Chapter Twenty-Five: Will

A/N: I've been writing so much lately, I think I might have sprained my wrist. Does that stop me from writing? No. No, it does not.

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Kidnap My Heart

Chapter 25: Will

“Damn it, Rage!” I yelled, jumping away from the hot water.

Forcing Emma to sit in the bathroom while I took a shower seemed like a good idea at first. I could’ve told Eric to keep an eye on her, but that just didn’t seem as fun as forcing her to stay with me. I was technically just following my dad’s orders. He’d told me to keep her by my side 24/7, and that was exactly what I was doing.

That is, it seemed like a good idea until Emma decided she needed to entertain herself. She spent the entire time flushing the toilet to scald me while I was in the shower. Just when I thought she’d finally gotten bored of hearing me scream, she’d flush the toilet and scald me again.

Needless to say, I cut that shower short. I was pissed off, but with the plans for that day whirring in my head, the anger wasn’t all-consuming. Emma would regret every prank she’d ever played on me—especially the haunting one—after I pulled the ultimate prank.

I waited five days to put my plan to action. I’d made the mistake of telling her I was going to get her back for what she’d done, and she was expecting something to happen. I was hoping to catch her off guard by waiting five days. If it had been up to me, I would’ve pulled something the very day I found out about her prank, but that wouldn’t have tasted as sweet as catching her completely off guard for once.

But the wait was finally over. Today was the day. But the plan wouldn’t work if Eric and I couldn’t convince Emma to play Truth or Dare with us and Taylor. And for that to happen, I had to keep my cool—even though my entire body was burning and I looked like Mr. Krabs, not Squilliam Fancypants. I still didn’t understand why Emma liked calling me that. She was pretty weird sometimes.

I stuck my hand out after I finished showering, and Emma handed me a towel. I would’ve just climbed out and grabbed it myself, but like I said, I had to play things cool. Emma wasn’t okay with me doing that.

As soon as I climbed out, clad in only a towel, Emma started laughing. That generally wasn’t the reaction you wanted to incite in a girl when you were half naked. I preferred swooning and staring, not laughter. “You look like a Peruvian puff pepper,” she said between her chuckles.

I looked down and swore under my breath. My entire torso had turned a pale shade of red. I swore even louder when I felt heat creep onto my neck and face. Instead of replying with some clever comment, I said, “Shut up,” and walked out.

Smooth, Will. Smooth.

After I finished changing and we all had dinner—cooked by yours truly—Eric suggested playing Truth or Dare. I knew Emma wouldn’t have gone for it if it’d suggested it. She trusted Eric more than she trusted me. She thought he was her accomplice—even though he’d pretty much betrayed her in the end—and wouldn’t suspect he had ulterior motives.

“I don’t know…” Sniffles trailed off slowly. “Last time I played Truth or Dare with Emma around… I can’t even talk about it.”

I immediately looked over at Emma. Guess I wasn’t the only one who took these games too far. I wasn’t sure why I was so impressed by this tiny tidbit of information. Maybe because it surprised me every time I realized we had things in common. I mean, we should’ve been as different as night and day. She was a spoiled rich girl with the world at her fingertips, and I was a penniless guy with a vague future. Who would’ve thought we were so alike?

“What did you do?” Eric asked Emma with a chuckle.

She just smiled wickedly. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

“Don’t worry. If she takes it too far, just let us know,” he said. “If Will takes it too far, let us know.”

I didn’t even bother protesting. It was a fair suggestion. “So we’re playing. Sweet. I’ll start. Rage. Truth or dare?”

She rolled her eyes. “How did I know you were going to pick me?” Before I could answer, she said, “Truth.”

“Scared to take one of my dares?” I taunted.

“I’m testing the waters before I jump in. I’m careful, not scared. Now hit me.”

“What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?” I asked.

