for June

27. Square One

(You are advised to read this chapter with the sound on for extra sensory effect.)

"I guess this is better than being shot," Chad mumbled, walking into the sparse, dirty, foul-smelling garage, with its bare and angry red, Australian soil. The smell immediately overpowered his senses as Cassie dug a finger into his back, nudging him further in. "Phew, Cassie, what died in here?"

She sniffed the air. "I smell nothing. Why, what do you smell?" Her eyes, wide and worried, flickered over the earthen floor. Chad couldn't tell why.

A large blowfly whizzed around him, the sound irritating his throbbing head. He'd forgotten about the thumping headache he still had, and now, the sound of a fly brought it forth in his mind. He winced as Cassie propelled him towards the rusty old water heater in the corner and thrust him down.

He landed on his ass, hitting a bone to something hard under the soil. Cassie tied his hands with a metal wire around a foot of the heater. Chad noticed her phone drop with a slight thud to the earth as she bent over, fixated on tying him up. He was glad the floor wasn't cement. He needed that phone. He had to keep her from recovering it. So, he leaned in closer to her, as close as he could manage without his stomach churning at the thought of trying to charm her.

"What happened to the floor in here? Doing some renovations, are you?"

Cassie eyed him, surprised at his smile. He forced it wider; sure all his teeth were showing. She blushed but continued to loop the gardening wire she'd found to tie him up with.

"Mum was renovating. I don't know why she started with the garage," Cassie said, a smile playing on her lips.

"Uh-huh," Chad mumbled while reaching his right foot to drag the phone below his thigh without alerting her. She hadn't noticed it yet, and wouldn't notice for a while. He needed to make a call. Just one call.

His leg slipped, a tad short of the phone, and Cassie turned. "What're you doing?"

Lucky for Chad, his thigh was hiding half the phone and her own behind was hiding the rest from view. "Nothing." He pretended to get comfortable again. It was surprising how often she was falling for the same trick.

"Something is digging in my butt, so I was trying to find a better spot." He thumped the rest of his thigh over the phone as Cassie moved.

"Oh." She stood. "That's probably an old beam or something. This used to be a porch at one point. I'll get you a cushion to sit on. Be right back."

"I'll be here, as promised," he muttered, half-smiling as she glanced back at him, making sure he wasn't going anywhere.

As soon as she was out of sight, Chad tried to bring the phone closer, but a bigger problem remained. How was he going to place a call? He struggled to grip the phone between his shoes, and every time he moved, the wires around his wrist cut a little deeper.

When he heard the flush of the toilet and approaching footsteps on the creaky floor, he put his legs over the device. He had to find a window of time, long enough where he could be alone, maybe her next bathroom-break. For now, Cassie entered the garage once more and there was nothing he could do. He hoped by now Jo and June had realised he was missing and called the police.

Cassie held two cold beers in hand, and a cushion wedged under one arm. She placed the bottles on the floor in front of him and hit him on the side of the bottom. "Up." He complied, relieved to sit on something soft and not the hard ground.

She sat crossed legged in front of him and handed him a beer while she took a sip from the other. "Thought you might be thirsty, and I know how much you like this brand." She held the bottle to him as if waiting for him to take it.