Chapter Six: Alone With the Enemy
Then
The further she was led down the hall, away from her friends, the faster her heart beat, the sweatier her palms became. She began to feel nauseous as they came to the end of the hall and to a door that entered onto a flight of stairs. They traveled up two flights of stairs to an identical looking floor that was in equal disarray as the other.
The room was scaracely furnished. A old, torn armchair sat near the middle of the room, some rickety old chairs sitting near it, a dusty old loveseat that placed across from them. Against the wall, a beat up, stained coffee table sat, held up an old television that belonged back in the 70's. She was ushered to the middle of the room. She awkwardly stood in the room as she watch the men take seats until only her and the supposed boss were standing.
"I may be a bad man, Haruhi, but I find the thought of hurting a woman revolting." He turned to face her, and gestured to a nearby armchair before sinking into a spot on the loveseat across from it. "So you have nothing to fear for at the time being." Hesitantly, Haruhi seated herself in the armchair.
"However, I do have a purpose for you Haruhi," the boss continued, pausing as he drew a cigarette from inside his breast pocket. After lighting it, he glanced at her, his eyes chilling her to the bone. "You're leverage for the others." Leverage, she wondered, what does he mean by that? How am I leverage for the others?
"What do you mean," she asked, her voice as soft as a mouse's footsteps. There was a moment of silence as he took a long drag on his cigarette.
"Think of it like this," he began, blowing out a smoke ring, "Your friends try something stupid, like trying to escape or injure one of my men, you suffer because of their actions. Likewise, if you do something stupid, your friends suffer; all of them. Is that understood?" Haruhi gave a forced nod as she tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. He wants this to be a win-win situation for him, she thought, if we do nothing, it makes it easier for him. But if he just wants money, than the others' families should be able to pay it…They are rich after all. But he probably doesn't want the cops involved…Let's hope that none of the guys' families contact them. That could mean more trouble for us.
"Good," he said, snuffing out his cigarette on arm of the loveseat, already riddled with holes. "Now, if you'll come with me, I'll show you your room." He pushed himself out of the chair and headed towards a door to a connecting room.
He pulled open the door and gestured Haruhi inside. Hesitantly, Haruhi went into the room, cringing slightly at the appearance of the floors, which were stained different shades of red, brown and yellow; she was afraid to ask how those stains had come to be there. The room was bare except for a thin mattress that rested on the floor and a dented metal bucket that sat in the far corner of the room.
"I'm sorry that it's not the greatest. But what can you expect from an abandoned building?" He ushered her into the room, his touch surprisingly gentle. Haruhi drifted to the middle of the small room and turned on her heel, watching as the door swung shut. She heard the lock click into place and the retreating footsteps of her captor.
Now what?
"I can't take this," Hikaru growled, leaning his head back against the wall. "We should do something-"
"No, we shouldn't Hikaru," Karou muttered. He turned to his twin, a stern expression on his face. "You don't know what these men want. We shouldn't try to aggravate them."
"Sitting idly is not going to help us, Karou," Hikaru growled, he threw his arms out, gesturing to the small, abandoned room. "Look around you; we are stuck here until they let us out or until you decide you want to see if you can survive an eight story drop onto concrete!" Karou turned to Hikaru, his lips a thin line. He placed his hands on his twin in an attempt to be comforting.
"Calm down, Hikaru. I'm sure we'll get out of this just fine." This was not the time to lose any sense of rationality; everyone had to remain calm in a situation like this. One person in the wrong state of mind could cause havoc for everyone.
"Karou is right," Tamaki exclaimed, stopping mid pace, "I'm sure that someone will find us soon enough. Our families are probably out searching for us as I speak." The twins glanced at each other, both of them looking rather skeptical.
"And what if, by chance, no one is looking for us, boss," Karou asked. Tamaki scowled and folded his arms defensively over his chest.
"It's called being positive. Were you not trying to do the same thing just a moment ago? And besides, we are important enough to have someone looking for us, right?"
Haruhi's thoughts drifted towards her father, who she was worried about. Despite the situation that she and her friends were in, she was more worried about him. Even though he was her father, Haruhi knew that he liked having her support. Just the thought of never being able to see him again nearly broke her heart. She hated to think of what would happen to him if she never returned home.
She clenched her fists, suddenly feeling more determined. She had to get herself and the others out of here. God knows how long they actually planned on keeping her and the others around; if they had demanded a ransom, and that ransom was met, would they go free? Or would they kill Haruhi and her friends?
Her eyes wandered to the locked door. On the other side, she could hear muffled conversation, and earlier she had tried listening in, but could barely make out anything since the door seemed too thick. On that side of the door, some, if not all, of those men had keys that opened probably every door. If she could get a hold of them somehow, there could be the slightest chance that she and the others could escape. But would the risk be necessary?
A/N: Okay, I hope you all enjoyed! And I hope that this was a decent length for reading. Let me know what you think by giving different perspectives for this story or if I should go back to just Haruhi's POV. I hope that the grammar and everything is alright. I was multitasking while editing this, but if you see mistakes, let me know.
Thanks for all of the feedback; it keeps me motivated to write! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm sorry for such a slow update; life has been kind of crazy right now.
