“Let her go,” Aby pleaded. “She doesn’t deserve this. Let her go and just take me.”
“Sorry, no can do,” Tex said, tightening the bindings around Peaches’ wrists. “I can’t have her leaving and telling someone about what I’m up to. Besides...why not have my cake and eat it too? Two victims are better than ones…”
Aby swallowed hard. She couldn’t believe that she was at the hands of such a psychopath. As he bent down to continue binding Peaches up, something fell from his pocket. An orange prescription bottle. She tilted her head to the side, trying to read the label, but she couldn’t make out what it said.
“You’re sick?” Aby asked, nodding to the empty prescription bottle. She thought if she could keep him talking, it might give her some time to figure out an escape plan. He chuckled to himself, picking up the empty bottle and shaking his head.
“So they tell me,” he tutted. “Sick in the head, apparently. I’ve been drugged up on these things for years...they made me feel so...numb. And now I feel everything again. I feel so free, so alive. And I have these...these urges. They’re coming back to me now...oh yes.”
Aby felt sick. She had no idea what those urges could be. Tex grinned at her.
“Oh, don’t you worry, ladies. I’m not a pervert...I’m not going to do anything sexual to you. No...I don’t go after women in particular. I just want someone to play with. All this time...all my therapists have spent so much time trying to fix me...telling me that I’m the problem...well, they’re all gone now. There are no cops around to arrest me...no one to decide what’s right and what’s wrong anymore...I can do what I want.”
“What are you going to do to us?” Aby asked for a second time. This time, though, she really wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Tex approached her and crouched beside her, his mouth close to her ear. She could smell how stale his breath was and she tried to wriggle away, but he pinned her down.
“Everyone has their vices,” he murmured. “Mine? I like to cause pain...and that’s what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to show you all my toys...my drills...my knives...my tweezers...and then I’m going to use every single one of them on you.”
Aby felt sick to her stomach. She wished he would just shoot her there. Anything was better than the torture he wanted to inflict on her and Peaches. Tex pulled away from her ear and cupped her cheek in his hand. When she looked up at him, she couldn’t believe how trustworthy he still looked. He had one of those faces that seemed kind. It was as though she’d imagined all of the things he just whispered to her. But when he smiled, she knew she hadn’t imagined a thing.
“Don’t you worry,” he said softly. “It won’t last long. Maybe just a few days each...and since you seemed so desperate for Peaches to be out of her misery...I’ll make sure she goes first. Okay?”
Aby screamed then, unable to contain the fear inside her for any longer. Tex clipped her across the face with his pistol and Aby was sure she felt one of her back teeth crack, but she kept screaming. She desperately needed someone to hear, to help her, to rescue her and Peaches from the hands of a truly evil man. This was the moment that Jake was supposed to leap from the shadows and do something about it. But when Tex clamped a hand over her mouth and pressed against it hard, she knew she was on her own.
“Your precious fiance isn’t coming for you,” Tex said darkly. “It’s just you, me and Peaches now...and we’re going on a little trip.”
Aby was powerless to do anything as he carried her bundled up body and threw her in the car. She landed hard at the bottom of the car and a few minutes later, Peaches landed on top of her. Aby could barely breathe, and it took all of her effort to focus on forcing oxygen in and out of her lungs. Tex got back in the car, whistling to himself cheerily. Aby expected him to start the engine, but he just sat for a while, whistling. He was clearly enjoying himself a lot. Aby felt tears stinging her eyes and she managed to shift so that she was sitting up, Peaches still awkwardly lying on her. She tried to think positively, but she couldn’t. She was tightly bound, unable to reach her weapons. With Peaches out of commission, she didn’t stand a chance against Tex. The only chance she had was to reason with him.
“You don’t want to do this,” Aby insisted. “We can work this out. We can find more pills for you. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Oh, but it does,” Tex said with a sigh. “What you don’t understand is...this is what I’ve always wanted. This isn’t a whim...this is my dream come true.”
And with that, he started up the engine and began to drive again. Aby’s pleading was drowned out by the sound of the car. There was no way anyone was going to help her now. She was losing hope. She closed her eyes to try and shut out the reality of the situation, but as she did, the tears were squeezed from her eyes and she was overwhelmed by the hopelessness of it all.
They drove for some time. When they finally stopped, Tex took Peaches from the car, kicking and screaming. Aby prayed that maybe they were somewhere where their cries might be heard, but when Tex came back for her, she could see that they were in the middle of nowhere. He handled her roughly,
