Chapter 3
J returns much sooner than she’d like, despite what the growling of her stomach says. Cait hasn’t managed to escape, but she has managed to create some nasty wounds on her wrists.
“I brought food.” J seems in a much better mood now. Cait figures that maybe she’s like that; constantly switching between mad and upset to happy and gleeful. It only serves to make her more scary. She’s clearly…unpredictable. Unstable. Not like her sister at all.
Caitlyn doesn’t respond, although she’s sure her captor knows that she’s hungry. Her stupid stomach is betraying her, growling and letting the whole world know that she hasn’t eaten in…who knows how long. She doesn’t know how long she’s been here. The light doesn’t change with the time of day in here, and being knocked out twice has made her very disoriented.
Panic starts to set into her chest again. Fuck. What day is it? Is she going to die without ever seeing the sun again?
“Hello? Princess?” Fingers adorned with long painted nails snap in front of her face, waking her up from a fear induced trance. “Want some or not? I’m trying to be a good host here.”
Cait resists the urge to glare at the blue haired kidnapper. “You kidnapped me. That’s not really a dinner party invitation, that’s a crime.” She tries to harden her voice, to show strength despite the obvious tremor.
“And I’m sure you’d know a lot about that, considering you’re a cop.” J’s smile is sickly sweet, looking at her in that dangerous way she had when she had first asked about Vi. Blue eyes shining wide, head tilted, lips curled up at the corners. Caitlyn stared involuntarily.
“Is this my last meal?” She watches as J plops a bag down on the couch beside her, pulling out containers of food.
She almost jumps out of her skin when her captor starts to giggle uncontrollably. She almost falls over from the way she’s laughing at Caitlyn’s words, hand over her chest like she can’t breathe. If Cait didn’t fear that this girl would end her life, she’d probably put her in her place.
“It was not that ridiculous of a question.” Cait insists, wishing her arms were free so she could cross them. “You kidnapped me, it’s a logical conclusion to come to.”
“A logical conclusion to come to.” J mocks, doing a poor imitation of Caitlyn’s accent. “No, Kiramman, this isn’t your last meal, but you would’ve been damn grateful if it was.” She picks up a container off the stuff, popping the lid off and winking at her. “Undercity’s finest.”
It’s more of that disgusting slop Vi had been eating. Did they not have anything else down here? Cait has to fight the urge to scrunch up her face and glare at the gross food.
“Suck it up and eat it, princess.” Jinx places it in the middle of her tied up hands, settling it in tight. “It’s good once you get used to it.”
Cait breathes deeply, trying not to think about what could possibly in this food. If she wasn’t so hungry, she would’ve never considered eating this, but being kidnapped and then in a constant state of fear and panic could really start to make you starve.
She knows J is watching with a morbid curiosity, waiting for her reaction the undercity’s specials. Before she can even bring it to her lips, J’s pale hand reaches out and touches her wrist, the cold fingers on her skin shocking Cait.
“Look at what you did to yourself.” J tsks. “You’re bleeding now, princess.”
Caitlyn looks down, shocked. She knew she was hurt from her escape efforts, she just didn’t think her captor would notice.
J’s fingers leave her wrist, and Cait immediately rids herself off the deep feeling of missing the touch. Her kidnapper wanders off, and the tight feeling in her chest and stomach returns full force. What is she going to do? What is she going to get? Is this the day she dies? Has anyone even realized she’s missing yet?
When she returns, she holds something in her hands that Caitlyn never would’ve guessed. She had expected some sort of weapon, dangerous things that admittedly didn’t make sense with a clear brain. She certainly hadn’t expected J to be…bandaging her wounds.
The girl plops down beside her, throwing down the roll of bandages and bottle of disinfectant on the couch. “This is gonna hurt.” She warns, as she lightly moves the ropes down Cait’s wrists to reveal her injuries. Not off her, but enough to give her a little relief.
She stares at J’s focused eyes as she uncaps the disinfectant, watching her stare at her damaged wrist with a strange intenseness. Cait doesn’t even jump when the disinfectant hits her wrists, almost enjoying the sting of it. She doesn’t take her eyes off J’s face.
The low hum of alcohol burning open flesh doesn’t bother, not more than her captors closeness. J being this close to her feels like the wounds on her wrists; a low hum in her blood, a burn that stings in just the right way. She doesn’t want to look into the way she almost wants to get closer to the girl beside her.
You’re kidnapped, Caitlyn. This girl is crazy.
She finally breaks her one sided eye contact, looking instead to the side as she hears bandages being ripped off from the roll. The fabric is wrapped around her left wrist first, with a tenderness in J’s cold fingers that she hadn’t expected. Her touch is featherlight, almost like she’s scared to put her flesh to Caitlyn’s.
Cait still keeps her eyes on the darkness beyond this fan blade, on anywhere but the blue of the girl beside her, as her right wrist is now tentatively wrapped.
It’s strange, she thinks, how that gripping fear she felt before is dulled now. It should be more intense than ever, should be making her shake and gasp for air, but she almost feels like she’s in a state of calm she hasn’t had since…before she arrived in the undercity.
How odd.
“There!” J exclaims, standing up and taking the bandages and disinfectant with her. “You’re all fixed up.”
She leans down and readjusts the binds on Caitlyn’s wrists, making sure they’re still tight. They don’t hurt her damaged wrist, even though the bandages are thin, and Cait is surprised by the notion that her captor might have actually loosened them for her.
Blue braids swish behind her lithe form as she walks back to wherever she had come from, gone to put away her meager medical supplies. The girl tied up in ropes and a chain finds that she actually is quite hungry, even for undercity mystery food, and wishes for the quick return of her jailers presence to place it back in her hands. If this was to be her last meal, she would still be content, as long as she got to eat something. Hunger takes over her mind to the point where she can’t even think about the fact that she’s currently being held hostage and most likely won’t ever be found.
At least her captor is feeding her.
J returns, skipping happily along the colourful floor of her hideout. When she arrives at Caitlyn’s spot in the couch, she stops and crosses her arms, staring her down for what feels like an eternity.
Cait almost wants to start screaming and begging for the food, for her to just give it to her now, for something, anything to get rid of the hunger. But she figures that might just make things worse; J has a cruel glint to her eyes, one that makes her think she’d be the type of person to find pleasure in her pathetic begging.
Then, finally, J moves and sits down on the couch again, man spreading and throwing her arms out. “So, should we try the food thing again?”
“Yes. Please.” Cait says softly, trying not to let the desperation slip out too much. What she really wants to do is yell and scream and beg for that stupid food. Starvation was certainly a damper on the human mind.
“Great!” Jinx leans forward, retrieves the container of food, and places it back into the cradle of Caitlyn’s tied up hands.
If Cait didn’t know that it could possibly work, she would just shove her face into the slop and eat it like a damn dog. “I, um, can’t eat it. I can’t use my hands.”
A loud groan came from beside her, as the blue haired girl turned and raised a thick eyebrow. “So, what, I gotta feed you?”
Cait flushes deeply.
J rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m a generous host, princess. Not everyone gets this treatment.”
A shiver runs up Caitlyn’s spine when J winks at her.