Thanks everyone for the reviews! And don't worry Tootsie210, our mystery man will be revealed soon ;-) Can you guess?
The light turned on and she blinked. He entered the room and walked over to where she was seated. He unlocked the handcuff. Sydney rubbed her wrist. He smiled at her but she looked away. He frowned and grabbed her face. "In the name of God, why can't you remember?" he yelled.
She stared into his cold blue eyes. He let go and spoke softly. "Please." She could feel tears falling down. She couldn't look at him. His hand brushed the tears away. "Let me go." She demanded, gritting her teeth.
"No." He refused.
His fingers touched her face. Sydney raised her head to look at him. He looks almost sad. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again."Is that the way you want it to be? Very well then," he snapped, "Go."
He's lying. She slowly shook her head. He got up and returned to his own chair. There was silence. She looked back down. He leaned forward with his elbows on the table. The silence between them continued. Then he laughed.
Sydney snapped her head up. He was grinning at her. Her brows furrowed into a frown. He offered the door with a slight motion of his hand. Her eyes narrowed. This is a trap. But she stood up and he still sat. She walked to the door and opened it. She looked back at him. He was staring off into space. She walked outside and shivered. The car was gone. Rain started to fall.
She covered her eyes with one hand and looked around. She walked to one end of the building. The car was there. She ran to the other end. Ordinary, unfamiliar cars were parked there. Sydney smoothed the tangles in her brown hair. She walked confidently past the row of cars until she reached the sidewalk. Then she broke out in a run. She looked back. No one. Don't stop running. She looked around and saw another sidewalk.
Her first impulse was to just run away from the building and look for anyone. And tell them what? She did run. She ran until she saw people. People walking. Sydney slowed to a jog and smiled. They stared at her. She looked down at her dirty shirt and torn jeans. Great. But she kept jogging.
There were more people. Sydney slowed to a walk and quickly got lost in the crowd. She started to recognize buildings and breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't give up that easily. She felt panic start to choke her. She began to walk faster then broke out into a run that escalated into a sprint.
She pushed past people yelling "Excuse me!" After a while she didn't bother. She just kept running. Tears began to fall down her cheeks. No! Stop! She wanted tostop, to hide, anything but to do this. He betrayed you. Sydney kept running until she reached a crosswalk. She darted a look back and waited for the signal. It turned to walk and she jogged across. She was running out of air, she needed water. She couldn't remember the last time she ate.
Sydney ducked into a nearby building. People inside the lobby stared at her. She didn't notice them. She walked straight to the drinking fountain between the elevators and took a long, deep drink. She wiped her mouth on her street marred sleeve and turned around. The receptionist offered assistance. She hesitated, things were in a blur. She shook her head, partly to clear it, partly to deny the help. For a moment she watched people passing by through the glass doors.
She opened the right door and began pushing through the crowd moving against her. It was getting more difficult with each step. Finally Sydney turned around. A carnival. Relief flooded her. She joined the throng moving downhill. And at the bottom she wound around groups of people before reaching the fountains. Then she waited.