GUILTY (Gabe's Trials)

Marco

Angry whispers made their way to my ears, slightly drawing me out of my dazed state while my mind tried to make out the words coming from the darkness ahead of me.

"You fucking idiot! When Marco sees her, you're fucking dead. How could you be so stupid? She was obviously a decoy -and not even a good one at that, since our gril had fucking red hair- and you fell for it, you fucking motherfucker." The voice certainly belonged to a woman, her heavy breathing mingling with her words. "I'm done saving your fucking ass, Robert. You had one simple fucking thing to do and all the means to do it, so how the fuck did you screw it up so badly?" Calm footsteps resonated through the room, but I was too scared to open my eyes and see who they belonged to. 

"Will you calm down and listen to me, Clarisa? I have no idea what you're talking about. That over there is none other than Julia Groves, the woman Marco asked me to follow and bring here." The woman gasped and then moaned deep and low in her throat. I didn't have to open my eyes to know that they were probably kissing. "My job here is done and even though you won't have to save my ass this time I'd love to turn yours pink." Her light giggle was all the answer he needed judging by their hasty retreat from the room.

Finding myself incapable of opening my eyes and staring into a most likely empty, dark room, I let my mind drift to more peaceful times.

$$$

Merely blinking, I winced at the sharp pain errupting inside my head, the room immediately starting to spin. It must have been hours since whitnessing those two's whispered conversation and my entire body felt stiff.  Something resembling rope cut into my wrists the moment I tried to move, a hiss escaping my lips. Just then I realised that I was tied to an ancient, wooden chair, the cold biting into my exposed skin. Where the hell was I?

"Look who's finally awake..." Ginger drawled and I immediately turned to try and look at her. I could've sworn she hadn't been there before, yet there she was now, standing just a few feet at my right. Her voice was hoarse and shallow, her tiny figure tied to a chair matching mine. I couldn't see her face from where I stood though and it was useless to keep trying to catch a better glimpse of her. The people bringing me here and restraining me had done a good job. I was incapable of moving any more than I had moved already. "Are you ok?" Something told me that I was the one supposed to ask her that, judging by her broken voice, but, instead of that, I just ended up nodding.

"I'm fine." My voice didn't sound any better than hers, but making a quick assesment, I realised that except for that I was perfectly fine indeed. I had no broken bones and nothing really hurt except for my wrists and ankles. I had a stiff body, that's right, but that was nothing compared to what could've happened to me by now.

"Good. Now you need to listen to me and actually hear me, Julia, as I'm quite sure they'll soon come for me again." It took me a moment to understand what she was saying but then, that realisation made my skin crawl. Ginger knew how these sort of things worked and if she said that they were going to come for her, then she was bloody right. I just dreaded the moment that was going to happen -the moment I was going to be left alone in the dark, cold room I was currently held captive in. I slowly nodded, the muscles in my neck screaming from the searing pain that movement had brought upon them. " These are the bad guys, Julia. Whatever they do, whatever they say... They're just gonna try to get to you. Don't trust them. Don't trust a word they say." Ginger moaned as if in pain and that reminded me of our car crash. I'd gotten off easily, but what if she'd been injured? Furthermore, what if they had injured her afterwards, while I was being blissfully unconscious?

"Are you ok?" I asked, finding myself fearing her answer.

"I'm fine. Now listen!" I knew very well that she wasn't fine, but I wasn't going to push it. Not now anyway. Ginger sighed shortly and went on. "They'll want you to cooperate and they're gonna do whatever it takes for you to do just that. Here's what's going to happen: they're gonna bring you food, so eat it. As for the water, only drink enough as not to die of thirst." Ok... I knew what she was talking about -I'd seen plenty of movies where the main charactes were being captured and drugged-, but still that was not what I'd expected things to be like -not that it mattered really.