She let out a loud breath and pursed her lips, and Sniffles let out a giggle. “Have fun narrowing that list down, Emmy. How about—”

Emma raised a finger to silence her best friend. “If you continue that sentence I might have to tape your mouth shut. I have one already.” She clapped her hands together and placed her fingertips under her chin, leaning forward. “Our first assignment this year was a Business power-point, and Taylor and I worked together for it. When I was looking for the file to present it to the class, I accidentally clicked on the wrong one and brought up a video…”

“Don’t tell me you brought up—”

“Oh, God, no, I’m not you,” she exclaimed. “I brought up a video of me and Taylor attempting to twerk, falling on our asses, and breaking a wooden nightstand. My dad was not happy.”

Eric and I burst out laughing, and Taylor swatted at Emma’s arm. “Emma! You couldn’t have picked one that didn’t involve me?”

“They all involve you!” She gestured for us to stop laughing so the game could go on, but that was easier said than done. “Alright, alright. Quit imagining it. My turn. Will, truth or dare?”

I mimicked her response when I’d picked her first. “How did I know you were gonna pick me? Dare. Because I’m not afraid of you.”

There was a mischievous sparkle in her eye that made me think I might have been in the wrong here. “I dare you to let me make you a mystery drink, and you have to take at least two swallows.”

Uh-oh. “Done. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

She left the dinner table and headed to the kitchen. I quickly followed. I wanted to know what she put in the drink before I ingested it. Honestly, I don’t think anyone could ever imagine the horrified look that crossed my face when I watched her pour a little bit of every liquid she found in the fridge into a clear glass. With a devilish smile, she handed me the glass. “Drink up, Squilliam.”

This time, I was the one who visibly gagged, but I had a better reason. The drink she’d made me was a weird, greenish vomit color. “Oh, God,” I muttered. The drink hovered in front of my mouth. Oh, God, I couldn’t do this. I was going to throw up.

“Backing out already?” she asked.

No. I didn’t back down. “No.” With a grimace, I quickly downed two swallows of the nauseating drink. The taste it left in my mouth made me gag again. “Fuck,” I said, my eyes watering. What the hell had she put in there? It wasn’t just nauseating; it was hot. I had to drink two full cups of water to stop the burning sensation on my tongue, and I had to deal with her laughter the entire time.

Eric and Sniffles were still choking on their laughter when we went back to the table and sat down. They weren’t laughing so hard when it was their turn. I took a hint from Emma and made Eric eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from hell. After Eric had smeared peanut butter under one armpit and jelly under the other, I made him wipe a piece of bread under each armpit and eat the sandwich.

Sibling love, you know. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Emma continued the nasty-food streak with Taylor. She mixed different types of sauces into a small bowl and made Sniffles eat the result. Taylor ran to the bathroom after choking it down and almost threw up.

I subtly nodded at Eric. It was the signal we’d agreed on. He casually stood up and said, “I’ll be right back, guys. I need to grab something for my next dare.”

Before either Emma or Taylor could comment on this, I spoke. “Alright, Rage. You’re the only one here who hasn’t done a dare. Truth or dare?”

She eyed me through narrowed eyes. “Why bother asking? It doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice.”

I shrugged. “It’s still your choice. We’ll just judge you for it.”

“Dare.”

Showtime. “I dare you to go to the bathroom and invoke Bloody Mary.”

The confident look on her face faded. “Bloody Mary?”

“You haven’t heard the legend?”

She hesitantly shook her head. Oh, this was going to be good. This was going to better than good. It was going to be fucking hilarious. Ingenious.

“According to legend, before Bloody Mary died, she issued a curse. So now, if anyone looks into a mirror and chants her name three times, she’ll come back to kill them,” I said, fighting the urge to smirk. I couldn’t look cocky about this or she’d see right through me. “But if you turn on the lights and leave the room quickly, she’ll vanish and she won’t be able to kill you. I dare you to invoke Bloody Mary for thrills.”

Emma didn’t say anything. She just stared at me like she was trying to see through my words, a wary look on her face.

