“You can’t do this,” I cry, fighting against the ropes.
“Oh, Carly,” he says sarcastically. “I already have. As soon as our other loose end gets here, I can finish this up and be done with you.”
The doorbell rings, and Jack covers my mouth as I try to scream for Campbell to run, to get help.
“We don’t need you ruining the surprise,” he says as he replaces his hand with a piece of duct tape. He then pushes the chair I’m sitting in away from the table and closer to the corner of the kitchen. Jack picks up my cell phone and sends a text message before winking at me and leaving the kitchen.
“Carly? I’m here,” I hear Campbell shout from the entrance. “Where are you and what is so important that I had to drop everything and get here right now?”
I pull and tug against the rope, but I accomplish nothing but irritating the skin further. My wrists feel raw, every movement sending stinging sensations up my forearms.
“Carly? Where are you?” she calls, her footsteps getting closer to the kitchen. As soon as I see her in the kitchen doorway, I try to scream but the tape makes my voice sound more like just muffled noise. Her eyes widen in shock and she rushes to me to rip the tape from my mouth. I pull away from her as the tape tears tiny hairs from my skin and my eyes water.
“Jack,” I pant. “He’s in the house and planning to kill us both. You have to run, Campbell, get help.”
“What?’ she exclaims as she runs around to untie my hands. “What is this all about? Why would he want to hurt you? He’s the one who was cheating.”
As soon she frees my hands, the ease in tension forces my shoulders to heave forward. A warm ache radiates from my muscles. She hustles back around to help me from the chair before pulling her cell phone from her pocket.
“You don’t understand,” I insist, grabbing the box from the table. “We need to get out of here. We can call the police once we’re in your car.”
“You really should have listened to her,” I hear Jack say as he reenters the kitchen. “Now there’s nowhere to run.” I spin around, tightly grasping the box in both hands. Jack is standing behind Campbell with his knife held to her throat. She is breathing hard, her neck grazing the blade with every exhale.
“Put the box back, and use that duct tape to bind her wrists,” he demands.
I hesitate, unsure of what would be the best way to help my friend. Do I run and get help, trusting that he doesn’t hurt her, or do I comply with the hope she and I can get ourselves out of this mess together?
“Now,” he yells, digging the knife into her neck, just enough to draw blood.
“Okay. Okay, Jack. Please don’t hurt her,” I plead, placing the cardboard box down and grabbing the duct tape.
I slowly spread the tape around her wrists, but my eyes never leave hers. “Don’t,” she mouths as I layer the tape.
I tear off the piece from the roll and grip it firmly. “I can’t leave you here,” I say quietly.
Jack throws Campbell to the ground and grabs me to tape my hands together, just like Campbell’s. “You have a chance to get away and you waste it? You are as stupid as I always thought,” he huffs, winding the tape around my wrists and tearing the end from the roll.” He pushes me to the ground next to Cam and pops the lid off of the box.
Sliding the chair in front of us and taking a seat, he picks through the papers from the box. “No one had to die, you know,” he explains. “I just wanted the money, and then I was going to disappear. But then you two complicated everything. There’s no way around it now, you two can’t exist.”
“And how do you expect to keep your name away from our deaths?” Campbell pops off. There is no fear in her voice, no hesitation, just a sass I’ve never heard from her before. “I’ve always thought you to be a fairly intelligent man, Jack, but you’re delusional if you think you’ll walk away from this.”
Jack just laughs as he scatters some of the papers across the table. “You’re right, Campbell. The difficulty is going to be staging it just right. The murder suicide needs to look perfect. But you know what?” he says, tucking the knife into the waist of his jeans and smiling at her.
We both shake our head.
“If all else fails, it’s nothing a little house fire can’t cover up.” He doesn’t give us a second thought as he turns toward the kitchen cabinets and begins opening drawers, looking for a lighter.
Fear completely takes hold of my senses while Cam’s confidence doesn’t waver. She is calm and collected, like she has a plan she just hasn’t filled me in on.
They say when you have nothing to lose, you’re not afraid of losing. Sitting here, looking at Campbell, I’ve never believed that more. She has no family, no husband, and no children. It’s just her and she’s willing to look death in the face and spit on him, while I sit here frozen in place with everything to lose. My girls need me. I can’t let them be sent away to boarding school or another foster family or group home, yet here I sit…terrified.
I think the saying is wrong; it’s the fighters like her that always survive.
Campbell nods toward Jack who is searching through the papers in the box and then quietly slides up the wall. She gathers her bound hands above her head and then quickly forces them down upon her thighs, causing the tape to tear. A grunt escapes her lips and Jack turns to see her pulling the rest of the tape apart and away from her wrists.
He reaches for his knife as both of them lunge for each other in the middle of the kitchen. Panicked, I stand and attempt to remove the tape the same way Cam did, but it won’t separate. I frantically pull and tug, but they are stuck together.
Jack throws her against the refrigerator and she struggles against the arm holding the knife. The thud of her back hitting the stainless steel grabs my attention. She can’t hold him off much longer without help.
As fast as I can, I charge toward them and jump onto Jack’s back, pulling his hair and scratching his face. The three of us crash against the fridge and Campbell lets out a scream. When Jack pulls away from her, she slinks to the floor. I’m entirely focused on Jack, clawing, biting, trying everything I can to hurt him. But he then gains his footing, spins, and flips me over his back onto the table.
The box flies off and documents fill the air. A shooting pain splinters through my back, and it knocks the wind out of me.
Coughing, I fall off the table onto the floor where I’m met with Jack’s boots; the steel-toe connects with my rib. The crack followed by the inability to draw a full breath tells me it’s broken. I roll away from him, trying to get away, protect myself as much as possible from any further assault.
“I don’t know where you think you’re going,” he says, grabbing my hair and forcing me to my feet. Once standing, I see Campbell on the floor, unconscious, with a pool of blood surrounding her.
Tears fill my eyes as I realize I’m on my own.
If I want to live, I have to save myself.
Everything hurts. I’m so battered, but if I don’t act, it won’t matter.
“I thought I would do this quick, show a little mercy. Not anymore, Car. You’re going to feel every bit of this night,” he rasps, tugging my hair back.
I try to think as quickly as I can. I’m at such a disadvantage, my hands are still bound, I’m injured, and he’s bigger. There’s no way I can fight my way out this. I have to get out of his grasp and run. I have to get help here for Campbell.