Crack Attack: A Collection of One-Shots and Other Disturbing Shit

Proofless - Chapter 5

"You!" My heart is still pounding from the sudden rattling and popping coming from the door when she appears in the doorway with her mouth in a snarl and her eyes shining wildly. Her finger is pointed accusingly at me as she all but sprints inside and gets less than a foot away from my face. She is red with fury. "The joke's up! I saw you fiddling with something when I went to get you two food yesterday! I saw it! You both had something you weren't supposed to have and I want you to give it to me right this second!" After three days of trying to pry the metal backing off of my watch, she finally noticed that we were up to something. Somehow, by some miracle, she wasn't able to make it out on the camera that we were trying to break my watch open; she thinks we have something else. We can't let her know what it was or we won't have a chance to get out of here for who knows how long. "Give it to me! Now, Robert!"

I can't look over at Preston for a hint and my brain feels cloudy and numb as I try to scramble in my panic to find an idea. I can't give the watch to her; it's our last chance to escape. I force myself to look up at her and I see that she has three more sewing needles of different sizes threaded through her shirt collar, but she would have noticed if one of those went missing. I cringe as I look up higher, noticing that she doesn't wear earrings... but she does have a bobby pin holding her hair back behind her ear. That's it. I have to say it was that. She can't know the truth but I don't know if my acting is good enough to get her to believe me. I have to try and come what may, I can't be a chicken shit about this.

"It was a hair pin." I awkwardly point up at her and she looks taken aback as she fumbles with her hair, backing slowly away from me as if I would try to snatch another one from her. When she recovers from her unease and betrayal, she moves back toward me and holds her palm out expectantly, opening and closing her hand in impatience.

"Give it here. I said, give it here! You know you aren't supposed to have toys I didn't give you! Give me the pin!"

"I-I can't."

"And why the heck not? Give it to me, Robbie, before I have to punish you more." My mind is whirring but I can't think of anything. What do I tell her? If I say it broke, she would still want the pieces. If I say I threw it somewhere, she would make me get up and fetch it for her like a dog. If I say I gave it to Preston, he wouldn't be able to come up with a better story and he would just get his ass kicked, too. Damn it. What do I do? What do I do?! "This isn't a game. Give me the pin or I'll have to jog your memory until you do." She grabs for the thickest needle on her shirt, the one right next to the usual trail of breadcrumbs. That's it.

"I can't give it you. I ate it." She looks horrified and I'm sure Preston does, too. I don't know if this was a good idea or not, but it's an idea. Her shock only lasts a few seconds before she nods gravely and walks forward to grab my face.

"Open up. Now." I open my mouth and she puts her thumb and index finger between my back molars on either side through my cheeks so I won't bite her. She moves my tongue and lips and roughly jerks my head around to look in my mouth before she drops my head and starts to walk away. Halfway across the room, she stops and looks back at us with a grim smile on her lips. "I had a feeling you'd try something like this sooner or later. Just you wait, Robbie. Just you wait." She rattles the keys impatiently in the lock and she storms back upstairs with heavy, stomping steps. I finally turn to look at Preston's resigned, worried face and I have to admit that I'm touched by his concern.

"What'd you do to yourself, Rob? Why didn't you just-" he says just barely above a whisper but I stretch over and kick his leg to cut him off.

"Do you want to get out of here? Do you have a better idea? If she finds out the truth, who knows how long it will take to get another chance?" He nods and looks down at the bed, not willing to meet my eye as we wait for the woman with the hellfire red hair to return. It isn't long before we hear her angry footsteps and the door starts rattling again. I shiver in spite of myself and I can feel my heart pounding against my lungs as the door swings open and slams behind her with a bang. She has a plastic grocery bag in her hand with something heavy in it and she sets the bag down on the dresser before she comes over to unlock one of my cuffs.