Page 42 of Off the Rails

The apartment was quiet for a while, my three captors having disappeared on some sort of business. All Nash had told me was that she’d be back soon, to stay put and behave.

On principle, I wanted to find a way to break her rules.

But instead, I laid out on the couch and worked on setting up my new phone. One of the first things I did was text my boss from the new number.

She’d texted back in a matter of seconds:

Seriously, Tess. You need to come in ASAP.

Nico

Biting my lip, my fingers hovered over the screen. I’d built up a lot of goodwill over the years, taking extra shifts to cover for coworkers. Most of them had kids or college to attend. But me, I had nowhere better to be.

Plus, I loved it. I was itching to get out of this apartment and back to the pole. Despite how stunning it was, its occupants chilled my spine.

And the exercise was well worth it. Besides, most customers were very polite and pleasant. We rarely had an issue.

More than anything, I needed the distraction.

And the tips.

I’d lost out on $20k already, and missed a few shifts. So I was down a few hundred on top of the trauma of watching masked clowns murder five men and then chase me through an abandoned amusement park.

But yeah, the exercise would be nice.

Stressed the fuck out, I couldn’t figure out what to say to Nico. I didn’t know when the Freaks would let me leave the house. So, I’d just have to punt another shift for now.

Instead, I closed my texts and opened TikTok.

Scrolling mindlessly was the only thing I could do to take my mind off of the bizarre circumstances I found myself in. Sure, I’d slept on lots of couches with lots of odd roommates.

But killer clowns weren't on my bingo card.

My finger stopped on a shaky cam video. Some dude followed after a guy in robes. He called out to him. “Messenger! Messenger! Come on, dude! Say hi!”

The robed man just offered a gentle wave before walking up someone’s walkway and knocking on their front door.

My face scrunched up. It looked like Valemont but shaking it off, I scrolled to the next video.

A talking head of a woman with long brown hair started. “Have you heard about the man claiming to be a prophet in the small, upstate New York town of Valemont?”

What the fuck?

She went on. “He’s been going door-to-door, offering the people a new religion to solve all their issues.” On screen, more videos of the robed guy speaking to Valemont’s residents flashed. “He’s promising an end to the violence that’s been ravaging the streets of the small town. And he’s on the lookout for his disciple.”

Rolling my eyes, I tried to write it off. Just some bullshit conspiracy theory. Some dude looking for attention.

But before I could investigate it further, the front door flung open and Cyrus stormed inside. A cloud of rage followed over her head at all times.

“Hi, Tess.” She growled.

The sound of my name on her lips made me jump, sitting up and looking back at her. “Who—how did you⁠—”

Cyrus was standing over me in a matter of seconds, throwing my wallet down on the table. My ID stared back at me, a puddle of mud splashing out from the leather.

Cyrus leaned down, her pitch-black eyes level with mine. “Should be more careful with your shit. Don’t worry, no one took your maxed out cards. Not like there was any cash in there either. A stripper with no cash. Must be bad at your job.”

“What the fuck is your problem⁠—”