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Chapter 7

 

“Dammit Chloe, it doesn’t look like anybody is home.”

 

“Well ring the bell again.”

 

“Its no use and you can see the place is dark. Sam! Are you in there?”

 

“That’s silly, even if he could hear you his tiny voice couldn’t yell loud enough for us to hear.”

 

“My poor brother; a prisoner of these bitches. I swear I will tear their hair out when I find them.”

 

“Well what do we do now? Stay here and wait?”

 

“I don’t know. I still don’t get how he could have disappeared from the apartment. Are you sure he isn’t hiding under my couch or something?”

 

“I don’t really think so. I left him on the table when I heard somebody come in when I was in the bathroom and I thought it was you.”

 

“And nobody else other than these girls know about him right?”

 

“I think so, except for – DOH!”

 

“What are you not telling me?”

 

“Get in the car Caitlin, we are gonna pay someone a little visit.”

 

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“Tucker what are you doing? Come out wherever you are this minute. I might step on you accidentally, you are just a little folk.”

 

I huddled against the floorboard under the bed and crept silently toward the foot of the bed. I’d been hiding here for an hour as Anna ignored me while she gabbed away on her phone. I picked my way over one of Anna’s bras and a T-shirt. I was just bit from the edge of the bed. From there it was only a few feet from the open door of Anna’s bedroom. If I could only get out of the bedroom maybe I could find my way out of the apartment and somehow get word to my sister. From under the bed I could see Anna’s sock-clad feet pound the wooden floor was she moved about the room while talking to one of her friends. I couldn’t really make out what she was saying, something about her classes and her sister giving her something. From the way her feet were facing it looked like she had her back turned away from me. I took my chance and double timed it along the floorboard toward the open door. I was so close when I heard laughter ringing in my ears, and was suddenly clasped in a vice-like grip. I cringed as the air was sqeezed from my lungs and I felt the floor lose contact with my feet as I kicked wildly back and fourth. I rose up into the air as Anna brought me up to her face. She smiled at me as she held me easily.

 

“There you are Tucker. I knew if I left the door open you’d come out. What did you think you were doing? My little man needs to be careful where he is going if you don’t want me to accidentally step on you, k?”

 

“Please just put me down! I need to contact my sister!”

 

“Oh is she little like you? Having a little brother and sister might be cute.  It is too bad you are related or we could breed you. I bet we could get a lot for baby little people.”

 

“Dammit I am not some animal to be bred like a hamster!”

 

“Oh of course not you are Nadia’s little man, and therefore mine by extension. Now you need to be good while Hey are you hungry? I have half a turkey sandwich left over from lunch. Let’s get you something to eat.”

 

I had no time to answer one way or another as Anna cuddled me against her like a kitten and walked out of the bedroom toward the kitchen.

 

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            “OK Carolyn, Nadia and I know you got the little man so hand him over, he’s ours. Hand him over now.’

 

            “Actually Rochelle that was just a story I made up to get you here. Carolyn doesn’t have him. I got him and he is mine forever.”

 

            “Fucking bitch! He was just as much mine as he was yours! We found him together!”

 

            “In MY bedroom!”

 

            “Well I pay half the rent so technically its half my bedroom too.”

 

            “Oh and is my boyfriend technically half yours too, since you’ve been fucking him behind my back?”

 

            “I AM NOT!”

 

            “Oh come on Rochelle, everybody knows you are.”

            “SHUT UP CAROLYN. I thought you were on my side.”

            “Well its not cool you fucked Matt. Besides Nadia promised I could help take of the little guy if I helped her. You should have seen Tucker last night, it was so cute we laid out on the bedroom floor and made him hop from one of our stomachs to the other. Kate was laughing so hard she made him fall down on his face and gave him a bloody nose.”

 

            “I didn’t mean to! I just couldn’t help it he was so adorable.”

 

            “Well Rochelle I’m sorry but Tucker and I are moving out! You can just get yourself another roommate, another boyfriend, AND another tiny guy! Tucker’s mine, and so is Matt!”

 

            “BITCH!”

 

            “Rochelle I think you should just leave.”

 

            “Fine Kate, but you skanks haven’t heard the last of this, especially YOU Nadia.”

 

            As Rochelle slammed the door, Nadia turned to Kate and Carolyn.

 

            “Thanks girlfriends, I will be back later. I have to drop some stuff off.”

 

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            “I-I’m so sorry Caitlin, they made me do it, they told me I would lose my internship and get kicked out of the sorority if I didn’t help them, I-I just couldn’t lose everything. I was going to tell you anyway. I’m sorry, please I swear. I’ll help get him back for you, please let me help you.”

 

            “It’s ok Dallas, don’t cry. I know they pushed you into it. The important thing now is that you’ll help us, right Caitlin?”

