Page 81 of Rock Bottom

“Is that why you drugged me at the bar?”

He sighed and looked away. “What choice did I have? I needed to get you alone so you’d have a chance to get to know me better. It wasn’t anything harmful. I wasn’t going to hurt you. I was going to take care of you, Dante.”

“You could’ve just asked me, Oscar.”

Oscar shook his head. “No. No, they never would’ve let you. They want to keep us apart. It’s what they’ve always wanted. They think they can keep you away from me, but they’re wrong. We were meant to be together, Dante, and I can prove it.” He shot to his feet and pulled some folded papers from his pocket.

“What’s that?” I was almost too afraid to ask.

Oscar answered by belting out the shaky first verse to Electric Love Song:

“Woke up this morning, charged and alive,

Your touch is the voltage, sparking the vibe.

In a world that's gray, you’re the neon hue,

Every moment with you feels like something new.”

He looked up from the paper, fingers trembling. “When I first heard that, it was like you were talking right to me. Every time I heard that song, I felt the same spark.”

Jesus…Was this guy for real? All this over a song I didn’t even write? That song was written by someone the band hired. I didn’t even like Electric Love Song, and he thought it was some secret love letter to him? Oscar needed some serious help.

“I thought at first that it didn’t mean anything,” Oscar continued. “I mean, it’s just a song, right? I’m not crazy. I knew you weren’t talking to me. But I still felt this connection, like you were saying things I couldn’t even put into words. It was like we were thinking on the same wavelength. I joined all the fan groups online, but they’re full of idiots. All they care about is the music, not you. Not like me. And when you replied to me on that Instagram post? I knew the feeling was mutual. You were so kind. So down to earth. Not like the tabloids said.”

A cold chill went down my spine. That was what’d kicked all this off? A single comment I made on social media? One of thousands? I didn’t even remember doing it.

Oscar sniffled like he was about to cry. “It was like someone was seeing me for the first time. I sent you an email, but you never wrote back. I tried to mail you letters, but you never replied to those either. You didn’t even thank me for the birthday and Christmas gifts I sent!”

“I’m sorry. I…They never gave them to me.”

“I knew it!” he shouted so loud I flinched. “I fucking knew it! They’ve been trying to keep us apart from the beginning, haven’t they?”

I opened my mouth to tell him it wasn’t personal, but stopped myself. Oscar was already agitated, and pissing off an armed psycho with a gun was probably a bad idea. Was it any better to play into his fantasy? How far was this going to go?

“We were meant to be together, Dante,” he continued, jaw quivering. “You have to know that. I mean, you wrote ‘Miles Apart’ after looking right at me in Denver. I was in line to get your autograph, but when you walked out, they just shoved us all away. You looked right at me! Don’t you remember? The air between us was electric, just like in your song.”

I frowned and tried to remember, but it was all just a blur. The Denver show had been a disaster. I was so drunk that I walked off stage halfway through “Just Friends” to throw up and we ended the show early. I was so fucked up, I didn’t even remember most of the show. “Miles Apart” wasn’t even a love song. It was for my mom, yet Oscar thought it was some secret love song I’d written for him. What the hell was wrong with this guy? I might’ve felt sorry for him if I wasn’t terrified he was about to kill me.

I swallowed some of that fear and turned to face him. The only way I was getting out of this alive was if I could somehow get through to him. “Oscar, please listen to me. I don’t want anybody to get hurt, especially you.”

He put his hand over the wound in his arm and said sourly, “It’s a little late for that.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. But you need medical help. We should go to a hospital.”

“No!” he jumped up with a shout, suddenly even more agitated. “No hospitals, no cops, and no more fucking bodyguards!”

I lifted my hands in front of my face. “Okay! All right, Oscar. Whatever you want. It’s just…I’m trying to understand. What do you want? How do you want this to end?”

Before he could answer, the sound of a stick breaking outside echoed through the tiny cabin. Oscar’s eyes went wide and wild. He grabbed me roughly by the arm and shoved the barrel of the gun into my mouth. “No noise. Do as I say, like you promised! Don’t make me kill you.”

I nodded frantically, my heart pounding in my chest. Oscar removed the gun from my mouth and yanked me through the rotten back door. It was still dark, but the trees were so thick I couldn’t see the sky, so I didn’t know how close it was to dawn. He didn’t give me much of a chance to look either before he pulled me along.

Rather than take me back to the four-wheeler, he guided me deeper into the woods on foot, forcing me to climb over moss-covered trees and through thick underbrush. Without a word, we marched up a rise and down the other side. At the bottom was a creek several feet wide. The water was freezing cold, especially with only one shoe on.

The sound of dogs barking in the distance echoed through the valley just as we reached the other side. I paused, glancing over my shoulder at the far ridge, faint hope surging through me. Someone was out here, looking for me. Help was coming! All I had to do was survive.

“Move!” Oscar gave me a shove, and I lost my balance, falling into the mud. He yanked me up roughly, but not before I managed to kick off my other shoe so that I could leave it behind as a clue. If someone was out there tracking us, it was all I could do to help before Oscar dragged me deeper into the forest.

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