Question

***

A few days had passed by after that but like she said there was no news of anyone going missing. Maybe she was telling the truth, he thought.

He picked up the knife from the kitchen before heading down to the basement where she was. She was indeed a peculiar one, not getting the least bit scared by his threats but a single comment had her wailing. He had to sooth her for hours after that just to make her stop shaking.

"Oh hey!" she looked up at him cheerfully as he descended down the stairs. "How have you been?"

"I'm your kidnapper you know," he sighed. This had become so common a thing that he didn't even get surprised anymore.

"You're not very scary," she said nonchalantly.

"Maybe not to you but the others before you were scared and crying all the time," he said proudly. "Maybe try to be a bit scared of this room or something I don't know. It hurts my pride."

"This room isn't all that scary although a little uncomfortable," she said thoughtfully.

"I keep you in an air conditioned room, feed you and let you use the washroom for free. What more do you want?"

"I-I'm sorry for asking so much," she stuttered in her hurry to apologize.

"Want some?" he opened a packet of chips and sat by her feet. He had been doing this for a while but she looked like she had no intention of trying to even kick him. He doubted she even wanted to run away.

"I can probably open your handcuffs and even then I doubt you'd leave," he said out loud. She didn't answer, only opened her mouth wide. He fed her with a blank expression. Suddenly, one of the pieces went the wrong way and she started coughing.

He panicked and stood up. He had not brought a water bottle down with him. "Fuck," he cursed himself silently as he ran upstairs and carried a bottle down. She was still coughing with tears in her eyes when he came back down and he held the bottle to her lips as she drank eagerly, a little dribbling down her chin. He placed a hand on her neck to hold her head in place as she finally stopped coughing.

He found himself strangely enticed by the way the trail of water travelled the length of her neck and collar bone and then disappeared into the fabric of her shirt.

"Did you have a boyfriend?" he asked her and she stared with a blank expression.

"I told you I didn't have anyone close… friends and boyfriends come under that category, don't they?" a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Hey hey don't cry," he quickly started patting her hair in an effort to calm her down. "I understand, you're one lonely little fucker."

"Lonely little…" she repeated and her eyes teared up even more.

"Ah…" he sighed.

How did we come to this?