Chapter Fifteen: Will

A/N: This has to be my favorite chapter yet. You'll see why when you read on!

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Kidnap My Heart

Chapter 15: Will

I was in the bathroom, just doing my business, when I heard it: snoring. I heard snoring coming from the walls. At first, I thought it might be another ghost, but come on. That was just stupid. A snoring ghost? No, I was pretty sure I was just going insane. It wasn’t that surprising, I guess. I’d been under a lot of stress lately, and it was only a matter of time until I cracked.

I finished up my business at a speed that surprised even me, running from the room. There was something about that room that gave me the creeps. Bad things kept happening to me there, and I was starting to think it was no coincidence. That room was cursed.

When I ran into the living room, Eric and Taylor didn’t even look up. I swear the only thing those two ever did was watch TV. They took turns picking the channel. Taylor usually picked girly shit like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and reruns of The Hills, and Eric usually picked quality television like Futurama and South Park. I tended to sit down when Eric had the remote. Sniffles, not so much.

Sniffles had the remote and was watching some new show I didn’t recognize. I sat down, only intending to stay for about five minutes, probably less. I immediately got bored, but I had nothing better to do so I stayed, anyway.

We had some sub sandwiches for dinner a few hours later, and I made the mistake of drinking too much water with my food. I didn’t want to go back to that bathroom, but the urge to pee was all-consuming. Still, I tried to fight it, except my uncomfortable squirming wasn’t subtle in the slightest. Eventually, my brother caught on. “Do you have to go to the bathroom or what? You haven’t stopped moving for ten minutes now.”

“Me? What? No.”

“Then stop it. You move the whole damn couch every time you move.”

I muttered a reluctant apology, but my moving didn’t stop. I still had to go to the bathroom really, really bad, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to hold it in.

“Will.” Eric muted the television and looked over at me. “Go to the bathroom.”

I hesitated. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

I hesitated again. I knew why I didn’t want to go in there, but I knew Eric would just be an asshole about it if I told him. And yet, my mouth still ran like it had a mind of its own. “I hear things when I’m in that bathroom.”

This, Eric did not expect. He paused and then dumbly replied, “What?”

“Earlier today, I was taking a shit and I heard snoring coming from the walls.”

“Snoring? Coming from the walls?”

I nodded feverishly. “Swear to God.”

At first, he didn’t say anything. He just sat there with a blank expression, lost in thought. “I need to see this for myself,” he finally said.

He stood and Sniffles, of course, followed. He walked over to the bathroom and reluctantly, I followed. What did he need to see? Maybe I should have mentioned the fact that the snoring was a figment of my imagination.

When I walked into the bathroom, I immediately noticed the complete silence. “Why are you guys being so quiet?”

Eric put a finger to his lips. “Listen.”

I went quiet, and then I heard it. The snoring, although it was quieter now. “Do you hear it too?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

Eric nodded. “I think… I think she’s in the walls.”

“What?”

“I think Emma is in the walls.”

“What? No way. That’s impossible.”

He shrugged. “Well, either that or it’s a ghost.”

“I hope it’s Emma.”

“But how?” Eric muttered, mostly to himself, it seemed. “How did she get back there? That’s crazy.”

“I don’t know.” I made my way over to the storage room we had in there. There was a tiny door in the corner of the bathroom that led to it. We kept random crap in there, and over the years, it had piled up.

I went inside and looked for a possible entrance to the walls, but I couldn’t find anything. It was too small to successfully move around in, and if there was an entrance, it would be obvious. I mean, Rage was small, but she wasn’t a child. The entrance couldn’t have been that inconspicuous.

“Anything?” Eric asked when I climbed out.

I shook my head. “Nothing. I have no idea how she got back there.”

Eric chuckled under his breath. “I knew she was clever, but I think we underestimated her. This is fucking genius.”

I glared at my traitorous brother. Whose side was he on, anyway? “Shut up. Don’t encourage her. She can hear you.”

“No, she can’t. She’s asleep.”

As if on cue, another snore came from the walls.

“Whatever,” I said.

“Even you have to admit this is genius. If she hadn’t fallen asleep, I don’t think we would’ve found her at all.”

“If she was such a genius, she wouldn’t have gotten caught at all,” I said.

And again, Sniffles had the nerve to snort in amusement. I didn’t like this attitude she was getting. This wasn’t the Sniffles I knew.

“Are you trying to say something?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

She just shrugged, that amused look still present on her face.

“Sniffles.” I shot her a look.

Another loud snore came from the walls.

“Keep it down, Rage,” I yelled, momentarily forgetting about my problem with Taylor’s new attitude.

