At first I didn't like this chapter and it took me a long time to figure out why and what needs changing. Since I don't like publishing anything that I'm not satisfied with it took even longer to get this chapter ready, special thanks to my brand new editor Kris who put in words what I was feeling all along and helped me to get this chapter out. Plus since the last chapter I moved through three countries on three continents and the "real" life kind of has priority, I'm sure you understand ;) This is gonna be different, tell me if you like it rock_on_summer@yahoo.com Disclaimer: I wrote this, don't copy it unless you ask. This is fiction. Ifthere are people who are similar to people in the story or have the samename, I didn't intend it. Beware, teen sex, gay sex! Don't like that don'tenter, you have been warned.
I got very into the idea of going to Taiwan. I didn't know a thing about Taiwan, I mean do you? I knew it was somewhere around China in Asia and got a lot of earthquakes - that was pretty much it but now that I was about to move there I had a million questions.
How was it ruled, was it even a democracy? What language did they speak? Would we get by speaking English or did I have to learn Taiwanese (or whatever they spoke over there)? How where the laws? Where would we live? Would two men living together as a couple be accepted? I imagined that Case would be able to get a visa through his company, but what about me? Would I b able to get an extended tourist visa (since I could make it look like I didn't work) or a spouse visa, even though we were not married yet? Would they even accept our marriage?
So I flung myself online and found out everything that I possibly could.
Apparently Taiwan is a tiny island that is kind of part of China, which is frequented by typhoons, earthquakes and monsoons, with a pretty warm climate, and the official language is Chinese. That made things a lot easier, since Case was Chinese and therefore would be able to understand people. Phew. It was also supposed to be one of the most liberal Asian countries concerning gay rights (whatever that meant), so apparently gay marriage was about to be accepted. And it had a popular museum for modern art. Interesting. Won't be so bad moving there after all.
Now all I had to do was learn Chinese. I should bug Case about this, maybe he could teach me. Which reminded me that my little research had taken most of the evening and it was almost ten and he still wasn't home yet. I do tend to forget the time but he usually doesn't and when he gets home later than planned he almost always calls. I decided I had reason to be worried and called his cell phone. When he didn't pick up I called him at work, which is something I'm not really supposed to, but what else would I do? No answer there either. Maybe he was already driving home and didn't get around to picking up his cell phone because he was in the car? I called again and this time the phone was being picked up but he didn't say anything.
"Hello? Case? Do you have bad reception because I can't hear you..." I said slightly confused.
"Hello" I finally heard a voice say. It didn't sound familiar.
"Case?" I asked.
"No" the low voice of a man answered.
"Who's this?" I asked cautiously.
"Don't ask me who I am or I'll slit your boyfriend's throat" he said calmly. 'Yeah right' I thought. Very funny. He probably went out with his friends without telling me and now is trying to play stupid tricks on me. Hilarious. It wasn't really like him to do something like this but it still annoyed me. But something had me weary.
"Why don't you tell him that when I get my hands on him I might just slit his throat myself. Not funny. Where's Case? Did he get drunk and needs to be picked up?" I asked, worried that he might be stranded somewhere, not able to get home. It didn't really happen all too often but Case tended to be a lightweight when he drank. Sometimes one beer was enough to get him wasted.
"Don't ask me where I am. Just listen and do as I tell you" the man said in a low and quietly controlled voice.
"Listen, I'm not too good at following instructions, I suck at it actually, you might as well just drop this right now and tell me what's going on and why you're answering my boyfriend's cell phone" I told the stranger on the phone. This was beginning to piss me off. I didn't like this game. Just when I was about to just hang up I heard Case's voice. He sounded frightened and his voice echoed as if they were in a hollow basement or a tomb.
"Lucy, this is not a joke ok. This guy is crazy. I don't know what he wants but you need to be really careful..." the phone was being taken away from him and I heard him being muzzled.
