Jon Athan - Am I Beautiful?

Adam reminded her of the countless transients she had encountered in Los Angeles. His life was already in shambles.

“She’s innocent,” Adam said. “You do wha–whatever you want to me, but please don’t hurt her. Please, Miki.”

Miki’s smile grew. He remembers me, she thought.

She said, “There are some handcuffs on the bar. Plastic ones. Grab them. Put them on. Then get on your knees and face that wall next to the hall. And keep your head down.”

Adam was surprised by Miki’s calm tone. He looked at the cable tie handcuffs on the bar. He noticed a wet crowbar next to it. He thought about using it against Miki, but he knew he wasn’t fast enough to stop her from stabbing Riley if he tried to attack her. He looked back at the intruder.

He said, “I can’t do that. I need you to put Riley down and I need to see Amber. Once I know they’re safe and free, I–I’ll do whatever you say.”

“Your beautiful wife is fine, Adam. She’s tied up in the back seat of your SUV with some tape over her mouth. She’ll join us as soon as you do as I say.”

“A–And what are you going to do? Are you going to hurt them?”

“I don’t want to hurt your family. This isn’t about them. It’s about us. But … I’ll hurt them if you don’t follow my instructions. I will kill your precious daughter—right now, right in front of you—if you do anything stupid.”

“Okay, o–okay. Just… What do you want from me, Miki? Where is this going?”

“The truth, Adam. I just want the truth. We’ll get into it soon, but I don’t like standing here with a knife to your baby’s back and the door open. If your neighbors show up, I’ll kill your sweet little Riley. You don’t want that, I don’t want that, so just do it already. Handcuff yourself and kneel down.”

Adam figured she wanted a confession. He didn’t trust Miki, but he was out of options and he was running out of time. He couldn’t fight her with the knife touching Riley’s back and he couldn’t wait until one of his neighbors noticed his open door. He tied his wrists together in front of him with the cable tie handcuffs, then he turned around and knelt in front of the wall.

Listening to the footsteps behind him, he said, “I’ll do whatever you say. I’ll go to the police and I’ll tell ‘em everything. I won’t tell ‘em about this if you… if you don’t hurt them.”

“Head down,” Miki said as she lowered Riley onto the sofa.

Adam bowed his head and said, “I’m so sorry for what I did. I don’t expect you to forgive me. But I know you’re better than this. I know you wouldn’t hurt innocent people. You’re not the killer from the news. You’re a sweet, beau—”

Miki pressed her stun gun against the nape of Adam’s neck. He jerked his head up, limbs stiff and jaw clenched. Then he fell forward. His forehead hit the wall, then he landed on his side. Before he could regain control of his body, Miki struck the left side of his head with the crowbar, cutting his scalp open and knocking him into a state of deep unconsciousness.

Hoarse breathing. Loud snorting. Stifled whining.

Adam awoke to weeping, a woman’s weeping. His eyes were open, the room was bright, but he saw nothing but darkness. He tried to speak, but even he couldn’t understand himself with the strip of duct tape over his mouth. His vision faded in slowly. He was staring down at himself. The left side of his bathrobe was splattered with blood.

He looked up and immediately closed his eyes. The light made his head hurt. The pain on the left side of his head was especially tremendous. His temple was cut and swollen. His eyelids cracked open to a squint. He saw triple, but enough to recognize his surroundings. In his kitchen, he sat at his regular seat at the end of the dining table. At the other end of the table, Riley’s highchair was swapped with another dining chair.

And Amber sat on that dining chair across from him. She was already awake, crying and babbling. Her arms were restrained behind her back with a pair of plastic handcuffs, and her body was duct-taped to the chair.

Adam tried to stand, but he was also taped to his chair. The duct tape around his ankles made it difficult for him to move. He blinked rapidly, hoping it would help him clear his vision. He went from seeing triple to seeing double in about thirty seconds, but it didn’t get much better after that. He mumbled something, but it sounded like a baby cooing. He wanted to shout: Where’s Riley?!

He tried to stand again, dragging the chair an inch forward. Amber hopped in her seat and screamed. The noise wasn’t loud enough to reach the street outside due to the rain.

“Looks like mama and papa are awake,” Miki said.

Adam stopped moving upon hearing her voice. Amber kept struggling, though. He looked over the bar. There was no one there. A flashing blue glow from the muted television lit up the living room. He gasped as Miki emerged from behind the bar. She was still wearing her mask. She held Riley in her arms, and Riley clutched a stuffed monkey in her hands. The toddler was finally calm. They had been playing on the living room floor as they waited for Adam and Amber to awaken.

Jugulars sticking out of his neck, Adam shouted at Miki. He wanted to say: ‘ Let her go! ’ But it came out as a ghoulish groan.

Miki stood behind Amber’s chair. Amber yelled at Miki, too. She looked over her left shoulder, then the opposite shoulder. She wanted to see Riley. She only cared about her safety.

Miki said, “Los Angeles. Manhattan Beach. Same address you had on your passport when we first met. I told you I’d show up at your door someday. It wasn’t hard to find you, but I bet you couldn’t find me.”

Adam screamed at her. Miki put Riley in her highchair. She caressed the girl’s cheek, then she stroked her dark brown hair. Amber started yelling at her, too. She was glad to see Riley, but Miki’s actions—despite being so gentle—set her off. No one wanted strangers to touch their children. Riley was agitated because of her parents’ screaming, so she began sucking on one of the stuffed animal’s ears.

Miki made her way to Adam. She leaned over the chair next to him and removed her mask, revealing her scarred face. Adam’s screaming came to an abrupt stop. It was as if he had just remembered what had gotten him into that situation in the first place. I did that to her, he thought. I’m guilty, but my family is innocent .

Miki asked, “Did you miss me?”

Adam lunged at her, dragging the chair forward a centimeter. His eyes were fixed on hers. She snickered and walked around him. She circled the table until she returned to Amber. She sat in the chair next to her, put her elbows on the table, then propped her chin on her palms and watched Amber’s effort to escape for a moment.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” Miki asked.

Amber glared at her, nostrils flaring with each breath. She was curious about her scars and her connection to Adam. She didn’t recognize her, though.

Miki said, “My name is Miki Someya. I’m one of Adam’s close ‘friends.’ We met in Japan in 2017 during one of his business trips. Do you remember that trip?”

Amber kept glaring, then after about ten seconds, she nodded slowly.

Miki grinned and said, “Adam went home in such a hurry, didn’t he? And you probably weren’t expecting him to be home so soon, were you? What did he tell you? That his meetings were cancelled? He signed some deals and finished early? He missed you so much that he had to rush home to be with you?”

She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled at the idea. Only her laughter and the clattering of the rain played through the house. Sweat coated Adam’s forehead and cheeks. He was captivated by Miki’s speech. He knew where she was going with it, he just didn’t know when she was going to get to her point.