Chapter Eleven: Emma

A/N: Official trailer for this story is on the side, made by moi!

***

Kidnap My Heart

Chapter Eleven: Emma

Hiding in the walls had its pros and cons. The pros were obvious: there was no way those two would ever find me in there unless I wanted to be found, and I could potentially have some fun with this. The cons presented themselves when I shimmied myself out of the crevice I’d crawled into. I was covered in grime and filth, and I probably smelled worse than I did before. I basically had no idea what I’d just been standing in. That hiding spot could only be used in extreme situations, or I’d never be able to wash the stench out of my hair. I really, really needed to take a shower.

After climbing out of the walls, I found myself blindly swatting at the air in the darkness, attempting to find a suitable place to sit down again. When I finally sat down, I nearly jumped back up out of shock. The door had opened again, and I was just about to shimmy myself back into the walls when I realized whoever was in there was only there to go to the bathroom.

I wrinkled my nose at the tinkling sounds I was hearing. This was what I had to look forward to until I managed to escape? How charming.

After they left, I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath in nervous anticipation. “Snap out of it, Emma,” I muttered, rubbing my face agitatedly. “They’re not going to find you in here. They can’t.”

My plan was going to work. It had to. Eric and Will would go out and look for me, and eventually, they would assume I was a lost cause. Then I’d find a way to help Taylor escape their clutches, and we’d get the hell out of this place. It sounded easy, but I knew it was going to be anything but.

Time passed by so slowly, it almost felt like I was dead. I’d never been so bored in my life. There was a bit of a commotion a while later, providing some excitement, at least. I wasn’t sure where this commotion was coming from, exactly, but it was far enough away to soothe my frazzled nerves. I could hear voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. The only thing I could actually make out was laughter at the end, and then there was silence again. I took the silence as my chance to go to the bathroom again—curse my tiny bladder—but the silence didn’t last long. The voices were back before I knew it, and one of them was getting closer.

I booked it towards the little door in the corner, but the stupid thing was jammed. I think the universe was set against me. It was just my luck that the stupid door would get jammed just when I needed it most.

With my one legitimate hiding spot gone, I was a mess. I panicked. I hid in the one place I could find, and that was the shower. How was I supposed to know that was the reason he was coming in there? Every time someone had come in so far, they just needed to pee or grab something from my hiding spot.

Pushing aside the shower curtain—a hideous, archaic monstrosity—I jumped in, making as little noise as was physically possible.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” a masculine voice said. I couldn’t tell if it was Eric or Will from where I was standing, but I could tell it was close. Too close. “I’m taking a shower. I swear those bugs molested me while I was asleep. I feel dirty.”

No… No, no, no, no, no, no, no… please tell me I didn’t hear what I think I just heard… oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh God.

While the thought of Will being surrounded by invasive bugs was amusing, the thought of Will finding me in this shower was not. If I’d known he was planning on taking a shower, I would’ve kicked that damn door or something and made it unjam.

The door to the bathroom opened, and I almost cursed out loud. All chances of escape flew out the window and off a cliff the moment that door opened and shut behind him. I was screwed.

Carefully, I leaned back, sneaking a peek through the shower curtain. A part of me still held onto the hope that it would miraculously be Taylor or something—a ridiculous supposition that could only arise out of true desperation—but alas, it wasn’t. It was Will, and he didn’t look too happy. His eyebrows were furrowed, his good eye was squinted along with his bad eye, a sight that almost made me laugh out loud, and he was muttering incoherently under his breath.

I wanted to revel in his unhappiness. I didn’t want to unintentionally be the cause of his happiness. Finding me in this shower would be the salvation to his shitty day, and that was exactly what I didn’t want for him. No, I wanted—

Oh, godammit.

My priorities shifted pretty quickly after that. What I really wanted at that moment was for this to not be happening. Will had reached his hand into the shower, and I had to bend in the most unnatural way to avoid his hand as he fished for the handles. I managed to avoid detection for the time being, but I couldn’t avoid the cold water that cascaded downwards and drenched me from head to toe.

When I’d said I needed to take a shower, this wasn’t precisely what I had in mind. It took everything I had not to make a sound as I was doused with a stream of icy water. I rubbed my eyes in an attempt to regain my vision, my mind a chaotic mess filled with ranting, anger, fear, and discomfort.

And yet, I somehow completely forgot about everything I was mentally freaking out about when I looked over again and saw that Will’s shirt was missing, and his pants were obviously next. His back was to me, but I’d always had a thing for muscular backs, and while I hated to admit it—really, really hated to admit it—his wasn’t exactly a disappointment. It was obvious he put many hours into the gym, and while I hadn’t stopped to appreciate his body when I was leaving him naked and stranded in the middle of the street, I couldn’t help but appreciate a nice, muscular back when I saw one and I wasn’t pressed on time.

My appreciation of his back turned into outright discomfort when his boxers went down with his pants. One thing was admiring his back. Another thing entirely was staring at his bare ass and thinking, “Oh, I’d tap that,” because I would not. He was no Channing Tatum. That was something I quite frankly wasn’t interested in seeing that day or any day, for that matter.

