Seduced for Revenge: 2 - Elevator

Ding!

(Don’t forget to arrive at your interview early.)

Yeah, I know.

Ding! Ding!

(What time is your interview?)

(30 minutes early would be the ideal time, so you can relax and get rid of your nerves.)

Regina was the youngest in their family and she could not help that everyone was worried about her, but sometimes she felt choked by their good intentions.

Ding!

(Your dad will know if you don’t show up.)

Yes, Mom. I’m already here.

Regina set her phone to vibrate, knowing her mom would not stop nagging until the interview ended.

Buzz.

And there she was.

(He pulled strings for you to get on this list. You need this job.)

Thank you!

Buzz.

(Stop rolling your eyes.)

Regina turned off her phone to silence her mom. She knew the following messages would just make her mad.

‘For crying out loud. Stop controlling my life!’ Regina screamed in her head and touched both her temples with one hand. She could feel the tension building and just wanted to back out and head home.

‘I knew agreeing to this meeting was a bad idea.’

The only positive thing about the interview taking place in five minutes was that the company held it at the end of the day, so she could relax as soon as they let her go.

Heading to the top floor of the B&D Construction company meant they needed a caregiver for a top-level executive. And though she told Raffy she did not want to do the job, it piqued her interest. 

Regina did not bother to ask what the job would entail and who she would care for because she did not want to have prolonged conversations with her mom, which always ended in a lecture.

‘Just get through the next half hour, and you are scot-free. She can’t nag if you don’t get chosen.’

Regina was a health professional, and though she had gone on interviews before, she did not bother to dress nicely for this meeting. She came straight from her brother’s house and used the same scrubs she had that morning. The same one she wanted to use for work. 

She came here to honor her parents’ request to show up and nothing else. So impressing someone by dressing nicely was at the bottom of her list.

Regina was being rebellious and was not keen on getting this job. She planned to sabotage the interview so she could return to her post at the hospital immediately. But as she closed her eyes, images of the gunman appeared in front of her.

Her nightmares had been so bad lately that the only way she could find sleep was when she was exhausted. And because of fatigue, she started having waking nightmares.

As the elevator slowly climbed to the top floor, Regina saw the gunman pointing his gun at her, and just like she did in real life, she could not stop staring.

The barrel kept getting bigger and bigger, swallowing up the elevator. The more it grew, the more terrified she felt. 

So, as the elevator stopped, she let out a yelp. The gun disappeared, and all she could see were the four metallic walls around her. 

Thankfully, the elevator stopped on another floor, and nobody was there to witness her outburst. 

Regina squared her shoulder to shake off the memories. She reminded herself that this was the present time, and she was heading to the interview.

‘Stay awake, Regina. You can do this. Stop daydreaming.’

Anxious green eyes collided with angry blue ones as Regina alighted from the elevator. She felt so much hostility in those eyes that left her so terrified she couldn’t look back.

Blue. Those were the color of the gunman’s eyes. Now that she recalled them, it left her unnerved. 

In an instant, the scenario in front of her changed, and she was back at the hospital, staring straight into his eyes. She felt too paralyzed to do anything.

“Reggie Martin?” The secretary called out to the men lined up outside a spacious office waiting room.

“Reggie Martin? Is there a Reggie Martin here?”

“He…here,” she said feebly as the situation in front of her registered. The distraction was enough to shake her out of the illusion that she was in danger.

Regina could have kept silent. Let the interviewer pass her over, so she could inform her parents the interview did not go well, but her voice echoed loud enough for everyone to hear.

Her eyes grew large as all their faces swiveled toward her to see who had spoken. It felt right out of a horror movie, and no matter how hard she tried to push it away, she knew Raffy was right.

There was no denying that she was not well enough to work at the hospital. 

She told no one, but each time Regina had a waking dream, she would find herself in a different room, forgetting how she got there.

As soon as the gunman’s face appeared, everything blurred away, and she was out, cold.

Raffy had prescribed her sleeping pills the first week after the incident, but had cut her off soon as he noticed she was getting too dependent on them, craving them even when she didn’t need to sleep.

Having too many watchful eyes around her meant there was no chance she could get addicted to the pills. So she coped with the situation by denying anything was amiss.

The fear of getting triggered and losing consciousness was too great for her to ignore, and it would be dangerous if that happened while she was treating a patient, which is why she was apprehensive about taking the job. 

What if she endangered the person assigned to her?

When she stared into the man’s angry blue eyes, it brought her straight back to the emergency room as if she had never escaped. 

Like a wave washing over her, it overcame all her senses and immobilized her, leaving her powerless. If not for the interviewer calling out her name, Regina would have passed out in front of everybody.