The Coworker

Chapter 4

Here I am tied up in a basement staring into the eyes of couch man and the guy who kidnapped me. 

"Awwww, cute! I didn't know you guys knew each other." I say. I figure I should try to keep the mood as light as possible, considering the circumstances. Couch man scoffs yet again. He steps towards me and leans over so that we are face to face. He smiles then punches me in the stomach. I feel the wind get knocked out of me yet again; they're just lucky I was not able to eat my fish sticks; otherwise, those would be all over the floor. 

"What the hell Sean? We haven't even interrogated her yet!" The guy who kidnapped me says. Nice to know he is at least fair. 

"Well, she was giving us attitude, Adam!" Sean, the couch guy says. 

They continue to go back and forth for a bit, but I don't pay attention much since I am trying to breathe. I hope this does not become a habit of theirs. 

They stop bickering, and Adam comes over next.

"Remember me, sweetheart?" He says.

"How could I forget?" I return.

He chuckles. 

"Well, I am glad you remember because I need you to tell us everything that you know about Chase." 

Chase. Why is everyone so obsessed with Chase?

"I'm not really sure what I can tell you. We are just coworkers." 

"Listen, we're gonna need you to cooperate if you want us to play nice." 

"I think that it's too late for that. I mean, you have already tackled me, drugged me, kidnapped me, and punched me sooooo......" 

His face starts to turn red, and he clenches his jaw. He turns around just to face me once again and slaps me across the face. 

Ouch.

I can feel the blood starting to trickle from my nose, and my cheek stings. Adam walks away while Sean comes over and leans onto the chair's arms.

"We're going to need you to start cooperating with us. Let's start with an easy question. Why did Chase claim to live with you?" Sean says, so close to me some spit hits my face. 

"I already told you! I don't know anything, I swear. I barely even know Chase!" I choke out, failing to hold in my tears. 

Adam and Sean exchange glances before walking back upstairs to wherever they came from. I can hear them arguing faintly before heavy footsteps stomp back down once again. This time, only Adam returned. His face still looked flushed, but his overall aura was calmer. He paces in front of me a couple of times with his arms crossed, just staring at me. He pauses and looks me up and down before taking a few steps forward. 

"I'm gonna take a chance, and I'm going to believe you about the questions we asked earlier." He says, and I release the breath I have been holding. "However, I would still like to know anything and everything you know about him, including the last time that you saw him." 

"Well, we're coworkers at a diner. We have been working together for about a year but don't really see each other much outside of work. But we were supposed to go to his cousin's basketball game yesterday, but I don't think that we went."

Adam raises his eyebrow at this last statement. 

"You don't think you went?" He questions. 

"Yeah, I don't really remember much. I remember getting into his car, and then we, ummm..."

"You what?" He asks, getting more impatient. 

"We kissed, but I don't remember anything after that. I just woke up in my bed." 

He remains silent. 

He walks to what I assume is the base of the stairs and yells, "Sean! You better get down here."

I hear Sean walk down the stairs, and they are both in front of me yet again.

"Sweetheart here, and Chase shared a loving moment yesterday," Adam says.

They look at each other and smile. My heart starts to pound. I'm not sure I like where this may be going. 

"What do you think Chase would do to get his girlfriend back unharmed?" Sean says.

"We weren't dating," I say, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks. 

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Sean says before both of them walk back upstairs and turn the light off, leaving me in complete darkness.