HOSTAGES
I'm Carla and my live-in male partner is Dexter. We're married, to use the old-fashioned terminology. I'm a social worker for the state and Dexter is on the staff of a local progressive state assemblyman, a transexual man who was recently elected. We have been living in a rented house in a rural area. The owners have gone to Africa on a government aid project for two years so we were staying in their home. It is a beautiful place, on a ridge with a great view. There's a lot of privacy too; the nearest neighbor is half a mile away. The remote location served us well for some wild parties with a lot of drugs and liquor. We were isolated from civilization. Our only contact was via our phones and the internet which we use to get news and to buy things on-line.
We were sitting in our living room one Friday night, watching a series that we were streaming on our TV. There was a knock on the door, which usually meant one of our friends had stopped by. Dexter went to answer the door while I continued watching TV. I heard a commotion and was shocked to look up and see two large men in what looked like prison clothes. One had his hand at Dexter's throat while the other quickly walked into our living room.
"Who else is here?" the guy walking toward me asked.
I told him, "Just the two of us." And Dexter said the same thing.
The second guy quickly went into our kitchen and came back with two of our butcher knives. He gave one to the guy holding Dexter. With the knives pointed at us, they forced Dexter to the couch beside me. They were wearing the clothing of prisoners from the nearby state prison. It was a mile away by road, but half that distance through the woods behind our house. We'd never heard of anyone escaping from there and hadn't worried about security.
The two guys quickly surveyed the house. They asked if Dexter had any clothes that would fit them. He was a good bit smaller than either of them and nothing of his would've fit them at all. They were both agitated so Dexter and I tried to calm them down by telling them we would cooperate if they wouldn't hurt us.
"We won't hurt you lady, if you do as we say." The younger one said. I could see one guy was younger and had more hair. I asked their names and learned that he was Drake and the older guy was called "Switchblade." They confirmed that they had escaped from the prison by slipping away from a "field trip" around the prison grounds.
"Why were you in prison?" I asked. Trying to be empathetic I said, "I know many poor men are wrongly incarcerated."
Drake said, "Damn straight. They gave me five to ten years for possession of drugs. They keep us in cages like animals, not like human beings."
I asked the other guy, "Are you in for possession or something like that?"
He said, "Rape, lady."
That shut me up for a moment. "Was is like statutory rape with a girlfriend or something?"
He said, "No, I raped her. It was rich chick, just like you." That shut me up.
Dexter and I listened as they tried to plan what to do next. They needed money and some civilian clothes. They needed a car.
Dexter offered to help, trying to get them away from us. "Carla can go get you some money and clothes while I stay here with you. She can get $1,000 from an ATM and there is a Walmart a few miles away."
They liked that idea, but the young one, Drake said he had a better idea, "You go get what we need while we keep your wife company."
Dexter refused, but they were adamant. Finally, he said, "Okay, if you promise not to hurt my wife."
The older guy said, "You go get what we need and be quick about it. We haven't eaten a good meal in a while and your wife is going to cook for us. If you don't get back in a hurry or call the police, we'll rape the shit out of her. She looks like a nice piece of white pussy and I haven't had any of that since I raped that bitch six years ago."
Dexter looked at me. I told him to go. There was really no other choice. They told him their clothing and shoe sizes and sent him off for two sets of clothes with extra socks and underwear, tote bags and couple of cell phones. They told him to gas up the car too. Dexter took his BMW SUV hybrid. I have an electric car which would limit how far they could get and it was much smaller.
After Dexter left, they directed me into the kitchen and looked through our freezer and refrigerator. They selected four steaks and some bacon and eggs and told me to cook for them. We had some beer and wine which they quickly got into.
I was standing by the stove cooking with the two of them behind me. I tried to develop some rapport with them so they would be less inclined to hurt me. "I'm sorry that our so-called justice system persecutes black men. It's something we're trying to change. I'm a social worker and work with poor families whose men are in prison. It's so hard for them to get by in our society. I see racism everywhere."
Drake picked up on the theme and complained about his "chicken-shit Jew lawyer" and the "asshole warden". He talked about being in solitary confinement and how bad the food was. "The worst thing is, you don't ever get to see the sun rise or set. We spend twenty-three hours a day in a little cell with another guy."
The older guy, Switchblade chimed in, "The "man" has all the power. Guys like us are chattel to be used and thrown away."