Sticky Notes ~ Ashton Irwin

~Part Seven~

        "Kelsey needs some fresh air, Mr. Joseph. She is going to become ill if she can't get outside. She needs a few minutes every day, especially with the way you treat her. Her safety and yours is important but .... ", the conversation faded out as Ashton and Joseph walked upstairs. I was sitting up in my arrangement of metal and cotton, not much of a bed. I could tell that Ashton was trying to come up with a way to get me outside, to escape or not I am not sure. At this point, Ashton and the scarce resources in my dungeon were my last hope. 

        Maybe, I'd been thinking, since apparently I am here for a reason, Joseph needs me alive. If this is true, I could do something to hurt myself in order to get out of here. Or maybe we could do something to hurt Joseph. We would need to be very dissembling to outsmart the man, but it could work. My primary goal at the moment is to get out of here as it would be anyone else's. I do trust Ashton to help me since so far, he is the only other person I've met in this "Upstate New York" place. I learned about New York in History, but if we were taught to stay clear because a deranged psychopath with a useless pseudonym would kidnap you and hold you hostage, then I believe I missed something somewhere. 

        As I began to lay back down after eavesdropping on the two upstairs, a thump came from the chute in the wall. I groaned; even while being held hostage, getting out of bed straight after getting in was a huge inconvenience. I slowly trudged to the chute to see the inside. There was an apple, terribly bruised from the fall, and attached was another one of Ashton's sticky notes. i could feel my spirits soar as I read the note.

                        Joseph has an 'important meeting' tomorrow in Manhattan a while away. I'll come down after he leaves so you and I can go outside. I have plans.                 ~ A

        Ashton was taking a huge risk by doing this for me, but I was okay with it. What's the worst that could happen, he can't kill us for it, right?

        I retrieved my pen from it's resting place and scribbled on the paper in shaky hand writing.

                        Thank you so much Ashton.

        I didn't have much else to say.

        I slipped the note underneath the loose block in the wall and began walk back to my sleeping area when a knock came on the door at the top of the staircase. I assumed it was Ashton even though he had sent a note down just a few minutes earlier. Joseph doesn't knock. For some reason I was in fact wrong, for it was Joseph who knocked on the door. I hesitated to say anything before he walked in uninvited. Joseph casually walked down the steps as if he wasn't holding a captive, giving me time to hide my pen from his suspicions.

        "Kelsey, I am thoroughly surprised with how quiet you've been all day, moping around like any nineteen year-old." Here it comes. I brace myself for any contact as he comes closer. "Now before I do anything, I wanted to tell you something." He talks slowly. I remain silent to avoid setting off the time bomb in front of me. "You've been in here for pretty long, longer than you expected, I assume," he begins. "I am going to my special doctor tomorrow all the way in Long Island, Kelsey. During that time, I have given Justin permission to take you into the beautiful backyard we've got. I have given him instructions and he knows what he is and is not to do."

        The man was talking at me as if I were a juvenile. It was frustrating, but I knew better than to speak up. I also noticed that the purpose and location he gave me were different than the cause and place he told Ashton. "Is this clear, Kelsey? I don't want to hurt you." He says and snarls as if he were having a difficult time holding something back. I nod my head twice quickly, assuming the faster this is over the faster he returns upstairs. "I said, is this clear, Kelsey?" 

        "Yes Mr. Joseph." I say with a shaky voice.

        "You are a weakling." he remarks and with that he walks up the staircase, no hitting, no screaming.