Maria gave no directions so Jim decided to drive whichever way he wanted. He was following Main Street leading in the direction of Tommy’s house and then the country beyond that. Even though he was doing the speed limit the edge of town was fast approaching and she was just sitting there pouting. He wished she would stop acting like a child and give him directions like she said she would. He had no idea where to go. The only thing he knew about Tommy’s death was that it had happened off in the woods somewhere. Looking out the windows he figured that could be anywhere. The town was surrounded by an intermingling of open fields and woods. If she didn’t get on the ball soon he would have no choice but to stop and force her to tell him something. He didn’t know how he would do that but he would figure something out if he had too.
The last vestige of civilization came and went and still she said nothing. What he could see of the town was slowly getting smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror and he was about to slam on the brakes and demand to know where they were going when Maria finally said something.
“Turn right,” she whimpered.
Jim stopped and looked to his right. There was no road there. He was about to tell her so when he noticed something. There was a small path that led out into a field. Beyond that he couldn’t see. The darkness wouldn’t let him.
“That’s not a road ya know,” he yelled.
“Well, that’s where your precious Jill went so if you want to find her then that’s where you have to turn,” she yelled right back.
Cursing under his breath he turned and drove into the weeds at the edge of the road as directed. After driving for so long on a smooth surface he was unprepared for what the field held for him. Ruts and bumps and holes seemed to jump under his tire with a frequency that was unbelievable. Most of the time when you looked at grass swaying in the wind it looked so smooth and gentle that you thought you might be able to lie down and take a nice relaxing nap in it. You never thought about what might be underneath that calm exterior. Jim’s poor car was now finding out. The two of them were being thrown around from one side of the car to the other. The only thing that kept Jim where he was supposed to be was his vice like grip on the steering wheel. He felt Maria slam into his side a few times and could’ve swore he felt her coping a feel but he was too busy trying to avoid what few holes and hills he could. He didn’t really want to have to pay for a new suspension on the rental car but, Jill was out here somewhere so he didn’t have much of a choice.
They drove slowly down the road bouncing up and down whenever they hit an especially big hole until Maria yelled for him take another right. The road they turned onto wasn’t much better than the other but it seemed to have a few less holes than the previous one so Jim counted himself lucky. After being on the new road only a few minutes she had him take another turn and then another. The second one he almost missed because it was so overgrown with weeds. This type of twisting and turning continued for the better part of a half hour before she quietly told him to stop. He strained his eyes trying to penetrate the darkness surrounding the car. From what little he could make out, there was nothing there.
“Where are we?” he asked suspiciously.
“Just give me a minute,” she snapped.
“What? Are we lost? I thought you said you told Jill how to get here,” he demanded.
“We aren’t lost I just need to get my bearings,” she said angrily. “I’m sure your precious Jill is safe and sound. Now would you shut up and let me think?”
Just when Jim was resigning himself to being lost in the middle of God knew where she told him start driving again. Almost immediately after that she had him take a left. As he spun the wheel trying to avoid a tree that loomed out the darkness he thought he saw the headlights pick out the form of a person standing not twenty feet away.
“Who was that?” he asked as he hit the brakes.
“Who was what?” Maria answered.
“That,” he said pointing. “I saw someone standing a little ways that way.”
“I didn’t see anyone,” Maria said spookily. “Maybe there’s some sort of monster out there or something. Who knows, maybe it already got Jill and now it’s coming for us.”
Her words brought images of the Goatman flooding into his head. This was crazy. He was out in the middle of nowhere, with one of the weirdest people he’d ever met, looking for a girl he hoped liked him and oh, by the way, the Goatman was after him and his only remaining living friend. Pete wasn’t the only one that needed to have his head examined.
“Maybe there wasn’t anything after all,” he stammered.
“Course there wasn’t, sweetie. You’re just excited. That’s all. You know, I could take your mind off all that stuff.” He glanced over and saw her unbuttoning her top. She’d already gotten it down far enough that he could see a little bit of some dark colored lace from her bra in the light from the instrument panel.
“How much longer?” he asked as he quickly looked back in front of them. Whatever answer she might have said, he didn’t hear. Just out of reach of the headlights he saw a big shadow move across the road.
“There it was again!” he yelled.
