‘I should just leave, I have enough to get Simon into trouble…’ Kyle told himself, already heading to the door, but rather than exiting, now that he was in the main kitchen. He had decided to grab a knife instead.
‘No, Dad really cares for Simon… he really does, maybe just a few failed tasks here and there won’t be enough to just get him kicked out of the Underdogs. They said that there was something big, and this could be it.’
Heading back to the bathroom door, Kyle stood outside it, he had tiptoed back and could no longer hear the muffled noises. Whoever was inside must have thought that he had left.
‘If the person was just locked in there, then there would be banging on the room. I’m ninety percent sure that Simon must have tied them up, but just in case… I also have this.’ Kyle thought, looking at the knife.
He had never used such a thing, although he was quite athletic and good at sports, he didn’t willingly participate in sports, or any form of combat. If he was to be a gang member he imagined that he would be one of the worst.
Looking down the hallway, Kyle looked at Marie’s door again and remembered the dairy, this allowed him to push forward, twisting the door handle and pushing it in. Glancing a peak, Kyle could see what looked like a male figure in the bath.
At first he could just see his knees, so he knew that he was right, that someone was inside. They were close together and in the bathtub. Kyle couldn’t see any rope of any kind but this was pretty much the confirmation he needed that they were tied up.
Now, a little braver, he pushed the door further and could finally see the state of the whole bathroom. Stunned by the sight in front of him, Kyle almost dropped the knife, but managed to control himself just in time, gripping it a little tighter.
It turned out that the person was a badly injured man in the bathtub. There were heavy bruises, eyes swollen. On top of that, on the back of the bathroom wall there was blood all over it. That also wasn’t the only place there was blood, some of it was splattered on the walls as well. One couldn’t imagine what had happened here, or how much pain the man was in front of him.
It smelt slightly metallic inside, as well a little like rotten eggs. Everything was overwhelming for Kyle, and he felt his inside trying to come out from within.
‘Calm down… I can’t afford to throw up… It’s just a game …you’ve seen plenty of bloody scenes in games and movies! It’s just one of those. You’re just an actor of some sort.’ Kyle was trying to convince himself.
However, the man who was in the tub, of course noticed that someone he had never seen before had entered. Seeing that it wasn’t Kyle, his eyes opened up, having seen a ray of hope. The muffling noises came out again, as the man tried his best to speak but of course none of it was audible.
There were several pieces of tape wrapped around his mouth, merely allowing him to breathe through his nose. The fact the man wasn’t using his hands meant they were tied up as well.
Kyle remained frozen at the doorstep.
‘What exactly did I think I was going to do? I knew someone was in here but then what? If I free the man, Simon will immediately know that I was here… shit, I can’t just turn back now either, the guy has already seen me… what if he tells Simon about it?! What exactly was I expecting to find here? I can’t cut the tape from his mouth either.’
Although saying that, Kyle could see that a lot of the tools that were used to injure and tie up the man were still left in the bathroom including the tape. Perhaps he could just untape his mouth, in order to find out why he was here.
At the same time, leaving this person, Kyle felt like if he did his life would be lost.
‘He won’t be back for a long time…this man shouldn’t know me..I can just undo his mouth for now.’ Kyle thought.
“Hey, I just wandered in here by accident.” Kyle eventually said out loud as he slowly approached the person. “I’m going to cut open your mouth and let you speak. I’m the only one here, so please don’t do anything stupid like scream for help, okay? I’m not meant to be in here in the first place.”
Understanding what Kyle was saying, the man quickly nodded. Using the knife, Kyle carefully cut off the tape, and then started to pull. It was far more difficult than he thought and seeing the man up close was making everything he was doing a little harder as reality was starting to hit him.
Eventually though, Kyle got the tape off, but not without a little bit of blood getting on his hands.
“Thank you…” The man spoke with a weak voice. “If you could free my arms and legs, we can get out of here.”
“Ahm… I don’t exactly know who you are, mister.” Kyle replied, half acting, half serious. “Like I said, I’m not meant to be here in the first place. Maybe I should call the police and they will come here before he comes back.”
“No..no…please.” The man started to beg with tears falling down his eyes. Just in case the man was ready to scream at any second, Kyle picked up the tape from the ground again, making sure that he would use it if he made any noise.
However, that’s when the man realised something. “Wait, I know you! I’ve seen you before! Your Damion’s other son, aren’t you?! Your name’s Ken… no, was it Kevin… AH! It was Kai, right? I’m a member of the Underdogs! Please, just call your Dad and tell him that Tim Curdy is still alive and that I’m here, alright?!”
Hearing these words caused great confusion for Kyle, but then something hit him. Given Tim’s current appearance it was hard to tell, but the teenager could recall seeing someone with his frame being around Damion in the past. However, he had seen him even more recently, at the funeral. However… it had been in the form of a large picture as one of the deceased.
‘What… is going on.’ Kyle wondered, needing some time to sort through that information.
Alas, before he could make heads or tails out of it, a metal clanking sound came from the main room.
*****
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