Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

52. Desperate Measures

"Most people have to take professional lessons to act," Irina said to me.

"Did you?"

"No," she responded.

"Neither have I." I then calculated the time that has passed since I've hung up the phone and determined that her father will probably arrive in the next minute. "Get ready," I walked behind Irina, leaned closer to her ear, and whispered to her as I placed a clean handkerchief in her mouth to use as a gag.

Irina simply nodded to my words and started preparing herself for her role. It wasn't too long before her eyes started tearing up and became bloodshot once again. In addition to that, her facial expression appeared to be one of a genuine fear as well.

"Irina!"

The gym door opened with ferocity and the middle-aged man that I saw earlier stood there by the entrance with the setting sun shining behind him, making it so that it was his silhouette that I saw.  

"Mr. Solis," I calmly said in an altered voice and made sure to brandish the knife. "Mind closing the door? You didn't bring anyone with you or let anyone else know right? Because then—" I leaned forward so that my left hand was gently on Irina's lower chin and lifted it slightly in order to show her neck and the knife up against it to her father. "—things will get messy."

"Fine! Fine!" He said with his hands out before him and slowly backed off until he was at the door. Then, he closed the gym door, cutting off the sun's rays and leaving the gym to be illuminated by the few rays of sun that managed to pass in through the windows up near the high ceiling.

"What is it that you want?" Mr. Solis then asked. "Money? How much do you want?"

"I think you got the wrong idea, Mr. Solis." I brought my face closer to Irina's while maintaining eye contact with her father. In the meantime, although I couldn't see her face, I was certain that Irina was acting her part of the victim perfectly. "I want your daughter." As I finished with my sentence, I gently licked the side of her face for effect.

"Stop," Mr. Solis reached out his hand in panic and took a step forward towards me. However, he knew that I had the initiative in this situation and refrained himself from getting any closer. "Anything other than that. Just give me a number. I promise I can get you that money."

"Yeah," I sighed as I stood up to my full height while still having my left hand on Irina's shoulder, close to her neck in order to remind him that her life was in my hands. "Money, money, money. You know once you get her back you can just use her to earn more of it. She's just a money-growing tree to you."

"No," he insisted.

I could see from the beads of sweat that has been constantly forming on his face that he was under severe stress. All I have to do is push him even more and make him go over the edge with that high amount of stress. Notice it, old man. Can't you see in the eyes of your daughter that what she hoped for isn't for you to save her? She want's her father back. Even for me, I can no longer tell if the tears in her melancholic eyes were from acting or from her desire to see that father that loved her once again.

"She's..." he paused as he began thinking.

Good. That is what I need from you. Think about this question: What is Irina to me?, and suffer from it. You need to think and suffer in order to remember who you truly are yourself.

"A tool, isn't it?" I then continued in a mocking and provoking voice towards him. "From the information I got, weren't you gonna sell your daughter to some director for a role in an upcoming movie? Come to think of it, she's a prostitute, a slut. A dirty-ass girl that probably slept her way to her current position. You must be a nice pimp if you can get so many dirty old men to stick their dicks inside her."