Page 112 of Caged
After what she cost me last semester? After X almost pulled the plug on our deal?
After she ran?
No. She’s fucking dead.
54
MONROE
Present Day
“Jesus Christ Monroe,” Gabi calls once we’re out of earshot. We rip off our respective Purge masks and balaclavas, stuffing them into the backpack we left at the rendezvous point. “I didn’t think you were going to do that!”
“Hurry,” I scold her. “We need to get back to the car. We’ll talk about this then.”
We pull on the red Dornell sweatshirts and baseball hats we had brought to mask our all-black outfits. If we pass anyone on the way out, they will assume we’re hikers like everyone else, none the wiser. Besides, neither of us look particularly brawny. How could two itty bitty girls take down such a big bad wolf on their own?
The rest of our jog back to my car is done in painful silence, and I know the second the car doors shut, Gabi is going to give me an earful.
“Monroe, what the fuck is wrong with you?!” Gabi launches into me right on cue. “He’s going to lose his penis and maybe testicles too! He’ll be a eunuch for the rest of his life!”
“So? Let him,” I snap back, starting the car.
“What did you say?” she presses.
“I said,let him.Let him fucking suffer for what he did to Kasey. He abused her, and he was probably the reason why she was chosen to be killed. I hope he loses his dick. I pray he spends the rest of his life dick-less and pissing from a goddamn stub. I hope each time he looks down at his mangled dick, he remembers her name, and I hope his shame plagues him until his dying day.”
“What in God’s name happened to you last semester, Monroe? Since I’m out here putting my neck on the line, at least have the decency to tell me what Kieren did.”
“I told you. He drugged me and put me in a dog cage.”
“What else?” Gabi screams. Her shrill voice is a second away from piercing my eardrums. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Monroe. I’m your best friend!”
“And where exactly were you,best friend, when I was being treated like a prisoner? When Kieren wouldn’t let me leave his room without Harrison as a handler, following me around from class to class and even to the fucking bathroom? Where were you when Kieren locked me in his fucking room for nine days over spring break with nothing but a few bags of trail mix and no phone or Internet? Where was my best friend when I was trapped and spiraling in an abusive relationship that I couldn’t escape?” My vision bounces between Gabi and the road, and I barely make it around the curve without running into oncoming traffic. The pain I’ve buried deep in my soul starts to crack open, and I know I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
I swerve abruptly to the side to pull over. “And I know,” I continue, “I’m guilty of taking Kieren back. But he manipulatedme! He’s a fucking psychopath narcissist! He locked me in a dog cagefor days,Gabi, while I hallucinated my worst fucking nightmares. He laced my water. He starved me. I had nothing to eat but fucking dog food, and guess what? I ate it! Have you ever been so hungry that you’ve eaten dog food, Gabi?”
My chest heaves as I try to get my breathing under control. Gabi stares at me with horror-filled eyes, on the verge of tears. “I’m going to ask you one more time,” I say with as much steadiness as I can muster. “Do you want out? You don’t need to go on this plight with me, because believe me when I say what I’m going to do to Harrison will be worse than Barrett. If you don’t have the stomach, get out now.”
“I have the fucking stomach,” she sniffs as tears fall. “Why didn’t you say anything, Monroe?”
“Because I was embarrassed! What was I supposed to do, Gabi? Send you a message while you were in Spain, having the time of your life, to tell you I’m a fucking idiot and got back together with Kieren, only for him to pull the rug out from under me yet again? I knew what you would say. So I said nothing, hoping you would reach out or send me a fucking email or some shred of a lifeline, but you didn’t. Then by the time things got really bad, it was too late. He took my phone, Gabi. He would unplug the Internet router so I couldn’t get online.”
"He cut me off from the rest of the world,” I shoot back as my voice cracks under the pressure of my bottled trauma. “And I had no one,” I sob.
She reaches across the car for my hand, squeezing it in solidarity. “I’m so sorry, Monroe. You’re right, I abandoned you, and I’ll never forgive myself because what he did to you is unspeakable. I should have noticed the signs. When you went quiet in our group chat, I should have reached out to make sure you were okay. You’re my best friend and I should have beenthere. I should have done better, but I didn’t. I don't know how to make it right other than to say I’m here now.”
Gabi wipes at her tears with the heel of her palm. “I’m here now,” she repeats, “so don’t you fucking threaten to eject me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you to do this alone. In fact, give me one of those fucking guns. If Harrison gives us any trouble, I’ll shoot that motherfucker myself.”
“What the fuck?” Harrison mutters when he starts his car and the tire pressure icon flashes for all four tires. Of course, the corpulent prick didn’t notice his tires were slashed before getting in the vehicle, but his absentmindedness worked in our favor.
Harrison prides himself on being above the rules of campus parking, often parking in reserved faculty spots. The great thing about faculty parking lots is that they’re rather detached from the main campus buildings and therefore, get less foot traffic, which is perfect when you plan to smash a windshield and graffiti a car.
The cock of my pistol gets his attention. His body tenses as I press the barrel to his temple. I can see his eyes looking at me in the rearview mirror, but both Gabi and I are wearing our disguises from earlier.
“Harrison,” I rasp as the snap of duct tape being unrolled fills the cabin of his SUV. Within seconds, Gabi covers his eyes with duct tape and begins wrapping circles around Harrison’s head and the headrest.
Crawling from the backseat and up through the center console, I keep the gun pressed against his forehead, making sure he knows that I could fill this car with chunks of his brainmatter at any given moment. The unwinding of duct tape is louder now as Gabi secures his torso and arms to the seat.
