Consultation 113.
My refresher training in hell had finally come to an end and I was met with a familiar face for my first client back. It was the client I had that long dream about where she’d been adopted.
“God, where has my adoptive father been taken by his captors?” Those were the first words that came out of her mouth.
I looked at the little girl seated across from me like I couldn’t comprehend the question.
“What do you mean where has he been taken? Aren’t you the one responsible for him being abducted in the first place?”
“No. I’m not! I planned to go through with that plan when I was a bit older and got him to trust me more. But then this suddenly happened out of nowhere. I don’t know where he is now. Two men dressed in all black abducted him when we were separated. I’d ran across the street ahead of him and was waiting on the other side. With traffic partially obstructing my view, a vehicle suddenly stopped in front of him. Two men got out and surrounded him on both sides, he had nowhere to run. Though I didn’t see any guns, it felt like he’d been held at gunpoint and forced to get into the vehicle with them against his will.”
“Right after that, he sent me a text saying he had some things to do. All he said was to return home and look after his mother for him. I texted him back right away, but he never responded. I tried to call him but it went straight to voicemail. I don’t know what to do. I listened to him hoping for the best, but it’s been a day already and there has been no word from him. Please God, help me! I don’t want him to die!”
“Haaaaaaaah.”
“I get it. I get it. Relax and give me a second. Let me take a look.”
I pulled out my phone and downloaded the Akashic records for her world when I suddenly realized it was the same world from that Marian client I had before. Naturally, it was corrupted.
Well… this was awkward.
However, it was possible to do something this time. I knew who the exact target I was looking for unlike the time with that Martian’s case, so I could use some specialized software to gain access to the corrupted files in the Akashic records still.
The depressing part was… I had to use an in-app purchase to be able to read it. The app was free and allowed you to verify if the file was there still, but as for opening it, that was where they got you with the fancy premium paid features. I begrudgingly bought a subscription to make use of the specialized services in the app to open the file.
Since I’d paid to access it, I figured I wouldn’t just ‘control f’ my answer and I’d read it all to get my money’s worth of entertainment out of reading it.
...
“Haaaaaah…”
Where am I?
“Haaaaaah...”
It was dark.
“Haaaaaah...”
Too dark to see.
“Haaaaaah...”
I was having a hard time breathing.
“Haaaaaah...”
Something was covering my mouth.
“Haaaaaah...”
As far as I could tell, I was alone right now.
“Haaaaaah...”
My breathing was hectic and beyond my control.
“Haaaaaah...”
My heart was pounding heavily.
“Haaaaaah...”
Was this fear?
I felt fear? Afraid? Me?
“Haaaaaah...”
Of what?
“Haaaaaah...”
Just what am I afraid of?
“Haaaaaah...”
The dark? Perhaps, the unknown situation I’ve found myself in.
I had to calm down and think rationally right now. This wasn’t the time to panic. I had to first figure out what was going on. I took in a slow deep breath and held it in before I gradually exhaled out. My thoughts a bit clearer, I tried to recall my last memory.
When I tried to recall how I got into this situation, a terrible migraine caused me to wince in pain.
It was no good.
I attempted to sit up, but struggled and found it very difficult to do so. My arms were bound behind my back. I’d been unconscious on the floor this entire time. Adding together all the pieces of the puzzle, I got a vague idea of the situation I found myself in. Kidnapped was the first word that came to mind.
Shit. Give me a break, I’m not a damn kid. I’m too damn old to be kidnapped.
What the hell do I do now?
Call for help?
Can I?
Fuck, is my phone even with me?
It didn’t feel like it was on me.
“Iz amywon n heh?” I called out amidst the pitch-black darkness, but with my mouth covered, my voice came out muffled.
Only silence returned my call. It seemed I really was alone like I thought.
I wanted to stand up to try and feel around the place, but it seemed they were shackled tightly to the ground. I was completely restrained and it really seemed like a hopeless situation. Whoever my captures were, they made sure to make it so I couldn’t do anything.
Why were they doing this though? Why me? I’m a nobody. A nobody… who am I again? Ugh, there was that intense pain again. It seemed I’d been treated roughly by my captors. There was a throbbing pain on the back of my head.
