RESTITUTION

Genre: Horror

 

 

RESTITUTION

By Randy Romero

 

 

 

It was cold, dark, and damp when Lucy Simmons woke. It took her a moment to realize she was in an abandoned basement. It took her another moment to realize she was unable to sit up or move around.

She was bound hand and foot to a stone cold metal slab. A small source of light emanated from a window her captors must’ve tried to black out. She was exhausted and weak. Too weak to struggle against the ropes holding her down. She had a vague recollection of that evening’s events. She saw Josie and Tanya around eight or nine o’clock. They had pizza, or sushi. Or both. She couldn’t remember. Then they went their separate ways. She remembered walking home by herself.

More details started to rise in the back of her mind. A car pulling up next to her, hands grabbing her and stuffing her inside the trunk. A long, terrifying car ride that ended with her tied to that slab.

Pipes rattled and dripped overhead, raining down on her makeup smeared face. Lucy, a natural redhead, bleached her hair blonde and used a tremendous amount of concealer to hide her freckles. The pain of high school and pretending to be someone you’re not…Lucy knew it all too well. Constantly judging and questioning herself, changing herself to suit the needs of others. But none of that mattered a bit now.

Out of the shadows, a figure approached. Then another appeared, and another, and another. Eight in total, adorned in red robes and wearing full white face masks. Cold, emotionless faces.

They formed a tight circle around her, all brandishing long, sharp knives. Lucy sobbed, pleaded, begged for mercy, said she wouldn’t go to the police or breathe a word of this to anyone.

They all began to laugh and pulled off their masks. The first face Lucy recognized was Josie’s. Then Aubrey. Tanya was there too. And Phil Myers, the captain of the high school football team. And with Phil, his buddies were never too far behind. Kent, Leo, and Tyler were all there with him. Even Lisa Newman, the quietest girl in school, was there laughing it up with the rest of them.

Lisa helped Aubrey and Josie untie Lucy, still laughing up a storm.

“Very funny,” Lucy groaned. “Some prank. I’m dying.”

“You almost did,” Aubrey joked.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face,” Tyler said, his own face red from laughter.

“Look familiar?” Josie asked Lucy.

“South Oaks,” Lucy said, taking a look around. “The abandoned mental hospital. Nice touch. Very creepy.”

“We figured that since we come here to drink all the time anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone?” Josie said.

Lucy rubbed the rope burns on her wrists and ankles.

“You guys didn’t have to tie me up so tight,” she said. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“What plan?” Phil asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Lucy said.

“Well that was fun,” Phil said, shrugging his broad shoulders. “Can we party now? The beers are getting cold.”

“Sure, we could drink,” Tanya said. “But I feel like we’re missing somebody.”

“Yeah, feels like we’re missing somebody,” Josie repeated.

“Has anybody seen Jenny around?” Lisa asked.

The guys were quiet. Phil’s body seemed to tense up. Kent, Leo, and Tyler didn’t utter a word.

“She transferred to another school,” Phil finally spoke up.

“Oh, that’s right,” Lisa said. The shy girl suddenly not so shy anymore. “She did transfer to another school. Moved to another town. Right after you violated her. What about LeeAnn?”

“What about her?” Phil asked, defensive.

“You know what about her,” Tanya said. “You see, tonight wasn’t about pranking Lucy. This whole setup was all about you, Phil.”

“What do you mean me? I didn’t do anything wrong. And I don’t know anything about LeeAnn.”

“Tsk, tsk,” Tyler said. “Confess bro. You’ll feel better. It’ll be like a weight lifted off of your shoulders.”

“Confess to what? I didn’t do anything,” Phil said, starting to sweat.

“But you did,” Lisa said. “And you’ve been getting away with it for far too long with that rich daddy of yours pulling the strings for you, chasing girls out of town, threatening them so they refuse to testify. It all stops tonight, Phil.”

“You really thought you were invincible, huh?” Leo said. “That this shit wasn’t going to catch up to you someday?”

“Everyone on the team secretly hates your guts,” Kent said. We only played along because we had to. Well, we’re done being your lackeys.”

“Last but not least, Amy,” Tanya said.

“I didn’t do anything to Amy,” Phil said vehemently.

“Tell that to Amy,” Lucy finally took a turn to speak. “She spent weeks in the hospital after she slit her wrists. Sliced through her radial arteries. Doctors said it was a miracle she didn’t bleed out. But of course, none of that mattered. She was dead a few weeks after she left the hospital. She couldn’t live with what you did to her, you twisted monster. She was my best friend.”

“I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. It was always consensual.”

“Not for them, it wasn’t,” Lisa said.

Josie approached him with daggers in her eyes.

“This is for Amy,” Josie said, plunging the knife deep into his gut and twisting the blade before she retracted it. Phil was still on his feet, too shocked to move, too stunned to speak.

“For Amy, Aubrey said, and Phil felt that cold, stainless steel enter his body again.

“For Amy,” Tanya said, stabbing him once, right above the waistline.

“For Amy,” Kent said, taking a turn.

Lucy, Amy’s sister, went last. “For Amy,” she said, delivering the fatal stab wound to his heart.