Chapter 11

Wyatt jolted awake as an icy torrent of water doused his nearly naked body, sparking bitter chills over his exposed skin. The curse died in his throat as he coughed and sputtered through a second deluge. By the time he managed any kind of coherency, he was shaking uncontrollably as he tried to extract himself from the frigid puddle beneath him.

His foot jerked to a halt with the rattle of a chain at his scrambling and shaking and attempts to curl into a ball. He vaguely heard what he could only describe as a cackle from somewhere above his head.

He managed roll to his side, opening his eyes only to blink rapidly, sure he was imagining things.

"Thought you could use a bath," the apparition sneered.

Wyatt shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut again, willing his mind to work correctly, because surely his fiancé's mother hadn't just dumped icy water on him while he was chained in a basement.

"Time to wake up, Wyatt," the bitter female voice snapped, kicking his ribs with her pointed high-heel shoe for emphasis.

Wyatt groaned, a splitting headache nearly blinding him as his body fought for warmth. This had to be a nightmare. No way could it be real. He squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to force back the reality seeking to destroy him.

He remembered the tall, lumbering man coming down earlier and offering him water. Eddie, he'd said his name was, but he hadn't really said much else—except that Wyatt was "bad", whatever that meant. Wyatt spent several uncomfortable minutes trying to get the guy to warm up to him, open up a bit to maybe get the guy to let him go.

The guy seemed confused but also a little afraid, as he'd kept glancing at the stairs. Wyatt was almost certain that 'Eddie' had been coerced into helping and had not actually masterminded his abduction. He'd even tried to ask Eddie about Darrin, why he was doing this, where was he... but Eddie had just frowned and stared at him like he had a third head.

Wyatt had sipped a bit of the water after Eddie had disappeared back up the stairs. At least, he'd left the light on, and Wyatt could inspect his cell. It was pretty dank, and he could see mold climbing the recesses of the stone walls, and who knew what else was down here. There were hints of maybe a wooden table, chairs possibly, in the shadows the light didn't reach. But, for the most part, it was empty, obviously unused—until now.

As he had huddled on the cold stone floor, wrapping his arms around his knees before drifting off, he was glad Eddie had left the light on. While not actually a reality, Wyatt felt the tiniest bit warmer in the glow of the naked bulb. As he succumbed to the debilitating fatigue of the cold, Eddie's name had rolled around in his head like a pinball trying to find its place until the darkness had taken him again.

"Sit up!" his assailant screeched, obviously annoyed that he wasn't moving fast enough, earning him another kick to the shoulder.

For a dizzying moment, Wyatt's brain snapped in a surge of anger and frustration with a feral growl. Not caring who was assaulting him, only lashing out, he grabbed at whatever body part he could reach of the person—male, female, alien—didn't matter. He got hold of a calf, yanking it off balance and was rewarded with a high-pitched shriek of surprise.

He had no idea where the energy came from as he rolled and tried to wrestle his abductor into submission. At that point in his glacially-induced fugue state, he had no idea who he tried to punch, only that it was a chance to escape.

Then a white-hot pain ripped through his shoulder and his body seized in agony, releasing his hold on his tormentor. His eyes briefly met the coldest blue eyes he'd ever seen before the contorted face before him twisted into a sneer as she yanked her hand back. A scream was wrenched from his gritty throat as the blade she'd stabbed him with was twisted before being ripped free.

"Oh, fuck," he groaned as he rolled, slapping his hand to his burning shoulder.

"Don't fuck with me, Wyatt," she said distantly.

Wyatt panted for several long moments with his forehead pressed to the cool stone floor. If he didn't look up, maybe he would wake up from this nightmare soon.

"W-why?" was all he could stutter out as he breathed through the pain.

The laughter that surrounded him was horrifying. He heard a scrape, causing him to flinch. When he just heard a thud nearby, he rolled his head to see Mrs. Carol Foxgrove perched daintily on the edge of the chair she had apparently dragged closer—just not close enough for him to reach her again.

"Why indeed," she chuckled. "Well, my darling boy, I simply couldn't let you continue to corrupt my son."

Wyatt struggled to make sense of her words. "What?"