Emma just continued snoring, unaware of the trouble she was in.

And then, I got an idea. I inched closer to the wall, waited for another snore, and then bam. I slammed at the wall with my fist to scare the shit out of her.

Right on cue, a bang followed my own hit—probably Emma’s head slamming into the wall out of shock.

“Ow,” she said. I could hear her perfectly well, even though a wall separated us. Good. That meant she could hear me perfectly well.

Wait. Maybe not so good. If she’d been in there all along, how much had she heard? Damn it. What had I talked about with Eric?

Okay, this isn’t the time! I shoved those worries aside and smirked at the wall. “Rise and shine,” I said. I had her right where I wanted her now. Now, if only she would get out of the walls… “You didn’t think you’d escaped me forever, did you?”

She sighed. “No, I suppose it was only a matter of time before you discovered my hiding place. I would say I’m surprised it took you this long, but I’d be lying.”

Eric had the nerve to laugh at this. I slapped at his abdomen and he stopped laughing. Sniffles started laughing, too, but I wasn’t about to hit her. I just sent her a glare that I hoped seemed menacing enough to get her to stop laughing, but it didn’t really work. If anything, it just made her laugh even harder.

“Don’t act like you’re so clever,” I replied, ignoring my traitorous companions. I was obviously on my own around here. “Like I was telling these two, if you were so smart, you wouldn’t have gotten caught in the first place.”

“You’re one to talk, Squilliam. I don’t think intelligence is your area of expertise.”

I backtracked at that, even choosing to ignore the fact that she’d just insulted me. Instead, I focused on the nickname. “Did you just… did you just call me Squilliam?” Squilliam. Like Squilliam Fancyson, Squilliam?

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“It’s weird,” I said, unsure whether to laugh or frown.

“If you get to call me Rage, I can call you whatever the hell I want.”

“No, if you get out of those walls, you can call me whatever the hell you want. I won’t even say anything. I promise.”

She laughed. She actually had the nerve to laugh in my face. Well, not literally in my face, but you know what I mean. “You might be able to control my living arrangements, but you can’t control what I say, and you and I both know that perfectly well. Besides, do you really think I’m just going to hop out and let you take me back to that garage?”

“No,” I grumbled.

“Exactly. Jog on, Squilliam. You’re going to have to drag me out of here.”

“I’ll break the wall,” I warned.

Eric shot me a look.

“No, you won’t,” Emma said.

“How do you know?” She didn’t know me. She didn’t know my life. She didn’t know how much milk I liked in my cereal. She didn’t know anything.

“Because you don’t have the money to pay to get it fixed.”

Damn it. Maybe she did know a little more than I gave her credit for. “Fine. Then I’ll wait it out. You’re gonna have to come out eventually, and I’ll be right here when that happens.”

She didn’t answer immediately. She knew she was trapped. She had to. “Whatever.” Even in the face of failure, she always kept up the attitude.

“Are you seriously going to camp out here?” Eric asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Of course.” I leaned in closer and lowered my voice. “I’m not letting her escape again. She’s not making a fool out of me ever again. That’s a promise.”

“Lowering your voice doesn’t work when you’re standing right next to me, Will,” Emma said.

“You guys can go on back,” I said, nodding my head at Eric and Taylor. “I can handle this.”

Eric just shrugged. “Fine by me. Let’s go.” He nodded at Taylor, and she followed him out the door. Once they were gone, I went to the bathroom—I didn’t really care if Rage could hear me. When I was done, I looked around the room for a comfortable place to sit. My only options were the toilet or the sink. I went with the sink after a moment of thought.

Neither of us said anything for a while. Around half an hour later, I broke the silence and spoke. “You and I both know how this is gonna end. Why don’t you just come on out? You must be hungry.” She probably was hungry, but I mostly asked because I was starving. That sub sandwich hadn’t been enough.

“You’re not going to give me food. You’re going to lock me in that garage and tell me to eat one of those rats for dinner.”

While that sounded like something I would do, that actually wasn’t what I had in mind. I really was going to give her food before shoving her back in the garage. I’d had some time to reconsider my plans for Emma, and I’d decided most of them would just give her further reason to murder me in my sleep as soon as she got the chance.

I still wasn’t willing to budge on her living arrangements, but I was willing to give her some leeway when it came to food, clothing, and roommates. I wouldn’t throw any more bugs and rats in there, but I wouldn’t take the ones that were already in there out.

I was even willing to give up my idea of giving her a haircut, mostly because I’d decided I liked her hair after staring at her picture the night before.

