Bang, bang, bang! Someone hammers on the door hard, making me jump.
“Shut up in there,” the man gruffly yells. “You’re doing my fucking head in.”
This makes me cry. Tears roll fast down my cheeks, utterly soaking my face. I know I’m probably doing his head in, but he’s doing mine in as well. This whole situation is winding me up.
“All this noise all the time. It isn’t a good time for me to listen to your bullshit.”
My bullshit? I think meekly. I should say it aloud, but I’ve given up being cheeky. This is a fucking joke.
He continues to thump on the door, but not so frantically now. It’s more of a low thump, thump, thump. It reminds me of the moment where I first woke up and my head sounded like someone was hammering in there. I sob harder, wishing that I could go back to that place and not wake up. It would have been better if I’d just remained knocked out. At least then I didn’t know the horror that I had surrounding me.
Thump, thump, thump.
“Things need to change,” he murmurs lowly through the door. “Things are going to change. Everyone is coming here today and things are going to get crazy. I don’t know what to do.”
People are coming? I shuffle up against the pole, trying to protect myself, not that I can. I don’t know who the hell is coming, but it’s going to be more criminals. Criminals that could be worse than this guy. The murderer might be an asshole, but he hasn’t done anything too bad to me. Yet.
“What do I do with you? Do I take care of you now by myself? Or should I just wait?”
Is he actually asking me? Does he want me to give him an answer to his bullshit questions? When do I want to fucking die? I cannot believe that I’ve ended up in the middle of a horror movie here.
“You know what, I’m coming in. I can’t make this decision without looking at you.”
The door swings open hard and it slams hard against the wall, making a crashing, bashing sound. I can’t help scurrying backwards like a little mouse. He has me exactly where he wants me. A total mess.
“Hmm, I don’t know.” He has something that looks like it might be a sandwich in his hands. He hands it to me but I don’t have any hands to take it. I don’t want it anyway; I haven’t ever been less hungry in my life. Plus, I wouldn’t take anything that he offers me anyway. I’m not stupid. “I just don’t know what to do.”
“Please, just let go, let me go now before anyone else gets here. I won’t tell anyone, I won’t.”
“How can I be sure of that though? How can I know?”
“Look at the state of me! The warning has been received. I get it now. You guys are dangerous. Not to be messed with. I won’t fuck up; I won’t do anything. I’ll even make sure that Carter doesn’t do anything.”
“He’s already been to the police though…”
“But I can make him take back his statement. I can make sure he doesn’t go to court or anything.”
“Court?” He laughs as if the idea of getting to court is ridiculous. “You’ll all die first.”
“I will do anything to make sure you guys are safe. Whatever you need me to do. But I can’t do anything if I’m dead. It will send Carter mental and he’ll end up going after you even worse.”
“Why? Do you think he loves you or something? He hasn’t exactly come looking for you, has he?”
“Was that the plan? To make him come here? Because he might not know where this is.”
“A man like him, with all of his millions? He could find you if he really wanted to.”
I don’t want to let him get into my head, but the pain and lack of sleep is driving me crazy. I start to wonder if maybe he doesn’t want to find me after all. There could be a reason why he isn’t here.
Does he love me? Or is it just me who feels that way? Have I been blinded?
“Oh, did you hear that?” The murder smirks. “Looks like we’re out of time. Everyone is here.”
An animalistic howl bursts out of my mouth, now all hope really is lost. These other guys, if they have even half a brain cell in their heads, will want me dead so I can’t talk. A quick death would be preferable to what else they could do to me though. I barely want to even think about it, but I might have to face it for real…
The murderer goes, slamming the door closed behind him, locking them away from me for a moment. It’s a relief, but not much of one because I know that worse is coming in a moment, but at least I do get a tiny moment alone. I just wish that I could use this time to find an escape route.
Voices echo around the warehouse, chilling me to the bone. That wasn’t a bluff, there really is more of the gang here. I get a burst and struggle again thrashing too hard. It hurts, my wrists are in absolute agony with what I’ve already done to myself, but I need to just have one last shot. I don’t want to die.