The Boys Next Door

Terri woke slowly to feel Harry stroking her hair. Stretching, she opened her eyes and yawned. What she saw made her blood run cold. Across the room, lined neatly side by side were three kitchen chairs. In the chairs were Dani, Louis and Harry. All three where bound with duct tape hands and feet. Duct tape covered their mouths. Danielle’s face was red and streaked with tears, Louis’ face was livid and Harry’s was filled with a combination of fear and anger.

Kneeling at the end of the couch, still stroking her hair was Frank, Terri’s ex. She felt fear squeeze her heart as she slowly shifted to a sitting position. Turning, she met his eyes. She remembered that look… The deceptive smile, the telltale glint in his hard eyes. Suddenly his hand flew out catching her in the mouth. She held it in, not wanting to fuel his fire by crying out. She tasted blood as she heard Harry’s muffled cry followed by, what she was sure were threats coming from behind the tape. Danielle screamed but the tape covering her mouth effectively silenced it. No neighbors would hear and call for help. Louis was enraged and struggled so hard against his bonds that Terri swore the chair that he was confined to would splinter into pieces.
“Very nice place you’ve got here, Babe.” Frank sneered, glancing around the room. He had changed very little over the last few years. His once short hair was gone. He was completely bald… Shaved. He was still well muscled…thanks to our wonderful prison system he could be sure and work out. Gotta keep that bitch slapping arm strong. He wore jeans and a plain white T-shirt stretched over his expansive chest and work boots. He was holding a kitchen knife in one beefy hand and rising he sauntered across the room to stand behind Harry’s chair. Terri felt her heart drop into her stomach. And tears threatened to fall but she struggled to hold them back.
“Frank… Please… Let’s just leave… Just you and me… ” she said, her voice cracking. Harry struggled violently and tried to shout “No! ”
“Shut up!! ” Frank shouted, hitting Harry in the face. Blood instantly poured from his nose. His head snapped back with the force of the blow and once again Louis went into overdrive, actually shaking the chair causing it the screech on the bare floor.
“I have plenty to go around. ” Frank said softly, walking over to Louis, who stared up at him defiantly, daring, begging Frank to hit him. Frank obliged, headbutting him square in the face, shattering Louis’ nose. Blood literally flew. Splattering the front of Louis’ shirt and jeans. The sound that came from Danielle was heartbreaking, but the look in Louis’ eyes… was hatred pure and simple. Terri knew he was smiling beneath the tape. All Louis needed was for Frank to cut him free…
“Well, Dani, This one sure has more fight in him than your last one. Hopefully he’ll last longer. ”
“Frank, please… ”
“SHUT UP! ” he screamed, whirling around to face her. “Do you have any idea what the past six years have been like?! Someone monitoring my every move?! When to eat… When to sleep… When to shit for Christ sakes!” he raised his hand and rubbed the side of his head as if it hurt him to shout.
Terri, afraid to anger him more,stared at him silently,her hand to her swelling lip.
She was wondering where Liam and Niall were. They had to hear the shouting. Why hadn’t they come in? But she didn’t have much time to ponder this because Frank was standing behind Harry. Grabbing a handful of hair, he jerked his head back, forcing Harry to look at Terri while Frank whispered loudly in his ear.
“She’s not much good in the sack” he growled, “but you probably already know that. And the only way you can get her to go down is to force her… Gotta smack her around a little first… You know… Get'er in the mood…You’d think at her age she’d be good at something. Speaking of age… Don’t you think he’s a tad bit young for you?” Frank shoved Harry’s head forward, releasing his hair.
Louis was having difficulty breathing from the blood and swelling of his broken nose, Danielle sobbed behind the tape and Harry’s immediate danger stood behind him brandishing a kitchen knife. The gun he’d used in the bedroom abandoned on the kitchen table… Obviously not loaded…Frank would never be that careless.
Frank continued to rant. Switching from blaming Terri, to begging her to forgive him, his mental state deteriorated quickly. Terri was crying softly now, but said nothing as Frank paced between the three trapped friends.
“I can’t believe you would sleep with him…You’re trying to replace me with…with this kid? ” he asked in disbelief. Again he hit Harry in the face. His eye began to swell quickly. “You weren’t hard to find, ya know. I’ve been here over a week… Got a job at that Chinese takeout place… I know how you like that shit…I knew you couldn’t resist it no matter where you were. I watched all the orders…just waiting for your name to show up.”
More pacing… Another backhand to Harry’s face. “And then finally… Tonight… There it was…your name and address. A pickup for this dump. So I put a little something special in your order…”
Terri’s eyes were round and the question was easy to read… How? they asked silently. How did he know which was mine?
“It wasn’t difficult…you always order vegetable soup no matter what else you order..you made it so easy. And the two outside?.. well that was another matter. But not impossible. I just cold clocked the bigger one… Right where he sat. The blond one? Mmm, used the gun on him. They’re both tied up outside.” he waved the knife in the general direction of the back door. Dani’s heart sank at the mention of the gun and Niall.
