For Richer or For Poorer - 2. Chapter 2 - Set-Up for a Fall

In an abandoned rundown warehouse on the South Side of Chicago, muffled screams permeated the quiet night air. A muscular man wearing a leather mask, stood over a terrified and battered body of a young brunette lady. He had just got done beating and raping her for the third time. The entire time he wielded a serrated knife and screamed drunken obscenities at her.

"I'll be back later, don't try anything stupid," he chuckled.

The man walked out, leaving her cowering in the corner battered and bruised. She was disoriented, cold, and hungry. She tried to take in her surroundings. The blindfold kept her in the dark, the fabric pressed tightly over her eyes. It was cold. No freezing. The frigid temperature made her injuries more agonizing. She caught the faint smell of frozen meat. She was in a meat locker. She tried to stand, but the pain was too much. The bindings around her wrists dug into her tender flesh and the ropes seemed to tighten at each attempt to get free.

Suddenly the door opened...

The man had been watching her from a surveillance feed. He grabbed her by the hair and yanked hard.

He growled into her ear, “You disappointed me, you good-for-nothing hooker.”

His voice sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it. He had forced so many drugs down her throat she wouldn't be able to recognize her own mother.

“What do you want from me?” she yelled.

He punched her in the stomach, and tightened his hold on her hair, and bellowed in her ear, "I want you to suffer bitch."

He smacked her around more forcefully at that point, and stabbed her in the kidney, which caused her to scream out in excruciating agony, eliciting another painful slap and further torture.

To silence her, he stuffed his cock in her mouth. She was coherent enough enact revenge on her torturer and bit down on his penis, eliciting a scream of rage and pain out of the man.

SLAP!!! “You’re gonna pay for that you bitch,” he growled. He raped and beat her for the fourth time forgetting to wear a condom.

He hoisted her up by her wrists, and chained them together. He punched her in the ribs. CRACK!

She screamed in agony at the pain that wracked her body. The man was drunk and drugged out. She could smell the tequila radiating off him. He was on a three day crack binge, extremely agitated and completely paranoid. She vomited from the smell of alcohol and toxic chemicals.

He slapped her again and then punched her in the face for puking all over him, and shoved his knife up against her throat. She cried out in pain again.

“Shut up, bitch! I’m gonna gut you like a pig, you stupid slut. You failed to please me, you cunt! Time to die you ungrateful whore!” he said in his drugged out and drunken anger. She puked on him again.

SLAP! “You are gonna pay for that, you stupid bitch!!!”

“Please don’t kill me, I’ll do better… I… I pr-pro-promise,” the prostitute cried quietly.

“It’s too late for that, slut.”

The woman was chained and suspended from the ceiling of the walk-in freezer by meat hooks. She sobbed at the aspect of death. The sinister figure snuck behind her and ripped off her blood-stained underwear and shoved his knife into her vagina, eliciting a blood curdling scream. He put the knife to her throat and whispered in her ear, “You’re not bleeding enough, it’s time to make a sacrifice.” She could barely stay conscious due to the blood loss, but the sadistic monster wasn't done. To keep her awake he dumped ice cold water over her destroyed body. She screamed from the shock. He ripped her blood-soaked blouse and stabbed her breasts and stomach resulting in her to cry out for mercy.

“Please just kill me. Finish me off,” she cried.

“With pleasure,” He said, snidely.

He dragged the blade across her throat, putting her out of her misery. He pulled her lifeless body off the hooks and unchained her, wrapped her in an industrial plastic sheet, and stuffed her in his van. He grabbed a bottle of bleach and scrubbed the warehouse to destroy the evidence. He took off his clothes and took a shower to rinse the blood off. When he was done he dumped their clothes in a trash can and set them on fire. He then set off for Wisconsin where he disposed of the body in a cornfield.

***

Bryce and Davis woke up in their new off campus apartment and unpacked all of their boxes. A few hours later they call James, Bryce’s older brother, a senior at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He showed up a few minutes later carrying pizza and a twelve-pack of beer. When he asked about their trip, they told him about their run-in with Melissa.

James became angry when Davis recounted the encounter in the bathroom. James had adopted Davis as his little brother. He ranted about how Melissa could have given him a disease.

