Amarillo: Chapter 9 - Discovered

Chapter 9 – Discovered
  It was dark, quiet, not a sound was heard but as 2D started to regain consciousness a dripping sound could be heard in the distance; he could tell that wherever he was, was a really shoddy area.  They had something wrapped around his eyes but he could still see faint light threw the piece of cloth.  Breathing and footsteps were heard, he could feel someone taking off the cloth.
    “Stuuuuuuuuaart” A female voice came…this all seemed familiar.
    “Ruth?” He mumbled.  The light grew bigger after the cloth was removed and 2D started being able to see what was really happening.  The voice turned manlier,
    “Stuart, how are you holding up?” It was that man, Mr. Martin.  2D gasped.
    “Y…you!”
    “I suppose you’re doing fine then?  You can talk after all.”
    “I still don’t see why we had to blindfold him after we knocked him out…that was just kind of pointless.” The older man said.  2Ds eyes finally adjusted to the light to see who he was.
    “Because, did you not just see how cool that was?  He is petrified from that reentrance of mine!”
    “I’m pretty sure that’s because you shot him, forced him into your car, then had us put chloroform to him, not the blindfold.” Mr. Martin glared at him.
    “You are a party pooper, do you know that?”
    “You!  You’re that man from the school!  That’s where I recognize you from!” 2D blurted.  The older smirked at 2D.
    “You’re not as stupid as people say you are.” 2D cringed and looked at his shoulder, it had stopped bleeding but it still hurt.  “Ah yea, that’ll hurt for a little while.” He chuckled.  “But that’s the least of your problems right now.” Mr. Martin jerked 2Ds head to stare at him, he tried to fight back but his hands and feet were bound by rope behind his back.
    “His name is Derick and that other pretty face over there…” He pointed his head to the other man that had been in the car with them. “That’s Gouge, as in…gouge out your eyes if we have to!”
    “Dude!  Why you always saying our names to people we bring in here?  Maybe I don’t want people to know my mom named me Gouge!  I got…picked on in school!”
    “Well he’s not leaving here, it’s not like he’s going to tell anyone.” Gouge looked around.  “Oh no…you’re not seriously…”
    “But…what if she is man?”
    “Gouge!  You know as well as I do ‘Ned’ has had nothing but stupid paranoia since that incident!”
    “Ned?  That motel owner?” 2D asked.  “He squeezed my hand!  He’s a jerk!”  The three looked at him.
    “Oh, right forgot they met.” Mr. Martin stated.  
    “Wait, so Ned and the old bloke were both involved?!  I’m so confused!  Why did you bring me here?” Mr. Martin punched 2D.  “Ow!  What was that for?” He punched him again. “OW!!!”
    “I’m the one asking questions here!”
    “And to think I actually liked you…” He was getting ready to hit him again when Derick stopped him.
    “Let me explain 2D, you have become involved in a very…intense and complicated situation.”
    “So I can tell!”
    “You’re going around asking questions about a girl 10 years after she went missing, digging up secrets that you shouldn’t.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about but all I found out is that Ruth went missing and her brother really misses her.  You all are the ones who came and shot me!” Derick grabbed a hold of 2D’s hair and slammed him on the ground breaking a tooth.
    “You’re saying you can see the girl!!!” He said furiously.  He got close to 2D’s ear.  “Now you’re either crazy, or using it as a gimmick to get people to start asking questions again.  Well, we don’t want that…this was all brushed under the rug!  Everyone was supposed to have forgotten about that little brat!”
    “She’s….not….a brat.” 2D coughed up blood.  They looked at him as him sat up.  “She’s a kind girl; she just wants to know what happened to her.” The man’s eyes got wide as he started slamming 2D’s face against the wall.
    “Stop acting like you see her!” He let him go and 2D cringed on the floor.
    “Murdoc….hits harder….” He was getting ready to stomp him when suddenly Ned came bursting through the door with James.
    “Martin!  You got to listen to this!  James says he saw the same Ruth as that 2D guy!” James looked to see 2D all bloodied and screamed.
    “Aw shit Ned!  Why would you bring the kid in here?!” Mr. Martin exclaimed.  Ned looked to see 2D and pushed James outside the door.
    “What the hell you going on about?” Gouge asked.
    “James, he went out of my sight for a few seconds…”
    “You let him out of your sight?!” Derick said enraged.
    “It was only for a couple of seconds and I got him back!”  It was during this bickering 2D saw Ruth come through the doorway, pass by all the bickering men and kneel next to him.
    “Ruth…?” He said quietly and unsure.  She nodded and looked him over.
    “Those monsters…look what they’ve done to you!”
    “It doesn’t matter!” Ned continued.  “When I found him he said he was talking to a girl named Ruth and that…Mr. Martin had kidnapped 2D.” Ned kept looking around as they all stared.  2D stared at Ruth as he heard this.
    “James, that little boy…he can see me, you and him can only see me.” Ruth stood back up and grabbed a knife from a counter.  She came back over to 2D and started to cut the ropes.  “I see Ned and that old man are involved too?  You can’t trust anyone these days…”
    “James!  Come here!” Mr. Martin exclaimed.  James slowly walked back into the room and saw Ruth cutting the ropes from 2D but kept quiet.  “You saw…a girl?” He looked around.
    “I….I see a lot of girls when we go out.”
    “You know what I’m talking about!”
    “I don’t understand why it’s a big deal!  She was just crying and I just talked to her!” Mr. Martin went over to a drawer and scrimmage through some papers, grabbed one and brought it back to him.
    “Was this the girl you saw?” It was a newspaper clipping of Ruth’s picture, the same one that was on the internet, James nodded.  They all looked at each other.
    “See!  It’s true!  Maybe she really is a ghost!” Ned exclaimed as Mr. Martin punched him.
    “We do not talk about ghosts around him!” He looked back at James.  “You are dismissed to your room.” James looked back over to where 2D was and saw Ruth putting a finger over her lips.  He turned around and left the room.  
    “This is ridiculous to even be considering the fact that she might even be-” Ned’s scream interrupted Derick.  He fell over in agony to see Mr. Martins knife in his leg.
    “What the?” Mr. Martin exclaimed, he looked back over to the counter and it saw the knife was gone.
    “The singer!  He’s gone!” Gouge yelled.  They all looked to see him missing!  
    “Shit!  Go after him!” Gouge ran out the door.  He pulled the knife from Ned as he screamed.  “What the hell happened?!”
    “I was just standing with you all then something stabbed me, what the hell does it look like?!”  
    “How did this thing…?” He realized there was something written on the knife in sharpie.  He wiped off Ned’s blood on his khakis and read it, “I’m here”.  Mr. Martin, Derick, and Ned’s eyes all got wide.
    “Holy shit…” Derick exclaimed.  Mr. Martin got out his cell phone as Ned still moaned in pain.  He dialed a number; it rang a few times when someone answered.
    “Yea…you’re going to want to see this for yourself…” It was quiet for a long time.  “I got it, boss.”