"Listen and do as I tell you or I'll kill him" the man said with menace in his low voice.
"You're joking, right?" I asked. I hoped I'd just caught him in bed with his lover and he didn't want to admit it. There was not a man talking on Case's phone, telling me he'd kill him, was there? I was imagining this, right? I sat down abruptly on the tiled kitchen floor.
"Stay in the kitchen until the phone rings again. Await my instructions." He said slowly. I looked around me in panic. He could see me? But that meant Case was close by. I felt a glimmer of hope.
"Wait! Where is ... Hello? Hello!?" He had hung up. The asshole had hung up on me! Some maniac had my Casey in his power and he had just hung up on me! I felt sick but I didn't dare move. That crack head had probably a gun pointed at my head. I looked around for the red laser-dot but couldn't find one, not that that calmed me much. Couldn't check my own forehead after all.
I was sitting on the floor, cold but sweating and just as I thought I could risk getting up the phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked, sounding panicked even to myself. My heart was beating in my throat.
"Lucy?" Case asked, his speech slurred as if he was drugged. He sounded scared.
"Yes Case" I tried hard to control my panic "Case, are you all right? Where are you!?" Just then I heard the phone being taken away from him and heard his muffled screams. He sounded angry.
"Ts. Ts. Ts. Didn't I tell you not to ask that?" The creepy voice asked, pronouncing every syllable. "Don't talk! This was to prove that I really have him and that I can see you. Do you miss him already? Don't answer that!" I tried to deny the fear that crept up my spine. I wanted to breathe but I didn't dare to.
"You know he is as beautiful as in your paintings, don't you? Yes you do. Do you want him back?" I was still sitting on the cold floor, too shocked to comprehend, still too terrified to talk.
I heard him chuckle cruelly. "You learn to obey fast. Good. Tell me, do you want him back? You can talk now" he almost sounded kind saying the last sentence, understanding. Didn't make me like him any better.
"Of course" it came out as a soft breath, as soft as a child's voice "Of course I want him back."
"Then listen and I will tell you what to do" I nodded, looking around me again, trying to calm the heart that was beating in my throat and making my vision cloudy, when the voice continued, "I saw a painting of Case. I want that. When you have it done you can have him back. Get that?"
"But I have a million paintings of Case, can't you just take one of those?" I asked desperately, sitting on the cold tiles, hugging my knees.
"I don't want a painting of Case. I'll watch you. If you call the police I'll kill him." He didn't say anything more and I just heard the fast beep of the disconnected signal.
This was happening too fast for me. Some creep had kidnapped my boyfriend and ordered me to do a painting to get him back. I didn't feel like painting anything right now, I just wanted Casey back. And I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to paint. I sat in front of a blank white canvas that I had set up in our living room, staring at it and all I could see was fear creeping in the grey shadows that lurked under the support beams of the roof. I was trying to go back to the basics. Still life. A pear. A bottle of wine. A bowl. I tried to paint a glass that Case had left out on the counter but where I usually would have seen sparkles and the reflection of the evening sun by the pure crystal I now only saw his lip prints on the rim and dull rain smudges on the window behind it. What did he want me to paint? How could I find Case? How could I call for help without him noticing?
Kidnapping or no kidnapping -- every person has to use the bathroom every once in a while and even though I was worried silly and even took the phone with me in case the creep called I had missed something. Something important.
The bathroom was the only room in the house that had a ceiling. Case had insisted on that because he thought it was embarrassing to hear other people pee. Now the ceiling became my worst enemy. I heard noises coming from the living-room. They startled me so much I almost dropped the soap.
The bathroom was right next to the living-room, but I had to go through the bed-room and the dining-room to get there. If it hadn't had a ceiling I could have just peeked over the top of the wall. I was pretty sure there was somebody in my living-room and it scared me half to death. The person who had kidnapped Case was probably making himself at home in my house right now, probably with a knife or worse! A gun!
