Pieces of Me

by Rachel Ryan

  I can’t wait to see you in this before I rip it from your beautiful body and make love to you.

  Daniel.

  My hands are shaking as the card falls to the floor. Okay, it may be time to call the Police.

  The officer I speak to confirms exactly what I suspected. Daniel hasn’t broken the law and there is nothing they can do. He suggested that I ignore Daniel’s messages and he will grow bored with me. Apparently they see this kind of thing all the time and it never turns into anything. Here’s hoping.

  The next morning as I park my car in the school parking lot, I find myself scanning my surroundings for his face. I know I’m being totally ridiculous and I’m freaking myself out more than I need to, but I just hate the thought of him lurking around, spying on me. Satisfied that he’s nowhere to be seen, I enter the main school building and hurry to the staff room. As I step through the door I inwardly groan when I hear the message alert on my phone.

  Are you okay, sweetheart? You look a little tense today. Maybe I could come around tonight and help you relieve some of your tension. Call me. I love you.

  Daniel

  “Ugh! Leave me alone.” The surprised faces of my colleagues stare up at me and I realise I must have said that out loud.

  Offering a weak smile I quietly apologise and quickly shove my bag in my locker before hurrying to my classroom.

  “Abbi.” Turning around I see Julie Preston coming up behind me. “Are you okay?”

  I know we don’t always get along and she’s kind of a pain in the arse, but she looks genuinely concerned as she makes her way toward me. I know I can’t tell her the details of my current problems as she is a huge gossip and the whole school will likely know before the last bell of the day.

  “Yeah, Julie. I’m fine. It’s just my ex hassling me. We broke up recently but he doesn’t seem to be ready to accept that. I figure if I just keep ignoring his messages he’ll get the hint.” Laughing nervously I try to smile, but find myself on the verge of tears. I just wish Jake was here to comfort me. I miss him so much and this drama with his possible baby mama is just making the whole situation ten times worse. I can’t wait for all this mess to be behind us and Jake and I can start our future together.

  ***

  That afternoon I stay back at school to catch up on some marking and prepare for tomorrows plan. I’ve been so distracted this week that I’ve been falling behind in my work. I think even the students are noticing that there’s something wrong. One of the girls in my grade ten class asked me if I was okay when I just sat here staring out the window, my mind going over all of the events of the past couple of weeks. I didn’t realise that I had been daydreaming until she called out my name. By the time I leave my classroom all the students and faculty have left and there are only a couple of cleaners walking the halls with their trolleys. When I exit the building the last rays of the day are disappearing and the path leading to the parking lot is quite dark. I quickly glance around and then pick up the pace. I should have thought this through a little better when I decided to hang around at work. I walk swiftly, my heels clomping on the concrete path. A noise behind me makes me jump and I turn, arching my neck to scan the path leading back to the school building. I silently scold myself for being paranoid and as I swing around to continue down the path to my car, I bump into a solid figure.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t…” My words hang in the air as I realise that the solid body I ran into is Daniel and he is standing in front of me. Suddenly he lifts his hand and I feel something cold and wet cover my face and then…darkness.

  Chapter Twelve

  Opening my eyes, everything is a blur. I try to rub them but as I attempt to lift my hands they are met with resistance. Focussing my vision on my hands I see that they are tied to the bed frame just above my head with large black zip ties. My heart races and I pull on the zip ties as panic takes over my body. Where the hell am I? Why am I tied to a bed? My memory is a little foggy, but I remember running into Daniel and then…nothing. He held something cold and wet over my face. He must have drugged me and brought me here. No, he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t go that far.

  Struggling, I sit up on the bed and look around the room. There are a few tables lining one wall, but I can’t see any other furniture due to the darkness of the room. It is still night time but there is an outside light sending a beam through the window and onto the wall behind me, as I turn to look at the wall I feel faint. Oh my God! This must be his studio. Lining the entire back wall of the room are photos; photos of me. I feel nauseous as I study the pictures. Some of these pictures are from weeks ago. He must have been following me this whole time. I scan each photo trying to work out where it was taken and when. My eyes fall onto a picture of Jake and my heart stops. It looks like it was taken at the airport. He knows that Jake is out of town and won’t come looking for me.

  A noise from the far side of the room alerts me to the presence of someone. As my eyes focus on the dark corner I realise there is someone sitting in a chair, watching me.

  “Daniel, is that you?” My voice is weak and hoarse, my throat dry.

  “Hello, Abbi. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” He stands and slowly makes his way closer to my bed. As he steps into the light, the expression on his face frightens me. He stares down at my chest and it’s only then I realise that I am in my underwear.

  “Where are my clothes? Why are you doing this Daniel?”

  He sits down on the end of the bed and reaches out a hand to stroke my leg, making me flinch and instinctively move into the corner of the bed. He quickly pulls his hand back as a look of anger flashes across his features.

  “What do you mean ‘Why am I doing this?’ I told you, we belong together, Abbi. I can’t live without you. Stay with me. Let me love you and make you happy. Jake could never make you as happy as me.”

