8. Kim
8
KIM
Kim
I stare at the door he just left out of, my mouth hanging open. My heart is hammering in my chest, and I can feel a panic attack threatening to take over any second now.
I jump off of the bed and run towards the door. The first thing I do is jiggle the handle, even though I know it’s useless. The second thing I do is start pounding on the door.
“Help!” I scream. “Some help me, please! Open the door!”
I pause, pressing my ear to the wood. All I hear on the other side is thumping music. It’s so loud, there’s no way anyone can hear me over it, unless they’re right outside the door.
“Please! Open the fucking door!”
I pound on it repeatedly with my fists, kicking it a few times as well. But I have zero hope that it will break. This is a fancy ass hotel, it’s obviously not a cheap door.
“Fuck,” I mutter, a couple of tears streaming down my face.
Looking around the room frantically, I spot two windows. I run towards one of them, though I already know we’re in the penthouse.
When I look outside, I see the busy street below. It’s so far down I can’t make anyone out, but I’m sure they’re here for the party.
Someone has to find me at some point. People wander around into rooms at parties all the time.
But a violent sob comes out of me as I remember what he said. He practically owns this hotel. He probably has someone out there guarding it or something.
The window doesn’t open, so I can’t even open it to scream for help. I could still try to attract attention, but who would even be looking up here in the first place?
I freeze just as I’m about to start walking back to the door.
My phone. Where is my phone? I could’ve sworn I brought it in here with us.
My brain is so cloudy right now due to the stress, the pure insanity of this situation, that I can’t even remember where I would’ve put it. I search near the bed but find nothing.
“Fucking bastard,” I cry out. He probably took it. Of course he did.
I let myself fall to the ground, tears pouring out at an insane rate. I should’ve tried to hurt him before he left. I should’ve used the things I learned when I learned self-defense. Why didn’t I try?
His face flashes in my mind. Dark, greyish eyes, long dark hair. There was always something about his eyes that I noticed every time I looked in them, but I never knew what it was until now.
Now, the only word that comes to mind when I think of them is deadly. He has to be, to have done this to me. He’s psychotic.
“Oh my god…” My hand flies to cover my mouth.
I remember all those times he was watching our practices. How he always seemed to be staring at me. How did I not find that alarming? Why did I never confront him about it or tell someone?
I shake my head. No, I can’t do this. I can’t blame myself. I had no idea this would happen. I had no possible way to see that. It’s not my fault.
A sound in the hall makes me jump, and I realize that he’s going to be coming back in here. At some point, he will. That thought terrifies me.
Why did he do this? What is he going to do with me?
The next thought that hits me is the fact that no one is going to notice I’m gone.
I haven’t been to visit my brothers in weeks, and we barely talk anymore. They’ve gotten pretty distant, and I started getting the sense that they were mad at me for moving out. I was so busy with practice and games, and studying to try to get into grad school, that I just stopped trying so hard.
I made friends with some of the other ice girls, but none of us got that close. We’d hang out after practice and after games, but that was really it. And I don’t have many other friends outside of them, either. It’s hard to find people I trust, on top of finding time for them.
No one is going to come looking for me, at least not anywhere near soon enough. It would probably take weeks for anyone to notice I’m gone, and even then, it’d most likely be my landlord after he realizes I haven’t paid rent.
I’m fucked.
Using the ground to hoist me up, I force myself to stand, peering around the rest of the room. I haven’t even really looked at it yet.
The space is huge, and it’s undeniably beautiful. I’ve never even seen a bed this big before, and to call this a hotel room would be false. It looks like a master bedroom in some huge mansion.
There are two doors in the room other than the one I came through. I check both. One of them is a huge walk-in closet. It doesn’t contain any clothes, just linens for the bed and a few towels. The other door leads to a giant bathroom.
The floors are white marble, so clean I can see a reflection of everything off of it. There’s a jacuzzi as well as a large walk-in shower. The shower has two rows of different soaps, all of which look expensive. The towels match the ones I saw in the closet.
It’s the largest bathroom I’ve ever been in, as well as the fanciest. Even the mirror is elegant.
I look at my reflection in it. My curly hair is messy, probably from when he threw me on the bed. My makeup is smudged from the crying. I look exhausted and scared. I’ve never seen my eyes so wide.
When I leave the bathroom, I walk towards the bed and lie down in it. It’s been a long day, and even before this party I was tired. But I’m terrified to fall asleep, not knowing what I’ll be waking up to.
Who knows if I’d even wake up in the same place.
My mind goes back to the kiss we shared on this very bed, moments before he locked me in here. I drag my hands to my mouth, remembering how good it felt to be lost in him, to finally give into the pull…
What a fucking idiot I am.
Where did it go so wrong? None of this makes any sense to me.
I spend what feels like hours going over every interaction I’ve had with him in my head. The time I ran into him beating up Matthew. When I first met him at the team party. The first time we spoke.
Eventually, I drift off, unable to keep my eyes open any longer.
A ray of sunlight shining directly in my eyes wakes me up. At first, I forget where I am. My eyes remain closed, and I start thinking about my morning routine.
Get up, shower, make breakfast, go for a run. I don’t have practice anymore, so I have a full day of studying ahead of me. I need to apply to some jobs, but that won’t take up too much time.
I lift myself up, opening my eyes. As soon as I see the room around me, I pause. Everything that happened last night slowly comes back to me, one horrible scene at a time.
“Hello?” I say out loud. No one answers, but that doesn’t mean someone isn’t in here.
My heart starts to speed up instantly, and that stressed feeling comes back. I jump to my feet and check every inch of the room, in the closet and in the bathroom. He’s not in here.
But someone was in here, because there’s a huge cart full of food sitting at the foot of the bed. And judging by the heat still coming off of the eggs and pancakes, they were in here recently. Probably right before I woke up.
A chill runs through me, imagining someone coming in here while I was sleeping. They could’ve done anything they wanted to me.
I sit back in the bed, my back against the headboard. After some thought, I make the decision to not eat the food. It smells incredible, and my stomach is growling nonstop, but it would feel weird to eat it. That’s what he wants, obviously, and why would I do something he wants me to do?
Hours go by, and no one comes into the room. I don’t hear any noises outside, either. There’s no TV or anything to entertain myself, so I spend most of the day pacing back and forth and looking out the window. Below, Washington D.C moves on, completely unaware that I’m trapped up here.
Pulling myself away from the window, I walk back to the food cart. Everything has long been cold, but at this point, my stomach feels like it’s eating itself. And maybe not eating is a bad idea. Maybe I should use the food to fuel myself so that I can try to fight anyone that comes in here.
First, I take a sip from the glass of water. My throat welcomes the liquid, having had none in almost twenty-four hours. Next, I pick up a piece of bacon. Despite being old, it still tastes delicious.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I devour all of it, even the cold eggs. I guess I hadn’t realized how hungry I actually was.
When the cart is completely empty, I drink the rest of the water. My stomach feels so full that I almost feel like I need to lie down. I stand up and walk around the bed, lying in the spot I fell asleep in last night.
As soon as my head hits the pillow, my eyes start to feel droopy, like I can’t keep them open. I start feeling dizzy as well, like the room is spinning.
When I try to lift my head up, it barely moves. A few seconds later, I completely lose consciousness.