Renting Ginny

When I awoke for what seemed like the millionth time, the room was awash in sunlight and smelling of coffee. Anina entered the room just as I was sitting up. “Ready to get up now?” she asked me. I nodded. “Okay, sweet pea. I have to get to the office a little early today. There’s a fresh pot of coffee ready for you, and you can fix yourself whatever you want to eat, okay?” I nodded again. Then, not wanting her to know what I had planned, I said, “Thank you.” I stumbled into the adjoining bathroom to pee and brush my teeth. Then I headed into the kitchen to pour myself some coffee and hoped it wasn’t laced with anything. I studied Anina. She was the sexiest businesswoman I ever saw in her red skirt and matching jacket with a silky pearl-colored blouse underneath. “There’s also some fresh cinnamon rolls over there,” she said, nodding toward a part of the counter. “I’ll try one later. So just what is it that you do?” I asked her. “Oh,” she said with a smile, “it’s nothing exciting enough to be worth talking about. Besides, I really must go now. I’m in a rush.” I sipped my coffee. No dizziness. Not yet, anyway. Anina stood up and looked down at me seriously. “Are you going to behave?” I nodded. “Yes, Master,” I said, hoping to indulge her. “You can eat what you want and go where you want, but I would like you to stay out of the other bedroom.” “Sure thing, boss.” “If you want to go online, just wait until I get home and I’ll set your laptop up by hooking it up to my own network.” “Okay. I think I’ll spend the day mostly relaxing and watching TV if that’s okay.” “That’s fine. I have several movies you can check out. Just look in the DVD rack.” Trying not to appear too friendly, I nodded and told her to have a good day at work. “You too. I’ll be back soon enough.” Not too soon, I hoped as I listened to the sound of her car door closing and the garage door opening. I quickly tiptoed into the living room and peeked out the side of the blinds in the large front window, careful not to rustle them or get too close to the window. The black Mercedes slowly crawled out of the garage. Then I saw Anina reach for the control on her visor and heard the garage door lower itself back down. Alone at last! I swallowed a few more sips of my seemingly untainted coffee and ran down the hallway toward the master bedroom. Eying the door to the master bath, I was almost tempted to enjoy a shower in the luxurious bathroom before dressing and making my getaway, but I didn’t want to take any chances and risk staying any longer than necessary. Anina might realize she forgot something and head back home any minute. I pulled off my robe and dressed as quickly as I could. Then I rushed over to my overnight bag and went to fish out my cell phone. Only it wasn’t there. Had I put it in my purse? I checked but it wasn’t there either. “Crazy bitch,” I muttered. I searched through my stuff once again but no cell. “Fine. I’ll just use your phone to call for a ride,” I huffed, and began my search for a phone. I first glanced at the nightstands but neither had a phone sitting atop their shiny oak surfaces. A check of the living room and kitchen also showed no signs of a phone. Neither did the forbidden second bedroom, which was set up like an office. “Oh, come on. There’s got to be a cell phone around here if she hasn’t got a landline hooked up anywhere!” I began to rummage through every drawer I could find in her kitchen and her desk. Other than the usual items one expected to find in a kitchen and desk drawers, none contained a cell phone. There was also a locked filing cabinet in the office, but I had no way to check out its contents. “Okay, fine. I’ll just leave and call for a ride from a damn payphone!” I gathered up my stuff and headed for the door. The door had a deadbolt, but it also had a keyed lock, so I noticed. But there was no key in the lock. I trudged on over to the back door. Same thing. A door with a lock that required a key that wasn’t present. I tried to turn the knob just in case. “Yeah, I didn’t think I’d get that lucky,” I sighed. But certainly, I wasn’t trapped in this crazy woman’s condo, was I? “No, of course not! There’s got to be a simple way out.” I burst into the garage and searched for a button on the wall that would open the garage door. When I was unable to find one, I headed over to the door and tried to lift it open, yet it wouldn’t budge. I crossed to the back of the garage and reached for the knob on the door. It too, wouldn’t budge. “This is not happening!” I huffed in frustration. I tugged frantically at the door, which only had a knob lock that required no key, but it was as if it were jammed shut. I looked around for a heavy object. Spotting a hammer on a stack of metal shelves, I ran over and snatched it up. Next, I proceeded to smash