He started to turn around, and I quickly leaned forward again before I saw something else I really didn’t need to see.

Okay. This was it. This was the end. He was going to open that shower curtain and find me in there, and I would get a full frontal view of his nakedness and go back to living in that garage with only a few emotionally traumatizing images to keep me company. This was my cruel, cruel fate, a fate I couldn’t escape or rewrite.

I began to accept this as my fate just as Will’s hand clutched the shower curtains. He was just about to pull them back, and then, salvation came. Eric’s voice came like a voice straight from heaven and pulled Will’s attention away from his shower.

“Yeah?” Will called out, letting go of the curtain. I risked another peek and nearly sighed in relief when I saw him adjusting a towel over his waist as he walked out.

I didn’t waste a single second. If I stayed in there, there was no doubt in my mind that he’d catch me. At least this way, I had a tiny sliver of a chance. It was miniscule, but I’d take it over nothing.

I jumped out of the shower, not even bothering to worry about the fact that I was leaving a trail of water. Will was an idiot. He wouldn’t put two and two together if I managed to get in that room and get in the walls again.

But still, the damn door wouldn’t budge. Something was stopping the door from opening, and I had no way of unjamming it from outside. “Come on,” I muttered, glancing at the bathroom door with a frown on my face. I jiggled the handle some more to no avail and eventually kicked it in frustration. This was ridiculous.

The sound of footsteps approaching resounded in my head, and I couldn’t tell if it was real or if I was so scared of being caught that I was hallucinating. I made one last attempt to open the door, and to my surprise, it opened. My kick had fixed whatever was wrong with it, and it flew open, almost whacking me in the leg. I ran inside and shut the door behind me just as I heard the bathroom door open.

There was a pause. “What the—”

I didn’t bother waiting for Will to finish reacting. I just crawled back into the walls, hoping my footsteps weren’t as heavy as they felt. My ears heard an elephant stampede, but maybe his heard a rabbit hopping in the grass. Probably not.

“What the hell?” Will asked. It felt like he was standing right next to me. Maybe he was, for all I knew, but I had to say, I’d never felt this safe while standing right next to Will, except for when he was unconscious and laying on the floor. This was a close second, though, and it was all thanks to the wall that separated us, completely unbeknownst to him.

“Eric, I think we have rats in the house again,” he called out.

Oh, thank God for his idiocy.

I heard the shower curtain being pushed aside a few seconds later and then his footsteps as he climbed in the shower. He was much louder than I’d been, but then, he wasn’t trying to hide like I’d been.

I really thought I would be able to relax a little. I was safe for the moment, after all. He thought I was a rat infestation, not the girl who’d hit him with a shovel and locked him in his garage. But that was before I found out Will was a singer. No, he wasn’t the kind of singer you’d imagine when you heard the word. He was a shower singer—and a bad one at that. It didn’t help that he also happened to have a bad taste in music.

When he broke out into song and graced my ears with his rendition of “Baby Got Back,” I thought I was going to die of laughter or internal bleeding. Either or. And when he started singing Shania Twain? Honestly, my ability to remain quiet during that entire song was a trait that would forever impress me.

After what felt like an hour, he stopped singing and the sound of water pouring down faded. I let out a sigh of relief and almost coughed when some dust went up my nose and into my mouth. I had to place a hand over my mouth to stifle my cough. I wasn’t sure even Will would believe rats coughed.

He still didn’t leave the bathroom, though. No, no, no. That would have been too convenient. He had to stay and do God knows what for another half hour. Shave, flex in the mirror, pee, whatever.

There was no way I was going to be able to leave this place with my sanity intact.

***

Early in the morning, Will and Eric left the house, probably to search for me. They took Taylor and the car with them. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. It would have been a rookie mistake to leave either of the two behind, but it would have made my life a whole lot easier if they had.

Once I was sure they were gone, I climbed out of the little room and stretched out my cramped muscles. I hadn’t been forced to spend the night in the walls, at least, but that room didn’t provide much comfort, either. All I wanted was a nice, hot shower to relax my tense muscles and get rid of this horrible stench. I was starting to get used to it, sure, but I wasn’t sure that was actually a good thing.

I took off what little clothes I had and hopped in the shower. I should’ve known a hot shower was simply too good a dream to become reality. Actually, I should’ve known a hot shower was an idealistic wish when I was doused by cold water last night. My relaxing shower turned into an uncomfortable shower, and the warmest I could get the water could only be considered tepid at the very best, and that temperature wore off a lot quicker than I would have liked. I’d been looking forward to a long shower, but I just wanted to get out of there as soon as I felt clean enough.

It wasn’t until I’d finished showering that I realized I probably should have grabbed a towel before climbing in. Oh, well. I could always clean my trail of water, and if I didn’t feel like cleaning it, I had a feeling Will still wouldn’t put two and two together and attribute the mess to me.

Looking back, I guess I should have been more worried. I was walking around their house butt naked, and that wouldn’t have been the best situation for me if Will and Eric had come home at that moment.

