Perfect Timing

°3°

       Come on, you must be kidding me? Again, why won't they just let me leave? Once I finally can comprehend my surroundings I look and see I'm in a different room, this room looks like someone uses it, instead of that dark crusty smelling room with a metal door. I get up and start looking around the room trying to figure out if this is a someone actually sleeps with, the dressers are neatly organized with clothing, I noticed that there isn't anything sentimental in her, just a comb, a clear glass box made for watches in the center of the dresser filled with some beautifully expensive watches all made for men. This bedroom belongs to a man. Eventually, I give up I don't want to intrude and go any further into someones private belonging. I close the dresser drawer and turn around facing the large king size bed I see a change of clothes on the corner of it, why didn't I see this before?
          I unfold them and it looks like they were made to fit a mans body and not a womans, I just assume they are for me and put them on, much comfier than my jeans and my long sleeve, which was starting to make me sweat. The shirt is baggy, I took my hair tie out of my hair and used it to hold up the shirt, I tied the sweatpants multiple times because they were a bit too big around my waist and wouldn't stay up if I didn't tie them, they as soft as a babies bum. I opened the brown door and continued down the hall after I checked if anyone was around I walked out of the room.
           I didn't see anybody anywhere, it looked too clean to be abandoned, it, kind of looked like nobody was here, where did everyone go? I walked into the kitchen and made myself something to eat because now I'm starving, and I don't like starving. I find a bowl and spoon and hope they have ice cream. I open the freezer and look around and see that they do but it isn't to my liking, I find cereal instead and poured some milk into my fruity pebbles, after I finished the crunchy goodness I cleaned up my mess since this isn't my house and I turned around and took it upon myself to be nosy and check the place out. In the kitchen there was a door, I guess to the basement?
           I opened it and turned on the lights and walked down the stairs which were a little creaky and wobbly. When I got down to the final step I look over to my left and notice there is a guy tied to a chair, almost looking dead, his hair greasy with dry blood attached to small strands of his hair, his clothes are bloody, he looks skinny and boney. He doesn't notice I'm here and keeps his head in his lap, he's limp.
"Hello?" I said quietly not knowing if what I'm doing is okay at all, I watch him jump at the sudden sound of my voice and I take a step back, I frightened myself just coming down here inside a house that is not safe, to begin with.
"Please, don't hurt me." The young man pleads, slowly looking up at me, he looks extremely dehydrated and tired, I watch his features completely relaxed and he smiles sadly at me and shakes his head.
"I'm not, but, what happened?" I ask as I got closer to him and see him shaking and one eye sealed shut with a big bump surrounding it, his face is black and blue and his lips have blood falling from it.
"The gang leader, Jackson Led." He said looking at me through the other eye that isn't completely shut, his head keeps falling back towards his lap each time he lifts it.
"Why?" I ask sitting on the floor near him afraid to touch him and help him, but also tired of standing.
"I tried to kill him because he killed my little brother. He's disgusting, soulless, and evil, when you get the chance, run." He says sadly, looking at me then turning to the side to spit blood out of his mouth.
"Let me help you," I say finally getting the urge to do something good for this poor man, about to get up, but he stops me by saying with his foot, I jump at the sudden movement but I don't get up, I begin shaking when I watch how he groans just by that slight movement he made towards me.
"No, just let me be, I will eventually be with my brother soon. But one thing you can do is find Maria Robles, my Wife. In my pocket, there is a picture of her, tell her I love her and our baby." He said letting a tear slip out of his eye. I stand up and reach for the picture in his jean pocket once I get it I tuck it away in my side pocket for safekeeping and sit back down looking up at him.
"I'm- I'm so sorry," I said letting a tear fall down my cheek, this man is dying and I can't do anything to help him, he's is being held here and being beaten to death and he even manages to be stronger than me.
"I'm Raúl." He says and coughs multiple times afterward. I flinch because of the way he is coughing, he is choking on himself; on his blood.
"Cleo," I whisper not able to use my voice during this unbearable time; do I go against his wishes and seek help for him or do I let him die knowing I could have helped him?
