Tracked

Chapter 19: Phase One

My eyes slowly open and immediately pain overwhelms my abdomen. After sitting still for a few moments, everything comes back to me and I can begin to process my situation. Rope secures my wrists and ankles to the small metal chair that I am strapped to. The room I sit in is dark and cold, with a concrete floor and plain white walls. From the looks of things...I'm in a large garage of some kind. A door slams from behind me and I try to spin around to see but my ribs sting and I yelp in pain. Footsteps continue to near me until the person stands directly in front of me. My kidnapper-X. He is wearing all black still including gloves, shoes and a mask over his face. X seems to be giving me a once over look, which makes me feel slightly nervous considering my current position. I scowl at the man in front of me and turn away, facing the wall instead. A chair scraps across the ground and I hear my captor sit down.
"Hello Rebecca." His voice is low and commanding, he knows that he's in control and seems to like it that way.
"I have nothing to say to you." I reply, trying to turn my body away from him as much as I can.
"Oh come now, surely you can be civil. I'm sure that's how mommy raised you-" At the mention of my mother, I turn to face him."As a lady."
"You know nothing about my mother." I hiss.
"My dear, I know enough to be sure that she would be disappointed in you. You are no lady." His words sting as he drills through my mind the fact that my mother is gone. Taken from me prematurely by the monster sitting in front of me.
"Well maybe if you hadn't murdered her, I would've been taught better." I seethe, spitting at him spitefully.
"Tsk tsk," X says, shaking his head. "Such a temper. Although, your suspension made that point quite obvious." He pauses, tilting his head to glance at me. "Is that why Austin stopped being your friend? Because of your temper?"
"No! We just grew apart, it's simple. He didn't abandon me or anything." I say, leaning forward in my chair. X is just trying to catch me off guard-doesn't know what he's talking about.
"Hmm. Are you sure that's what it was?"
"Yes." I reply, but I feel slightly less confident with my response. There is just something in the way X is saying the question and looking at me. It makes me feel so...unsure.
"Wasn't it Austin who stopped contacting you?"
"Yes but-"
"And wasn't it Austin who always seemed busy when you tried to hang out?"
"Sure but that doesn't-"
"He was even the one who stopped playing with you during recess in elementary school. He always ended up finding someone else to hang out with." By the time he's said this, I'm no longer sure of my original statement. No fact, quite the opposite, I'm holding on to a shred of hope that he's not telling the truth.
"You're lying, y-you don't know these things!"
"Oh dear Rebecca. I know more than you could ever imagine."
"Sure you do." I reply, rolling my eyes. "That's a load of bull."
"Really?" X stands up and takes a couple steps closer to before dragging the chair behind him and sitting back down.
"Yes really. You're all bluff."
"Was blowing up your mother a bluff?" He asks spitefully. The hatred in his eyes combined with his words cause me to curl over forward in the chair. X might as well have just stabbed me through the heart. "Did you know that she was disloyal to your dear daddy? Oh yes, she was starting to see another man. Soon before her death actually. But you didn't know that, did you?" I can't move, can't blink, can't hardly breath. 'How dare he accuse my mother of something like that!'
"How dare you say that about my mother!" I shout at him, outraged.
"I just figured that you were old enough now, you should know the truth. In fact, that's why you're here-"
"So you can fill my head with untrue stories that you've fabricated?" I yell, cutting him off.
"Actually," X replies quietly, clearing his throat. "You are here Rebecca so that I may shed light on the lie that is your sad little life." My anger towards him consumes me and I can no longer swallow back my urge to scream at him.
"You're a murderer and a liar with no heart! Curse you for what you did to my family you malicious villain! Take your filthy stories back to the pit with you! I want to hear none of it!" Panting, I finish my rant and stare at him as my hot angry tears spill down my cheeks. What angers me further is that X merely sits up taller in his chair and then leans close to me. We are staring into each other's eyes and at the moment, I wish looks could kill. I rotate my body and as is possible to try and get away from the creature in front of me.
"I told you I killed your mother, was that a lie?" X asks quietly, yet although he doesn't speak loudly, it does not mean that he isn't threatening. With a quivering lip, I shake my head no. "Your suspension that I reminded you about wasn't a lie either. Neither were the things I told you about Austin." My captor pauses, allowing me to absorb the information and much to my dismay, he is right about it all. Which leads me to become unnerved. "If I wasn't lying about any of that, why would I start lying now?"
"Um...well...because you...um...you're trying to make me think you're honest. Yeah-that's why." X simply shakes his head and I feel like he's smirking-but of course I can't see his face to confirm that.
"My dear," he says with a prideful voice, "I don't need to convince you. In the back of your mind, you already believe me." His confidence and the face that I have a sinking feeling that he is right, make me want to punch him in the face.
"Why would you kidnap and hurt me if you are only here to tell me truth's?" I ask, nervously shifting in my seat as phantom pain ripples through my healing collarbone wounds.
"You read my note. Why ask?" I sit silently for a moment and picture the letter in my head.
"Youre getting back at my father! This has nothing to do with me." X wagged his gloved finger at me.
"Rebecca, that is however, not quite true. This is somewhat about you. See, you look a great deal like your mother. Therefore, whenever I see, it is a constant reminder of all the trouble and pain she caused me. And just like her, you must be dealt with." X turns away from me angrily and sits muttering to himself but it's too quiet and no matter how hard I strain my ears, his words are inaudible. Then, a few minutes after he started, X stops and turns back to face me.
"Why am I here?" I whisper timidly. X leans forward and grabs on to my wrists, wrenching the chair on to the front two legs. Then he moves next to my ear and I feel his chest against my left shoulder. My whole body gets tense instinctively, prepared to try and defend myself if need be.
"To suffer," X hisses in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "And to realize what a lie your life has been." Releasing the chair, it slams against the concrete floor as I pant and expel the air I didn't know I was containing. X stays on his feet and begins to walk back and forth in front of me with his gloved hands clasped behind his back. "Now, shall we get started? Hm...where should I begin? From the beginning would be best I suppose." He seems as though he's half talking to himself and half to me, but now he stops pacing and stares directly at me. "Your parents didn't love you and almost put you up for adoption. As a child, Rebecca, your parents saw you as nothing more than a disappointment. The friends that you have all hate you in reality and you are one of the most disliked people at your school. Also, in school you aren't actually all that smart, your final marks have been altered to be higher than they're supposed to be. Oh, right and your boyfriend....Daniel," X pauses long enough to let me realize the name before he continues to go on and crush what remains of my spirit. "He doesn't love you and he never has." I feel empty as the tears flow silently down my face and I attempt to convince myself that he is lying. 'But he wasn't lying before, why would he now?' X has stopped talking and stands silently, staring at me. "Right, now I'll see you again tomorrow and will begin explaining each truth to you in detail." Without another word to me, X walks past my chair and towards the back of the room where he entered before this nightmare began. As I hear the door open, a voice reaches my ears and the words are just loud enough that I am able to make them out...
"Phase One complete for today. Send in Phase Two."