Page 54 of Archer
“Come here, little girl.” A higher-pitched voice compared to the first one said, coming from the scrawnier shadow. “We just want to play.”
The voice sounded like a rat on helium, making my skin crawl. Being unable to see them made me even more nervous, especially with the skinny one making, quick, erratic movements I couldn’t keep track of. Gulping, I decided to make an impulsive move and dashed across the hallway into my bedroom. Flicking the light on, I slammed the door and leaned my back against it while scanning for my cell phone.
“There,” I hissed to myself when I spotted it under my bed. The men’s footsteps were shuffling to the door and I squinted, trying to decide which dumb decision I wanted to make that time. With the bathroom cleaner still in my hand, I dove across the room to grab the phone. Trying to get up to block the door in time, I failed before it swung open, revealing me with the phone in my hand.
Seeing them in the light, I was even more frightened. My knees shook so much that they buckled, and I tumbled backward, the can rolling behind me. Looming over me, the taller one gave me a malignant smile that showed off at least three missing teeth. Across his face was a healed-over scar, but the line was an unsavory pink that even showed on his eyelids when he closed his black eyes.
The second skinny one, though, he would haunt my mind for eternity if I made it out alive. He didn’t remind me of anything human I’d seen before. Instead, the only thing that popped into my mind when I saw his ghastly, sunken eyeballs was Van Gogh’s abstract piece of art,The Scream. The screaming man who clawed at his face in the portrait always freaked me out, but this guy was a hundred times more terrifying.
The scrawny one had irises that were such a light blue they blended into the whites of his eyes, especially because the whites were bloodshot. Behind him, the taller one hovered over the ghostly one, both with hungry expressions, like they were ready to devour me.
“Cash,” the skinny guy said to the taller. “Ray won’t mind if we have a little fun with her, will he?”
“He said as long as she’s alive when he gets her, we can do whatever we want,” the taller one, apparently named Cash, said.
Tears climbed up my eyes and I mentally prayed for Archer to come home with miraculous timing, but I knew it wouldn’t happen.
He left because of me. Because I said I wanted to be alone. And he was a good man who always respected my boundaries. Well, he gave me what I wanted, always doing what he could to make me comfortable even if I didn’t deserve it. I asked him to leave me alone, he did, and now I was alone with these two malevolent men nearing closer.
“Come on, Slink.” Cash said, nudging the scrawny one. “Just a quickie. We’ve been eyeing up her pictures all month. Dumb oaf of a father leaves them lying around everywhere for us to see.”
My skin felt like sludge as I bit back the desire to vomit.
This can’t be happening.
“Fine, fine, you want to go first, or should I?” Slink asked.
My fingers moved backward, hoping I could grab something while they bickered about what they’d do with my body. Too absorbed in the conversation to think of guarding me, I stretched my fingers, and a jolt woke up my heart when my fingers found the can of bathroom cleaner. My heart skipped with a hint of hope.
I sat there watching the disturbing debate, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, when Slink leaped toward me with his hands outstretched, Cash following closely behind. In one motion, I grabbed the can of bathroom cleaner and held the nozzle down, spraying continuously in their eyes until they both crumbled to the ground, screaming in agony.
Slink’s high-pitched screech echoed through the apartment as Cash roared, “You fucking bitch!”
While they were still blinded, thrashing, covered in the bleach fumes on the floor, I took the opportunity to grab my cell phone and leap up to my feet. As I bolted to the door, I thought to myself,I’m going to make it! You got this, Rose!
Then, I was yanked back by a large hand hooking my ankle tightly, making me belly flop onto the hardwood floor. Thankfully, I stopped my face from smacking the ground. Instead, I took the whole hit in my chest and upper rib cage. For a moment, everything went fuzzy as I coughed and wheezed, trying to catch a breath, but the wind had been knocked out of me.
That was when I saw all my hopes get ripped from me.
Slink slithered across the room, his face scarlet red from the chemicals that still covered his skin. Somehow, even with his swollen eyelids, he spotted my ticket out. Just a foot out of my reach after it flung out of my hands, my cell phone taunted me. While still lying on the ground, unable to move from the pain in my ribs, I watched Slink bend down and grab the phone.
“Huh. Looks like you’ve got a missed call from your dad,” he said, and my heart sank into the wooden flooring. “That might have helped you thirty minutes ago.”
My eyes prickled and tears poured freely, realizing how such a dumb, insignificant error, like not bringing my cell phone into the bathroom with me, might have cost me my life. Just to solidify my helplessness, I heard the shatter of my bedroom window followed by a couple of hollow bounces from my cell phone on the parking lot’s cement a few seconds later.
“Won’t be needing that with us, you little bitch,” Slink said, yanking me up by the collar of my shirt.
“You think you’re smart, huh?” Cash asked me, bending so his eyes were at eye level with mine. I gulped, my bottom lip trembling as I wondered how this was going to end up. “Fucking bitch, you’re fucking lucky Ray said he wanted you alive.”
Slink pushed my shoulder blades with all his weight, so I fell into Cash’s arms. Before I could try to make a run for it, Cash swung me over his shoulder, so my face was hanging near his lower back.
I wanted to scream, cry, beg, and plead. But I had nothing left in me. Who would help me? Archer was gone. My phone was gone. My dad might already be dead. There was nothing left to do but stay calm.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Archer
Standing below her window, staring at the shattered glass, my mind began to kick into panic mode. Horrified, I rushed to the front of the building when I saw a shiny rectangle in a patch of grass catching a ray of the streetlamp. Running to the object, my heart sank to the ground when I recognized it as Rose’s phone. Not wasting more time, I dropped the phone in my pocket and rushed up the stairs on the off chance she was there and well.
