Time frame: Keith was 18 and Ellis was 17
POV: Keith
Main event: Run-in with a psycho.
This one time, Ellis and me were within a hair's width of being turned into one of them human centipedes. I haven't seen the movie, but I'd imagine that what this guy had planned for us was roughly around what that sounds like.
See, Ellis and I were on a trip out of town and we were on our way back and that shitty truck of his started to act up for the millionth time. I was pissed off because I insisted we take my car but Mr. I-Know-Everythin wouldn't shut up about how good he fixed up his truck. Well, when it sputtered to a halt on the side of a dark road, I just had a feelin we were in trouble.
But this guy shows up maybe 40 minutes later, after we were good n tired from tryin to fix the truck up with what supplies we had in the back. So this guy offers to tow us to his place, and call a truck from there to take us the rest of the way to town. This was back when I was really uneasy around people I didn't know so I wasn't into this anyway. But Ellis really wanted to get home and not be stuck on the side of the road.
Now let me tell ya a little about this guy. Ellis has the worst ability to read people. I swear the dummy would let the Manson family into his house and not even know better. This guy looked. Fucking. Crazy. I mean, he had a controlled crazy look. He was clean, wore glasses, but I felt off about him so fast. He was maybe 35-40 years old, neatly combed hair. Looked like a damn serial killer, and not the sexy kind. More like that "misfit asshole that hooks up with drunk girls" look.
So we end up at the guy's house and he was acting normal enough. He offered us somethin to drink and I figured water was safe enough. I knew what date rape drugs tasted like from a science project these two girls had me volunteer for in 8th grade. They're bitter and hard to mask with water. I didn't taste anything.
Ellis takes a big drink and I kind of baby mine. We are in the guy's kitchen, talkin to him before he decides to make the call. After a few minutes, Ellis says, "Ground Control to Major Tom" which is somethin he only ever says when there's a problem, or when he's singin along with Mr. Bowie. He starts to stand and he drops onto the floor, struggles, and then faints.
Right away I feel it, too, but not enough to knock me out. I'm a little dizzy but way more on edge. The guy moves to stand up and step toward Ellis and before I lose my reflexes and abilities too quick, I grab the nearest thing, a cast iron skillet off the stove and I swing it with all my weight behind it. I ended up knockin that sumbitch clean out with the first swing, caught him so hard upside the face that blood shot outta his mouth and across the wall behind him. Guy dropped like a rock and I stumbled across the room, grabbed El and dragged him outside. I managed to get him about a quarter mile into the woods (maybe not even that) before my legs gave out and I was all woozy and couldn't put together how to get back up.
In the dark, I felt pretty safe, we were hidden real good in some brush. I pulled up my hood and curled myself around my buddy's head so that if somehow we were visible, we wouldn't have any exposed skin. Maybe we'd blend in with the scenery. I kept tellin myself that I just needed to rest a few minutes but I ended up needin more time.
My head got clear and it was still dark. I don't know still how long I was waitin in the bushes. But when I was clear, I got Ellis up and we cut through the woods all the way back to town. It was dawn when we got back. You'd think we went to the cops first, but honestly we were both so damn thirsty that we went to the convenience store and got water first. Sounds real stupid, but if you ever been drugged, you'd know that wakin up feels like your body is completely dried out. We went to the cops right after, though, and the guy was arrested for druggin us.