Chapter Four
Romeo was a Fool
The door creaked open, as Adam stumbled in. Beyond the small and dirty window dawn lit up the sky, turning the black to purple, then pink, then to light blue that so expressed the day. Briar, asleep on the futon bed, woke up. She stirred, eyes sleepy with hours of tears and dreams. Sitting up, she stretched, flashing for a moment the black lace panties she wore underneath the large t-shirt that acted as her nightgown.
Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she yawned. "Adam? Are you okay?" sleep momentarily robbing her of the memory of his adultery. "What smells like piss?"
He grabbed her hand, pants wet and reeking of old urine. "Baby...look I wanted to apologize for what happened with that girl. She meant nothing to me." he smiled hollowly.
Everything came back to her in a rush and she reacted as anyone would. The sound of the smack resounded through the room. "How could you do it?" she asked, whispering.
"I let the whole rock star thing go to my head." he kissed her hand, avoiding looking at her. "It was stupid and I swear to you, I swear on my band and my life nothing happened after you left."
Briar bit her lip, not believing him. "Why do you smell like piss?" she plugged her nose, face wrinkling in disgust.
"Drunk guy in the alley. Fucking missed." he said quickly. Standing up, he pulled her with him. "Come with me, I have got to show you something."
His hand gripped hers, squeezing the fingers together harshly. Briar stood up with him, her hand stinging. Something was off about Adam. His face was sunken in, almost skeletal like, and there was a odd look in his eyes. They were darker than normal, the deep color they usually held now having paled to an almost blackish gray. Some light shone in them, giving him a strange and scary aura. Roughly he pulled on her arm, trying to drag her along with him.
Briar stood her ground, planted at the edge of the bed. Something, something she could not explain told her to stay where she was, not to let the man before her take her once more into some unknown situation. Slowly she opened her mouth to say the words she should have said all those years ago. "No.."
Just then Adam turned around to look at her, a smile flashing, eyes lighting up with some cheerful idea. It stretched his face, and at that moment he was once more the 17 year old boy with a motorcycle and a guitar on his back. "Come on baby. Lets go." Against her better judgement Briar swallowed her protests and tore her feet from their place on the floor.
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Almost swearing she could hear the cars door crack as Adam slammed it, Briar stepped from the passengers side. Silent as the grave he walked into an alleyway she did not recognize. It was light out, the sun just barely making the sky the deep blue it was on such days. Across the road she saw a large glowing sign, lighting up some of the parts of the street and its alleyways that had not yet been touched by the sun. "Recom Tech." Briar muttered, squinting to read the words acting as a landmark for her to remember where Adam had taken her. His voice shook her from her thoughts.
"Briar! Come on, it won't take long." he smiled, voice pitched a little high and seeming to strain slightly. Still unsure what was going on, Briar walked into the alley, finding Adam. Holding up a sewer grate, and smiling widely, he motioned to her. "Come on baby. Jump in. This thing aint exactly light."
Warily, she eyed him. "Are you serious?" He wants me to get in a sewer...a sewer? What in the fuck is there to show me in the sewer? Still, Briar bit her lip, and slid under Adam's arm to slide down into the darkness below. A stench of rotting sewage and aging mold hit her nose as she stood in the empty pipe. Above her Adam slid down into the pipe, shutting the grate above him.
Light streamed from between the cracks in the grate, shining a small amount of light on them from above. Farther than the island of light was complete darkness, a darkness in which Adam was now heading. "Come on Bri. You will never forget this." he smiled, the smile disappearing last as his form blended with the black.
Briar stepped forward, calling to Adam. "Adam?" the words passed from her lips hesitantly. From some far off distance he called back to her, the sound echoing.
"To the right love. Follow me."
She took off to the right, half running half walking towards his voice. Hands out in front of her to stop herself from hitting something unseen, she called out to him once more. Each time she called out, he answered, giving her directions. For what seemed like an eternity they played this twisted game of marco polo, until Briar found her way into a somewhat lighted tunnel. Light streamed in from small cracks in the tunnel, not the white light of day, but the yellow light of man made bulbs. Above her there seemed to be some sort of building, its floors cracked and broken to light up the tunnel below.
Adam was no where in sight, and Briar was scared. She had no clue where she was, and Adam had stopped answering her calls. "Adam...Adam? ADAM?" she called out, hearing only the ghost of her echo reach her ears. Feet slapping the concrete as she moved forward, she called out again and again.
"Adam! Adam, come on. Where are you?" she backed up into the darkness of a small side tunnel. From the tunnel came a hand, clapping her on the shoulder. Briar screamed, jumping. Reaching back to hit her attacker she was stopped by a familiar laugh.
"It's just me." Adam smiled, his voice a low whisper. "...just me." Briar sighed, resting her hand on his, kissing the knuckles.
"Wow babe, you scared me." she laughed lightly.
"What? This isn't fun for you?" Adam gripped her shoulder, his grip unusually tight. Fingernails digging into her skin, making her wince. Briar bit her lip and winced, opening her mouth to tell him to let go of her. Suddenly she froze, as the pain tore into her back. "This isn't fun for me either baby. It was you or me, and the only thing I love more than you, is me." Adams voice was pitched higher than normal, and warbled a bit. He seemed hysterical.
Briar turned, and the knife slid out. It was shining in the light of the tunnel, her red blood dripping from the handle. As her back grew wet and warm, she could not speak. He had stabbed me? He stabbed me. Her eyes went wide, and the cement around her blurred as she fell. The floor rushed up to meet her, and she landed hard.
Above her, blurred by her pain, Adam wiped off his pocket knife, and bent down next to her.
"Sorry babe, but I had to make a choice. Plus, I'd rather kill you than give you over to him alive." He stood again, parts of him disappearing as the edges of her vision faded. Black reached the edges of her vision, crawling forward to steal all of her eyesight from her. " Nothing of mine will ever be touched by such a.." he paused, voice trembling, his body shaking slightly as if in some nightmare, "such a beast."
Suddenly, Adams head snapped to the side. A noise in the distance took his eyes off the wounded and weak woman at his feet. From far off, a growl came, its source indistinguishable. It could come from any one of the many tunnels in the underground maze.
"Come and get her you freak!" Adam yelled, he turned on his heel, running back the way they came. Briar reached one hand toward him. As her world blurred and faded she tried to call out. Come back. Still she could force no words beyond her lips. A shadow appeared at the edge of her vision, stopping for a second then tearing off down the tunnel after Adam. She pooled the last of her strength, and called to him, to anyone.
"Help..help me." Her voice was weak, but something was on her side that night. Amazingly the weak whisper echoed through the tunnel, making it a shout. The figure stopped short. For but a moment it hesitated, contemplating continuing its pursuit of the man. It seemed to decide against it, then turned to her. Briar looked up as darkness overwhelmed her senses. Red eyes. Red eyes in the blackness was what she last saw as everything faded to black.