Wrong place, Wrong time

13

Magdalena

I stopped crying a while ago. I’m very conscious of the fact that I’m still leaning on, and holding on to Malcolm’s leg. He hasn’t stopped petting my hair since he first started, and it makes me wonder if he’s getting tired of doing it, though he hasn’t given me any sign of intending to stop.

I’ve completely made a fool of myself, all my street cred – right out the window. I try to keep myself as still as possible. Maybe if I stay still enough I’ll vanish into thin air. Or, maybe spontaneously evaporate.

“Lena, darling?” Malcolm's voice interrupts my spiraling thoughts, nope, he is not talking to me. “Look at me, please.” I retort to shaking my head silently, way to be f*****g childish, Lena. “I need you to look at me for what I’m going to tell you.” Damn it, the ground hasn’t swallowed be whole yet. I guess looking at him is the least I can do after I’ve just used his leg as a Kleenex. I take a deep, quiet breath and look at him. His hand moves to caress my chin instead, making me flinch even though I tried to avoid it. He lets go for just a second, before his hand goes back to caressing it. “There you are, love. Feeling better?” I actually do feel a bit lighter than before, and I give him a little nod. “Good. Lena, love, I need you to listen to me very carefully.” My hand subconsciously comes to rest at his knee, to show that I’m paying attention. I usually do this to my patients in the hospitals. I either put a hand on their knee or shoulder to show that I’m listening to them. “I speak, not only on behalf of myself, but on behalf of everyone in this room, when I say that you’re going to make it out of here.” Malcolm's words sound so promising, but it’s not really up to him though. I go to pull back from him, but his grip on my chin turns firm and I stop. “Lena, look at me!” His voice rises a few octaves. “From one human being to another, I give you my word. You’re coming with us, we’re not leaving this place without you.”

Something about the look he is giving me cuts deep into my soul, and I believe him. Being this close to him, and him providing me with comfort I never would’ve thought a man of his caliber would even care about, makes me believe what he says. I don’t know what’s in this for him, what’s in this for them, but I allow myself to feel safe, even if it’ll only last for a short time. I nod, I keep nodding.

“Okay.” I accept his words. “Okay.” A smile spreads widely on his face.

“Good, love, good.” He caresses my chin once more and then releases it. “Now, be a good girl for me, and drink the water.” Afraid of disappointing him, like a daughter could disappoint her father, I oblige. I slowly get up and return to the spot Nico surprisingly hasn’t moved from. He offers me the bottle and I drink it.

“That’s the f*****g spirit, love.” Isaac cheers me on, making me want to giggle. Ew, who the f**k even giggles. Malcolm interrupts us before I can embarrass myself further.

“Please have a seat by Nico. Weasel made his shackle too long, so he is too much of a coward to come near him and I.” I look down at the shackle, it really is surprisingly long. That’s what she said. My mind is so f****d right now.

“f*****g s**t for brains.” Scarface adds. I’ll have to agree with him on that. Weasel is a moron. Nico offers his hand to me and I cautiously take it. He leads me to where he was seated on the floor earlier, and puts himself between me and the door. He doesn’t touch me further, but as I take a seat next to him, our shoulders touch. It feels safer here, like a burden being lifted from my shoulders.

“We should put a bottle under the dripping pipe, we don’t know how long it’ll be until my men track us down.” Scarface looks at Malcolm and gestures to the pipe I collected water from when I cleaned his shoulder. That’s actually a brilliant idea. Wait, his men? Of course, he has men, he’s the heir to the damn mafia, and of course they’ll be looking for him. “The water was clean, right pulce?” His eyes are suddenly on me, am I pulce? What the hell does that mean? Malcolm chuckles, is Scarface calling me something derogatory?

“Oh, uh, yeah.” I stammer out. I get up and scurry to the corner behind him to put the bottle there, then I hurry back. The anxiety about the door opening when I’m in a vulnerable position chills me to the bone.

“Slow the f**k down, it’s going to hurt if you f*****g trip.” Scarface exclaims with a hint of annoyance. I roll my eyes, equally annoyed, and let out a sigh. I’m not a little ki- I stumble over my own feet and almost trip. I quickly compose myself, hoping none of them saw anything. My eyes land on Isaac, who has turned his head away from me to hide, but his shoulders are shaking with silent laughter. I turn to Scarface.