"You really didn't think I was going to let my son be debased by a deviant such as yourself." She stared back at him with those cold blue eyes that were so like Bryan's yet so different. The warmth and affection he saw in Bryan's was completely devoid in his mother's. It suddenly hit him who else had those eyes.

Eddie.

Eddie was Bryan's brother.

Oh, fuck, was Bryan's whole family involved?

"I can see you're still trying to figure things out," Carol stated plainly, turning over the small blade in her hand that was stained with his blood. "Don't worry. I'll be there for Bryan when the police tell him they discovered your body."

"No..." Wyatt hissed, hating the images of Bryan grieving for him, this woman comforting the man he loved, even with Wyatt's blood fresh on her hands.

"Oh, yes."

"You won't get away with this," he growled through his chattering teeth.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I will. You see, I've been thinking about it for a while. I did keep praying for God's divine intervention to stop Bryan from falling down the devil's path, but demons like you can be persuasive. I know once you're gone, he'll find the right path again. In fact, I just left him in the arms of a very sweet woman."

Wyatt's head jerked up. "No, you're lying. He would never—"

Her eyes gleamed as her words clearly caused the pain they were meant to. "Oh, he is upset that you're missing, and I have to admit your ex threw a wrench in my plans. I had hoped for Bryan to think you'd just run off, changed your mind."

Her rambling was dizzying and Wyatt could hardly keep track of what she was saying. "Darrin? He's involved--?"

"Oh, no, no," she tittered, almost looking like the sweet older woman he'd met a few days ago, but it vanished in the next second. "This is all me. Your ex—Darrin, is it?—just caused the plans to shift a bit." She paused, shifting in her seat. "You see the original plan was to make Bryan think you'd left him, and then simply keep you here until I could drop your body in the woods you are so fond of hiking in. By the time they found you, they would just think that you'd lost your way, and eventually died of starvation, dehydration, the elements, maybe even a wolf—now that would be very helpful. That's why I can't tie your arms and feet—rope burns would be rather telling, the cuff leaves less evidence. Although, it would be nice if you'd quit yanking on it and causing some bruising. But hopefully they'd just think that you twisted your ankle or something."

Wyatt could only stare at her as if she were insane, as he clutched his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his blood seeping through his fingers.

She sat there talking as if they were having a pleasant conversation on her couch. The gruesome image of the bloodied knife and crimson drops on her yellow dress an odd disparity. "I have to admit I was shocked to find Bryan had the police involved so soon, and my plans for getting them to think you had changed your mind about the wedding were dashed all to hell. Oh, you should have seen the look on his face when he opened that envelope with your leather bracelet in it. Eddie thought it was very pretty when he took it off. And Bryan was so upset when he saw the letter, that you could hurt him like that."

Wyatt practically snarled at her. "You're going to kill him, you know. He's going to be devastated by what you've done—"

"You really think he won't get over you? Please, what makes you think you are that important to him?"

Because he's that important to me. Wyatt couldn't help the tears threatening to escape.

Carol slapped her hand on her knees. "So anyway, now they think Darrin has kidnapped you, which works out just as well. Of course, it really doesn't matter which they believe, the ending is still the same."

Wyatt didn't want to hear the rest. He didn't want her to voice how she planned to kill him—because he was certain that was what she planned to do, she'd said as much when she mentioned them finding his body.

She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees as she studied him before continuing. "Do you want to know what that ending is?"

He rocked his head against the stone, utter dread washing through him. His hopes of freedom slipping from him as easily as the blood running down his bare chest. "No..." he muttered, but the image of Bryan being crushed by the news of his demise caused him to growl. "You won't get away with this. Even if you kill me, when they find m-me... Bryan will know what you've done. You'll lose him forever."

"Ahh, see that's the beauty of my plan. I'm not going to kill you, per se, just let you die."

Wyatt was sure he'd heard wrong. "What?"

"See, I just plan to leave you here until you die—dehydration, starvation, hell, maybe even pneumonia. Then we'll simply take your body up to one of those trails you love so much and leave it. Now, my personal hope is that some wild animal—a wolf or maybe even a bear—comes and mauls all that sweet flesh of yours before it's discovered."

Wyatt grimaced at her description of how she'd love to see his skin ripped open by the hungry jaws of some animal. His body shuddered involuntarily as he imagined teeth tearing into his skin, ripping the flesh from his bones.