Frank began to rub his head again and paced in a circle behind Harry’s chair. He began to weep. Suddenly and without warning he brought the knife up high above his head and down in an arc driving it firmly into Harry’s right thigh. Even with the tape covering his mouth, the scream that escaped was undeniable. Terri screamed, feeling bile rise in her throat. Her hands outstretched toward Frank in a silent plea. Two more stabs, in quick succession, followed the first in Harry’s upper thigh. Blood was soaking his jeans and dripping onto the floor to pool by Frank’s feet. Harry was close to passing out. Blood, and sweat combined, to drip from his face. His eye was swollen nearly shut and his nose was a mess. Louis was most assuredly nursing a broken nose. Danielle so far remained untouched and Terri wanted to keep it that way.
Frank turned away from Harry and paced behind the three captives. As he passed behind Dani he reached out and ruffled her hair before shoving her head forward.
“Are we having fun yet, huh, Dani? ” he sneered. “Always puttin’ your nose in where it doesn’t concern ya… Well does it concern ya now?! A quick jab to her mid section doubled Dani over as far as her bonds would allow. Terri could hear Louis’ words, muffled though they were “mother fucker” was discernible. From the veins in his neck and upper arms she knew he was straining against the tape. Frank was lucky.
“Frank… Please… ” Terri sobbed…“It’s me you came for… Let’s just… ”
“Shut the FUCK UP!!! ” Frank screamed, spittle flying from his lips as he whirled to face Terri. Instinctively she cringed and brought her hands up as if to ward off a blow, even though Frank was across the room.
Again Frank stopped behind Harry. He was nearly panting… Sucking air into his lungs like he’d been running, Frank buried his hand once again into Harry’s tossled hair and jerked it backwards until Harry was struggling to breathe. Slowly he brought the knife to Harry’s exposed neck… “Want me to do it?” Frank asked ominously, flicking the blade to catch the light.
“No!!! Terri shrieked. Starting to rise off the sofa.
“Sit down!” Frank bellowed, stilling her before she could stand.
“I’ll do it.” Frank said, this time in a even conversational tone. “I swear to FUCKING God I will.” He was pressing the blade to Harry’s throat now. Terri knew she had to get him away from the other three.
“You’re right, baby… I.. I was using him because I was lonely… I was lonely without you.” She watched as his eyes raised to meet hers uncertainly. “An.. And I don’t want you to kill him… Because… They’ll take you away from me again… Now you’re here…. We can be together again… Please, baby… Let’s just go away now… ”
Harry, nearly unconscious, moaned in protest. Louis still strained against the tape and spewed muffled threats. Dani never took her eyes from Terri… She wanted to let her know she knew what Terri was trying to do. She tried to convey all the love she felt for her in that stare.
Frank stopped and slowly looked down at the knife in his hand as if seeing it for the first time, then flinging it into the corner, walked across the room and knelt in front of Terri.
“It’s OK, baby… ” she soothed. “I’m here now… I’ll make everything stop hurting… Just like always.”
Frank, on his knees now in front of her, leaned into her open arms and rested his head on her breast. She felt hot wet tears on her arm and felt his hands come up to rest on her neck. Slowly Frank’s grip tightened. His hands closing around her throat. Squeezing… Squeezing. She vaguely heard Danielle and Louis as if from a distance. A deep sense of calm enveloped her and she felt her hand close on one of the marble chopsticks on the coffee table. Placing her left hand on the back of Frank’s neck gently, she drove upward with her right with all the strength she had. The jade green chopstick caught Frank in the soft area just under his left jawbone and continued it’s upward path into his brain. Soft gasping breaths and eyes wide and disbelieving, Frank pulled back to blink at Terri… Then toppled sideways onto the coffee table, where he lay unmoving… Dead.
Several seconds passed before Terri became aware of the others shouting around the tape. She shook herself mentally and moved towards them. She felt like she was walking through a thick fog.. Nothing seemed real. She got to Louis first and retrieving the knife Frank had flung to the corner, cut the tape holding him. He in turn cut Danielle free and they called 911 while Terri tended to Harry. Together the three of them got him to the sofa and Terri was kissing his face and murmuring to him. Louis worked to staunch the bleeding from Harry’s thigh and Danielle waited in the street for the ambulance.
Dani came running back inside suddenly… “Oh my God! ” she gasped… “we forgot about Liam and Niall!” immediately running toward the back door. Terri heard it slam against the side of the house as she ran out and down the back steps. Terri looked up at Louis. “Go. I’ve got this.” she said taking the wadded pillow case from him and pressing it to the wounds on Harry’s leg. Louis whirled and darted across the living room and out the back door. She heard voices drift in from the back yard and heard several pairs of booted feet pounding up the wooden steps and into the house. A very distinctive Irish brogue asked in a low voice, “How is he? ”
Terri tried to answer, but no words would come… She could hear voices and sirens approaching in the distance. She stood and looked around at the chaos in the living room, her eyes coming to rest on Frank… still lying sprawled sideways on the coffee table. Liam reached her just as she swayed and darkness overtook her.

Notes