Page 59 of The Karma Project
“Fuck.” Brandon hisses, and it’s clear that he’s feeling the same thing.
There are two black top tables, with leather straps hanging from the sides, I’m assuming they’re restraints.
The room is mostly empty, but I still feel like I’m suffocating. Probably under the weight of the things that happened here.
Am I like her father? Is she scared of me?
I squash the panic that was trying to rise within me, and I just focus on the surroundings. Doing the trick that Max taught me when I start to get overwhelmed or edgy.
Five things I can see, four things I can touch, three things I can hear, two things I can smell, and one thing I can hold.
I see the black top tables, a metal desk in the far-left corner with a computer on it, a filing cabinet next to it, a rolling chair, and a big glass window on the far wall— however it’s darkened, and I can’t see through it.
I can touch my jeans, the wall, the leather straps on the table, and the butterfly knife in my holster.
I can hear the clicking of Zoe’s heels, the uneven breaths that are slowly coming from my own nose, the quiet hissing of disapproval from Brandon.
I can smell bleach and it’s mixing with the natural scent of Zoe.
I can hold... I can hold Zoe.
Without thinking better of it, I rush behind Zoe, and I wrap myself around her. Completely shielding her from the surroundings. She fights me at first, her natural instinct that is similar to my own, but she quickly sinks into it. As if being held was the only thing she truly needed, I can feel the moment she lifts the numb. Her body is no longer tense around me, and slowly, she holds me back. She lets out a breath so deep and heavy, I would have thought she’d been holding it this whole time.
She lets go and steps out of the embrace, turning to face away from me quickly, but I still catch the tears that have welled up in her eyes before she blinked them away.
“Brandon, can you see if you can get into that computer? I’ll look through this cabinet.” She says her voice is still clippedbut a bit softer than it was back at the house. More human than she had sounded all day.
Brandon clicks on the mouse bringing the screen to life as Zoe starts to open the large filing cabinet. “Fuck.” She says, “It’s empty. You know what that means?” She looks back at me with a grim expression on her face.
“Someone that used to work with him took everything, the computer is empty, it’s been completely reset, totally wiped.” Brandon answers before I can. I just keep staring at that dark glass window, wanting to know what lies behind it, but knowing I won't like it.
“Exactly.” She sighs but then follows my line of sight. “That’s the window he’d use to observe me.” She walks over next to it and presses a button on the wall that I hadn’t noticed before. The second she releases the button the window clears, and I can see directly through it.
There is a large black mat in the middle of the space behind the glass, assuming that's the sparring ring he’d put her in. I look at the space, breaking it apart so I can understand the horrifying tiny world she grew up in the best I can.
As my eyes zero in on a little black box in the corner, my vision goes red. I know in my very soul it was the box he’d lock her in if she didn’t comply-- sometimes making her stay in it for days as punishment or making her sleep there just because he felt like it. I will find this invisible man that aided Kahl, and I will absolutely destroy him.
This is why I analyze every single detail in this room, I memorize it and store it away in my mind. Because everything that was done to her, will come unto him and more.
“Teddy.” Her voice draws me back to reality, soft and silky as always. My favorite sound, a song I want on replay constantly. I blink away the red from my eyes and I realize what I’ve done.
It felt like I zoned out for just a second, but looking at the state the room is in, it must have been way longer.
One of the black top tables has been thrown into the glass, shattering it to pieces. I have destroyed the computer, dismantled the desk it once sat on, and the filing cabinet looks like it has been shredded to pieces.
“Come back to me.” She whispers as she strokes my heaving chest, it’s only then that I unclench my fists. I look around further and see that Brandon is standing flat against the wall, not scared, but cautious to be out of the way. I blink back down at the little devil in front of me and let out a shaky breath.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--.” She puts a finger to my lips, effectively muting me.
“Don’t,” A smirk stretches across her face, “We will find him. And he will suffer.”
31
Newton
Max
Two weeks. Two fucking weeks of Zoe icing me out. We haven’t gotten anywhere since the interrogation with Deangelo and Darren. We’ve just been sitting on the information, and although Zoe’s little field trip to Kahl’s old house with Teddy and Brandon gave us more insight, we’ve decided to wait. Seeing Zoe cuddle up with Teddy and Brandon these last two weeks, and their constant fucking, has me little angrier than I’d care to admit.
