Chapter Ten
Rocky turned his head from left to right in confusion. "Is someone there?" He asked, then mentally slapped his self afterward. That's right Rocky, on top of possibly being born a freak, be the only guy in the world who talks out loud to his conscience. Shaking off any remnants of the words, Rocky continued drying his self off with the fluffy towel. His hands run up and down his body in a hurry as if the girl would suddenly drop what she were doing to gaze in at him from beyond the other side of the cell bars. Rocky wished he could take an honest bath to rinse the girls horrid touch away but that would have to wait until he was out of there first.
Once done, he moved the towel up to his head and hurried to dry his hair faster than he had dried his body. If his face should get covered for even a second he might miss the creepy psychic girl entering his room. His room... Maria said she had something to do in another room? Was she talking about down here? He dropped the towel to his waist then wrapped it firmly around his self. He was glad to be covered up, even if she would rip it away from him when she got back, he will have at least had this brief moment of comfort.
Looking over his shoulder he realizes, now that he is freed from the collar, that his bladder is full. Walking over to the toilet, Rocky raised the towel a bit and relieved himself. No sooner had he done this, does his stomach growl letting him know that he needed to eat. Well that's not gonna happen... I can't trust what she gives me, it could be spiked- or worse- poisoned... No, I can survive without food as long as needed. Rocky then turned to the sink. Part of him didn't want to make any noise to alert the girl that he was being active, but he knew he had to wash his hands, it was sanitary.
Brushing his index and middle finger across the toilet handle, the white porcelain jiggled back and forth as the water in the bowl splashed and sloshed up and down until the water drained down into the hole. Very stealthy. He thought sarcastically. Going over to the sink, he turned on the water and washed his hands. That was a lot more quiet than the toilet, the plumbing job with that seemed almost flawless. Once his hands were washed he reached down, drying them on the towel. All the while he did these things, Rocky avoided his face in the mirror. He didn't want to look at it. He couldn't.
Walking over to the bed, he frowned. It looked like it would slide to the floor if anyone heavier than the sheets and pillow were to climb onto it, but Rocky took the risk; his feet were so cold he thought they would surely turn blue in the next hour. Hour. I wonder what time it is? What day? I'm almost positive I've only been down here for a day. Turning so that his butt met the bed first, the boy sat down with caution of his weight. The bed creaked for a second, but remained perfectly still, standing as though it had seen its share of heavy weights and compared to them Rocky is a feather.
Drawing his legs up, he curled his self in and sighed. I wanna go home... He thought through tears. I don't wanna go through this again... Robbie, Mom, Dad- somebody please... find out that I'm missing. He hated to whine like this, in fact he out right loathed it. But in the rich silence of the room with no sound but the hum of those damned lights, that was all he could do. No! No, I am strong and solid... Cool as granite rock... I can't let myself be defeated like this. I will get out.
"Keep saying that and it may come true."
There was his subconscious again, trying to get his attention on its own. How was this possible? How could he hear his self speaking without actually thinking the words. He had thought things just moments ago and, he himself, heard them as he thought it. But this... It seemed like he were speaking to himself as his self. But that couldn't be? God, it hasn't even been days and he was already losing his mind.
"Dinner!" The girl announced, entering the room. If you could call it a room. She held a tray in her hand containing something under a silver cover, a glass filled with something red, and a single rose in a vase. "Are you hungry?" Maria's lips curled into a smile.
Rocky jumped at the sound of her voice in his mind. She would always do that to him, he would never get used to someone being in his mind. Ever! Especially some demented girl who has lost touch with the world. He bit his tongue, glaring at her. He was hungry, yes, but that doesn't mean he has to let her know that- or give in to her.
"I made your favorite dish." She said approaching him. Placing the tray down, Maria hopped onto the bed bouncing up and down once or twice before stopping.
Rocky grabbed a hold of the skinny brass headboard as though he could steady the thing from falling once the girls weight came down, and so hard at that, but the bed remained sturdy and unbreakable.
"I'm proud of you... Very proud." She wrapped her arms around him. Rocky shrank away. This didn't seem to offend the girl as she waved him off. "Gosh, you're so shy about sex you won't even let someone hug you... It's not as if you've been raped or something."
