Jade sat at the dining room table and re-read her paper for the tenth time. She started out telling herself that she would finish up some notes on one endless section of her dissertation, just to make sure that it was cohesive. That was four hours ago. At this point, she was exhausted and done with the whole damn thing.
Rubbing her eyes wearily, she got up to go to the kitchen, which was connected to the dining room by adjoining double doors. She padded into the dark kitchen, feeling her way to the open pantry. She reached up for the big box of Cheerios and pulled it down.
She froze, hearing the floorboards above her creak. It was an old house, and a big house, and she tried to rationalize that houses simply made creepy sounds late at night. This particular house had the right to make creepy nighttime sounds, as it had been vacant for almost a year before she moved in. Besides, it was 3 am and she had been staring at a computer screen non-stop. She was being paranoid.
The creaking stopped, and she resumed her task, pouring cereal into a bowl on the counter. She turned, went to the wall to turn on the light. As it flicked on, she turned back around and met a pair of eyes that weren't there the first time.
"Hello beautiful. I've been waiting for you." The voice was deep and masculine yet had a soft quality to it.
Jade stood, paralyzed, looking at the masked man in her kitchen.
Was he going to rob her? That must be it; otherwise he wouldn't have on a mask.
But what did he want? She didn't have anything of value, really. She wasn't even from the area. She had come here to work on her doctorate's degree, and found this quiet, airy house. She had poured all of the money she had into leasing it while she went to school.
And how did he get in? She had security bars installed on her front door and windows, not to mention the best burglar alarm.
All these questions ran through her head as she stood there, unable to move or speak. There was no point in looking at him, as the only visible part of his body was his eyes. From the little bit of exposed skin, she could only gather that he was light in color, maybe white or Hispanic. No real help there. Everything else was carefully concealed in black.
There was nothing about him that she could describe to the police, save that he was around 6'1" and had brown eyes with a dangerous glint to them. Oh, and that voice. A voice that could easily belong to a nice banker or businessman. That soft, yet menacing voice. Jade shivered involuntarily.
The masked man moved as if to touch her face, making her jerk. He stepped forward, and she stepped back, stupidly forcing herself against the pantry door. She was a few feet away from the main entrance to the kitchen, the one that connected to the den, but it too had double doors. Doors that were presently closed. When she had first moved into the house several months back, the doors were charming—a way to partition the kitchen off from the rest of the house.
Now, those doors were standing in the way of her escape, for the only way to go through them was to open both, and in order to do that, she had to turn her back to the masked intruder. No way was she fast enough to pull that off. Her only other option was to try and run past him to the already open doors that she entered the kitchen from. One look at his heavily-muscled body and that plan was shot down as well.
Panic rose in Jade's chest as she tried to figure out how to get herself out of this one.
Please, dear God, please! I'll go to church every Sunday. I'll go visit home more often. I'll volunteer at the shelter like they've been asking me. I'll be a better person. Please! Just don't let me die! Or worse...
Unconsciously, she pulled down the over-sized t-shirt that stopped right at her shapely thighs.
He had been silently studying Jade since she jerked away from him. He watched as a myriad of emotions fluttered across her face, from fear to panic to sheer horror at whatever last thought had crossed her mind. He wondered what she was thinking. She probably thought that he was going to rape her. He smirked. She wasn't too far from the truth.
He lifted his gaze back up, taking in her wide almond-shaped eyes, the smattering of freckles across her nose, and that sweet face. But he was most intrigued by her hair. He had never seen a black woman with hair like hers. It was shoulder-length, kinky, and almost enveloped her face. He could tell that she wanted to push it out of her face, but was afraid to move. Her hair reminded him of an explosion of cotton candy. He wondered if it felt as soft.
He took a final step and closed the remaining space between them. She held her breath as he reached out and...touched her hair? He grabbed a ringlet, intrigued at how curly the individual strands were but how they collectively created a massive cloud.
"Wha...what do you want from me? I don't have any valuables," she stammered.
"Like cotton candy. Interesting." He released her hair and grabbed her arm. "It's not what YOU have, sweetheart. It's what your house has."
She stared up at him, confusion marring her features. 'What are you talking about? This house isn't anything special. "
She closed her eyes in fear as he pulled her close and studied her face. "That's where you're wrong. There is something special here. And I intend to collect it from you. Now be a smart girl, and tell me where the security box is. And don't bother yourself with lying. I know you've found it by now."
Jade's eyes flew open. "What security box? I don't know what you're talking about!"
He squeezed her arm harshly. "Don't waste my time. Where is the box?" His voice remained level, but Jade could see the beginnings of anger in his eyes.
"Why would I lie to you? I would give it to you if I had it!" She started to cry.
He looked at her for a long moment, and then led her back to the dining room. "What I can't believe is how you could live in this house for three months and not know exactly where it is."
Even through her tears, Jade was irritated. "Well maybe the people who lived here before me took it with them. It's not my fault that you don't know where your stupid box is!" She spat the last part out, forgetting the seriousness of the situation in her anger.
He forced her down into a chair, and squatted, making himself almost level with her. He did not raise his voice, for he found that it was far more effective to speak quietly instead.
"Listen to me, you little bitch. I will search every room, knock down every wall, and pull up all of the fucking floorboards if I have to.
"And I will drag you with me from room to room, destroying your lovely home, until you stop the bullshit and tell me where my box is."
She could hear the menace in his voice at this point. The tears continued to stream down her face as she imagined that he would still hurt her once he completely ruined her home and realized that his precious box wasn't there. What was in that box anyways? She wanted to know what she was risking her house and safety for, but knew better than to ask. No sense in provoking the monster.
