She tripped steadying herself against the wall and fell backwards. She landed heavily on the floor curling up as a pain seared through her back and when she opened her eyes everything was dim. In fact it was a different place altogether. A small voice chuckled in the corner. "What fun you are Lissi, always finding yourself into places you shouldn't" Poppy stepped out of the gloom smiling wickedly at her, Lissi flung herself at her hardly believing it was her best friend. Shape shifted beneath her becoming an awkward bulk and she pulled back to find she was in the arms of Lucien. She gasped yanking herself away from him. "How dare you? You pretended to be my best friend so that I would…!" She stopped mid sentence. He pursed his lips laughing to himself "Did I ask for a hug? Any kind of emotional attachment?" She stopped numbed by the thought. A smile spread across his face "Didn't think so." Lissi straightened up noticing with an uncomfortable jerk that blood was running down her cheek. Lucien's face grew serious as she wiped it away and insisted she sit down before she caused anymore damage. After protesting a little she sank down to the floor, relieved at the solid safety beneath her. She doubted very much that she would faint but admittedly her knees were feeling a little weak. He tore a strip off his shirt dabbing at the side of her head. It stung and she found herself biting her lip to keep from saying anything, and then as suddenly as he had arrived, he was gone and she was left alone in a dimly lit room with no entrance or exit not knowing exactly what she should do next. She got up again steadying herself against the wall and began to look around. It was a drab room, empty except for a desk and a small picture of a woman hung to the wall. She leant forward and looked more closely leaning on the desk, the woman was young and smiley, she looked a lot like Lucien but carefree and happy. She released it must be his mum and looked quickly away feeling as though she had pried into his private life in some way. She sighed, this was getting complicated, a complete tangle of truth and lies that would need teasing gently apart for anything to go back to some semblance of order and routine. She gripped the edges of the top and noticed a little draw underneath it, it had a little lock which was sure not to be open, and curled her fingers around the edges and pulling gently. It slid out empty, she felt around the back looking for a secret opening slightly disappointed with the find, and pushed the bottom. It gave a little. She pushed more firmly this time and it cracked breaking open to show…photographs, Lots and lots of photographs. She took a step back with surprise, another pry into someone else's personal things and he was there standing between her and the pictures. "You really are more observant than I thought." He grinned crookedly down at her.
"How long have you had them?" She looked up at him a little scared to ask.
"Not long" He shrugged, leaning backwards so that the drawer closed. She looked at him skeptically studying his reaction. "Damn it Lissi can I have no secrets around you? You're supposed to be a…a prisoner and here you are wandering into secret rooms and demanding answers you have no right to ask questions over" He turned away from her leaning with his hands pressed against the edges of the desk. She could hear him breathing, the warm air condensing against the desk top and forming patches of condensation. "Only since you arrived here," He sighed turning back to face her and brushing a stray hair from her face. She quivered as his thumb brushed over her lips and along her jaw. He looked down at the desk and turned walking towards a wall pushing it open and wedging it as he left with a loose brick. She shivered emotions coursing through her blood, drowning, suffocating her. She tugged at the drawer lifting out the photos he had hidden so deftly from her. They went back as far as when she was little, about five. Photos she didn't even know existed. There were photos of her and poppy in the old woods behind their house with herb packets and leaves, looking like they were playing a game, innocent. A small folded sheet lay at the bottom, it was her standing just outside her house dressed for prom. This girl didn't know how far she would stray from the path, just how much trouble she was going to get herself into, but curiously enough this girl was lonely and Lissi thought of Lucien and through jumbled feelings and confusion knew she wasn't. She looked at the door slightly ajar and back at the photos, carefully replacing them as she had found them she left, removing the brick and heading back to her room.