Heaven On Earth Ch. 07. Out of a storybook.
Chapter 7: Out of a Storybook
An astonished cry that was meant to be "Jane!" escaped my lips, but it was muffled by the tape over my mouth. She walked over to the bed where I could see her in a better light. I was still dizzy from being knocked out, but a closer look told me the truth. This was not Jane. Sure, it was the same long, flowing hair, the same warming eyes, even though those eyes now helped to transform her face into a twisted grin, the same figure that filled out her nightgown, but the mannerisms weren't the same. She didn't stand like Jane, she didn't move like Jane. And the way she looked at me, Jane had never, could never, look at me like that.
My eyes went from being wide to narrowed, from astonishment to scornful realization.
Laura, Jane's twin, caught the change and chuckled. "Tsk tsk tsk," she clucked her tongue, "Evan, is that any way to celebrate our reunion? I thought you would be happy to see me."
A low groan and my best attempt at thrashing around were my only responses.
"Oh, don't try to escape. You'll only hurt yourself in the process. I made sure that these knots were secure enough to hold you. The only chance of getting them undone is to cut them. I wasn't a Girl Scout for no reason, you know."
What the fuck was this? Some sort of bondage fantasy that Laura was trying to live out? She reached out and began stroking my hair and face. I did my best to move away from her, but there was nowhere to go.
As far as twins went, it was difficult to find two sisters who were less alike than Jane and Laura. A lot of that came from the fact that they didn't like being automatically categorized as stereotypical identical twins, so they worked their hardest to define separate identities. They both developed different interests: Jane did a lot of art and dance activities whereas Laura tried out more sporty things. They had different friends even in grade school, which is why Laura and I weren't as close. For a while, they both contemplated changing their appearances, but they never did since they both already were satisfied with the way they looked. This isn't to say that they weren't close because the truth is that they did love each other like sisters, but they each wanted to be her own person.
"Poor, poor Evan," she said. "I bet you don't even know what's going on? Well, I'm sure by now you can guess that I'm here on Jane's behalf." She leaned in close to me and whispered into my ear. "You hurt my sister, there is no way that I'm going to let you get away with that." She stood up and went to the foot of the bed and started again. What is it with villainous people finding the need to say everything that's on their minds? They never seem to shut up.
"I bet you don't even know what you've done." I couldn't say anything, so I simply waited for her to continue. "Jane didn't want to break up with you, you know. She saw the way things were headed with you and that fag over there. God knows why, but she gave up and let you go on to commit all sorts of crazy acts of sodomy." I tilted my head over to Brian. His head had dropped again and he seemed to be sleeping. Jane crossed over to him and yanked his head back. "Ah, ah," she said, "you need to see and hear every last word of this, you sick creep. How dare you try to ruin our family's happiness." Jane released Brian's head and turned back to me, but I was sure that she was keeping an eye on him to be sure that he was paying attention.
"Do you know that Jane tried to commit suicide after she broke up with you?" My eyes filled with horror as she continued. "She was so upset that she couldn't make things work with you that she tried jumping out of her window. Thankfully, I had come up for a visit and was able to stop her. I've had to stay in New York ever since worrying that the same thing could happen again." I shifted my eyes to Brian, who was still staring in our direction, but he was wiggling a little in his seat. Fortunately, Laura hadn't noticed. "Jane has never been this hurt since our dad died. And now I understand why. She considers you family, Evan. Your moving away from her, trying to break up our family, it was almost too much, it would have been too much for her to handle had I not saved her. Now it's my turn to save her again. You're going back to Jane, you're going to marry into our wholesome Catholic family so that she can be happy, and you're going to make my mother disgustingly happy with little Catholic grandkids running around."
Laura climbed onto the king-size bed, over my wide spread legs, and straddled my torso. "I'm going to show you the right way, the straight way, and when I'm done with you, you'll never want to go back to your boy toy over there. Of course, you're not going to be able to go back to him after he's dead, but I think I should keep him alive long enough to let him watch you enjoy this shouldn't I?" She leaned forward and whispered into my ear again. "You loved women once, you loved my sister once, I'll make you love her again."
