The Ranch

As soon as Clayton grabbed my hand, I knew what I had to do. I needed to run and run fast. Clayton should be able to keep up and I knew I couldn’t waste breath and time waiting for him. If Marcus caught up with us, it’d all be over. 

Clayton and I had come to the ranch at the invitation of Marcus and his girlfriend Amanda. I thought I had known both very well, but quickly realized I didn’t know them at all. It started the first night we arrived at the ranch when both immediately brought out the liquor and the pills. I had never once heard either one of them talk about drugs, but here they were pulling out the baggies and pill bottles full of unknown substances. I had known about the drinking as we often met up at the bars for a happy hour here and there, but Clayton and I were always the first ones to leave. I had never given them one thought about how long they stayed after we left and had never worried about it. The ease they handled the liquor and drugs had me now thinking differently. 

The first night was not as terrible and problematic as I had first thought, but events had quickly spiraled downhill. By the third night, Marcus and Amanda were taking large amounts of unknown drugs and mixing them with tequila. I had always known Marcus had a temper, but the drugs and alcohol mixture fanned the flames with tremendous force. When Clayton and I declined to partake in their drinking and drugging, Marcus had exploded. I didn’t know how much they had already had, but I knew we had to leave. 

Before we could pack our bags, Marcus’ temper had quickly increased to where I was afraid of what he was going to do next. I knew we needed to leave as soon as we could, but before we did Marcus broke down the door to our bedroom. While we were able to somehow evade him and make it through the front door, we weren’t expecting the gun.