I felt him move away and looked up to see him enter my bedroom. While he was gone, I glanced behind me to look at the silent police officers.
I saw blood. The couple on the coffee table were still and pale. I didn't know what happened to the other two police officers. I moved toward them to see if they were still alive and then felt a body block me.
"What did I tell you, little girl?" the man tapped my nose. "Don't look at and don't see what you shouldn't see."
I gripped his sleeve hesitantly and then pulled him down.
"Are they still alive?"
"They're still alive," he told me reassuringly, stroking my head. "For now. Be good and don't do anything to anger me. There's still a chance that I'll leave them alive if you're obedient. It's going to be a long and difficult journey. It may not be easy to cook where we're going, so cook more and pack more food."
I lowered my head, felt him kiss my forehead and turn me around to face the kitchen again.
"Good girl," he said and his presence left me alone.
This time, I started cooking without looking back anymore. Seeing as he said it might be a long trip, I boiled all the frozen vegetables in the freezer in salted water and then drained them, pressing them tightly into spare containers. Frozen meat still in the freezer was defrosted in the microwave, sliced thinly, marinated and then put into the oven to dry into meat jerky. With the bones, I boiled a soup in a vacuum sealed cooker where the inner pot only needed to be boiled and then placed in the vacuum sealed outer pot. There in the vacuum pot, but would continue to slowly cook using the residual heat. I found a big box and started packing dried foods and seasonings, emptying the fridge and pantry. I didn't have that much stuff and so it wasn't long before everything in my kitchen had been neatly packed into boxes and containers that I had kept after moving here.
Using what was at hand, I also made two cakes, a tray of muffins and put a drop cookie mix to the side, waiting for more oven space to be freed up. There was dough waiting on the warm stove, covered with a moist tea towel to rise.
I pulled the lamb out of the oven to baste it with the marinade that had been left on the bench and put it back in again.
When I heard the trundling of wheels, I knew the man had also pretty much finished packing my clothes and things. He had bundled up a lot of my things into bedsheets tied into a package with a big knot on top.
"You go and get changed," he said and began loading things into my car that was parked safe and dry in the garage. "Go have a shower. I left you a change of clothes in the bathroom."
I put the things in my hands down and went to do as he instructed, limping and shuffling awkwardly as I did so. When I was done, before I could come out of my bedroom, I was pushed back in and the door closed.
"Stay there," he told me. "I'll come and get you when you can come out."
I collapsed onto my stripped bed and looked up at the ceiling, not wanting to think about anything. Only wanting to believe this was all a bad dream. I was scared. I want to bury myself under my blankets in my bed to hide from the scary things in the world, but couldn't. I wanted to run screaming from the house, but there was no escape.
The man was too sharp, too strong a nd too able. Even if I wanted to surprise him with a sharp knife, I wouldn't be able to hide my intentions from him. Besides, I didn't think I had the guts to try and kill anybody. Even if he was criminal. Even if he was evil. A thunderstorm personified.
I fell asleep on the bed and only woke up when I was bundled up in my blanket again and placed into the front seat of my car. My seatbelt was buckled into place and a kiss landed on my lips, making my bleary eyes widen in shock and surprise.
I glanced toward the inside of my house but couldn't see anything. The car was filled with the glorious scent of roast lamb, freshly baked bread, cookies and cake. I wasn't sure why, but he had to have a reason to hide the more violent side of things from me. Was he afraid to scare me even more than I already was?
A united clunking and the car doors were locked, a reminder to me to not try to escape from the car. A clatter and my garage door sealed itself shut, telling me that my calm, normal life was over. Completely and utterly over.
I wondered what had happened to the four police officers, and whether they were alive or dead. I prayed they were still alive. They shouldn't have to die in the line of duty. This man, he used to be a policeman, right? Surely he wouldn't kill those who had been of the same profession as him in the past. Those who had been his students. He wouldn't. Would he?
"You cooked a lot," the man told me while stopping at a traffic light while the wind continued to buffet the car. We weren't the only vehicle on the road, but there weren't very many out. Most vehicles we saw were emergency services of some sort. "You did a good job. Good girl."
I huddled and hugged my blanket, wondering why I should feel warm at the praise. My emotions were all conflicted. Receiving praise from your captor shouldn't be a good thing. Or was it? At least I was alive? Is that how the thinking should go?
The man reached behind him and put the container of warm muffins in my hands.
"Eat if you're hungry. If not, feed me a muffin. I'm starving."
