THE VICKERS

Chapter 29

"Darius?! Darius?!"  a gentle voice calling out to me.

"Darius wake up", the voice pleaded. "Darius?"

"Shut up bitch!" another voice. This one was hoarse and aggressive, unlike the one before.

"Fuck you! " the softer voice said not sounding as pleasant as it was before.
The voice now started to sound like Dahlia's. My head was pounding and I was blindfolded. A door slammed. 

"Darius? He's gone. Darius wake up!" the voice said a little louder.

I twisted my wrists to see if I could get free but it was no use. I knew I was sitting on a chair. My legs were tied together and my arms tied behind my back. If I got up, I'd most likely fall.

"Dahlia?"

"Yes, it's me, idiot! Who else?" she answered with her usual snarky tone. 

"I'm gonna rescue you. Where are we? I have blindfolds on"

"I can see that. Where's Devin?" she asked with a bit of hope in her voice. 

"He's ...." I started. I wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't answering me before. I could only hope he was still alive. 

"He's what Darius?!" she sounded more angry than fearful.

"He's gone to get help, Marcus and... friends..." I didn't want to worry her by bringing up Juno.

"Marcus! That ass! He probably had something to do with this. I could have sworn I heard him at the place..." she'd figured it out too. 

"Yea we know" Was all I could say. 

Silence fell over the room.

"Look we can't stay here. You need to get free and then un-tie me." The determination in her voice made it sound so easy and matter of fact. 

"How am I gonna do that?" I was blindfolded and both my arms and legs were tied together.

"I don't know when they're coming back so you have to hurry. I don't have on blindfolds. I'll direct you. Get up and follow my voice," she commanded.

I did as I was told, and hopped and shuffled as gently as I could towards her voice.

"Good now a little to your left." I shuffled to the left.

"Forward, forward. Ok, stop." I halted.

"Now turn around and bend backwards slightly," she instructed. 

"I'm losing balance," I complained as she urged me to bend over backwards even more as if that's not what I've been doing the past few days.

"I'm trying to untie the knot with my teeth,"

I felt around until my hand grazed her face, using whatever strength I had left to keep me steady. Her yanking at the ropes really sent the pain through my arm. I clenched my teeth just to bare it. 

"What's going on in here?" boomed the hoarse voice from earlier. I was yanked forward and pushed down to the floor. I hit the ground hard, my elbow smacking against the ground. 

"Darius!" I heard Dahlia scream.

The blindfold was violently pulled from my eyes. I was now staring into the beady eyes of a thick bald-headed man. I recognized him as one of the men Tino was with earlier.

Not Mike, but the quiet one. I knew I couldn't trust that bastard. He slapped me across the face and my eyes landed on Dahlia.

Her face was marked with nothing but pure anger. Her sharp eyes laced with fury.

"You leave him alone jackass" she fought against the ropes but they wouldn't let her go. She was bound and helpless.

"Oh really," is all he said before yanking me to my feet.

He forced my head in her direction.

"What a family reunion huh?"

I was stunned at my sister's condition. Her face was severely bruised, cut and swollen on one side; probably from where she'd been hit several times.

I glanced at her ankles that were red and bleeding, so were her wrists, no doubt from straining against the ropes. Her shirt was hiked up just enough to see her bruised stomach. They'd done her bad.

I wrestled against the man that had me in his grip. I needed to get to her.

"Stop it kid!" he demanded. I didn't stop until another slap landed across my cheek.

"You son of a bitch I'm gonna kill you!" she screamed as she yanked against her ropes, intensifying the bleeding.

"What's going on in here?" A woman had entered the room.

"Why is his blindfold off?" she demanded.

I looked at the woman, taking in her black ensemble. Her voice was familiar. Too familiar. When my eyes finally reached her face, my heart filled with panic.

Her face was different, but her eyes. I would never forget those cold blue eyes.

"Margaret?" I said barely above a whisper as panic rose in my chest. 

She realized that I recognized her. She yanked the blindfold up over my eyes.

"Take him to Bick," she demanded. 

"No no no, no!!!" I pleaded and fought but it was no use. We were back in the hell we escaped from.

~~~~

I was dragged down the flight of stairs. I remembered the layout of the house as it was before it was burnt. The flashbacks of that night came rolling in.

I matched my memories to what Devin had told me earlier. That our escape wasn't pure luck, that it was all planned just so we could getaway.

But whoever was doing this, his name was Bick. Bick was our father's name. Our father is dead. I know he is, I was at his funeral. I saw the body, in the casket. And my mother's was in another one next to it.

Who was this person? Why did he take my father's name? 

The room I was in was much brighter than the one before. There was a light that penetrated the blindfold so I could see shadows moving around me.

"Let me go you bastards!" I said in a panic. I was pushed down into a chair.

He took my blindfold off. The sudden exposure stung my eyes. I was in the living room, or what used to be the living room.

The furniture was all burnt, the walls were coated in black, the floor was damp. The front door was white, it was brand new.

"Why would we do that Darius?"

The man was fairly tall. He wore a black suit and dark glasses. He smiled menacingly wrinkling the corners of his eyes.

"Who are you? What do you want? Why are you doing this?" I had my suspicions of who he was, but I didn't want them to be true.

The man took slow deliberate steps towards me. The room was empty except for him and the other man who tied me up.

When he was a few feet in front of me, he stopped. He crouched to my level. Being that close I saw that his face was burned on the right side, severely scarred. He slowly removed the glasses and smiled showing off crooked yellow teeth. 

"Don't ya recognize your father when you see him boy?"