Cache

Chapter 3 ~ Suffocating Silence.

I hear the next click before I reach three...

My eyes in that millisecond clamp down harder and I feel panic as I realise that my last moment on this earth is a true representation of how weak I am.

I have no courage, it's all just an act.

Then a sudden flash explodes past my shut eyelids and I briefly wonder if I've already been shot.
I find it odd that I felt no pain but I'm certainly not complaining.

I've never been one to really consider life past death, my family isn't overly religious, we don't go to church and we don't pray but we still all agree that there must be something out there.
We just don't know what.

A chuckle breaks me out of my thoughts and I stiffen as the flash fades away into darkness.

The chuckle is low and severely lacking the warmth that I'd expect from the welcome at the supposed pearly white gates.

"That's a keeper." I hear mumbled ahead and my heart both soars and plummets knowing that I'm still in this van to fight another day.

This time I feel no resistance as I crack open my eyes and glare down the Russian man peering through.
In his hands isn't a gun but actually a camera, the moment I notice this another flash goes off and I fight the urge to try to reach through and snatch the camera, knowing how vulnerable I'll be.

"What do you fucking want?" I grit out and clench my hands into tight little fists to hide their shaking.

"If you need money then you grabbed the wrong girl." I say after a beat of silence, yet all he does is stare in response, trailing from my slightly dipped shirt to my ankle length jeans and I can't suppress the shiver that runs down my spine.

"What's your name?" The man murmurs and I crane my neck to hear him, I watch his own eyes widen with both of us surprised by the question.

All I do however is scoff loudly before turning around and sitting on the floor of the van, leaning on the side wall to have visibility of both the man and the door.

Already beginning to feel my claustrophobia climb up my throat I reach into my pocket and take out my car keys.
I gaze at them sadly for a moment before using them to scratch the wall behind me, maybe if I peel enough of the furry substance off then outsiders can hear me.

However I quickly find that the action is useless as I only seem to uncover more and more of the fur.

"You didn't answer me." I shrug my shoulders in a stiff 'not my problem' way and I feel the whole van lurch sideways as the man shifts in his seat until his body is fully facing the hatch.

"Answer me in words." The brute demands and feeling confident that a wall separates us I simply use my car keys to pick imaginary dirt from my nails.

As I feel the tension rise in the machine I time my question strategically, the more angry he is means the more likely he is to answer.
He doesn't take long.

"I SAID ANSWER-"

"What's your name?" I question cutting him off mid-scream and I'm quite relieved to do so, small metal spaces are not great for loud sounds.

"Rosik." He answers so quickly that it takes a moment for me to process what he said.

The way he blurted it so suddenly makes me believe that he's been waiting to say it for quite sometime.

But why would a captor give his name away so freely?
Surely he knows that the moment I go ninja on him and escape that he's the first name I'll drop.