“There’s nothing out there,” she huffed. “If you’d just look over here long enough you wouldn’t even care what was out there.” Before he could catch himself he looked. The buttons on Maria’s top were undone and her bra was in plain view. The lace he’d seen ended up being just about all it was made of. He knew he should look away but he couldn’t. He was a man after all. His eyes seemed to strain to see what was hidden underneath the lace. He was sure if it was lighter he’d be able to see everything. He was just reaching for the interior light when something struck the car. Startled by the impact Jim snapped back to reality and looked around.
“It was probably just some animal or something,” Maria said trying to swing his attention back to her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got something much better for you to look at.” “Maria I’m out here to find Jill, not to watch you act like the whore you are,” he said as he fought to keep control of the car and himself. He refused to give her the pleasure of making him look at her. He regretted doing it the first time but he hadn’t been able to help himself. It was just a natural male reaction, he told himself. “Put you damn clothes back on and tell me where to go and no, hell is not an option.”
“You know you want me Jimmy,” she purred. “I saw you looking. You liked it, didn’t you? If you’d just look again you might see some more things you like.” He could feel her inching closer but he’d had about enough.
“Look you stupid bitch,” he yelled as he slammed the brakes, “I’m not going to do anything with you. I thought I got it through that thick skull back at the restaurant but I guess not.” He’d held himself in check long enough. It was time to vent a little on the target of his anger. “You’re here to help me find Jill. End of story. After that you can go back and live in your little fantasy world. Right now tell where the hell I need to go. Other than that keep your damn mouth shut.”
Before when he’d yelled at her she’d looked almost ashamed of herself. Now she just returned his stare almost like she was challenging him to do something more. He was sorely tempted too but instead just held her look. He refused to be the first to look away. After a few more seconds the contest of wills seemed to be over. Maria looked away and started buttoning herself back up.
“It’s right up here,” she grunted. “Keep going up over this hill in front of us. It’s on the other side.” She was back to her pouting routine. Jim started forward again thanking god this ride was almost over.
“It’s about time,” he said anxiously trying to fill the silence in the car.
They topped the thing Maria called a hill and started down. At first Jim saw nothing but after a few seconds of searching the area spread out in front of them he did see a faint light a little bit further down the road. Bouncing and thumping their way down the hill they slowly got closer and closer until they were almost there. It was a good thing too. He didn’t know how much more of this his poor rental could take. The return trip might be it. All they needed to do was stop long enough to get Jill and then hightail it back to town.
Thinking about driving back he found he was actually happy Maria was there. She was the only one that knew how to get back to town. Jill might know, but then again maybe not. She’d come out here during the day when it was easier to see land marks and other things she might’ve used to navigate. It was pitch black now. There was nothing to see but what the headlight could pick out. That wasn’t enough to find their way back. Even though they’d just drove out here he was totally lost which meant Maria was their only hope.
Concentrating on navigating his way down the small hill he was only able to catch quick glimpses of their destination. The house if that was what you wanted to call it stood lost and alone surrounded on almost all sides with trees. The forest was slowly taking back its own. During one of his glimpses he noticed something that sent chill down his spine. From what must have been the front door drifted an eerie glow. He wasn’t even sure he actually saw it but the closer he got the more he was sure it was there. The glow became the center of his world as the car seemed to bounce from one side of the road to the other. It kept getting closer and that was all that mattered.
They finally came to a stop no more than thirty feet from what passed for the entrance. The glow was still coming from the door but now it had a slight flickering quality to it. For some reason this made it seem spookier than when it had just been an undefined glow. As the dust settled down around the car and Jill bounced from the passenger side Jim took a moment to study the place he’d worked so hard to reach. When Jim actually parked outside it he saw that he had been partially wrong.
It wasn’t what he expected. He thought they were coming to some place far off in the woods somewhere not an actual house. What stood before him would’ve almost been livable if not for the fact that half of its upper floor seemed to have been burnt away at some point. The house was fronted by three frames where windows must’ve once been. Above these was an overhang that brought to mind cool summers sitting in the shade but was now nothing more than dirt and decay. Above that, as he saw when he first arrived, was what was left of a second floor. The part that was still standing had one blackened window looking out into the night. He looked over at the burnt part but saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Something had moved in the window. He saw nothing there a second ago, but as soon as he’d turned his head he’d seen something. The creepy crawly sensation of being watched settled over him again. He strained his eyes trying to pierce the darkness but after a few moments gave up. It was just too dark for him to see anything. Shaking his head he noticed Maria standing on the front porch waiting for him.