"Oh, fuck," he gagged, his stomach convulsing with the urge to relieve its contents, but there wasn't anything in it.

"I figure it'll take a few days, maybe a week. A few more 'baths' should help speed the process along. And then, when all is said and done, and they finally find your remains... who do you think they will blame?"

Darrin. Wyatt knew they wouldn't suspect Bryan's mother. And as much as he hated Darrin, he didn't want his ex convicted of his murder.

"And the fun part of it all is that Bryan will come to me for support and comfort. So instead of tearing apart my family like you had planned with your god-forsaken marriage plans, we will be even closer. It'll just be me, Bryan and Eddie, and eventually maybe the woman Bryan marries."

Eddie. God, that's right, Eddie was involved as well. Fuck, Bryan would be devastated when he found out his mother and brother plotted Wyatt's murder. And Bryan loved Eddie so much. It would kill him.

Wyatt froze. Wait. Eddie had seemed upset by seeing him down here. Did he understand what was happening? Bryan had said he had a mental disability; could Eddie be easily manipulated by his mother?

"So what? You and Eddie just plan to dump my body somewhere?" he mumbled.

"Oh, Eddie doesn't plan anything. He's sweet and innocent. And very protective. I've told him you've been hurting his little brother, and he was rather angry with you when I told him that. We need Bryan safe, and I've assured Eddie we can do that by keeping you away from him—that you need a time out."

Crap. Of course, she'd feed him those lies...

"Why?" Wyatt wondered aloud, "Why even involve Eddie at all? Why hurt both your sons like that?"

"Well, I couldn't lug your dead weight down these stairs, now could I? And I'll need him to help move you after you expire."

"Expire?" Wyatt broke into a hysterical chuckle. God, he was so fucking cold and exhausted right now, and this woman was talking so casually about disposing of his body. It was unreal. "Expire. Huh, I guess that's one way to describe my fucking murder, you crazy bitch."

"Well!" she gasped, apparently affronted by his profanity, which just made Wyatt even giddier with the insanity of it all.

"You know, they'll realize that I never left your house. Don't you think that might get the police to wondering if you're involved?" he taunted.

She chuckled, "Oh, they know you left here. Hell, I'm sure they'll question the cab driver that took you home from here."

Wyatt couldn't help the knee jerk reaction. "How the hell—?"

Her sly smile told him he had way underestimated the depth of her delusions. "After Eddie and I had you down here all safe and secure, I called the cab company for you. And they drove a rather sick young man home to his apartment." She laughed at Wyatt's frown. "I have to admit, your coat and hat were rather comfortable." Her brows furrowed as she rubbed her hands down her hips. "Sadly, your pants fit pretty well too. I'll have to work on that. I suppose I could cut back on the bites of wedding cake."

Oh, Christ, she really was insane. How long had she planned his demise? This wasn't something that she'd thought of in the spur of the moment.

"Anyway," Carol continued, almost sounding bored now, "After, I got out of the cab and into your apartment building, I just walked on out the back. Took off the hat, coat and scarf and dumped them in the trash a few blocks down along with your cell phone." She frowned. "Of course, when I was trying to make Bryan believe you'd left him, I expected that the garbage would have been collected before he suspected otherwise. But, no matter, the police finding your cell phone and stuff blocks away from your apartment will only perpetuate the idea that your ex was involved."

The scrape of the chair startled him as he realized he'd been drifting in the haze of a nightmare he couldn't seem to escape. "Well, I do have to make the drive to take Eddie back tomorrow, so I'll leave you with one final thing."

He looked up just in time to see another pitcher of ice water raining down on him.

"Aagggh!" he screamed as the water hit him like a thousand needles. He barely heard her receding steps as she left him shaking in the puddle of blood and water.

His energy ebbed and he realized that even the stab wound on his shoulder wasn't bleeding anymore. It's probably frozen, he thought.

Fuck! He'd just started to think maybe he could handle the cold...

Aaaaand now you've seen a side of mom that you probably didn't want to see
Thanks for reading!  And I'd love to know how you feel about Eddie and his innocence/guilt in the whole thing (hoping I'm getting him to come across like I want).