In the House of Spite Ch. 20

Author's Note: This ending might not be enjoyable to many people, but I kind of like it. It made me nod my head and snicker. Still, if it bothers you, I apologize.

***

The containers and foils full of pills that were handed to Pearl all were sealed, new things. This was a mild comfort. She was pretty sure nobody was going to poison her. Then again, if anyone wanted to poison her they'd have gone after her food first.

Some of the pills made her feel understandably drowsy. They were known side effects. Pearl chose to use this time for a quick nap. When she woke up, she didn't feel that she'd killed enough time, and that made her almost wish she could sleep for days.

And as the days went on, that wish only grew stronger.

Most of the time, she was alone. Sometimes she heard voices, mostly Spanish voices, downstairs. Those guys that seemed to work for Shawn might not have been allowed upstairs very often. Sometimes she heard heavy footsteps around from Shawn. Other times there were the lighter footsteps from Catalina.

Whenever she had a visitor, it was either Catalina or Shawn. Catalina would only give her food and take the dirty dishes. Shawn would do that too, but he liked to hang around.

Being kind of sick really did turn out to be a good thing. Shawn held her hand on occasion, but he seemed to politely, if such a word could be appropriate in this situation, keep a certain distance.

He never did explain why he'd kidnapped and kept her. It was like he thought Pearl knew everything and he didn't see the point in giving out any details.

How much time had passed? How many days? Pearl had tried to keep count. She was pretty sure it was maybe three days. Shawn was probably responding to her parents' occasional texts, pretending to be her, giving excuses for not answering phone calls. Her phone's passcode probably meant nothing to him. He'd either figured it out on his own or was able to get someone to peek over her shoulder in secret in public.

Whatever illness Pearl had was probably a nasty cold. Her sinuses were always playing stupid games and her throat was too sensitive. The coughing was practically a habit. Sometimes mucus came out of her throat, but it was thankfully clear. She didn't have a fever. No nausea. No aches nor pains. Honey and lemon tea, steaming and in coffee mugs, was often served to her. She'd also been given plenty of hot saltwater for gargling.

But Shawn still hadn't tried anything sexual with her. Pearl thought he didn't want anything to do with her cold.

She hoped she wouldn't be stuck in this place in spring, but she was grateful that fate hadn't allowed any violence just yet. There were a lot of people in similar predicaments that were nowhere near as fortunate.

After dinner on the third day, after Shawn had put away the dishes, he stood a short distance away from the desk. Generally unsure, Pearl decided to behave as if nothing interesting was going on. She sat in the desk chair with her hands gently folded in her lap. The expression she held as she looked up at Shawn was notably emotionless.

From a back pocket, Shawn pulled out a phone. Pearl recognized it. It was hers. Smiling, almost looking mischievous, the man tapped the screen with his fingertip and said, "Darren's simmered long enough. Let's get him to talk to you."

A moment or so later, Shawn had the phone at his ear.

He waited.

And waited.

His smile narrowed into nothing. His brow wrinkled.

He dialed again.

One of his feet tapped on the floor.

Nothing.

One of his lower eyelids twitched so much he might as well have been winking.

Then, in what Pearl could only call a miffed huff, Shawn cursed, marched to the door, slammed it open and closed, and cursed some more as he slid the lock in place. Pearl heard him hiss something like, "The hell's wrong with him?"

She wondered about the peculiar scene, even when she was desperately trying to sleep later in the night.

Darren wasn't answering his phone. Did he even have his phone? Had he abandoned it? Why? Didn't he want to keep a way to contact her?

She hugged her pillow and dug her fingernails into it. Then she sniffed as her face warmed.

What if he'd given up?

She scratched at the pillowcase.

No. He wouldn't dare to even consider that. He'd do everything he could. He must be doing everything he could!

What if he thought his phone was too dangerous to keep, a way for Shawn to find him? Hacking and tracking are concepts that really do exist.

Thinking back on how pissed off Shawn was, Pearl's fingers relaxed and she had a smile for the first time in a good, long while. That might've been part of Darren's plan, whatever it was.

Yes. Everything would fall into place soon. Darren would rescue her and Shawn would be put down.

