AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There’s a full first aid kit. Bandages of all sizes, medical tape, salves, ointments, Hydrogen peroxide, and alcohol. I find this discovery more than a little disturbing. Why is our captor providing us with this stuff, and what will happen that requires it?
In another cabinet are stacks of neatly folded wash cloths and hand towels and bath mats and giant bath towels. I pull out one of the enormous towels and wrap it around myself then walk back out into the main cell, covered now at least.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hey. What do we do now?”
We both know what we're supposed to do now, but of course we aren't going to do that. I'm not sure what he'll do if he gets hungry enough. I move back to the place across the room and gingerly sit back down.
“We wait,” he says.
“How long have you been here?”
“A couple of days. I've already looked for escape options. There are none.” He points up at the ceiling. “In the corners, do you see those shiny black things?”
I squint. I hadn't noticed them before. “Yes.”
“Cameras,” he says. “There aren't any in the bathroom, though. Though there are probably listening devices in there.”
I allow this piece of information to settle in my brain.
“W-when was the last time you ate?”
He winces at this. “Don't worry. I ate half an hour before he brought you in.”
“Have you used the shower or the tub?”
“The shower.”
“So he's not going to come in here and hurt us if I...”
The man shakes his head. “He won't come in until I eat. He drugs the food. So if you want to take a bath or a shower, you'll be safe.”
“You won't come in?”
He shakes his head. “I promise.”
“Do you think he'll starve us if we don't do what he says?”
He sighs. “Yes.”
I look away. I don't know what to say to this. It's not as though it would be any great tragedy to sleep with this beautiful man, but I don't think I can do it with someone else watching. I might feel differently about this when I get hungry enough.
Since I'm in no exact immediate danger, I don't cry again. I feel stupidly safer with this other man here even though I know obviously something bad is going to happen, things we'll both be forced to do together to survive. And in the end, we probably won't anyway.
“I'm going to take a bath,”
He nods. He doesn't turn away this time because I'm covered in a bath towel. It takes a while for the tub to fill up. I put in some raspberry bath oil and take one of the roses from the vase and sprinkle the petals in. I'm trying to feel normal. Inside this bathroom, I can pretend that things are somehow normal.
I sink beneath the steaming hot water and lean back against the rim of the tub, closing my eyes and listening to the classical music.
I stay like this until the water goes cool. But no matter what I do, I can't convince myself that I'm having a normal bath on a normal day.
As I'm getting out of the tub and drying off, it occurs to me, my co-captive knew about this bathroom. He knew about the towels. He could have covered me so I didn't wake up like that. He would have had to have been unconscious when I was brought in, of course. Maybe he'd woken up just before me and didn't have time. Maybe I was already stirring, and he didn't want to startle me. Or maybe... he liked the view and isn'tthathonorable.
I find myself unsettled by these possibilities as I return to the cell.
Hours pass. I try not to look at him, but I fail. There isn't much to look at or occupy my time. The music is becoming a little obnoxious, and to be honest, I would rather have the silence. It's like Chinese water torture.