 

            “I guess I believe you Dallas but you should have told me right away they had him.  I’ve been worried sick about Sam. Now who knows if he is in that apartment or someplace else.”

 

            “Caitlin I know I can get him back for you, just give me a chance, please, I don’t care if I get blackballed anymore from the sorority, I could never live with myself if anything bad happenes to Sam. I just wanted to take care of him, he was so helpless and tiny. God please forgive me!”

 

            “Dallas, I know how you can help us, since you are a Chi-O and we aren’t, maybe you can go over there and see if anyone knows where Nadia or Rochelle is.”

 

            “I-I’m only a pledge though so they won’t tell me shit.’

 

            “Well see what you can find out and call me on my cell.”

 

            “I will, Caitlin, I promise I won’t let you down this time, you’ll see.”

 

            “You better not, Dallas.”       

 

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            I was seated on the black formica counter top next to the sink. I shuddered as Anna opened up the refrigerator door; I didn’t want to go back in there. She noticed my apprehension as she removed a plate with a sandwich on it and set it down next to me. I looked up at her incredulously.

 

            “Don’t worry Tucker, you won’t have to go back in there as long as you are on your best behavior. Now I want you to eat something and I will pour you some Pepsi in a bottle cap, k?”

 

            I didn’t know what else to do so I waved thanks up to her. She giggled.

 

            “That’s a good little guy. Don’t worry I said I would take good care of you didn’t I?”

 

            She then proceeded to pick up the sandwich and took a huge bite out of it as she walked back to the fridge and pulled out a 2 liter of pepsi. She filled up the bottle cap and set it down next to me as she devoured the sandwich. I stared up at her hungrily as the turkey sandwich disappeared bit by bit into her enormous mouith.

 

            “Mmmm this is good – oh where are my manners? You wanted some, right?” She then broke off a small piece from what she had left, set it down next to me, then popped the remaining bit of sandwich in her mouth. Just as I was about to dig in she took it away from me again.

 

            “Let me put a little mayo on it for ya.”

 

            As I watched the titanic freshman grab a jar of mayo from the fridge I was startled to hear the side door open. I had no time to hide as the figure entered the kitchen. It was Nadia carrying paper bags full of clothing.

 

            “Anna help me with this stuff, I’m dropping my clothes all over.”

 

            “What happened?”

 

            “I finally had it out with Rochelle over Matt. We aren’t speaking ever again.”

 

            Anna walked over to Nadia and took the bags from her. She walked into the living room to set them down by the side of the couch. Nadia spotted me on the counter. I cringed as she came near.

 

            “Hiya little guy! How’s my sister treating you? Are you being a good little doll for her? Anna is he being good for you?”

            “He’s been ok. I was fixing him something to eat.”

 

            “Hey what’s that, turkey? That looks good, mmmm.” I screamed up at her but it was too late as she took my piece of turkey sandwich and popped it in her mouth.”

 

            “Hey I was gonna eat that!”

 

            “Nadia that was mean?”

 

            “What? Oh you were going to eat that? Sorry lil guy, you can have a cracker. Anna give him a cracker. I gotta go stop at my sorority and pick up my suede jacket from Kate, and then do some errands, but I will be back later with more stuff. Bye little man, I will be seeing you later.”

 

            I bit into the dry cracker and chewed as Anna watched me in fascination. It was better than nothing.

 

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            Dallas parked the car across the street from the Chi-O house and looked out at the sorority. She wanted to help find the little guy and she was sure Carolyn was involved somehow. She was all set to go in when Nadia suddenly pulled into the driveway in her car. She quickly got out and rushed into the sorority house. Dallas held back; she didn’t want Nadia to know she was there or she’d know something was up for sure. So she would wait. She turned on her cd player and put on her sunglasses as she waited.

           

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I sat on the table in Anna’s living room, watching in fascination as Anna operated the enormous vacuum cleaner. I couldn’t believe how easily she could move the tons of metal back and forth across the carpet. I covered my ears as the vacuum screamed out over the room. I yelled out for Anna to stop but she continued on, not even hearing my cries. I was so insignificant to these girls now they didn’t even hear me most of the time. I was nothing but a toy for their amusement. That’s all I had become. I sat down on a stack of newspapers just as I heard the doorbell ring. Anna turned off the vacuum and motioned me to be quiet as she walked over to the front door and opened it up.

 

“Oh hey Rachel, what are you doing here?”

 

“Hey Anna, I haven’t seen you for a while, I thought I drop in what are you up to?”

“Oh I was just cleaning, hey what’s that?”

 

“Oh I brought over a DVD of that movie we were talking about, ‘Jersey Girl’, when Ben Affleck. I also got some Smirnoff’s.”

 

“Oooo that’s what I’m talking about. Come on in.”