***

It was officially the fourth day. Technically, it was morning. Pearl could tell by the footsteps that Catalina wasn't the one about to serve her breakfast. Shawn was indeed the one to unlock and open the door. He had a loaded tray. A glass of orange juice and a glass of milk. A bowl of thick, buttery grits. Egg in a nest (an egg that had been fried in a hole in a buttery, grilled slice of bread). A thick, fluffy biscuit. And chunky sausages. Shawn put the tray on the desk, and Pearl wordlessly took her seat there.

He had such an wrinkled expression, reminding her of Darren back when he was struggling with hiding Reese.

Standing over her, hands on his hips, he asked Pearl in a tight tone, "What did he tell you?"

Ignoring the fear popping in her stomach, Pearl put a fork in her egg and bread. As she picked up a knife, she calmly and gently said, "I don't know what you mean."

"Darren!" He spat that name out. "What did he tell you?!"

"I haven't spoken with him since before I was taken here." Pearl was slicing through the egg and bread. The yolk was runny. She wanted to ask what the issue was, but she had a feeling that might rile him up. That was a dangerous idea.

"You don't know where he is?" He bent over just a tad. His pinkened eyes narrowed down at her.

Her utensils paused.

Her eyebrows lowered.

"He's gone?" she said.

"So you really don't know?"

The next thing Pearl said was, "What about the dogs?"

Shawn's back straightened and he folded his arms. "They're gone too."

They were probably at Darren and Shawn's parents' house. As for Darren himself, he probably wasn't there. Pearl sighed. "If I knew where he was, I'd tell you. He told me to pretty much do whatever you want."

"Is that what he told you?" His tone changed to something amused.

She brought a bit of egg to her lips. "Yep." She put it in her mouth and chewed.

"Well that's just boring." Shawn leaned on a wall and stared out at who knows what. "If I wanted to talk to a limp bitch I'd get one of mine."

Pearl didn't want to know what me meant. His words were tainted with the most evil things, things she didn't want touching her brain.

He visibly chewed on his inner cheek, drumming his fingertips on his arms, as Pearl ate her meal. Then, once she was done, he took the mess and left her alone.

Pearl hung around as she normally did. Her occasional pacing felt more intense, though. Her socked feet stomped a bit harder. Her normally muted steps sounded louder. Her breath puffed more. When her legs grew hot and almost weak, she sat down at the desk to play some Minesweeper, then Solitaire, then a Roller Coaster Tycoon game. When her arm and shoulder started hurting, she put her belly on the bed and stretched her limbs. She took a short nap.

The lunchtime knocking on the door. That's what woke Pearl up. She rubbed an eye and sat up. Then she waited for the door to open. Again, it was Shawn. And again, he looked very surly. Pearl was still afraid of him, but she also had her secret delight at seeing him in this state.

The man put the tray of food at the desk. Then he scratched in his hair and blew rather angry sounding air out of his nose. Pearl took her seat and started eating.

Unprovoked, Shawn suddenly told her, "A bunch of moving guys packed all your shit up."

"Huh?" Pearl's brow, nose, and lips all scrunched up. "What are you talking about?"

"The fucking house is empty." His words seemed to hover over Pearl's head for a moment. She had difficulty processing the information.

"You mean our home?" Pearl said.

"The whole house is empty," Shawn growled out. "I think he put all that shit in storage units." His nostrils flared out as he stared down at her. "You don't know where he is, right?"

Pearl took a sip of the beverage, trembled, and said, "You wouldn't even need to torture me to get that out. If I had the blood, I'd give it to you, but right now I'm just a turnip." One of her fingernails made a gentle noise against the drinking glass. "I haven't heard anything from Darren. You've already made sure he we can't talk to each other without you knowing."

This was undeniably true. She couldn't use the Internet. She couldn't get to a phone. No secret messages could get through. There was always a certain amount of people around, at least downstairs. Darren wasn't a badass super spy.

Shawn groaned and sucked air through his teeth. He sounded like some annoying classmates Pearl had known when she was a kid.

On the fifth day, after breakfast, Shawn handed Pearl her phone and told her to call her parents. She had to keep in touch, make them think everything was alright. He even had a hand-written script for her. It was a little cringy, but her parents bought everything. As if she thought everything was very normal, she handed the phone back to him with an almost careless flick of her fingers. It practically bounced in his great palm.

This put Shawn back in his normal, cheerful mood. The fact that Pearl didn't seem sick anymore only widened his smile.

At least she wasn't always popping pills down like a cheap whore.