“That woman deserved more of a tongue-lashing than you gave her, little bros. She should be in jail instead of forcing herself on other people,” James said.

“I know but we were terrified and after coming out to her, I panicked. I just wanted to get the hell out of there,” Davis said.

Bryce, was stunned that Davis would out himself to James. He rubbed Davis’ back. The feathery touch sent shock waves down to Davis’ crotch. James smiled at this interaction. Davis wanted to rip off Bryce’s clothes and fuck him on the couch right then. Bryce had the same thoughts.

They drank some more beer and watched a baseball game. When it was over James left. The boys turned in after calling Bryce’s parents.

***

The first couple of weeks passed by quickly. Classes took a lot of their time. Neither Bryce nor Davis were big partiers, so it really surprised Davis when Bryce began coming home later and later, many nights inebriated. The drinking and the vanishing acts became clear in the Dining Hall when Bryce walked in and introduced Xander Pollack.

Davis’ surprise soon turned into jealousy at their extreme closeness. It soon morphed into anger when they began ignoring him. Xander told him more about his fraternity, Delta Sigma Alpha. Davis sat stunned that Bryce was actually considering pledging the fraternity.

Davis looked the newcomer over. Xander Pollack was a god. He was 6’5” 250 lbs. of pure football muscle. He was the Rush Chairmen of the fraternity house.

'He probably has a big cock too,' Davis scoffed.

Xander asked Bryce, “Why don’t you come to the mixer tonight?” Much to Davis’ consternation he agreed. Xander then turned back and asked, “How about you come back to the house with me and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the guys?” He wrapped his arm around Bryce’s shoulder and led him out of the cafeteria.

Davis was stunned. Bryce didn’t even think to ask if he wanted to go or say good bye.

‘What the fuck just happened.’ He thought. ‘Xander Pollack has turned my best friend against me.’

Davis walked back to the apartment alone and heartbroken. He couldn’t believe Bryce had turned on him. Tears rolled down his cheeks. To take his mind off Bryce, he did his homework. When he was finished it was ten o’clock at night and Bryce still wasn’t home. Depressed, he got shitty drunk and tore up the apartment in anger. Bryce staggered into the apartment, drunk, at four in the morning. After going to the bathroom to relieve himself he headed for his bedroom unaware that his best friend lay on the couch, asleep. He had exhausted himself from crying all night.

The next day, Davis tried to let the previous day’s events slide into history, but the state of the apartment brought everything back into full force. To make matters worse Bryce seemed nonchalant about his surroundings.

Bryce opened the refrigerator and pulled out the milk carton. After he took a swig, he regaled Davis on his night. Davis tried to ignore him, but his anger returned. Finally, he couldn’t take anymore and screamed, “Why don’t you go move into the frat house then? If you like them so much why not just get your shit and move out, Asshole!”

Davis grabbed his car keys and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Bryce stared on slack jawed with confusion and disbelief at his friend’s outburst.

'What the fuck?' he said after a few seconds of stunned silence.

Davis ended up driving for hours trying to calm himself down. He ended up in Chicago and got a room in a run-down motel near an abandoned meat-packing warehouse. He then hailed a man and got him to buy him some tequila and vodka and ordered take-out. The next couple of nights he cried at the collapse of his friendship with Bryce.

***

Meanwhile in Milwaukee, Bryce tried to call Davis multiple times, but his phone was off. To clear his head, he went for a walk around campus, wondering what led to the outburst. He tried to look for him, but had no success. Xander found him and convinced him to join the fraternity brothers at the bar. He followed to take his mind off the situation. After a few hours of listening to the brothers’ conquests he had had enough. He needed to find Davis.

“I’m going to head out, I need to find Davis. We had a fight this afternoon and we need to talk. I'm really worried; he’s not answering my phone calls,” Bryce said.

“Come on bro, fuck him. He obviously doesn’t give a fuck about you. He just stormed out about you going out last night. He’s probably pissed off about not being invited.” Xander said, indignantly.

Everyone laughed except Bryce. “You don’t know him. He is my best friend. How can you not invite him? I just thought he didn’t want to come.”

The boys laughed again and Bryce’s anger built.

