Kory Mantra: Saved by the Bella - Part 2

Bella’s house was located on a corner, so the back yard could be seen from the street. But the last thing on Evan’s mind was whether anybody could see him. He had waited long enough. Tonight he was going to get what he wanted.

He could barely see her through the narrow gap alongside the window shade. Her skin was creamy white. When she took off her dress, he noticed that she had no tan lines whatsoever. Come on, he thought, take it all off!

She stepped into a pair of jeans and pulled a sweatshirt over her head.

Enough watching. He was ready to go in.

He decided that the sliding glass door off the living room would offer the least resistance. There was no rod securing the door in its closed position—just the flimsy, built-in locking mechanism. He took out his four-inch pocket knife, flipped out the blade, and began to pry at the door. He knew he had to hurry. She might walk into the living room at any moment.

“Get away from that door!” the man’s voice shouted from behind him.

He whipped around with the knife, ready to slice whoever it was. But when he saw Kory standing there, he relaxed. “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Tough Guy from the restaurant.”

“I’m calling the police,” said Kory, taking out his cell phone.

Evan threw a fast, hard kick.

Kory hopped back, evading what would have been a groin-crushing blow. But Evan’s boot connected with Kory’s right hand. The cell phone went airborne, flying halfway to the back fence, landing somewhere in the darkness.

“Go ahead—call the police, Buttface,” he said with an evil grin, as he held up the knife. The entire thing was black—even the blade. “Ever seen one of these Bad Boys? It’s got a super-sharp, Teflon-coated blade. So, when I stab you, it’s gonna slide in so nice and easy that you’ll barely even feel it.”

“Look, Man, just walk away now, and we’ll just forget this ever happened.”

“Okay, fine.” For a moment, Evan acted like he was about to leave. But then he ran at Kory with the knife.

Kory was not nearly as strong as Evan, but he was faster. He jumped to the right, barely missing the knife, and kicked the side of Evan’s left knee as hard as he could.

Evan fell to the ground in agony, clutching his knee. But he quickly got back up to confront Kory again. He had dropped the knife and couldn’t find it in the dark grass. Now the all-black weapon didn’t seem so cool after all.

He lunged at Kory and knocked him down. Then he climbed on top of him, and sat on his stomach. All the strength Kory had developed through his yoga routine could not compensate for his attacker’s sixty-pound advantage. Kory’s spine and arms were jammed down against the concrete patio. Their heads were two feet away from the sliding glass door.

“Wonder what would happen if I punched your head into the concrete a few times?” Evan laughed. He made a fist and slowly cocked his arm for the first punch.

It surprised both of them when the glass door suddenly opened.

Evan looked up just in time to see Bella throwing a bucket of water at his face. Silly woman, he thought. Did she really expect to hurt him with a little water?

He looked straight at her, grinning, as the liquid rolled off his face. Then he laughed at her—until his eyes began to burn. “What is this? Acid? I’ll kill you!” He held Kory’s arms down with his knees, and began to rub his eyes—which only made the burning more intense.

Miraculously, none of the Pine-Sol and water solution had splashed into Kory’s eyes. He strained his neck to look back at Bella, and saw that she no longer had the bucket in her hands. Now she was holding a mop—upside down.

She swung the mop handle at Evan, as though she was a big league slugger trying to knock his head right out of the park. The wood handle cracked when it made contact, and Evan collapsed on top of Kory.

Kory rolled Evan’s body to the side, and stood up. “Thanks. He tried to stab me. His knife is out there in the grass somewhere.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He studied Evan. “We need to call the police. But first, we’d better tie him up. Got any rope?”

“I’ve got something better than rope.” She hurried into the kitchen, got something out of a drawer, and came back. “This will hold him.” She held up two pairs of handcuffs.

Kory was a little surprised. But then he remembered she had wanted to be a cop. “One for his hands and one for his feet?”

“No. The second pair is to hook him to the fence.”

“Good idea.”

They cuffed his hands behind his back, and then dragged his body to the nearby chain link fence that faced the side street.

Bella secured him to the fence with the second pair of cuffs. “He’s not going anywhere.”

“I don’t know. I think he could pull this whole fence loose.” Kory reached into his pocket for his cell phone. “I’ll call 9-1-1. Wait—he kicked my cell phone out of my hand.” He got down on all fours to search for it, and felt something in the grass. “There you are. Ouch! I found the knife.”

“Did you cut yourself?”

“It’s just a nick, I think.”

“I’ll call from the house phone. And I’ll get you a Band-Aid.”

“And how about a flashlight?”

“Sure.”

Kory closed the knife and put it in his pocket. Then he resumed the search for his phone.

Bella called 9-1-1. Then she walked to the bathroom to get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a bandage. She heard tires screeching, but just figured it was the teenager who lived across the street.

She grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen and walked out to the back yard. There was Evan, still unconscious, sitting against the fence.

“Kory?” She turned on the flashlight and shined it around the yard.

He was gone.

Then she heard a car engine start. She turned, and saw Kory’s GTO speeding away. That’s weird, she thought.

She walked over to the fence to make sure her prisoner was secure. Evan was going to be even meaner than usual when he woke up.

She couldn’t understand why Kory had taken off. She had really liked him. Perhaps after spending every day and night with her grandmother for two years she had lost her knack for reading people. Maybe Kory was not a nice guy after all.

Bella stepped on something. She turned the flashlight toward the ground. It was Kory’s cell phone. She picked it up and put it in her pocket.

Then she noticed that Evan looked different. His head was resting awkwardly on his chest, and his tongue was hanging out. She leaned in to see if she could hear him breathing. Then she pressed two fingers to the side of his neck, and felt…nothing. (continued…)

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