“That was on purpose.” I state. He lifts his brow in disbelief.

“Right.” He tsks. I sit back down next to Nico, I hear Scarface mumbling ‘pulce’ under his breath. I lean closer to Nico so no one else is able to hear what I’m whispering.

“Is he calling me a little s**t or something?” Nico laughs, he full on laughs at me. This catches the attention of everyone. My cheeks burn with embarrassment again. I was being dead serious, it’s not that funny. I know Nico can’t exactly answer my question, but he could at least have nodded his head yes or no.

“You’re definitely coming home with us.” Isaac states, leaving no room for discussion as he smiles at himself in satisfaction. What have I gotten myself into?

The door slamming open, yet again, startles me awake. I must have fallen asleep, I think I was resting on Nico’s shoulder. Nico’s focus is on Weasel and Gunner, who have just entered the room. I release a shaky breath, nothing good has ever come out of them coming in here. Weasel’s eyes narrow when he notices I’m not sitting where I used to, and when he sees I’m sitting next to Nico, and near Malcolm, his jaw clenches and nostrils flare. He quickly composes himself and puts on a smile.

“I see you’ve gotten cozy in here, Rapunzel. That’ll definitely help you later on, if you catch my drift.” Weasel sends me a wink as goosebumps grow on my arms. Gross. “Though, there has been a change of plans. We’re not quite finished with you. Get up, let’s go.” He gestures to the door.

“No.” Malcolm declares, making Weasel’s eyes snap to him.

“Excuse me?”

“Are you hard of hearing?” Weasel scoffs at his question.

“Have you lost your f*****g mind?” Weasel shouts at him, his face turns into one of disbelief. “Last I checked, I’m the one with the gun here.” He takes out his gun and waves it around to prove his point. He turns his attention back to me. “Now, if you come over here, as I just asked you to, no one else will get hurt.” I gulp. I don’t want them to get hurt because of me – not even Scarface. Malcolm chuckles, making my uneasiness grow.

“You’re not going to do anything.” Malcolm smiles deviously. Scarface, Isaac and Nico seem unusually calm. Do they know something I don’t? “Have you ever held a gun before, Mr. Barlowe?”

“Taunting me will do you no good, Smiley.” Weasel spits back at him. “You have no idea who you’re really dealing with.” He c***s his gun and points it at Malcolm, my eyes widen. Why are none of the others doing anything? Isaac is smiling brightly, he looks like he is thoroughly enjoying the whole exchange.

“The girl is not going with you, Weasel. That’s final.” Malcolm states finally.

“What did you just f*****g call me?” Weasel looks furious as Isaac snickers at the name Malcolm let slip out. Weasel grits his teeth. “I thought you might say something along those lines, but, does she agree?” Weasel puts on a dramatically thoughtful face. “Let’s see,” He fires his gun at Malcolm. Nico's arm shoots out to shield me and I let out a terrified shriek, covering my ears. “How about now?” I look towards Malcolm, the gunshot pierced the wall right next to his head. Holy s**t. My heart is pounding in my ears, mixed with the ringing from the gun being fired. My stomach drops, I have to go with him. “No? Next bullet doesn’t miss. Let’s try Scarface.” He turns and c***s his gun again, this time pointing it at Scarface, but I jump to my feet just as he does.

“Wait, no!” I jump to my feet and hold up both my hands. “I’ll go with you.”

“Lena-.” Malcolm tries to stop me, but I interrupt him.

“No, it’s okay.” I frantically nod at him as tears begin to gather in my eyes. I look around at each of them. Scarface has opened his eyes, and they look pained in an unexplainable way. Isaac looks like he wants to say something, but I discreetly shake my head at him and send him a small smile. Nico is tense, his jaw is clenched tightly. Malcolm does not look happy either, but his smile hasn’t left his face. His smile now is more dangerous than amused, and I’m too scared to wonder what he is thinking about. I fake tripping over my feet, and land near Isaac.

“Get up, clumsy bitch.” Weasel orders me, but I ignore him and quickly get to business.

“If I don’t come back,” I whisper to Isaac, letting my hair cover my face, so it looks like I’m just looking at the ground and not talking. “Weasel, Gunner, Sascha and two tall blonde dudes.” I push myself off the ground and walk towards Weasel. He grabs my arm harshly, and pulls me out of the room. I don’t look back.