Whiskey Kind of Love

Carrigan         

There was a 100% chance my leg was broken, but I was trying not to focus on the pain. I held in screams each time I took another step, limping my way through the darkened barrels and tanks as tears fell from my face.

Even though it had been years, the path was still very clear. It was almost as if it was illuminated for me.

I was trying not to look back, but I couldn’t guess how far—or how close—he was to me.

“Caaaaaarriiigaaaannnn.” His sick voice sang out like a song, reverberating around me. I couldn’t hear exactly where it originated from. The tanks made it impossible to gauge where he was.

I finally stopped hobbling and hid behind a tank on the first distillation side of the ranch. I wanted to hear his boots as he walked or hear his breathing while he called out. I needed a plan, but all I could conjure up was anxiety.

“Carrigan, come out of hiding, baby. You know you can’t hide forever.”

Maybe not, but that didn’t mean I would show my face.

I was grateful for the storm because there was no power in the building. This made hiding easier, but it also made my escape more difficult.

I heard the cocking of the gun again and stopped breathing.

His voice was angrier and closer. “I’m tired of these games. Don’t make things worse.”

Except to me, it wasn’t a game. It was my life. His yelling made my tears continuously fall. I don’t think I ever cried harder than that moment.

“He’s not meant for you, Carrie! Come on, use your brain. It was always going to be me. Not him, not anyone else. Me. You and I both know it.”

I don’t know where his delusions originated, but I needed to get out of there. I wasn’t safe as long as we were in the same building. But the darkness in this part of the distillery was choking me, and even through all my years running around aimlessly, something was different.

It wasn’t the broken leg or the power outage. It was something worse.

The realization that I didn’t think I would be able to escape.

I began to look around for something I could use to defend myself. My broken bones were already giving him a leg up—pun not intended. Though my eyes had mostly adjusted to the dark, I couldn’t find anything useful. He had a gun. What was I supposed to do, throw a rock at him?

A BANG from the second distillation side, not too far away across the room, made me jump, and I covered my mouth to avoid crying.

“Show yourself!” he hollered.

I squeezed my eyes closed, my hand still over my mouth, with tears covering every inch of my face.

I had to get out of there. I needed to figure out how to keep everyone else safe and ensure their well-being.

The thunder boomed, shaking the entire building, and he broke into a fit of demented laughter.

I opened my eyes again and slowly looked to the other side of the distillery. I couldn’t see him, but that meant he couldn’t see me.

I shuffled very slowly to the right, grateful that I wasn’t wearing any shoes. It kept the noise down, which made it harder for him to find me.

I had to make a break for it. If I could get out of the building, I could lock him in and call the police.

“You don’t want to end up like the rest of them, do you Carrie?”

His words felt like a stab in my chest, but he was right. I didn’t want to end up like them. I would get out of there. I had to get out.

I heard another SLAM across the room, signaling that he had moved toward the back of the distillery. I started limping forward, the door within my sight.

I reached the first door, opening it wide. I turned and locked the door behind me, and my breathing began to slow just a little bit.

One door down, one to go.

I was in the back of the distillery now, where the aging took place.

“Oh, baby!”

His voice echoed loudly, my ears burning with each word.

My eyes were stinging, and the smell of something rotten reached my nose.

“Carrie, come on. I have a present for you. Please come out. I know you’re there.”

Like hell I’d reveal myself.

I began to limp quickly through the path again, trying not to let out the cries I was holding in.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to survive. I had to find a way out. I kept frantically looking around for something to use as a weapon, but there wasn’t anything within my line of sight. Would I be able to pull a pipe off the walls? Or find the emergency first aid kit and grab a pair of scissors?

But the kit was in the front of the building, under the front desk. If I tried to go that way, he would find me immediately.

I couldn’t devise any plans—my tears were still on my face. But part of the reason for them was the rotten smell was getting worse.

I hobbled a few steps toward the middle of the room before my bare foot hit something on the floor. Luckily, it was at the exact moment that a bang of thunder shook the building. The lightning lit up the entire building soon after, and I saw what I had kicked. I covered my nose and mouth to avoid hollering out.

