Episode 6: Jeff

Episode 6

"Jeff"

(Bay)

"Kayla stop doing that, it's not going to help." I said, while sitting on the floor.

Kayla stopped fiddling with the doorknob and sat down with a sigh. She buried her face in her hands.

"What are we supposed to do? Wait here for Charlie to kill us?" she asked me.

"No, but messing with the door isn't going to do any good. Even if you somehow get it open, they'll find you and just put you back in here. You're wasting your energy."

"Why did Charlie put us in such a nice room anyways? You'd think he'd have us in jail cells or something." Kayla asked.

I looked around the room. Kayla was right, the room was way too nice for a jail. We looked to be in a residential room. There was a bed, window with a view, fridge, and even a tv. There were no concrete walls or metal bars, just a normal hotel room. The only thing keeping us in here is that locked wooden door. Kayla jumped up and her face lit up with excitement.

"I got an idea." She said.

"Oh no, what is it?" I asked, unenthusiastically.

"We wait for a guard to walk in here. I hide behind this door and then BAM! I smoke him in the head with some blunt object. You pin him to the ground and steal his shit, then we blast our way out of here!"

"Kayla you know that's impossible. Even if we knock out the guard we're not going to take on Lockwood's entire army. Be reasonable here."

"I bet I could."

"You bet you could what?"

"Take all of them on." She smiled menacingly.

I laughed and threw a pillow at her, knocking her back onto the ground. She grabbed it and threw it back at me, it hit me in the head.

"You little shit!" I laughed, wheeling it back at her.

Kayla ran at me at full speed, jumping onto my back and wrestling me to the ground. She threw a few punches at my sides. I picked her up and tossed her onto the bed.

"Geez Kayla," I said, holding my sides, "you got strong."

"Bitch please I've always been this tough." She said.

"Oh you're getting sassy now are you?" I asked, "what is your mom gonna thi-"

I stopped after I realized what I had said. I covered my mouth and watched Kayla go from happy, to sad.

"Oh shit, Kayla I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." She said.

I walked over and sat down next to her, I put my arm around her and held her closely.

"I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is."

"Don't lie to me like that!" She snapped at me, "I'm split up from my mom and dad, they're somewhere in Lockwood with this psychopath Charlie running things! He probably killed them both already! We're next!"

I hugged Kayla tight, and a few tears fell from my eyes. I sniffled and kept hugging her.

"No we're not Kayla. We're not going to die. Your parents are strong, they're not going to die either."

"How do you know for sure?" She asked.

"I just do. Samantha has lived through Lockwood before, she can do it again. And for your father, it's just not like him to die by the hands of such a coward."

"You're right Bay. It's not like us to die either. We're going to make it through this, and Charlie is going to die." Kayla said, jumping out of bed and clenching her fists with rage in her eyes.

I stood up too and looked at the door, I too had rage in my eyes. Charlie is not going to win this one. He will fall.

After about an hour of Kayla and I just sitting around talking about random things, the door opened. It startled us both, we jumped back and got ready to defend ourselves. A soldier walked in, he had a big machine gun in his hands, there was no way we were going to take this guy on.

"You two," he said, pointing the gun at us, "Charlie wants to see you."

"What does he want?" Kayla asked.

"I don't know. He just wants to see you. Now come on before you make me lose my patience."

"I'm not going anywhere until I know my parents are safe." Kayla crossed her arms.

This girl was a little too brave for her own good. I tugged on her shirt and gave her a look of, "Do you want to die??"

"Listen here you little shit," the guard walked closer, "I have orders to gun both of you down if you resist. So let's go."

"Where's my mom? Where's my dad?" She yelled at him.

"I don't know! Do you think Charlie tells me anything? I'm just a guard! Quit making this harder than it needs to be."

"Let's just go Kayla." I told her.

Kayla didn't like it, but she listened. We followed the guard out of the room. He kept a close eye on us the entire time, especially Kayla. He took us to the elevators and we went up to the twelfth floor.

When the elevator doors opened, about ten armed guards greeted us. If that wasn't intimidating enough, there were big doors that were waiting for us at the end of the hallway. Charlie had some serious protection. As we walked closer to the doors, the big doors opened and I saw Charlie standing behind them, smiling at us. I looked over at Kayla, who looked more angry than scared. I probably looked really scared, because I saw some guards chuckling at me.

