Rose Red: Model 85001 by Sapphirefly
Chapter Three
The next morning, Hitomi was awoken by Van. He was pinching both her cheeks and stretching her mouth out to oblivion.
She knocked him off and yelled, "What are you doing?"
He laughed and jumped away from her.
"Do you have any idea how much that hurts?" she whined.
"Uh-huh, and do you have any idea how unprofessional it is of a Rose Red to accuse her buyer of being a killer?"
Hitomi lowered her head. "Yeah. Sorry about that."
"Apology … somewhat accepted. You know, when you were dropped off yesterday, I found myself inexplicably nervous. How was I going to treat you right? How was I going to make you happy? But ever since I found you rooting around in my trash, I'm not particularly worried about those things anymore."
Hitomi felt a shiver break out into goose bumps. Van wasn't filthy this morning. He'd had a shower and smelled like spice and prairie breezes, but that still didn't exactly remove the somewhat sketchiness of his general appearance. His chin was stubbly and the bottoms of his jeans frayed.
"As I thought about it, I realized that what we need to do now is establish trust between us. That way I'll have a happy slave and I'll be less bored."
"Uh-huh," Hitomi said slowly. "And how are we going to do that?"
"Like this," Van said, pulling a black handkerchief out of the back pocket of his pants.
Hitomi stared at him, one hundred percent puzzled. "Are you going to do a magic trick?"
Van gawked. "No."
"Then what's that for?"
"To blindfold you with, my dear."
"What?" she squeaked.
He got up and held it out to her. "We need to establish trust. Now, will you trust me enough to put on this blindfold and come on a little trip with me?"
There wasn't a bone in Hitomi's body that wanted to do this, but she really didn't have much choice. She reached out to take the handkerchief from him when he snapped it out of her grasp.
"I'll do it," he volunteered playfully.
Hitomi felt like she was going to die as the black material came over her eyes. "If we're going somewhere, shouldn't I change first?"
"Nope. Nothing to worry about. Probably no one will notice that you're wearing one of my old shirts and the same pants from yesterday. I'll help you get your shoes on when we get downstairs." With that, he took her hand in his and helped her to her feet.
Since Hitomi couldn't see a thing, she was forced to use her other senses. Van's hand was smoother than she thought it would be, and the fragrance of his cologne or deodorant was more pointed. Then she heard the sound of his voice as he counted the steps down to the main level for her so she wouldn't trip. After he got her shoes on her feet he put a coat over her shoulders.
"Are we going outside?"
"Yup. I keep my secrets outside my house. Now to evade further suspicion that I'm a freelance hit-man, I'm going to show you what I do for a living. You're not afraid of wide open spaces are you?"
"No," she replied, grasping his fingers as he hauled her over the frost covered grass.
"Are you afraid of loud noises? Do you have sensitive ears?"
"No. I used to dance right next to the speakers."
"Are you afraid of heights?"
"No." She had to fight herself from asking snottily, 'Why? Are you taking a survey?' but she managed it.
"Well, I guess nothing I'll do to you will scare you too much."
The chilly air hit her as he brought her out of the house and onto the porch. Then she felt the crunchy frost-covered grass under her shoes as he led her around the house. Then he suddenly let go of her hand.
"Hey!" she bellowed as he suddenly picked her up and set her down in a seat.
"Calm down. I'm just going to put your seat belt on. Please don't be alarmed, but this is a four point harness, so I'm not feeling around you to get my jollies, okay?"
"Okay," Hitomi agreed breathlessly as he secured her. She was totally confused. What car had a four point harness?
Then she felt the door close and within a minute Van got into the seat next to her and with him came a collection of weird clicking noises. "Now," he said once he was in the seat, "Try not to scream too much. It'll spoil my concentration and may make for a bumpy ride."
"What's going on?"
A deep hum started and then a loud chopping noise began. Hitomi was okay until she felt them lift off the ground. She bit down on her lip and put her hands between her knees. She wasn't going to act scared, but even if she said that, there was still hot sweat collecting in her blind fold.
After a couple minutes of waiting, Van said, "You can take your blindfold off."
Cautiously, Hitomi reached up and pulled it down. What she saw was simply blue sky and then as she looked down, she saw that she was sitting in the cockpit of a helicopter. The floor in front of her feet was clear and she could see the farm land shooting under them in yellow streaks.
Van was smiling under his Top Gun shades. "Just to get rid of your weird ideas about me, I want to be clear. I'm a charter helicopter pilot and I need an assistant. I've tried to hire girls before, but my hanger is too far away from the town for anyone to commute. I've tried to hire girlfriends for the job and attempted to convince them to move in with me."
Hitomi swallowed the knot in her throat, but it just wouldn't go down. She was so relieved and yet terribly cross. Was everything a joke to this guy? Why couldn't he have just told her what he did and what he wanted her for last night before she jumped to any wild conclusions?
"So, do you have a girlfriend?" Hitomi asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. "We're on a break. I told her I was going to go get some help if she didn't volunteer. She said that I should give up the business and move into town for her."
"Why didn't you?"
"Town? Let me tell you how it works here. Town is tiny. I have no way of making money there. She's being unreasonable and when we get to town you'll see how impossible it really is. So, short answer – no girlfriend."
Hitomi should have known she wasn't going to end up being a pampered palace brat like some of the other girls who signed up with Sleeping Beauty Inc. It wasn't like she was a runway model – and she meant that literally. Once a year they woke up the best models they had in stock for a show and in the three years Hitomi had been there, she'd never been chosen. How was she going to catch some rich man's eye when she was probably the lowest price model they had?
"Are you upset?" Van suddenly asked her. Actually, he kind of screamed it at her over the chopping sound of the rotors.