“I’m not that mean,” I said. “I’ll at least give you some food before I put you back in there.”

“How gallant of you,” she said, sarcasm intertwined in every word.

I frowned. Maybe I needed to try things Eric’s way… No. No, that wouldn’t do. If I did that, she’d be under the impression that she was the one in charge, not me. Taylor was already starting to believe she was in control, and her personality wasn’t nearly as strong as Emma’s. If Emma began to think along those lines, I had no doubt in my mind it would become true. Nope, bad idea.

The conversation ended there. I couldn’t really defend myself. I looked down at my watch after a while; another hour had passed. My ass was killing me, so I jumped off of the sink to stretch. I couldn’t sit on that thing any longer. If I did, the shape of it would become permanently ingrained onto my ass.

I opened the door, and Emma spoke immediately, her tone a taunting one, as usual. “Giving up so soon?”

“You wish. I’m sitting outside. That sink is hurting my ass.”

She laughed, and at first I thought it was because she thought I was funny, but then I realized she was just laughing at me. “Looks like I’m not the only Princess here, am I?”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up.” I slammed the door shut behind me before she could answer, but I still heard her laugh through the door.

I camped out outside the bathroom, and Eric brought me a couple magazines and snacks to keep me going. “You look like you could use this,” he said, handing the magazines and food over. He looked like he was trying to hide his laughter.

“Thanks, man,” I said. “It’s gonna be a long night.”

He chuckled. “I bet. We’re heading upstairs. Let me know if you have any trouble.”

I felt kind of confident that I could handle her myself, but it was nice knowing I had backup just in case. I didn’t know if she’d managed to smuggle a weapon in there, although we’d gotten rid of all of our knives for a reason. I didn’t think she had enough strength to stab me with a butter knife or a fork, but I wasn’t about to test that theory.

“I will,” I said, and he nodded and headed upstairs.

Time seemed to drag on as I waited. My eyes started drooping, but I forced myself to stay awake. I would make this too easy for her if I fell asleep. She had to come out of there sometime.

Around three in the morning, I heard a noise that jolted me awake. I’d fallen asleep at some point, despite my efforts to stay awake, but the sound of the faucet running caught my attention. I scrambled up and lunged for the door, but it was locked.

“Damn it,” I yelled, slamming my fist against the door. “Rage!”

“You’re not very bright, are you?” she asked.

I let my head fall against the door. Why had I gone outside?

“If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go brush my teeth and take a shower now,” she said. “Hiding in the walls doesn’t leave you with the nicest smell, and I haven’t been able to brush my teeth for a day. It’s disgusting.”

“You better not use my toothbrush!”

“Why would I do that? I found a pack of them in your storage room, and these haven’t been anywhere near your mouth.”

I didn’t think she was being serious at first, at least not about the shower. That was until I heard the showerhead running. Jesus, this girl had some nerve.

I considered kicking the door down, but I knew my dad wouldn’t be happy if he found out I’d destroyed the hinges of our only bathroom door. I stared at the doorknob and smirked. It had screws on the sides. All I had to do was find a screwdriver that fit and take out the screws. No doorknob, no lock.

And Emma called me stupid. Sure, leaving the bathroom and getting myself locked out hadn’t been my best move, but I was about to salvage my reputation. Maybe then she would start respecting me a bit more.

I headed over to the living room and began looking through our many drawers and cabinets. We weren’t a very orderly family; we just stuffed things wherever they fit. It took me a long time to find the screwdrivers, but eventually, I found what I was looking for and went back to the bathroom door. I tried my best to be quiet as I removed the screws. The noise of the water running was gone, and I didn’t want her to suspect anything.

Once they’d been unscrewed, I pulled the screws out, and my side of the doorknob fell into my hands. I was in. I set the doorknob down on the floor and slowly opened the door. I caught Emma just as she was putting her pants on. I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I mean, I knew I was being creepy—extremely creepy. This was worse than the time Eric had cameras installed in Emma’s apartment. Well, no, not really. That was worse. But the fact that that was worse didn’t change the fact that I was being a creeper again. She wasn’t a complete stranger this time, but that didn’t really make it any better.

It wasn’t until the pants were over her ass that I realized they weren’t her pants. They were mine. When had she taken those?

Snapping myself out of my daze, I swung the door open the rest of the way and forced a smirk onto my face. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

She whirled around, her green eyes widening with surprise. Her hair was still wet from the shower, but its darker color suited her.

Damn it. Snap out of it, Will. She’s evil. Pure evil. Don’t fall for it. Don’t fall for her girly charm.

