Endgame

Pt 8: Mangoes

I wake up with a pounding, skull smashing headache. My entire body feels oddly stiff. I try to move my arms, but I can't.  Slowly, I blink awake... and notice that my ankles are tied together with paisley fabric. I try to cry out but I can't. I try again, but I feel something in my mouth preventing me from talking.

And thats when everything comes back to me. Rafe in front of me, his hands in the air. Someone coming from behind me, him yelling at them, and me falling to the floor.

"Kie, you awake?"

The floorboards creak, and all of a sudden Rafe is standing above me. He crouches down so we can see eye to eye. I scream, and he laughs at me. This bastard laughs at me.

"Kiara its ok. I'm gonna take this off."

He's on his knees in front of me now. He reaches around my head and begins to tug at my ties. I feel the pressure ease, and I spit out the rag in my mouth.

"Kie, this can go two ways, ok?"

I say nothing. I don't even look him in the eyes.

"You can either cooperate with me, or I will have to make you cooperate with me, and honestly thats a waste of my energy and yours, so if I were you I'd go with the first one."

I keep my gaze ahead. I can't stand looking at him right now. He is seriously deranged.

"Kiara, you're going to help me one way or the other." He picks up the cloth again brings it to my mouth. I try to keep my lips shut but he forces my mouth open.

"If you aren't gonna talk, you might as well be silent." He said, tying it around my head again. He got back up on his feet. He bends down and hoists me into his arms. I protest and wriggle around but he keeps a tight hold on me. He takes me to a room in the back of the boat with a desk drilled to the wall and a bed nailed down to the floor. He puts me on the bed.

"Holler if you need something." He steps away from me, but stops again in the threshold. "Oh and by the way, I wouldn't waste my energy by struggling if I were you." And with that, he was gone.

I hold back tears as a try to tug at the cloth binding my hands behind me. It's no use.

I don't know how long I just sat there. Probably an hour, maybe two. All i knew was that each second killed me. It killed me to feel this helpless, to know I don't have the upper hand.

I heard footsteps getting closer and closer, and sure enough he came back into the room, carrying two cans. He held them up to me.

"Peaches and mango." He said.

He sat at beside me on the bed, placing the plastic spoon I flinched as he brought his hands closer to me.

"Kiara, relax. I'm not gonna hurt you."

He unties my gag for the second time.

"Peaches or mango?" He repeats.

I remain silent.

"Kie please. Staying quiet isn't gonna help your situation. If anything it will make things worse." He held up a plastic spoon. "All I'm trying to do right now is help you. Please, work with me."

"Mango." I say. My voice is gravelly, and it hurts a little to talk. I haven't had water in hours. His eyes light up as he hears my voice, and a small smile spreads across his lips.
"Mango it is." He says, grabbing the can and cracking it open. It's a can of Dole cubed mango in that nasty sugar water, probably filled with a million preservatives. He sticks the spoon in the open can, scooping out chucks on mango.