Page 11 of The Fix
“Damn it, this is because of you. I told you we had to stay sharp, and you bring powder.”
“Fuck you. You wanted it too.”
“They’ve seen our faces.”
“Yeah, no shit. This is fucked. And now we gotta fix it.”
“Think, think, think,” one of them said, and there was a soft, repetitive thump, as though whoever had uttered the words was banging his head on a surface.
“We’re gonna have to make it so they can’t talk,” the other one said.
She couldn’t tell their voices apart now—whether that was because her head was pounding, or their voices both had the same hoarse, hungover quality, she didn’t know.
She inched her foot off the side of the bed, holding her breath when she lowered her toe and touched the compact. It was too risky to try to grab it with her toes from there, especially since she didn’t have a good angle to see exactly what she was doing. Instead, she bent her leg and then slid her foot down the wall in front of the compact so she could come up from underneath it, hopefully using the quilt to hold it steady as she lifted it.
She moved slowly despite the escalation of their fight. Or maybe because of it. They were obviously having regrets now that the sun was rising and reality—and sobriety—had reared its head. Whatever the two monsters downstairs had planned, they hadn’t stuck to it, and now they were coming up with plan B.
And if they hadn’t taken off in the car with the rattly muffler she’d heard them drive into the garage the night before, then her family was still part of whatever was going to happen next.
She’d successfully lowered her foot between the bed and the wall, and now she straightened it slowly and then began to lift it. The quilt moved, and she heard the compact scrape very lightly against the wall again. She paused, her breath stalling. Then with a slow exhale, she began raising her leg again, one millimeter at a time, until the compact came into view.
Cami tilted her foot, the compact shifting slightly so that it was now against the side of the bed.Slow and steady wins the race. You gotthis.Her leg was trembling, but still she moved as slowly and precisely as possible so as not to lose the precious tool. She brought it up high enough and then, with a quick sideways movement, lightly kicked beneath the compact so that it landed on the side of the bed. The tape pulled at the skin of her wrists painfully, and she grimaced.
Now what?
She needed to break the mirror inside the compact.Make it sharp.
He has a gun. You can’t even hold a weapon with hands that are restrained, much less use it.
She cast her eyes to the side again and looked at that small, lifted corner of tape. Then she tucked the compact under a fold of quilt with her toe in case they came back into the room and lay all the way back down. Cami turned her head to the side and began rubbing her cheek over the pillow in an effort to remove more of the tape. She rotated her head faster and faster, lifting her cheek slightly so as to expose as much of the sticky surface to the pillowcase as possible. She gritted her teeth as it came off her skin, taking the top layer with it.I don’t care. I don’t care.It made her work harder and faster, her head spinning with the effort. Of all her wounds, this one was welcome. This one she controlled.
Slowly and painfully, the tape lifted and the tension loosened until she was finally able to use her tongue to disengage it from her mouth. With a final tear that removed most of the skin of her lower lip, it fell away and Cami opened her mouth wide and gulped in the first full breath of air she’d taken since the day before.
For several seconds she allowed herself to suck in the oxygen that filled her lungs completely, listening as the two men continued to argue below. She could hear the sounds of what she assumed was them loading up the car in the garage with their things. They’d almost certainly obtained the combination to the safe from her mom or dad and raided that, and who knew what else they were stuffing in their trunk.
Good. Keep taking every last item you can. Give me the time I need to get free.That hatred rose in her again, and the absolute fury gave her the fortitude to keeptrying.
Cami dug her foot under the folds of the quilt and picked up the compact with her toes. Then she brought it close to her hip and used her body to move it to the location she thought best before lifting her hip and lowering it directly onto the small, enclosed mirror. Because of the give of the mattress, it took her three tries before she heard the small crack from within.Yes.
A few more steps.
Then what? Even if you get free, you’ll need a better weapon than a tiny piece of glass.
As she endeavored to scoot the compact up toward her mouth by nudging it with her body, her mind raced. Her father owned a gun that he kept tucked in the far back of the bottom drawer of his dresser. She’d seen it a few years before, when she’d gone to find an old T-shirt she could cut up as part of a Halloween costume. It’d felt a little like coming upon a snake unexpectedly. She’d jumped back and closed the drawer and never mentioned it.
Her father was a judge who must have had enemies, or at least people who felt bitter toward him. It made sense that he’d have a weapon to protect his family, even if he hadn’t wanted to worry them by alerting his daughters to its presence.
They’ve seen our faces.
Yeah, no shit. This is fucked.
And now we gotta fix it.
She had no idea if the gun was still there, or if it was loaded. And she’d never fired a gun before. Even so, it’s what she would go for first.
Once she’d nudged the compact high enough, she bent her neck, straining against the bonds at her wrists as she grabbed it with her teeth and then raised her head and set the small item next to her on her pillow. She turned toward it and used her teeth to hold it while she worked on the small clasp with her tongue.Come on, come on,she chanted in her head as she fumbled with the stupid thing, easily flicked open with fingers but seemingly impossible with her mouth. The unsteady surface didn’t help, and a drop of sweat rolled down the side of her forehead asshe labored, considering whether she should move the compact back down the bed and work on it with her feet the way she’d done before. Down below, the mudroom door opened and then closed and opened again.Just leave. Leave us here. Please.
The clasp came open and Cami let out a small whimper of victory, turning her head as much as possible so she could see the broken glass inside. It was cracked in half, which was another tiny triumph because it would have been useless if it had shattered into a hundred slivers. She used her tongue again to pry up the broken glass, which was easier than getting the clasp open, as it was only attached with a dot of glue. Both pieces fell onto her pillow.
