A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay. It's been a crazy week. Hope you enjoy :D
She opened her eyes and saw nothing. She raised her hand right in front of her face, and tried to focus on it, but saw nothing but complete blackness.
She stood up and looked around. "Hello...?" She croaked out. "Is anyone else here?"
Then she felt a hand take hold of her wrist. The grasp was gentle, almost caressing.
"I'm here baby. I told you I'd always be there for you." Brennan turned towards the voice. It sounded familiar, yet she couldn't place it.
Instinct was telling her to be wary. She started to pull her hand away from the unknown grasp, but found as soon as she pulled, the grip got tighter. She felt herself starting to panic. Her heart started to beat harder in her chest. Her breath coming in short huffs. Logic was telling her to calm herself down, but her body wasn't being a willing participant.
"I have to get out of here – let me go!" She heard herself yell, at the unknown person.
She felt another hand snake around her waist and take hold of her. She started to struggle in vain to get away.
"I'm keeping you here for your own good, don't you know that? I love you, you know I do, just like I know you love me. You tell me you do, all the time."
"I don't tell anyone I love them! I don't know who you are!" The more she struggled, the more vice-like the grip got. "I can't breathe." She managed to get out.
"Then all you have to do is stop fighting me. Let me look after you, like I used to." The voice reasoned.
"I... I don't need anyone to look after me. Please, I need to go." She whimpered. At this point her body was screaming for her to go. Her chest aching with the effort from struggling against him.
"You do Tempe, you just can't see it. I'll keep you safe, keep you hidden from the world, so no one can ever hurt you again." He reasoned.
"But you're hurting me!" She screamed and started thrashing herself around. Kicking and throwing her free arm at anything she could.
All of a sudden the grip was gone. For a second she was momentarily taken aback, then turned and saw an open door with a faint light inside, and ran towards it.
The door seemed to keep getting further away. She stopped and looked behind her, then towards the door again. A light flickered on above her. She saw a hallway to her left, it had doors running all the way down. One of them had to lead out right?
She ran down to the first and tried. Locked. She kicked at it to see if it gave way. Giving up, she ran to the next door. Locked, again. She kept glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was there. Her breathing started to pick up again. She was starting to panic. She heard a soft click of a door shutting behind her, and whirled around to see a faceless man in front of her.
She somehow knew this was the same man who had grabbed her before. She could feel the anger simmering inside him, she turned and ran. Then he stepped out in front of her again. This time he had eyes. His eyes were black and hollow. They were dead.
Like the rest of him.
Her eyes darted to the side, to see the best escape route, but he grabbed her around her waist and whispered "You can't escape me Temperance. Don't bother trying. We are connected."
She started screaming and thrashing to get away.
"Don't fight me. You won't win. Remember last time you tried?" He growled.
He started shaking her. Gently at first, then harder.
"Temperance? Tempe, stop struggling!"
With a start Brennan woke up to see Matt holding her down. Disorientated she looked around her surroundings.
"Shh, it's ok now. You were having a nightmare." Matt soothed, smoothing her hair back from her face..
You! You were the faceless man! The realisation hit her after hearing his voice. She looked down to see the chains still about her waist.
"You're chained for your own safety, my love." He said seeing her looking down at the chains hopelessly.
She looked up at him defiantly. "You know what would be in my best interest? Getting out of here, and away from you. So if you're so concerned about my safety, how about unlocking these chains and letting me walk out of here."
He looked down at her, sighing, like a parent would a child that was acting out in a tantrum.
Then he settled back down at his computer again, as Brennan started testing the durability of the chains holding her down.
"So, this Booth guy... Seems as if you two are pretty comfy with each other. A military guy, now FBI. Wow Bones, when you trade up, you really trade up. No more builder types for you huh?" He said, still focused on his computer. Brennan didn't know if she was mean to answer the question or not.
She decided on the first option and murmured, "Booth and I are partners."
He turned around to look at her, "Right. Like we were?" His words came out, dripping with jealousy.
Feeling those dead eyes from her dream roaming over her, she shivered. She hated when he looked at her.
"What, no answer?" He demanded. "You know we were always meant to be together. You said that, remember?"
"That was before I knew the real you." She said flatly.
Before anyone knew what you were really like.
--
"Hey Bones, you coming out with us or what?"
Every time I heard that voice I felt a flutter of excitement. A feeling of belonging. I loved my new nickname.
"Yep, coming! Give me two secs." I yelled out the window, as I shut my maths text book, grabbed my shoes and ran out my bedroom door, toward the voice that had held something over me for the past few weeks.
"Finally, anyone would think you're a girl or something." Matt said playfully.
"I am a girl..." I looked down, confused and embarrassed. Matt laughed at me again.
"It's a joke B." He said tipping my face up at him.
"Oh."My cheeks felt like the sun was burning directly down on them.
"Hey, Kaleb, you coming?" He called out to my foster brother.
"Yeah, yeah." Grumbled Kaleb.
I'd been at this place for 4 weeks. The foster family we're actually really nice. Kaleb was a great foster brother, kind of reminded me of Russ, with his cool approach to life.
Matt was Kaleb's best friend, if guys had best friends, that is. Matt was over all the time, and had taken to calling me Bones, he said I was nothing more than skin and bones. I didn't know if I liked it yet or not, but I liked the way it sounded out of his mouth. I had a crush, big time.
"Catch up to us." Matt yelled over his shoulder, as he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the car.
--
That's how it began, from that afternoon. I'd been given my first kiss. He was really my first everything. I had loved him to the point of killing me. My reasoning and logic hadn't even come into the equation.
I put up with behaviours I wouldn't even stand for these days.
I was 17, lonely, scared and naive. That's all I can put it down to.
But that was 13yrs ago. I'm not that girl anymore.
