Renting Ginny

The sound of glass shattering woke me up. What the hell? I automatically went to sit up, but the pain I felt in my ankle didn’t allow me to get very far. Remembering that I was back on the cot in the cellar and no longer upstairs in bed, I pushed the covers off and strained to see what was binding me in the gloominess of the room. I found that I had gone from bad to worse. In place of the leather band, Anina had looped the chain around the support pole, and then she had padlocked part of the chain snugly around my ankle. It was so secure that there was no way in hell I could slip the damn chain off that bound my left leg. Back to the sound I’d heard. What was that anyway? Had someone broken in? Nah, the alarm would be going off, wouldn’t it? But then I swore I heard something else overhead. Maybe Anina wasn’t at work at the moment. Maybe she was home and had dropped a glass or something. But that was a hell of a glass if that were the case. More movement above me. “Hey!” I cried out. Only my voice was so raspy and my throat so dry that the sound barely carried. I realized I was thirsty and looked toward the makeshift nightstand, relieved to find the sicko that held me prisoner had at least been kind enough to provide me with water. There were the usual coffee and donuts as well. I slowly sat upright. Had there been a few inches less slack from the chain, I just may not have been able to reach the water at all. I guzzled straight from the pitcher and then got up to pee. I was making my way back to the bed, chain scraping along the cement floor, when I heard it again. “Hey!” I called out again. “Hey! Please don’t do this. Please let me go!” I strained my ears and listened for any sign of life above me. Silence. “Please come down and help me! Please! I promise I’ll do whatever you want if you just let me out of here.” The floor creaked above me, but it was only for a second and barely long enough to be sure of what I’d heard. “Come on, don’t be this way,” I pleaded. “I can give you your money’s worth, I swear.” I fell onto the cot, frustrated, and began to cry loudly. More creaking. I stilled my sobs and sniffled as I perked my ears once again. “Come on, Anina, let me go. Just let me go! Or at least let me out of here! Please, please, let me come upstairs with you!” I thought I heard the door at the top of the stairs squeak on its hinges, but again the sound had been too subtle and too quick to be sure of. “Anina? Please, please, let me go! Get these chains off me, please. They’re hurting my ankle!” I heard her step down onto the top riser. “Please come down and help me!” I urged. Now her shadow was visible as the light behind her cast shadows down the length of the stairwell. Then I could see someone. And it was definitely not Anina. I stood there stunned. The two of them were stunned as well. Yes, there were two of them. Two young guys, one white, one Hispanic. They were around my age, maybe a few years younger. They were dressed in loose, baggy shorts and sporty T-shirts. And they had broken into the house with God knew what in mind. They looked at me, then at each other, and then back at me. I quickly snatched the blanket from the cot and covered my nude body, taking a few steps backward. This wasn’t happening! I thought to myself. But they just might be my ticket out of there! Or my ticket to death, I also realized dismally, as they could be even more dangerous than the already dangerous enough woman who lived there. But what choice did I have but to take a chance with them? “Please help me. I don’t care why you broke in or what you want to take; just get me out of here and away from this crazy madwoman.” Again, they looked at each other. Not exactly what one expected to find when breaking into someone’s place, I understood. “Don’t you live here?” the Hispanic guy asked me. “No, God, no. A woman named Anina Hahn lives here. All I know about her is that she’s from Germany and she’s crazy. I don’t even know if that’s her real name.” The duo of burglars looked at each other. They must have believed me, as they seemed to suddenly relax as they chuckled amongst each other. “So is my aunt,” said the white guy who had light hair and eyes. “What?” I asked. “From Germany or crazy?” They laughed again, giving me a sense that, other than being burglars, they were safe enough guys. At least in the sense that they probably wouldn’t take turns raping me before slitting my throat and then helping themselves to whatever goodies of Anina’s their little hearts may desire. The idea of Anina returning to such a scene may be amusing, but I was anything but amused at the moment. “My aunt is from Germany. Someplace called Tübingen, I think.” “Well, it doesn’t matter,” I said desperately. “All that matters is that I get the hell out of here. Please help me. I don’t care what you steal from this sick bitch. Just get me the hell out of here.” They eyed me with confusion. “How did you get here?” asked the Hispanic guy. “I work for an escort service. She – uh – she rented my services for the week, but as you can see, she’s gotten a bit possessive.” They looked at each other yet again, shocked and not knowing what to think. “Hurry! I don’t know when this split chick intends to return. We have to get out of here as fast as possible!” “Okay, okay,” said the Hispanic guy. “Hey, wait a minute,” said the white guy, “we can’t afford to get involved in any crazy shit like this. This is way over our heads.” “So, what are we gonna do, man? Just leave her here?” “If you can’t afford to get involved in helping to save someone whose life may be in danger, you’re just as deranged as she is!” I spat at the white guy. You’re putting yourself at risk of getting into crazy shit, as you put it, just by breaking into people’s homes. What the hell are your names anyway?” They hesitated a moment. “Why can’t we just split and call the cops for her?” the white guy said, ignoring my question. “We’ll say we saw someone break in.” “That won’t work,” I said. “It’d be too risky for you guys and for me, too. I don’t have a record or any warrants out on me that I know of, but Anina’s already gotten me arrested for breaking and entering when I was actually trying to break out of here, and the cops didn’t believe me.” “Damn,” the Hispanic guy said with shock. “What were they, friends conspiring against you or something?” “I don’t know. I only know that, chained up or not, the cops wouldn’t exactly be glad to see me.” “What’s your name?” asked the Hispanic guy. “I’m Ginny and I just want to get out of here and to where I can call my parents, okay? That’s all I want.” “Well, I’m Antonio and this is Christian,” said the Hispanic guy. “How has she got you tied down?” “I’m chained by the ankle and the chain runs to that pole over there.” “Oh, great,” muttered Christian. “Like we can get the chain off with the way it’s padlocked?” “Well, jeez, Christian, why don’t you just leave me here to maybe be killed by this nutjob instead when she gets home from work?” “Where does she work?” asked Antonio. “I don’t know. She won’t tell me anything about herself.” Antonio traced the length of the chain over to the pole it was attached to. “She looped the chain around the pole. Christian, run home and see if you can find a metal cutter in your Dad’s shed.” Christian blinked in surprise. “Are you kidding, man?” “Do I look like I’m kidding? Just do it now, will ya?” Christian shook his head disbelievingly as he threw his hands up and headed up the stairs. “Thank you, Christian,” I called out after him. “And please be quick but be careful not to get pulled over for speeding!” “Yeah, and don’t make any other stops along the way,” Antonio threw in. I turned to Antonio after Christian left. “Could you please go upstairs and look for some clothes for me? If you can’t find a purple duffel bag with clothes in it, then just grab me a T-shirt and jeans or something like that from her dresser drawer. She’s taller than me, but we’re about the same size otherwise.” “Okay,” Antonio said, making his way to the stairs. “The bedroom is all the way to that end of the place,” I said, gesturing. But just as Antonio was about to make his way up the stairs, a loud crash sounded from above.