Ariadne woke up exhausted, she had fallen asleep curled up upon the wall. There was still no light in the room. She didn't know how long she was out, and how much time that added to the one before she was thrown to her prison. Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands, feeling the residues of tears glued to her eyelids, she cleared her vision and noticed something. She was hungry.
She stood up and walked to the sink on the corner, she couldn't see much but her reflection greeted her. As expected she was a mess, she grimaced and opened the faucet. She cupped her hands and splashed her face, she did this a couple of times before closing the faucet and look back at her reflection. Using the water left on her hands she fixed her hair into a shape, similar to her usual style. She knew this had no purpose, after all why bother looking decent when clearly there was no one to see it. But this little gesture made her feel she had control on something in a situation that obviously was out of her hands.
Glancing at the plastic cup and the toothbrush in it, she clicked her tongue and filled the cup. Unwrapping the toothbrush from its package and after putting a fair share of toothpaste on it she started to brush. Due to force of habit, her mind started to wonder. She always used that moment of her rutine to think of the previous day and what to do for the following one. Of course this time there were not much to analyze. She was trapped, she didn't know for how long she was or would be. Considering this last statement Ariadne spat on the sink and stopped the cleaning, gazing at her reflection, not really looking.
How long would it take Cobb and the others to reach her? Were they already on their way? Did they already know who her kidnapers were? She took a sip from her cup and cleaned the left overs in her mouth. Cleaning her toothbrush with the remaining water she looked at her reflection one last time before walking to her bed.
There was another question in her head, it spoke in such a tiny voice that it was almost imperceptible but still remain inside nevertheless. Sitting on the border of the bed, she placed her elbows over her knees and rested her face over her palms. And what if they weren't coming? What if they thought it wasn't their problem? That every man was on it's own? What if Cobb just did the civilian thing and just passed the message to the police? Not that she didn't think the police wasn't efficient in these cases, but somehow if that turned out to be the case, she would feel a little hurt that they didn't do anything to help her.
But why would she expect something from them in the first place? True they had shared a mind-blowing experience where everyone risked more than they were up to in the first place, almost dying in the process. But was that enough? She did consider them more than coworkers, they had turned out to be more than she expected. She wouldn't call them friends, but there was something in each of them that she cherished and held dearly in her mind. However, what if they didn't think the same? What if that inexplicable attachment for them was just in her head? A consequence to a life threatening experience. What if they just consider her a brilliant asset but expendable one? She gulped and shook her head. No, she couldn't afford thinking like that, not now in the situation she was. She had to remain positive and believe in them. They were coming she could sense it.
The brightness of the light bulb blinded her for a couple of seconds before she shelter her eyes with her right hand. The door creaked as it was being opened slowly, revealing a tall shadow behind it. Her body immediately tried to squirm to the end of the bed but her mind stopped it from doing so. She had to look strong, even if she wasn't feeling it. Her eyes finally adjusted to the light and gave form to the shadow.
It was a tall skinny man with long dark brown hair styled in a mane pulled to the back. His entire outfit was black, the leather jacket, the dressing shirt underneath, jeans and boots. Ariadne caught a glimpse of a holster on his right thigh with no doubt a gun inside. She looked up and found on his right hand a white plastic tray with what it seemed food on top of it. Her stomach grunted delighted. Ariadne felt ashamed her body betrayed her in a moment like that, but if he had heard the sound he didn't acknowledge it.
They stayed like that for a couple of seconds, Ariadne trying to burn holes into his skull. But the man didn't return the hatred instead he was looking at her calmly. The connection was broken when his eyes drifted to her body, taking every detail of her figure. Ariadne felt exposed, dirty. In a natural but childish impulse she covered her chest. Like that would stop him and apparently he thought the same because he was a half smiling. Mocking at her or so it seemed.
Ariadne felt rage build up inside, she wanted to erase that smirk off his face and put a hole between his eyes with the same gun he was carrying. But she knew there was no way of she overcoming a man like that, even if he wasn't as built up like the orangutans that took her, she could seize he was as tall as Arthur. Which it was something considering that the point man overpass her by almost 10 inches. So instead of trying anything she resigned to just glare at the man.
He broke the eye contact by placing the tray on the floor near the door in a casual manner, like he knew she had no chances to overcome him. She cursed mentally but kept on watching every move. Once he was up he gave her one last look, Ariadne kept on daring him with her eyes. He smirked once more before taking the doorknob with his left hand and closing the door behind him.
"You have 30 minutes" he said.
