There were a million ways he could get caught now, and sealing the deal would put him away for life. He didn't care though, he had enough. So much ignorance for nothing, he couldn't bear it anymore. Getting told off like a baby at the grown age of twenty one, he lost all his self respect and didn't want to be shoved around, helpless and always needing a certain individual to assist him with his own life problems. He was done.
He ran to the boot of the car, then shoved it open. They made eye contact immediately, one with deep fear and full of tears with the other one only malice and hatred. Frank picked him up, he felt his entire weight on his shoulder and it was killing him, he had to withstand the rest of the journey with what felt like the weight of ten tons. Each step he took was pounding in his brain, the panic settled back in. If he did this, nothing would be the same. He would have to leave America entirely and start over. He finally got to the point of no return and dropped the body, relieving himself of the weight as he sighed and removed the duct tape of the person's mouth, but quickly covered it with his glove.
"You better not making any fucking loud sounds so that every bird and human in this forest hears or I'm going to rip your throat out with my bare hands"
"Mhm" He replied while stopping the struggling.
"You wouldn't understand how much suffering you caused me, I was your bitch. Twenty four seven insanity that I had to keep locked up in my brain. Always telling me things making me question my existence, well look how we are now. I'm free…. And you won't be breathing anymore… soon enough" Frank whispered then showing the revolver right up to his face.
"Do you know how hard it actually is to have two fucking good-for-nothing parents? And then a dirty snake like you comes along and makes it so. Much. fucking. worse."
"You wanna play a game? It's a simple one, Russian Roulette."
"Sorry… just let me go man" The victim whimpered.
"We know it's a bit too late for that… hehehehe"
"We got a game to play now, you see? You can't go anywhere!"
Frank left, retracing his steps back toward the car, he reappeared carrying a backpack. Unzipping it, he grabbed a plastic casing containing six large revolver bullets.
"Please man… I won't say anything else… I don't want to die," The victim sobbed, tears coming down his ear.
"In Russian roulette, anyone dies. That's the beauty of the game," Frank replied, laughing to himself as he opened the plastic casing.
The hostage's eyes widened as Frank carefully loaded all six bullets into his revolver. The hostage's heart pounded relentlessly, the sound of his own heartbeat drowning out all other noise. Frank's finger tightened on the trigger.
"LETS BEGIN, YOU FIRST!"
"I left my room about fifteen minutes later. Frank was already out of the shower and prepared too. We headed straight to class that morning," Leo concluded.
"This might be informal, Mr. Jordan, but your old friend really was a pushover, wasn't he?" the Figure remarked.
Leo nodded.
"...Interesting..."
"Did anything happen afterward in the same time frame? Anything traumatic or terrible?"
Leo kept his gaze fixed on the drab concrete floor, avoiding eye contact with the window. The Figure noticed that Leo's vitals were dropping and he seemed on the brink of passing out.
"Damn," the Figure muttered to himself, swiftly pulling a lever to send jolts of electricity through Leo's chair.
He remained unresponsive. The Figure cranked up the voltage and pulled the lever again. Leo jolted awake with a scream.
"Now that you're awake, let's continue. Do you remember what I asked?" The Figure's tone was firm.
"Huh? Oh..."
"I've got to ask, are you working with the damn feds?"
"Well, now that you ask, no. It's up to you whether you trust that or not, as I have no intention of revealing my identity. Once this is over, you'll return to your wife."
"And kids," Leo emphasised.
"Sure. That's why you need to tell me. I assure you, I'm not the one doing harm. This person you're associated with, he's the one causing trouble. It would be a great help if you stopped stalling and answered honestly. No one will find out what you've said, and there won't be any legal consequences."
"But how the fuck do you know my name is Leo? Thomas is on my legal documents, national insurance or anything else. My name is THOMAS LEE"
"Stop creating fallacies, especially ones which have been dragged on for fourteen years. We know you were never migrated from the United States to the United Kingdom legally, you're an illegal immigrant… and I'm intrigued to why you ended up coming here"
They entered the architecture class, Leo caught Frank's attention, and they both settled towards the rear of the lecture room. They arrived just in time, as other students started coming in one by one, and the professor was prepared to start the lesson.