  “Daniel. This is crazy. Why would you drug me and tie me up? You don’t treat the people you love that way.” My voice is shaking and I feel tears welling in my eyes.

  “It’s not crazy! We should be together. If that stupid bastard hadn’t come back into your life, we would still be together.”

  “No Daniel, Jake wasn’t the reason for the end of our relationship. You were. You lied to me the whole time we were together. You lied to your wife.”

  He shakes his head as he inches forward.

  “No, I told you I left her. I’m ready to be with you.”

  “Daniel, Jessica came to see me. She told me that she left you because she realised you were obsessed with me. She told me about this studio.”

  He stands up and starts pacing the floor, his eyes darting back to me every now and then.

  “Please let me go, Daniel. I won’t tell anyone about this. No one has to know.”

  “SHUT UP!”

  Once again I flinch and creep back closer to the corner, raising my knees in front of me. He glares at me one more time and then turns around and walks out the door to the right, slamming it behind him.

  Finally, I let my tears fall. My head is aching, probably an after effect from whatever drugs he used to knock me out and my wrists are sore. Now that the shock is wearing off, my body feels cold, so using my feet, I somehow pull up the blanket that is folded on the end of the bed and wriggle around trying to cover myself. What the hell am I going to do? I wonder where Cameron is. Surely she will get worried when I don’t come home and call the Police. Maybe she already has…hopefully. As I rest my head on my arms I picture Jake’s beautiful face and gorgeous brown eyes and keep his image in my mind as I drift back to sleep.

  ***

  The next morning I wake as the sun comes up and try to stretch my body out on the small bed. My muscles are aching from the awkward position I slept in and my mouth is dry from thirst. Glancing around, I see Daniel sitting in the same chair as last night holding a bottle of water and a plate of food.

  “Are you hungry? I brought you a sandwich.”

  “No, I’m just really thirsty.”
/>   He places the plate on the table beside him and walks over to my bed. Screwing the lid off the bottle of water he holds it up to my mouth. As the cool liquid slides down my parched throat, I stare into his eyes trying to figure out just what he is planning to do with me. Most of the messages he has sent me recently have been quite sexual, which worries me. I really felt like I had got to know him well in the time we were dating. How did I not see this side of him before?

  Moving my head away from the bottle I signal that I’ve had enough. He places the bottle down beside the plate and goes back to his chair. He sits silently for a few minutes, his eyes studying mine.

  “Daniel, I need to go to the bathroom.”

  He shakes his head and looks down at the floor.

  “Please, Daniel. Untie me. I promise I won’t try to get away. I just need to use the bathroom.”

  Again he shakes his head at me.

  “I didn’t want it to come to this, Abbi. I thought that if I just let you fuck this Jake guy, eventually you would realise that he isn’t actually what you want and then you would come back to me. I love you, Baby. I want us to get married and have babies together. I want us to have a life together.”

  His voice shakes as he speaks and I can hear the emotion. He is totally delusional if he thinks we can be together. Even if Jake hadn’t come back into my life, eventually I would have realised that there was never going to be anything long term between me and Daniel. I didn’t really feel anything more than friendship toward him. I think I was just trying to force myself to move on and forget about Jake, and being with someone, anyone, was a good start and a good distraction. Now, all I feel is anger and frustration that he feels he can kidnap me, tie me to a bed and then expect me to marry him and have his babies.

  “Daniel, I’m sorry, but I don’t love you.”

  He shakes his head and I can see his knuckles turning white as his hands grip the armrests of the chair.

  “You do love me. I know you do. I know you aren’t ready for the physical side of a relationship, but I’m happy to wait for it. I know we can be happy together. You make me happy.”

  “Daniel.” I know I need to let him down easy or he could snap. “I’m sorry. What we had wasn’t love. You belong with your wife. You love her…She loves you”

  He cuts me off.

  “Don’t talk about that fucking bitch. She didn’t love me. She was too busy with her career and never had any time for me. That’s why I found you. When I saw you that first time, I knew that we would be together forever. I had to have you.” He gets out of his chair and kneels down on the floor in front of me.

  “Please, Baby. Say you will stay with me. Marry me. Let me make love to you. I will spend the rest of my life pleasing you and giving you whatever you want.”

  Tears start to run down my face. He is seriously starting to scare me. I shake my head as my eyelids start to feel heavy. I just woke up, but for some reason I’m feeling really tired already.

  “I can’t Daniel. I’m in love with Jake. I’ve been in love with him for a long time.”

  “No!” He jumps up to his feet and paces the room again, his hands rubbing over his face. The movement causes his hair to stand up straight, making him look a bit crazy.

  He walks over to the chair he had been sitting on and picks it up, hurling it across the room and into the wall to my left. I tuck my legs up in front of myself for protection, worried that he will get aggressive with me.

  He stands there, breathing heavily and looks at the chair on the floor, before glancing at me and smiling. For some reason I am really struggling to keep my eyes open and my head feels dizzy.

  “Daniel. What have you done? What was in the water?”