 

I shuddered as Anna’s friend walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, her back to me. Anna closed the front door and put the DVD in the player, then both girls opened up a Smirnoff Ice and made small talks through the previews. I sat quietly on the table behind them, afraid to draw attention to myself.

 

“Oh hey I saw your sister.”

 

“Oh? She didn’t tell me.”

 

“Hey you wanna see something really cool she gave me? Wait here?”

 

“Ok, hurry up the movie is starting in a minute.”

 

I looked up in terror as Anna walked behind the couch over to the table where I stood. I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable as her fingers reached out toward me. I raised my hands over my head to ward off her clutch in a useless gesture.

 

“You won’t belive this it’s so cool. Check it out.”

 

“HOLY SHIT! OHMIGOD! Look at that!”

 

“I know I can’t believe it. I’m not supposed to tell anyone but you are my best friend.”

 

“Can I touch?”

 

“Sure, just be careful.”

 

I opened my eyes in confusion, I was still on the table, and Anna was standing over Rachel by the couch as she held something in her hands

 

“How adorable. I have never seen a turquoise necklace like that before. “

 

“I know she got it out west in New Mexico this summer.”

 

“Cool.”

 

Relieved, I sat back down on the table and dealt with my present terrible situation. I had endured much the past couple days but nothing prepared me for two hours of Ben Affleck. I hoped I would survive.

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Rochelle was furious. She had run from the Chi-O house in tears, and spent the next couple of hours just driving around campus unsure of what to do. She couldn’t face her apartment and she didn’t want to tell Matt their game was up. Finally she was back on the street where the Chi-O house was located. She speed past and as she did so noticed not only Nadia’s car in the driveway, that was no surprise but a little further down the street she could see Dallas sitting in her parked car, That seemed odd to her. Why was she just sitting there, why didn’t she go into the house? Was she waiting for someone? Rochelle herself didn’t want to go back in the house so soon after her confrontation with Nadia, Kate and Carolyn but she was curious. She scrunched down in her seat as she passed Dallas’s car and turned to circle around the block. She found an empty space far down the street and parked, keeping an eye on not only Nadia’s car but also Dallas. What the hell was that girl up to? 

 

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Dallas had practically fallen asleep in the car when she heard the door of the sorority house slam. Nadia was walking down the front steps clutching her suede jacket. She ducked down in her seat as Nadia sped out onto the street, then she pulled out after her following at a respectful distance and as inconspicuously as possible. She grabbed her cell phone as she drove.

 

“Hey its me, I found Nadia, she just left the house. I’m tailing her now, I will call you when I find out where she is going. Oh thank you, I know we will find him, bye.”

 

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“Hey watch where you are walking!”

 

“Oops, sorry Tucker. I don’t think you will be safe on the floor.”

 

I shook my fist up at Anna as I stood in the center of her bedroom floor. Rachel had left without incident, and Anna had been please that I had behaved myself. I was taken from the living room and set down on her bedroom floor. I marveled as Anna pulled her jeans off and put on a white T-Shirt. Her white ankle socks straddled either side of me as she smiled down at me. I looked back up at her long legs as they towered over me, disappearing at the thigh underneath her T-Shirt.  She clicked on the stereo and instantly the room flooded with some dance music at a low volume. I had to scurry away as Anna started dancing over me, laughing at my fear. I tried backing away under the bed but she reached out her foot swung it around to my back, nudging me forward. I tumbled toward her and landed with a splat.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Oops sorry Tucker” Lets put you someplace safer.

 

I tried to back off again but her sock covered foot rushed at me again. I closed my eyes fearing she would smush me under her once and for all, but instead her toes scooped underneath me and I opened my eyes to find myself clinging to the top of her foot as she raised and extended her leg into the air. I held on for dear life to the sock covered foot as she swung it over the bed, then she shook me free. I screamed as I plunged onto the soft bed. I bounced once and came to a rolling stop on her comforter. I looked around for Anna but I couldn’t see her. I heard her giggling as a wall of comforter rose up high over me like a tidal wave, then crashing down over me, leaving me squirming in darkness. The bed squeaked and I could feel something displacing my weight easily. Then my ankle was pinched and I was dragged along in the darkness toward the light of an opening. I desperately tried to cling to the fabric but she was just too strong. I heard more laughter and then Anna’s voice as I emerged between the folds of her comforter.        

           

“What are you doing in there little fella? Come out here and hang with me on the bed for a while, k?”

 

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After sitting for what seemed an eternity Rochelle was startled by the roar of Nadia’s car as it backed out of the driveway. As it pulled out, she saw Dallas pull out too, moving in the same direction Nadia was. What the hell is going on here?  Quickly she turned the key and pulled out, keeping Dallas in sight as they drove. She didn’t know why Dallas would be following Nadia around, but she had a good idea. Perhaps they should have not fucked Dallas over the way they did. Oh well too late now, she thought. Something was definitely up.

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