She crawled off of my torso and backed up to the space between my legs. She turned around and said to Brian, "You better make sure your queer eyes are locked onto every last moment of this or I'll make you suffer even more before you die." I could see Brian's icy eyes trying to burn their way right through her. If only that could have worked. He turned his hard stare on me. I didn't know what he was trying to communicate to me, but the look he was giving me caused me to shiver with fear. Did he think that I wanted this? That I didn't love him? No, he knew I did. That look was for something else. But for what?
Laura focused her attention on me again. "Since you've made this easy for me by living all the way up here alone on the top floor, I don't think there's any worry of someone hearing you. Besides, I want your queer friend to hear how much you love this." She reached up and yanked the tape off of my mouth. I winced in pain, but I refused to say anything. I wasn't going to give her that satisfaction. I merely glared at her. It was all I could do. Her hand found my dick and began pumping it up and down. Next, she used her tongue to lick my balls and the base of my penis. When you're a 21 year old male, there's not much you can do to avoid arousal when someone is stroking your cock, no matter what the circumstances are. Despite my best efforts, she had me fully erect after sucking me. Laura pulled her nightgown up to reveal that she wasn't wearing any panties. She climbed back onto my torso and began to lower herself onto me. Her intention was definitely to have me enjoy what she was doing. Her fingers moved up my sides and tickled my stomach and nipples. When Laura had fully impaled herself on me, she let out a primal groan. I almost laughed out loud. What a good Catholic girl she was! There was no hymen for me to break. While she continued to tweak one of my nipples with one hand, she reached behind herself and fondled my balls with the other. Then she began to raise herself up and down, raping me.
It must have been good for her because she came twice, grinding her clit into my pubic hair and bouncing up and down faster and faster on my cock. I was fighting the urge to cum and managed to hold off for some time, but I groaned in my resistance, which Laura misinterpreted as desire and worked herself harder. And then it happened, and there was nothing I could do to stop the course of nature. I came inside of her, and even though I made no noise, I slumped against the bed and exhaled in exhaustion.
She lifted herself off of me and swung one leg over me so that she could slide off the bed. "Not bad, Evan. Take a breather, I'm going to get a drink, and then I'll be back for round two." She headed for the door but stopped herself before she left. "I almost forgot," she said in a sing-song voice. She pulled out some more duct tape from under the bed and put it over my mouth. "No talking, you two. Evan, you shouldn't want to associate with a fag like him anyway."
As soon as she left, I fixed my eyes on Brian. I was trying to apologize to him using my eyes. He seemed to understand with a nod of his head, but then he began violently wriggling his feet and legs. From where I was, I could barely see, but I could see enough that he was beginning to get out of the rope that held him to the chair. Rubbing his bare leg against the rope time and time again must have been excrutiating, but he kept up the hard writhing until he heard Laura's footsteps in the hall again.
She came back in holding a bottle of tequila and two glasses. "I thought that you could use a little relaxing, too. You're way too tense, Evan. Try loosening up and it'll feel that much better." I watched her pour a little more than a shot into each glass, and then she threw down hers. She pulled the tape off my mouth again and held the glass to my mouth. At least I was getting a shave out of this, right? Ok, ok, this was definitely not the time for jokes. I held my lips shut tight. Laura reached down and wrenched my balls, and I gasped at the sudden pain. She poured the tequila down my mouth and then brought her hand up from my balls to clamp my mouth shut. I still wouldn't swallow. She put down the glass and used her other hand to pinch my nose shut. I quickly swallowed, and she released me. I yawned and popped my ears that had gotten stopped up when I swallowed while my nose was held shut. "There," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "that wasn't so terrible. Don't you feel better now?" Still, I didn't say anything and I don't think she expected me to. She walked over to Brian and said, "Did you like that, you little bitch? That's the way things are supposed to happen." I heard him moan under the tape on his mouth, and she just laughed. She crawled on top of me again and repeated the same process as before: getting me hard, and then riding me like a slut.