"Don't do anything stupid, you hear?" I whispered to her.

"I won't." She whispered back.

I wasn't sure if she was telling the truth though. Kayla made me nervous, she was a loose cannon. Unpredictable. Just like her father. If she does something to Charlie, attacks him in any way, we're as good as dead. Maybe Charlie is going to spare us, I'm just hoping for the best here. I could feel my body shaking as I got closer and closer to him, I could almost hear my heartbeat.

The doors closed behind us when we got in. It was just us and Charlie. I was surprised Charlie didn't have guards in his room, maybe he likes his privacy. If something went wrong he'd just call for his guards and they'd come bursting in.

"Hello," he said, "coffee?"

Neither of us said anything, we just stared at him. Kayla stared at him in anger, and I stared at him in fear. I was ashamed to admit I was scared of him, even though he is a coward, he has so much power. Sometimes it's the cowards that are the most dangerous when given power. That's what truly terrified me. He wore a slick, navy blue suit with a white tie. His hair was combed and gelled, it was black and curly. He was clean shaven and his skin was flawless. Unlike mine, which had scars all over it.

"Uh, no thanks," I said, "I don't drink coffee."

"Hmm, you more of a tea person?" He asked, walking over and brewing himself a cup of coffee.

"No, uh, I've just never drank either before."

"Really?" He looked surprised, "well you need to try some. I'll make you some coffee. You'll like it."

He turned and looked at Kayla, who stared him down. She was almost making me more nervous than Charlie was.

"Do you like coffee?" He asked.

"No, dad never let me have any." She answered.

"Oh no, that's no good. I'm much cooler than your dad, I'll let you have some."

"You're not cooler than my dad." Kayla argued.

Charlie smiled at her and laughed to himself, he poured some coffee into his mug, then started stirring it.

"Please," he said, "make yourselves at home. Sit on the couch over there, I'll be there in just a second."

I walked over and sat down on his white, leather couch. It was a nice view, overlooking Kingston. It was late, and I saw the sun setting over the town. It was, beautiful. I've never really stopped and admired nature much, because I was always constantly watching my back. Now that I'm in here, I don't have to worry about stranglers sneaking up on me, or bandits. It's nice here, the only thing ruining it is the psychopath that runs this place. Charlie walked over and sat on the other couch across from us. He was holding three cups of coffee, and it looked like he was struggling. He put them all down on the coffee table and wiped his hands off in a tissue, then tossed it into the garbage.

"Alright, it's black by the way. If you don't like it you can add milk or sugar. It's all on the counter in the kitchen." He said.

"So did you call us here to talk about coffee?" Kayla asked.

He laughed again,

"You really are quite the firecracker, aren't you?"

"I don't know, I just wanna know why I'm here."

"Alright, I'll get to the point," he said, taking a sip of his coffee, "you two are very interesting ones. You've managed to survive this long, so you must be somewhat strong. The young one is definitely not afraid of anything, I've noticed that."

"My name's Kayla." She snapped at him.

"Oh how rude of me. Sorry Kayla. You're Jeff's daughter I assume. And you?" He looked at me.

"Bay." I replied.

"Bay. What a pretty name you have." He said, smiling at me.

He cleared his throat.

"Anyways, to the point. I know that you two have been through a lot. Why don't you work with me? You'll be in comfort for the rest of your lives. You'll never have to worry about stranglers again, or those dirty bandits."

"Never!" Kayla yelled.

"Okay, calm down Kayla," he said, "I know you might not like it at first, but think of this offer I'm giving you. Nobody sane would turn it down. You'll have good food, protection, and comfort for the rest of your lives."

"I'll never be comfortable until I know where my parents are!" Kayla blurted out.

"It's your parents you're worried about? Oh they're fine. Both of them still alive, if that's what you were worried about."

"Then where are they?"

"I can't tell you that. All you need to know is that they're alive, and I haven't hurt them."

"What are you planning to do with them?" Kayla asked.

"Nothing at all! I'm just keeping them here until things calm down. Maybe once everything is settled they can work for me as well. You'll learn that I'm a very reasonable man Kayla, I would never kill if I didn't have to."

