21st Century
As I continue to frantically search for anything sharp enough to cut through these ropes, I pause when I hear Maya clear her throat from behind me. Turning towards her, I raise my eyebrows.
"Do you see that over there on the floor? It's kind of blending into the wall," she says, nodding towards the left.
Heading in the direction she was trying to point out, I scan along the wall and the ground, not seeing anything until a small beam of light catches my eye. Taking another step towards it, I notice a piece of metal reflecting the sun from the window.
"Hell yeah! Time to get these ropes off," I say as I manage to wedge the sharp edge of the metal under the ropes, setting myself free. Then without hesitation, I walked over to Maya and started to saw through her rope. As it breaks, she immediately drops to the floor, grabbing her wrists to try and soothe the pain.
"Thanks," she mutters.
"No problem. Now, let's get out of here before someone comes back," I quickly pull Maya off the ground and we rush to the door. As I open the door, Maya rushes to get out and trips over an unexpected step right outside the door. As I help her back up, we hear faint clapping coming from the dark hallway ahead of us. Looking up, I see a familiar face coming towards us.
"Oh, great job, Almyra. You always were really good at coming up with plans," he says sarcastically as I squint my eyes, trying to focus on his face. Where have I seen him before? Why does he look so familiar?
"It's Myra, actually. Where do I know you from? You have a familiar face, but I can't pinpoint where we've met." I stare at him, bewildered. I don't know what it is about him, but I can't seem to figure it out.
He gasps, an exaggerated shocked expression crossing his face as he says, "Wow, you're sure you don't remember me?" He snickered, smirking as he continued, "Well, we can change that."
"How do you know me?" I ask, confused as he starts to walk towards me.
"You honestly have no idea, do you?" He stops walking, standing directly in front of me, "That's funny because we actually know each other fairly well." He continues to move closer towards my face.
"Well, that's funny," I say mockingly, "I've never met you in my life, therefore how could we know each other at all?" As I finish my sentence, he's an inch away from my face.
"Well, you see. We knew each other in a past life. Does the name Kian ring a bell?" He smirks. Startled, I start to think about where I've heard that name before.
"Kian? No, I-, actually I have heard that name before. Where did I hear it from?" I ask aloud, not able to place where I heard the name Kian before.
Wait a second.
Dave had that name written on the drawing he tried to keep hidden from me.
"Well, you should. You and Kian were extremely close. Way closer than you and I ever were." His face went blank as his tone quickly changed from mocking to unsympathetic.
"But then he died, and you were pretty distraught, and I was there." He dramatically gestured with his hands.
"What are you even talking about? I don't know anyo-"
"How about Dave Thompson? Does that sound familiar?" he said, interrupting me. I tilt my head in confusion.
"How do you know him? Have you been following me? Why are you so interested in my therapist?" He shouldn't know Dave. Why am I being so defensive right now?
"No, I haven't been following you. I just like to keep myself updated." He happily remarks, winking at me.
"That's really stalker-ish, you know?" I cross my arms, trying not to show how anxious I am about this conversation.
"So, I'm assuming from your expression that Ki- I mean Dave, hasn't told you anything?" he asks, clearly amused.
"I don't understand what Dave has to do with any of this," I say while uncrossing my arms, dramatically dropping them to my sides.
"Wow, you haven't gotten any of my hints at all, have you? DAVE IS KIAN, you idiot! I'm surprised you haven't figured that out on your own. I swear your common sense diminishes every time you come back," he snaps with a look of disappointment coming across his face.
"Dave is Kian? I'm confused… How does that eve-"
"Almyra, darling," he says, grabbing me by the shoulders. I try to resist, but he's too strong. He pushes me over to a chair, making me sit.
"Why do you keep calling me that? That's not my name, my name is Myra. M Y R A, not Almyra," I scoff. He can't even get my name right, and yet he thinks I'M the stupid one.
"Hush, that was your name in your past life. You were the best leader in the army and Kian was your right-hand man, your best soldier. You really loved him and everyone knew it, no matter how much you denied it," he admits. Is this what Dave was trying to tell me? I still don't know how any of this could possibly be true.
"Um, I hate to interrupt this very personal conversation, but I still have no idea why I'm here," Maya chimes in, awkwardly. He turns towards her, an expression of annoyance coming across his face.
"My stupid henchman got the wrong person the first time, why are you still here? You could've left the moment I turned my back," he rolls his eyes, waving at her to hurry along as she looks around confused. Turning her back to him, she scurries back towards the door.
Before she could even step foot outside of the door, his henchman appeared out of nowhere, his gun in hand, aiming it at her.
"Got a runner, boss," the henchman says, not breaking eye contact with Maya, who now has her hands up in fear.
"I don't need her, you idiot," the boss hisses, turning to look at him.
The henchman takes that as his queue, instantly shooting her in the head, her lifeless body instantly dropping to the floor, a puddle of blood pooling at his feet.
"That's not what I meant," he rubs his forehead with his fingers. "She was free to lea-, whatever. Dispose of her," he sighs.
"Now, where were we?" He turned his attention back to me.
"What the fuck!?" I was appalled as I watched his henchman drag her body out of sight, leaving only a smeared trail of blood behind.
"I wasn't expecting that myself, but what can I say? At least now we don't have to worry about her exposing our many, many secrets." he says, chuckling.
"Why? Why did you do all of this? What was the point?" I inquired, still trying to comprehend what just happened.
"I just thought you'd like to know, but I can see now that none of what I said had any effect on you," he uttered. Just play it cool, Myra. You're fine.
"You're right, I feel nothing," I lied. He doesn't know me well enough, he won't be able to tell.
"But uh, can you let me go now? Your breath reeks," I say as I try to stand up.
"Well, that's too bad. And no, I have plans for you." he winks at me as I scowl. He grabs the ropes and roughly ties my wrists to the chair.
"You're fucking stupid if you think you can keep me locked up in here!" I yell as he disappears, leaving me alone.