Sophia and her captor stared at each other, eye to eye as he kneeled down in front of her as she sat on the cold floor. Her wrists bound together by rope make her arms scream with the strain of stretching for so long. With gauze and bandages in hand he reaches behind her head, careful to meet her eyes the whole time. She felt the previous bandage slowly peel off the healing scalp and she winces in response. He rips off the last bit, taking some of her long brown hair with the bandage, prompting a scream, but only gasp escapes. She presses her eyes closed, trying to control herself, but he is anything but gentle with the gauze as he pressed it roughly to her head, she bites her lip, still pressing her eyes closed. He concentrates on the pain in her eyes, getting thrill from it.
“Look at me, Sophia.” Her blood runs cold when he says her name, but she does as told, fearing what may happen otherwise. He tapes the bandage to her head, then quickly pats it down with the palm of his hand. She closes her eyes in pain, he jerks her head up in response, pulling her hair back to get her to look at him. Her eyes burst open, meeting his cold blue ones instantly. “I like it when you look at me, shows me respect.” She wants to spit at him. Somehow she resists and manages to look at him without throwing up in disgust.
“Respect?” She offers a quick laugh, he pulls her hair back, her neck almost to the point of snapping. He growls, his teeth bared. “How could I respect a man who kidnaps a defenseless girl? You’re not even a man!” She yells, her whole body shaking with fury, and she just about falls to her side if it weren’t for him pulling her back by her hair. He releases her hair from one hand and with the other slaps her across her face. Tears sting the corners of her eyes as she falls to the floor, her brain jostling inside her head. She groans in pain and he stands up. His feet stomping as he looks down at her.
“You have more guts than the last girl.” Her heart stops, there was another. Her blurred vision only allows her to see the fuzzy outline of him, but his back is to her, he’s leaving. “She didn’t last long either.” She gulps, her whole body freezing up. He turns his head to look at her. “I’d shut your mouth if you want to last longer than she did.” Her mouth tastes like copper, she spits as he opens the door to leave, blood dribbling from the side of her lips. Her cheek stings from the blow he just delivered. He shuts the door quickly behind him and she can’t hold back her tears. As she lays on her side, wrists bound behind her, she weeps. No one will save her, he’s going to kill her.
There was another girl, key word: Was. This information shows her that he’s killed before, and won’t hesitate to kill again. This brings her to an ultimatum, to defend herself to her last breath, or to protect herself and appease him. She uses her wrists to push her body up from the ground, also using the wall to help. Her shoulder blade bumps the wall and it makes no sound, but she feels it in her bone. Everything hurts, but when she uses the wall to pull her back up to a sitting position she notices something about the sound proof wall. The spongy texture is dead giveaway, but also that when she knocks it the sound doesn’t echo, it just dies there. She purposely knocks it again, and the sound stops. For some reason this finding makes her more scared than she was. Not even she can hear her own screams.
The other girl was in here. Its a quick thought, fleeting, and it slows her racing brain down. Did she die in here? Did he attack her in the middle of the night? How did he kidnap her? How long did she last? What was she like? Does anyone even know she is gone? Did anyone know if Sophia was gone?
He paced, just behind the one way glass, staring at Sophia in her panicked state. He could tell he said it wrong, he shouldn’t have told her about Janine, that he had done this before. Janine was his first, but she failed him, she tried to escape one too many times. She had to pay. Janine made it a few weeks, four tops. After he dumped her body, he had to move, get the hell out of dodge. So here he is, one year later renting a studio with a small apartment sat atop the soundproof room. He can’t even hear Sophia right now, but he can see she figured out how to sit back upright. That’s a tough thing to do when your hands are bound. He nods, impressed, then heads out of the room, leaving Sophia to have her mental crisis alone.
Shorter chapter, sorry guys. But next week will be better!