But before Shawn could curl his longer fingers around the phone, it lit up and rang. It even vibrated against his skin. His smile flickered, and he looked at the phone number. "It's not in your contacts," he said.

Pearl shrugged. "Robo call?"

"Looks like an ordinary number," Shawn said. He gave her back the phone. "Answer it."

Frowning, Pearl slid her finger across the green button on the screen and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

The voice she heard made her stomach flutter and her heart feel weak. Her spare hand pressed against that heart and she gasped, her blue eyes popping as she forgot to notice anything in her vision.

"Baby? Where's Shawn? Why did you answer the phone?"

Shawn might've heard that. Pearl was convinced of that when he snatched her phone away and starting talking to Darren. "Well! It's about time you started talking! I was really starting to miss you!" He had the expression and tone of someone expecting a happy visit from a beloved person. "Don't you want to come get the girl?"

Pearl thought she heard something like, "Not really" from the phone's speaker.

Shawn's happiness visibly melted away. He lowered the phone and gazed down at the screen with a loose jaw and uncertain eyes. Pearl assumed Darren had hung up. Her feelings were almost hurt, but she told herself that Darren certainly wanted to come get her. He was just playing by a strategy. Pearl didn't understand the strategy, but she knew it had to be there, turning and interlocking in Darren's thoughts.

***

The fifth morning was when there was finally a great change.

Shawn served Pearl breakfast. As she quietly ate, he told her, "Use the bathroom when you're done, and hurry up. We'll be leaving soon." He was as delightfully angry as he'd been before. There was some unpleasant darkness under his eyes, and he looked like he needed a tall glass of water. His hair even looked kind of limp.

Pearl wanted to ask where they were going, but she imagined he didn't want her to make the meal last any longer than necessary. It was a rather light tray. Just a bowl of grits and two hunks of sausage with a cup of orange juice. Pearl was obedient, not that she'd been disobedient before. She ate her food then went to the bathroom. She heard Shawn taking the tray and leaving. When she was done with her business and back in the bedroom, Shawn was knocking on the door.

"I'm coming in. I got clothes for you."

Pearl sat on the bed and sighed.

The door opened. Shawn was there, dressed warmly and holding a pile of clothes. He dumped it all beside Pearl on the mattress. It was bunch of sturdy winter clothes.

Shawn told her to get dressed, get her purse, and follow him. It felt more awkward that it appeared. Shawn mostly spent the time checking his phone like he was nervously counting down minutes.

Once Pearl was dressed, Shawn had her follow him out of the bedroom. This simple act thrilled her, put tingles in her blood, although she was too afraid to express this feeling. While Shawn was so entertaining when he was pissed off, he was also terrifying.

Outside the house, there was the van Pearl had been kept in before. More unknown, apparently Hispanic men were in the front. Shawn opened the back doors and told Pearl to get inside. A few more men were in the back. They were just as "respectful" as the last time, meaning they didn't even look at her. Shawn followed her, and he held her close, again putting her purse in his lap.

During the ride, Shawn seemed to be the only one talking, and he did it through his phone. He called up a number, frowned and tugged on the purse's strap, and waited for the other person to answer. When there was an answer, Shawn started bitching.

"You have to come save the girl! That's just what you do!"

Pearl thought she could make out the voice on the other end. It was tired and dull.

"Nope," said the voice. "Don't feel like it."

Shawn looked like he wanted to spit and bite his own tongue. His jaw clenched, unclenched, then snapped open. "No way!" One of his feet stomped on the interior's floor, which made a few of the men hiss through their teeth and inch themselves a bit more away, or as away as they could get. "What's the point of being better than someone when he's gone to shit like this?!" Shawn went on. "Where's the pride in that?!"

Quiet.

Shawn's shorter fingernails scratched at his pants, making very upsetting noises.

Then suddenly, he said with a very insulted tone, "Did you just fucking hang up on me?!"

Was that Darren? Was Darren still playing his game with Shawn?

Pearl had to stop herself from giving an irked sigh.

They happened to pass Darren's house during the drive. Pearl couldn't help but turn her head to keep it in her sight for as long as possible. It looked empty. She couldn't explain how it looked any different from before, though. Maybe it was just because she'd heard Darren and the dogs weren't there anymore that made her think the house looked empty.

