Paige raced into the bathroom. She might have only a few minutes to get to the “wand” whatever it was. She prayed it was a weapon. She tried pulling the medicine cabinet open again, to see if somehow it had magically been unlocked, but the mirrored door wouldn’t budge. Taking the leg of the rocking chair in both hands, Paige turned her face away from the cabinet and swung the piece of wood at the glass as hard as she could. The wood bounced off the mirror as if it were polished stainless steel, which she figured it probably was.
A small lip wrapped around the outer edge of the cabinet’s door. She might be able to get a good grip on it. Setting the leg of the rocking chair across the back of the sink, Paige quickly tested the lip by yanking on it, looking for any weaknesses.
Paige grabbed a corner of the medicine cabinet with both hands, gave it a testing pull. She moved to the next corner. Then the next. Then the last. The top and bottom corners on the right side of the cabinet gave the tiniest bit when she pulled on them. The mirrored door of the cabinet had to be hinged on the left side, and, from the way it held firm there, the locking latch had to be in the center of the right side.
She grabbed the top right corner, pulled back on it, throwing what weight she could behind it. The corner didn’t bend. She tried again, putting a foot up on the wall to give her more leverage. Please bend. The door bent toward her, but not enough to really help. Her fingers slipped off the narrow edge. Her fingertips throbbed from the effort.
Paige heard a scream through a crackle of speakers and started at the sound. The panic in the cry sent a chilling tingle down her spine. Chris’s words in the bathroom echoed in her mind. “Maybe you won’t have to watch,” she’d said. “But he’ll make you listen.”
Somehow Nicholas had turned on some sort of sound system in the house. He’d turned the volume up loud. Eddie’s voice crackled through the speakers. “Don’t. Please, don’t.” He screamed again.
Paige burst into tears, ran to the kitchen window and peeked out. She couldn’t help herself. She knew she was wasting precious time, but she had to know what was happening. She had to know if he was killing Eddie.
Light rained down on Eddie, encircling him. He was bound to the Sycamore and spotlighted in the darkness by some lamp bright high above her. Flying insects swirled toward the lamp and kamikazed into the kitchen window. Eddie’s arms were free. He swung them wildly in an attempt to hit or grab Nicholas who was kneeling down on the ground in front of him. She hoped Nicholas was getting up from a blow that Eddie had delivered, that it was Nicholas who had screamed first. Then she saw the razor in Nicholas’s hand. And the blood.
Eddie’s feet were tied to each side of tree with rope. His shoes and socks were gone. Blood dripped from his feet.
“Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him. Don’t kill him,” she said like some sort of mantra.
Nicholas picked up a rope, moved to Eddie’s left side. Eddie took another swing at him, but Nicholas easily stepped back from the blow. He punched Eddie in the stomach. Eddie spit blood. Paige’s gut heaved in sympathy.
Nicholas snatched one of Eddie’s wrists with the rope and wrenched it back. Eddie winced. Nicholas cinched the rope tight, tossed the loose end over one of the Sycamore’s large branches, knotted it.
She had to help Eddie.
Paige rushed back into the bathroom, grabbed the top edge of the cabinet door, and put her foot on the wall again. She rocked her body back and forth pulling and pulling and pulling with every ounce of strength she could muster. She thought she was going to pull her fingers off, but with each jerking motion the top corner moved a bit closer to her until finally she had made a noticeable bend in it.
Picking up the leg of the rocking chair, Paige jammed it into the gap she’d created. She wrenched back and forth on the leg, using it for leverage, working to widen the bend or break the latch that held the cabinet door closed. The very end of the chair leg splintered in her attempt to force the door open, but Paige didn’t stop. She shoved the chair leg deeper into the opening and frantically yanked on it again.
Eddie’s voice cried out through the speakers. His cry wasn’t a piercing scream like she’d heard before but more of a long drawn out wail of desperation. She wanted to go back and look again, to see what Nicholas was doing to him, but she fought against the urge. With a weapon they would have a real fighting chance. Without one, they were lost. She prayed Nicholas wasn’t killing him yet. As sick as it sounded, she hoped Nicholas was toying with him as he’d toyed with her. She just needed a few more seconds.
She jerked back on the leg of the chair and the piece of wood splintered down nearly the entire length. Paige yanked it out of the opening. The locking latch didn’t break, and she wasn’t able to bend the door any farther with what remained of the chair. But the gap felt wider.
Paige climbed on top of the sink to see what damage she’d done to the cabinet. The body of the metal cabinet had collapsed inward from her effort, and she saw an ivory handled straight razor, along with several scalpels, sitting on the top shelf, but the hole was too small for her to slip her hand in. The straight razor was just out of reach.
She pulled a thick splinter from the leg of the chair and used it to slide the razor closer to the opening. Jamming two fingers down into the hole, Paige managed to pinch the straight razor and lift it out of the cabinet. Yes!
Paige slid open the blade to make sure it was a straight razor. Then she hopped off the bathroom sink. She was elated she had the razor. Now she had to figure out a way to get Nicholas to open the door and come inside. That might not be so easy. She sprinted into the kitchen to look out the window.
Both of Eddie’s hands were pulled up over his head now, tied to the large branch above him. Nicholas stood with his back to her, admiring his handiwork. She had to turn him.
An idea occurred to her. Paige banged on the window with her fist. Nicholas turned and looked at her. Eddie looked at her. She gave Nicholas the finger. It was crude, rebellious, but she hoped it would be effective. Maybe it would offend his need for discipline and control.
Nicholas gave her a little smile and wave, then, raising the blade, turned back to Eddie.