Smoke and Mirrors (DE)

37. More than your spine do

Grace rested her head against the cool glass of the tinted passenger window watching other commuters zip past on the freeway; all probably heading home to end the night with their families and get ready for the new day tomorrow as it was getting later into the evening, while Grace sat quietly being held against her will in her own vehicle.

A cold, eerie, silence blanketed the inside of the car— besides the low hum of static from the radio. It had been two hours since Malik had taken Grace at gun point, and in those two hours they'd done nothing but drive around aimlessly wasting the full tank of premium fuel she'd just filled up the day before. Grace kept her eyes glued looking out of the window, too terrified to look over at Malik. Partly because she was scared to look at him, and partly because she didn't want him to know how scared she really was.

Grace never knew Malik to be this type of man; he was always so sweet and gentle, that's what attracted her to him in the first place. But it was as if he'd lost his mind after she broke things off with him for Joseph— like something in his head snapped. He'd began acting erratic and his erratic behavior had now graduated to desperation. Desperate people do dangerous things and that's what was the most nerve wrecking because she didn't know what he was going to do with her. He hadn't said a single word the whole two hours.

She was now regretting all of the red flags she'd tried to ignore; him looking up her friends in the police data base to illegally obtain their contact information and call them for her whereabouts, him getting physical with her, him abusing his power of authority and arresting Joseph just because he could— just so he could show Grace who really is in control of the situation. She was now wishing she would've said something to somebody because this probably wouldn't be happening— she'd be at home, safe, with the man she really loved.

Grace had studied numerous domestic violence cases while studying for her degree and almost all of those situations end in homicide once they reach this point, because this point is the point of no return. Though Grace wished Malik would come to his senses and stop the car and get out— hell, he could even keep the car if he let her out; but she knew that wouldn't happen. He kidnapped her, there was no going back from that. He'd already gone this far, he had to finish the job now because he couldn't risk her telling.

Grace chewed on the inside of her cheek aggressively trying to keep her composure but the more the reality of the situation began to set in, the more she began to panic. Her heart beat in her chest aggressively; like the solo performance of a kid who played the base drum in the high school band who'd been waiting the whole football game for his time to shine. Anxiety started to silently grab hold of her throat and squeeze, choking her as a nervous lump began to form in her throat making it hard to breathe.

Grace looked down at the door handle and back out the window at the ground and how fast the street was zipping past. They couldn't be traveling any less than 100 mph, and if he didn't kill her first jumping out of the car at that speed surely would. Her hazel eyes began to well with tears thinking about Joseph and how she didn't even give him a kiss goodbye when she left because she was rushing to get to the restaurant.

Grace knew she only had one option if she wanted to make it home, and that was play his game.

She took a shaky deep breath before slowly looking over at Malik. He drove in a trance like state, his eyes empty looking as he stared at the road. His large hands gripped the steering wheel firmly at ten and two with his gun resting in his lap.

" Where are we going?" Grace asked trying her best to sound calm and unbothered by the situation.

Malik ignored her keeping his eyes on the road.

" Malik—,"

" Shut the fuck up," He growled in a murmur.

" Malik we can talk— we can talk about whatever you want. I'm not mad at you," She tried to reason, a tinge of desperation in her tone.