a young woman's sad blue eyes, digitized

Jose looks down at Barbie’s form sprawled loosely on the muddy ground. She doesn’t look like much. He drops her stuff in the dirt and takes a seat on the stump. Feeling the stirrings of excitement. He lights a joint and watches her. He wants to take his time this time. Savor it.

He watches her breast rise and fall. Her breathing is regular. Bit of bruising on her neck, but nothing too bad. Mud in her hair. She’d hate that the most. Hell, she got off a lot easier than that red headed girl, and it was really Barbie he should have pounded that day.

He watches the smoke twist and writhe as it drifts upward, thinking that he can still walk away. Maybe she’d go to the cops. Maybe not though.

He looks at her face pressed in the mud. Clothes disheveled. Little bit of drool pooling in the corner of her mouth. This is the girl that’s had him tied up in knots for so long. So messed up he hasn’t been able to see straight for most of the semester.

He takes a deep drag and really looks at her. She was always happy to smoke his drugs but he always knew that she’d never really accept him. She’d never think he could be good enough for her. Golden girl. Princess. Cock tease. No account bitch is what she is. Doesn’t look so hot now.

He’s thinking he should maybe tie her up first. Immobilize her. He looks in her purse. All kinds of crap.

Not even dental floss. Gloves. Who knew the girl was such an idiot. Day as cold as this and her gloves are in her purse, not on her hands? Chocolate. Gum wrappers. Pantyhose? She’s wearing pantyhose why does she have more in her bag?

And the make up. Holy shit. The girl has a beauty parlor’s worth of crap in here. Perfume, paints, who knows what all these tubes and bottles are. Maybe when all the crap comes off she’s really a dog?

Thick wallet. Let the wallet go. Don’t touch it. He’s no fucking thief, no way. He upends the purse and watches with satisfaction as the wallet bounces and everything else spills out all over the ground. Tubes scattering, bottles bouncing, keys, a metal disk rolls away into a clump of dead wildflowers. Who gives a shit. He’s wearing his gloves. He’s no fool.

In fact, it’s a good thing he found out what an airhead this one was. Just think, he might have married the bitch and been stuck with her his whole life. She’s probably not even a real blonde like that Krystal. No way Jose. He grins to himself as he picks up her laptop bag, rifling though it. He drops the notebook computer into the dirt and pulls out the cables.

These ought to work.

Kneeling by her head, he grabs her under her armpits and drags her over to a sturdy young sapling at the edge of the little clearing. He wraps the power cord around one of Barbie’s wrists and then pulls her cold hand above her head. He looks at her face. Yeah, she’s still breathing. Just cold.

Stupid girl not to wear her gloves. He wraps the middle of the cord around a sapling and then pulls up her other wrist so he can bind it to the end. He gets up and goes back to the pile of girl crap laying beside the stump. He picks up the gloves, admiring the softness of the leather. Too small for him, for sure, but he thinks they might make a great gag. Keep her from making noise.

He looks over at her, with her arms stretched over her head like that, she’s certainly appealing. The coat is open, and the fabric of her dress is some kind of slippery shit. Doesn’t look warm. And look at those nipples poking up against the fabric. He reaches for the pantyhose, and carries it back to his dream girl. He runs his gloved finger along her lower lip and she shudders a little.

Tucking his finger into her mouth he pulls her jaw down and starts to push a glove into her open mouth when she spasms and her teeth clamp shut like a trap. Jesus, she almost bit his finger. He tries to open her mouth again but her eyes open.

Barbie’s icy blue eyes look at him.

“Jose, what…” she tries to sit up and she realizes that her wrists are bound. “Come on Jose, this isn’t a very good game. How about you untie me and we pretend none of this ever happened.”

“This isn’t a game Barbie.”

“Look, I didn’t mean to … give you the wrong idea, Lead you on, whatever. Jose. I really like you, I’ve always really liked you, it’s just, just, I’m just not ready to settle down. That’s all. I don’t want to end up married too young, that’s all.”

Jose crouches beside her. “You’ve played me all along. And then you just dump me like garbage. Is that what you think I am? Garbage?”

