The Dark Journey
Chapter 11 - Entrapment and Escape
I watched
as you took
my soul
you smiled
but not with
your eyes
caressed it
folded it
neatly
I watched
as you lit
the flame
you smiled
as you doused
with kerosene
the last remnant
of myself
I watched
as it disappeared
wreathed
in flames
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the course of the next few weeks Jared introduced me to several friends who paid him to have a 'good time' with his whore. He seemed to be enjoying his status as a pimp, and I have to admit that I made him a good amount of cash. When I figured that I had sufficiently repaid my two-thousand dollar debt, I confronted him.
"How much have I made for you Jared? Is my debt repaid now?"
He turned to me with a slow smile. "Let's jus' see here, kay?"
He got up and went into the bedroom, returning with a small note pad in his hand.
"Okay, it was twennytwo hunnert t' start with. So far I got 'bout a thousan two hunnert from ya, countin the parties."
I shuddered a little at the mention of the two 'parties' he had held. "Alright" I said, "so I still owe you a thousand dollars, right?"
"Nope." He affected a sad expression. "Ya see, it's like this ... Ya been doin my coke and eatin my food and livin under my roof, so I gotta charge ya fer that. Now ya done about five hunnert wortha coke and th' food and board'll come t'bout a hunnert fifty, so ya still owes me 'bout sixteen-fifty."
"No fuckin' way!" I all but screamed at him. "This shit ain't fuckin fair!"
"Now, don' get all pissy with me bitch! You gotsta pay yer debt and if ya wants to do some lines I gotsta charge ya for em. I can't just give th' shit away ya know. Shit's 'spensive ya know!"
"How the hell am I supposed to pay you back if you charge me! Jesus!"
"Well now, that is a probl'm ain't it?" He grinned at me. "I'll tell ya what. We'll do four more parties and you kin work the street in between. Ya make me fifteen hunnert and ya can go. I won't even charge ya room n board for the week. But if ya wanna get high, ya gotsta pay fer it."
My mind was working furiously at the figures and the thought of his parties made me sick. I wanted out and I wanted out now! But how to go about it? Suddenly it came to me. Get him very drunk, have sex with him until he passed out and then make a break for it. It could work, I told myself. I put my plan into action that very night because there was no way in hell I was going to endure another party.
For once, luck was on my side, it seemed. After sex, he soon began snoring lightly and I lay there for almost thirty minutes until I was sure he was deeply asleep. I got up and dressed myself quietly.
I wish I could say that I made it out of there without him knowing anything, but that only happens in tales and movies I guess. I wasn't even fully dressed when he woke up. I had prepared myself as best I could for that eventuality, and I had his aluminum baseball bat close to hand. Yes, I used it. I'm not sure, even now, of the extent of the damage I did, but it was my only choice of recourse. Lexie says that if I had killed him that night, I would have been hunted down, and future circmstances would have led to my arrest and trial for murder. That is the only thing that keeps me believing I didn't kill him that night, although, deep inside, I knew I had.
I knew where his coke stash was, although he thought it quite safely hidden. I helped myself to several packaged grams, his car keys, and about two hundred dollars in cash and slipped quietly out the door and into the night. I drove carefully back to my old crawlspace dwelling to retrieve my belongings and get out of town. I had to leave tonight! I had to be as far away as possible by dawn. One drawback: He knew I wanted to get to San Francisco. I couldn't take a direct route towards Frisco because he would undoubtedly look for me on I5 or Highway 99. Instead I took 178 over to Woffard Heights, then doubled back onto 155 towards Glenville. I turned off on a county road and took it up through Porterville, where I caught highway 65 up to Exeter.
I parked the car in a copse of woods just outside of Farmerville and slept for a few hours. When I woke up, I decided to abandon the car, as it would possibly be reported stolen at some point. I walked the 10 miles or so into Visalia, found a little restaurant, and had lunch.
Back