Where exactly they were going, Pearl wasn't sure, but she imagined it wasn't somewhere in town. It had to be a place out in the trees. Maybe another cabin. Maybe Reese would show up and there'd be a badass beast fight. But what about the men Shawn had brought with him? Were they just meant to be the most unfair version of backup he could come up with? It didn't seem like an honorable fight to her. Maybe Shawn didn't really want the extra men involved with the fight, but just around to keep her from being stolen?

Pearl couldn't understand the logic, mostly because there was a lack of it.

Shawn tried calling Darren, or who Pearl assumed was Darren, a few more times. Shawn got angrier and angrier with each call. The show Shawn apparently wanted wasn't on display. Darren wasn't being the mythical knight in shining armor. Pearl thought Shawn might damage her purse with his fingernails. The tough, creaky noises he made in the leather really bothered her ears.

The van eventually turned onto a dirt road. She couldn't see anymore houses, not even a little dumpster. She heard the driver mumble something. She didn't know what it was. Shawn suddenly yelled something at the driver. Pearl didn't know that it was either, precisely, but she knew an insult and a threat was in there. That got the driver to shut back up again. Shawn really wasn't in the mood for much of anything.

This dirt road felt longer and more twisted than intestines. Pearl yawned into a fist, which actually made Shawn's cheek twitch. The thickness of the forest reminded Pearl of horror stories. It didn't matter what time of day it was.

After what felt like forever and another minute, a two buildings came into view. To get there, they had to get on a fork in the road and get to an overgrown clearing that was enclosed by a tall, barbed wire fence with a gate.

The first building was one of the smallest buildings Pearl had ever seen. It was made of big, gray, concrete bricks. Very basic. The door was a sturdy but plain thing. There weren't any windows. Was it a little hunting lodge? Pearl thought it might be.

The second building was a tiny storage shed in the back. There was a nearby, square container that might've collected rainwater despite being under a water pump. A cold, leaf filled fire pit was also nearby. Most of the grass was so tall that it could touch the bottom of Pearl's ribcage if she walked through it. This place felt unused, not that she knew what it would look like in use.

The signs were what creeped her out.

Handmade. Attached to posts in the earth. Taped to the walls of the shed and the lodge. Placed near the fence. Blaring out warnings in English and Spanish.

"NO TRESPASSING!"

"WARNING! TRAPS ARE IN PLACE!!"

"DANGER! KEEP OUT!"

"TRESPASSERS MIGHT BE SHOT!"

"TRESPASSERS MIGHT BE CAUGHT IN TRAPS!"

"DO NOT ENTER!! TRAPS INSIDE!! DANGER!!"

The buildings had the most signs. It appeared that somebody was trying to warn somebody else that these buildings were dangerous.

Realistically, in a court of law, even in such a rural, pro-home defense state, lethal booby traps were pretty illegal. If you wanted to kill an intruder on your property, you had to do it with your own hands and or weapons. However, this was an interesting set of circumstances. Pearl just hoped whatever traps were here were nothing more dangerous than a strip of wood with nails for piercing tires. There was always the risk that she'd get involved, after all.

Everyone got out of the van. Shawn handed Pearl her purse. Why in the world he wanted her to have it was beyond her. Maybe it was his way of seeming like a good example of manhood. Shawn gave an order to one of the men, and then one guy went up to the gate. Several heavy padlocks were locked in place, hanging and dangling, keeping the gate closed. He looked at them for a bit. Then he started tugging on one. It was like he was trying to figure out if there were any hidden weaknesses.

"Boy!! You done fucked up!!"

Who was that?!

Everyone looked to see who.

A tall, old man wearing a long coat, reminding Pearl of Slender Man, except for his knitted beanie.

Pearl blinked. Then she met the man's eyes.

Oh, that was Mr. Booker Senior, Shawn and Darren's Daddy. She couldn't remember a time when she'd heard such a furious tone come from him. He was apparently unable to smile at her, which was fine. The situation was too high-strung. When he looked back to Shawn, his gloved fingers folded into angry fists. "Don't you dare put that girl past that fence!"

Rolling his eyes, really sounding like a kid, Shawn said, "I know! I'm not stupid!" His head jerked like he wanted to pop his neck. There was definitely a lot of sass in him. Then he suddenly announced something in Spanish. Pearl thought it meant, "Don't hurt the old man." She couldn't be certain, though.