Emma
Iam finding it hard to breathe as Ginger continues to threaten me with the knife. I can feel my chest heaving up and down. My mind is spinning with confusion, anger, and outrage. She clearly thinks that this is something worth doing- she must be truly out of her mind.
“Please,” I whisper to her as she stares into my face. “Please Ginger, you’ve got the wrong idea. I may be the fire captain's daughter, but I have no power over who he hires! I would recommend you, but my dad has never given a shit about my opinion-”
“Shut the fuck up!”
Ginger screams just before backing away, then lifting her leg to kick me in the stomach. She hits, and hits hard, banging roughly into my ribs. The chair wobbles slightly. I can feel the wind being knocked out of me and begin coughing.
Now I really can’t breathe. Something is probably broken inside me. I am leaning forward on the chair, coughing and spitting. Some blood comes out in spatters.
Am I going to die?I think about Isaac and Luke. I can’t remember if I was even able to hit send on that text. And if they get it, would they even know what I was talking about? What if they think I just wanted another threesome?
Even if that was the case, I think to myself, at least they would start looking for me—if only not too late.
“Yeah yeah, cough it up bitch.”
Ginger is standing further down the hallway and is out of my eye line. I glance up, squinting, looking for her. I try to follow her voice as she screams instead.
“But that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t try right?! Do something for someone other than yourself for once in your privileged life!”
I hear a splash of something, but I still can’t find where Ginger is. I call out to her, hoping she will reveal herself.
I speak through coughs, and extreme agony.
“I have mentioned you to him many times Ginger! There’s so much more political bullshit involved in that world that I have nothing to do with! I swear to you I would only give you the highest of praises!”
“You still don’t get it do you?”
Ginger finally emerges from the shadows. She is holding something that looks like a large bottle in her hands.
“It’s not just about telling daddy about a friend. It’s about your life. What kind of person works as a stripper and lives in that fucking apartment? How does that same stripper get two guys fighting over her? Why do you get everything?”
“I don’t get everything Ginger I swear!”
Ginger laughs.
“Give me one thing then, one thing that hasn’t gone well in your sparkly little life and maybe I’ll listen to you for a minute. Just one minute.”
I shake myself in my chair.
“What about this!? Who gets kidnapped by a coworker and can’t fend for herself? That’s not the best fucking luck in my book!”
“Jesus,” Ginger begins uncapping whatever the bottle is that she is holding. She sniffs it, then leans backward in disgust. “That’s literally all you could come up with wasn’t it?”
The intense scent of gasoline instantly hits my nostrils. My eyes widen, and a furious panic moves through my body. It seems to take me over entirely.
“Ginger, whatever you’re planning here is not worth it. Please! You’re going to regret it!”
“You have no fucking idea what it means to regret.”
She begins splashes the gasoline from where she is standing, moving in a straight line towards me. Eventually she makes her way to me and circles me in the liquid. She stares at me, her jaw clenched.
“I think this will give you enough time to learn about that feeling though.”
Ginger pours gas into her cupped hand then throws it into my face. The taste is overpowering in my nostrils and some of my mouth. My eyes burn, so I squeeze them shut. I begin coughing again, then spitting to get rid of the gas that hit my tongue.
Ginger continues to toss the gasoline around the entirety of the room. The thought that the arsons that occurred recently popped into my mind. Between coughs and gags, I shoot my head up to Ginger, who is finishing pouring out the last of the gas.