“You’re not really gonna chicken out, are you?”

Right on cue, the confidence came back. “Of course I’m not going to chicken out. It’s just a legend. Let’s go.”

We walked over to the only bathroom in the house. Only Taylor remained at the table. “Aren’t you coming?” Emma asked her.

She quickly shook her head. “If you guys are gonna conjure evil spirits, I’m staying right here. Count me out.”

“Suit yourself,” I said, grabbing Emma by the hand. “Let’s go, Rage.”

She squirmed out of my grip and kept her distance from me when I released her. “I’m not a toddler. I can walk myself to the bathroom.”

“Nervous about this?”

She just shrugged.

I smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. All you have to do is turn the lights on if you get freaked out.”

Eric was nowhere to be found, so I assumed he was already in position. He wouldn’t back out of something like this before we even got the chance to start.

Emma still didn’t look completely sure about this, but if I knew her at all, I knew her pride wouldn’t let her chicken out of this. As I’d assumed, she didn’t back out. She went inside the bathroom, and I slyly locked the door from the outside. She hadn’t even noticed I’d turned the doorknob around.

I sprinted over to the circuit box right afterwards, ignoring Taylor’s confused protests. Time to turn off the power supply to that room. All I had to do was flip the right circuit breaker to cut the lights in the bathroom and force Emma to remain in the darkness. The rest of the rooms in the house remained untouched.

By the time I got back, Emma was panicking like mad. I could hear her loud and clear through the door, but I couldn’t open it just yet. I had to make myself look dead first. I just hoped Taylor was still too scared to come over here and see what was going on. She could potentially ruin everything.

I’d made my own mix of fake blood while Emma was in the shower the other day and stashed it near the bathroom. Because of the shortage of time, I had to move quickly and haphazardly rub the fake blood on my body and neck. I immersed my fingers in the blood and ran my fingers down my cheeks to make it look like I had bloody scratch marks. I wiped my fingers on my pants, figuring any “blood” stains that appeared there would just look like another injury.

Taylor rounded the corner just as I’d lain down and begun to play dead. I hadn’t meant to freak her out, only Emma, but I wasn’t complaining. I’d hit two birds with one stone with this prank.

Taylor’s shrieks matched the shrieks coming from the bathroom. The thing about the Bloody Mary legend was how real it seemed. Obviously, the legend itself wasn’t real. Bloody Mary didn’t exist, and saying her name three times in front of a mirror wasn’t actually going to get you killed. It was the tricks your mind liked to play on you that made it seem real, that made people honestly believe Bloody Mary had appeared to them.

Darkness was the trigger for this. It took a while for the eyes to adjust in the darkness. Once they adjusted, the mind tended to take over and play on the power of suggestion. I’d played this game with a couple of friends in high school myself, and after we’d all nearly pissed our pants in fear, I looked it up to try to figure out what the hell had happened in there. After reading through a few websites, I found out it was all in our minds. We’d been hallucinating—imagining things like faces and melting figures. I imagined the same thing was happening to Emma right at that moment. Unless Eric had already popped out of his hiding spot. That hadn’t happened to me, but I thought it would be a nice touch.

“Emma!” Taylor screamed, a slight tremor notable in her voice. I heard her footsteps coming closer and the door being unlocked, and then Emma’s stumbling footsteps as she all but ran out of the bathroom. If she had ran, she probably would’ve tripped over me. Heavy, startled breathing was the only sound coming out of Emma’s mouth, and then she screamed again. Was it because she’d only just now seen Eric’s mask and fake knife? Or had she seen me?

Someone kneeled down next to me and shook me. “Will? Will!”

It was Emma. Holy fuck. Was I actually convincing this girl that I was dead? I was better at this shit than I thought if I was. Or maybe her mind was still playing tricks on her. Or maybe she was just so freaked out that she wasn’t seeing or thinking clearly.

“Will,” she screamed again, her voice shaking. “Will!”

