Page 21 of The Hangman's Rope
“Hey,” Hangman greeted softly, but he wasn’t looking at Specter. He was looking at me.
“Hi,” I said back, hugging my knees.
He looked to Specter and said, “Let me grab a shower and you can go.”
Specter gave a nod, paying neither of us really any mind, and continued playing the game on the screen.
“Long day. I’m a mess. Just gimme ten minutes,” he said to me and I nodded dumbly, at a loss for anything else to say.
I sat on pins and needles for what felt like forever as the explosions and whatnot emanated from the television, backed by the distant hum of the running shower through the wall in the other room. I swallowed hard, and tried to stay calm, unsure why I suddenly wanted to panic.
With a thud, the old pipes gave it up as he turned off the water, a noise I was familiar with from the night before and my own shower. It felt like the seconds ticked by like minutes, the minutes like hours, as I waited for the sound of the door.
I just wanted this Specter guy togo away. He made me uncomfortable in a way that I couldn’t really describe. From his uncomfortable glances and lingering looks when he didn’t think I noticed, and the way he’d been watching me sleep. It was a stressful feeling. I wholly felt like I was being held hostage in Specter’s presence and none of that pressure seemed to exist around Hangman. In fact, just by his presence in the other room, some of the tension had diffused within the small apartment.
I felt safer somehow, which I know should have been ridiculous. Hangman wasn’t exactlymy friend. He was one of them, loyal to them, but he wasn’t indifferent to my feelings or my suffering and that was… I don’t know. That was something.
I held my breath when he emerged from the hallway in nothing but a pair of faded jeans and a brown leather belt. He had a towel slung over his shoulders and was running one side over half of his hair which was still dripping from his shower.
“You can fuck off to whatever you got that’s more important to be doing,” he said to Specter, who paused the game and let out a gusty sigh.
“Right, passing the torch,” Specter said, getting to his feet and setting the controller aside on the side table by the chair.
He collected his leather jacket with its colorfully patched vest off of the back of the chair where he’d slung it and shrugged into it.
“Don’t do anything I would do,” he said, giving me a long, lingering look that made me feel kind of nasty and like I needed a shower.
“Man, get the fuck out of here with that shit before we throw down,” Hangman said, and I think it was the first time I heard a thread of real anger in his voice. I swallowed hard but didn’t say anything.
“Whatever,” Specter said. “I’m just playin’.”
Hangman shook his head, a thick tendril of his touch-longer-than-shoulder-length hair sticking to the side of his thick neck.
“Get out,” Hangman said, and Specter ducked out the door Hangman had come through, with a little salute in his direction and a bit of a tempestuous glance in mine, like his behavior was somehowmyfault.
“Sorry. He can be a dick,” Hangman said.
I nodded.
“He try anything?” he demanded and all but looked feral. I shook my head quickly.
“No,” I said. “He just makes me uncomfortable. Made a few remarks, that’s all.”
Hangman snorted. “Figures. He doesn’t like babysitting duty. Surprised he didn’t pull something more just to make sure he never got it again.”
“You guys, um, hold women like this often?” I asked.
He sighed and stared in my direction.
“I know it feels like it,” he said. “But you’re not a prisoner here, at least I don’t want you to feel like you are.”
“I’m not a prisoner, but I’m not free to go. If I try, you’ll lock me in some crypt out there where no one can hear me scream, supposedly,” I said with a sniff.
“Tou-fucking-che,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“Please, by all means, explain to me how I’m not some sort of prisoner. Explain it to me like I’m five, because I’m kind of going through a lot right now and I’m not exactly sure how to handle all of it, okay?”
His shoulders dropped, and he looked tired, almost defeated.
