Kidnapped By Johnnie and Jake

The Hot Seat

I had my hands tied, so I couldn't even touch my face afterwards to feel the damage. All I felt was blood drip from my nose.

"I'm serious!" I yelled. "I've been in a coma for...I don't even know how long! I only just woke up when your men came shooting up the house!"

The man burst out laughing. "I've heard a lot of excuses during my time, but this one takes the cake." He crossed his arms. "You've been in a coma, huh?"

"I'm not lying—look at my neck!"

"So now you wanna tell me what's going on with that neck of yours," he said as he began to un-bandage it. "That's a nasty scar. How did it happen?"

"Johnnie held a knife to my neck, and I tried to kill myself by shoving myself into it."

"Not afraid of a little blood, then?"

"The thing is, I didn't expect to have to live to deal with it."

"Unlucky. So, what is it with you and Johnnie, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's the situation?"

"He kidnapped me, I told you."

"And that's it? No Stockholm Syndrome? You don't have a thing for him or anything?"

"No! As I said, I—"

"Because that's not what your friend behind you told me."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "What?"

"Blondie over there told me Johnnie's your boyfriend," said the man, and if I could see his face, it would have probably been smirking.

What the fuck was Kaycee on about?!

Okay, I tried not to judge. She has been in the exact same situation as me. She probably told the man she didn't know much about Johnnie and Jake, but the man didn't believe her, so she made up some information to tell him.

"That's not true at all!"

"Oh yeah? Well, who am I gonna believe? You, who's probably denying it in order to protect your boyfriend, or Kaycee, who was forced to throw her friend under the bus to avoid being tortured? Surely if she was going to make something up, she'd say something that wouldn't cause harm to you."

"I don't know why she said it, but I do know that it's just not true! I've only known him for a few days, not including the time I've been in a literal COMA."

The man presented a switch blade from his pocket, and flicked it open. "You better get telling someone truths, young lady, or that pretty little scar on your neck is 'boutta get reopened."

I squeezed my eyes shut and fought back tears. I WISHED I'd managed to successfully kill myself when Johnnie had had the knife to my neck. If I'd just been a little rougher, I'd be dead at this point. I wouldn't have to suffer any more. But then I thought...I'd have another chance at suicide if this man put his knife to my throat.

"Try me," I said.

"Uh-uh, not so fast, missy," the man said, shaking his head. "We don't want any accidents to happen again, do we?"

He retrieved a rope from a random table in the room, and then tied it around my neck and the back of the chair, holding my head in place. It was now stuck to the chair—I couldn't move forward. He knew I was eager to kill myself, and prevented me from trying it.

He inched the knife closer and closer to the scar on my neck.

"You know, by doing this you're just gonna set yourself further away from finding Johnnie and Jake, because I'm gonna be forced to tell you false information like Kaycee did, seeing as I know nothing of use."

"Oh, that won't happen, sweetheart. Because, if you tell me something and it turns out to be wrong, I'll torture you more. I'll have you hanged, drawn and quartered."

"I don't want to tell you the wrong information, mister. But you're giving me no choice. You need to understand that I couldn't give a shit about what happens to Johnnie or Jake, or Sam or Colby. They hurt me, and quite frankly, I want revenge myself." Then, I had an idea. "I'll tell you what: if you stop working against me, and let me work with you, I'll try and help you find Johnnie. I don't know how I'll help, because, as I said, I know nothing, but I'll join you. You can use me as bait to lure them in, or whatever. But, just know that I'm on your side here."

And, I wasn't really lying! I did want Johnnie to get screwed over for what he did to me, and for what he did to Peppa. The only half-truth I told was that I was on this man's side. Really, I was on neither of their sides. I was on my own side, but if it meant using one side to get at the other, I was down for it.

"You're an interesting one, you." The man stroked his chin. "But I can't trust you."

"Why not?"

"Well, you're not expecting me to just take your word for it, are you? You're staying right in that chair until I figure out a way to use you as bait to lure in Johnnie boy. Don't get too comfortable."

"How could I? I'm chained to a chair with my neck tied up."

"Ah, yeah, my bad. I'll undo the necktie."

He did so, and then shoved a bag over my head and walked off.

*

I was relieved he had agreed to my plan, and spared me a lot of torture, although I was still left with a bloody nose.

Waiting was excruciatingly boring, not being able to see or move, but then I heard groans from behind me.

"Kaycee?" I said into the darkness of my hood.

"Yeah," she croaked.

"Are you okay?"

"...No."