Let´s continue with the next chapter. I know some of you don´t like Ronnie as the bad guy, but I guess you have to bear with that :D
If you think somebody cares about you
and believes your life is worth saving,
how can you give up?
Gerarldine Ferraro
Chapter 2
Barry´s POV
"What on earth..." I murmured, opening my eyes. Was I unconscious? My head was pounding and when I tried to move my hands, I couldn´t. "Seriously. What is going on?" I was in a stuffy, dimly lit room, perhaps a basement, my hands chained up to a cast iron pipe behind my back. The handcuffs were so tight that I could feel my blood throb through my veins. I couldn´t believe what was going on and before I had the chance to yell, I noticed someone sitting beside me.
"Cisco!" He was handcuffed as well and there was blood on his forehead. "Cisco!" I called his name, not too loudly though, just in case the person who did this to us was still close. My colleague and good friend sat there a few meters away from me, not moving and with his eyes closed. I knew I had to calm down, but it was very difficult, because I had no idea what the heck had happened in here. It felt like the beginning of a bad horror flick. Not a good idea to think about this now, Barry. I needed to collect my thoughts to recall what had happened before I got here. I was working with Cisco on-
"Barry?" My friend´s voice almost scared me to death. "What is happening here?" he asked, already panicking.
"Cisco. Thank God you're alive." I took a deep breath, receiving a quizzical look from him.
"What do you mean ´Thank God you're alive´? Why shouldn´t I be alive, Barry? Where are we and what happened?" he replied, trying to free himself from the handcuffs.
"I have no idea. I just woke up two minutes before you," I told my friend, glancing around to see if I could find something practical in here that could help us escape. I heard Cisco´s loud and fast breathing.
"Can you remember anything?" I asked him, as he gave up his attempts to free himself.
"Well. I remember being at work in front of my computer. You were eating pizza and then…Wait, why can I not-"
"Ronnie!" I yelled and interrupted my friend´s thoughts, a flash of inspiration hitting me. "Ronnie came by," I added slowly, dimly remembering seeing Caitlin´s fiancé.
Cisco looked at me thoughtfully, before starting to nod in approval. "Yes, yes you're right. He came by and then you both got into an argument because of Caitlin. But what happened next?"
"Well, well. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in action." Cisco and I were so busy thinking about what had happened, that we didn´t notice someone entering the basement. It was Ronnie and I was immediately ready to jump down his throat, but that was not an option right now. He was wearing a tuxedo and I remembered that today was his big engagement party. The one I hadn´t been invited to because my best friend thought- Caitlin!
"What is going on?" I heard Cisco asking, while I started to worry about Caitlin. The stubborn girl that didn´t believe me when I told her there was something fishy about her stupid fiancé.
"Well, let me see," Ronnie said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I want to marry my fiancée very soon and until that happens, I don´t need any distractions from either of you," he added with an evil grin. Everything that was happening felt surreal, almost like I was in a bad movie. Things like this don't actually happen in real life.
"Why would I stand between you and Caitlin, Ronnie? I always liked you," Cisco started to explain and I rolled my eyes.
"Are you serious?" I asked my friend unbelievingly. He shrugged. "What? It´s the truth."
Ronnie let out an ugly laugh. "I know, dear friend, and you are right. Actually it´s just a thing between me and smartass here, but you know how things are going. If Barry wanted to crash the wedding, you would join in, wouldn´t you?" he explained, throwing a pitiful look at Cisco. "And I can´t let that happen."
"What do you want Raymond?" I asked, weary of the whole situation.
"I want you to stay away from my fiancée," he snarled back at me while coming closer. "Do you understand that?"
There must be some reason, probably a bad one, why he wants to marry Caitlin. There is definitely more to the story. "Why?" I asked him as he crouched down in front of me.
"It´s purely business," he answered, his face now only inches away from mine. "After the wedding, she is worth nothing and I will throw her away like nuclear waste."
