"I hate seeing you like this. I want you to be truly happy."
...
A bucket of water splashes onto my face.
"Ahh..."
Spewing water in all directions, I shake my head.
"Ppfttt," my voice gets muffled.
"Ouch, that hurts," I raise my head and glare at the concealed face of my kidnapper when he pulls the duct tape off of my mouth.
Slowly, he turns towards me and stares at me, eyes narrowing to slits. The fact that he isn't holding a gun to my head makes me feel slightly better. Apart from me, there's only the tattooed man in the room. He has his head lowered to the ground, avoiding my eyes.
I roll my eyes at him. His guilt isn't an aid... not unless he helps set me free.
There's no one else in sight. Not a soul that can help me.
"Let's have a little conversation, shall we?"
I snort, "It's not like I have a choice, do I?"
"Now," in a flash, he's in front of me, gripping my chin, "I only want you to answer what I've asked. Not the usual nonsense of yours or else there'll be repercussions. Is that understood?"
I bite back a snide remark and mumble, "Perfectly."
"Good," he murmurs, letting go of me. "How long have you known Maya?"
"Who?"
"Maya... Where is she?" he demands.
I look at him blankly and repeat myself, "Who?"
A hard slap accompanies my words. My cheek stings, and I suppress the intense desire to slap him across his face.
"Remember now?" he asks, tapping his feet impatiently, waiting for a response.
"I don't have the faintest idea of who you're talking about."
Even if I did, it's not like I would have told him.
What a first-class douchebag!
"You're Ayan's wife," he looks up, meeting my eyes, "how can you not know Maya?"
I can't help the laugh that escapes me, "You imbecile, I'm-"
I'm cut off by a gun against my head.
"I TOLD YOU TO BEHAVE," he bellows.
I swallow. So he did have a gun.
With a lump in my throat, I answer, "My husband doesn't tell me anything. I don't know who Maya is. I'm sorry."
He observes me for a moment before chuckling, "You think I'm a fool?"
Of course.
"What did you just say?" he narrows his eyes, and I imagine smoke erupting from his nostrils.
Shit, did I say that out loud?
"I- I said... 'Course not!"
My breath hitches because of the cold metal against my forehead. One click and I'll be dead.
To my surprise, he lowers the gun and nods his head.
I sigh in relief but that's short-lived because his following words send a shiver down my back.
"She's useless. I'll just have to sell her," he says as his eyes rake over my body, "Mm, not bad."
I look at him horrified, "You're not going to do that. Do you have no respect-"
My protests die in my throat when he gives me a dismissive wave of his hand and walks out of the room.
Dejected, I glance at the tattoed man, "You're still not going to help?"
When I'm only met with silence, I shake my head, "You're worse, do you know that? Way worse than him."
...
A man steps into the room and I look up, thankful for the break from my thoughts.
I've been in this room, alone, for the entire day. Even the tattooed man decided not to grace me with his presence today.
"I'm assuming you're one of the bastards who work for him?"
He rolls his eyes at me, "Boss warned me about how annoying you are."
"Aww, he talks about me?"
He sighs in reply.
I scrunch up my face at him when he pushes a plate of food towards me.
"Eat," he commands.
"You see I'd love to eat this delicious food but there's one tiny issue..."
"What?"
"My hands are tied, you dumbass."
"Right," he says, bending down to my height, and crouching on his knees as he unties my hands.
"OH MY GOD. MICE! MICE! MICE!" I shriek loudly.
"Where?" he yelps.
"Behind you!"
As soon as he faces away from me, I take the rope and attempt to strangle him from behind by slipping the noose around his neck and drawing it tight against his Adam's apple. He coughs, struggling to remove the tight rope around his neck. I remove one of my hands and quickly reach into his back pocket, and grab the bulge that is visible, pulling out his gun and aiming it on the back of his head.
He raises his eyes at me, and his mouth drops open.
"You... how... oh... I...
"You... please don't kill me. I have two kids..." he mumbles as I loosen the rope around his throat.
"Why not?" I muse. "You helped in my kidnapping, and you were planning to watch me get discarded like a piece of meat. So, be a good boy and give me one reason not to shoot you."
"I- I- I'm gonna scream for help."
"You're right, we don't want that," I ponder before shrugging, "That'll just draw unnecessary attention."
Then, swiftly, I raise the gun and bring down the butt against his temple, hard.
Guiltily, I gaze down at his crumpled form on the floor. I quickly untie my legs and stretch, a smile grazing my lips.
Freedom at last.
I fastly approach the door and press myself against it, pulling it open scantily to peek outside.
When I see no one, I dash out the door and then run blindly, without glancing back.
As soon as I step out of the warehouse, I crash headfirst into my kidnapper.
A deadly silence descends as we both stare at each other.
I shakily aim the gun at his face. The click of the hammer being pulled echoes loudly around us. I unlock the safety lever, keeping my finger slightly off the trigger so that I don't misfire.
"Let me go, or I'll shoot you."
"You..." he snickers, "you're going to shoot me?
"You can't even hold the gun calmly."
He then takes out a gun from his pocket and throws it away. I look at him wide-eyed.
"There, I'm unarmed now. Go ahead and shoot me."
My hand shakes as he shouts at me, "DO IT!"
I lower the gun and whimper, "I- I c-can't."
"Thought so," he looks at me icily. "Get back in-"
"But I never said that I can't play with you," I grin, imitating his words from earlier before pulling back slowly and firing at his left leg. An ear-splitting bang is heard that deafens me, a bright muzzle flash almost blinding me in the dark, and I spiral backwards because of the recoil.
"You bitch," he yelps in pain, holding his thigh tightly to his chest.
"Oops, sorry," I say and look at him wide-eyed, trying to make sense of my surroundings. I pick up the gun with my sweaty palms and aim at him.
"FOLLOW THAT BITCH!"
I hear voices from inside the warehouse and hurriedly run as fast as possible away from these men and towards the jungle.
I continue running in the forest, dropping the gun when I stumble over a twig. Instead of bending down to pick it up, I leave it and head straight, trying to create as much distance between me and the people following behind.
I shiver and hug myself due to the biting cold. After thirty minutes, when I come across a road, I slow down and rest, breathing heavily.
I squint when a yellow yet bright light floods my eyes. I wave my hands wildly, trying to earn the driver's attention.
When the car stops, I rush towards the window, "Thank you so much, you have no-
"Ayan?"