Chapter 7
Everything was hazy. As Holly came to, she could hear a low, intermittent sound like water dripping in the distance. Drip…drip…drip…Holly must have blacked out. As she began to emerge from the fog clouding her mind, she slowly opened her eyes. Holly had no idea where she was. It was dark…wickedly dark… She didn’t see anyone. Holly didn’t see Trent; she didn’t hear him either... all she heard was the slow drip, magnified in the silence.
She tried to adjust her sight to the darkness. It was hard to make anything out… there were only shadows, but she couldn’t make out what created the shadows. The fear and dread Holly felt earlier resurfaced with a vengeance. ‘I must be dreaming…’ she thought to herself, trying to convince herself that if she could only wake up and shake it off, she would awake from this terrible nightmare.
Holly tried to move. She lifted her head slightly, but felt a sharp pain and fell back. The pain she felt was an awful reminder…In an instant, everything that had happened that night came rushing back. She saw Trent’s face, the scuffle, the pain… It wasn’t a dream, after all. The last thing she remembered was Trent grabbing her by the throat, trying to choke life from her... the rest she was unsure about. She struggled; the visual memories flooding back. She couldn’t get herself up, but she didn’t know why. SSSSSS….Owwwww… a sharp pain in her arm… everything now a fuzzy blur.
Trent had planned this since the moment she told him ‘no.’ Of course this wasn’t the first time a bitch told him ‘no.’ The last chick that told him ‘no’ paid for it, and this one would too. Trent had tried to do things the ‘right’ way, but these women were never satisfied; always wanting more… always wanting something or somebody else. At first he would take the rejection and move on; hell it was no big deal. There were plenty of women to choose from, right? But Trent didn’t want a chick from the street; a hood rat from around the way. He wanted what he had become… a professional, about the business of making things happen. He wanted a woman who was his intellectual equal and financially secure; making her own money and not waiting for him to bring it home so she could spend it. Trent didn’t want a bottom bitch. He saw the old heads in his neighborhood - no matter how many women they dealt with, they always had that one that helped them hold it down. He wanted that kind of woman; the kind that would ride or die with him in the corporate world and not just back on the block.
After Trent had polished himself up to be the man of everyone woman’s dreams, the kind women always say they want - making money the right way, professional, educated, and smart, and all with a little bit of bad boy edge -Trent didn’t take too kindly to being dismissed or disrespected on any level. That’s what ‘no’ meant. That a trick thought he didn’t measure up, like he still wasn’t good enough. He was not to be taken lightly and Holly had tried to play him; to dismiss him as if he meant absolutely nothing to her.
After he started to feel her pull away and after she just told him straight out that they should ‘just be friends,’ Trent had decided that, just like with the last one, Holly would have to pay for her rejection. He watched her… learned her patterns of coming and going. When she went to work, he was watching. When Holly left work, he was right there lurking in the shadows. When she slept, Trent was right there watching. He knew her every move. Trent had also been smart enough to befriend Holly’s executive assistant Julia. All it took was a few smiles and winks, and that bitch would tell Trent anything he needed to know about Holly’s schedule. Julia was the one who told Trent that Blythe and Holly would be going out this evening. He had been waiting for the perfect time to execute his plan, and with Ms. Julia’s tip, this turned out to be the perfect time. He arrived at Catherine’s before Blythe and Holly did. He made sure that Holly got just a glimpse of him without being able to fully see him. Trent wanted to plant the seed that maybe it was him, but she would still be left wondering.
Once he knew she got a glimpse of him, all he needed to do was wait outside the club to make sure Holly would be leaving by herself. He watched from the across the street, out of Holly and Blythe’s line of sight to make sure Blythe did not decide to return to Holly’s apartment. When he was sure Holly would be alone, he made a beeline for her apartment and parked his car in the alleyway, trunk up, keys in the ignition, and headlights off. He knew the cab would take the more scenic route to the apartment, so Trent also knew he would have a few minutes to get there first and get in position. The first part of his plan had gone well.
Trent had found this place, an abandoned house among plenty of boarded up and abandoned houses on the poorest side of town in a neighborhood known for its crime. Then he had waited… waited for just the right moment. Nobody here would pay attention… hear the noise… even if she screamed. It would be nothing they hadn’t heard before. ‘These kind of folks really didn’t care,’ he thought to himself. He had laid everything out for his planned escapade. He knew his intentions and wanted to make sure the time he spent with Holly was exactly as he envisioned it. From the location, the silken ties on her wrists and ankles that wouldn’t leave a mark, to the hypodermic needle with the mild sedative, Trent had planned every minute detail. What he hadn’t planned for was having to punch Holly to subdue her. But if he had left a mark, it’s nothing she couldn’t conceal with a little makeup. Besides, when he finished with her, a bruise to the chin would be the least of her worries. ‘The bitch put up a good fight,’ but now he had her… and she would pay… pay for everything…
Trent stood in the darkness watching Holly as she came to. He silenced Holly’s phone, taking out the battery; not caring who may have been on the other end. Initially, she passed out from being choked in the trunk of the car. But Trent wanted her to be even more confused so he gave her a little injection to knock her out again when she started to come to and struggle against the restraints he had placed on her arms and legs. He watched as she came to and faded again; not even realizing he had injected her. He didn’t speak. He just watched and contemplated her rejection. As Holly sunk back into unconsciousness, Trent moved quietly to the bucket he had in the sink. He didn’t bother to turn the faucet off all the way and the water continued to drip… no longer into the bucket but now dripping louder into the sink.
Trent made his way over to where Holly lay. She was still out, but now he wanted to have some fun with her. He stood over Holly and tipped the bucket, dowsing Holly’s near lifeless body with the icy cold water.
Holly’s reaction was just as Trent anticipated, just as he hoped. She was immediately alert, gasping, flailing, writhing, realizing even if she wanted to get up, she couldn’t. Trent leaned over Holly - still struggling to make sense of what was happening - and whispered near her ear, “Time to get up… bitch.”