
"They'll be here. Waiting for you when you get back." Tim promised, "I've arranged for April's mother to come pick them up." Tim said, having had this plan processing in his mind for nearly a year now.
"How can I trust a damn word you say?" Punk spat towards Tim.
"C'mon, Phil. You know I don't lie." Tim smiled, "Now… let me give you the first clue to the first round." Tim clasped his hands with a smile, "Let me rewind back to six years ago, where you met your beloved April… there is a clue there to the next round. You have twenty four hours from now." Tim looked at his watch on his wrist with a smile.
"You want me to go back to Chicago?!" Punk shrieked, "How do I know you're just bullshitting me… she could be at home." Punk said, not believing anything he was hearing.
"If that's where you met her, then yes." Tim nodded, "I have a photo for you… if you don't believe me." Tim smiled, taking his phone out, passing it to Punk as Punk cringed at the photo. AJ was lying in some sort of bed, her hands tied behind her back with tape over her mouth, her eyes streaming with tears and fear.
"You have twenty four hours." Tim reminded Punk.
Punk immediately ran out of the motel room, his mind set on AJ and bringing her to safety, his heart racing with unknown worries. The thought of not knowing where she was or who was with her was tearing him apart, he had to find her, the sooner the better. His gut was telling him he shouldn't have left his kids, but his heart was telling him that if he didn't, his kids wouldn't have a mom anymore, and he'd be damned if someone took his childrens mother from them.
He ached to have to get a flight to Chicago, he barely had enough money on his credit card, but he wasn't risking anything. He wasn't 5, he wasn't interested in these stupid rounds or games, but he couldn't lose his wife. She was the backbone to their family, she was his everything, after all they had been through, he couldn't lose her. He had every right to just beat the shit out of Tim right there and beat where his wife was out of him, but he couldn't risk anything happening to her.
With AJ…
AJ winced as the tape was peeled from her mouth, her body stuck lying in the centre of a bed god knows where, her arms tied behind her as she stared up at a familiar face.
"Why are you doing this?" AJ cried, looking up at Jenny who had came to her house after Punk left, smacked her across the head and dragged her out to where she woke up here, "Where are my kids… Phil… why have you brought me here?" AJ asked, wanting answers.
"Oh, shut up. You sound like a broken record." Jenny took a seat on the opposite bed, "Your kids are fine. They're with your mother. Your sweet little husband got to them in time." Jenny stated.
"Why can't you let me go? I… I was trying to help you." AJ said, feeling so betrayed.
"Yeah? Well I never needed your help. I'm perfectly sane." Jenny said, "Tim said I was to tell you what's happening, even though I insisted you didn't deserve to know… but he is the boss. Your husband is going to be playing a little game." Jenny said, watching AJ manage to sit up, her arms still behind her as she glared at who she thought was just one of her patients.
"What are you talking about?" AJ spat.
"If he doesn't complete each round in the twenty four hours die." Jenny smiled.
"You are insane… I haven't done anything to you, please let me go. Leave my family alone." AJ begged, knowing that all the begging she done wouldn't be enough, "At least tell me why you are doing this?"
"Well, Tim is all for equal rights. That's what I like about him. He has a lot of frustration over your husband getting out of prison after only six months. Especially when he killed someone." Jenny said.
"That was in the past… my husband never meant to kill anyone. Please, just give me my children and… if you're after money, we can give you money." AJ said, trying to offer anything she had, just not her children and husband.
"We're not after money. It's up to your husband to save you now." Jenny smiled as AJ glared at her.
"Yeah? Well he done it once, he can do it again." AJ spat, having full confidence in Punk to succeed in whatever sick, twisted game Tim was playing with him.
12 Hours Later…
Punk had arrived back in Chicago for the first time in five years, the dampened windy air twitching his nose when he stepped off the extremely torturous flight. He couldn't believe he was really doing this. But he had no choice, he couldn't lose his wife, there was no Punk without AJ.
He hated to think that Tim had been watching his family for a year, finding all the scabby information he needed to form his plan.
He got a cab to the mental hospital, having not set foot inside the place since six years ago, which felt like a lifetime ago. He couldn't get the image Tim had shown him of AJ out of his head. He knew what Tim was capable of, he had the scars on his own body to show, he couldn't put AJ in danger. He'd have to play this foolish game and he swore he wouldn't let anything happen to AJ. If he were to lose her he would lose himself along the way.
He got dropped off at the hospital, heading right through the doors, nothing having changed about it surprisingly, the same disgusting smell running through the corridor airs. He seen some patients who were there when he was and it sincerely made him sad. How anyone managed to last in here over a year was a tough son of a bitch.
He ran upstairs to the floor him and AJ met, running to the lounge and looking around as people stared at him with crazy eyes. He couldn't believe he was actually a patient in here once. He looked around at the couch him and AJ were sitting on when they met, his eyes catching on to something on the table in front of the couch.
"What are you doing?" She asked, not caring how nosey she sounded, she was interested as to why he was writing so much down on a piece of paper in a scrap book.
"My doctor told me to do it. Write down your feelings for each day and reflect on it before you go to bed." He looked across at her as she nodded in understandment.
"Does it help?" She asked him curiously.
"Nah." Punk shook his head, "Nothing ever does." He said, looking at her as she smiled down at the table, her wrists on show for him to see… "You cut yourself?" He asked her…
Punk stared at the scrapbook that he used to write in, just evidently sitting on the table waiting for him to pick up. He cringed at the patient's around him, some banging their heads off books, some trying to tear at their clothes, some just staring into space. Why he ever was put in here was beyond him.
He walked around the couch and reached for the scrapbook he used to write in when he was in the hospital, taking it in his hands and opening the first page, looking at the message at the bottom of the page. The next clue to where he had to go next no doubt as he read it closely. His kidnapped wife forever in his mind throughout this childish, mind fuck of a game.
Where all is green and pure. Innocence gone with a first born.
10 REVIEWS = New Chapter.