Rearranging (TotalSmile)

Chapter 4

Rearranging Ch 4   The men forced the two friends into Charlotte's living room. They pushed the girls into two opposite couches facing each other with a coffee table between them.  

"If any of you try to Rearrange, if any of my men feel as much as an itch that feels weird, the other one of loses a limb, understand?" Lyle said scarily.   

Alyson and Charlotte nodded, the lumps in their throats too big to allow them to speak.    "I'm going to cuff your hands in front to let you move a bit more. But as I said, if you Rearrange a single hair of my men, I will make sure you pay." the detective warned. 

  The men took the cuffs off and Alyson quickly rubbed her wrists before they put her in the hand cuffs once again.  One of the uniformed men handed the detective the drawstring backpack that had been on Alyson's back. 

  Lyle emptied the backpack on the floor. Inside it was a DVD, a phone charger, and a lunch box with two red apples in it. He took a bite out of one of the apples and spat it out and dropped it immediately, He wasn't much for fresh fruits. 

  The detective knelt down to pick up the apple. When he saw the bruise on the apple, he smiled as an idea formed in his mind. He stood up and slammed the apple on the table. 

  "One of you is going to Rearrange the bruises off this apple." Lyle commanded.  

None of the girls made any motion to touch the apple and the detective saw no change in the apple.    "Since none of you want to confess. Here's what's gonna happen, I'm going to wait 10 minutes. If none of you Rearrange the apple, a bullet is going in your left foot. 15 minutes another goes into your ankles. 20 minutes another goes into both calves. 25 minutes it inserts itself in your knees. If by some rare chance it goes onto 30 minutes then we're breaking your hips. Then if you drag it on past 35, we're giving you Christ's hands. 40 it goes into your elbows, then at 50, the bullet goes into your shoulder, twice. If you manage to survive with your secret for an hour, it's a secret you'll have to take to your very quick grave. Do you both understand?" Lyle explained, not bothering to mask his malice.  

Neither girl said anything. Detective Bowden slammed his hand on the coffee table. "Do you both understand!" he shouted.   The two girls nodded.   

"And your time starts, now." The detective said, sarcastically.   

*Just focus on keeping it secret,* Alyson said to herself. *Charlotte won't tell, don't be the weak link, Alyson.*  

Lyle glanced at his watch, 10 minutes was up quickly.   "Aim for their left foot, officers." Detective Bowden commanded.   

The men aimed for each girl's left foot and fired.  

Alyson almost couldn't believe what she had just seen, the man aimed a gun at her foot and then there was a big bang. She stared gaping at the huge hole in her left foot, then the pain caught up with her. 

  It was like someone had put a wall on her foot then set it on fire. The pain was so great, she couldn't even think about Rearranging. Tears and snot streamed down her face    Lyle checked his watch, 15 minutes had passed. 

  "Put 2 bullets in their ankles!" the detective yelled. The men took careful aim, making sure the projectiles would surely fracture their ankles.  

"Wait!" Alyson yelled. "Stop, I'm the one that can Rearrange!"  

Lyle made a 'tsk' sound with his mouth. "Well, well you should have confessed to it earlier. Then your friend would still have a chance of running again." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Now, Rearrange the bruises off the apple."