Charade

Lily

I found a bedroom that wasn't mine and locked the door behind me. I didn't want to see either of them, at least for the next twelve hours. As I lied on the lumpy mattress, I stared up at the decaying ceiling and wondered if it would cave in overnight, leaving me dead for the morning. It wouldn't be the worst thing that had happened to me.

Why couldn't they see how right I was about luring out this guy? Whoever he was, he wanted me dead. Why not let him think he had the chance?

I fell asleep on a tear-stained pillow and found myself in some distorted dream, where I managed to lure out the creep and save the day. Everybody thought I was a hero, instead of the selfish, useless brat I'd become. All I wanted to do was help. I wanted to prove Dad and Benji wrong; I wanted to fight with them and show them I could be better than what I was. But they wouldn't let me. Why wouldn't they just let me?

In my dream, Benji came up to me, leaned in close, and brushed his lips against mine. I smiled and grabbed him, crushing my mouth against his. Then, my eyes snapped open and I was back in the dark bedroom. When I looked up, I saw I hadn't crushed my lips against Benji's, somebody had crushed their hand over my mouth.

The dark figure stood above me, holding his rough, heavy hand over my mouth. Panic locked all my muscles and I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Then, a cold, circular tube was pressed to my throat, and the figure leaned in close.

"Scream, and I will shoot out your larynx." He murmured in the darkness, voice laced in a familiar Irish accent.

I sucked in short, frantic breaths, looking up at the man. I couldn't see his face, only his silhouette.

"I want to talk to you, so I'm going to take my hand off your mouth, but if you try anything, I won't only kill you, I'll go into the next room and I'll cut open your darling Benjamin while he sleeps. And then I'll go into your father's room, show him what I've done, and then I'll kill him, too. Do you understand?"

Fear paralysed me, tensing up all my muscles and robbing me of any rational thought. Slowly, carefully, I nodded.

"Good," he said, pleased.

Hesitantly, he took his hand away from my mouth and sat in a chair beside the bed.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"N-No," I stammered. "I can't see you."

"We know each other, Lily. I thought you of all people would've figured it out."

I listened to his voice, trying to make sense of the familiar sound. I did know him, definitely, but I couldn't place his voice.

"Who's Dana?" I asked.

The air changed instantly and I knew I'd fucked up. I gulped, deciding to go with it. Maybe if I could get under his skin, I could get the upper hand.

"I know you're doing this because my dad killed Dana, but I don't know who she is. Please. I just want to understand. If my dad did something so horrible, don't I have a right to know?"

"Dana..." he whispered.

"Yes," I pressed. "Who is Dana?"

He shot up out of his seat, pressing his palms to his temples.

"I don't want to talk about Dana," he said, sounding like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Okay, okay," I said, trying to calm him down. "We can talk about something else. What did you want to talk to me about?"

The man paused, looking straight at me. My eyes adjusted slightly, and I could make out his nose. That crooked, wonky nose. I knew it. I'd seen it. So why couldn't I place it?

"I want you to come with me tonight." He said.

I paused, biting my tongue.

"To punish my father and Benji?"

"Yes," he said. "They deserve to be punished."

"And what if I don't want to go?"

He was absolutely insane if he thought I would simply take his hand and skip off into the sunset with him. What did he think this was?

"I heard you talking tonight with them," he said calmly. "Planning to lure me out; planning to kill me. You wanted to be the hero, didn't you? You wanted to save the day?"

I gulped, nodding unsurely.

"You still can," he said, leaning close. "You can still prove yourself to them, show them how brave you are. Because, Lily, here's what is going to happen. You are going to come with me tonight, one way or another. If you come willingly, I'll let them live. You and I can just walk out of here together, leaving them asleep in their beds. Or, you put up a fight, and everybody dies."

"Dad will kill you before you get the chance," I swore.

"Do you see this?" He asked, holding up the silhouette of a gun. "This is an automatic. I could mow down an entire classroom of children with this thing. So tell me, what do you think will happen when you start screaming?"

He paused, expecting an answer.

"They'll run in and try to save me," I said.

"That's right. They'll run in through that door, right there. And I'll be standing right here, pointing the gun at the door, ready to mow them down."

Then, he leaned in again, and I felt the sickening smile on his face.

"Even if I only manage to get one of them, could you live with that, little Miss Langley? Could you live with all that blood on your hands, knowing you could've prevented it?"

In my mind, I saw flashes of the scene. The two of them, lying dead in my doorway, guts splattered all over the floorboards. Or, one of them dead, and the other leaning over the lifeless corpse, wailing with utter grief. He was right. There was no way out of this.

"Okay," I said, tears rolling down my cheeks. "You promise you won't hurt them if I go with you?"

"Absolutely," he said, voice chipper and happy. It made me feel sick inside.

"Alright," I said. "Let's go."

© A.G. Travers 2015