Gap Fear - #WritetoRank 2021

2. Yellow Belt

Rou startled when the phone in his hand vibrated, the ringtone piercing through the fleeting silence of the night. He glowered when he saw the caller ID on screen, wanting nothing more than to throw the entire phone away, but he knew he had no option but to pick up.

With a face like he'd just bitten into a lemon, he picked up.

"Rou~" A mocking, sing-song greeted him.

Rou scowled. "What."

The man on the other end snickered. "Rou, sweetheart, is that how you should be talking to me?" Rou didn't respond, scowling quietly at the wall along the other side of the alley he was hiding in. His heartbeat, which had just calmed down, began to echo in his ears again. The man remained silent, and Rou swallowed.

"What do you want." He bit out, refusing to give in.

There was a pregnant moment of silence. Rou's palms were sweaty enough that he feared he would drop the phone, and he clutched at it, trying to regain his hold over it. He never had the upper hand when talking to Jude. "Can you just leave me alone?" he blurted.

Jude remained quiet for another long moment. "Why would you want that?" He finally asked, a sinister amusement creeping into his tone. "Don't you think you'd need my help getting out of this little mess you're in?"

Rou pursed his lips. "Are you admitting to a crime?"

"Me?" Jude asked, voice dripping with sarcastic shock. "I would never!" 

"Commit a crime or admit to it?" Rou asked sarcastically.

"Obviously I meant I'd never commit a crime," Jude laughed. "Rou, darling, you're hilarious."

Rou glared. He had evidence of the scene he'd just run away from on the same phone he had to listen to Jude pretend he didn't commit a crime on. And he couldn't do anything about it.

"Speaking of committing a crime," Jude's innocent grin was palpable. "Are you sure you don't want any help? I can get the police off your back if you just agree to—"

"I would never," Rou spat, incensed by Jude's shamelessness. Frame a guy, and then pretend to be his saviour. Did he think Rou had no dignity? "I would rather go to jail than ask you for help. You can take your 'help' and shove it up your—"

The horn of a car driving by blared, covering up his nasty words.

Jude was silent for another long moment. "Then so be it," he murmured. Rou shivered, a cold feeling encasing his throat. He was frozen in place, desperate, hanging onto every dark promise that escaped Jude's lips. "I've waited long enough, darling. If you're so desperate to go to prison, I'll put you in there myself."

Rou remained frozen in place as he heard the beep of the call ending. Filled with two parts indignation, three parts agitation, and five parts terror, he wondered if he made the right choice.

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Written for round 2 of the #WritetoRank competition for the Yellow Belt Prompt: 'The epic banter between good and evil. Set the scene and create a dynamic dialogue between two main characters', 491/500 words.

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