I felt the urge to remove the scalpel seeping through my flesh but decided against it, I had no assurance that Jimbo would not let me bleed to death. I looked at him in his crouched position and let out a cough.
"I don't, I don't exactly know where she is but I do know of a place she goes to whenever she gets in trouble", I let out, tears still falling from my eyes.
Jimbo's expression changed as quickly as a chameleon changed colors and patted my head, "Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?" It wasn't really a question, he removed his hand from my head and he stared at me blankly, I assumed he expected more information as his eyes grew cold with the continuous eye contact. Out of fear of being beaten into a pulp, I immediately told him everything I knew, what I thought could be important.
I told him everything I knew about my mother's hideout, the woman cave. I explained how she took me there the time I got in trouble with the local police for stealing from a jewelry store, and how I had to wear a blindfold during the journey. I revealed the town where the hideout was located, but admitted that I didn't know the exact location. I was breathing heavily by the time I was done.
After I finished my confession, I was met with a huge blow on my right cheek. My neck cracked and I bit my tongue. I started bleeding from my mouth and I tried hard not to cry from the pain. Jimbo quietly stood up and left the room, his face still devoid of emotion.
My thoughts immediately went back to Wu the moment Jimbo left the room, I did not have the opportunity to ask if he was fine. I slowly stood up, composed myself and limped over to the table to see if there was anything I could use to treat my hand. The torture tools lay scattered, and I wondered why they hadn't been put away. I spotted a bandage wrapped around one of the knife blades and carefully removed it. I returned to the floor, winced as I unwrapped the bandage from the knife, and slowly removed the scalpel from my hand. I wrapped the bandage around my palm, trying to stem the bleeding.
I looked at my surroundings once more, no windows, empty room with the exemption of the table, the tools and of course, me. I buried my face in my hands as I started weeping quietly. The evening I snatched from my home was a day like any other, there seemed to be nothing out of place and I would have never imagined that a few hours later, I would be fighting for my life.
I waited in that room for what seemed like hours, no one came to check in or ask questions or torture me, I did not notice anyone as my face felt heavy from all the crying I had been doing. I curled myself to a lying position on the floor. It was cold and hard, pressing against my cold and shivering body. I let a few tears fall as my vision became blurrier. I did not know how much time pass but eventually, I fell asleep.
I was jolted awake by someone jerking me. It was the snake tattoo guy, "Get up," he growled and I sat up, rubbing my eyes. "What's going on?" I asked. He informed me that he was going to town for 'business', we were going with his partner who I assumed was the other guy present at my kidnapping scene. I stood up and my stomach growled loudly, I looked at him, unsure whether to ask for a meal or if the question warranted a slap. I decided to let go of the thought.
I followed him closely as he left the room, my thoughts torn on whether to grab a tool and try to kill him or be obedient and luckily manage to escape with my life. I chose the latter; I didn't need more holes in me.
"What day is it?" I asked as we left the dark room I was staying into a much brighter room, I squinted a bit at the brightness, it looked like a living room except there was no furniture. "How many days has it been since you took me?"
"It has been two days." He replied absentmindedly, clicking away on his phone as he walked closer to a door that I assumed was the exit of the house.
"What about Wu? What did you two do to him?"
He didn't reply, he didn't seem interested in talking to me. He exited the house and I followed him closely behind. We were not in the city nor in the forest, we were in the same town I told Jimbo my mom used to escape to. I knew it was that same town because I remembered the terrain of the road, it was on the way to her hideout. There was a car right outside the house and the other guy who showed up at my house was in the car and was staring at a woman and her son passing by.
Snake tattoo guy kept walking towards the car but I ran and intercepted him, "What did you do with Wu?", I asked with fake bravado ignoring my trembling feet but I needed to know what happened with Wu, I did not think would ever be able to forgive myself if he ended up dead because of my family issue.
"He's fine, we didn't kill him or anything," snake guy retorted, walking around me and towards the car. "Come on," he beckoned on me to enter the car.
I looked around for any suspicious looking people and there seemed to be no secret drug gang people around apart from the two men, I deliberated on whether to take to my heels and run but decided against it. There was no guarantee that would hesitate to shoot me, even in public.
I clenched my good fist and reluctantly entered the backseat of the car, snake guy took a seat beside me, side eyeing me as he got comfortable on the leather seat.
I guessed he avoided the front seat, probably to prevent me from attempting to harm them, but it seemed unnecessary - they were both massive, at least three times my size, and I was in no shape to pose a threat.
I stayed quiet, looked down at my injured hand and took a deep breath to quell the pain. The car revved and we drove in the direction opposite my mother's hideout.