Kayla studied him, I could tell she wasn't buying his act. I could tell he was putting on an act as well. He's trying to act like Mr. Nice Guy. He's not. I know exactly what he's trying to do as well, he is trying to manipulate us into turning against Jeff. It's pretty obvious. If he turns Jeff's own daughter against him, he'll lose. Kayla is one of the only things Jeff has left, if he loses that, Charlie will have finally broken him. One thing Charlie doesn't know, is that Kayla is the most stubborn little girl he'll ever meet. He'll never turn her against her own father.

"I'm not agreeing to anything until I see my mom and dad." Kayla crossed her arms.

A devilish smile appeared over Charlie's face. He set his coffee cup down and stood up, then walked towards his closet. My heart started beating faster again, what was Charlie doing? I saw his smile when Kayla asked that. Damn, he's probably going to do something dangerous, I wish Kayla wouldn't have pushed him so much. Charlie fiddled with a key ring he had pulled out of his pocket. He unlocked the door and opened it up with a loud creaking noise. It was dark inside there, I couldn't see anything. Then something came out of that closet that absolutely chilled me to my core.

Charlie pulled out someone who was tied to a chair. The chair legs making a scraping sound as the chair was pulled along the floor. I could barely recognize her at first, I had never seen Samantha like that before. She was dressed up like some kind of princess out of a fairy tale. She had a lot of makeup on, but it had smeared so much, probably from her crying so much. Her hair was combed and styled. She had duct tape over her mouth. Samantha looked terrified, she just looked at both of us, pleading to us for help with her eyes. Kayla stood up and backed away. She kept stuttering her words, she was shocked.

"W-what, w-what h-have you d-done?" She asked, slowly stepping away from Charlie.

"What? I thought you wanted to see your parents! Here you go! See? She's fine!" Charlie replied.

"Let her g-go! She didn't do a-anything!"

"Oh come on Kayla," Charlie smiled, he started petting Samantha's hair, "I'm keeping her safe. I've kept her safer than Jeff ever has. I am her true love. We belong together."

Kayla's expression changed. She changed from shock, to furious. Her face turned beat red, and I saw her fists clench. I hid my face in my hands, scared to see what Kayla was going to do.

Kayla's tone totally changed with Charlie.

"Let. Her. Go. Now."

"Kayla, why are you always so serious? You're just like your father. No fun." Charlie replied.

"One. Last. Chance."

"Kayla, honestly. What're you going to do-"

Kayla charged at Charlie, she tackled him onto the floor, all while screaming at him. She clawed him in the face a few times before guards bursted into the room. They ran up to her and dragged her off of him. Kayla tried resisting, but the guards held her back. Charlie staggered back onto his feet, his face bleeding from a bunch of cuts Kayla had given him. He looked caught off guard, I don't think he was taking Kayla seriously. He underestimated her.

"You bitch! You stupid bitch!" He screamed, "what have you done? You're dead! Just like your father!"

He turned around and smacked Samantha across the face, angering Kayla even more. She screamed and tried getting away from the guards, but she wasn't strong enough to.

"Send both of them down to the basement! Now!" He ordered his guards.

Some guards walked over and grabbed me and lifted me to my feet. They escorted both of us out of the room. I saw tears streaming down Kayla's face as the guards carried her further and further away from her mother. I turned around one last time to see Charlie beating on Samantha, and it broke me. I started crying too.

(Jeff)

The lights turned on and abruptly woke me from my sleep. There were a bunch of guards down here. At first I thought they were to finally kill me, until I saw that they had more prisoners with them. My eyes were still adjusting to the light, so it was hard to tell who they were carrying into the room, but once the guards threw them onto the ground and handcuffed them to poles, I saw who it was. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Kayla and Bay. Part of me was happy to see them, but another part of me was sad to see them being brought down here as well.

Once the guards were done, they turned the light off and headed back up the stairs. It was dark in here, but not pitch black. I could still see the silhouette of Bay and Kayla, who were handcuffed to poles right across from me. They didn't know I was here, they didn't see me.

"Now what?" Kayla asked Bay.

"I don't know." Bay replied.

"Why were you being like that up there?" Kayla asked.

"Like what?"