I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t hold in the laughter. I should’ve felt bad, I know, but it was too damn funny. Mostly because I couldn’t believe I’d actually pulled it off. I’d been cocky about it, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure I could actually pull a fast one on her. But I had.

I opened my eyes, my shoulders vibrating with intense laughter. This was gold. This was the best prank I’d ever pulled. Hell, this was one for the books. “You—should—see—the look—” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. I was laughing so hard I was crying. I hadn’t laughed like this in a long time. She was so terrified, probably more terrified than I’d been when she’d made me believe I was being haunted by homicidal ghosts.

Several emotions passed through her face in a matter of seconds: shock, confusion, recognition, disbelief, and then anger. “You asshole,” she snapped, shoving my arm and shoulder away. Tears clouded her eyes, and her face was wet.

Oh, shit. Damn it. I’d made her cry. That wasn’t supposed to happen. She was just supposed to get a little freaked out. Okay, fine, more than just a little, but I definitely hadn’t wanted to make her cry. I just wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine, but I suddenly got the feeling I had taken things too far. She was a girl, after all, and I didn’t like making girls cry. What kind of guy did?

My amusement faded a lot faster than I’d thought it would and I sat up. Why the hell did I feel so bad? She deserved this. Right? “Shit. It was a joke, Rage.”

Tears were still running down her cheeks and she was still breathing hard, but she still managed to say, “Shut the fuck up.” There was the girl I knew.

I don’t know. It didn’t really make sense for me to want to retract the one prank that had finally placed me a step above her, but I did. She just seemed so vulnerable and scared for once that I didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t what I was used to dealing with. She’d always been strong, hard, and stubborn. Not once during this entire situation—the kidnapping, the re-kidnapping, the pranks— had she broken down and shown any form of weakness. Until now. To be honest, I was pretty freaked out.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” I continued.

“Shut. Up.” She covered her face with her hands and tried to steady her breathing. That prank really did a number on her.

I scrambled up and my hands hovered near her body. What the hell was I supposed to do? Pet her arm? Pet her head? Hug her? What the fuck could I even do in a situation like this? “Shit,” I muttered. I spoke up as I rambled on. “It was just a prank. I didn’t think it through. Well, no, I did, but I didn’t think it’d make you cry. I’m sorry, Rage.”

“Why are you still talking?” She took a few more calming breaths and wiped the tears off of her face.

I wasn’t an expert on comforting and shit, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to put my arm around her and guide her to the living room so she could sit down, so I did just that, saying, “Come on.”

She seemed pretty disoriented still and actually let me hold onto her and guide her over to the couch. Once she was settled down and had managed to calm down, she flipped the switch completely. I swear to God, this chick was bipolar.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she snapped.

Shocked by her sudden outburst, I spluttered, “You did the same thing to me!”

Her eyes turned into two tiny little slits. “I locked you in a dark bathroom, told your brother to wear a mask and hide in the shower with a knife, cut the power supply after you invoked Bloody Mary, let your wild imagination run rampant as you almost had a heart attack out of fear, and then rubbed fake blood over myself to make it look like Bloody Mary had attacked me instead of you and killed me?”

I paused. “Well, when you put it that way, it sounds really bad.”

“You think?”

She turned around, her angry eyes searching for someone—Eric. “And you! You traitor. What did I ever do to you?”

Eric had pulled the mask off already. The only visible trace of it was the messy state it had left his hair in. “Come on. It sounded funny. I couldn’t resist. And I never said I was on anyone’s team. I’m just here to enjoy the show.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and then at me, muttering angrily under her breath. The few words I did catch were words I’d never heard come out of her mouth. Yeah, she was pretty pissed off. I was screwed.

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A/N: Almost forgot! Guys, the next chapter is going to be so cute. Seriously, I'm dying to finish it and share it so I'm not the only squealing at my ideas. I think my parents are starting to think I'm clinically insane.