JOSI

Josi is home with Bradley that early evening. There's been no news from Idris since their meet-up at the hotel a couple days ago. Josi wants to think he's finally had enough of her and has forgotten about it all. She wants to believe he's too busy with his own life to obstruct hers.

But these are all wishful thinking. The fact of the matter is, Josi is an open book to Idris. He knows everything about her down to every minute detail. And so she will not rest as long as he is out there.

Still, Josi puts the peaceful days to good use. She's in the kitchen with Bradley and a couple of their utensils, trying to work up a meal from the ingredients available. Bradley works on cutting up onions while Josi helps with prepping the base. Fettuccine Alfredo is what they're going for, but it may change into something entirely different if Josi's mind isn't made up about what sauce to use.

"Alfredo or tomato?"

"Fettuccine and Alfredo sauce were made for each other." Bradley tells her.

Josi fills a pot with water and sets it on the stove. "Very debatable."

"I disagree. Alfredo is like the Romeo to Fettuccine's Juliet. You can't separate them."

"Did you watch Romeo and Juliet?" Josi asks, to which Bradley merely shrugs. She sighs and sets the spaghetti into the pot once the water reaches its boiling point. "Besides, tomatoes are more versatile."

"The only good tomato products are ketchup and soup. Everything else is unappealing. I mean, what ingrate drinks tomato juice willingly?"

Josi folds her arms. "Me."

Bradley pauses in the middle of cutting. He knows he's made a mistake. ". . . And that's why tomato juice is the best beverage."

Josi rolls her eyes at his attempt to fix his mistake. She sticks a finger into the jar of Alfredo sauce for a taste test and realizes it may not be all too bad. "This is good."

Bradley smiles. "Told you." He wipes the leftover sauce away from Josi's lips and licks it off.

Josi looks him over and goes silent. His thick arms remain exposed from his sleeveless shirt, along with grey sweatpants that seem a bit too big for him. She leans against the counter top and simply watches him chop through the ingredients.

Bradley notices the staring. "What?"

Josi smiles. "Nothing."

Then the doorbell rings. The couple give each other a look of skepticism, because it's clear there were no visitors expected.

"I'll get it." Bradley heads for the door. Josi is left tending to the pot on the fire, until something in her clicks. Who could it be at their home at such an hour? It could be Idris. It would make sense if it were Idris. He could be there to disrupt her life once again, to make not only hers but Bradley's life a living hell as he'd promised.

Josi hastily drops her wooden spoon and makes a beeline for the living room. But there's no sign of Idris. No smell of cigars or speech induced with arrogance. What she finds is a perplexed Bradley with an envelope in his hands.

"Who was it?"

"There was no one outside. Just this envelope." Bradley hands the package over to her. "There's no return address on it either."

Josi inspects the envelope and finds the initials I.V etched in gold on the back. Immediate alarm bells. This has Idris Verdonni written all over it both literally and figuratively. Josi wants no part in whatever the envelope has to offer, not with Bradley in the room. She plans to make waste of it.

But Bradley's interest has already been piqued. "Open it. Let's see what's inside."

This is when panic begins taking over. ". . . I should open it?"

"Yeah, it could be money." He tells her with a laugh.

No laughing matter, this one. But Josi returns the gesture. She gives her own share of fake laughs before looking down at the envelope. Whatever lies hidden within will surely cause some form of conflict. She carefully tears the top open in such a way that the flap is still intact, then uses it as a shade to keep the contents hidden from Bradley.

Photos. That's what Josi finds. They appear to have been candidly taken. They feature Idris and Josi, or more so Josi in Idris's arms. He has her in the same bridal style as the one from the hotel. They look close and intimate. They resemble a normal couple.

Josi gets the urge to yell, but bites her tongue.

"What is it?"

Josi almost chokes up. She has to calm her thumping chest just to hear herself think. "Oh, these are . . . a surprise," she fakes a smile. "I had pictures taken of us when we went on that cruise ship a couple months ago. Remember?"

Bradley nods. "You did that?"

"I wanted it to be a nice surprise." She closes her eyes and sighs as if the disappointment were real. "But now it's all ruined."

Bradley shakes his head, clearly not as disappointed as Josi's facade. "Screw the surprise. The photos are all that matter." He goes to see the pictures.

"No, wait," She hides the envelope behind her back. "It's not ready yet. I'll show it to you another time."

Bradley looks at her with a puzzling gaze, and Josi can tell he hasn't yet fully bought the excuse. So she kisses him the same way she does in the bedroom, when all she wants is that intimate connection with him. She kisses him the way she usually does when she wants him to know there won't be anyone else after him.

And the ploy works. Once the two are done, Bradley's interest in the envelope ceases to exist almost instantly.

"What was that for?"

Josi merely shrugs. "You looked hot just standing there."

Bradley is still a bit dazed, which stunts his reply. But just when he's finally ready to give one, his senses pick up on the smell of burning spaghetti. "You forgot the Fettuccine." He rushes to the kitchen to attend to the disaster.

Josi takes a deep breath in. She eyes the photos once again, an overwhelming surge of anger and frustration settling in this time. Disposing of it in a dumpster won't be enough. She has to burn or shred it all into pieces, whichever one gets the job done faster. All in all, the photos must cease to exist.

What a fine attempt this was. Idris must be somewhere laughing, somewhere where he sits comfortably and observes her life for pure entertainment. Josi can scream and curse at him all he wants, but it won't change the nature of the situation. Because she knows this is only the beginning.

__

"Good morning, Ms. Cade."

"Good morning, Jason." Josi says with a smile. She lets the kid into the classroom after a high-five.