Thankfully, nothing like that happened, and I managed to find a towel without losing my dignity in the process. I figured they’d be gone for a while—all day, if I was lucky—but I still didn’t feel comfortable taking my time with everything I planned to do. The sooner I finished the better.

After wiping my feet off to avoid leaving a ridiculous trail of water wherever I walked, I made my way upstairs in search of some clothes. I walked into Eric’s room first, almost stepping on a movie case as I did so. I picked it up and looked at the title. “Zoolander,” I read out loud, furrowing my eyebrows. “Guess Will’s not the only weird one here.”

If I managed to find a portable DVD player and some headphones, I could potentially steal a few movies and actually have some entertainment besides listening to my own thoughts.

Priorities, Emma…

First, I needed to find some clothes. I needed to start living like a decent human being again. Then I’d worry about entertainment and whatnot. I walked towards the open closet and picked out the smallest pieces of clothing I could find. Considering the guy was around six feet tall and I was barely five foot four, this was easier said than done. I managed to find a few things that made me look more like a pimp than a gangster, and I settled for those.

Going over to what I assumed was Will’s room, I did the same thing. I didn’t want to take too much from either of them, or they’d get suspicious. If they were just missing a few things each, I figured they’d assume they misplaced a load of laundry or something.

After stocking my hiding spot with the clothes I’d picked out, I carefully picked up my dirty clothes—because eww— and found the laundry room. I’d never actually worked a washing machine, but how hard could it be?

I threw what little clothes I had into the machine along with some detergent and whatever else I could find that looked like it belonged in there. I set the machine to ‘small load’ and ‘warm water,’ hoping it turned out all right.

The kitchen was my next stop. I ate a lot of cereal, enough to make me sick to my stomach, and washed my dishes to get rid of the evidence. They didn’t have much food in their pantry. Most of their nonperishables looked disgusting, but it was either that or nothing. I took as much as I could without arising too much suspicion and stuffed it all in my hiding spot, as well.

I ended up stocking that place with enough stuff to survive for a couple of weeks, hiding everything within the multitude of crap in there. It didn’t look any different, but it made all of the difference to me.

I was just about to go back into my hiding spot when I heard a loud noise. At first, I thought Will and Eric were back, but when I glanced out the window, the car was still gone. It wasn’t until I walked around the house looking for the source of the sound that I realized I’d left the washing machine on.

Long story short, I put too much soap and detergent in and way too many miscellaneous cleaning products and caused a soapy explosion. The machine was miraculously fine, just a little messy, and my undergarments were clean but drenched. I wasn’t sure I had time to put them in the dryer, much less clean up the mess, so I took the clothes and ran back into the bathroom.

It was a good thing I did, because around half an hour later, Will and Eric came back. I pressed my ear to the bathroom door, straining to hear what they were talking about. It would have been a better idea to hide, but I wanted them to think I was still out there, and the mess I’d left behind could make them suspicious. I just wanted to see if they knew it was me.

“I thought it was enough gas, okay?” Will’s voice was the first thing I distinctly heard, and this time, I recognized his voice. “Whoa.”

“What the hell happened here?” Eric asked.

There was a long pause, and then Will finally spoke. “Do you… do you think the house is haunted?”

“I don’t know. My first thought was Emma, but—”

“But what?” Will asked.

This was when I started to slowly retreat. If they decided to search the house for me, I needed to be back in the walls.

“There would be footprints leading to the house, not the fields. And it’s not like there’s many places to hide. We would’ve found her already.”

“So you’re saying the house is haunted.”

“I’m not saying that,” Eric snapped. “I’m saying we should check the house.”

Yeah, that was my cue to get the hell out of sight and back into the walls. Again, it was a good thing I did, because the bathroom was one of the first places they looked.

“I’ll check here, you check the pantry,” Will said, shutting the door behind him. I heard the door to my hiding spot open, and I heard Will’s footsteps as he made his way inside.

I hope he doesn’t find my movie stash…

Luckily, he didn’t seem to be too preoccupied with doing a thorough search. His priority was me, not my movie stash. Anything smaller than a teenage girl was considered irrelevant; he got out of there pretty fast.

When I heard the little door close, I got an idea. Eric’s first thought had been me, but Will’s first thought had been ghosts. Why not have a little fun with this?

Just before he left, I opened my mouth and began making the creepiest sound I could make. This sound just so happened to be reminiscent of the Grudge sound, but it had some nice, original additions to it, as well.

“What the—oh, hell no,” Will exclaimed, his inner black lady momentarily arising due to fear. His exclamation was soon followed by the slamming of the bathroom door. I let out a bit of laughter and shook my head, remembering the score I’d been keeping all of a sudden.

Emma: 2

Will: 2

After adding my escape to the count, we were tied. But if I continued to convince Will this house was truly haunted, I’d be in the lead once again.

Oh, this was going to be good. This was going to be too good.

***

A/N: I JUST LOVE WILL SO MUCH. I KNOW HE'S KIND OF A DOUCHE BUT HE'S SO LOVABLY IDIOTIC, IT'S OKAY. (Well, lovably to everyone but Emma.)