Rocky felt a chill run through his spine. The way she said the word 'rape' made his mind and body scream. Maria had used the word like a toy, a game of checkers of chess that she could take down from the shelf and display anywhere to use to her own vocation.
"You know Rocky," she removed the cover over the food on the tray. "If you keep being good to me, I'll keep rewarding you, and then you can have a very nice room like all the others. I can put green up on the walls, give you a nice warm carpet that you and I can," her hand dropped down to his groin giving it a squeeze. "Play all night long on. Remember? Like you told me at the club that night."
"I didn't do anything. And I have no memory of that night except that you were there." Rocky said as he pushed her hands away, shuddering again. And again his actions were ignored of its rudeness.
"Don't be silly baby, but I'm flattered that you could remember me out of everything that went on that night." The girl had a knowing look in her eyes that Rocky didn't see, due to the fact that he was beginning to feel kind of dizzy. "Then here, you took a bath, you used the toilet- wish I could have seen you though." A mock pout came to her face as though the boy would see it and just as soon get up to do it again just to please her. She was out of her mind if she thought that would happen.
Rocky pretended to be more interested in what was in the bowl than what the girl was saying. "Soup..." He said rather flat. As flat as the bowl the girl had put it in. You take one sip of the red broth and it would be gone, but it was slightly filled up with vegetables. It smelled wonderful.
"Yes, vegetable, your favorite." Maria watched him with a smile on her face, hoping to catch a glimpse of joy behind those beautiful two tone eyes of his.
The blond smiled down at the bowl deliriously. He wanted to eat, he hadn't had anything in his system since... Well since yesterday at breakfast when he ate half a muffin with Robbie. Even the drink looked good, it smelled a lot like grapes- or some kind of berry. It made his mouth instantly dry; he hadn't had anything to drink since the day before, when he had dinner.
"Maria's a good cook isn't she?" Adjusting herself so that she is seated against the headboard, Maria wrapped an arm around Rocky pulling him close. He obeyed her, just as she would want, by leaning into her touch. If he played along, maybe now would be the time to ask to be set free. He wouldn't press charges. No harm done as of yet, so why be angry. "Let's take a big bite..." She scooped a chunk of vegetables onto the spoon, then held it over to Rocky's mouth.
Rocky looked it over with caution. It smelled all right. It even looked normal. But he could tell there was something wrong with it. "I'm not hungry." He said in a low mono tone.
"You're hungry, you just don't trust me. Do you?" The girl placed the spoon into her mouth, eating the food from it, she chewed and swallowed within three bites. "You see."
Rocky only looked at her with question. She could easily lie to him, she could easily not. He didn't know what to do. Why couldn't she just accept that he wasn't hungry and leave?
Maria frowned watching him think over what to do. She mostly was upset because she could hear every word he was thinking. "Rocky... If I wanted to kill you, I would have smashed into your car when we were on the road... I would have come out of the closet in that blasted study hall and beat you over the head with the phone." She saw his eyes widen. A jagged laugh shot from her. "Well how else could I have spoken to you over the phone. I may be good, but I can't project that far."
"You were watching me..." Rocky's vision blurred. What was that weird smell? "All that time?"
"Yes, aaall that time..." Her voice became low and seductive like when she were over the phone. "I saw you when you first moved out of your home- I was so delighted then," she went on. "I also saw you when you first moved into your dorm room. When you got your first room mate,"
"Did you see...?" His words kept trailing and his head lolled back and forth against the girls shoulder. He was having a hard time keeping himself awake for some reason. Was Maria doing this to him, or was sleep finally catching up to him since he's been up for a day and a half?
"I saw you when you and your room mate went shopping. I was quite surprised to see what you had picked out to wear. I would have thought you'd have gone a bit more conservative, like you usually do." Then her eyes narrow. "I think your little friend Robert may have somewhat of a crush on you though- trust me, I know these things."
"Maria... I'm so tired..." He closed his blue green eyes, feeling sleep take a hold of his lids as though now would be its only chance to have them closed, and it held on tight.
"Poor fool, he doesn't know though. I'm the only one for you... Soon everyone will see it." The spoon dipped back into the bowl, than she pulled it out, placing it by his lips. "Eat." She commanded.