Hitomi didn't know what to say. Her brain was a jumble. Usually a model should be happy that her purchaser didn't want her for a love interest. Unless she was sadly mistaken, he probably just wanted her to sit on the other end of the transmitter as a safety precaution. Well, she guessed she was happy. It could have been worse.
Then her brain started humming, 'how could it be worse?'
He had no money.
He had a bad sense of humour.
He was making her live in the middle of nowhere.
He was going to make her work.
She couldn't figure out what that guard at Sleeping Beauty Inc. had been talking about. He wasn't hot. He was sketchy and shady and his nose had a funny twist in the middle. She looked at him again to make sure she wasn't jumping to conclusions. But looking at him was a slap in the face to her ego. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him. She bet he made most girls hyperventilate. The problem was that he wasn't the man she loved.
"Are you all right?" Van said. "You look sick. You're not going to throw up, are you?"
"No," Hitomi said quickly. "I'm fine."
"Good. We'll be touching down soon. See that puny cluster of buildings over there? That's where we're going."
Hitomi nodded.
Even though Hitomi had been fine during lift-off and flight, her stomach took a turn for the worst when the helicopter touched down. It felt like a fast moving elevator going down and she thought her stomach had somehow ended up in her knees.
She stuck out her tongue and unbuckled her harness. "What are we doing here?" Hitomi asked. There was nothing around but old grain elevators and empty-looking warehouses.
"I brought you here to go clothes shopping," he said. "But we'll have to walk a bit. This is the only place I can set down within the town boundaries."
Hitomi waited for him to come around to her side of the helicopter and open the door for her. She felt rather touched. This was nice. He brought her out to buy clothes. Now that sounded like the sort of thing a purchaser should do. Day one: shopping spree! She smiled and hopped down.
But he wasn't kidding when he said they'd have to walk a bit. They walked past silos and oddly old looking mansions.
"They used to be ranches," Van explained. "Before it became illegal to eat beef."
"They look nice."
"They were. They're like my house – old tech – except they're newer. Some of them have intercom systems installed. The best I've got is a door bell."
Hitomi didn't know what to say to him. He sounded positively archaic. Well, when she got her run of his house, they'd get an intercom system … but not before they got a garbage disposer.
Once in town, Van took her down the main street to a tiny café.
"Is this where your girlfriend works?"
He rolled his eyes. "I said she's not my girlfriend, but there's nowhere else to eat, so get in and don't say anything that might embarrass me."
"Like what?"
"Like, don't say I bought you."
Hitomi gawked and clattered her bracelet at him. "They're gonna know."
Van untied the blindfold from around Hitomi's neck and tied it around her wrist. "There. Satisfied? We're not going to spend that much time in town anyway. There'd be no end of the harassment from the locals if they knew I bought you. Come on," he said, grabbing her hand. "Let's go in."
Inside the café was a lot like the inside of a waiting room of a mechanics garage, except you couldn't pour your own coffee. At least that was what Hitomi thought as she scooted her butt onto a bar stool. The floor needed to be retiled, the wall needed to be repapered, and the girl working behind the counter needed to be made-over … badly.
"Hi Merle," Van said, talking to the girl.
"Hi," she said, pouring him a cup of coffee and staring at him and Hitomi by turns.
She set out a coffee cup for Hitomi as well, but Hitomi refused. "No. I'd like unsweetened orange juice. No coffee."
"I don't have unsweetened orange juice," Merle responded, flicking her dyed-too-many-times ponytail. "Do you see unsweetened orange juice on the menu?"
Hitomi glanced at the wall behind the girl's head. "Well, do you have some oranges? I'm sure it wouldn't be that much trouble to squeeze them."
"No. I don't have fresh squeezed orange juice on the menu either," Merle snapped.
Van was laughing between his fingers. "Just bring her the closest thing."
In a second, a short glass of orange coloured something was placed in front of Hitomi. She took a sip and gasped. "Are you trying to poison me?"
"What?" Merle burst – totally outraged.
"What's wrong with it?" Van asked levelly.
"I don't know. It tastes like she put something in it. Something toxic."
"Did you spit in it?" Van asked Merle.
"No!" the girl shouted.
"Okay." Van took the glass from in front of Hitomi and took a swig of it. "That's how it normally tastes."
Hitomi frowned in dismay. "Yuck," she said sadly.
"Merle, just bring her a glass of water," Van said reasonably.
"Like Hell I will," Merle said as she stormed into the kitchen.
Van hopped off his stool and chased after her. "Don't be like that, Honey," he said as he ducked under the counter and followed her in.
If Hitomi had any hopes that their conversation wouldn't reach her ears, she was on the losing side. She could hear everything and so could the two baseball capped farmers who sat at the other end of the bar.
"Who is she?" they heard Merle shriek.
"What do you mean, 'who is she?'" Van's voice tumbled after hers. "We already talked about this. We've been talking about for the last four months. I asked you to move out with me and you always said no. Then you broke up with me. I already warned you – repeatedly – that if you didn't do what I needed, I would find someone who would."
"That brat?"
"That brat," Van said evenly.
"She's wearing your shirt!" Merle wailed.
"So? You've worn my shirts dozens of times and what has that meant? Nothing."
"Well …" Merle stuttered.
"Well, nothing. I'd go to a different café if there was one. Now, I know you need the business, so just be a good girl and bring us both a couple pancakes. Can you do that, Honey?"
"Stop calling me Honey!"
"Get over yourself. I call everyone Honey."
"Even her?"
Van came out of the kitchen and holding the door open answered Merle. "No. I call her Rose Red."
Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I think I forgot to thank people last time. I've been writing for awhile where I haven't had to thank people so I promptly got out of the habit. I know - I'm a bum. I was thinking of starting a forum for this, but I'm not sure if there's enough interest. Please let me know in the reviews if you're interested in one. Thanks!