Had I been tortured to the point I forgot everything about both myself and my captors?
Was I left here to die like this?
Why would they even leave me alive if that was the case? It didn’t make any sense.
Unless… I entered a state of false death. They may have been under the impression they had already killed me and they abandoned my body wherever this place was. They left me shackled and tossed me to the back of their mind when they assumed I was dead.
As I was shackled like this I must have been tortured after all. But to begin with, why torture me? Did I have information they wanted? Did I see something I wasn’t supposed to? Or was I just an unlucky random victim to some sick fuck serial killer who got off to this sort of thing?
I had no way to know.
The only thing I knew was that I was still alive and that they possibly made a mistake.
I first had to find a way to free myself or call for help. How though? I can’t even talk properly with my mouth covered let alone call out loud for someone to save me.
If I could stand I could easily step over my hands to move my arms to my front and then remove the cloth covering my mouth. Sadly, let alone stand, I couldn’t even raise my leg up off the ground.
There was only a single maneuver I could perform to achieve the same result. Go the other way. I’d luckily learned the method to move my arms when restrained from behind to my front by passing it over my head. The only problem to make use of this method required a bit of space between my wrists to maneuver my arms.
With how tightly my wrists were bound together, it would be no easy task to accomplish this feat. That didn’t mean it was impossible… it would just… be a very painful experience. Unluckily, it was the only option available to me right now.
I sucked in a deep breath and twisted my right wrist until my palms faced opposite directions while overlapping. This resulted in the ropes tightening around my wrists to the point the circulation of blood to my hands was cut off. I then used my right hand to pull my left hand out as far as it would extend behind my back to the right side of my body while In the process I forcefully rotated my right wrist until it faced the right side of my body. The rope untwisted but rotated around my wrist allowing me to move it into the position I needed it in.
Now came the hardest part of this maneuver. I bent my elbow until my two hands were perpendicular to the direction of my body. Without the ability to freely utilize the joint in my wrist to create a large enough gap to pass my right elbow under my left elbow joint behind my back, this maneuver was impossible for me. I had two options to get around this, one would take significantly longer to heal than the other so I opted for the one that was possible to fix in a short amount of time.
“AAAAAAGGGGGGGAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHH!”
A loud anguished scream escaped my mouth as I dislocated my right arm from its socket. I started hyperventilating as I left my arm in that position for a moment while a hot liquid welled up to the corner of my eyes from the overwhelming pain.
After a few seconds, I continued with the process. I fell onto my side and used my body weight to assist in rotating my right arm into position until my arms formed a straight diagonal line from my lower left hip to my upper right shoulder. The circulation in my wrists was cut off again as the rope similar to the start, was twisted in a figure-eight in this state. In this position with my right arm now dislocated, I was able to pass my right elbow joint over the front of my face and then perform the last step to pass my left elbow under my right elbow joint. With this last step complete, my arms were now both in front of my body.
I was suffering in agony through the pain the entire time, but that little bit of pain was worth it. I used my left arm combined with the weight of my body to pop my right arm back into its socket. The only saving grace was how that was the last bit of scream-inducing pain I had to endure.
On the ground, I weakly raised my arms and used my hands to pull down the cloth covering my mouth. I laid on my back exhausted while I caught my breath.
“Help! Is anyone out there?” Of course not, if there was they would have heard my anguished screams just now.
With my wrists and legs still bound, the only ability I’d gained was speech. But if there was no one around to hear me, was it really worth it?
What could I do with only my voice while trapped in this dark room? I really wish I had my phone on me… I could at the very least pull out my phone and call for help that way. Wait… I always had my phone on me though. There wasn’t ever a time I didn’t have it with me now that I thought about it.
Meaning… my captors obviously took it away from me. Where did they put my phone though? Did they take it with them? Probably not, if I was reported missing after some time, it could potentially be traced back to them. They probably wouldn’t keep it in that case. Destroying it would be the most logical option.
Haaaaaah.
If that was the case I was doomed.
Wait a minute! Two! That’s right! I had two phones, didn’t I? I carried around two phones… but why was that? I couldn’t remember. I knew there was a good reason for it, however, I couldn’t quite remember what it was. Cautious. That’s right, I was a cautious person. I was being cautious of something.
