Follow The Rules

Take me home

Oliver leant his head against the cool window, forcing his mind to think about the texture of the glass, the sound of other cars whizzing past, the soft hum of the music.

Anything but last night.

He was still blindfolded and his hands were cuffed behind his back, but George hadn't bothered to gag him. He had screamed his throat raw and his brain was too tired and shocked to even think about talking. George didn't say anything either except for a few minor instructions to safely get Oliver out of the house and into the backseat of his car. Oliver worked out it was definitely a house they were in from the short journey, however, Oliver didn't care anymore.

Occasionally Oliver would let out a small moan when the car went over a bump or pot hole that caused pain to reawaken everywhere, but George made no comment.

It honestly surprised Oliver that George had nothing to say, considering the amount of things he said while it was happening. The mere thought made him feel like he was going to be sick, so he focused back on the cool glass, the sounds from the outside world, the music.

Eventually, after a very long journey that must have taken hours, the car pulled to a stop.

George let out a sigh as he put the car in park and the world went silent. No more cars, no more music. Oliver jumped when the front passenger door popped open.

"Alright everything's set." B said enthusiastically. He wasn't in the car exactly, Oliver could tell, but Oliver imagined him to be leaning in the car. "Kids parents should be here soon."

"Great. So what's the plan?"

The two of them discussed logistics for a while, discussing that George would remain in the car with me until they had the money in their possession and only once it was counted, would they let him leave the car.

"You understand, kid?" B said, climbing into the back seat with him and Oliver found himself subconsciously pushing himself further against the door. "You stay here, quietly, until it's all done and then you get to go home." Oliver remained silent, the thought of seeing his parents again anything but reassuring. He felt B scoot closer to him and tensed every muscle, ignoring the pain that it caused. He flinched when a hand touched his head and a moment later the blindfold was removed.

The sudden exposure to light was almost too much to handle and he squeezed his eyes closed, slowly blinking until his eyes adjusted to the sun. Hesitantly, Oliver moved to face the man sitting next to him, not sure whether he actually wanted to see him. It was a relief when he noticed the man was wearing a ski mask, revealing nothing but two piercing brown eyes that were boring into his own. Over the man's shoulder he realised they were in some sort of abandoned parking lot.

"Hey," B's voice snapped Oliver's focus back to the brown eyes. "What's wrong? You're going home, you should be happy." Oliver struggled to maintain eye contact with the man until he noticed a glimmer of understanding flash across the man's eyes. Oliver had cried more in the last few hours than he had in his whole life. His eyes were undoubtedly red and puffy, and he could feel the dry tears on his cheeks. B knew. Oliver didn't have to break the eye contact because B's eyes flickered to the man sitting in front of Oliver. He could see that the man was also wearing a ski mask, but he had no intention of turning around.

"Get the f**k out of the car, George." B said lowly, already climbing out himself.

"I thought the plan was for me to stay in the car." George said, his voice full of mockery and B slammed the door shut so hard Oliver huddled against the car door for protection.

"Get. The f**k. Out. George." B yelled, walking around to the other side of the car and yanked Georges door open. Oliver kept his eyes down and stared at his feet as George was yanked out of the car and slammed against the side of the car.

"What the f**k were you thinking?" B yells, slamming George again against the car. "He's sixteen, George!"

"Oh, it's fine B." George said casually, however raising his voice to give him some authority in the conversation. The sound of the man's voice made Oliver shudder and the sick feeling in his stomach turned. "The kids going to keep our little secret. Besides, you said that I would get something out of this."

'Our little secret.' The words George had repeated over and over again. The words that would be forever etched into his mind. 'Our little secret.' Even if Oliver intended to tell anyone about what happened, he doubt that he could. He hadn't even said anything to B. B just knew.

"Yeah, a share of the money." B yelled. "Not the boy himself. For God's sake, he's f*****g sixteen." B sounded almost close to tears as he shoved George away from him and made his way around to the back seat again. While B climbed into the back seat, George hung around outside the car awkwardly. Oliver couldn't bring himself to look at either of them.

"Fuck." B screamed and punched the seat in front of him. Oliver huddled against the door, but he seemed to be in such a state of shock that he didn't even jump from the sudden aggressive behavior. It was simply the close proximity to someone that made him uncomfortable. "s**t Kid, this wasn't supposed to happen." B apologised and it honestly sounded like he was close to breaking down into tears. Oliver watched as he covered his face with his hands, took three deep breaths in and out before sitting up straight, seeming to have calmed down before he turned to look at Oliver.

"Turn around." He said after a moment. Oliver hesitated, but obeyed and turned to face the window, keeping his eyes down to avoid accidently seeing George. He tensed when he felt B's fingers on his wrists and winced when he touched the abrasions caused by the cuffs.

"Fuck." B sighed to himself as the cuffs were loosened and his wrists were free. "Oliver, I'm so sorry." He could see the struggle Oliver had put up last night from how deep the metal had dug into his wrists. At the time, Oliver thought it helped, feeling the pain of the cuffs cutting into the skin far away from where the real pain was, but now, it was just another reminder of what had happened. As soon as B let go of his hands, Oliver snapped his wrist's into his lap, touching the wounds gingerly. At least the pain he was feeling in the rest of his body masked the pain in his neck and shoulders.

"Hey." George, sat back into the passenger seat and turned to face his partner. "Car approaching." His kidnappers turned around to look out the back window and Oliver heard the car slowing it's pace as it got closer, but parked a distance away, obviously unsure how close they were allowed to get.

Without another word, B climbed out of the car and the world stopped. This was it. In a few minutes, Oliver would be back with his family, things could go back to the way they were. He could go back to school and be with his friends, go back to sports, go back to a normal life. Why did a part of him feel sick at the thought?

