When Erin woke up the next morning, the hardcover book was resting open against her face, and she smiled. It had been a long time since she had let herself fall asleep whilst reading, but the action had calmed her incredibly, enough so that she could sleep well, her mind forgetting that she was being held captive.
Replacing her bookmark, she sat up and stretched, hearing her back crack a little before she slipped out of bed. With the new morning, she found that her ankle hurt a little less than the day before and for that she was grateful. It meant that she was that much more likely to make a run for it, should she see an opening.
Walking over to her clothes bag, she pulled out fresh clothes and made her way to the bathroom, peeing before stripping off the used clothes and setting them in the basket she hadn't noticed before. Shaking her head, she stepped into the small shower stall and shuddered once more, seeing her bath products hanging in a small basket. She knew that she couldn't let the casual familiarity with her life rattle her, though she did make a mental note to have all her locks changed the moment she escaped, and then she was going on a shopping spree.
The warm water felt good against her skin, and she frowned a little when it started to run cold. Knowing that she had to get out, she shut off the water and opened the door, reaching out for the large, fluffy, towel that had been provided for her. Wrapping it around her body, she picked up the smaller towel and patted dry her skin before wrapping it around her hair so that it would dry a little more quickly.
After she had dressed, she went back out to her room and sighed deeply to see that breakfast was waiting for her. That could only mean that she had missed Mary, and while she didn't want to admit it, she craved talking to someone else. She had thought herself more introverted, since she preferred her alone time, but this was quickly proving that she needed to be able to talk to people on a regular basis.
"You can't give in to your hysteria, Erin Rose. You need to keep your wits about you," she said aloud as she went over to the table and ate. Deciding to keep the orange juice with her, she set the rest of the plates at the bottom of the stairs, not wanting to put through the effort of climbing the stairs and possibly hurting her ankle once more.
Going back over to her bed, she read through a few more chapters of her book before finding herself unable to concentrate on the storyline, so she opened the laptop once more, hoping that there was an unlocked connection for her to use. Finding none, she sighed and stared at her home screen. Knowing that she had to lose herself once more, she called up The Sims and began to make a new neighborhood, populating it with perfect forms of all her friends. She gave herself and Dave two beautiful little girls, along with the three children she already had, and, feeling romantic, decided to pair up the others as well. Penelope and Derek seemed the first natural fit, and she created a little boy for them. She paired Aaron with Jennifer, since she had always thought that they would make a handsome couple, even if they had ended up with different people. Which left Reid alone, until she thought of Emily. Pairing them off, she gave them two cats, which seemed a more natural fit for them than children.
Lastly, she made a household that included Mary and Cathy. Since it felt right for some reason, she spelt the unseen woman's name with a C, and then she started playing her household, quickly making friends with Penelope, and enemies with Cathy. The game managed to distract her for a few hours until her stomach growled, reminding her that she couldn't survive on the few sips of orange juice that she's been taking. Setting the laptop aside, she flipped onto her stomach and pulled out the food box that Mary had left for her, rooting around in it until she picked up the box of Pop Tarts. They were strawberry, which pleased her to no end, and she grabbed out a pack before sitting up once more and getting absorbed in her game.
She had just gotten Penelope's avatar pregnant when she heard noise on the floor above her, and she knew that she had to be on alert once more. Saving her progress, she closed out the program and opened a Word document, staring at the blank page and trying to think of something to write.
The creak of the door opening had her looking up the staircase and she relaxed a little as she recognized Mary's legs coming down the stairs. "Good evening, Erin! I hope that you've had a pleasant day. I've brought us supper."
"Thanks," she murmured as she slipped off the bed and made her way over to the table. Just as she reached it, the lock snicked into place, and she fought to not sigh audibly. "What did you bring?"
"Corn beef casserole. We had it cooking in the crock pot all day. I told Cathy that you might need some company tonight, given that you've been alone for a while."
The concern in Mary's voice sounded slightly too saccharine to Erin's ears, and she slumped down into the chair as she took the bowl from the woman's hands. "It would be nice to talk to someone," she said softly as she picked up the fork and began to eat. Much though she didn't want to admit it, Mary was a good cook, and she quickly ate before picking up her glass of water and sipping it, watching Mary. "Did anyone ask after me at work?" she finally asked.
"No, I told your office that you would be out for at least a week more. Cathy and I have to pull together our ransom note and then get everything set up. This has to go perfectly, you realize, otherwise I'll never get custody of my children." Mary sighed as she picked up her glass and took a large swallow.
"There's nothing wrong with sharing custody, you realize. I did the same with my husband when we broke up. And he was a jerk about it, too. But my babies need their father's influence in their lives, even if it is one that I had grown to dislike over the years of our marriage."
Mary looked up at her, her eyes narrowed with resentment. "He's already starting to poison them against me. He told them that I'm a cheating whore!"
Erin fought to keep her eyebrow from arching, from saying the first thing that came to her mind, and totally alienate the woman. "Well, perhaps you should have kept the more physical aspects of a relationship for after you were divorced?"
Mary shook her head. "It's not like we had had sex in the three years before we separated. I found that I didn't like sex with him, like I was being forced to do something abhorrent when I was with him. And sex should be pleasurable."
Erin nodded at that, thinking about the last time she and David had made love. "That it should. Listen, I know a little about how things work, and if you get me a prepaid cellphone, it wouldn't be traced back to you, and I could talk to my David. I miss him. You get to see Cathy every night, and I'm days away from him."
She never saw Mary's hand until it connected sharply with her cheek, the band of her ring tearing open the thin skin there. "I cannot see my children right now, and am sucking it up. You can do the same with your David. And once we have what we want, we'll give you back to him. There's no need to be such a whiner."
Erin cradled her cheek as she stared dumbly at Mary, watching her angrily stack their dishes before stomping up the stairs. A small part of her wanted to rush at Mary, to pull her down onto the ground and beat her senseless and try to make her escape. The more reasonable part of her brain told her that she had no idea what Cathy looked like, or if she had a gun, and that attacking Mary would result in nothing good. So, she just sat there and stared, her eyes filling with tears. The moment the upstairs door slammed shut, she gave over to her weeping, burying her face in her hands as she cried.