Man in the Box

Hi folks. We haven't taken a trip to the dark side in a while. Those of you who don't like violence or extreme revenge might want to pass on this one. Thanks twice as much as usual to Mikotthebaby who served as my muse on this one besides doing her usual editing magic.

* * * * * *

Note from mikothebaby -- Man in the Box by Alice in Chains is my favorite song. I urge you to go to you tube and listen to it before reading this story. I made Stang write a story about the song. I wanted a dark story so blame me and not him if you do not like this one. He indulges my ideas every once in a while. I personally love this story.

* * * * * *

"You're going to love it here," I told my girlfriend, Heidi, as we got off of the plane and walked to the concourse. "We'll probably have to take a cab to get to the house. I emailed my parents a couple of times this week but I didn't get an answer. They might even be out of town which would give us plenty of time to..."

I never had a chance to complete my thought. A huge guy in a Sheriff's Department uniform stepped in front of me. Before he even spoke to me, he looked over his shoulder and spoke to another deputy and the guy from airport security. "This is him. Get his bags and bring them to the Station." He looked over at me and at Heidi. "What's your name Miss?" he asked, pulling his sunglasses down.

"Uhm Heidi," she said. "Heidi Temple. Are we in trouble? What did we do? Are we being arrested? It was him...He was the one who wanted us to have sex in his parents' house. I was..."

The deputy pushed his glasses back into place and shook his head. "Rick," he said. "If you do end up married to this one...either don't do anything illegal, or don't tell her. At the first sign of trouble, she'll bail on you and spill her guts."

He escorted the two of us outside to a waiting Sheriff's Department Jeep. We got in and waited for a few minutes as they loaded our luggage.

He spoke to another man that I recognized, who got into the driver's seat. "Hi Uncle John," I said.

"Hey Rick," he said back. He turned to face us and looked at Heidi. She paled quickly and then looked at me.

"Your Uncle is the frigging Sheriff?" she asked.

"And it's a good thing too," said Uncle John. "We found the bag of weed in your luggage, miss."

"It's not mine," she blurted out. "I was just holding it for a friend. And I kind of have a Marijuana license. You know I have a card for it...sort of. I get these headaches when my glaucoma acts up during my period and..."

"Just shut up," he said to her. "We're not going to press charges. We're pretty relaxed about things like that around here...At least until you start lying to us and acting like we're stupid. Next time you decide to lie to a law enforcement officer though, you should probably try to find one lie and stick to it."

He turned to me. "Rick you sure can pick 'em. She reminds me of your mother when she was young."

Heidi smiled broadly. "Thank you," she said.

"I never could stand that bitch, even when she was young. She was just too God damned sneaky. And she's nuttier than a tree full of squirrels."

"Uncle Rick," I said, changing the subject. "Where are my parents anyway, I haven't heard from them and..."

"You'll understand all of that soon," he said. "To tell you the truth, I'm just the messenger. I have no idea where your father or your mother are, but if you come into contact with them, please tell me. Officially, your mother is wanted in connection with several crimes and your father may be linked to them somehow as well."

I was shocked and Heidi just looked at me as if she, like I, was wondering exactly what the fuck we'd gotten ourselves into.

Uncle Rick drove the car for a couple of miles and then stopped in the middle of nowhere. "Get out," he said. As soon as we got out of the Jeep, he pulled our luggage out of the back of the truck and placed it on the side of the road.

"Uncle Rick, the house is nowhere near here," I said.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "See ya." He got back in his jeep and drove off. So there I was, in the middle of nowhere, standing by the side of the road with far more suitcases than I could carry. Heidi had that deer in the headlights expression on her face.

"I can't believe they took my weed," she said. "To truly appreciate a situation like this, you should really be high. This is like something out of the twilight zone. All we need now is to have a couple of guys drive up and take us prisoner. They'll probably kill me and spend the next three days butt-fucking you with a variety of farm implements."

"Heidi, wouldn't they kill me and fuck you?" I asked.

"They aren't normal dudes," she said. "That's what makes it so weird..."

