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No response.
I lean my ear closer to the gap in the door. I swear there is a rustle or something inside. “Sonia?”
Aw, fuck it.
All at once, I push the door open and turn on the overhead light.
And my blood runs cold.
Sonia is tied up in a chair, gagged, blood dripping from a gash in her head. Her eyes are closed, head drooping.
I run to her. “Sonia! Oh, my god, Sonia!” I hope she wakes up, that this is all some kind of joke.
I cup her face in my hands. “Sonia? Sonia, honey, can you hear me?”
Her eyes wink open, but not much.
She groans into the tape over her mouth.
“You’re alive.” A wave of relief sweeps through me, though fear courses in my veins. “You’re alive, you’re–”
Sonia groans again, squeezing her eyes together.
“Fuck, you’re hurt. Oh god, you’re –”
The police. I need the police. I need to get her an ambulance. I need to fix this before it’s too late.
I reach under her desk and smack the panic button.
“They’ll be here soon, honey.” I want to hold her in my arms, but I don’t know where she hurts.
I start to tear the tape off her mouth, but she yelps in pain.
“I’m sorry. Too fast. I’m sorry. So sorry.” I try to peel it off the rest of the way, millimeter by millimeter.
“The safe,” she whimpers when her mouth is free enough to speak. It’s taking all her energy to keep her eyes open.
“The safe?”
“They…they took…” Sonia’s lips smack together as she tries to find words and the energy to stay awake.
I look across the room at an open cabinet. Inside, the safe door is open and any money in there, gone. What the fuck happened here?
“It’s okay. It’s okay. Fuck the safe.” I stroke her cheek. She is more important. There’s time for the rest later.
Sonia attempts to smile, but winces. The wound in her head glistens with fresh blood.
“You’re okay.” I force a smile as I whip a handkerchief out of my pocket and press it against the wound.
She moans, eyes rolling back with pain. Her wrists strain against their binds.
“I’ll get you out of here. You’re safe, I promise you’re safe with me now.”
I try to undo the bind on her wrist, but my hands are shaking, and the knots are impossible for my thick fingers to thread through. “The police will be here soon. We’ll get you to a hospital and–”
Sonia’s head grows heavy in my hand.
I look up to find her eyes have shuttered again.