'Okay, get a grip.' I told myself. `If you were the one to be kidnapped, Case would probably already have the Chinese Mafia out there looking for you. And you're hiding in a bathroom like a pre-schooler.' I told myself to be brave and get my act together. I told myself to be strong. I told myself I could do this, even though my balls ran for cover.
I grabbed a can of hairspray, and sneaked out into the bed-room. We had a dresser that was lined up alongside the wall. The one Case had been standing on when I proposed to him. If I could climb on top of the dresser I could peek over the top of the wall into the living-room. I cursed myself for being so unsporty, my breathing could probably be heard in New-Guinea. I peeked over the top of the wall, well aware that there could be somebody looking back at me.
I had been right. There was a dark-haired man standing in my living-room. He was fairly tall and looked muscular, but I had the surprise moment and a can of hair-spray on my side and therefore felt I shouldn't be underestimated. With a loud scream I jumped over the top of the wall, trying to get as much hairspray as I could into the man's eyes.
"Arghhhhhhhhh. Stop! Stop!" he screamed. "Lucy!?! What the hell are you doing!?"
OH MY GOD. I recognized that voice. I should have recognized that large frame earlier. It was Eddie! The kidnapper was a friend of ours!
"EDDIE?! You did this to us!? You have Case!? If you wanted a painting you could have just said so!!!" I was outraged. Betrayal! I threw the can of hairspray to the ground.
"What the hell!?! I didn't do anything to you, I was waiting for you to get out of the bathroom! You attacked me! And I don't want any of your fucking paintings. I probably won't be able to see them now anyways. What's this stuff? Pepper spray?" He asked, wiping his eyes.
I had given Eddie permission to enter our house without knocking whenever only one car was in the driveway. That was so he wouldn't walk in on us doing the nasty. Eddie was pretty much like family.
"Ehm, no it's hairspray. I thought you were a burglar. Sorry." This was embarrassing.
"You would have attacked a burglar with a can of hairspray?" he laughed, shaking his head "Nice!"
"I know! So it wasn't the smartest move but I didn't know what to do!" I was allowed to be paranoid, somebody had kidnapped my boyfriend. Only Eddie didn't know that. And I wasn't supposed to tell him. Oh shit. I had told him earlier.
"You ok now? You seem a little flushed" he gave me a concerned look, wiping his eyes that started to puff up and slowly turned red. The hairspray was working its magic.
"Well, I just jumped a wall thinking I was going to take down a burglar" I said rolling my eyes. Trying to stay calm. Trying to act like everything was fine.
"And other than that what's up?" he asked. Unsuspecting.
"Ehm. Nothing much. I guess." Or was this my opportunity to rat on the kidnapper? The phone rang.
"Ehm. I'm going to get this..." I said uncertainly and went to retrieve the phone from the bathroom.
"Hello?" My own voice sounded hallow to me.
"Who's the hunk?" Mr. Creep asked. "Friend of yours? Or a cop?"
"No. Ehm. Just a friend. Personal Trainer, actually" Didn't even have to fib, I was proud of myself. Eddie was still in the living-room, oblivious to everything but probably able to overhear what I said.
"Listen! I catch you telling him anything and you'll be getting your boyfriend back in pieces! Got that?" I nodded. "Yes" I added. He hung up. Nothing else. No hint on what to paint to get Case back. Just the warning. Nothing else.
Eddie came into the kitchen, where I had talked to the creep.
"What's for dinner?" he asked. Friday nights Eddie would sometimes come over and raid our fridge. We would go to a bar or go dancing afterwards. Eddie was single, which always surprised me because he wasn't only hot stuff but also very sweet. A gentle giant. But he couldn't cook worth a damn and since he didn't have a boyfriend who did it for him he would come over to our house in hopes of a hearty meal.
"Don't know" I replied. Stalling for time. Should I tell him? This was my chance to get help but I was afraid. Afraid for Case.