"QUIET DOWN," he exclaimed.
Go drown yourself in more coffee, you sad sack of shit
"Before we begin, I have some sad news to share. Mr. Edwards here has unfortunately had a relative pass away in an accident recently. Let's all stay positive and show him respect today," the professor announced.
"What the fuck," both men said.
Frank sat there, an uncomfortable smile on his face, heads turning in the classroom to look at him. A particular person in the row ahead made the same mocking laugh he had heard numerous times before. That recognisable quiffed ginger hair, red freckles fried into his cheek and forehead, stubby nose which snorted every time he laughed. Out of all of this, his worst feature was his voice. A Tingy, putrid and undeniably cancerous squeal anytime he would open his mouth.
"Why so surprised? We all know, after all. It's been on the news," George said.
Frank's veins seemed to bulge as he continued to stare at the lights above.
"In my opinion, she got off easy. That woman probably would've died from an STD sooner or later. Saw her at the strip club recently. Ha, she's looking all wrinkly now," he added with a sneer.
He's not wrong there
Leo chose not to engage in Frank's fight once more. He thought that this was the moment Frank could finally stand up for himself. No more slumping, no more accepting.
He had the chance to confront George and embarrass him in front of the class letting all his anger out at this moment and for the countless times George has picked on him.
"Did she ever give your Dad that kind of attention?. How is she supposed to do anything when your dad is a cripple? He's probably just sits in his wheelchair watching her like a cuck. Just like you…. Hehehehahaha"
Frank grabbed the stool of his chair and squeezed it firmly now.
KILL HIM FRANK
"Yo, listen up, everyone! I gotta say something. So, last week, this blonde prick here came to my house party, uninvited. He was chatting up this chick named Margaret, they seemed to be going somewhere until she got shitfaced and started hanging onto some other dude. I went upstairs to check on her and guess what? She was getting RAILED by LEO. And you know what makes it worse? Frank was just chilling by the stairs, sipping his beer, waiting for her to finish up." George wrapped up his story with a smirk aimed straight at Leo.
The majority gasped while others erupted into laughter in reaction. They banged their fists on the table and heckled wildly, they were part of an audience at a comedy show. Leo absorbed Frank's anger and wielded it in his own hands. He clenched his fist and slammed it onto the table, sending a singular shockwave of sound rippling around the room. The shockwave silenced everything in its wake, everyone their necks back towards Leo.
"THAT'S FUCKING BULLSHIT, YOU GINGER PRICK," Leo roared, offended that he would accuse him of hooking up with random females, let alone a girl his friend was interested in.
"I know what I saw," George retorted with a sly shrug.
"KEEP TALKING, YOU RAT-FACED PRICK I WILL KI–..."
"ENOUGH!" Frank bellowed, his face flushed with anger.
He rose from his seat, forcefully pushing his chair against the wall behind him. He glared at George, poised for action. Without any apparent reason, Frank's expression softened into a smile, and he strode out of the room. Leo wasted no time; he dashed after Frank amidst the primal laughter of the entire class, the lecturer's protests drowned out. Bursting through the door, Frank had vanished. Leo dialed Frank's number repeatedly, only to be met with voicemail. He left a message.
"Hey, don't worry about what happened there. I'll deal with George. Just don't do anything fucking stupid before I have to call the police to find you. Come back to the dorm whenever you're ready."
Leo hung up and hurried back to the class. Many people were calling his name, but he ignored them. All he wanted was to gather his things and leave. When he returned to his seat, George spoke up.
"Did that pussy go anywhere?" he taunted with a smug tone.
Leo grabbed Frank's tipped-over chair, smacked George on the head with it, and spat in his direction. He collected his belongings.
"EAT SHIT, " he shouted, laughing as he ran out.
The whole class' laughter erupted more while some others were genuinely scared, telling the lecturer to call campus police. Leo tuned it all out; he just wanted some peace at that moment.