After she repeated that two more times, I was almost entirely out of energy. Every time that I started to drift off, Laura would slap me awake. It was still dark outside, but the clock was turned away at an angle where I couldn't see it. Brian was still wide awake, and when Laura would take breaks, I saw that he had made some progress working with his restraints while Laura was pumping herself up and down on me with her back to Brian. Laura left the room again, mentioning something about making a snack for more energy. Even though I had shifted into an uncomfortable position and the knots around my wrists and ankles were beginning to make my hands and feet tingle with numbness, I laid my head back and felt myself start to fall asleep. A groan from Brian brought my head up to look at him. He made sure that I was looking at him, and he moved one of his knees up to show me that it had been freed. He pulled his foot out entirely and put it back in position as Laura started to come back. Brian managed to vigorously nod his head before she made it completely inside the room, but he stopped once she entered. She set a box of Cheerios down on the nightstand before climbing on top of me again. I saw Brian begin to bob his head up and down again before Laura moved in the way.
"You, me, and Jane. We sure do love our Cheerios, don't we?"
Laura removed my gag again and began working me over again. Now that she was crouched down with her head between my legs again, I could see Brian practically having a fit nodding his head. Suddenly, I understood what he was doing. He wanted me to distract her while he freed himself. I couldn't risk nodding my head in case Laura noticed, but I did wink at him to let him know that I had finally caught on. He stopped nodding and looked very relieved. He must have been aching after moving his head so much. I was aching myself; I was barely hard at this point. Laura mounted me again, and this time I responded to her movements.
"Oh, God," I gasped.
"You like that, don't you, Evan? My hot pussy feels good doesn't it?"
"Yes," I groaned. "Ride me harder." I pushed as far up as I could with my hips and thrust into her.
"Yes!" she cried. My movement made her raise herself up and then drop down that much faster. Every time she came back down on me, she ground herself into me. She had lost the friction to make herself cum a long time ago, but you couldn't blame the girl for trying. I wondered if I could still cum since she had pushed me to the point of exhaustion. She leaned forward and began to growl and she nipped at my neck, leaving me to do the work of pushing myself in and out of her. Over her shoulder, I could see Brian start to rise from the chair. He started to tiptoe out of the room. When he turned a little to the side, I could see that his hands were handcuffed. Shit, there was no way he could get out of those. I began moaning and groaning louder and louder, anything to divert Laura's attention.
I think she was so happy that she had finally made some progress with me that she started crying out and almost barking in pleasure. I knew that I would need to hold out for as long as possible to give Brian the kind of time to do anything. That wasn't as difficult as it sounds considering I had already cum four times that night. The time between my third and fourth orgasms seemed to have been the longest, so I focused on trying to keep Laura on top of me. Even still, there wasn't much that a handcuffed and gagged man could do. Hopefully, he had gone downstairs and found Dave, the security guard. If a bound, gagged, and naked man wasn't enough to raise all sorts of questions, I don't know what would be.
It felt like fifteen minutes or so had passed since Brian left. A few spasms shook my body, but I doubt that I shot anything. I was tired, and the well was dry. So much for the stamina of youth. I put my head back into the bed and said, "Laura, that was spectacular."
Laura was overjoyed. "You see, I knew you would like it. Now you'll be ready to go back to Jane and she can be happy again. And you'll be happy, too, Evan, I know you will. The two of you were meant to be together."
My head snapped up again as I heard the sound of flesh connecting with flesh. Laura fell limp on top of me and Erica stood over the bed with a wide-eyed and no longer gagged Brian looking on in amazement.
"Next time, make sure you tie your knots tighter, bitch," Erica said.
With surprising speed, Laura jumped up and launched herself at Erica. Erica staggered backwards, but before Laura could attack her, Brian delivered a hard kick to her stomach that knocked the wind out of her making her slump on the floor, gasping for air. Erica quickly grabbed a handgun off the dresser behind her and pointed it at Laura's crumpled form on the floor. "Stay down this time," she snarled.
Erica held her there for almost ten minutes. The tension was so high that no one dared to say a word. The police got there and made Erica put her gun away. Brian hurriedly explained everything while Erica ran into the kitchen and got a knife. She came back into the bedroom, but one of the officers tried to stop her.
"Ma'am, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to cut him loose," she shrieked. "Or if you haven't noticed, the man is tied to his own bed!"