The sound of two more car doors opening and closing could be heard in the distance and Oliver knew they were his parents.

"You got the money?" B's voice was back to being strong and emotionless. He sounded so strong and confident in comparison to his father, a man he had always thought of being too domineering to even approach as his own son. It was a shock to the system when his father's voice came out tired and slightly shaky.

"Yeah. One hundred thousand, it's all here."

"Look, we've done everything you've asked." This was his mother, and she sounded a lot more together than her husband. "Now it's your turn."

"Yeah, yeah," B shrugged, "he's here. Hand me the money, I'll make sure everything's there, and you can have him."

"Show us he's alright first." His mother demanded and Oliver knew immediately that his father would not approve.

"I don't think you're in any position to be making these sorts of calls, honey." B said, a hint of annoyance coming through.

"Here, just take-,"

"No." His mother said, and it was the first time Oliver had ever heard her interrupt him like that. "For all we know we could be handing over this money and you don't even have him anymore. Show us he's here and he's okay. Then you can have your money."

There was silence for a moment before the door he was leaning on popped open suddenly, and B had to pretty much catch him and push him back in the car before grabbing his elbow and yanking him out of the car to his feet.

"Oh thank god." His Mum gasped to herself and Oliver could tell she had been crying. His parents were standing a few yards away, standing in front of their car with a big black bag. Seeing them there, confirmed that he really did just want to go home. As discomforting as his parents were, just being in their presence again relaxed him as he was held against B. His back was pressed against B's chest and a gun was held against his temple. It didn't really scare Oliver though, he knew the show was for his parents. An unspoken threat.

"Oliver, are you alright?" His father asked in the most unemotional way, he had to restrain from rolling his eyes.

"Oh god, you've really hit him." His mother yelled him with a sob. She was crying again. What did his mother think? That they faked hitting him when B was talking to her over the phone?

"I told you you'd get him back alive." B said, probably thinking the same thing as Oliver from the tone of his voice. "That's what I've done. Now hand over the money."

His father tentatively started walking towards the two of them, clutching the bag in his hands.

"That's far enough." The man bellowed and his father haltered about mid way between the two cars. "Put it down and go back to your car." His father put the bag down and glanced at his son before backing up, as though he wasn't sure if he wanted to walk away from him. Like he actually cared.

Oliver was suddenly shoved forward, stumbling to keep his balance. He looked back at his kidnapper, confused by the movement.

"Grab the bag." The man gestured with his gun to the black bag on the floor and Oliver glanced at it, then up at his parents. His mother was clutching onto his father's hand, trying to hold back her tears. He looked back down to the black bag and kept his eyes on it as he slowly made his way across the car park. His legs were cramping from both the events of last night and the lack of use over the weekend, but managed to make it to the bag. It was heavy, but that wasn't surprising considering that there was one hundred thousand dollars in the bad. One hundred thousand dollars. So that's how much he was worth.

He didn't need to be told to bring the bag back to B, so he did it without question. But once he got there, he was surprised to find himself pushed back into the car again, but sitting so that his feet were still on the ground and he was facing B.

"Hey wait." His mother yelled while his father told B to "Hang on a second." Obviously as surprised as Oliver was to find him back in the car.

"Relax." B said sternly. "I'll count the money, and then he can go." He placed the bag on top of the car and stood above Oliver and began counting as he muttered to himself "If anything I think I'm doing the kid a favor by letting him sit down, fuckers."

While he didn't appreciate him calling his parent's fuckers, he did appreciate the thought. It was true that every part of him hurt for different reasons and sitting down was a lot less tiring than trying to force his body to stay standing.

After a moment of silence, B through the bag past Oliver into the backseat and knelt down in front of him. He picked up Oliver's school bag that had been placed on the ground of the car and shoved it into his chest, forcing Oliver to clutch it and grabbed hold of his shoulders.

"You listen to me, Oliver." B said softly, but sternly, glancing at the driver's seat quickly before locking his eyes on Oliver's. "I don't think I need to tell you that you can't tell anyone what happened."

'Our little secret.'

"But you also can't let this ruin your life, okay?" Oliver didn't respond, but was definitely shocked and confused by B's words. "You go home, you go to school, and you go back to the way your life was. The way a sixteen year old's life should be." B paused for a moment, looking downwards as though gathering his thoughts before looking back to Oliver. "This was never my intention. I didn't want you to get hurt like that."

"But you knew it was going to happen anyway." Oliver asked quietly, and although it hurt his throat to talk, he managed to throw as much hatred as he could into his words. B looked at him, and he could see the guilt in B's brown eyes. Good. He should feel guilty.

"Just let me go home." Oliver whispered hoarsely, desperately as he shook his head and looked to his lap. He didn't want to see how them. Not now. Not ever again. B pulled Oliver to his feet, surprisingly gently and gave him a small shove in the direction of his car, but Oliver didn't have the energy at the moment to walk the rest of the way to the car, so he just turned around to face B, who was closing the door he had been pulled out of and walked around to the passenger side door.

"Just because the deal's done, doesn't mean the rules don't still stand." B called, loud enough for them all to hear. "The police stay out of this. Just go back to your lives and hopefully we won't have to get involved in each other's lives again." He gave Oliver one last, small nod before he climbed into the car. And then it was driving out of the car park, leaving him with his parents, and a s**t tonne of memories he'd rather never have gotten.

"Oliver?" His mother was right behind him and he jumped at the realisation. She reached out to touch his shoulder, but he dodged it and started heading back to the car, his mother on his heels.

"Just take me home." He said dejectedly opening the back door to the car, ignoring his father, looking at him dumbly and searching for words to say to him. He slumped into the backseat, dumping his bag on the floor and with no clue what to do, his parents got into the car and his father drove them out of the car park, back to their 'normal' lives.

Yeah right.