“No, of course not. I think you’re a great guy. Don’t you realize how much I like you? It’s not you that’s the problem, it’s me. Come on Jose, just help me up and we can start again, okay. Go get a cup of coffee. Sit down together and really talk about stuff, you know?”

“I think it’s too late for that.”

“Jose, come on, let’s give it a rest. Just untie me and….”

“And what?” asks Jose. “You’ll be my friend? No, Barbie, you were never my friend.”

“I promise I….”

Jose cuts her short with a short sharp blow to her midriff. As she gasps for air he stuffs the gloves into her mouth. She squirms as her breath comes back, trying to spit the gloves out while he in turn struggles to get the pantyhose tied around her head to hold the gloves in.

Barbie is wriggling sideways and pulling her knees up.

Jose realizes she’s trying to get her feet under her so she can stand. No way he’s letting her off that easy.

No way.

In a smooth motion he lets go the pantyhose ends and slams his palms squarely on her breasts. Shocked at the suddenness of the change in attack Barbie even stops trying to spit out the gloves for a moment, and Jose swings his leg over to straddle her.

Jose has been worried that he might not be able to get it up since his failure with Mouse, but his erection is enormous. Breathless again from his weight on her stomach, Barbie looks up at him in supplication. Now she knows his power.

With her pinned down he’s finally free to tie the god damn pantyhose. He can feel her subside as she realizes how helpless she actually is. Good. Oh, he thinks, this is so much better than the red head. The blonde goddess yields to him. What a rush.

He’s on fire, so he pulls his jacket off and casts it aside, then reaches down to unbutton her shiny blouse.

But the blouse is slippery, especially with gloves on, there is no way. Fuck it. Jose grabs the fabric and gives it a mighty yank.

Buttons pop off and roll away in the dirt. The blouse fabric slithers down her sides and out of his way, revealing a lacy little bra barely covering those amazing breasts that makes his heart race.

He bends down and rests his chest on hers in a parody of a hug as he forces his hands underneath her to unfasten the bra. He can feel her panting under him as her breast rises and falls, throbbing against his chest.

The snap gives and he’s about to sit back up when he feels an enormous searing pain in his shoulder, as if it’s on fire. He sits up and releases an agonized groan when the full load of pain hits. Glancing down he sees one of the gloves in the dirt, but the other one, now bloody, is still in her mouth.

She bit him.

Well, no more mister nice guy.

He rears back and punches her in the face.

He can feel the cheek bone give way and he smiles as her eyes flutter and roll back in her head. Jesus God he is dripping blood from his shoulder. First things first.

He needs to stop the blood. He looks at the pantyhose and decides they’ll have to do.

Jose pulls the damned pantyhose out from under her head again. After all the work to get it there in the first place.

Jose presses the big part against the ragged bite she’s ripped out of his shoulder then struggles to wind the legs around his arm. Although awkward to do with one hand he manages a rough knot and pulls it together by pulling one panty hose leg taut with his hand, the other with his teeth. Difficult but possible. This is starting to be more trouble than it’s worth.

He hits her in the face again.

That feels good.

Jose looks at the pathetic bra and grabs it but the damn thing doesn’t rip open, It stretches, He lets it go and it makes a satisfying sling shot thwapping sound as it snaps back against her skin. Jose can feel her body heat warming him where he straddles her. His excitement is rising as he punches her in the breast.

Again.

And again.

Suddenly he is hitting, beating, pummeling, bashing, striking, punching, slapping, rapping, pounding…

Blood is mixing with mud in the golden hair and he begins to sob quietly in counterpoint to the punches he’s delivering.
Why did she make him do this, he wonders.

She should have loved him and not been so selfish, he thinks, not for the first time.

Suddenly Jose feels strong hands grabbing his shoulders and pulling him backward off of Barbie.

As Jose is yanked to his feet the fingers connect with the bitten shoulder and Jose howls in agony. He whirls on his attacker with raised fists until he sees it’s Eric.

He relaxes and shakes his head. “Gee man, I almost took your head off. Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

Eric stares at Jose. “What are you doing?”

Jose shrugs, “You know Barbie has been giving me trouble. You can’t just let women stamp all over your heart, man. I mean after what Elsie did I think you can appreciate where I’m coming from here. We’ve just been working it out. You know how it is.”

