GLASS_ A Standalone Novel - Arianne Richmonde Page 0,92
to a pale white . . . a light is shining in the confused orb of my brain. Yet I feel strangely at peace.
It won’t be long now.
6
Janie.
I HEARD MUTED screams and cries. Not human. Relentless. Piercing. Begging cries. But coming from another place, somewhere distant. I couldn’t work out where I was. I remembered being at the Bellagio. I could hear my stomach rumble. My head was light. Dizzy. All I could think of was food and how hungry I was. I pictured a French baguette with Brie and lettuce, mayo, and tomatoes washed down with a soda. I licked my dry lips. I was thirsty too. I peeled my eyes open but could barely see. It was dark. I was lying on a sofa, fully clothed. Where was I?
Then I remembered. The car. The man whom I thought was the bodyguard, sent by Elodie. Kristin. Daniel in his medically induced coma. My cell phone out of juice. I could hear my own muffled sobs. Sobs of defeat. I was too exhausted to even stir. I mentally scribbled a note, a proverbial message in a bottle:
I’m alone in the dark, locked up, with nobody to hear my cries. They’ve taken him from me. Nobody believes me. She is a liar, a thief, and a fraudster, and probably a murderess. She’ll kill him for sure.
Not only does she want me out of the picture . . .
She wants me dead.
But then I heard a shuffle. I wasn’t alone after all.
“Who’s there?” I groaned. My head hurt. I lifted my hand to my forehead and traced a small lump just above my left eyebrow. Bruised, but not cut.
A light went on, illuminating the dank room. I guessed it was a basement.
“I wondered when you’d wake up. Hungry? Thirsty?”
I lifted my eyes and saw the outline of the man who’d abducted me. He was no longer wearing his mirrored shades. His eyes were black—a Johnny Depp kind of soulful black, and his five O’clock shadow spoke of time passing. How many hours had gone by? I hadn’t noticed stubble on him before. I must have been here for ages. What was he doing here? My watchdog? What the fuck was I doing here? Had he hurt me? I needed to get to Daniel!
“What am I doing here?” I fired at him.
“You’re being kept out of trouble, is all. You didn’t answer my question. You hungry? You must be, you’ve been out for a good forty-eight hours.”
I didn’t have the energy to ask more questions. “Yeah, I’m starving,” I conceded. “Thirsty too. What have you got?”
“There’s a kitchen. I could fix you a sandwich. Or grill you a steak.”
My food fantasy daydreams popped straight out of my mouth: “I want a baguette with Brie, please. Pickles if you have them. Lettuce, tomato. And a Coke. Classic.”
He laughed. His laugh told me he wasn’t much older than me. “Not demandin’ one bit, are we little princess?”
“What is this place?” I asked nervously, my mind a blank as to how and why I was here. “Where am I?” The last thing I remembered was being in a car with this guy.
“I’ll fix you a cheese sandwich. Nothing fancy. And we do have Coke. Not classic, this isn’t the Ritz.” He chuckled again. “You’re cute, but you know that, right?”
“So they tell me,” I said, feeling my bruised lump again. “I suppose I’ve been abducted and you’re taking me hostage?” I asked, trying to sound cool although my pulse was racing with dread and apprehension of what was to come.
“Abducted, yes. Hostage, no. I’ll fix you that sandwich. By the way, you bumped your head in the struggle. I didn’t hit you, in case you were wonderin.”
“A real gentleman,” I said wryly, not remembering a thing.
I must have momentarily dozed off, because what must have been a while later, I awoke to the smell of processed cheese under my nose.
“Here, eat this.” The guy put a plate out, and the soda on a table beside the sofa. I sat up, or tried to. He helped me, positioning his hands around my waist and hoisting me vertically. His shoulder brushed against my cheek. He smelled of cedar wood, or some expensive cologne, which surprised me. The intimacy of his proximity was unnerving.
I delved into the sandwich, moaning with relish as I chewed. The feeling of real food hitting my stomach calmed me, instantly giving me strength. I gulped down some Coke.