Duskwood: Unrecognisable

Part 55

A/N: Trigger warning: Violence, torture, drugs, oh my!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Waiting in the darkness, trying to fake sleep while also trying not to fall asleep was actually harder than it sounds. I lowered my phone's brightness all the way down and still it felt too bright. I managed to find a believeable ASMR of something snoring softly and played it while I kept my phone between the cushions on the couch. I didn't think it would take Jake so long after drugging me to leave, but he must've waited at least two hours.

He came in to check on me sometime around 10 and left me a fresh bottle of water. His breath on my skin gave me chills as he leant over to check on me. His fingers softly stroked my cheek then ran across my lips before his own lips pressed against mine. I fought so hard to keep my breathing even and my body still, even though I felt so completely unnerved by the whole situation. Then as quietly as he entered, he left, closing the door gingerly behind him. I didn't dare move a muscle, not until I heard his heavy footsteps descend stairs. Quickly I sat up, slipped my sneakers on and tossed on Jake's hoodie. As I stood up, I grabbed my phone from between the cushions and put it on silent, muting all notifications.

The side door creaked as Jaked opened it. I tiptoed over to the office door, opening a crack to peek out. The building was dark. There wasn't even the usual glow of Jake's laptop. That's how I knew when I heard the door closed that Jake wasn't planning on returning anytime soon. Hurriedly I went down the stairs, trying my hardest to control my footsteps so they couldn't be heard on the outside. Without even pausing for a moment, I gingerly opened the side door, keeping it's creak to a minimum. Searching left and right for any movement, I closed the door behind, then ran to the corner and looked for Jake.

Jake was already a couple of blocks down the main road and I only just spotted him in time before he disappeared down an alley. Walking swiftly to catch up, I followed Jake through a maze of alleys and abandoned buildings. It took me a while to realise he was avoiding the CCTV cameras. He even had that considered in case I had some regained access to them. Eventually he stopped at the back of an abandoned warehouse and entered through a gap in the scaffolding. The area somehow seemed familiar to me. I glanced around and caught sight of the main road. It came to me that we were at the same building we had witnessed the police raid on Cyan from. We had had sex on the upper floor of this building. After a couple of minutes of waiting for any movement, I cautiously entered the building after Jake.

Not surprisingly, the building was dark, but I didn't dare pull out my phone for light. Instead I waited for my eyes to adjust to the small amount of moonlight that penetrated the gaps in the boarded up windows to find my way around empty racks. Soon I reached a door to a wide-open room. There was a warm light from a barrel fire on the far side of the room. As I tiptoed in, I noticed Jake's silhouette standing to the side of the fire. I kept to the back wall and moved behind some empty cardboard boxes to make sure I was hidden from view. Jake was talking, but with the poor sound reflections of the room, it was a bit difficult to make out what he was saying. There was a series of boxes closer to Jake. Taking a deep breath, I took the risk in moving closer.

"Oh come on, Richy! Wake up already!" I heard as clear day and my heart jumped.

Jake swung his arm and I heard the impact of the back of his hand on Richy's face. There was a pained grumble from Richy. I peeked around the box and saw that Richy was tied up on a metal chair. His head hung low, his arms uncomfortably restrained behind his back, his feet planted flat on the ground, uncomfortably apart. He lift his head slightly and in the dim light I could see one of his eyes was so bruised it had swollen shot. I covered my mouth to muffle my audible gasp.

"Ah, I didn't hear you return," Richy smiled weakly. "You should have called to let me know you were coming."

Jake yelled in German and slapped him again.