Not the Same

Partners in Victimization

Ricky’s POV

            After laying on the cold hard floor, I heard footsteps walking down into the basement along with random thuds. I hear the door’s lock mechanism followed by the door creaking open. I saw two people walk in, dragging something with them into the room. “Hey, Ricky,” Pascal said. “We found an eavesdropping trespasser outside the house.”

            “What do you mean,” I ask.

            Pascal walks around the basement and grabs something, shortly after I see he replaced the burnt out light bulb with a new one. When the light came back on, I went blind for a few seconds. Everything was a blur. As my eyes started to adjust to the light, I saw a blurred figure on the ground.

            Finally, my eyes adjust only to see Connor unconscious on the floor with some blood coming out of his mouth. “Connor,” I scream. “What’d you bastards do to him?”

            “Oh, that,” Aaron said. “I just gave him a mild sedative.”

            “What kind of sedative causes a person to have blood come out of their mouth,” I ask.

            “The kind that involves a fist,” Aaron says with a grin.

            Pascal drags Connor's body over to the shelf that had the paint on it and tied him to the shelf. “I hope you enjoy your new roommate,” Pascal says.

            Aaron walks over to me and sets me back up, so I wasn’t laying on the cold floor. They exit the room and lock it behind them. I look at Connor and my heart just broke. He looked completely helpless. The blood from his mouth was dripping on his shorts. “Connor, wake up,” I yell.

            After I said that, all I got was Connor moving a little and him mumbling something incoherently. “Connor,” I say. “You got to wake up!”

            He looks up at me with a dazed look on his face. “Ri-Ri-Ri,” Connor said. He starts to become more conscious. He turns his head to the left and spits out a huge amount of blood. “Ricky, is that you,” Connor asks.

            “Yes, Connor,” I say with tears in my eyes. “It’s me.”

            “We’ve been so worried about you,” Connor says. “Especially Kian.”

            “I figured,” I say with a laugh. “Let me guess, he’s having a mental breakdown and a temper tantrum at the same time.”

            “Yep,” Connor says with a laugh. “How’d you know?”

            “When you have been around someone for as long as I have been, you learn a few things about the person,” I say. “How’d you find me?”