"Like a wimp!"

"What do you mean Kayla?"

"Charlie was taunting us with my mom! You just sat there and didn't do anything! I thought you were tough!"

"I'm not a wimp!" Bay yelled, "I just knew there was nothing I could do dammit! Charlie is too powerful, attacking him didn't fix anything! You're lucky you're still alive."

"Whatever. I can't believe you weren't angry with him."

"Of course I was angry Kayla! There just wasn't anything I could do about it!"

"I don't even know where my dad is. He's probably dead." Kayla sniffled.

"I'm here Kayla." I said.

There was a long pause. I didn't have to see their faces to tell they were shocked.

"Dad?" Kayla's voice echoed in the darkness.

"Yeah."

"You're down here too! How long?"

"Since we were captured."

"I can't believe it!" Kayla cried out, "thank god you're still alive."

"I'm glad you two are okay," I said, "what were you two talking about just now?"

"We met with Charlie," Bay started, "he tried turning us against you. Obviously, it didn't work. He taunted us with Samantha, and Kayla attacked him. He threw us down here for it."

"That sick bastard. What did he do to Samantha?" I asked.

"He... he beat her Jeff. I'm so sorry."

I started yanking at my handcuffs in anger.

"That piece of shit! He can't touch her! He can't!" I yelled.

"You're going to hurt yourself Jeff. Please, stop." Bay warned.

I stopped and took a few deep breaths. Bay was right, this wasn't helping. It just infuriates me that my wife is in the same building I'm in, and a psychopath is abusing her and there is nothing I can do about it. It makes me want to throw up.

"We need to get out of here." I said.

"Finally someone starts talking some sense here." Kayla added.

"How? How are we possibly going to get out of here?" Bay asked.

"I don't know," I said, "any ideas?"

"We could try and get out of the handcuffs for one." Kayla suggested.

"No, I've already tried. It's impossible."

"Maybe we could try getting a key for the handcuffs." Said Kayla.

"And how are we going to do that?"

"Charlie carries a key ring on him, maybe next time he comes down here you could snatch it?"

"That's not a bad idea Kayla," I said, "the only problem is how. I can't just reach into his pocket."

"You could attack him with something. If one of us could reach a weapon and hit him with our free hand."

"This is going to end badly you guys." Bay said.

"It's the only choice we have," I began, "I'm not rotting down here and waiting for Charlie to finish me off."

"Well," she said, "you guys better start finding a weapon."

(Charlie)

I called Colin up to my suite. I was lying on the couch was a warm cloth over my face. That little bitch Kayla really scratched up my face. I should have her executed for this. Maybe I will when I get around to it, the thing is it's just way too much fun messing with them. If I kill them, who will I have left to taunt? After I hung up the phone, Colin showed up to my door after about three minutes. He was fast, that's why I liked him.

"What did you need Charlie?" He asked.

"I want you to find a Jeff Jones lookalike." I requested.

"A lookalike? Why?"

"Don't ask questions Colin. This is a very important task that I'm leaving up to you, and that's all you need to know."

"Well, alright boss if you need it done I'll get it done. What exactly does Jeff look like again?"

"Here, take this." I said, pulling out a crumpled photo of Jeff and handed it to Colin.

"Alright, thanks. I'll find a lookalike."

"When you do find him Colin, get him to the basement. I don't care how you do it, just don't make a big scene. Also, the lookalike doesn't have to look exactly like Jeff, just make sure he looks somewhat similar."

"Will do. I'll call you once it's done."

With that, Colin walked out of my suite, closing the big double doors behind him.

Colin must be pretty confused with the request I gave him. I didn't want to tell him too much because the whole matter is just complicated. Since the people of Lockwood are getting a little inpatient with the whole Jeff situation, I need to distract them. I'm thinking if I get a Jeff lookalike, I can have that one killed, then once I tell the people that Jeff is dead, they'll start trusting me as a strong leader again. I've thought about just killing Jeff, but I don't think I'm done with him yet. I don't think he's suffered enough just yet. I'll kill him when I'm ready, but now is not the time. I took the cloth off of my face and examined it. It was tinted red from the blood. I flipped it over and put the clean side on my face.

"Damn," I mumbled, "that bitch."