Michael Hunter - Come Get Me

“Actually I was kinda hoping it would turn out this way,” Johnny said startling him. “See, I hoped you’d come back and not want her. Then you’d be gone again and I’d have her back to myself like before. It’s a little unfortunate you three have to die but that’s how it’s got to be. Who knows, maybe once you’re dead and buried she’ll finally love me and not you.”

Even though Johnny was telling him they were going to kill him he still almost felt bad for him. He couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like living with her all these years. If he’d had to do it he’d probably feel almost the same way except without the killing people and stuff. This thought sober him quickly and got him thinking right again. The reasons they had for doing the things they were doing were the reasons of the insane. One wanted to kill him because he didn’t love her and the other wanted to kill him because he’d had to listen to the complaining about him over the years. This really was crazy. He was going to be killed for pretty much nothing. At least if he’d done something maybe it would’ve made a little bit more sense but he hadn’t. There was no real reason except they were crazy.

“But you didn’t tell him the best part,” Maria said whined. “You didn’t tell him what we did after we had the plan all together. You also didn’t tell him what we did to Tommy and that was one of the best parts. With your little pee sized brain I shouldn’t be surprised you forgot to mention how I, myself, went out in those yucky woods where Tommy was and acted like I was the typical damsel in distress so he would come out of his tree and rescue me. That really sucked by the way, I got all hot and sweaty and stinky but boy was it worth it. You should’ve seen the look on his face when he realized what was really happening. I should’ve gotten some type of award for that let me tell you” She paused to make a few scared-surprised faces, mocking what Tommy must’ve looked like, laughing harder each time she looked at Jim’s face.

“You also seemed to have forgotten to tell him the rest of your involvement in this whole plan. How once he actually did come down to check on me you came up behind him and cracked him in the back of the head then threw him on that tree stump you’d cut earlier to make it look like some kind of dumb accident.”

Jim was grateful she stopped to catch her breath for a few minutes. She’d worked herself into such a state of excitement that she was starting to hyperventilate, which wasn’t a bad thing, but he also didn’t really want to hear all the gory details of Tommy’s death. Jim was actually hoping she would pass out then all he’d have to do is deal with Johnny. At least he still might be able to be talked out of what Maria wanted to do. Then again he had already killed Tommy so maybe it was better if Maria just stayed conscious and kept talking. Left to his own devices Johnny might decide to put an end to thing and get out while the getting was good.

“You also didn’t tell him about what happened to Rob,” Maria chimed in apparently done calming down.

“That’s because you did Rob all by yourself!” he spit back defensively.

“Oh yeah, I did didn’t I? Sorry,” she said smiling. “Yes, it’s true. I did call him begging for help with my car. I told him I’d broken down out near the freaks place and I was scared and needed help. Him being the Boy Scout he was he rushed right out to help.”

“You took advantage of him!” Jim yelled. Pete still needed more time. He had to keep her talking.

“Of course I did. What else was I supposed to do?” she responded. “I couldn’t very well confess to killing his best friend in an attempt to make you love me could I? Plus Tommy’s funeral was coming up then you’d be leaving. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to find some way to keep you here a bit longer. You needed that extra time to realize where you belonged and that Jill was wrong for you. So to help you out I chopped Rob into little, itty, bitty pieces the first chance I got.” She finished with a giggle. “But,” she started again apologetically, “it wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. Sure the screaming was cool and all but you can only take so much of that before it gets boring. You should’ve heard him! When that hatchet hit him he let out such a scream that I thought they’d hear it all the way back at the sheriff’s station.”

She began limping around and moaning to demonstrate as she was talking. She reached behind her acting like she was trying to pull something out of her back until she finally fell down. She lay with her eyes closed for a moment before they popped open, “And do you know what the best part was?” she asked whispered only a few feet from his face.

“We weren’t even caught!” she answered gleefully when he said nothing. “I knew the sheriff here was an idiot but I thought for sure he would notice something strange was going on. I mean it was a decent plan but there were at least a dozen things we should’ve been caught on. I mean at the very lest we should be suspects now or something. But as you can see, nothing, nada, zip. They have no idea what’s going on around here.” Jim couldn’t look directly at Pete without giving him away. He decided to try to shift himself to another position more away from him than he already was. If he could keep her attention focused on him then there was at least some slim hope still left that they might survive. He didn’t need to worry about her though. As soon as he moved and got slightly comfortable she smacked him in the head.

“You don’t move unless I tell you too!” she yelled. “Now, where was I? Oh yeah, then my little Johnny-wonny came up with his brilliant addition to my plan. This in turn brings us to the reason for Pete being here. Deputy Dog’s bright idea was to make it look like Pete was the one that had done everything. He was afraid he was about to have the murders pinned on him so he broke out of jail. Johnny was going to make it look as if Pete had somehow over-powered him and taken his gun when he’d gone to check on him. Then the freak, who probably has no knowledge whatsoever about guns, was supposed to shoot his was out of the station with Johnny as his docile hostage.” Maria chuckled a few times before continuing. She obviously didn’t think Johnny was too bright. Either that or she just liked putting him down in front of others.

“For some reason,” she continued, “Pete was going to contact you and Jill and talk you into meeting him out here so you could help him escape. But at the last possible minute, Johnny, suddenly being the big strong hero, was going to wrestle the gun away from whoever had it at the time and dramatically shoot everyone before they could escape. Then supposedly all the blame for everything would be placed on you three and we would be in the clear. Sounds like a great plan huh?” Jim thought it did sound like a half decent plan. Not one he would use but it might’ve worked out ok.

“Oh,” Maria added, “did I forget to mention he didn’t really think of any kind of reason why you might help Pete or why Pete might’ve killed his friends? I mean he was crazy sure but not like that. Everyone knew he wasn’t violent.”

“It wasn’t…” Jim started to say.

“Well,” Maria said cutting him off, “I didn’t like it. It wasn’t my plan and my plan was better so I didn’t want to use it. Now I don’t really have a choice.”

“Well, if that wasn’t your plan,” Jim said jumping in feet first just to keep her talking. “Then what was it? What did you actually have planned? Did you just think killing all of us would be written off to another type of accident? You couldn’t actually believe you were going to get away with it could you? Practically everyone in town saw the display you two made at Tommy’s funeral. They also saw you fawning all over me too. If we were to turn up dead after that it would look mighty suspicious wouldn’t it? How did you think you’d get away with it?” He knew Pete only needed a little more time. If he wasn’t out after this, it was over. The last time he’ had a chance to look at Pete’s way he’d seen he was at the window. Hell, if he stood up he would probably fall out. Jim didn’t know why he didn’t do just that other than his hands were still bound but even they were loose. He should’ve made a run for it but instead he just sat there.