Camille
According to the the news on the tv, today is September 4th. Meaning I've been here for 9 days. I haven't seen Josiah these past few days and I'm not sure why I'm still needed here. It seems as though I've given him all the information he needs.
Nobody comes in to see me, breakfast is brought in before I wake up and lunch is served while I'm showering or using the bathroom. Dinner comes out of nowhere too but I just eat it. I haven't made contact with anyone since the incident and I'm grateful, although I'm very lonely.
I haven't knocked on Josiah's door either, I'm still terrified and angry at the man. Although he terrifies me, I hate the man with every fiber of my being. Even though I know he can and probably will kill me, I still talk back to him. So I decided to keep my distance, to keep myself from being killed.
After eating breakfast that morning, I notice clothes laid out for me on the bed. A fancy looking dress and shoes with jewelry. I look around the room trying to figure out where they came from and what they're for. I notice a note next to the dress and pick it up.
Put the dress on, I'll explain when you're dressed. -J
I frown, what if I don't want to put on the dress? I toss the dress onto the couch and get into bed, where I find another note.
Failure to follow directions won't end nicely for you. -J
I sigh and pick up the dress again, looking over it I notice it's actually very nice. The top has a halter top kind of neck line and it's sparkly, with navy blue, and black at the bottom of the dress. The dress is very wide and reaches down to the floor.
I go into the bathroom and change into it, when I walk out there is a woman sitting on the bed waiting for me. "Um hello?"
She smiles at me, "I'm here to do your makeup and hair!" I frown at her, "For what?"
"You're going out tonight silly, now take a seat so we can finish in time!" She was very hyper and peppy. She was young with long dark hair reaching her hip.
She rushed me into a chair in front of a mirror and begins. 2 hours later my hair and make up is complete. I get up and look into the mirror, my hair was gelled into a sleek ponytail and I had a natural glowing makeup look.
She smiles at me, "Josiah is going to love it!" I give her a strange look, mainly because she referred to him as Josiah rather than big Jo like everyone else here does. Maybe she was his girlfriend? She was really pretty, but I doubt he had a girlfriend. He's so mean and cruel, who would actually date him?
"Follow me!" She cheers leading me to the door that led to his office. She doesn't even knock on it, just bursts through. "She's ready!"
Josiah glares at her for not knocking first but then his gaze switches to me. He looks me over, showing no emotion before nodding, "Let's go."
He gets up from his seat and the perky girl leaves the room. I notice he's dressed up as well, more than usual in a full tuxedo. He reaches for my wrist to lead me out of the room and I move away. "Wait where are we going?" I ask. He groans, "No questions, let's go." I move away from him again, "Not until you tell me what the hell is going on."
"I'll tell you in the car, do we need to do this the hard way?" He asks. I cross my arms and stand there, "Wrong choice." He suddenly picks me up from off the floor and into his arms. "Put me down!" I exclaim.
"Shut up already." Suddenly we're inside a parking garage filled with a couple of fancy looking cars, there's a man waiting for us by a black Mercedes bens. He opens the door for Josiah and I and Josiah just tosses me in.
I hit my head on the other door and groan in pain, he comes in after me and the man shuts the door. What a gentleman. "Pull up the dividers." Josiah instructs. The divider between the drives side and the back seat goes up. The windows are also tinted so I can't see where we are going.
"Can you tell me where you're taking me now? If you're going to kill me why'd you get me all dressed up?" I ask.
He lets out a dark chuckle, "If I were going to kill you you wouldn't be living as nicely as you have been."
"Nicely? You call spending days locked in a bedroom living nicely?"
"Be grateful, I could've let you stay in that other room with Rickys rotting corpse." I grimace, "Can you just tell me where we're going?"
"I need you to identify someone for me. He goes by the name David Tomlinson."
"Mr. Tomlinson? What does he have to do with all this?" I ask truly shocked.
"Good so you know him, he doesn't know what I look like, and I don't know what he looks like. David Tomlinson is his fake name, he is Erwin Stamos. Richard has been taking money and sending it into Erwin's account. Although all records that say Erwin is dead are fake, that's why his bank account is still active. All I need you to do is identify David for me, he had surgery and changed his face after his "death" , so I don't have any idea of what he looks like now. But you do."
"Can I go home after this?" I ask. "That depends on if you succeed, for all I know you can be in on this too."
I frown, "Im not, why don't you believe me?"
"Why should I?" He asks. I shrug, "Don't I look like a nice, honest person up you?"
He looks me over, "You look like a teenage girl, so no."
I glare at him, "I'm twenty three years old for your information." He shrugs, "Doesn't look like it."
I cross my arms and face the opposite direction of him until we reach our destination. When we finally get there I'm extremely nervous. Mr. Tomlinson will probably recognize me and realize something is up and maybe run, resulting in Josiah not letting me go.
"Stop biting your lip." Josiah says as he leads me inside. "I'm sorry I'm nervous, what if he recognizes me?" I ask. "Then I'll know he's the guy who runs out of the room."
