Prince of The Misfits

December 31st

They had been there four days now. Sometimes they got food, sometimes they got water; they were starving and dehydrated nonetheless. Anna's father's corpse still lay in the room, rotting, and its stench growing stronger and stronger by the day. If the lack of basic needs didn't kill them first, the smell of the body was sure to do it soon. 

James still lay there, handcuffed by all fours. He groaned each time he moved, his arms and legs hurting from the constant suspension and awkward blood flow. Anna and Rick were still handcuffed to the radiator at the corner of her room; she was all out of tears, and never seemed to stop sleeping. Sometimes she'd wake up, and ask Rick if he had a cigarette or a drink, or consume whatever food or drink was given to her, before drifting off again.

"I wonder if my mum is still keeping the cafe open, or looking for me." James said.

Rick laughed. "That's where me and Anna had our first date."

"I remember. My mum made sure the pumpkin spice lattes were done extra well for you two."

Rick laughed. "Thanks Christine. They were amazing. Tell her I said thanks when we get out of here."

You know," James said, "if we're going to die here, I want to apologise for pushing you into that river the other day. I just... lost control. And I'll never forgive myself."

"It's okay," Rick said. "Who got me out of there?"

"I did." James said, trying to shift about in the bed, but groaning when the handcuffs rubbed against his wrists. One of his crocs brushed up against the handcuff, and slipped off. "Got you back out after Ravi tried to run away. Me and Anna wanted to take you to hospital, but he said no and told us to leave you. We had to compromise and take you to the biker clubhouse, and he stopped me from coming in."

"Thank you." Rick said, smiling back at James. "I regret ever meeting that cunt."

"Me too." Anna mumbled, her grogginess showing through in her voice. "Did you find a way to escape yet?"

Rick didn't answer for a moment. "No, I did not."

"Just like what I said would happen."

"At least I'm doing something." Rick said, his voice slick with anger. "You just sleep all day, waiting around to die."

"RICK!" James shouted. "Leave her. Her dad's dead body is in perfect view of her. Of course she sleeps the days away."

"I'm... so sorry." Rick softened up.

"It's okay," Anna managed. Her voice was growing weak.

"You know, if we die here... wait, I already said that, but..." James began. "I love you, Rick. We've been best friends all our lives and I've never said that."

"I love you too, man." Rick said, and smiled at him. James put his head back down, sighing from the relief in his muscles.

The door opened.

"How nice of you, James. Very nice." Ravi said, entering the room. "I don't like what you were saying about me, though."

"Happy new years's eve, bitch." James said, as Ravi walked closer to him. 

"Rude." Ravi said, pulling out a key for the handcuffs. "Rude, rude, rude."

"What are you doing?" James asked, confused, as Ravi uncuffed him. He put the handcuff key back in his pocket, and it jingled - hitting something else that was metallic.

"You're going to fight me." Ravi began. "If you win, I let you all go. If you lose, I kill you all at the strike of midnight. It'll be a great New Year's Eve celebration." 

James swung his legs off the edge of the bed, and rubbed his sore wrists. He rose, clearly struggling and weak, and walked to Ravi. "Like, right now?"

Ravi punched him in the face, to which James responded "You could have just said yes, dude."

Rick tugged on his handcuffs as hard as he could. James grappled Ravi around the waist, and Ravi just hit him again, sending him crashing down the floor. James had hold of something. Ravi tried to stomp on James's face, but James rolled out of the way and got back up to his knees - but that's as far as he could go. Rick tugged harder on his handcuffs. Ravi bent his knee backwards and slammed James in the chest, sending two keys flying toward Rick. He picked one up, and worked it in his handcuffs, but it did nothing. He passed it to Anna. "That one's yours." he said, the loud crack of bones heard throughout the room as Ravi kicked James in the ribcage yet again.

As he fiddled with the key, Ravi knelt down beside James. He had hold of a switchblade. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this." he said. Rick heard his cuffs click, and they loosened, and he was about to pull free. Ravi slipped the switchblade into James's neck, and pulled it back out, laughing. Rick froze. Ravi rose to his feet. "I'll be back for your two at midnight. Fifteen minutes. Maybe you can fuck one last time." He promised as he left the room.

Rick crawled to James, cradling him in his arms. Blood dribbled out of James's mouth, and he was trying to say something. Rick stared into his eyes, covering up the wound, and tears began to roll down his cheek. "Anna, help me." He said. He looked up at her, noticing she hadn't unlocked her cuffs yet. "We'll get him out of the window, we'll carry him to hospital. He's going to be fine." He looked back into James's eyes, as he gurgled and coughed, spraying blood everywhere. "You'll be fine."

"Rick," she said. "You can't climb out of the window. It's a straight drop, we're high up, with nothing to climb down on. We'll just fall down, and we'll die."

He knew it was true. He looked back into James's eyes, and he started to weep. James clung to him, and hugged him as best he could. Rick didn't know how long it had been, but he felt James go limp, and he knew he was gone. Rick rested him onto the ground, and tried to stand and walk back over to Anna, but he fell to his knees.

"I'm so fucking useless. He was like a brother to me, and I couldn't save him. I'm useless." He laughed manically, crying at the same time. "I can't do anything. I can't protect you. I couldn't protect him. I'm sorry, mum and dad, Thomas and Emilia. I can't even die in a place for you to know what's happened to me. I'm sorry, Christine, for letting James die. I'm just a worthless little kid. Please forgive me..."

"Rick, that's not true." Anna said, her throat dry and her voice coarse. "You were always there for him, when he would cry in class, or one of his mum's new boyfriends were being assholes, even when you didn't know how to. You calmed him down when he was angry. And you understood what was wrong with him and never judged him for it, and he loved you. He loved you and you never failed him. He told me so, after he pushed you in that pond. His death isn't your fault, it's Ravi's. He sacrificed himself to get those handcuff keys. He knew he couldn't win, he was too weak to fight - why else would he grab at Ravi's waist instead of punching him back? You can only fail him by giving up."

She unlocked her handcuffs, and he crawled over to her, and he buried his head in her shoulder as she began to stroke his hair. "And you've never failed me. You went looking for me when you knew I was in trouble. Thank you."

Rick pulled away from her, and wiped his tears away. He stood, and walked to the door. 

"Find a way out of here. You could probably leave out of one of the other room's windows that have places to climb on. Whatever, I don't care how you do it; leave as soon as you can. Go to my house. Tell them what happened." He said, looking back at her. She nodded. "But what about you?"

"If I don't make it back out of here, I need you to look after Thomas and Emilia for me."

"But Ri-"

"But nothing. You can't fight Ravi. Fuck, I can't. But at least I'll buy you enough time to have a chance at getting out of here."

She was about to argue his point, when the door unlocked and the handle twisted.

"I love you." he said, as Ravi opened the door and walked in, a large knife in hand. Rick dived towards him, and they both crashed into the hallway as the fireworks launched into the air outside and the year turned.