Thankfully, before Heidi could complete her theory, I heard a car coming in our direction. It turned out to be a Cadillac Escalade. The driver must not have seen us because he passed by us and then slammed on the brakes and backed up until he was right in front of us. I stood up ready to fight or flee as the case dictated it. The windows of the truck were tinted so I couldn't see how many guys were inside of it. As the door opened, I started stretching my legs. I stopped and my jaw dropped open when the driver came around the side of the truck.

"You ARE Rick aren't you?" she asked. "Yep, you are. You have your father's eyes and lot of his other features too."

I was stunned. The woman asking me the question was hot. She had long inky black hair pulled up into a ponytail. She wore sunglasses that she pulled down to look at me and showed off the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. Her deep tan indicated that she was used to a climate that was far warmer than Michigan. And the way she was bundled up still even though it was spring, told me that she hadn't been away from there for very long.

She was whippet thin, but the swellings in the front of her expensive looking leather jacket told me that some of her proportions were not typical for a woman of her size. Her ass was rounded and looked big on her, although on an average sized woman it would have seemed tiny. The jeans that she wore looked as if they were painted on. She walked in ankle boots that had to have five inch heels at the very least. Without them, she'd be nowhere close to Heidi's 5'6" inch height.

She pressed a button and the back of the Escalade opened. "Who's she?" she asked pointedly.

"Who're you?" asked Heidi.

"We didn't plan on you," she said. "I'll have to make a call." The woman pulled out a phone from somewhere. Her clothes were so tight that I couldn't imagine where she'd hid it. It was an iPhone. And something about it just seemed familiar to me.

Heidi was tapping me on the shoulder as I watched the woman make her call. "Who the hell is this bimbo?" she asked. "And why the hell were you doing all of that stretching back there?"

"Heidi, I had no idea of what was going to come out of that truck," I said. "It could have been a team of drug crazed hillbillies or a team of pit bulls or a maniac with an axe."

"And you were getting ready to go all Bruce Lee on them and fight for me?" she said smiling.

"I was getting ready to run," I said.

"You're wearing cowboy boots Dufus," she said. "How were you going to outrun them in those?"

"I didn't have to outrun THEM," I said. "I just had to outrun YOU."

The look Heidi gave me told me that no matter where we ended up, I'd probably be sleeping alone.

"Give me your phones," said the woman, holding out her hands. "And anything else you have that is electronic."

I handed her my phone and smiled.

"Fuck no," said Heidi. The woman handed my phone to Heidi.

"Why are you giving me his phone?" asked Heidi.

"You're not going," said the woman. "You can give it back to him when you see him again." She turned to me.

"Rick, grab anything you'll need for the next two days and put it in the back of the truck." She watched me as I moved. "Make sure there are no electronics in any bag you bring." I moved to comply with her wishes. Something told me I should do what she said.

"What about me," whined Heidi.

"You're staying here," said the woman. Her pleasant tone indicated that she was far happier about Heidi not coming with us. "As soon as we pull off, I'll call John and someone from the Sheriff's office will come and pick you up.

"You're just going to go off with this woman?" asked Heidi. "You don't even know who she is."

I just shrugged my shoulders. "Okay fine," said Heidi. "Take the God damned phone. And you..." she said whining at me. "You're falling right into their trap. Haven't you seen this enough times in the fucking movies? Usually they take you to a place where your cell phone doesn't have any bars so you can't call for help. Then, once they get you up to some creepy assed farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, all of your friends start dying off one by one. First, it'll be the black guy, then the teenagers who get caught fucking, then the fat nerdy guy and after that the bitchy girl..."

I was embarrassed. "Heidi, we don't have a black guy with us or a fat nerdy guy..." I began.

"We know who the bitchy girl is though," the woman laughed. She pulled out a plastic bag and placed both of our phones in them and walked off beside the road. She put our phones down by a tree and walked back smiling. She pulled out her iPhone again and did something on it. Then she took a picture of the tree.

"I used my GPS app and placed a pin on this location," she said. "We'll be able to find your phones easily tomorrow. And we're not going to a creepy old farm house."

We got into the Escalade and drove for about an hour. When we pulled up, we were in front of some kind of luxury Casino/Hotel. There were all kinds of people milling around. She pulled out her phone and tapped it once. Obviously, someone important was on speed dial.

