He couldn’t figure out why she’d sent Jill here. His mother said Tommy was killed in the woods not in a house. Maybe was here just before he died or something and that was why Jill was here. He could see Jill’s car parked off to the side of the house but there was no sign of Jill. If it’d been him he would’ve rushed outside to see who’d arrived. He’d at least want to know whether it was friend or foe. But there was nobody except for Maria.
Well, no Jill but at least now he was sure she’d made it out here. He’d been worried at some points that maybe she hadn’t come and the whole thing would be a wasted trip. What made it worse was the place was so hard to find. He’d grown up here and thought he knew the location of all the old houses still standing around town but this one was a new one for him. If he hadn’t known it was here then nobody else did either. All the more reason to get Jill and get the hell out of here, he thought as he hurried towards where Maria was waiting.
“Isn’t it spooky out here?” she said greeting him as he approached. “I just love it. Sometimes I think I can do anything out here.” She sounded a lot happier than she had a few minutes ago and what was all this about doing anything out here. Had she been here before? He was glad she’d gotten over the scolding he’d given her earlier but she was sounding kind of strange. She sounded bubbly, excited even. Not exactly what you would expect when coming to the place someone was murdered. Then again it was Maria. She wasn’t exactly a normal type of person.
“Yeah,” he said instead of what he was thinking “let’s just find Jill and get out of here.” He didn’t know if he liked the happy Maria or the skulking one instead. Either way he wanted to be gone.
“But Jim, this place is perfect,” She purred sweetly in answer. “We can do whatever we want and nobody will ever know.”
He found he was having an easier time seeing things the closer he got to the doorway. The light coming from inside was making things a lot brighter. By its light he could see the smile that was slowly spreading across her face as she slowly rubbed her one hand over her breasts and the other snaked its way towards her groin.
“I thought we already went over this,” he said shakily. He wasn’t attracted to her but he was also a man. He couldn’t deny that what she offered was tempting but then he thought of the perverse pleasure she seemed to take in everything going on lately and how difficult she’d been about bringing him here. Just that made it easy to resist her spell.
“We are here to find Jill and then leave,” he growled.
“Oh come on,” she cooed. “She could even join in if you wanted.”
“Damn it, I said no! Why the hell can’t you listen?”
“Cause I’m not hearing the right answers.”
“Well, that’s the only answer you’re going to get.”
“You sure about that?” she asked sliding a hand down her pants.
“Yes!” he said breathing heavily. She really needed to stop what she was doing. She was distracting him from what they’d came to do. Jill was somewhere inside and he needed to find her. What would he do if she came out while Maria was putting on her little show? How would he explain that? They just needed to do what they came to do and leave. But the nymphomaniac couldn’t take no for an answer.
“Look let go get Jill and get out of here,” he said. “I’ll take you home and you can do your thing there by yourself.”
“You don’t sound too sure of yourself Jimmy. Sure you don’t want some before we go find little Jillykins?” She pulled her hand from her pants and raised it to her lips licking her fingers.
“I’m sure,” Jim said.
“Last chance,” she said huskily sliding her hand back down.
“Stop! Just stop!” he yelled. “I know you’re a damn whore so just stop shoving it in my face. Let’s just get Jill and get out of here. You can finger yourself silly when you get home if you want, I don’t care. Just do what you said you’d do and that’s it. Nothing else. After that we’re done.”
By the glow of from the house he could see her face turn from sensuous to pouting. He hoped this wasn’t a return to her earlier state. If that was the case they’d never get out of here. She just might make them stay here out of spite.
“Fine. Have your way,” she said as she turned and walked through the door.
Left unprepared Jim could only stand there looking at the place she had been. He’d expected some kind of argument or at least another attempt at seducing him but instead she’d given up. It had to be some kind of ruse. She hadn’t given up that easily before so why would she now. And where in the hell was Jill? All this yelling you would think she’d have come running to see what was going on but nope, no sign of her anywhere. Things just weren’t right. Something was going on and he was missing it. Maria had gone inside, presumably to pout, and with her went all of his answers the most important of which was the whereabouts of Jill. If he wanted to find out anything, he’d have to follow her whether he wanted to or not.
Bracing himself he stepped through the door and was quickly assaulted. The light was brighter on the inside than he’d thought. He couldn’t see a thing after being in the dark for so long. Before his eyesight even had a chance to clear he started sneezing. The smell of vanilla, cinnamon and lavender was so strong it almost knocked him off his feet. As it was it felt like walking into a wall it was so thick.
During his sneezing fits his eyes slowly adjusted to the interior. Through his tears the first thing he saw was candles. That explains the light and the smell, he thought. Looking around he saw that there were candles of every shaped and color positioned about the room on every surface that could conceivably hold one and even some that probably couldn’t. Big fat candles trailed up the stairs leading to the second floor, little tiny candles were placed here and there between candles that looked like everything from animals to cars. What was left of a chandelier hung from the ceiling draped with long skinny candles dripping wax down to the floor below. Through all this was a narrow path that led to another room. Maria was nowhere to be seen so left with no other option Jim slowly began to follow it.
While walking he thought he heard movement overhead but when he stopped he heard nothing but the sputtering of the candles of the dripping of wax. When he was only a few steps from the corner that led to the next room he thought he heard talking. It sounded like Maria but he wasn’t sure. It was too quiet. Wanting to get to her and demand to know what was going on he quickly covered the few remaining steps and stalked into the next room.
What he saw was beyond his comprehension for a few seconds. His heart dropped at the sight before him. He couldn’t breathe.
“See, I told you he was coming!” Maria cackled as he sputtered to regain his senses.
Maria stood on the far side of the room in front of the fire place with Jill. But it was a Jill he barely recognized. Gone was the perfect country girl look. Gone was the friendly smile that he’d grown to love. Gone was everything that made her recognizable to him. Instead he saw her strung up, hands above her head tied to a rafter in the ceiling. Her head rolled from one side to the other as Maria batted it back and forth. There was a string of drool hanging from her mouth. Her clothes had pretty much been torn from her body. Her shirt had been ripped open and was hanging in tatters that barely covered the parts of her that Jim had only dreamed of seeing. Her pants were still on but they had been ripped. There were also dark spots on them he was sure was blood. His earlier thoughts of Maria having done something returned. He wished he’d brought some type of weapon but he hadn’t been expecting anything like this when he’d come to find Jill. Nobody would’ve expected something like what he was looking at.
“I told you she could join in,” Maria said seductively as she groped Jill’s chest. “I offered to share you with her but she said no. She wanted you all to herself. I couldn’t allow that.”