Since my hands were tied behind my back, I chose the uglier way and spit right in his face. "If you hurt her, I swear, you will wish that you were never-"
Before I could finish, he punched me right in the face. "When I am done with her, you won't even be capable of doing anything to me!" He stood up, wiping his face while I spit out the blood that was coming from my split lip. "Nice talking to you."
"You´ll be sorry if you go through with it," I threatened and he laughed.
"Look at you. Sitting here, handcuffed, bleeding and still mouthing off. You and Caitlin have so much in common. But don´t forget. For every big mouth there´s an even bigger muzzle." And with that he turned around, heading towards the door.
"Bye Losers." As soon as he left the basement, I freaked out. I tried to force off the hand cuffs while screaming and cursing loudly. I stamped my feet, trying to get up but nothing worked.
"Barry! Barry, calm down!" Cisco tried to soothe me, but I was raging. "Barry, you can´t help Caitlin if you go insane okay! Calm down!" Cisco now yelled and somehow it worked. I stopped moving, and glanced at my friend.
"We are already dead." I murmured, receiving a glare from him.
"No, we are not, okay? If he wants us dead, he would have already killed us, Barry." Cisco was an extraordinary scientist, but he had no idea about crimes and bad guys.
"He will kill us. Don´t worry. He needs us now as hostages, but soon as he gets what he wants, we are dead," I pointed out and he shook his head.
"Come on Barry. That is not really what you think. Ronnie would ne-"
"Cisco! He handcuffed us in a basement somewhere, threatened to kill us after he kills Caitlin," I swallowed, "and…and we saw his face. We know who he is. Do you think that after the wedding he will let us go and that´s it? Of course we will run to the closest police station and report him so that the police will arrest him. It´s a crime he's doing here Cisco! This is not a game, so wake up!" Is he crying?
"What are you doing? Are you crying?" I added less harshly.
"No. I...I just don´t want to die okay? And you make it sound like I will and that makes…that makes me sad. I am not ready alright?"
I took a deep breath. "I am sorry my friend. I didn´t mean to. I just lost it for a moment because I am concerned about Caitlin okay? We…we need to find a way to get out of here. We are two geniuses. We have to find a way! I mean-"
I stopped, when I felt a vibration at my thigh. My phone! I still had my phone in my pocket.
"Cisco, my phone," I yelled, trying to find a way to press a button.
"Can you reach it?" my friend asked and I shook my head when the ringing stopped. "Shit!"
"Can you reach it with your nose, when you bend down?" Cisco suggested and I gave him an exasperated look.
"Well, maybe I could, but unfortunately my hands are cuffed behind my back, so I can´t lean forward," I replied sarcastically and he shrugged. "Do you have a better idea?"
This time my phone flashed blue for a second and I knew exactly what that was. "Caitlin! She is trying to locate me," I said and Cisco gave me a quizzically look. "She´s trying what?"
Awkward. "We both downloaded an app with a GPS locator so that we can always locate each other with our phones," I said sheepishly.
Cisco started laughing. "You did what?"
I groaned. "Oh come on. It was just for fun," I replied embarrassed.
"Yeah, I know these apps. They are really great for fifteen year old girls, who count themselves as best friends. But, how old are you again?" he asked, suppressing another laugh.
"Whatever. Maybe this thing will save our lives. Your life as well. So shut up" I assumed that Caitlin must have found out that something was wrong or she wouldn´t try to locate me. Or, I thought, she was still mad at me and couldn´t believe that I really didn´t come to her engagement party.
"What does Ronnie want from Caitlin? What benefit does he get by marrying her?" I thought out loud.
"It´s not like Caitlin is a queen or is going to inherit a sizeable fortune after her dad dies," Cisco joined in. "What does her dad do again?"
