Don't Believe Everything You See

Business-Quote, Unquote

    I sat in the dark corner of the room I was being held in, the sound of my heart pounding the only thing I could hear. It's been a week and a half. I think. I may be wrong... It's kind of hard to tell how many days have passed without a clock or a window.

    The silence pierced my ears but there was nothing I could do to fix it. For once, I was useless. I couldn't do anything. And I despised the feeling. I then heard footsteps getting louder and louder as they made their way towards my room.

    The door creaked open and there before me stood my kidnapper; the man who took my life away, the man I thought I could trust... the man I once called my best friend; Mark Fischbach. Light flooded into the room and I winced at its brightness, trying - somehow - to mentally push it back out the way it had come. The door shut again and Mark knelt down beside me. He couldn't see my face in the darkness but I doubt he needed to to know that I despised him for what he had done. He stayed quiet for a few moments, then cleared his throat and dropped something into my lap. I looked down, curious as to what it was but I couldn't see it anyway so what was the point? It felt soft and somewhat fluffy... but what was it?

    "You need to eat." He spoke softly. Oh, okay, so some type of food. I pinched my mouth into a tight line and kept quiet. He sighed a few seconds later. "Jack, I'm sorry." He whispered. Tears stung my eyes and threatened to spill but I held them back. I couldn't show my pain to him.

    "If you don't eat, you're gonna die." I scoffed at this, then turned my head in his general direction, still unsure of where exactly he was.

    "What do you care? Isn't that your plan anyway?" I replied and he sighed again.

    "I'm not going to hurt you," he muttered, barely above a whisper. It's a bit too late for that, Mark... I thought silently.

    "Then who is?" He fell completely silent, then stood up again. Light flooded back into the room only to be quickly drowned out by darkness once more. He was gone.

    I let out a shaky breath that I had been holding in for what felt like ages and let my head fall back against the wall behind me. I picked up the bread that was sitting on my thigh and smelled it. Did you drug this too, Mark? I wondered as I poked at it. There were no soggy areas on the fluffy surface and it didn't smell odd or off in anyway, so I figured it was safe. I tore a piece of the bread off and pushed it through my lips, thankful to finally have something to eat. Poisoned or not, I probably still would have ended up eating it, but I just wanted to be on the safe side of things. Erh, well... safer side.

    The bread was gone in less than a minute but my stomach still growled. My throat was dry from eating the bread and every time I swallowed it felt like I was swallowing razor blades; popping them in like Skittles - one, two, three, etc. I needed water. Or at least something to drink.

    An hour - I think - had gone by when I was finally greeted by light once more. The door opened and immediately, a feeling of unease raced throughout my entire body. I felt unsafe. I instantly realized that Mark was not the man who had just stepped into the room. Even though Mark betrayed me in every way humanly possible, then stabbed a knife directly through my back and twisted it fully around, I didn't feel unsafe around him. I know, funny, right? I don't feel scared or threatened by the man who held a gun to my head, stuffed me into the back of a car with some stranger, and then drugged me to get me to sleep; no, I feel totally safe around that guy. Yet this man whom I've only caught glimpses of sent shivers down my spine and made my heart skip a number of beats out of complete and utter fear.

    The room stayed silent for a moment or two... then he spoke.

    "I see you've awakened." His voice was somewhat pitched as if he were a friend on the street glad to see me. "Finally." He muttered. He reached to the right - his right, not mine - and retrieved a small pile of clothing, tossing it in my direction. The clothes I was currently in were completely wrinkled, filthy, and soaked in sweat.