He couldn’t figure out why she’d sent Jill here. His mother said Tommy was killed in the woods not in a house. Maybe was here just before he died or something and that was why Jill was here. He could see Jill’s car parked off to the side of the house but there was no sign of Jill. If it’d been him he would’ve rushed outside to see who’d arrived. He’d at least want to know whether it was friend or foe. But there was nobody except for Maria.
Well, no Jill but at least now he was sure she’d made it out here. He’d been worried at some points that maybe she hadn’t come and the whole thing would be a wasted trip. What made it worse was the place was so hard to find. He’d grown up here and thought he knew the location of all the old houses still standing around town but this one was a new one for him. If he hadn’t known it was here then nobody else did either. All the more reason to get Jill and get the hell out of here, he thought as he hurried towards where Maria was waiting.
“Isn’t it spooky out here?” she said greeting him as he approached. “I just love it. Sometimes I think I can do anything out here.” She sounded a lot happier than she had a few minutes ago and what was all this about doing anything out here. Had she been here before? He was glad she’d gotten over the scolding he’d given her earlier but she was sounding kind of strange. She sounded bubbly, excited even. Not exactly what you would expect when coming to the place someone was murdered. Then again it was Maria. She wasn’t exactly a normal type of person.
“Yeah,” he said instead of what he was thinking “let’s just find Jill and get out of here.” He didn’t know if he liked the happy Maria or the skulking one instead. Either way he wanted to be gone.
“But Jim, this place is perfect,” She purred sweetly in answer. “We can do whatever we want and nobody will ever know.”
He found he was having an easier time seeing things the closer he got to the doorway. The light coming from inside was making things a lot brighter. By its light he could see the smile that was slowly spreading across her face as she slowly rubbed her one hand over her breasts and the other snaked its way towards her groin.
“I thought we already went over this,” he said shakily. He wasn’t attracted to her but he was also a man. He couldn’t deny that what she offered was tempting but then he thought of the perverse pleasure she seemed to take in everything going on lately and how difficult she’d been about bringing him here. Just that made it easy to resist her spell.
“We are here to find Jill and then leave,” he growled.
“Oh come on,” she cooed. “She could even join in if you wanted.”
“Damn it, I said no! Why the hell can’t you listen?”
“Cause I’m not hearing the right answers.”
“Well, that’s the only answer you’re going to get.”
“You sure about that?” she asked sliding a hand down her pants.
“Yes!” he said breathing heavily. She really needed to stop what she was doing. She was distracting him from what they’d came to do. Jill was somewhere inside and he needed to find her. What would he do if she came out while Maria was putting on her little show? How would he explain that? They just needed to do what they came to do and leave. But the nymphomaniac couldn’t take no for an answer.
“Look let go get Jill and get out of here,” he said. “I’ll take you home and you can do your thing there by yourself.”
“You don’t sound too sure of yourself Jimmy. Sure you don’t want some before we go find little Jillykins?” She pulled her hand from her pants and raised it to her lips licking her fingers.
“I’m sure,” Jim said.
“Last chance,” she said huskily sliding her hand back down.
“Stop! Just stop!” he yelled. “I know you’re a damn whore so just stop shoving it in my face. Let’s just get Jill and get out of here. You can finger yourself silly when you get home if you want, I don’t care. Just do what you said you’d do and that’s it. Nothing else. After that we’re done.”
By the glow of from the house he could see her face turn from sensuous to pouting. He hoped this wasn’t a return to her earlier state. If that was the case they’d never get out of here. She just might make them stay here out of spite.
“Fine. Have your way,” she said as she turned and walked through the door.
Left unprepared Jim could only stand there looking at the place she had been. He’d expected some kind of argument or at least another attempt at seducing him but instead she’d given up. It had to be some kind of ruse. She hadn’t given up that easily before so why would she now. And where in the hell was Jill? All this yelling you would think she’d have come running to see what was going on but nope, no sign of her anywhere. Things just weren’t right. Something was going on and he was missing it. Maria had gone inside, presumably to pout, and with her went all of his answers the most important of which was the whereabouts of Jill. If he wanted to find out anything, he’d have to follow her whether he wanted to or not.
Bracing himself he stepped through the door and was quickly assaulted. The light was brighter on the inside than he’d thought. He couldn’t see a thing after being in the dark for so long. Before his eyesight even had a chance to clear he started sneezing. The smell of vanilla, cinnamon and lavender was so strong it almost knocked him off his feet. As it was it felt like walking into a wall it was so thick.