A woman was on the floor, pale as a sheet. She was clearly the reason for the smell—bugs were crawling in and out of her mouth, and blood was caked all over her head and face.

“Oh God, oh God!” I cried internally. “He’s going to kill me, just like her! How am I supposed to get away?”

I heard his footsteps walking closer. How was I going to escape? How was I going to even hide for a moment from him?

I willed my mind to forget about the pain in my leg for a moment. I pushed forward, beginning to limp. My tears made it nearly impossible to see, but I had to do something.

What if I could find a phone?

The power on the entire ranch was out. How would I expect a wall phone to still be working, especially in this storm?

As if in my mind, the thunder boomed again overhead, and I could hear him swear along with it. He was further away now, and I would find a way out.

The rain began to pound harder on the ceiling, and I was getting closer to the exit door, and I knew it would lead me out of the distillery.

I burst through the door, turning around and locking it, finally outside.

I was standing in the pouring rain but was free from him. I just had to get out of there before he could do anything more.

My bare feet squished in the mud and water, still dragging my limp leg along with me. The rain made my clothes and dyed hair stick to me automatically, but I wouldn’t stop for a little rain.

Another crackle of thunder and then lightning shot through the sky, and at the same time, I heard a loud BANG from the distillery.

I turned, my suspicions correct. The door was lying in the wet grass, and he was walking through the now empty path. He’d kicked down the damn door. I moved behind one of the trees before he could see me.

“I’m done playing nice, Carrigan. Stop this, or I’m going to kill them all, just like I always promised you. One by one, bullet after bullet, I swear to God that I will single-handedly destroy everything you ever desired! You’ll lose everything you love. And I will make sure of it.”

I didn’t know how to get out of the situation alive and ensure I could finish this without harming any more people. He had the high ground—I only had the clothes on my back.

That’s when the first round went off.

The ringing in my ears was incredibly deafening—nothing like the storm shrieking above. I was so startled that I couldn’t focus for a few moments. I covered my ears, trying to regain some of my hearing.

The gun went off again, and I could hear the bullet whiz by the tree, but I didn’t know where it landed.

“SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!”

The sound of his voice made me shiver harder than the falling rain.

There wasn’t anything left to do—he was going to find me. He was going to end everything. I didn’t have any other choices. This was it.

I had to try to talk him down.

I put my arms up, and I came from around the tree.

“There you are,” he growled. “Look at you. You’re broken and weak. With your hands in the air, your eyes wide with fear.” He took a deep breath and broke out into a devilish grin. His yellow teeth flashed. “God, your fear is everything to me.”

“You got what you wanted,” I rasped out. “You got me. So leave everyone else.”

That was when he finally laughed at me. It wasn’t a laugh like one you’d hear out in the world. No—this laugh was reserved for moments such as this, where he was in the position of power, and I was powerless. I was useless, and he knew that.

“You think after all this time I’m really so dense as to think they won’t turn me in? That you and I won’t be found right away? You really are clueless, baby. No. I know what has to be done tonight. It’s what was always meant to be. You and I will get out of here, and no one will be none the wiser. But everyone else?” He pointed toward the house half a mile away. The home they were all hiding in, where they were safe.

But not for long.

“You promised!” I shouted back through the storm. I could barely hear my voice being carried up into the wind.

Another diabolical laugh was drawn out of him. “Life isn’t a fairytale, Carrie. You’re dumber than I thought. There isn’t a happily ever after for them.” He pointed the gun at me. “And you thought I’d let them go just because I said two meaningless words? Oh, Carrie.”

He flipped the safety. “You made a grave mistake.”

The sound boomed, the entire world going white.

I fell out of my bed, tangled in a mess of my sheets, sweat encasing me. I wiped under my eyes at the tears that had dried on my face.

I took deep breaths and reminded myself that it was a horrible nightmare.

But that gunshot sure as hell sounded like it was right there.

And that nightmare?

I didn’t want to think about it ever again.