I think her screaming surprised him, and he moved aside to let her chop off each one of the ties. Since Erica had been holding the gun and Brian was still cuffed, no one had been able to take my gag off. Erica ripped it off, and I yelled in pain. Two officers had handcuffed Laura and read her her rights as they escorted her out of the room. I got off the bed as paramedics rushed into the room, and after making quick sense of the crazy scene, they wrapped both me and Brian in blankets and began to lead us out of the room. Brian protested, saying that they needed to get the key for the handcuffs. Laura had used a cheap set of handcuffs from a porn shop. I suppose I shouldn't call them cheap since they had done their job. Brian had found the package with the key in the trash can before the police got there, but he hadn't been able to pick it up. An officer used gloves to fish it out of the trash, and after using the key to unlock Brian, he dropped the cuffs, key, and package into a bag for evidence. An officer and a paramedic began arguing over whether or not they could let us go to the hospital yet. The officer insisted that he needed pictures of us in our current state and the paramedic demanded that we get to the hospital immediately. The police officer finally won, and another proceeded to take photos of Brian and me. It was humiliating to say the least. I looked completely ravaged and had the cut ropes hanging off my body. The ropes had moved down a little, so it was clear that I had rope burn. Brian was in worse shape. There was blood all down the right side of his head. Laura must have bashed him over the head in order to knock him out. She hit me, too, but I wasn't bleeding from any place that I knew of. His ankles and shins were rubbed raw and bleeding from his battle of struggling out of the chair. They also collected some of the mess that was spread all over my pubic region for DNA evidence. It was yet another humiliating experience having someone scrape off sex juices from my dick. Once that was all over, they put the blankets over us again, and we were practically pushed down the elevator and outside into the waiting ambulance.
***
I can't say that Brian and I were handled with tender, loving care as we were both hospitalized for our burns and bruises. We ended up in adjacent beds in the same room meant for four patients, but for a while, there were a bunch of policemen fighting with the doctors. We managed to give our statements to the police while the doctors were treating us, but I think the doctors were a little rougher than necessary at times, possibly due to the fact that they were frustrated with the police. Once the police cleared out, and the doctor finished stitching up Brian's head, we were both left to get some sleep. I asked a nurse what time it was as she was leaving. It was around 7 in the morning. Brian and I had gone to bed around 10. How long had Laura managed to keep us trapped up there was beyond me. I sighed deeply and closed my eyes, trying to process the night's traumatic events. Eventually I thought that it would simply be better to forget and go to bed. I was so exhausted that I almost didn't remember to say goodnight to Brian. I looked over to his bed, but he was gone. I almost jumped out of bed when he put his hand on my arm.
"Boo," he said quietly.
"Jesus, Bri, what was that for?"
Somehow he managed to smile after everything that had happened. "You looked like you could use a good kind of surprise."
"Are you alright? I haven't had a decent chance to talk to you at all."
"I'm fine. I should be asking you the same question."
"Don't worry about me. You were much more banged up than I was."
"Yea, you got sex and abuse, I just got the abuse."
"Bri, as much as I would love to talk to you all night, I've got to get some rest. I'm so tired."
"I know, I am, too. I just had to say one thing."
"I love you, too, Bri."
He bent down and lightly kissed my lips. "Goodnight, Evan." He got back into his own bed and tried to get as comfortable as possible
"'Night."
The next morning, or rather the next afternoon, I woke up, and a few minutes later, a nurse came in to assess my wounds. She knew about what I had been forced to go through, I'm sure a large part of the hospital knew, but she was very sympathetic despite the fact that I was gay. My rope burn was not too bad at all. She removed the bandages and applied an ointment and then gave me fresh bandages. The nurse told me that she would bring me back something to eat in a few minutes.
I tried my best to relax and let my mind drift to better times and happier thoughts, but that's very hard to do when you've just experienced what I went through. One of the nurses or doctors was kind enough to leave the curtain open so that I could Brian and I could see each other. Brian was still asleep. I found comfort in watching his chest rhythmically rise and fall as he slept. Thank God he was alive. Thank God we were both alive. Someone entered the room, and I turned back to see who it was.
"Well, at least one of y'all is awake."
I held out my arms to hug Erica, and she wrapped her arms around me so hard that I was afraid she might choke me.
"It's good to see you, too, 'sugah,'" I said.
"How is everything here?"
"It's good," I said. "I think they're keeping us here more out of courtesy for our exhaustion than actually being hurt. I only speak for myself though. Brian is in slightly worse shape than I am."