Rocky's mouth twitched before it opened. He bit down onto the spoon that was shoved inside. Eating the soup gingerly, he closed his eyes again once he swallowed it all. "It's... It's good."
A smile curled onto Maria's face as she cuddled the boy. "Of course you're tired Rocky... Sleep now. Sleep as loooong as you need." Reaching forward to the tray, Maria grabbed the rose out of the little vase and held it to Rocky's nose. She spun it in circles at the tip, chuckling quietly. Pretty little roses like you... Are always poison to women. You'll learn your lesson though.
Moving Rocky, so that he now rest his head against the headboard of the bed; the young girl got up from the bed, picking up the tray as she did so. Setting it down on the floor, she than looked down at Rocky's waist and grinned. He's so cute trying to cover himself up... But that is not what this towel was intended for. I'm afraid there will be no clothes for you. Sitting back on the bed, she removed the towel from his waist, rolling him only a bit to slide it out from under him. "Good boy, you sleep. Because when you wake up, you're going to hear the rules of the house then we'll go and pay a visit to our daughter, Pamela, and then..." She chuckles silently. "We'll start your training."
Sliding from the bed, Maria couldn't hold back the urge to lean over and kiss Rocky from his lips all the way down to- well, she wasn't quite sure she'd make it to the legs and feet, his mid section is just sooo desirable. "Later, you're not ready just yet." Turning, the psychic girl walked out of the room carrying the tray in hand. Locking both doors after her departure. Maria turned off the lights with the blink of her eyes, then she left the hall entirely.
Rocky lay on the bed, unconscious to the world, and yet he heard laughter pick up all around him. Laughter... So much laughter...
Sam slammed the front door to his house. He had a rough day at the office. Jessica, who is sitting on the chair frowned as her husband blew by without so much as a 'grunt' hello. Sitting her book down, she uncurled a leg from under herself following Sam into the kitchen. "Honey?"
"Dammit Jess'. I..." He sighed to cool himself down. He wasn't about to get flustered and shout at his wife. It was too late for one, and for two he didn't want to startle their two sleeping sons upstairs. Well, possibly one; it's Friday night, Colt is usually out somewhere getting into trouble. "I just wish that someone at the station would clue me in to what's going on. It's as if everyone has this big secret and they won't tell me."
"Aaaww," Jessica almost found herself laughing at this. He was acting just like a kid at school who found out that the minute one friend leaves the group all the others talk about them. It's a way of life- cruel, but true. "Well if you want I can call there wives on them- I know some of them too. They'll straighten this whole thing out."
"Funny."
"Hahaha, Sam please... tell me what's bothering you. What do you think they're keeping from you?" She sat down at the table, watching her husband fix his self a drink.
"I think they have some idea of who kidnapped that little girl, but they want to make the arrest themselves so they aren't filling me in." He sat down at the table across from his wife, taking a sip. "But what I don't get is why they called me in the first place."
"Well..." she shrugged passively. "You're F.B.I, they're small time police, they saw a chance and went in for it. I'm sure it has nothing to do with you."
"Yeah..." Sam could understand that, when he was first starting out he tended to do things that were risky or under handed and look where it got him? "So anyway, how was your day? why are you up so late, waiting for Colt to get back?"
Jessica raised a brow to the question. "No, Colt's upstairs. In fact he's been up there since earlier at eight. I think all the pretty girls have someone already. But uh, the reason I'm awake is I'm waiting for a phone call from our other son, who has promised to call me every other day."
Sam laughed at this behind his cup. "Maybe our son has met some pretty girl and will be calling a little late."
Jessica glared at her husband in mock anger. "What woman could be more important than your mother?"
"Well..." Seeing the look on his wife's face as well as her crossing arms, he backed down on his comment. "No one! Shame on him, we taught him better than that."
"Exactly."
Sam laughed as he put his cup away in the sink. "Jess' come on to bed, if Rocky calls the machine will get it and then you can call him back and tell him that he has some explaining to do." Reaching out for her hand, he waved his wife to him with the other. "Come on. Let's get some sleep."
The two walked upstairs arm in arm, not realizing that the ringer on the phone was turned down. and as they closed their door, they didn't hear the machine come on, nor the message that played as nothing but dial tone...