"Jackson Led only worries about himself, you will get killed if you don't run, get out of here Cleo, please." He says begging me to leave before it isn't too late, he is still crying and I don't know if it's in pain, or because he really wants me gone.
"But I can't-" I was interrupted by a very scary shout and at this moment, I knew I was going to be handed a beating of a lifetime. I jumped up and felt all my hairs on my body stick up when My ears made contact with the deathly sound coming out of Jackson's mouth.
"Cleo!!" Jackson screamed so angrily, shit, what am I going to do now? Do I hide in here, do I run? I didn't even have time to do that because the basement door was already slammed open and I heard very heavy and fast footsteps coming my way.
"Find her please, and thank you." He says sadly and just above a whisper knowing me and him both are dead, even though this isn't his fault, he never told me to be nosy and come down here.
"What are you doing down here?!" He yelled grabbing my arm and tightening his grip around it which was excruciatingly painful as he drags me back up the stairs causing me to trip over myself a few times, I give one last look at Raúl and see him still shaking as he watches all of this happen and mouth I'm sorry even though I know it means absolutely nothing.
"I-I was, looking around, I didn't, I didn't mean too-" I stuttered and started crying from the pain and the fear, he's hurting me, but right now at this moment it doesn't matter how I feel, he was angry, and I don't know how to calm down a stranger.
"You don't snoop around people's things, it's how people get killed!" He screamed in my face pushing me against the kitchen wall and holding my arms by my side as he looks into my eyes angrily.
"Who?" I cried out, I already knew the answer staring into his eyes as I let my tears shed, I don't care if he sees me like this, it doesn't matter at this point.
"Greg! Kill him, he's useless." He says. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Greg grab a gun and walk to the basement slowly opening the door and Greg looks back at us but heads downstairs closing the door behind him.
"No, stop!!" I scream as I start going crazy and thrashing in Jackson's arm trying to get loose but it's no use, he has a very good grip on me so I kick him but he doesn't budge he just stares at me and watches me scream in his face, hurting myself in the process of all this.
"Don't kill him!!" I screamed at Greg and Jackson. I started hitting Jackson trying to get out of his hold but he didn't move from me and pushed up against my legs to stop me from kicking him. My hands slipped out of his grip and I got a few hits on his chest.
"Stop!" He screamed grabbing my arms and holding them down, I jumped once I saw how red his face was, everything went quite beside my crying. We looked at each other for a few seconds while everything was silent and within those few seconds, I heard the echoes of the gunshot killing an innocent man seeking revenge for his little brother that this monster in front of me killed.
"You monster!" I screamed once the echoes stopped and looked away from anything that involved him. I wanted to hide, and cover my face, be anywhere except here.
"This is what happens when you don't listen." He says coldly grabbing my face and making me look towards him but I divert my eyes to somewhere that isn't his face until he moved his face to meet my eyes.
"What he said about you was true wasn't it?" I whisper in his face looking into his eyes trying to read him even though he makes it nearly impossible.
"What did he say!" He growled gripping my face between his fingers squeezing very tightly, I'm quite certain he is going to leave marks.
"Like I'd tell you, you animal!" I spit out between my lips as they are being smashed together by this disgusting barbarian.
"Wrong answer!" He says and slaps my face, hard, making me look at him in shock and grab the side of my face once he let go of me. I start to uncontrollably shake, dejavu lingers in my mind.
"Now tell me!" He says, his eyes popping out of his head, his face so red, his eyebrows furrowed together, he grabs my face again but not as hard, I only focus on his misty eyes as they penetrate my soul.
"No!" I cried out on pain closing my eyes bracing myself for another hit that just never comes my way.
"Cleo! I don't have time for your games, what did he say?!" He boomed shifting my face making me open my eyes from the jolt of my head bouncing side to side.
