Page 37 of Raw & Vulnerable

She hears his throat work just beside her as he swallows it all down.

The tv is on. She can’t focus on what they’re watching. She’s not even sure they are watching anything. She hears the sounds of counting money, the police scanner, and men going in and out of the bathroom. This is suddenly her world. It seems very small.

When Skull gets up from beside her to go take a piss like the rest of them have thus far, a new presence gets in her face as soon as the door slams shut. Minnie shrinks away nervously, afraid of their intent.

“If we had done it my way, we would have blown your brains out. But not before making it a little more memorable, if you catch my meaning,” the Ghoul sneers, sending Minnie into a fit of shakes. “You say anything after we let you go home, anything at all, we’ll come find you and we’ll kill you. We’ll kill you and mutilate your body so bad that it will be a closed casket. You don’t want that, do you?”

Minnie has no words, her voice silent, lost. She wants the Skull man back; he keeps the Ghoul away.

The bathroom door opens again with a loud creak. The Ghoul’s presence is gone from her instantly, as if he scooted away before he could be noticed harassing her again. The bed dips heavily beside her once more, the familiar warmth of her handler beside her. He sighs and she wonders what the heck he has to sigh about.

She’s the one who’s had her whole life thrown out of whack.

“Scanners been quiet,” he says to someone.

“Yeah,” Creepy Clown’s deep voice. Like dark chocolate. “I think I can take her back now.”

“Should’ve killed her,” The Ghoul is whining.

“How about I kill you?” The Skull snaps back, irritable.

“Would you both shut the fuck up?” That sounds like the Wolf, who rarely speaks. “All day with you two flashing dick at each other. I’m tired of it.”

When it’s agreed that the scanner is quiet and the crime is complete, she’s led back out to the car with Skull and Creepy Clown, leaving Wolf and Ghoul in the motel. She’s thankful for that; she doesn’t like the Ghoul. She doesn’t like any of them, but the Ghoul just radiates hatred and malice towards her.

They drive in silence, a mask still on Minnie’s face. Creepy Clown is driving, but Skull is in back with Minnie. She knows that, because he helped her into the car, his warmth following her inside, the door closing behind them. She knows, because she’s sitting at his feet again.

“Are you going to kill me?” Her voice cracks from use, sounding small in the quiet car. She’s sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest.

It has to be a trick. They can’t really be letting her go. They’re going to kill her and bury her body while it’s night.

His legs are on either side of her and he allows her to rest against one of them. Neither man answers her.

“Close your eyes,” he orders as the vehicle comes to a sudden stop.

The mask comes off her face and she hears both men cover themselves. The sound of the doors unlocking is loud.

“You can open your eyes, princess.”

She does, staring up at the awful grinning skull mask, hovering over her ominously.

They’ve stopped at an empty park that she vaguely recognizes. It’s getting very dark out.

“You can call someone to come get you,” the Creepy Clown says in his calm, low voice.

“I…I don’t have a p-phone. It was in the…it was in my dad’s car.”

His mask turns to look at Skull. “You got a burner?”

“Yeah.” He gives it to her. “Call your folks or the cops. Doesn’t matter. Don’t say anythin’ other than this park or I’ll have to snap your pretty little neck.”

He says it casually enough that Minnie almost misses the threat.

With shaking hands, looking at them both suspiciously, Minnie calls her parents, sobbing at the sound of her dad’s worried voice on the other end. “Daddy…can you come get me? I’m at the park over by Wilton.”

“Minerva? Are you alright? Are you safe? I’m coming right now. Do we need to go to the hospital? I’m calling the sheriff-”

“Just come get me, Daddy,” she whimpers, right before Skull snaps it out of her hand and turns it off.

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