I couldn’t remember what it was though.
If I had two phones, my captors definitely would have gotten one of them. They likely wouldn’t have found the other. If that was true, where was the other one now? I must have done something with it after they found the first one. I wouldn’t have wanted them to find that one and break it too. I would have probably tossed it away so it would be hidden in this room somewhere out of sight from my captors when I was first brought in here. At least, that’s what I’d expect myself to do in that sort of situation with my cautious nature.
If this turned out to be true, then it was safe to assume I came with these people without putting up resistance while I was still conscious. Meaning I was both knocked out then tortured after we got here.
I’d put a few pieces of the puzzle together, but I still had to prove my theory correct.
Nervous as my life depended on it, I opened my mouth and called out, “Hey, Siri. Call 911 on speaker.”
A robotic voice echoed out amidst the darkness, “Calling Emergency Services in five seconds.”
The longest five seconds of my life went by before the phone started to ring. I was nervous there wouldn’t be any reception, but thankfully it connected and I was immediately asked, “Nine-one-one operator. What is your emergency?”
I opened my mouth but paused, unsure of how to answer.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
“Yes... I’m here.”
“What was that? You sound very far away and it’s hard to hear you. Can you move the phone closer?”
“Haha. I’d love to... but I’m a bit tied up at the moment if you catch my drift.”
“Tied up? Did you say tied up?”
“Yes!”
“Where are you right now?”
“Fuck if I know.”
“I’m sorry, can you repeat that. It’s very hard to hear you.”
“I have no fucking idea where I am! Just trace the damn call! Surely you can use some cell towers or GPS and WiFi access point information from the phone to triangulate my position.”
“Can you see anything around you that might help with narrowing down your exact location?”
“Nothing, it’s pitch-black in whatever hell hole for a room I’ve been dumped in. I can’t see shit.”
“Can you turn on the flashlight on your phone?”
“No. I can’t reach my phone, I was only able to make the call by voice command. I’d need the call to end and then call back, but I don’t know how much battery my phone has either right now. If we end the call I could check the battery and turn on the flashlight for a second if it’s high enough then call back.”
“Are your captors still around?”
“No idea. I called out loud for help right before I called you and no one responded so I think they left under the assumption I was already dead. They could come back though, I have no idea what’s really going on. I’d been in a state of false death up until I regained consciousness just now.”
“What is your name?”
“Uh… I can’t really remember. I think I took a few hard hits to the head, maybe I suffered some brain damage or something.”
“What is your phone number?”
“Uh… sorry. I don’t remember that either. It should be whatever shows up on the caller ID. But even if I remembered it, I wouldn’t be able to answer a return call anyway, I can only make the call.”
“Alright, officers will be dispatched to search the area. I will disconnect the call. Please turn on the flashlight to see if you can see anything and call back immediately.”
”Okay.”
The operator ended the call.
“Hey, Siri, how much battery do you have.”
“Your iPhone is at 5%.”
Fuck! Well, better than nothing I guess.
“Hey, Siri, turn on the flashlight,”
“Okay, I turned flashlight on.”
There was a bit of light that illuminated the pitch-black room ever so slightly from behind something leaning against the wall directly across from me a bit to the right. With the low amount of illumination provided by my flashlight, I could make out the door to the room, it was brown with a golden handle. My eyes scanned through the room and it seemed I was in a sizable storage closet. The ground was uneven and angled slightly downward. It led me to believe I was likely underground in the basement of an old abandoned house.
A closet in a basement? That was where I’d been taken? What the hell? What would make me ever willingly go along with some suspicious people to a place like this?
“Hey, Siri, turn off the flashlight,”
“Okay, I turned flashlight off.”
“Hey, Siri. Call 911 on speaker.”
“Calling Emergency Services in five seconds.”
“Nine-one-one operator. What is your emergency?”
...
I see. I see. So that’s what happened.
“Well, God? Did you find out where he is?”
“Yeah.”
“Really! Where is he?”