I nod and we enter the hall. It was a huge place, almost palace like. There were people there so elegantly dressed and it made me feel underdressed in my simple black and navy blue gown.
I look around the room, hoping to spot Mr. Tomlinson before he spots me. "Sit here. I'll be right back." Josiah directs. I nod, still scanning the room. "I'm serious, there are a lot of dangerous people here, don't talk to anyone."
I nod again and he walks away to greet some men. I sit waiting patiently and looking around the room. I pick up a small biscuit on the plate in front of me and take a bite. "Can I offer to buy you a drink?" A man with several tattoos asks as he approaches my table. I shake my head quickly with a small smile, "May I ask who you're with?" He asks.
"Jo-, Big Jo." I answer. The man smirks, "Interesting." I decide to keep my mouth shut after that because I remembered I wasn't supposed to talk to anyone. And now I feel like a gave away too much information.
"Lancing." Josiah says as he approaches the table. The man smiles a threatening smile, "Your girlfriend is beautiful."
"She's not a girlfriend, she's from an escort service." Lancing's eyes light up in amusement, "So you wouldn't mind if I danced with her then would you?"
Josiah glares at him, "Actually I would. Isn't your date around here somewhere?"
Lancing shakes his head, "I came solo, you get to meet new people that way." His eyes are trained on me, I avoid eye contact at all costs. "So she must be more than an escort then?"
I notice Josiah's jaw clench in anger, "She's nothing more than that, I just don't want to share my escort. Understandable?" Lancing smirks, "Of course Josiah." He walks away with a menacing smirk still on his face, I let out a breath after noticing he's out of sight.
"Didn't I tell you not to talk to anyone?" Josiah asks angrily. "He talked to me! I barely talked to him."
"I said don't talk to anyone. Are you deaf? Who knows what kind of danger you just put yourself in."
I frown, "You're the one that brought me here then left me all alone!"
Josiah sighs, "That doesn't change the fact that you told him who you were here with."
"He would've seen me with you anyway! It's still your fault." I huff.
"You are extremely irritating."
I stuck my tongue out at him.
-
The party goes on and there's no sign of Mr. Tomlinson anywhere. Josiah and I refrained from talking to each other, he would just occasionally ask me, "Have you spotted him yet?" And I would always answer with a no.
Suddenly I spot him, Mr. Tomlinson stroll into the galleria with a thin woman on his arm. "That's him." I whisper to Josiah.
Josiah's head turns quickly in the direction of where my eyes are looking. He quickly stands up for a better view, "Get up, its harder to notice you if you're dancing." I stand up quickly and awkwardly stand near him on the dance floor.
"Blend in." He whispers. He pulls me to him and puts both hands on my waist. I'm startled by our proximity to each other and forget to put my arms around his neck. "Act natural." He flings my arms around his neck and we begin slow dancing.
"Do you see him?" He asks. I nod, Josiah turns us around so he can see him instead. He gets a good look at him before putting his attention back on me. "You're sure right?"
"Yes, now can we leave now?" I ask. He shakes his head. "He's near the entrance, he'll notice you."
I sigh and continue dancing. The dancing made me slightly uncomfortable, with Josiah being so close to me and his hands on my waist I couldn't help feeling a little jumpy.
"So can I go home after this?" I ask. "If by tomorrow morning everything you've been telling me finally adds up, then you can go." I smile excitedly, "Do you really mean it?"
"We'll see." I frown again, damn liar.
After the cost is clear, Josiah leads me out of the party and back into the car. The driver speeds off back toward wherever we came from.
The trip back was quiet, but not in the same way it was on the way here. Now it was more of an awkward silence.
Josiah didn't talk and I didn't talk, we both faced opposite directions of each other toward the window the whole ride.
When we finally arrive back to wherever I was staying, I'm led back to Josiah's room by some men. Josiah goes straight to his office leaving me alone once again.
I sigh and decide to take a shower and get ready for bed. After removing all my makeup and showering, I change into some pajamas and jump into bed. I turn on the tv to the 11 o'clock news and get comfortable.
I always watch the news before bed, hoping maybe I'm on it as a missing person or something. But I'm never there, never mentioned.
While I'm watching the news the bedroom door opens, Josiah walks into the room with some papers in his hand. "Can I go home now?" I ask. He ignores me and walks into the bathroom.
I roll my eyes and lay back into bed, Josiah comes out moments later from the bathroom without a shirt. I couldn't help but gawk, even though I hate the guy. He had a well toned body and abs, and tattoos across his chest. "Am I leaving tomorrow?" I ask again.
He groans and turns around, "We will see."
"So is that a no?" I ask again. He lets out a frustrated breath, "Why are you so annoying?"
"Why are you so mean?" His jaw clenches and I change the question to refuse angering him tonight. "Where does my family think I am?"
"I sent them a message from your phone telling everyone you're on a trip."
"This is some trip, I really want to go home."
"And I don't care, don't you get that? You'll leave when I tell you you can, stop asking questions." He says before leaving the room and slamming the door.
I scoff, "Dick head." I turn off the tv and the lights before falling asleep.