The Vanished

Part Ten

                                                              A couple days after the police visit

         Jagger has been getting worse since the police came, he's so paranoid and anxious. For example, yesterday Jericho sat by the open window and Jagger got really pissed because he didn't take precaution and shut the window. 

     After that, he didn't let Jericho eat dinner or breakfast this morning. Since then, everyone has tried to be really careful, even though we all wanted to escape, but we were scared of what would happen.

       We clean up the breakfast dishes and Jagger goes off to work, locking us in the cellar. Kit pulls a slice of bacon from his sleeve and hands it to Jericho. I collapsed against the cellar wall, not realizing I had sat on Alessia's cot. 

     I immediately sprung up and flung myself onto my cot, I curled up in a ball and sobbed. No one bothered coming to comfort me, because they knew I couldn't be helped.

     I stopped crying for a second to hear Jericho talking. 

"Why not? No one else would be willing to do it, especially not Anya."

     Kit's voice comes through, "So who would do it, you? That's fucking stupid and you know it, you don't have to do this, please man."

"All of you have families that love you to go back to, I guarantee you my dad hasn't even noticed I've been kidnapped."

     Kit's voice is sounding more and more desperate. "That is such a dumbass excuse! 'My parent doesn't give a shit about me so I'm going to sacrifice myself?' Well guess what? We care! We've been friends since we were 5! Do you really want Anya to have to mourn two people she cares about in the same month?"

     Jericho sighs, "We can't live in Jagger's sick twisted fantasy forever, I can't keep playing along. Maybe no one wants to say it, so I will. One of us is going to have to die so the others can make it out alive. Anya and Imani are too young, and you have a whole family and a girlfriend who all love you. My mom died before I could speak, my dad's been in and out of jail, last time I saw him, he was trying to burn our house down. It kinda has to be me."

     I sit up and wipe the tears off of my face. Imani is right next to me. 

"What if one of us wants to do it, would do it willingly?" Imani asks. "Nobody wants to do it, but I bet everyone here would be willing to do it. We get why it has to be you, but what if one of wants to do it?"

     Jericho gives each of us a long glance. "That's the thing, I know none of you want to do it, and I want to. And plus, Jagger couldn't give two shits about me, if Anya or Imani did it, the rest of us would suffer the wrath of Jagger"

"Why would you want to sacrifice your life for people you probably won't be associates with in the future?" I ask, the question had been burned into my mind since the conversation started. Most friendships don't last past adulthood. 

   "Because I love y'all like family, the family I never had. And I would do anything for family."

"If you're going to do this whole suicide thing, then we need a plan." I say, trying to change the topic to keep myself from having a mental breakdown.

"I can lure Jagger down here, when he's distracted by me, y'all can overpower him and escape. Anya, you get out first, Imani try to follow her. Kit, do everything to keep Jagger from going after them, anything." Jericho says, Imani tries to object but Jericho shoots her the 'this is final' look.

     Imani, Kit, and I grab anything we can use to overpower Jagger with, I grab the small wooden chair in the corner, grabs a sleeping cot, and Imani grabs a bunch of heavy stuff and puts them into a sock to swing.

     We huddle in the corner as Jericho backs up.

     He takes a deep breath in.

     And he runs into the wall, over and over again. 

     Bashing his head against the wall, sending blood flying.

     I scream out in pain as head Jericho's body hit the floor, our backs covered in his blood.