Ariadne blinked a couple of times, not fully understanding what he meant by that but when her stomach growled she pushed that thought aside. Remembering how hungry she was she almost jumped to the tray, but she didn't want to throw away her dignity, instead she just walked casually to it and picked it up. Walking to her bed she inspected the items on top of it. There were two loafs of bread, a slice of American cheese wrapped in plastic, just like those sold on the supermarket. She frowned and continued her inspection. There was a small package of baby carrots, there was no brand printed on it, a red medium apple, some napkins and a bottle of water. The label of the last item had been ripped off.
At first she didn't understand why this was important but after taking a bite from the apple her mind connected the dots. They were trying to confuse her, not knowing what type of brands her food was from she couldn't possibly figure out where she was been held. Not like it mattered anyway, is not like she could yell her position. Even if she knew where on earth she was it wouldn't change the situation that she was a prisoner and there was nothing for her to do but wait.
A couple of minutes passed and she was done with the food. Placing the tray to the end of the bed she sat on the corner and waited for the time to run out. She didn't know what he meant by saying she had only half hour. Did he mean she had only that time to eat if not he would take the food away from her? Or did he mean he was going to turn off the lights after the time ran out? Whatever it was, she had to wait until it was the time. Which infuriated her, she hated waiting.
After a while boredom took over her, she was tired of staring at the door. She desperately needed to do something. She took the empty bottle of water and started to squeeze it, trying to release some stress. After a while she started to shape it into various forms, which it was fairly disappointing since the structure of it didn't let up for much bending. Tossing it back to the tray she took the napkins and saw some potential on them.
She remembered that one afternoon she was overstressed, she was stuck on the design of the third level for the inception. Her mind neglected to work as she grown desperate for a solution to the maze. She bit her lower lip in frustration and tossed her pencil in a furious manner to her right. Smashing her head to the desk she closed her eyes and puffed in resignation. A hand landed over her right shoulder, she jerked up confused looking for the owner. To her surprise it was Saito.
"Frustrated, are you Miss Ariadne?" he asked with a serene look.
Ariadne smiled apologetically and nodded.
"I see"
He looked to his right and with a quick gesture he pulled a chair next to her. Sitting on it he started scouting the things on top of her desk, he reached up to the pack of white sheets of paper.
"May I?" he asked motioning the package.
Ariadne nodded, he took one sheet and placed it in front of him. After a couple of seconds of silence he started to fold it from various angles. The architect observed carefully as the businessman thoroughly worked on the sheet of paper. After a minute or so he turned to her with the final result on his right palm. Ariadne blinked a couple of times before realizing what he had in his hand was what it looked like a rabbit.
"You see Miss Ariadne. One must not go after the white rabbit if it keeps eluding us. One must wait until it comes to us naturally"
Ariadne frowned not fully comprehending what he meant by that. He placed the figurine next to the sketch she was working on and left her alone. Still confused she took the figurine with her left hand and another pencil from the case with her right, she drew an eye, nose and whiskers on the animal. Gazing at it for a couple of seconds an idea finally hit her. She placed carefully the rabbit back to its place and resumed the sketch she was working on. Once she was done with the model she ran excitedly to Cobb to show her the final draft. He was currently talking to Saito, the extractor gave it a quick scan before nodding in approval. Ariadne smiled widely and looked to the businessman, he gave her a slight nod. Ariadne returned the gesture and head back to her desk. Finally understanding the meaning behind his words.
Ariadne sighed as the memory slipped back to the depths of her mind. She caressed the napkin with her fingers. She bit her lower lip, trying to remember how Saito had done it. After a while she figure it out and she now held a copy of that rabbit in her hand. She smiled at it and placed it carefully near her pillow. In that instant the door flung open, it made Ariadne jump but she didn't say anything. The same man walked in towards her, he took the tray and looked at her. She held his stare for a couple of seconds before his eyes drifted to the left and noticed the folded animal on her pillow. Ariadne gazed at the same direction and glared back, daring him to do something about it. He didn't do or comment anything instead he only walked back to the door and closed it firmly behind him.
Ariadne was expecting to the lights went off when the door again flung open. This time the man didn't move from the frame of the door, instead he threw at her a roll of toilet paper, which she caught with both hands. Ariadne looked at it then back to her captor's eyes. They didn't reveal anything just plain dark orbs staring at her. He turned to leave but stopped at the last moment. He gave her a look over his left shoulder.
"Don't waste it all in origami"
Ariadne blinked a couple of times, before she could respond anything he closed the door behind him. She heard footsteps fading away, clearly leaving her by herself. The architect looked once more to the toilet paper on her hands and frowned wondering what had just happened.
A/N: So how was it? Did you like it? If you have any recomendations or you want to point out something, please feel free to tell me so. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I really appreciate your feedback and support.