The Woman In The Shadows

Part Twelve - Bound

        

                 "Jim" Alexander said, looking over at the sleeping man in the chair by the window, "Jim, she's awake." He finished, returning his gaze to Sheila, a look of careful concern on his face as he slowly walked to the foot of the bed, Julia following his lead.

                 "Do you know your name?" Julia asked, her hands placed on the foot of the bed, her fingers delicately tracing the patterned wood - spirals and flowers, Sheila had found it at an auction and fell in love. Jim, he had wanted something more masculine - modern, even - convinced they could find something nicer, newer, and cheaper at IKEA. What solidified Jim's content with the bed frame Sheila had chosen was what his father had taught him. A very important motto, one he believed in whole-heartedly.

                 Happy Wife, Happy Life.

                 "Jim..." Sheila whispered, looking away from the two at the foot of her bed as she locked eyes with her husband as he stood, crossing his arms across his chest, shivering from the morning air. Sheila watched as a tiny puff of white left his mouth with every breath and wondered why it was so cold in the bedroom. "...Jim who are these people? What's going on?"

                 "Don't let her fool you." Alexander said quietly, almost under his breath as he locked eyes with the woman tied to the bed before him. He held a small box in his hand which he was nervously spinning "We still don't know."

                 "Don't know what?" Sheila demanded, her voice shaky as she spoke between short, panicked breaths. "Jim what the hell is going on?"

                 "Tell me your name." Jim said softly, looking at the floor a moment before locking eyes with the woman he recognized as his wife - the woman he prayed was still his wife.

                 Sheila looked at the faces nervously, one after the next, before returning to Julia, an angry expression growing on her face as she stared down the stranger in her room.

                 "Who is she?" Sheila demanded, continuing the long and uncomfortable eye contact with Julia. "Jim. Who is this woman, and who is this man?"

                 "My name is Alexander." Alexander said without variation in his tone. With a slight gesture towards the woman beside him, he continued "And this is my wife, Julia. We're the neighbours - we live down the road - a good two Kilometers away. So far away you'd think we couldn't hear the neighbours yet, here we are."

                 There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as Julia and Alexander stared down Sheila, Jim looking at the floor again in a state of disbelief.

                 "What have you done with my wife." Jim said in more of a demand than a question. "Who the fuck are you." He continued, looking up at the thing tied to his bed in the bedroom of his new home.

                 "Jim." Sheila said, a single tear welling in the corner of her eye before trickling down her cheek and along her jaw line, leaving a track mark through her makeup from the day before. Like a tiny earthworm, Jim watched as the tear left its mark, a ball forming in his throat at the thought of his wife being upset. "Jim why are they here and why am I tied to the bed. Come on, Jim - untie me. Let me go!"

                 Sheila started to panic, claustrophobia kicking in as she started to squirm, fighting the resistance of the coarse rope that held her in place. She started to kick her feet, fighting the tension of the neckties bound to her ankles, her arms flexing as every vein became more visible in her forearms, the blood collecting in them as the ties became tighter around her delicate wrists, restricting blood flow.