Our Family Portrait

chapter 4: thanks for nothing

"WHEN DO we get to have fun? We've been watching them for over an hour!"

Kyrah awoke with a grimace at the sound of angry whispers. She slowly opened her eyes to an abandoned warehouse, with beams of moonlight shining through broken windows.

There was nothing around, apart from broken bottles, empty spray paint cans, and stray paper. It looked like it had been abandoned for years as green vines began to wrap around pillars of concrete, and Kyrah heard the squeaks of rats, as they scurried around. Small flowers were peeking out the cracks of formerly solid concrete and trash littered all corners of the warehouse.

With a quick look around, Kyrah saw the men from earlier stationed at the "front" of the abandoned warehouse. One of the men, presumably the one who yelled Kyrah awake, was passionately arguing with the man in the leather jacket.

"Look, the boss said we'll have our fun when the guy with the information gets here." Responded the man in the leather jacket. It seemed his patience was running thin as he began pacing, with a large frown on his face.

Kyrah couldn't believe her luck. Just when she thought things were looking up for her, she's kidnapped. Whatever higher power above was certainly laughing at her now. And poor Noir was probably stuck in that bush. Fuck. She needed to get out of here.

Kyrah looked down at the rusty black chair she was tied to. Her hands were tied behind the chair and her legs were tied together with brown rope. Her mouth was covered with a white cloth, tied at the back of her head.

Kyrah ran her hands over the rope at her wrists, and tugged at the rope experimentally. She felt a sharp pain jolt through her right arm as she tried to tug harder. She could barely move her hands. Kyrah had to give it to these guys, they tied pretty solid knots. Which meant they weren't new to kidnapping and certainly not new to tying people up.

From what she felt, it seemed to be a simple double knot, nothing she couldn't get herself out of.

Amateurs.

Kyrah sent a silent thank you to her mother as she remembered the gruesome lessons of having to learn how to undo different kinds of rope knots. Her mother had always told her it was better to be safe than sorry. When Kyrah complained, she would often remind her that her survival in a dangerous situation depended on her ability to get out as quickly as possible.

Kyrah was about to carefully start undoing the knots from her hands when she sensed a pair of eyes gazing intently at her.

The girl from earlier, who was now wide awake, had a curious expression as she stared over at Kyrah. She was tied in a rusty black chair placed beside Kyrah. The girl had her wrists and legs tied together as her mouth was also covered with the white cloth. She didn't look afraid or upset, quite the opposite. The girl looked completely calm. Almost amused by the little smirk on her lips.

From what Kyrah had observed so far, the girl was not one to talk. At all. Even when she was being harassed, Kyrah didn't hear a quip from her.

Kyrah raised her eyebrows at her, silently asking, "Are you okay?"

The girl only stared back at Kyrah, and shrugged half heartedly before she turned her head towards the entryway to the warehouse, where the men were gathered.

Kyrah almost missed the pocket knife in the girl's hand, but the moonlight shone on the metal and caught her eyes. Kyrah stared at the girl in disbelief. Kyrah felt so many questions spinning in her head.

"You know it wouldn't hurt to have a little fun with them?" Kyrah heard one of the men whisper excitedly.

"Yeah, boss is taking a while, we'll just entertain ourselves for a bit?" Another man agreed as his grin grew wider.