Eric looks down at the twisted still form laying bound to the tree. The left side of her face is mush, and Eric can see that blood has been steadily oozing out of her ear for some time, forming a large puddle around her head.

Barbie’s bright blonde hair appears scarlet at the ends.

Eric kneels down beside her, looking for a flicker in her eyes, or the rise and fall of her chest. He feels for a pulse, but there isn’t any.

“Hey now,” Jose tells him, “Get your own girl, Eric. This one’s mine.”

“Jose,” Eric stands up and stares at him. “She’s dead.”

Jose shakes his head. “No, she’s just a little pissed off at me. The bitch is just punishing me is all. That’s one of the things we have to work out.”

Jose looks up at the sound of twigs breaking and leaves crackling and smiles.

“Hey Eric, there’s your girlfriend. Why don’t the two of you just run along and leave Barbie and me to work things out.”

Eric turns to see Amelia and Mouse pushing their way through the brush. Amelia and Eric make eye contact and Eric tries to signal her away but Mouse sees Jose and calls out, “Hey, Jose.”

But Mouse stops in mid stride as she takes in the bloody scratches on Jose’s face and Barbie’s limp form tied to the tree at his feet. Mouse lets out a blood curdling scream that splits the afternoon and seems to snap Jose out of his daze.

Jose tries to go around Eric, and although stunned by what he’s found, Eric holds up his hands, shoving his friend’s chest.

“What have you done? Jesus, Jose, you can’t just…”

But Jose pushes back. Eric stumbles backward, tripping over a tree root then falling down to end up sitting in the mud.

Jose ignores Eric, who stares stupidly up at him, Mouse weeping like a baby and Amelia dialing her cellphone.

Jose realizes there is only one course of action, so he scoops Barbie’s car keys off the ground. Fuck it, she won’t mind.

Since the students are ranged between him and the walkway, Jose opts for the path of least resistance and plunges the other way, into the underbrush. The woods gotta be easier than fighting his way through the assholes. Gotta get the car and take off.

Amelia watches him go, and she tells the police dispatcher where they are and that there’s a dead student here in the woods. Eric pulls himself to his feet and stumbles toward the girls. Mouse isn’t screaming any more but she’s crying. He pulls her into a hug.

Eric asks Amelia, “You called the cops?”

Amelia nods, “Yeah, now I’m calling the campus cops.”

“Okay, I’ll gonna call Boris.” While still cradling Mouse with one arm, Eric pulls out his cell with the other and fumbles one handed with the buttons.

“No.” Amelia says, “Don’t do that Eric.”

“I know you like Jose, but he’s gotta be stopped.”

“Not anymore. You think I give a shit about that rat bastard murderer Jose? He’s gotta be stopped but not by Boris.” Amelia starts toward him. “What do you think Bo would do if he caught the guy?”

“Oh shit. You’re right.” Eric disconnects, putting the phone away.

“We’ve been living with a monster.” Amelia shudders.

Eric looks stricken. “I can’t believe… that I could even know somebody who’d do this…”

“Maybe she’s just hurt…” says Mouse, but Eric emphatically shakes his head. Mouse looks at Barbie’s unnaturally still form in disbelief. “Are you sure?

Eric nods miserably. “Yeah, Mouse. I’m sure.”

Mouse starts wailing again, and Eric puts his hands on Mouse’s shoulders. “Hey Mouse, come on. Let’s get back to the path and wait for help to come.”

Amelia takes her hand. “Yeah. We have to go wait for them, so she doesn’t have to … to stay here.”

Mouse nods and pulls a handkerchief out of her pocket and scrubs her face with it, then follows Amelia. Mouse says, “Barbie is, Barbie was… she was so full of life always, you know?”

Eric looks at Barbie again, still trying to believe it himself. He tears his eyes away and follows his friends. They are all careful not to look back. Mouse snuffles as they struggle over the uneven mushy ground. “How could Jose do that? He said he loved her.”

“I don’t know Mouse. I guess he’s the rapist too.”

Mouse blanches, thinking about the time she spent with Jose and their one night stand.

But then Mouse hands Eric her handkerchief because he is weeping too.

page forward arrow