"We're here," she said. "And I have a surprise for you. He brought a girlfriend. How the hell do I know? Uhm, she kind of reminds me of his mother." Then she laughed and looked at us.

"Oh no," she said. "Not me, I'm way too old to be babysitting, beside I'm supposed to be with you, forever, remember?...Oh alright, but you're going to have to make this up to me." She looked over at us and dropped her voice lower.

"Hell no, I'm not going to be on top. You're the one doing the making up. I'm just going to lie there and let you ravish me and..." She looked at us and could see that we could still hear her. She turned redder than I thought possible with her tanned skin.

"Uhm Rick," she said. "You just stay right here. I'll see you later, honey. Come on Miss Sunshine. You and I are going shopping and we'll probably have lunch first."

"But I wanna stay with Rick," whined Heidi. "Did, you say shopping?" she asked. "Am I using my money or someone else's?"

"We're buying," said the woman.

"Let's go," said Heidi. "See you later Rick." As they walked away, I heard her telling the woman that she wanted a leather jacket and some tight assed jeans and stripper shoes."

"She's a piece of...something," said a voice close to me. I turned to see who'd said it but I already knew who it was.

The man standing beside me had short close cropped hair that was starting to have a few threads of gray mixed in with the brown. His brown eyes had an intensity that was hard to look away from. He had a two day beard growth and a deeper tan than I remembered. The smile that played at the corners of his lips was different too. He held his arms open and I walked into them, the way I'd always done. He hugged me. None of that handshake shit for us. And when he hugged me, somehow it felt like he'd gotten far stronger since I last saw him and that had been only about four months ago for Christmas break.

The shorter hair style and the clothes made him seem almost as if he was a different person. He seemed tougher and stronger but there was something missing though. I think it was the worry, or maybe the doubts. The man standing in front of me didn't seem to have a care in the world. He wasn't worried about where the next car payment or house payment would come from or any of that other trivial bullshit that had always plagued him even when he had money in the bank. He seemed like the kind of guy who was ready to grab life in both hands and drink it in.

"Hey Dad," I said. "What the hell is going on?" Then I shook my head. "You seem happier..."

"Oh, so you've met your stepmother?" he smirked. My mouth dropped open.

"She's hot," I said. Then I looked at him. "Did you say step MOTHER or SISTER?"

"Yeah, I know," he smirked.

"Dad, she's..." I began.

"Twenty six," he finished.

"Dad, I'm twenty four," I spat. "What the hell is wrong with you? Is this some kind of mid-life crisis? What does Mom think?"

"Hang on," he said. "I have lunch waiting in the room. We'll talk while we eat."

* * * * * *

Mark

As we walked into the suite, I could tell that my son was a little bit shocked. We walked over to the table and I gestured for him to sit down. He looked around the room. Besides the beautiful décor, the thing that was probably the most notable about the room was the fact that our suitcases were still packed. We lived out of the suitcases so we were always ready to leave in a heartbeat.

"Dad, where is Mom?" he asked.

"I don't know exactly," I said. "But she's happy and doing what she loves most."

"So is she gardening or shopping?" he asked smiling. "And what does Uncle John mean when he said she was a suspect in a crime?"

"Maybe I'd better start from the beginning," I said. "The last time I saw you, was just after Christmas. I drove you to the airport so you could go back to school, remember?" He nodded his head.

"On my way back from the airport, I stopped at the Seven Eleven and bought a lottery ticket like I always do. There was a new girl working there. She was really pretty. Her name tag said Jenni. What I didn't like about her was that she had a bunch of fucking tattoos all over her. One or two small ones isn't really bad but shit, she even had a tat on her fucking neck. I figured she'd be working at a Seven Eleven for the rest of her life. What a waste. Putting tattoos on a woman that beautiful is like smearing a turd on the Mona Lisa.

Anyway, I bought my ticket and thanked her and she just looked at me and smiled. She seemed to be kind of timid which is unusual for someone that pretty. Usually, the hot women have all kinds of confidence because all they hear from people is how hot they are.

I told her that if I won, I'd come back and buy her something nice. She told me that everyone always said that but no one ever really did it.

When I got home, I heard your mother talking on the phone. She was telling someone that she'd see them the next day. "I'll drop by while he's at work," she said. "He'll never know so it won't be an issue."