out the window in the door. I turned my head and closed my eyes, expecting to be sprayed with a shattering of glass. But that never happened. The hammer simply bounced off the “window” I now knew was really Plexiglas. “What the fuck?!” I began to panic at the thought of possibly being trapped in this madwoman’s house. Positively, literally trapped! I ran back inside. Anina’s unit was at the end, so I ran to the one shared wall and beat my fists into it, screaming and shouting as loud as I could. Nothing. Anina has said something about a firewall. Then I shot over to the living room window. I struggled to open it, but it simply refused to budge. The same went for every other window in the house. I just could not get any of them to open. I ran into the office and picked up a heavy-duty stapler. I hurled it at the window and prayed. “Please, please be made of real glass! I mean, what the hell would someone do if there was a fire, right?” The window shattered! Alarms began to shriek as I ran back to fetch my belongings. It seemed to take me forever to run down the hall, through the living room, through the kitchen, and into the garage. Racing back through the house, my heart pounded in anxiety. Then again, why should I be afraid of the police catching me? I was the one who’d been held hostage. I tossed my bags out the window and then began to climb out. Realizing I would easily be cut on a sharp shard of glass that was sticking up from the bottom of the window frame, I picked up a paperweight and knocked it out. I squeezed out of the window as carefully as I could, yet the glass still managed to snag and tear one leg of my pantyhose. A searing pain seized my right arm near the shoulder as another piece of glass I hadn’t even noticed gouged at my tender skin. The sight of blood had always made me sick. Seeing it trickle down my arm this time was no exception. But I couldn’t afford to be sick now of all times, and so I tried to put it out of my mind and not look at my arm. Even so, I seemed to have cut myself pretty badly and was afraid of losing too much blood and passing out. Now on the ground just outside the window, sirens began to sound in the area. A man who appeared to be in his sixties ran out of the neighboring condo, glanced at me and then ran back indoors before I could ask for help. I knelt to the ground and unzipped my overnight bag. I pulled out a T-shirt and used that to try to stop the flow of blood from my arm. A squad car came zipping down the street and screeched to a stop by the curb in front of the condo, followed by… …Anina’s car? What the hell was going on?! The male officer who had been driving jumped out of the squad car and came running toward me while the female officer in the passenger seat stepped out to talk to Anina. Drawing his weapon, the officer aimed it at me and shouted, “Hands up and don’t move!” I did as I was told and said, “Wait! You don’t understand! She kidnapped me, and there was no other way out of the—” “Face down on the ground!” Again, I did as I was told. “You’ve got it all wrong!” I pleaded again. “Please, I’m the victim here, and I need medical attention for my arm.” Anina and the female officer came toward us. I lifted my head as I was patted down. “Why are you doing this to me, Anina? Why couldn’t you let me go when I wanted to leave last night? Tell them I’m not a burglar! Tell them!” Anina eyed me with a smug smile of satisfaction as the officer pulled me to my feet. The lady cop gathered my belongings as I was informed that I was under arrest for breaking and entering. “What?!” I cried. “But I did no such thing! She held me hostage! Look at the broken glass. If I were breaking in, then why would the glass have shattered outside? And who the hell dresses like a slut to go breaking and entering into people’s houses?!” Anina and the officers snickered and turned my fear and frustration into downright anger. Turning to Anina, I shouted, “You won’t get away with this, you crazy bitch! You’ll pay for this! The truth will come out!” “Yeah, yeah,” said the male officer as I was led away. “Save it for the judge.” “How can you cops be such idiots?!” I spat. “Why can’t you see that I was kidnapped and held hostage? What the hell’s wrong with you people?!” “Why smash out a window?” asked one of the cops as I was placed in the back seat. “Because I couldn’t open the damn doors or windows, that’s why.” Yet all the begging and pleading did me no good at all. They still had to “handle” and “process” the situation as a B&E and “go through the motions.” “What motions?” I asked. “What motions could there be to have to go through other than arresting that crazy bitch for holding me against my will?” Handcuffed and miserable, I slumped back against the back of the seat. Never before had I felt so defeated and helpless.