“Come on, he’s bad news. He’s a fucking Caldwell, for God’s sake!” Xander said.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Bryce asked, heatedly.

“His father is an asshole. Did you know that Jacob Caldwell was once a member of this fraternity? He got blackballed when he put a gay kid in a coma. Rumor has it, his brother is just as bad in Michigan. How can you be friends with him, knowing his family is scum?” Xander said. He didn’t like being pushed by the freshman.

Standing up and tossing his drink at Xander, Bryce yelled, “You know what? Fuck you! He is nothing at all like that homophobic asshole. You don’t know shit about him.” Everybody in the bar stared at him. He continued, “I was interested in this frat because it’s a gay friendly fraternity and I wanted to have Davis come along with me. The problem is all I see a bunch of prejudiced asshole frat boys that believe that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Well guess what? In Davis’ case the tree was on a cliff and his apple fell off that fucking cliff!”

Bryce got up, threw money on the table and walked out of the bar.

Xander and the rest of the fraternity brothers sat there in stunned silence. Xander wondered if he had been too prejudiced when it came to Davis.

Bryce returned to the apartment and broke down. He called his father for advice. Michael, concerned at the turn of events told him to sleep for the night and resume the search in the morning

Over the next two days Davis still hadn’t shown up. Bryce’s anxiety multiplied. To his shock Xander tried to help find his missing friend saying he could call his brother in the FBI to aid in the search. Bryce declined. After the third night he wondered if Davis was ever coming back.

***

On the fourth day, Davis returned to the apartment hopefully to talk to Bryce. Instead the place was empty.

‘He doesn’t care,’ he thought, tears rushing down his face. He was unaware Bryce was looking for him.

He returned to his depressed state. He got drunk again. Four days of binging on alcohol and pizza caught up to him. He rushed to the bathroom where alcohol poisoning set in. He got dizzy, and threw up on the tiled floor. As he blacked out he hit his head on the sink counter top.

Bryce came home dejected. He looked all over Milwaukee for him. All the sudden he spotted Davis' BMW in his customary parking spot. He was elated.

“Davis, you’re ho—“ he said.

The apartment was a wreck. His earlier happiness came crashing down.

“Davis!” he shouted.

Nothing. He took a look at the living room. Beer bottles littered the coffee table. He listened to the sounds of the apartment. He could hear water running in the hallway bathroom.

“Davis you in here?” he asked trying to open the door. Locked.

“Davis! Come on man open up!”

Nothing. He broke down the door to find Davis lying in a puddle of blood and vomit.

“Davis! Wake up!” he said, shaking him.

Davis barely had a pulse. Bryce’s heart broke into millions of pieces. He called 911.

***

At the hospital, the staff tried desperately to save Davis’ life. Bryce was hysterical and it took all of James’ strength to try and hold him together.

“He’s gonna be okay little bro.” James said. Bryce didn’t respond.

All the sudden, doctors and nurses rushed through the doors leading to the Operating Room. Bryce and James cried knowing it was for Davis.

“CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE!!! WE’RE LOSING HIM!!!” Doctor Isaiah Hamilton yelled. He was furiously trying to revive Davis, who had flat lined when they pumped his stomach.

***

In an overgrown cornfield near Kenosha, Wisconsin a farmer made a gruesome discovery: A dead body.

When the police started their investigation they were shocked at carnage. Not even the veteran detectives were prepared for what they saw. Wrapped in a plastic sheet was the brutalized form of a naked woman. Only DNA could identify her.

Autopsy results concluded that she had been: Beaten. Raped. She had multiple stab wounds to her torso and vagina. Throat slit to the bone. Face swollen with bruises. Numerous broken ribs. Fractured left arm. Missing teeth. DNA was found under her fingernails and between her incisors.

When her DNA came back, she was finally identified: Melissa Abernathy. Melissa was in the system for prostitution and drug charges.

Later that night, in the darkened DNA Lab a shadowy figure slipped in and swiped Melissa’s rape kit, took out the sample and planted another one and sealed up the box. Couple of days later the lab got a hit. The DNA belonged to Davis Caldwell.

“Goodbye Davis, you worthless faggot,” the man in the shadows said.