Who: Teddy (& NPC) What: Teddy discovers his present. (Narrative.) Where: Hamartia, then an abandoned warehouse When: after this and this; Monday night Warnings: Cussing. Dark thoughts. Kidnapping victim. General creepiness.
Teddy walked back upstairs as he opened the envelope addressed to him. The only things that came with his full name on them were bills, but this didn't even have a stamp on it, let alone an address or return address. The card inside was even more confusing and he pulled a face at the cute children on the front. He flipped it open and froze half way up the first flight.
The picture, envelope and Zinnia's postcard slipped out of his hands and he scrambled to pick them all up again.
Fear wasn't an emotion Teddy liked feeling himself. But the picture of the girl... the girl who looked so much prettier when she was crying... it was enough to make his hands shake. The time stamp on the photo gave him further pause. Who the fuck took it? Who the fuck knew? Someone was playing with him. Was it Gabe? But no... Not unless Gabe had time in his busy schedule to follow his brother around. Or have him followed. But this didn't seem like Gabe's style at all. And the fancy handwriting on the envelope couldn't have been his.
Teddy looked the envelope over again, inside and out. Then the card. Then flipped the photo over and saw the address written there.
Shit.
It couldn't possibly be from the girl herself. She thought his name was Mike for one thing.
Teddy raced up the last two flights of stairs, put Zinnia's card safely with the rest of his collection, then grabbed his GPS from the end table and programmed the address in. It looked like it was in a more industrial part of town. This shit kept getting weirder and weirder. He left the card and envelope behind on the coffee table and shoved the photo in his pocket. He'd dispose of it later. But for now he needed it. And he needed his plain black hoodie, which he put on as he left, GPS in hand.
No way in hell was he taking his own car out for this. If the girl was at the address on the back of the photo, he didn't need to chance her seeing it. Or whoever else the card could've been from. Though he somehow doubted it would matter if it was anyone but the girl. Instead he took the bus and got off at the stop closest to the address.
It didn't take long for him to find the building. An old warehouse with quite a few busted out windows. The building looked like it hadn't been used in a very long time. He looked around it, checking everywhere he could see for things like cameras or assholes dressed like flying rodents. But the area seemed well and truly deserted for the night outside of some light traffic he could hear in the distance. He found a side door to the warehouse with a busted lock on the ground next to it. In retrospect, he guessed a flashlight would've been smart to bring, but he hadn't been having a very clever week outside of work. Moving to Seattle had turned his whole damn world upside down in too many unexpected ways. He'd taken to carrying a pocket knife, but only because the Hamartia was such a shit hole.
There was a dim light coming from within the warehouse and Teddy cautiously approached it, but stuck to the shadows, his hood drawn up over his head.
Then he heard a noise. Quiet at first, but increasing in volume the closer he got to the dim lights at the center of the warehouse. It sounded like muffled crying.
Teddy finally saw what was making the noise and instantly knew he'd been walking too loudly across the concrete flooring when she angled her head in his direction.
A gagged and blindfolded girl was tied to a chair that had clearly fallen over from her efforts to move herself. She tried to call out, but the fabric in her mouth rendered the sounds ineffectual outside of the building itself.
At first the paramedic part of his brain kicked in. How long had she been there? Did she need medical attention? ...But the closer he got to her, the less he worried about her well being. She was so very afraid. And she must have thought he was the person who'd tied her up, because she tried to squirm away from him when he stopped right next to her.
He wanted to touch her, to hold her, to terrify her. Just like ...just like the girl in the photo. Who this girl was not. The hair was all wrong, for one thing, and the body type was different. This girl was a little younger, too. High school instead of college, maybe. Not that he ultimately cared. But he couldn't afford to have anyone, other than whoever set this up, connect him with this girl.
Teddy pushed his raw desires away and crouched down, cocking his head to the side to read the little tag attached to the black ribbon in her hair.
Enjoy, the tag proclaimed.
And he was enjoying the fear coursing off of the girl. Her pathetic little mewling cries helped him enjoy the situation even more. Gently he removed the ribbon and tag from her hair and stuffed them in his pocket. But he couldn't let this go on too long. He had to get her out of here. Had to play the anonymous savior so he could avoid suspicion.
And he had to figure out who the hell set this up. A creeping feeling told him it was a trap, and that was the last mental push he needed to do what he needed to do instead of what he wanted to do. He pushed his hood back and pulled the girl's blindfold and gag off.
"Are you okay? What happened to you? I heard weird noises..."
The girl just cried and thanked him over and over again. When she was fully freed she hugged him and wouldn't let go until most of her fear and panic had dissipated, replaced by obvious relief.
Teddy assured her everything was going to be all right and walked her to the bus stop, going so far as to pay her fare.
He wasn't at all pleased she seemed to have no idea who'd put her in the warehouse.