“Well, you don’t need to worry about that. He got in touch with the police and should come out of this in one piece. All you need to do is patiently wait at home for his return, he’ll be back soon. It seems you wasted your money for this consultation.” And I wasted my money on a problem that didn’t even require my assistance. Damn that cockroach-like mortal. Who forcefully dislocates their arm without hesitation like that? Are you even sane?
Still, it was rather unexpected that I’d stumble across this corrupted world again so soon.
Wait… it couldn’t be…
Were these two in some way related to the corruption of this world?
I broke out into sweat and wondered if I’d maybe played an indirect role in the corruption of this world somehow. I wouldn’t happen to accidentally be the perpetrator behind this, would I?
Nah… there’s no way it could be that. Haha. Yeah. Definitely not.
But... wasn’t this kind of similar to the standard plot twist where the first person to discover the body was the culprit all along? No! It is not at all similar! Definitely not! I had nothing to do with this at all.
“He’s fine? He’s really fine?”
“Y-Yeah. He is.” Nervous, my eyes snapped back to the little girl.
“Really? Really, really?”
“Yes. Really.”
“Thank God. What a relief, I was so scared.”
“You sure seem much more fond of him compared to the last time we saw each other.”
“F-Fond? There’s nothing of the sort! I just… don’t really want him to die… before I grow up is all. It’s hard to find someone who’s willing to take you in and look after you.” Her voice grew quieter with each successive word.
“Hmmmm… well, good luck with that, I guess.” She’d slightly changed since our last consultation.
“Uh… God, before I go. Since you didn’t really need to do anything, is it fine if I ask another question? I probably won’t have enough to book another consultation with you.”
“Haaaaah. Sure, I guess. Shoot. What is it?”
“How do you save someone who intends to die by forty and make them happy?”
“Hah? You know, this really isn’t my area of specialty.”
“It’s fine if it’s not. Any answer is fine.”
“Well… maybe…” My face twisted as my stomach turned when I tried to finish the sentence. It was something so uncharacteristic of me to say that my entire being was instinctively rejecting the idea of saying it.
“Maybe?”
“Love… I guess?” I threw up a little in my mouth but swallowed it back down. I had to maintain a professional appearance after all. My eye twitched from the sour burning sensation in my throat.
“Love?”
“Yeah… pretty much. Just get him to feel love and be loved in return… probably.” Familial love, of course.
“I see. I’ll give that a shot. Thank you again, God. I should get going.”
“Good. By the way, if you want to book a consultation in the future don’t worry about the fee. I’ll… cover it.” It pained me to say that, but I had to.
There were two reasons for my offer.
The first reason was that she was connected to the corrupted world. I wanted to clear my name, thus I had to observe it for a while. I could potentially find out events that may not be properly recorded in the corrupted Akashic records through this client which may yield some clues. I definitely wasn’t responsible for this, I could not accept that fact. If it really turned out to be me… I was sure to get my pay docked a lot more than how much a few occasional consultations with her would cost me.
As for the second reason… she was no fetus lady. Essentially, she was pretty normal and didn’t give me indigestion the instant I saw her. I’d rather her take up consultation time than my regulars.
“Really! So generous?”
“Yeah,”
“What’s the catch? This is too suspicious. You’re obviously after something. My adoptive father taught me there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
I nearly choked on my own saliva.
“I’m a God! Do I look that cheap?”
“Yeah. Definitely.” An immediate response.
I rubbed my forehead with my palm and squeezed.
“Your adoptive father is a pain in the ass. Just what sorts of things is he teaching you at such a young age?”
“He’s taught me a lot. Like how to identify fellow cheapskates. His entire room is empty, the only furniture in his room is two box tables and his bed. With how this room only has two chairs and a table, it’s obvious you’re what he would call a comrade-in-frugality.”
She got me there. Damn this sharp little mortal girl.
“Anyway, the offer stands. Take it or leave it, I don’t care. Now scram before I change my mind.”
When she heard that I’d take back my offer, she immediately stepped out of my office without another word.
Looks like I'll have a look at I reluctantly Adopted a Wolf Daughter In Sheep's Clothes.
And the mc's heart 'maybe' grew by a centimeter this day. but a more empty wallet.