"We're here," he said in a soft tone as soon as the back door of the car opened.
Wherever 'here' happened to be, I was not interested. I did not even have to pretend I was sleeping. Instead, I blatantly let my crying heave do what it does best - continue its noisy rhythmic hiccups.
"Come on," he coaxed and gently pull my arm. I immediately brushed it away and moved even further to the other end of the backseat, making myself as small as possible.
"Please..."
With my back against him, I glared and hissed, "Or what?! You're going to put a blade on my neck too?"
As irrational as I turned to be, I admit I had let my emotion took control. Too much pent-up negative emotions caged within my chest, that somehow, transformed into this unbelievably humongous ball of anger.
Unsurprisingly, it fueled me with this ridiculous amount of confidence and courage that I felt as though I could take on fifty armed wielding thugs and win.
I felt a strong desire to provoke him to the ends of the earth and see how far he could go. Anything! All because I wanted to unleash these raging fury and go batshit all over him. At most, I was confident to give him scratches from hell and some painful bite marks that would require severe stitches.
'If I'm going down, so will you!' was my mindset. But unfortunately, he did not react to my provocation at all! He only let out a sigh and sat silently next to me in the back seat.
It took a while for my anger to dissipate. How could I not when I had to share the very same air as that man in an enclosed space? Just the thought of his presence alone was enough to rekindle the anger's ember!
Over time, I could feel the air in the car had become cooler, slowly enveloping my heated head in its welcoming coldness. My breathing became calmer and my heart began to pace at a slower but steady rate. Eventually, my eyelids grew heavier and with such puffed up eyes, it was even quicker to fall asleep. And as easy as it was to sleep, it was not that hard either to wake up.
"Tsk!" slipped out of my mouth as soon as my eyes opened from such miserably comfortable sleep. Annoyance filled my every cavity.
How could I not when that darn minimalistic prison greeted me once again! What a horrendous cycle to be locked in a house on the roof of a tall building! How Rapunzel coped with that and still stayed optimistic, I would not wish to know.
I closed my eyes again, praying this nightmare would end. Why bother getting up when I know I could not even escape the floor, let alone the darn building? Might as well sleep my way to death if this is how life's going to be.
'Be careful what you wish for' came to mind as my days flew by, making me feel as though only an hour passing by. Day or night, it made no difference to a depressed person like me. How I showered, how I ate meant nothing as I continued to live like some discarded doll at the corner of the room behind the door.
Several times the man tried to make a conversation, maybe explain his way to justify his action. There were times he carried me out to sit at the patio to get some fresh air and there were times he brought me for a stroll. But I lived the life of a living dead with a soul that is not even barely hanging by a thread. I did not even understand why must he go to such length when it was obvious I could not care less any longer?
But one day, I somehow snapped from the blurry phase. I found myself aware of my surroundings and living in the presence. My senses were coming back slowly. It was then when I caught him kissing my forehead as his hands held mine.
"Come back soon, please," his soft whisper brought tickles to my ear and electrifying the back of my knees. The gentle caress of his thumb against the back of my hand appeared to awaken my dull senses.
Did my memory recover? Unfortunately, no. Did his kind treatment affects me? Again, no. If anything, I wanted to go back and let me basked in the numbness. But my lips betrayed me.
"Did you pay my mum to do that?"
"Maisie!" His voice screamed happy at the surprise but it was immediately controlled as he went, "to do what?"
"Huh! Weird. Of all the things in the sentence, you chose to ask that. Must be true then."
"This is just a big misunderstanding. Trust me!" He finally answered after a while.
Was the delay due to him trying to find a vague excuse like he normally did? Or was it because he finally understood what I was implying?
"Uh-huh, yeah. I believe you. I believe you, someone who kept me here, locked me in this house and —"
"Maisie, I - I have never stopped you. You could walk out of the door if you wanted to —"
"Of course I could! But only because you locked the bloody exit doors!"
He opened his mouth only to have it closed again. No words were uttered but a sigh.
His reaction only riled me up! My breathing became uneven and rapid and my clenched hands were ready to throw some fist. I was not satisfied!
In this confusing state of mind, I wanted answer! He could have just answered me but noooooo, it has to be vague and riddled! As though my already muddled brain needed more puzzles to solve in its terribly confused state!
All I had since I woke up were surprising turn of events that did not make any sense!
Married? Check!
Being locked up in an unknown place? Check!
Mum suddenly become rich? Check!
Mum kicked me out? Sigh... Check...
'Isn't it obvious? I am being bought... But this is completely out of character coming from mum. Did he threaten her? What is it?'
I screamed into the pillow like a madman I undoubtedly should be, given the circumstances. Who knows? Maybe it would scare him away and divorce me.