"Yea, she hit him good. I screamed last night when I came to the door."
"What happened exactly?" I asked.
"I'm guessing that he managed to get himself free while that what's her name bitch,"
"Laura," I interjected.
"Whatever. He got free and came downstairs and started banging on my door with his knee or somethin'. I woke up and opened the door. He was moaning and wailing behind that gag, so I pulled it off and he spilled out the important parts of the story. I immediately dialed 911. It took me forever to explain to the idiots what was going on. When I got off the phone, I tried to find a way to get those damn handcuffs off Brian, but he was more worried about you. I grabbed my gun and ran back upstairs with Brian right behind me. You know the rest."
"So what were you doing with a gun?" I asked jokingly.
"Sugah, I'm a southern woman living in New York City. Of course I have a gun."
"And I love you for having it. You saved our lives, Erica."
"I don't expect payment, just your eternal servitude."
"How about I toss you a dime and we'll call it even?" Brian croaked from his bed.
I whipped my head around to see Brian begin to sit up in bed. "Are you always going to eavesdrop on our conversations, Bri?" I asked.
"I don't think it counts as eavesdropping when I'm in the same room and you know that I'm in the same room."
I got out of the bed and went over to his. I hugged and kissed him for all I was worth. Only Erica's swooning noises made me think to stop, and even that didn't do much. A nurse and a doctor came back in, and the doctor cleared her throat.
"If you're done Mr. Alexander, I need to check out Mr. Davis before I can discharge you two," said the doctor.
I hopped back into my bed, giddy at the fact that Brian was awake. The nurse put the dinner tray on my lap and gave me a smile as she patted my shoulder. Both Erica and I were focused on Brian as his bandages were changed, his stitches were checked, and the cuts on his ankles were treated. Sure, he looked a little worse for the wear, but he was the most beautiful thing I had seen. The doctor checked over me briefly and said that we would both be good to go as soon as we finished eating. Our conversation resumed once the doctor and the nurse had left.
"Erica, what time is it?" Brian asked.
"It's a little after 4. I asked my boss if I could leave early, and once I explained the situation, he was happy to let me go."
Brian groaned. "Shit, I missed my class."
"You were in the hospital, I think your professor will understand," said Erica.
"Nice to know that we practically slept the whole day away," I said.
"I don't know about you, babe, but I could have slept for the next week."
I turned to Erica. "Erica, if you had the gun the whole time, why didn't you just shoot Laura?"
"Good grief, Evan, I wasn't trying to kill or maim the girl. I just wanted to knock her out. I was so confused at first even though Brian told me it was Jane's sister. I still thought it was Jane. So my fist seemed like a better solution than a gun, but I'm paying for that with the pain that I have today." She stretched her hand and cracked her knuckles.
"Mike Tyson you are not, Erica," said Brian, "but that was one hell of a hit."
I laughed. "It sure was. Brian your mouth was wide open when you saw that Erica hit her."
We all laughed at that one. The best way for us to deal with it was to make jokes. No, they didn't erase the pain, but at least it allowed us to make the situation seem less serious than it actually was. We were only human, after all.
"Whenever y'all are ready, I brought some clothes from Evan's apartment, and I used my extra key to get into your apartment, Brian. They're in this bag, so we can leave soon."
"Thanks, Erica," I said. I scooted my tray down my legs. "Maybe we can go somewhere and get some real food."
The nurse came back in with Brian's food. I said that I was done and would get dressed. The nurse nodded, took my tray, and left again. After fishing my clothes out of Erica's bag, I went into the bathroom and changed.
Brian and Erica were laughing when I came out of the bathroom. "What's so funny?" I asked.
"We were just commenting on how this is too much like a movie," Erica said. "I mean, there's the good twin, the bad twin, I'm just waiting for something else to come out of it."
I shuddered at the thought. Without even touching his dinner, Brian got up and changed. We were both eager to go. Erica didn't have a car, so we elected to take a cab back to the apartment after we signed some papers at the hospital. Erica said that the police were still looking over the apartment early that morning when she went to work, but everything had been cleared out when we got back. After Brian and I showered, Erica rummaged around the fridge, looking for food. She offered to make dinner for us as soon as she got some spices and extra food from her apartment. When we were alone, I pulled Brian in and kissed him deeply and passionately.
