I opened the door slowly after a few hours. I walked down the hallway slowly. William had cleaned up my big mess. When I entered the room, he looked up at me. He wasn’t pissed off anymore. He was relaxed, like he was just thinking. I nervously played with my fingers, rubbing them together.
“Hi,” I mumbled.
“Hi,” he said back. “Are you okay?” I nodded. I lied to this man to protect myself and then I have a break down. “That’s good. Why were you screaming?” he asked. I took a step back and he put his hands up. “I just want to talk.”
I shook my head.
“Please, Tavi, Let me help you. Help you relax here, to live here. Tavi, please, help me help you. That yelling is not good for your health. Please, tell me what is on your mind.”
“I just miss my family.”
“So you screamed and threw a fit?” he asked. I looked down. He sighed. “Tavi, I’m sorry you feel the way you do. How do you feel about being here? I’m not trying to hurt you; I’m trying to give you a safe place.”
I gave a big sigh and sat in one of the chairs. How do you tell someone as big as him that he was truly an idiot without getting hurt? I started to nervously braid my hair. “I told you, William, I miss my family. You don’t understand what it’s like is to be ripped away from your family. You don’t have one.”
He looked to the ground. “Yes I did.”
I stopped playing with my hair. This news was new to me. “You did?” He never talked about them. His face looked guilty and shameful, but mostly sadness. I didn’t want to apologize to him. I sighed again. “How did you lose your family?”
He got up and went to the kitchen. He got a glass of water and started to drink it. He pushed up his falling glasses after he was done and look to the floor. He was thinking of what to say.
He looked lost, but then told me in a mumble, “Fire.” He went on after a moment. “It was a horrible night. I don’t remember much, I don’t want to remember really. But I had two kids. I loved them all very much. My wife was young, I was young, it was a long time ago,” he said not even looking up and making eye contact. It seemed that it was hard for him.
“I’m sorry that happened to you, but that doesn’t give you the excuse to kidnap me.”
“That’s not why I kidnapped you,” he corrected me; sitting down in his chair like he did before. “That’s not the reason at all.”
“Then what is it?” I asked.
He laughed and looked away. “I’ll tell you another day. I don’t need you screaming again. I can’t handle that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Another day,” He growled. “You couldn’t handle it right now.”
“I can to,” I said. I felt like a child again the way I whined.
He laughed once again. It made me angry, the way he laughed at me as if I were a joke. I stood up and started to stomp away back to my room. I didn’t care if he told me or not. He pled for me, “Tavi! Wait! See, you always walk away, scream, or cry. You don’t listen.”
I stopped and turned around. All these emotions and none of them could escape. Of course I was going to meltdown. Try being trapped in a house all day and you tell me it wouldn’t drive you insane! “What’s the point, you won’t tell me.”
“I won’t tell you because you’re not ready. I will tell you, one day. Just not tonight.”
“I want to go to bed.” I had my knees up and my head resting with tears coming out. I really meant home when I said bed. I just couldn’t tell him that. He backed away.
“It’s bedtime; let’s go to bed, kitten.” He got up and put a hand on my shoulder. I flinched. He noticed. “I’ll tell you a bed time story after you take a shower.”
“I’m not five.”
“Then why do you act like you are five?”
That kind of stung. I didn’t know what to say to that. I just looked away, trying not to glance at him. He held out his hand, and I had to take it.
His hands were so much bigger, so much scarier. His whole hand had wrapped around mine. He tugged me to my bedroom and picked out my clothes for me. He handed them to me and I went to the shower. I turned on the water and locked the door. I stripped down and got in. I let the water run down my dry body. I closed my eyes and drowned. I wish I could. No one was going to find me. I was waiting for the day men in police suits come in.
I started to think about Misery, by Stephen King. That was one of my favorites. It was about an author who got kidnapped by his number one fan. I wasn’t an author, but I could relate. It’s funny to think about those fiction books, and realize they really aren’t fiction. They start to become real.
When the water turned cold, and I turned it off. I got the towel and dried my body. After I got dress in the sweats and cotton sweatshirt, I wrapped the towel around my head. I hated it because of all my hair. I didn’t want him to see me like this. He’s already seen me without makeup and that should be enough to scare anyone. Not that I cared. I wish I could have scared him, like he scared me.
I dried my hair and patted it down with the towel. William knocked four times on the door. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled. He walked away. I peeked out the door. He was in my room now. I wrapped the towel around my shoulder and let my damp hair do whatever it wanted. When I saw William sitting on my bed, I wanted to walk into his room and lock the door. I stepped in.
“You ok kiddo?” he asked again.
It took everything not to roll my eyes. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“You know you don’t need makeup and all that crap, right?”
He caught me off guard. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“I well I noticed you used to wear a lot of makeup. When you came here, it’s the first time I got to see your face without all of that crap. I want you to know that you are very beautiful.”
Shivers went up my spin. “You think I’m beautiful?” I asked, glaring at him. He smiled, and looked proud of himself. “That’s creepy as hell.” His smile went away fast, and his cheeks turn red.
His voice cracked. “I just wanted you to know what I thought, and that I love you.”
My voice fell flat. “I will never love you.” I felt so powerful when I told him that, seeing the look on his face. If he had hit me, it would have been worth it. He didn’t say anything. He got up, waited for me to get into bed. He tried to smile at me, showing me his messed up teeth. I didn’t smile.
When I crawled in, he stared at me for the longest time. He was thinking about something. “What?” I asked.
He snapped out of it. “I want you to start taking these pills, to help you sleep at night.”
A cold chill went through my body. “Why?”
“I just want you to sleep better,” he said turning around, and heading to the kitchen. I heard some things being moved around. When he came back, he had a glass of water and two green piles in his hands.
He placed it in my hands. I looked up and said, “What makes you think I’m going to take these?”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, you want me to take one too? Would that make you feel better?”
I nodded. He sighed as he took out a bottle of pills from his pocket, taking one out, and popping them in his mouth as if it was second nature. I felt safer seeing him take it, so I copied him. He smiled at me, and took my glass of water away when I was finished. “It’ll help with anxiety.”
“If you say so.”
“Do you believe in God?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
“I just want to know. I want you to know how great he is.”
I bite my tongue. I’m not so happy with God right now, for putting me in this situation. “Um, okay,” my voice felt dull.
“You’ll learn,” he smirked. “God gave me you.”
I argued. “No, you kidnapped me.”
He shrugged. “Surprise adoption.” I about fell out of bed when he told me that. In a very morbid way, it was kind of funny.
It wasn’t something I thought he would say and if it wasn’t me, I would have laughed. He walked to the doorway, turning around, he smiled. “You’ll love it here, I promise.”
I shivered and rolled over, out like a light.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
