Going Nowhere Fast

19. Alone

I had just gotten back from dropping her off at the train station. I decided that I had a decent amount of time before she would even have the chance to call so I went out to a deli to get a sandwich.

I was walking back with my sandwich in my hands. I thought I should just get a soda from the vending machine at the hotel.

It was a bit rainy that day. Everything seemed like a much grayer version of itself.

"Hey Billie!" I look over to see Stevie standing by himself in an alley between two buildings. It was weird. He seemed to have come out of nowhere. I wondered where Jason was.

I walked over to him. He seemed like he wasn't able to come out in the open for some reason.

"Here come on a walk with me," he invited.

I looked at my watch. I still had over an hour until her train was supposed to get back so I complied.

We started walking down the alley. "So, where's Jason today?" I asked trying to start conversation.

"He got picked up." Stevie said, bitterly.

"I'm sorry to hear," I responded lowering my tone, "What for?"

"Drunk and disorderly. He was peeing on his ex's house after we dropped you off," he said with a bite in his voice. I was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable, like I should've been going.

"Why did he do that?" I asked.

"Because you told him he was better off without her," he snapped. I started to get the feeling that this wasn't going to be as positive an interaction as the last time that I saw him.

"I didn't know that was how he was going to respond to my words," I said sounding a bit defensive.

We stopped walking at that point. We were in this alley behind a bunch of homes where no one would be able to see us. I was starting to feel more nervous.

"I didn't blame you," Stevie said with an evil smirk growing on his face.

"Didn't?" I responded.

"No, I didn't," he did a weird turn thing with his body and then looked me straight in the eyes, "Until I saw your face on TV. You forgot to mention you were missing, William Stephens."

My heart sank deep into my chest. The look on his face was growing eviler.

"I did some digging. It didn't take long to see what people were saying about you back in your hometown in Washington."

"It's not true!" I shouted.

Stevie reached down and grabbed a crowbar out of a pile of junk in the alley that I didn't pick up on. He swung it at my head, striking me in the side of my skull. I fell to the ground. He hit me again. I felt the sharp blow on the back of my head. I was lying on the ground as I saw everything start to fade.

"That's what they all say," I heard Stevie menacingly state as everything faded to black.

--

I woke up slowly. There was an intense pain in my head. I was surprised that those swings didn't kill me.

I looked around the room. There was no one in sight. I was on a dirty floor of what seemed to be some kind of boiler room. It was dimly lit and crowded with loud, bulky, machines. I noticed my arms and legs were zip tied behind me and together like I was some kind of animal. I mean I guessed Homo sapiens were just a highly intelligent naked ape, but I felt like a farm animal about to be engulfed for family dinner.