The Cunning

66

The floorboard creaked beneath Janine's feet, alerting Madison of her presence. She quickly wiped her eyes and attempted to control her quivering breaths.

"Are you okay?" Janine asked, closing the bedroom door behind her and shutting out the noise.

"You shouldn't be in here," Madison replied. Janine shrugged, sitting down on the corner of the bed.

"They can only do so much. I know getting openly grabbed is scary, I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Madison peered over her forearms resting on her knees. She sniffed.

"I hate being touched."

Janine breathed a small laugh, "If that were the only hurdle to get over." She pulled Madison's arms open, running her thumbs over her cheeks to wipe away the tears and mascara. "You won't get anywhere crying, babe. Dry your eyes. Don't waste your tears on him."

"I don't understand why he won't just kill me? Anything would be better than this," Madison said through gulps of air. Janine chewed the inside of her cheeks, looking down guiltily. When Madison had first arrived, Janine had found her annoying. The upset she caused in the house made her panic but seeing Madison like this was far worse.

"I asked the same thing."

Madison narrowed her eyes, sitting up straight and smudging away the rest of the smeared mascara with her sleeve. "Gee, thanks."

Janine smiled. "Not because I wanted to get rid of you, because I didn't want anyone else trying to follow in your footsteps. What you're doing isn't clever. It's honestly a miracle that you're still alive," she said. Madison looked over to Jase's bedside cabinet where he'd left a packet of cigarettes. She took two, handing one to Janine.

"He can't kill me. They were paid to get me, and they've already got the money," she curled her lip in disgust, "paid by my pervert boss."

"Believe me, that wouldn't stop Jase from killing you if he wanted you dead. That's not why you're still here." Madison was about to take another drag on the cigarette, she stopped, barely brushing the tip to her lips,

"If that's not the reason I'm still here, then what is?" she asked. Janine ran her tongue across her teeth.

"Because he finds you entertaining," she said after a brief pause. "As I said, Jase likes playing games." Madison stared at her. She thought about anything that might support Janine's theory. His body language the night she'd first been brought into the house came to mind - he'd seemed so bored. The way he had recited who they were and what they did and where she was, it had been like reading from a script. It was all textbook for him, and she'd come along and disturbed the peace, giving him something new to pay attention to. Now her novelty was wearing off.

"I need to go back downstairs," Janine sighed. She stopped at the door, looking over her shoulder, "Now you know what he's really like, think about your next move carefully."

Madison scoffed, shaking her head, staring absently at nothing in particular, the smoke from her cigarette whispering skyward in her peripherals.

"There is no next move," she muttered.

Janine frowned, "what do you mean?"

"He won." Janine laughed abruptly, shaking her head.

"You're no done yet, Mads."

It was in that moment Madison realised Janine was rooting for her. She'd been helping Madison as best as she could without putting herself at too much risk.

And here she was again, feeding her more information. Janine knew what she was doing, but she wasn't dumb enough to directly conspire.

Madison finished smoking the cigarette, the whole time considering everything Janine had said. Even then, she didn't have the energy or want to fight back. It wasn't worth it.

He. Had. Won.