The Only Witness

4

Jasmin awakens tied on top of a bed. Her hands are tied back with tape and her feet with a piece of cloth. She has the handkerchief again in her mouth.
"No, no, I couldn't escape. What does this man want from me?" She thinks. "I just want to go home. Where is my family? Are they okay?"
The door opens and the same man appears. "Morning," he says. He has a platter with pancakes and eggs with a glass of orange juice.
He sets the platter next to Jasmin.
"Now, I thought about what to do with you. I thought about killing you and burning your body. Another idea was to sell you to a pimp. But nah, I'm not that cruel," he says. Jasmin notices he looks groomed. His brown hair is combed back and he smells like after shave.
By all means, this man isn't ugly not he is handsome. He's just an average Joe.
"Or just let you loose, because Erick got arrested, cops might think he is behind all of this," he continues.
"How does he know Erick? Is it Erick's fault I'm here?" Jasmin questions herself.
"But I don't trust you missy, I'm trying to be nice here and you just rebel," he furrows his thick eyebrows.
He smiles, "Or I can just keep you. I mean, I have a business and I can't just let a kid ruin everything. You can be my maid."
Jasmin shakes her head no. Her eyes are narrowed and showing anger and fear.
He takes out the piece of cloth out of her mouth. He cleans the saliva from the side of her lips.
"Just let me go. I don't know where I am and know your name. I won't tell anyone," Jasmin says.
"Hhmm, well, true, but that doesn't mean you can't go to the police and let them draw a picture of me," he says. He begins to cut the pancakes for Jasmin. He gets a piece and tells Jasmin to eat.
"No," she says.
"Come on, eat, even if i let you free, I will leave you somewhere to fetch for yourself, you are going to need energy. Now eat," he puts the food closer to her mouth. Jasmin smells the butter. Her stomach growls loudly.
"True. And even if he doesn't set me free, I need to be strong to fight him off," Jasmin thinks. She nods and takes in the food.
"Good girl," he grins. "I'm going to feed you though. Can't take any risks."
He feeds her until no crumbs are left. Jasmin finishes drinking the juice.
"You full?" He asks.
She nods.
"Good." He gets the things and walks out.
He comes back seconds later and smirks at Jasmin. "You are learning fast. Thanks for not screaming."
Jasmin rolls her eyes at his remark. He sits next to her.
Jasmin doesn't stare at him.
"What's your name? Erick told me your father's name but not yours."
"I'm not telling you," Jasmin answers.
"Why?"
"Just let me go,"
"Tell me your name," he gets her chin and forces her to look at him.
"Or let me give you a pet name."
"I'm not your pet,"
"Then tell me your name,"
"Jasmin"
He caresses her chin gently yet his fingers are rough. "Nice name."
"Why did you do this? Where you going to kill my dad?"
"No that was Erick, he was on top of your dad, I was behind you and hit you," he answers.
"Why? My dad never did!-" Jasmin begins to yell but the man covers her mouth to shut her up.
"Don't yell. We have neighbors," he whispers. "Erick worked for me okay. He thought that by sneaking in a house of a soldier it could protect him from me. I called him to face me or the family will get it. But he didn't care, so now we are here."
He uncovers Jasmin's mouth. "Why kidnap me?"
"I told you, I can't have you tell the police what i do."
"I hate you," Jasmin whispers under her breath.
"Do you want to shower?" He asks.
He unties her legs. He looks at her for an answer.
"It's fine,"
"Well how about going to the bathroom?"
Jasmin nods.
He carries her to the bathroom and cuts the tape on her hands. Jasmin massages her wrists for relief.
He pushes her in the bathroom more. "I'm going to leave the door hallway closed. I'm going to be here." The door is closed halfway enough to give Jasmin privacy.
"I need to do something," Jasmin looks around but there is only a bar of soap beside the sink and a roll of toilet paper on top of the toilet.
"Come on," the man says.
Jasmin does her business and washes her hands. "Wait, I know what to do." She gets the soap again and rubs it on her fingers.
She places it back. "I'm done."
The door opens and Jasmin places her hands behind her back.
"Let's go," he says as he takes her arm. They begin to walk back to the room Jasmin was in.
Jasmin's fingers strike his eyes. He pushes her to the wall in pain. "What the hell?" He yells. He rubs his eyes but that makes it worse. He yells.
Jasmin quickly runs downstairs. She begins to yell for help. She finally sees the front door.
She runs towards it and turns the door know but it's locked.
"What the hell?" Jasmin exclaims. She tries to open it and can't. She then notices some locks on the side. She quickly gets to them.
"You bitch," the man suddenly pulls her hair and pulls her to the ground. Jasmin yells, "help! Please!"
She crawls to the kitchen.
"Oh no," the man gets on top of her back and places something inside of Jasmin's mouth. She struggles to get out of his grip.
He punches her face. He then gets up and kicks her sides. Jasmin yells are muffled with the cloth inside her mouth. Tears run down her face.
The man punches her face again.
He beated Jasmin until she can't move.
"You are a liar!" He yells at a unconscious Jasmin. "I needed to do this. I can't have you running and yelling. People will know you are here and I can get into trouble."
He kneels next to Jasmin. He pets her hair away from her face. Her cheek is getting swollen and turning blue. "Let's fix you up."