This is how Josi greets all her students. She's found that establishing relationships leads to better performance, participation, and an overall drive to learn. The finest environment for children to prosper are ones where new and different ideas are always welcomed. The mind needs room to foster itself. And Josi has taken the time to create just that.

Chasing a career in education was by no means a difficult path for Josi. Her love for children and learning made the choice very easy. It's why she enjoys her job, why she takes great pride in being a teacher. Because knowledge doesn't always come from those above. There are things to be learned from children.

Class today centers around the standard mathematical operation: multiplying triple digits. Josi comes up with equations and gives them time to solve it, then works it through together once they have all arrived at their own answer.

"Alright, time's up." Josi announces. "Who can tell me the answer to question one?"

A student in the front raises their hand. "Two hundred and eighty-five."

"No, it's two hundred and seventy-six." Says another.

"Actually, Stephanie was right, it is two hundred and eighty-five." Josi tells them.

Stephanie gives a triumphant laugh. "Aaron shouldn't be allowed to answer anymore, Ms. Cade, he's not smart enough."

This catches Josi off guard, but she's already on the case. She has the student apologize first and foremost, then has her promise not to do it again.

Class carries on as usual. Josi helps clarify each and every one of the students' concerns, has them practice, then moves on to the next equation. "You only carry over the first digit, not the second. I think that's what makes it tricky-"

The door swings open. Something in the air shifts, almost as if the entrance to the classroom served as a sort of barrier. And now that it has opened, the atmosphere within has become stiff. Josi's heart sinks to the very bottom.

Idris walks to the very back of the room and takes a seat by the window. He makes himself comfortable, as if he belongs to the place. As if his presence there should have been expected. He locks eyes with Josi at the front of the room and gives her a smile. She can see the scar on his chin dance with excitement, can see his eyes light up at the presented chance.

"Ms. Cade, who's the mister in the back?"

Josi brings her eyes to the student in front of her. That's when she realizes the situation may not be as dire as she thinks it to be. Sure Idris has it out for her, but he couldn't possibly try anything in a classroom full of children. This possibility alone reassures her.

Josi takes a deep breath in and gives the student a smile. "That's a friend of mine. He came to visit me today."

"Yup," Idris chimes in. "We go a long way back. Don't we, Ms. Cade?"

Josi gives him her own smile. "We do indeed."

The next couple minutes is of Josi trying to concentrate. A challenge, considering Idris has refused to take his eyes off her. "Since we carry the one over to the three, that makes the answer forty-eight." She writes the equation on the board and works it through. "And for the multiplication part, all you have to do is multiply nine by seven, and that gives us sixty-seven."

"But Ms. Cade, I thought nine by seven was sixty-three." Says a student in the back. This earns a round of oohs from the rest.

Idris beams at this happenstance. "Ms. Cade doesn't know her times tables." He announces to the class.

The students burst into laughter. Josi's cheeks heat up from the embarrassment. She joins in on the laughter in an attempt to brush things off. "Alright, I made a mistake. Settle down."

The classroom finally gets back into order. Josi spends the rest of the time trying to solve equations without paying Idris any mind. But this is easier said than done. She's a target in his eyes, and like every other mark, they tail her through it all, scrutinizing and judging every action.

He gives her no room for rest. He asks questions when he wants to, despite it having nothing to do with the subject at hand. And Josi has to answer them all, because in the eyes of the students present, Idris is a friend.

Class is soon dismissed. The kids file out in hoards, but not without greeting Josi goodbye. Once the classroom is empty, she shuts the door close and heads to the back where Idris is.

"What do you want?"

Idris chuckles at something on his phone, then realizes Josi is there and finally responds. "Are you usually that lousy when teaching?"

Irritation. But she hides it well. "I'm very good at what I do."

Idris's brows crease, almost as if he doesn't believe her, which just adds to Josi's vexation. All she wants is for her life to go back to normal, back to when Idris was nothing short of a stranger.

But Idris will do no such thing because with a provoking smile, he asks, "Why didn't you show Bradley those photos?"

No reply. No movements, not even the sound of her breathing. Nothing but anger. That's what Josi feels. The smile on Idris's face serves as a new form of torture. He knows she can't do a thing. He knows she's defenseless. She's at his mercy, something Josi realizes must put him to bed at night. He must love it most when others are weak and vulnerable. It feeds his twisted ego. It brings him joy.

But Josi cannot afford another situation such as the one yesterday night. So she does the only thing she's capable of. She apologizes.

"Listen, I'm sorry." Josi tells him, her voice laced with desperation. "I'm sorry about everything. Please, just stop."

Idris gives no reply. He spends a couple seconds on his cigar and only decides to pay Josi any mind once it's lit and in his mouth. Then he wakes from his seat and goes to stand in front of her, leaving only mere inches between.

Idris takes a long drag, lets it stew, then blows the smoke in Josi's face. "I don't want to."

The sound of Josi's heart hitting rock bottom is silent but hefty. She looks him in the eye, into those hollow rings of pure nothingness, and discovers a man whose heart rivals that of a Lion. Lions partake in surplus killing. Besides the occasional thirst for hunger, they often chase their prey down with no reason tied to it. And that seems to be the current case. Idris hunts for sport.

After what feels like hours to Josi only, Idris decides it's time for him to take his leave. He gives her a little pat on the back on his way to the door. "Keep your chin up, Ms. Cade."

Josi doesn't move, even as the remnants of Idris quickly fade away. She stands there because reality is now inevitably clear to her. It has hit her in more grotesque ways than just one. Josi is a captive.

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