During his sneezing fits his eyes slowly adjusted to the interior. Through his tears the first thing he saw was candles. That explains the light and the smell, he thought. Looking around he saw that there were candles of every shaped and color positioned about the room on every surface that could conceivably hold one and even some that probably couldn’t. Big fat candles trailed up the stairs leading to the second floor, little tiny candles were placed here and there between candles that looked like everything from animals to cars. What was left of a chandelier hung from the ceiling draped with long skinny candles dripping wax down to the floor below. Through all this was a narrow path that led to another room. Maria was nowhere to be seen so left with no other option Jim slowly began to follow it.
While walking he thought he heard movement overhead but when he stopped he heard nothing but the sputtering of the candles of the dripping of wax. When he was only a few steps from the corner that led to the next room he thought he heard talking. It sounded like Maria but he wasn’t sure. It was too quiet. Wanting to get to her and demand to know what was going on he quickly covered the few remaining steps and stalked into the next room.
What he saw was beyond his comprehension for a few seconds. His heart dropped at the sight before him. He couldn’t breathe.
“See, I told you he was coming!” Maria cackled as he sputtered to regain his senses.
Maria stood on the far side of the room in front of the fire place with Jill. But it was a Jill he barely recognized. Gone was the perfect country girl look. Gone was the friendly smile that he’d grown to love. Gone was everything that made her recognizable to him. Instead he saw her strung up, hands above her head tied to a rafter in the ceiling. Her head rolled from one side to the other as Maria batted it back and forth. There was a string of drool hanging from her mouth. Her clothes had pretty much been torn from her body. Her shirt had been ripped open and was hanging in tatters that barely covered the parts of her that Jim had only dreamed of seeing. Her pants were still on but they had been ripped. There were also dark spots on them he was sure was blood. His earlier thoughts of Maria having done something returned. He wished he’d brought some type of weapon but he hadn’t been expecting anything like this when he’d come to find Jill. Nobody would’ve expected something like what he was looking at.
“I told you she could join in,” Maria said seductively as she groped Jill’s chest. “I offered to share you with her but she said no. She wanted you all to herself. I couldn’t allow that.”
“What the hell are you doing?” he finally managed to say.
“Whatever do you mean Jimmy dear?” she asked innocently. “We’re just two girls having a little fun.”
“What have you done you crazy bitch?” he said recovering a bit more. The initial shock was starting to wear off. He wanted to run across the room and help Jill but the way Maria looked he didn’t think that would be a good idea. She’d changed almost as much as Jill had but in the opposite direction. If anything she looked better than she had when they were driving out. While he’d been outside wasting his time she’d used hers to change clothes from the frumpy old restaurant stuff to a flimsy see through nightgown type thing complete with matching bathrobe. The whole outfit left nothing to the imagination. He could see everything down to the mole on her inner thigh.
“I haven’t really done anything but sit here and watch,” she said. “Oh, well, I did also bring her out here before I brought you too. Does that still count as nothing? I sure hope so.”
“Is she even alive?” he asked stepping forward slowly. He didn’t want to make her think he was going to rush her or anything but from where he was he couldn’t tell if Jill was breathing or not.
“Well, I don’t know,” Maria said thoughtfully. “Let me check.” She spun around went over to Jill and slapped her right in the face. Jim could already see a red mark forming as a quiet groan reached his ears.
“Yup,” Maria said happily, “I’d say she’s alive. Not too happy maybe but alive nonetheless.”
“So what is all this?” Jim asked as he inched forward.
“It’s about us Jimmy. You and me. I didn’t like what our little Jilly was doing so I took matters into my own hands.”
“Now what happens?” he asked hoping he wouldn’t hear what he knew she’d say.
“You’re a smart boy Jimmy. I think you know what comes next.”
He figured if he could keep her talking long enough he might figure something out but he wasn’t quite able to make it that far. The next thing he knew something had slammed into the back of his head and the floor was rushing up to say hi.
He was sure it should’ve hurt more when his head finally struck the ground but strangely he felt nothing. He tried moving his arms and legs but got no response from either. His vision was beginning to darken. There were people talking but he wasn’t sure what they were saying. He struggled to make it out but was only able to hear a little before he passed out.
“Does this mean no goodnight kiss?” Maria asked as she began to laugh. He wanted to spit some smartass answer back at her but he couldn’t. Everything went dark and he heard nothing else.