In the bathroom there were the few toiletries, but otherwise just the sink, mirror, toilet, and shower. Still, I scoured every inch. There had to be something to help me. The sparsity of the room drove me crazy.
I stood and stared at my reflection, still stunned by the brunette woman who looked back. Something flew by the window and reflected in the mirror, drawing my eye. That was when I saw it—a nail.
The round head only stood about a quarter of an inch off the wood trim it was hammered into, but it was enough to grab on to. Sharp edges dug into my skin as I tightened my fingers around it, then they slipped off, scraping against my skin.
I hissed and brought my finger up to my mouth, trying to suck the pain away. Like that was going to work.
Picking up a towel sitting on the sink, I wrapped it around the nail head and grabbed on. It took a lot of wiggling, jiggling, and cursing, but after a few minutes it released and slid right out.
“Yes!”
Moving back to the bed, I sat down and arranged the cuff to get better access to the clamp. There wasn’t much of a gap to work with, the pointed tip barely able to slip in. A little bit of leverage and a lot of force sent my hand flying and made the cuff twist.
“Shit.”
I moved the cuff back around and held it tight while I attempted to pry the thick fastener open. Each jab and twist usually ended in a swift loss of grip and the nail to slip. With nothing else to do, all of my attention was on the task of getting it open.
The small gap becoming even minutely larger kept me going, kept me from giving up and finding something else. Because without that movement, that small sliver of hope, there wasn’t much else but giving up. And I wasn’t about to give up.
I was going to live. For as long as I could, I wasn’t going to stop living.
Another sliver of hope was housekeeping. They had to come around at some point, right? That was if this place had any sort of maid service. It was probably the one person who manned the front desk, but even just coming to check if we needed towels would help.
Six probably told them we didn’t want to be disturbed.
Hope that one of the staff would come by was small, as small as my traction with the nail, but still there as a possibility.
After some time digging, I tried to get one of the wires through. There was still a ways to go as the gap was only half the width of the cable.
A little bit wider. Just a little more, I chanted to myself.
The sound of a car on gravel made me freeze. All movement, even breath stopped as I listened. When a car door slammed, my heart began racing as I frantically searched for a place to hide my tool. The nearest place was the nightstand, so I tossed it in the drawer before positioning myself on the bed.
I looked at the clock to see how long he was gone, and was stunned. Had four hours really passed since he left?
Six entered a split second later, locking the door behind him, then threw a bag next to me on the bed and motioned for me to open it. Inside, I found some new panties, women’s T-shirts, and even a pair of jeans and flats. He’d done something with my old clothes, with the exception of my bra.
And the other bag contained a pack of toiletries.
“Wow. Thanks, I guess.” I was really happy to have new panties, since he destroyed the only pair I had and I’d been commando all day in nothing but the shirt he gave me. And ecstatic for the toiletries, but I didn’t want to admit that to him. It was the little things in my situation that brightened the grime of my surroundings.
I yanked off the dirty shirt of his I’d been wearing for two days, not caring that I was naked in front of him anymore. Toiletries in hand, I felt his eyes on me with each step I took toward the bathroom.
It was a basic hygiene kit with travel sizes and a single blade disposable razor, but a huge improvement and even included much needed lip balm.
Cherry flavored, balm. My favorite.
Assessing the situation, I glanced from the shower to my cuff. The logistics of my predicament were about to make for an interesting shower dance.
There wasn’t enough slack to put my foot down into the tub, and the shower head was on the wrong wall to hit the front of my body. With some tricky maneuvering and bending and holding on for dear life, I scrubbed down with the horrible soap the motel provided. At least washing my hair was easy.
Once out, I did a quick brush of my teeth and towel off of my body and hair.
“You could have made it a little easier to take a shower.”
“You could have asked and I would have unlocked you.”
I blinked at his expressionless face.
Well…shit.
“Touché.”
With that, he stood and walked over while I pulled one of the bags closer.
“What are you?” I asked as I busted open the six-pack of generic panties. Beggars couldn’t be choosers. Silver lining and all.