"He said you were a monster, evil, cruel, disgusting, soulless!" I cried, once I finally let the words come out of my mouth he let me go, not before slapping me in the face again. I grabbed my face and slid down the wall, crying in my hands and starting to hiccup from not being able to breathe and I can't catch my breath, I was shaking and hiding away in my hands feeling just the slightest bit safer than letting him see me cry.
"Get up." He quietly, I slowly bring my hands to my knees and look up for his body, he isn't facing me anymore, instead, he has his face peering out of the large kitchen window.
"What?" I sniffed trying to get my breathing back and under control as I wipe my eyes.
"Get up!" He boomed grabbing me by my arm lifting me off of the ground. He dragged me upstairs into the room that I woke up in and got the clothes from, he let go of my arm and pushed me towards the bed and stood by the door looking at me.
"You will stay in my room until I say otherwise." He said holding the doorknob making his veins pop out of his arm.
"No wonder why nobody wants you, who would want somebody who treats them like crap?" I mumble walking away and walk to the bed and lay on it.
"Cleo, keep your mouth shut." He said calmly for now.
"Oh shut up already Jackson, what's the worst you could do?" I say turning around facing him. Watching his veins in his neck grow bigger.
"I could kill you, torture you, or the worst punishment of all, keep you as mine and never let you leave my side." He says wickedly, then right before anything else happened he smiled sickly.
"Killing me would be a blessing, my parents are already dead, and you are torturing me already, and being stuck with you forever doesn't scare me, I already am," I reply just when he was about to close the door behind him.
"Let's see that love." He takes a minute and doesn't reply until just when I thought I finally won. Why me? I walk into his bathroom and run a shower, I stare at myself in the mirror watching the mirror fog up around me, watching my reflection turn into a blob of foggy colors, I get in the shower and I sit on the floor holding my legs letting the nice hot water run down my body, I watch the water escaping the tub down into the drain. Is it possible to envy water right now?
"Mom, dad, if you can hear me, help me, I'm scared, I'm sorry ." I cried to myself holding my legs and cried into my knees at my hair stuck to my body. Once I finished crying I washed myself up and stepped out. I wrapped myself in a towel and looked myself up and down in the mirror, my neck is bruised with light hand marks, in the shades of brown and yellow. My face has cut around my lips and eyebrows, and I have a very red cheek with a slight handprint.   
         My eye is very red and has a lump over it, my arms are covered in hand marks that are turning into bruises and my head has a bump on the back of it. I walk into his room and go through his drawers, I grab the smallest shirt he has and a pair of boxers. I don't care if I'm taking his things and not asking, he just beat me, plus, I need clothes and I want to sleep away my problems, hopefully, I just won't wake up this time. I tie my hair in a bun after drying it and get into his bed. But I get back up to turn the light off then get back in the bed. I curl up under the heavy quilt blanket, I am almost about to fade into a blissful sleep when I hear the door open and close quietly.
"Cleo, I just-" he spoke gently, but it ended fast, he probably assumes I'm sleeping, I mean I sure want to, and I know I look like I am since I was on my way to finishing the job.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I acted today and about kidnapping you, tomorrow I'll take you home." He whispers. I can feel his presence beside me, I feel a hand rub my face softly, I'm trying really hard not to wince, because not only am I afraid of him, my face is full of cuts and bruises.
"I let my anger get the best of me, it's hard to control, but I'm improving, it's better than before I can tell you that much, I never wanted to hurt you, but you did everything I told you not to do, and I don't let people disrespect me, especially in my own home." He says removing his hand from my face. I hear his drawers open and close, I hear his pants fall to the floor, he's changing. He crawls into the bed next to me and grabs my body and brings it to his. Which I really did not feel comfortable with at all, but I couldn't move or he would know I'm not really sleeping, and I don't want him to get angry at me for acting.
"You're something else, Cleo." He mumbles into my neck. That was the last thing he said and the room went still. You could hear a pin drop, I feel his arms wrap around my waist as he snuggles closer to my body. Why is he laying with me he is my captor, I'm almost positive when people get kidnapped, the captor doesn't let them sleep in their bed or sleep beside them in an intimate position.

whats your favorite Holiday?
Love, Haley