I’m coming for you, Razz.
14
EZRA
I stared around Gary’s living room, not quite sure what I was seeing orwhyI was seeing it. My uncle was a strange man, something my mom always blamed on the concussions from hockey, but this took it too far.
“You kidnapped me from my home so I could decorate your house with Christmas lights and put up the tree?” I glanced toward Gary where he sat on the threadbare couch with its horrible leopard pattern. It was the same piece of furniture he’d had when I’d left. Oil and sweat stains clung to the fabric.
Gary had a glass bottle of rum clutched in his fingers and he was drinking it straight, chugging the alcohol like it was water. I wished all the drinking meant he’d have slower reflexes, but he was a marvel in that he was still as strong and fast as always. Maybe it was the years of his body growing used to guzzling gallons of the stuff.
He waved the bottle at me. “Your mother wants to see that I didn’t fuck with you, so get to it. It can be like old times. Watch theHome Away From Homemovies. They’re your favorite,aren’t they?” His mouth twisted again and it was more of a devious sneer. “I remember them being your favorite.”
My stomach churned, that familiar prickle of fear crawling up the back of my neck. I took a step back and swallowed around the anxiety that scratched my throat. “No.”
He shrugged and waved his bottle toward the box of tangled Christmas lights. The gun was resting on his thigh, a threatening reminder of the power he held. “Get to fucking work, then.”
I moved cautiously toward the box, eyeing Gary, waiting for one of his sick games. Nothing came as he took another swig of his rum. I crouched and pulled out a knot of lights, and my nose crumpled at the sight. This was another little project he made me do every year when I’d lived here, and I fucking hated it. He wouldn’t let me leave until the job was done, so I supposed he was starting his torture already.
I dragged out the knot and laid it on the shredded carpet before I peered back inside the box to see what else was there. An advent calendar with half-opened panels brought back another flash of memory—a happier one of me and Mom. A year where Gary had gone away with friends for the month of December, or at least, we’d thought that was the case.
We’d enjoyed the first half of the month, laughing with ease as she bought us an advent calendar. Each morning we’d wake and open the panel, pulling out a chocolate that we’d split to share. It’d been nice. Different. I think I was about fifteen at the time. Then, Gary had come home early, furious for no reason that we could understand. He’d yanked down the lights we’d hung on the walls and smashed all of Mom’s new baubles that we’d placed on the tree. It was the last happy moment I truly remembered with Mom.
Instead of throwing the advent calendar away, she’d placed it in the box with the Christmas lights, and I remembered lookingat it and thinking it reminded me of our relationship. Hidden away and abandoned.
The sight of the calendar only made the nausea curdling in my stomach worse and I shoved the memories aside.
Gary grunted. “Your mother’s a dumb bitch, you know that?” He grabbed the remote control for the TV and fiddled with it until he had what he wanted—Home Away From Home 2. “I told her that your father was a loser. A fucking loser, to be exact. Then when she was pregnant with you, told her to get rid of you. Told her you’d be as bad as your father. I wasn’t wrong, was I?”
I ignored him as best as I could, taking a seat on the frayed carpet to slowly pull at the knotted Christmas lights. Maybe if I gave him what he asked, he’d let me go so I could return to Sam. That’s all I wanted. Me and Sam and my new family. I didn’t care about revenge on Gary anymore. He could live until he was one hundred for all I cared.
“Your father was a fucking prick.” He laughed like he was a genius, then choked as he took another gulp of his rum. The stench of alcohol was joined by his sweat, the odor a horrible mixture that made me gag. He glared. “You’re a fucking problem child. Always have been.”
I shrugged, not willing to egg him on. He could say what he wanted, but I knew what he craved—a reaction from me, and I wasn’t going to give him one. He sat up straighter and yanked his gun off his thigh, and I froze as he waved the weapon around.
“This is power, boy. Iampower. You’ll learn to respect me like your mother learned. She had some balls, accusing me of abusing you and threatening to go to the cops about it. Hah.”
I didn’t say a word as I yanked at the lights until I got a piece of the strand loose and dragged out the long chord before working on another part of it. Gary was full of himself, thought he was a gift to the world, and angering him would only get mehit across the head. If I was right about Eleanor, Sam would come for me. He’d protect me.
Gary fell back against the couch, the shiny silver handgun resting on his thigh again. I eyed him cautiously. It was better to always have focus on him in case I needed to move fast. Every molecule of me was aware of him, but not for the same reason as I was with Sam. Gary scared me, but Sam, even the serial killer version of him, made me feel safe.
My skin prickled at the thought of what Sam would do to Gary. I hoped it would hurt.
“Get up here.” Gary grabbed a handful of my hair, yanking me as I yelled out in pain, and slammed me onto the couch beside him. He pointed the gun at my temple, and I froze, every ounce of me paralyzed. “Watch this fucking movie with me. Then, you can keep going.”
I exhaled and kept my mouth shut even as I ached to tell him to go to hell.Don’t piss off the crazy man with a gun, Ezra.
“You love this movie, don’t you, kid?” Gary laughed, his breath puffing over my cheek, and I pushed down the urge to gag at the smell of his breath. “Fucking watch it.”
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to look at the screen as the Christmas movie began, and once again, the movie showed Michael on vacation with his family, including his new stepmom. His father disappointed him, making him feel small in the film. It felt a bit like my life. My family had let me down, and now I’d found a new one, including an amazing boyfriend. Gary was once again trying to steal away my happiness.
“I hope you don’t want to piss.” Gary laughed. “Because you can’t leave this couch until I say so.” He shoved the bottle of rum at me and pressed the opening to my lips, and even as I struggled, he tipped the alcohol into my mouth. I choked around the swallow and burn of the rum, and he cackled like a madman. “Fucking be an adult, you little bitch.” The nozzle of the guncame to my temple again and the anxiety stung at me as I opened my mouth, letting him pour a generous amount between my lips. “Fucking grow a set.”
“Yes, Gary,” I said in a monotone voice after I swallowed the burning liquid.
He grumbled and fell back on the couch. “Don’t fucking piss, kid.”
I took a deep breath in. I could do this, at least until Sam showed up.