I wanna kill all of them
He fled the place before campus police could arrive. He hurried back to his dorm, Frank's room was empty and was left the same as it was the same morning. After an hour of searching in the apartment for any piece of evidence that could lead him to Frank, Nothing turned up and Leo had no idea where Frank could be. Leo was also paranoid if Frank believed George's stupid lie, under all the pressure he didn't know if he would believe. He decided not to involve the police, as the last thing he needed was legal trouble. Collapsing onto the couch, he tried to take a nap, hoping Frank would return soon.
Hours had ticked away, and at last, Leo's phone rang, the caller being none other than Frank. The ring startled him awake, his tired arm reaching out and fumbling on the coffee table until it managed to grasp the phone, allowing him to answer the call.
"Hey, Frank, where have you been? It's been four hours," Leo croaked out, his voice laden with grogginess.
"Hey, man! No worries here. Just a tiny…minor issue,"
"Look man, what George said, it was all bullshit. Don't believe that prick, I was with you that entire party, Remember?"
"Oh no worries man, I wouldn't believe anything this guy right here says, especially now."
"I'll send you some coordinates to come find me. Just plug them into a GPS, and you'll find me. Catch you in a bit dude."
"Coordinates? What?" Leo said, now fully awake.
Frank hung up.
"THIS FUCKER!"
Leo leaped off the sofa, snatched his jacket from a dining room chair, and bolted out the door, bounding down the dormitory stairs. Thoughts raced through his mind about the trouble this guy might have found himself in yet again. It triggered memories of a time when Frank had nearly set his own homework ablaze in frustration, all because the school janitor had chuckled at his new haircut. He found a cab, Leo was fortunate that one was just two blocks away. He flung open the cab door without hesitation and hopped in as it pulled up.
"Whoa there, take it easy, my friend," chuckled the cab driver.
"No time to waste! Go fast. I'll pay double," Leo gasped.
The driver caught sight of the coordinates and plugged in the destination. They raced through red lights on deserted streets, taking every possible shortcut. Leo knew he'd be compensating the driver generously for this, considering the risk to his licence.
Only five minutes had passed when Leo leapt out the cab, scraping his ankle against the tire rim in the process.
"Thanks!" he shouted as he hurriedly walked on.
He had arrived at a mere parking lot, a dim one at that. Only a handful of cars occupied the space, with a porta-potty as the sole facility. Graffiti adorned the portable toilet, displaying messages like "fuck the pigs." The parking space lines appeared faded and scratched, and a broken streetlamp, dented all over. The surroundings melted into a sprawling forest.
Leo took out his phone and texted Frank, pressing him for an explanation. Frank's response was cryptic: "Follow the path of the car." Leo shot back, "Which one? There are three." Frank didn't reply.
What else can I expect from this fucking clown
Scanning the cars, he noticed something odd. One vehicle was completely blacked out, a Nissan with tinted windows that concealed its interior, and it bore no licence plates. Leo didn't need confirmation; he just knew. He chose to position himself in front of the car and ventured into the woods, guided solely by a desire to keep moving forward until he encountered a sign. The hundred-foot trees with face-like oak textures loomed overhead.
He pressed on until a voice pierced the silence.
"Finally, there you are,"
Dressed all in black, Frank leaned back against a tree.
"FRANK, what the FUCK have you been doing. First you give me these cryptic messages that make no sense and drag me out here to some dodgy-ass car park where I could have been stabbed or worse. Now you're dressed like a thief and you have the decency to act so casual."
"Yeah, so we've got a problem. Not a major one, though. It doesn't seem too difficult. But, man, do I feel relieved."
"WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?"
"Here, take a look."
With a surprisingly strong grip, Frank shoved him around a tree's corner. Before him lay a young man roughly their age with fiery red hair. His wide-open eyes radiated terror, and the body bore precisely six holes. Feeling the urge to vomit as his brain struggled to keep pace with the influx of information. Frank's hand on his back snapped Leo out of his stupor.
"George isn't our problem anymore."