“Long time no see, Emma,” I finally said.

“Long time no see is right.” A small smile crossed her face, replacing her look of surprise. “I see your black eye is fading. Most of your bruises, too. Well, the ones I can see, at least.”

“You trying to tell me you want to see the rest of them? Because they’re all over, thanks to you,” I said.

She raised an eyebrow. “Is that an offer?”

I paused. Uh… what was happening? “Why?” I narrowed my eyes slightly. “Is it an offer you’re willing to take?”

“Not unless the offer comes with a chance to freshen up the bruises a little,” she said, that evil little smile taking over her face.

Ah, there was the Rage I knew.

I forced a smile. “Not happening. Let’s go.” I grabbed her by the hand and tried to lead her out, but she resisted, unsurprisingly. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Holding my hand, Will?” she asked, dragging her feet as I pulled. “I’m surprised. Are we playing middle schoolers in love? Or are we playing house, maybe?”

“Would you prefer it if I grabbed your arm?” I asked, turning around. I still hadn’t let go of her hand. I wasn’t sure why.

“Actually, yes,” she said, jerking her hand away from mine.

“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable when I hold your hand? Make you question things?” I took a step closer, and she instinctively took a few steps back. I followed her every step, towering above her when she had no choice but to stop backing up. She’d hit a wall. She was a lot smaller than she seemed. Her personality made her seem big and demanding, but in reality, she was about a foot shorter than me. How adorable.

She jutted her chin up. Her back was against the wall, and she was basically trapped, but she still refused to lose her defiance. “Why does it matter? It wouldn’t make a difference if it did.”

“No, it would. Because that would mean you might be willing to consider my previous offer. Remember it?”

The look on her face immediately turned into a scowl.

“I think you misunderstood me that day,” I said. Maybe I could still salvage this, after all. “I wasn’t saying you had to have sex with me to leave that place. I was just saying you had to give me a fair chance.”

She laughed, but the sound was bitter. “A fair chance? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Please, enlighten me, Squilliam.”

My lips twitched upwards at the nickname without wanting to, but I answered her question, anyway. “Just a fair chance, the kind of chance you’d give anyone else you just met. The chance to see I’m really not that bad. And hey, if it leads to something else, I’m not complaining. That was the part you misunderstood. It’s not mandatory. It’s optional. I’m just confident it’s an option you’ll go for.”

The look on her face still didn’t look completely happy, but she wasn’t scowling, either, which was good, I guess. “You really think it’s an option I’d go for?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t say I did if I didn’t.”

She took a step closer, shocking the hell out of me. I think I stumbled backwards a little. Honestly, I wasn’t sure. My attention was elsewhere.

A knowing look crossed her face. “You’re insistent about this.”

I didn’t say anything.

“You want me to take your offer.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. It’s obvious. If the offer still stands even after everything I’ve done to you, it’s for a reason.” She paused, waiting for me to reply, but I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t think of anything to say that didn’t make me sound like a tool. “You want me to take it. You want me around. You want me.”

I chuckled. “Guess I’m not the only cocky one around here.”

She took another step closer, something I didn’t think was possible. I could actually feel my heartbeat accelerating, and it scared the shit out of me. What the hell was going on?

Emma put a hand against my chest, and I’d never felt so much heat from one simple touch in my life. Scrunching the material of my shirt in her hand, she pulled me down to her level, so close our lips almost touched. Almost. If I’d moved just a little, they would’ve touched for sure, but I was frozen, practically under her spell like a pubescent idiot.

“You want me to take your offer, but not because you feel you’re doing me a favor. You want me to take it because you want me close,” she said, her breath minty and fresh on my face. “Because you want to see just how far you can push this. Just how far your boyish charm and good looks will go. How far I’ll go.”

I didn’t say anything. What was I supposed to do, lie? She didn’t seem mad, so I just moved my head closer, but she moved her head back the second I did.

“Well, you know what?” she asked.

“What?” My breath almost got caught in my throat. I couldn’t believe what was happening. It was surreal, but hell if I was going to push this opportunity away. Who cared about the past? Rage was sexy as hell, and she wanted me, just like I knew she would. I was a little disappointed it had happened so quickly, to be honest, but the disappointment was miniscule compared to the thrill of winning.

She smiled, and her lips brushed against mine, but just barely. My eyes closed, and then, she spoke again, answering me in a self-satisfied tone. “It’s never gonna happen."

And then, nothing. I opened my eyes, and I saw her retreating figure. “What have you got to eat, Squilliam?” she called out. “Think I’m gonna take you up on that food offer before I head back to the garage.”