I released him, and he said, "Wow. What was that for?"
"Because I could," I replied.
"You know, you're handling this very well," he said.
"I'm fine. Everything is okay now."
"Evan, you were raped. That's pretty serious."
"I'm fine," I said again. "I just want you right now."
Brian led me over to a couch and sat down. I came down on his lap and put my head on his shoulder. Both of his arms looped around me, and he pulled me in close. He tilted his own head to rest on mine.
"Brian, I love you," I said quietly. "Can we stay like this for good?"
"You mean bruised, scarred, and exhausted?"
I kissed him right below his jaw. "You know what I mean."
"Yea, I know, babe. It would be nice to never have to move from this spot. Why don't we just stay here for an hour or so?"
"That's not what I meant, Bri. I want to be with you every morning and every night. I don't want you to go away."
Brian pulled his head away and looked down at me. "Are you saying you want me to move in with you?"
"I do." I moved my head up to look him in the eyes.
"What happened to being afraid?"
"I was afraid. I am afraid. But when you're being held captive by your ex-girlfriend's psychotic twin sister for hours, you begin to realize the kinds of things that you should really be afraid of."
Erica came back in, but she walked right past us and into the kitchen.
"So unless your answer has changed, I want to live with you," I said moving in to nibble on his earlobe.
He moaned. "No, nothing has changed. But Erica's right there in the kitchen, so you should probably stop that," he whispered.
I shifted my position and leaned into his other ear. "Make me," I said as I began tugging at the other one with my teeth.
Brian started to tickle me. I laughed so hard that I fell backwards off his lap and onto the rest of the couch. He got on top of me and continued tickling me. One minute I was laughing and then I snapped. It was like Laura was crushing me all over again. My arms were tied back again. I was a victim. Someone else was in control of me...
"Get off me!" I shouted.
Brian thought I was joking, so he only intensified his assault. I jerked forward and pushed him back. Brian stared at me in surprise. Those eyes of his cut into me, and I think it took me a second to shock myself back to reality.
"Brian, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened."
By this point, Erica was watching us from the kitchen. "Ya'll ok?" she asked.
Neither of us said anything. Brian moved forward and took me into his arms. I started sniffing back tears as he rocked and held me.
"Sssh," he said. "It's ok. I didn't mean to put you in that position. I guess we underestimated how you would react to all this."
Erica came over and sat on the other side of the me. She put her head on my back and held me. That just started the flow of tears. Frustration, fear, and anger that I didn't even know I had came pouring out of me. Erica ran back and forth to the kitchen to check on the food, but she always came back. Brian had me pushed against his chest as I babbled between sobs about all the things that had happened the night before. He stroked my hair and kissed my temple from time to time.
Dinner was a little awkward. None of us knew how to address my sudden meltdown. I still don't think that I was unjustified in freaking out, but it did make conversation very difficult. Brian and I cleared the table. Erica excused herself, saying she would be back after a shower and a phone call to her sister.
We piled the dishes into the sink. I washed as Brian dried.
"I'm so sorry, Brian. I didn't mean to push you."
"Baby, I know you didn't. Let's just forget about it, alright?"
I nodded my head and went back to washing in silence. I began to feel like it was going to be a long road to recovery.
Having Brian on top of me must have triggered something. I had slept very soundly in the hospital. That night, even with Brian spooning me against his chest, I didn't feel safe, and I had always felt safe with him around. I tried lulling myself by listening to him sleep, but too many things were distracting me. Of course, we had changed the sheets, but the bed didn't feel right to me. The room didn't feel right to me. I was almost afraid to admit it, but Brian didn't feel right to me. I got out of bed at about 2 and went into the living room to watch TV. Nothing was really on, but I tried to tire myself out. Nearly two hours later, I gave up on that. I pulled back the covers in the guest bedroom and tried sleeping in there. I laid in bed, trying to clear my mind and relax, but it was no use. I managed to fall asleep as the sun was coming up, but I didn't sleep long. The little sleep that I did get seemed to be enough. I got out of bed and showered in the extra bathroom. I didn't want to go back to my room, but I felt like I should put on some clothes. Brian was beginning to wake up when I walked in.
