The Only Witness

3

"Did you see his face?" A police officer asks Gregory. They are in the community police department office. It has been a day after someone came into the Mayer's home.
Gregory says no. "It was dark."
The police officer presents him his golden badge. "Here, your dad said you want to be a police officer when your older."
Gregory gets the badge and expects it. He lightly smiles, "Yeah."
"You can take a look at it while I put your information in the computer okay?"
"Okay."
"Thanks. You were brave."
The police officer leaves to where Erick is. "You are lucky the kid didn't get shot."
Erick raises his head up. He is siting besides a table. "What did he say?"
"He didn't see your buddy, but you must tell us who he is, it's the only way,"
"I told you, I never seen him. I only dealed th drugs by phone," Erick answers.
Someone knocks on the door. "Come in," the police officer says.
The door opens and a female lawyer comes in. "I'm Erick's attorney. Why didn't someone contact me earlier?"
"Because the defender never asked for one," the police officer says.
"Erick I'm Susan Shawl, don't speak anymore," she says as she sits next to Erick. The police officer leaves the room and heads back to Gregory. Mr. and Mrs. Mayer are with him.
"Officer Wallis, did Erick say anything yet?" Mrs. Mayer says.
"No mam, but his lawyer arrived, so it's going to be harder to find your daughter."
Gregory hands him his badge back. "He says he doesn't know how the man looks like since they only talked on the phone."
"It's my fault," Mr. Mayer frowns, "I let him in my home."
"You didn't know," Mrs. Mayer says.
"Our daughter is missing,"
Mrs. Mayer is trying to hold her tears. She cried all night already. Her heart is in piceces.
"I know."
...
He wraps wire around her wrists behind her back.
"Ssh, it's alright," he whispers in her ear. Her head wobbles to the front. She is weak and very dizzy. Jasmin mumbles to him to stop and it is hurting. But the words don't sound like what she wants.
He finishes. Jasmin can feel her skin getting cut and she feels it stings.
She can't think straight. Her head begins to hurt.
"You saw, I need you to be here. I can't have you running around telling people what I did or want I wanted tried to do," he says with a worried smile. He touches Jasmin's cheek. "Be a good girl okay?"
He stands and walk away. A door is closed.
...
Jasmin opens her eyes. Her hands are bound. She looks around and sees she is in a basement or attic. She begins to yell for help.
"Help!" She yells in between crying. "Oh my god," she whispers.
Then footsteps are heard. Jasmin stops talking and her heart skips a beat. The door opens and a man appears. He gets to Jasmin and kneels in front of her.
"Let me go!" She yells.
"Be quiet," he whispers.
"Help! Let me go! What do you want?"
His eyes freeze Jasmin. His eyes are angry. "Shut up," he says in a monotone voice.
"Who is this man? Why am I not in my house?" Jasmin thinks.
He gets a handkerchief from his shirt pocket. "Now, you be quiet or I put this inside your mouth to shut you up, make a choice," he says.
"Help!!!!" Jasmin yells as loud as she can. She takes the advantage of her last second to speak in case of any hope to get heard and rescued.
The man quickly shoves the cloth down her throat. Jasmin moves her legs and begins to gag. Tears fall down her cheeks as she panics. The man stops before she actually chokes. "There you go."
Jasmin tries to spit it out but cant. She begins to cry again.
"look, just corporate with me and you be fine okay?" He asks.
"He's crazy," Jasmin thinks. "I'm going to die here. Where is my family? Are they here too?"
He smiles, "good. If you behave well then I can bring you food and water later." He walks out of the room.
"I need to get out of here," Jasmin tries to get out of the wire around her wrists, but as she moves it begins to dig into her skin. It can cut her and hurt her more.
She stops and looks around to see if she can use something. Her legs aren't tied so she can walk around. She gets on her knees and stands. There are only some boxes stacked on top of each other on the right and a table on the left. There's only a small window on the right side.
"I can't fit through!" Jasmin thinks. She walks over to the table and begins to move her wrists up and down on the edge of the table.
...
"Where are they?" Charlotte asks a neighbor of Jasmin.
"I think there are with the police, they haven't returned."
"Okay, thanks."
Charlotte goes into her car and drives to the police department. As she arrives,she sees the Mayer family getting out of the building. She quickly stops the car and runs towards them.
"Charlotte," Gregory says. She hugs him and says hello to Mr. and Mrs. Mayer. "Glad you guys are okay. Where's Jasmin?"
"She-she got kidnapped," Mr. Mayer says.
"No, no, why?"Charlotte shakes her head in denial.
"Let's go somewhere to talk," Mr. Mayer hugs her.
...
"My arms, they hurt. This stupid wire isn't getting loose or cut," Jasmin thinks. She slides down and sits. She is tired.
"Hey, what's happening?" The man asks against the door. He opens it and sees Jasmin in a different location in the room. His dark brown eyes wonder around the room to see if Jasmin changed anything. It looks the same.
He walks towards her and reaches her arm. He pulls her up. "What were you doing?" He chuckles amused by his question, "oh wait, you can't talk."
He drags her out of the room. He continues to drag her downstairs into the basement.
"So I was in the attic," Jasmin mentally says.
"Let me help you," the man suddenly carries Jasmin down the basement stairs. He puts her down and takes out the handkerchief. Jasmin coughs and spits.
"Turn around," he says. Jasmin says no.
He then pulls her to him. He is on her face. His nose is touching hers. "What did I tell you?"
Jasmin gets scared. His eyes don't show any kindness. She then is turned around against the stairs. He snaps the wire off. Her skin is tattooed with red markings.
"Now," the man whispers against her ear. "Be a good girl and eat." He pushes her to the side. She gets her balance and sees a table with a pizza box and a cup of water.
Her stomach begins to make noises. She hasn't eaten in almost a day.
"Eat or wait till tomorrow to eat," he says.
"I can't. I can't let him win. If my father was here, he wouldn't surrender. He will fight."
"Eat," the man says. He is getting impatient. He combs his dark hair back.
Jasmin only drinks the water. "Done." She doesn't let go of the cup.
"Okay, your lost miss," the man walks towards her. "Come on."
Jasmin turns to hit him on the head with the cup and kicks him in his private part. He groans in pain and is on his knees. "Bitch!"
Jasmin runs up the stairs and out of the basement. She quickly runs and yells for help. No one is home. She looks around for the exit.
"Where are you going?" The man tackles her down. Jasmin squirms on the floor and yells. He puts his hand on her neck and puts pressure on it. Jasmin is loosing conscious slowly.