For some reason, that just stood out to me. It's funny, but when you've lived with someone and loved them for a very long time, you can just sense things. Your mom and I had been together for twenty five years. So I knew that whatever she was whispering about wasn't something I would like.

So I walked into the room and she quickly hung the phone up. She got ready to walk out of the room. She looked really guilty so I asked her who she'd been talking to.

"A friend," she said.

"Do I know this friend?" I asked.

"No," she said. She couldn't look me in the eye.

"So is this friend a man?" I asked.

"Mark, Honey, we need to talk," she said.

"So talk," I said. But I already knew what she was going to say. The bitch had been cheating on me. I could tell by the way she couldn't even look at me. I could also tell that she'd stopped or at least slowed down during the time that you were home for Christmas, but she was ready to ramp it back up now that you were gone."

"Mark, I'm going through something," she began. "It has nothing to do with us or at least nothing to do with you but I've reached an age...Well Honey, we're almost fifty and..."

"And this is the time when some people our age go out and do stupid shit," I said. "Like when George bought that used Ferrari last year and couldn't afford the payments on his house so he lost IT and the car. And Elaine divorced him when she found out that he'd been fucking women he met because of the car. So now Elaine lives with her mother and George lives in a fucking homeless shelter because the alimony he pays Elaine doesn't leave him enough money to rent an apartment."

"Elaine is miserable and spends most of her time taking care of her mother and remembering the life she and George planned. George is a charter member of the tuna of the month club. Every few weeks he gets a can of tuna from some odd assed place in the world. I hear the tuna with peanut butter was really good."

"Mark, it's just something I wanted to try for a while and then things will get back to normal and..." she began.

"Did you fuck him?" I asked.

"Well Mark, maybe you can find someone to..." she said, while the look in her eyes clearly told me that she didn't think I'd be able to find anyone.

"Answer my God damned question, Stella," I spat.

"No...I mean yes, but it doesn't...." she said.

I walked over to the door and opened it. "Get the fuck out of my house, now," I said.

Her jaw dropped and her eyes opened. "But Mark, it's not that serious. It's just something that I needed for a..."

"Did I stutter?" I asked. "Was I speaking Pacmanistani? Get the fuck out of my house, now."

"But Mark," she said again.

"If you say, but Mark, one more God damned time, I'll slap the shit out of you," I said.

"B..."she let out before she caught herself. "I'll pack a bag and get my car," she said with her eyes tearing up. "I'll leave you alone for a couple of days and then call you from my sister's house."

"First off, the car you're talking about is staying here," I said. "I bought it for my wife and it's in my name. So is the insurance on it. Let the guy you're fucking buy you a car. Since we got together, you haven't ever worked a fucking day in your life. So get your ass out of here, now."

As she just stood there looking at me in shock, I crossed the room and stepped around her. I grabbed her purse and took out the Samsung smart phone I'd just bought her. I also removed the car keys, the house keys and the garage remote and keys. I handed the purse to her and she tried to reach out to hug me.

"Mark, I don't love him. I only love you," she cried. "We can work this out if you're willing to be reasonable. We've been together for too long to let..."

"Stella, if you try to touch me again, I'll call the police and have you charged with assault and get a restraining order against you. That will help my side in the divorce."

"What divorce?" she screamed. "Are you out of your fucking mind? What will all of our friends think?"

"They'll think that you're a cheating whore and I refuse to live with one," I said. "Now get to walking."

"By the time I'm done with you, you'll be begging for me to come back," she hissed. "Fuck you."

"Not on a bet," I said. "I don't stick my dick into women who fuck around."

She slowly walked past me. "When you come to your senses, you know where to call me," she said.

"When you come to yours, we'll already be divorced," I told her.

It was too late for me to call a lawyer, so I did the next best thing. I started drinking. It must've been three hours later when the phone rang. I wasn't completely drunk but I was on the way.

"Mark, what the hell is wrong with you?" said the caller. "This isn't like you at all. You're the nicest guy I know. Normally, I'm the one who usually thinks that you're spoiling my sister. I've always thought you were killing her with kindness and..."

"That's been my problem all the time," I said. "I've been using the wrong tool. Instead of killing her with kindness, I should have been using a baseball bat..."