He rubbed his eyes sleepily and said, "Where did you go?"
"I couldn't sleep in here, so I went into the other bedroom."
He stood up and walked over to me. I shivered a little when he touched my face. "Do you want to try staying at my place for a few days? Maybe that will help."
"I'll be fine, Bri. Really."
His eyes got warm and looked right through me. "Evan, haven't you learned by now that you're a terrible liar."
I moved in and wrapped my arms around his neck. I couldn't regenerate that feeling of safety that I felt with him. I felt like someone was looming over me, ready to take him away from me, and there was nothing that either of us could do to prevent it.
"I'm going to take a shower and run some hot water over this damn rope burn," he said. "It's starting to itch a little."
He went into the bathroom, and I put on some clothes. I went into the kitchen and started making some coffee. I took out a cereal bowl and grabbed the box of Cheerios. My mind instantly flashed back to Laura eating the Cheerios. I dropped the box and spilled the contents everywhere.
"Shit," I said out loud. I was still picking up the Os when Brian walked in and helped me. I must have seemed so pathetic, and that just started me crying again right there on the kitchen floor. Brian threw his Cheerios away and reached for me. I melted into his arms and let him hold me again.
"Brian, this is all my fault."
"Don't be ridiculous. You didn't do this."
"Yes, it is. If I hadn't let Jane go, if we were never together, she never would have hurt you."
"If we were never together?"
"Brian, I feel terrible that you got put in the middle of this. I wouldn't blame you if—"
"Shut up, Evan. Shut up."
I focused my teary eyes on him. "Don't you ever think that I regret this, you hear me?" he started to cry too. "I don't want you to feel like that. We're going to get past this. You and me. Because we love each other, and don't you forget it."
I leaned in and kissed him. It was one of those kisses that involved tongue, but it was soulful, fulfilling. Brian let me know how much he truly cared and worried about me. I only hoped that it was enough. It had to be because it was it was all I had.
"I need you," he said.
"I need you, too, Bri."
"Come on, let's go out for breakfast. It'll probably do you some good to get out of here."
"No, it's fine. I'm not that hungry. Do you think we could go down to your place?"
"Sure." As he stood up, I got a good look at his ankles as his pants came up.
"Bri, are those really painful?"
"Not at all. I don't twist or bang around my ankles, so unless something is rubbing them, I'm fine."
He helped me up, and I put my arm around his waist. Brian did the same as we walked into the bedroom to get our shoes. On the way out, I noticed that the message light was blinking on the phone.
"That's funny, I didn't notice that I had messages before."
I walked over and pressed the button. "You have two new messages. First message sent Thursday, July 24th at 9: 27am." I shuddered when I heard the voice.
"Evan, Brian, anyone, this is Jane. Laura just called me down to the police station. She didn't tell me what happened, but one of the officers gave me the basic description of what happened. This is all my fault. Laura must have taken my key and gotten into your apartment. I refused to bail her out. Evan, I am so incredibly sorry about this. They wouldn't release the information of what hospital you're in, but please, please, give me a call."
Whoa. I wasn't really sure how to take that one. "Next message sent Thursday, July 24th at 12:49pm."
"What the fuck is going on there? Here I am sitting at home and Jane calls me asking me if she knows what hospital you're in! I ask her why you're in the hospital in the first place, and then she tells me that her fucking sister raped and tortured you!! Someone better give me a call and tell me what's going on. Jesus, as if I don't have enough to worry about. You better damn well be alright or I'm going to bring you to California and treat you like you were more infantile than my three kids!"
I turned to Brian. "You definitely need to meet my sister one of these days."
"That's ok, I can feel her wrath from here."
We turned and walked to the door. I locked everything up and turned on the alarm. Brian pushed the button for the elevator, and Jane was standing there when the doors opened.
"Oh, my God, Evan!"
Brian and I both went on edge. I was one of the few people who could actually tell Jane and Laura apart, but Brian hadn't known either of them for very long.
"Are you alright? Oh my goodness, look at your wrists! Brian, your head!"
She put her hand up to check his head, but he backed away. She looked confused. "Jane, I'm sorry, I'm a little weirded out that you look so much like, well, your twin."
