Story page 82

The New Room Mate part II

When I came to, I was confused. There was already light creeping in the window shades which meant it was morning. How had morning gotten here so fast I wondered? I started to sit up, my mind a blur as to why I was lying on the floor. My abs hurt like hell and that's when the memories of Julio and the night before started flooding all my senses. I finally managed to sit up to find that I wasn't actually lying directly on the floor. No, instead I was lying on a pile of clothes, my clothes, all tossed on the floor with total abandon.

"What the fuck…? " I was up and on the way to my bedroom, pains and aches accompanying me all the way. I grasped the door handle only to find it locked. I shook the handle but it was definitely locked. I headed toward the kitchen, knowing I kept a spare key just for such emergencies. I opened the tool drawer and yanked out the small yellow envelope that held all my spare keys, each labeled for ease. It wasn't there. That's not possible I thought as I laid them all out on the counter, going through them one at a time, thinking I was just over looking it. Nope, it wasn't there. I headed back toward the bedroom, my eyes darkened with anger.

I pounded on the door, jiggled the handle some more, even kicked it a couple of times. Finally I heard someone stirring inside.

"I'm coming. I'm coming, just a minute." The door lock clicked and the door swung open, revealing Julio standing there in all his glory. He hadn't even had the decency to slip on a robe or anything. "What is it now, Swankers?"

My blood was boiling, I was barely able to speak I was so near exploding.

"GET … OUT … NOW!" He just stood there starring at me like he didn't comprehend a word I was saying. I suppose I should have known better but his behavior drove me right over the edge and I charged into the room. I never even saw his fist coming and only felt a flash of pain as he connected directly with my temple. I must have gone down like a sack of bricks.

+++

Coming to in less than 12 hours isn't a fun thing, I promise you that. The side of my head was throbbing. I went to rub it which is when I realized I couldn't move my hands. My shoulders hurt like hell as well. I looked from side to side, not understanding just where I was or how I was lying. That's when I realized I wasn't lying down. Instead, I was tied up, suspended from the curling bar that was a part of the stationary weight machine Clifton and I had installed. The bar passed down my back, the two lengths of it under my arms at the elbows and my hands tied together behind my back with a rope that passed around my lower waist. Somehow after tying me in place, Julio had used the weights of the machine to hoist me up off the ground. My toes were just barely able to touch the ground.

"Oh good, you're awake," Julio said as he came in the room, a cup of coffee in one hand, a half eaten banana in the other. At least now he was partially clothed, a pair of boxers hanging loosely on his ripped waist, his flexors showing above the top. He lay down the coffee and the fruit, me thinking he was going to let me down. Again, his intentions were not mine. Instead, he slugged me hard in the gut.

"I sure didn't enjoy being woken so rudely this morning." He hit me again though this time I was ready and steeled my abs against his punch. He hit me repeatedly, harder, lower, faster. Too soon, my breathing was ragged, hard to gain between blows. "This morning won't repeat itself, will it?"

Julio stepped in close and jumped up, holding himself in place at my shoulders. The weight made my muscles scream. I'm not even certain how he pulled the next move, but while holding himself in place, he began to lambaste my midsection with his knees. He didn't have much meat on his sinewy legs and his bony knees went in deep with each blow. Between the blows and the added weight on my shoulders, I couldn't breathe. I could feel the blackness starting to take control. He must have seen it too because he stopped kicking me and lowered himself down. The relief was instant but short lived as he began to punch me again.

"No, it won't happen again," I shouted. The blows stopped. Leaving me hang, he picked up his coffee and fruit and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

+++

As my body lost its feeling, I don't know how many times I fell asleep and woke back up. Time had lost its relevance for me. But this time when I came to, I could hear voices. One of them was very familiar. It was my old room mate Clifton. Now I was totally confused. How was it that he was here? The door to the weight room swung open and there he was. In spite of myself and my condition, I began to cry.

"Oh thank God, Clifton. Get me down from here." He stepped across the room, his intention obvious. He was my savior. That's when I saw Julio step back into the hallway. "Watch out Clifton, it's him, the evil one."

"Help me get him down." I didn't sense any alarm whatsoever in Clifton's voice. Julio shrugged his shoulders and walked over. Between the two of them, they had my dead weight down and on the floor in a matter of minutes. I was still crying, unable to express any words beyond that base emotion. My limbs all burned intolerably. They made it worse by rubbing my limbs, encouraging the blood flow.

"What are you doing here, Clifton?" I was finally able to get out a few words beyond the pain of pricks and needles that flooded my whole body.

"My new job didn't work out so I thought I would move back in with you." Had I been able, I would have shouted Hallelujah. Instead, I responded with a simple "ok." My mind was reeling from the news. Clifton was back in; Julio was out. Even if Clifton had to hold off paying until he got a new job, it would all be worth it. I could carry him for several months without it hurting my back account. As my mind tried to get around what was happening, Clifton and Julio lifted me to my feet. I was almost able to stand without assistance, almost.

"Well, there's a small problem," Clifton said. My blood turned to ice, shifting way down deep in my gut as I waited for him to continue. That's when I noticed he had slipped on his sparring gloves. After all, he was the main reason the weight room held boxing gear.

Clifton

Suddenly, Julio slipped in behind me, locking me up with a full nelson. I struggled but with everything I'd been through, he held me easily. Clifton knocked his gloves together, a sound I didn't like at all.

"You see, Todd, (punch to the lower gut) this is only a two bedroom apartment (uppercut, deep and low) and there seems to already be two of us (strong upper cut to the jaw and I taste blood). Now, Julio and I don't want to be unreasonable (combination to my lower gut), do we Julio?"

"No way, man." I hate the sound of his voice. My anger gives me strength and I push against his hands locked behind my neck. Clifton sees my resistance and lays into me with a flurry of punches that leave me weak and compliant.

"That sort of stuff will just get you hurt, Todd" Clifton says. I know exactly what he means as I taste gorge in my lower throat. Again maybe hurling on one or both of them isn't a bad thing. "We're willing to let you stay here in the weight room if you like (combination to the gut, roundhouse to the jaw).

"You good with those terms, hombre," Julio asks from behind me? His hands put pressure on my neck, lowering my chin toward my chest. I can't resist him for I have nothing left to resist with. With my head lowered, I know have an excellent view of Clifton's hands as they continue to pummel me, my body only being held up by Julio, the strength in my legs long gone. I don't even get a chance to answer their question for Julio lets go but before my legs fail me totally, Clifton delivers a haymaker that delivers me unconscious to the pile of clothes I had woke up on earlier.

"Welcome to the apartment," Clifton says to Julio but I only hear his words through the drifting blackness that is now my consciousness or lack of it. As they leave them room, I say, "Thank you."