I sighed. "I don´t know man. I just hope that Caitlin noticed that something is really weird right now and that´s why she just tried to locate me. I assume we are even in the same building where the party is taking place. Probably they are popping the corks right now a few floors higher." I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. There I was sitting with a phone in my pocket and I couldn´t use it. What a cruel joke.
"I am not so sure about Caitlin looking for you. I mean, you were quarreling with her pretty often for the last few days," Cisco stated, making me feel guilty about my behavior towards her. Although I was right.
"Thank you for bolstering me up. You are aware that we are in the same boat right now, aren't you?" Cisco sighed, closing his eyes. The blood on his forehead had already dried but I could see a bump over his left eyebrow.
"You look terrible," I said to him, feeling guilty that he was in this situation, mostly because of me and because he somehow idolized me. For whatever reason.
"You look pretty bad yourself," he retorted. "Did he cut your lip or why is-"
"Barry?" a hushed voice interrupted Cisco and he looked at me quizzically.
"Was that-"
"Barry? Are you here?" The voice was now louder and I could recognize it.
"Oh my god, is this Caitlin? CAITLIN!" Cisco started yelling.
"Shut up! Are you crazy!" I hushed him. "Do you want Ronnie to come down?"
"Cisco? Was that you?" Caitlin´s voice was now very clear and I assumed that she was close to the door.
"Caitlin, we are here," I said in a lower voice, trying to hit my handcuffs against the pipe to make a sound.
Thanks for not locking the door Ronnie.
"Guys, are you in here?" Caitlin let out softly, opening the door. The first thing I noticed was the incredible beauty that stepped into the basement and suddenly the whole creepy room seemed to be brighter. She was looking gorgeous with her hair tied up and a yellow dress, showing her curves.
"Oh my god," she whispered, clapping her hands in front of her mouth when she spotted me.
"Caitlin, it´s okay. Come here to me," I said gently. When she headed towards me, I noticed a cut on her left cheek and stiffened. If he had hit her, I will kill him.
She kneeled down in front of me, her eyes welling up with tears. "I am so…I am so sorry," she whispered, softly touching my cut lip.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," I tried to reassure her, giving her my best smile when I saw that she was full of tears. She then wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my neck. I would have given everything in that moment to hold her tight.
"It´s okay. Don´t cry." She let go of me, her cheeks tear-stained, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "What did he do to you?" she whispered, scanning my body with her eyes.
"Guys? I don´t want to disturb you, but don´t you think we have to get the hell out of here?" Cisco suddenly said and I had to admit that I almost forgotten about him.
Caitlin flinched, glancing to the side. "Oh my god Cisco. I didn´t see you there," she said, eyes welling up with tears again. She bent forward, giving me a kiss on my cheek, before heading for Cisco.
"You have a pretty bad bump over here," she stated, sweeping his forehead.
"Caitlin, you have to find a way to take off our handcuffs," I said and she nodded, walking back to me. After observing the evil things, fastening tightly enough that they were hurting my wrists, she turned back to me. "I think we don't have time to search for the keys, but I could just open them with something long and thin.
While she was thinking I took a better look at her cut. He must have hit her with the ring I saw on his hand earlier. "Does it hurt?" I asked, surprising her.
"What?" she asked, supporting herself against my legs while crouching down.
"Your cheek," I replied softly and she shook her head.
"Not as much as when I saw you both down here," she said and I heard Cisco clearing his throat.
"It´s not like you saw me at all," he said offended, "but this is not the point. Can you please hurry and finally free us Caitlin?"
She was biting her lower lip, thinking about a way, when I noticed the bobby pins in her hair.
"What about your bobby pin?" I suggested and she put her hand on her head.
"What about them? Am I losing one?" she asked and I let out a laugh. Sometimes she was really a mess, but it was cute.
"Oh, I got it," she said, fishing one of them out of her hairdo. "Now wait and see," she announced and then started fumbling behind my back.
"CLICK"
Let me hear what you think about it! Like it? Hate it? Let me know ;)