"I'm sorry, I didn't think of how strange this would be for the two of you. I'll come back later."
"No, Jane," I said, "we need to talk."
She laughed nervously. "Evan, we're not dating anymore. That's no way to start a conversation."
I lowered my voice even though we were alone in the hall. "Jane, Laura told us that you tried to commit suicide." "Oh," she breathed. "You know that Laura isn't particularly stable, she must have made that up to get to you."
I moved towards, but now it was her turn to back away. "You don't believe me, do you?" she asked.
"Jane, I—"
"Just cut it out." She punched the elevator button and because the elevator had stayed on our floor, she was able to immediately get on. I started to put my hand in the way of the doors, but Brian held my arm.
"Let her go," he whispered. "I don't think this is the time to try to talk it out. We've all got to recover."
"Bri, I don't want her to hurt herself!"
"Evan, I think that you're the last person that could do anything about that right now. From what Laura said, you're more of a cause of her pain rather than the cure."
Damn. I hated when he was right, but nothing could shake the feeling that, for once, he was horribly wrong.
He pressed the elevator button again, and we waited for it to return. When we got into the apartment, I immediately went to his bookshelf. I had my reasons for coming down to his apartment for a change. Brian went to the kitchen.
"Are you sure you don't want anything?" he asked. "I'm going to make myself some pancakes."
"Um, on second thought, that sounds great," I called. There it was! I pulled out Song of Solomon, the book I had picked up weeks ago. I nestled myself into a spot on Brian's couch and started flipping through the pages towards the end. I vaguely remembered something about a crazy, ex-girlfriend of Milkman, the main character, trying to kill him. As insane as it sounded, my life was turning into this book. Not that it was Jane trying to kill me, it was Laura. But a twin was pretty close. I flipped through the pages for a few minutes and found it. Hagar. That was her name. Jane and Laura had become my Hagar. Between the two of them, they were a former lover of mine, obsessed with having my love and willing to go to any extent to have me again.
"What are you looking at?" Brian said, popping up behind me.
"Oh, it's nothing."
"You sure? Every time you go to my bookshelf, you find that book."
"I'm fine, babe, I promise. I was thinking though, do you think it would be better to try to move some of our stuff to storage or sell it?"
"Well, your living room is pretty empty. I could put my books and couch in there. Your TV is bigger than mine, so maybe we could put mine in the bedroom. I don't know what to do about my bed, kitchen table, and desk."
"There's room in the study for an extra desk. I don't see how there's room for the other stuff though. I like your bed, it's more comfortable than the one I have in the extra bedroom. Maybe we could use your bed in there, and I can give that bed back to my mom." My voice faded out with those last words.
Brian kissed the side of my head. "Well, I'm sure your mom wouldn't object to having her bed back. We never did it in that one. And your uncle might be willing to come get it."
"We'll see."
"While we're talking about him, did you plan on telling him about what happened with Laura?"
"No, I think it's better that Uncle James not know. I don't want him to worry or be more stressed than is necessary."
"I'm sure Maria will tell him."
"Probably. I don't want to be the one to tell him."
"Don't you think it would better coming from you?"
"Do you always have to be right?" I said it with more anger than I intended.
"Evan, I'm only trying to be helpful."
"I know, I know. Dammit. Don't listen to me, I'm just being pissy." He walked around the couch and sat down. Using both of his hands, he took my hand and kissed it. "Just remember that I'm not fighting you. I'm on your side."
I closed my eyes and sighed. "I know you are. Everything is getting to me, and I'm trying not to let it, but I can't make any guarantees."
"The pancakes are ready. Will that make you feel any better?"
"Yea, let's eat."
***
After we finished eating, Brian sat down with a book and cuddled with me on the couch. I was more exhausted than I thought I was. I fell asleep with my arm around Brian's shoulder and his head pressed into my side. At some point, we reversed ourselves because when I woke up, my head was in Brian's lap and he was gently massaging my shoulder. I got that strange, empty, weightless feeling in my stomach when I turned to look at him. At times like this, it was really intense, as though I needed him to fill out the rest of me. He was my Prince Charming, but the real thing was infinitely better than the storybook character. He smiled at me and stroked my hair.
Heaven On Earth Ch. 07. Out of a storybook.
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