Not feeling very hungry, I pinched a bit off a muffin to at least taste it and see whether I had done a good job or not. Bacon and spinach with cream cheese. It wasn't bad for such an unconventional mix.
I put a piece into the man's mouth and he raised an eyebrow, nodding slowly.
"Interesting flavour," he glanced at me and smiled. "It works. It'd probably taste good with grilled cheese."
That thought made my eyes light up but when I twisted around in my chair, I realised I didn't know where he had kept the refrigerated stuff.
"It's in the boot. Never mind," he reassured me. "It's fine as it is too. Give me another piece."
I held up the whole muffin and he growled.
"Just break off a piece like before. I can't see the road properly like this."
Shrinking back, I did as I was told and he playfully nipped at my fingers.
"Water," he demanded when he had finished the whole muffin.
I passed him the water bottle and he took two mouthfuls.
While I was putting the bottle cap back on, I thought of spiking his food or drink sometimes with poison or something. Unfortunately, I didn't have any poisons at hand and didn't know many. I had no sleeping pills. Nothing that could be used to incapacitate or harm him. I couldn't even use alcohol because of my poor alcohol tolerance and because the idiotic drunk me would not be reliable at all. I could only give up the thought for now and wait for an opportunity.
I knew myself. Whether drunk or sober, I wasn't very smart. The thing I was best at was following orders. Making my own decisions and trying to sort out my own thoughts was too tiring. Exhausting.
Even so, there was a line between good and evil. Whatever I did, if I wanted to survive, if I wanted to escape, I would first have to be very patient and second to learn to be smart for once in my life. Would I be able to do it? I supposed I would find out or die trying.
The storm seemed to be settling into a bit of a lull or dying out. I wasn't sure which.
In the distance, I seemed to be able to hear the wail of siren. Police sirens, ambulance sirens and even the blaring whoop of firetruck sirens. Had something happened?
Twisting in the chair, I saw a huge plume of black smoke rising into the sky. With wide eyes, I stared at the man who was driving my car.
"Don't look at me like that," he said without looking at me, focussing instead on the road and fighting the wind to go wherever it was he was planning to take me. "If I didn't deal with the place, they'd find a lot of clues and traces I don't want to leave behind. This is also for your own good. I'm a bit upset about my star pupils though. They might not survive. They were such good kids too."
"What did you do to make them all so scared of you?" I asked. "I mean, what did they know about you that they would freak out upon recognising who you were?"
My question seemed to surprise him as much as it did me. Where did I get the boldness to talk to him like this? As if I were an equal.
"Little girl," he said after a long silence and I felt his eyes flickering toward me every now and then, "don't ask me any questions and I'll tell you no lies."
"What are you protecting me from?"
"Where are all these questions coming from?" the man seemed amused. "Has the drunk you come out to play?"
"Drunk me is still me," I mumbled, turning to look out the window. "It's not only the drunkard that can be bold."
"Then I can't wait to see how the bold you conquers me later," the man said with a growing smile. "I'll look forward to it."
"What will you do if I try to kill you?"
"You really are full of questions today. Alright. What would I do if you tried to kill me? I'd teach you a lesson. A lesson you'd never forget."
"You wouldn't kill me?"
"Not right away. I'd break you down slowly first. I still like you too much to kill you anytime soon, but if you make me lose my temper, then who knows why might happen? Even I am scared of myself when I lose my temper."
"Oh."
"How were you planning on killing me?" he asked out of curiosity.
"I thought of using a kitchen knife, but you would know what I was going to do and notice the knife missing before I even got close," I sighed. "So that option went out the window. Then I thought of poisoning or incapacitating you with drugs or something, but I know nothing about poisons or drugs. Besides, I don't have any with me and don't know how to use them. There are no real poisons in my house and if I even tried, I'd feel so guilty that you would notice before anything happened. So that option is gone too."
"Is that all you've come up with so far?"
"Yeah. I'm not really good at this type of cloak and dagger stuff."
"No. You're really not," the man laughed and stroked my head. "You're far, far too honest. Good girl, just continue being my good girl. Don't think too much. I just enjoy your company right now. If you play your cards right, when it's time for me to leave, you'll still be alive to wait for me to return next time."
"You'll leave?"
"Yeah."
"When?"
"Why do you sound so happy? You'll find out. Will you miss me?"
"I don't know. Maybe a little. Not much."
"Then you can look forward to me coming back again."
"Can you not? I don't really want to offend you, but you're really scary."