  He throws his head back and laughs, the sound making me flinch. “I just gave you something to help you sleep while I find us a new hiding place. You said Jessica knows about the photos in my studio, so we can’t stay here. This will be the first place they will look.”

  He leans down and peers into my eyes and the last thing I see before falling into a deep sleep is the crazy look in his eyes.

  ***

  I awake some time later and I’m lying on another bed in another room, the only source of light coming from a small lamp on an old end table beside the door. The door is suddenly thrown open and Daniel stands there, shirtless. He watches me closely and I am frightened by the look in his eyes. His eyes look wild as he walks toward the bed pushing the door closed behind him. I shrink into the corner again and raise my knees to my chin. He stops beside the bed and looks down at me.

  “How are you feeling, Baby?”

  Tears start to well in my eyes.

  “Daniel, please…please just let me go. I know you don’t want to hurt me. You’re a good man, Daniel.” My voice is shaking and I can’t hold back the tears.

  “Just not good enough, right? Not good enough for you?” The tears are streaming down my face as he glares at me. “Who the fuck do you think you are, Abbi? You think you’re too good for me?”

  “No, Daniel, it just wasn’t meant to be between us. You’re married. Jessica loves you.”

  “That bitch never fucking loved me. But you, Abbi. What we have is real.” He bends down and runs a finger down my cheek, wiping away the tears. “We are so good together. You get me. That bitch never understood me. I love you, Abbi. I love you so much and I can’t live without you. Say you love me too, Baby.”

  The sobs rise up in my chest and I can’t push them down any longer.

  “I can’t, Daniel.”

  He pulls his hand back as he grimaces.

  “Fine, we’ll do it your way. I’m going to make you fall in love with me, Abbi. We’re going to stay here as long as it takes.”

  He storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  I sob into the pillow as I realise how much trouble I am in. Daniel is a complete psychopath and I have no idea how far he will take this. I cry into the pillow for what seems like hours before the door is wrenched open and Daniel appears.

  “I’ve given you a chance to make the right choice and yet you still refuse. So, I’m going to show you how much I love you and maybe then you will realise that you want me.” He grabs my knee and tries to pull it to the side. I can smell alcohol seeping from the pores of his skin as I plead with him not to do this.

  “Daniel, please don’t do this. Please!”

  “Shut up. You want it just as much as I do, you fucking tease. You’ve been teasing my cock for the last eight months. Is that what gets you off, Abbi? Do you like being a cock tease? Do you like making men want you and then shutting them down and making them beg for it.”

  As he tries to hold me down, his brows draw together and his eyes are on my chest.

  “He gave that to you, didn’t he? Your locket. That’s why you never take it off?”

  He loops his fingers through the chain of the locket and rips his hand away the locket flying as he tosses it on the floor.

  I gather all of my strength and kick out with my foot, but he grips hold of my ankle and pulls, lowering me down on the bed. I thrash my legs around and try to break the straps still holding my wrists, so I can push him away, but the ties hold tight, my wrists burning.

  My heart is racing and I decide then that I will continue to fight him. I am not going to let him do this to me. I thrash my body around and scream as loud as I can. I don’t even know where we are, but I’m hoping someone is close enough to hear my screams. He pulls back his hand and swings it down hard, slapping me on my cheek.

  “Shut up, bitch. Stop fighting me.”

  He grips my jaw tight in one of his hands and leans down close to me.

  “I have been waiting for eight fucking months and you are still playing hard to get? You know you want it, Abbi.”

  “Daniel, stop! You’re hurting me.”

  His hold on my jaw loosens a little and I turn my head, sinking my teeth into the flesh between his thumb and finger. He screams in pain as he tears his hand a
way from me, his blood leaving a metallic taste in my mouth.

  “You fucking ungrateful bitch!”

  He reaches behind him and pulls out a small black pistol, which he points at me. His voice shakes as he spits his words at me.

  “I would have given you the world, Abbi. All you had to do was love me back.”

  The tears are blurring my eyes as I realise that this is the end. I will never see Jake again, never hold him in my arms, never kiss his soft lips…

  I close my eyes and wait for it.

  The darkness…the end.

  Part Two

  Jake

  Chapter Thirteen

  As I climb out of the Taxi, I stare up at Abbi’s apartment building. I can’t wait to hold her in my arms. I’ve missed her so much while I’ve been in Perth, but I just needed to stay there until I knew for sure that the baby wasn’t mine and we could start our life together. The results came in early this morning and I bought my plane ticket as soon as I heard that the result was negative. It turns out that my ex had been sleeping with another guy while we were together and he was taking the paternity test as I was catching a plane out of there. I had suspected that she was cheating on me at the time, but since I wasn’t that serious about anyone but Abbi, I hadn’t really cared. I sent Abbi a few messages over the last twenty four hours to let her know that the baby isn’t mine and that I was on my way home, but there was no response from her. I was a little worried at first that she wasn’t replying, but I think she might still be pissed at me. To get that negative result on the test was such a relief. Now nothing is standing in the way of me and Abbi being together.