Erick slowly walked into his room with Luke right on his heels. The older man obviously wanted to get a better look around the room before he left Erick in there alone. Luke carefully looked over the contents of the room only to look disappointed when he didn't see anything amiss. If she was in here, then she was well hidden. That wasn't too surprising. Erick liked to take and hide things in his room all the time. In fact Luke saw several other things that had been missing, but for the moment he didn't see the thing Bray clearly wanted back. He supposed he would have to wait for Erick to slip up. He would and the consequences would be severe, but the larger man wasn't giving them a choice. Sighing, Luke turned heading for the door. He paused and turned to face Erick giving the larger man a knowing look.
"Between us, if you don't want to tell him that's fine. Just remember that he won't let this go on for too much longer. He doesn't like when you take what's his and like it or not Erick, she's his. If you won't tell him then tell me. I'll wait till the morning to get her." Erick shook his head making Luke sigh again. "You're both already in deep shit and he'll get tired of playing by your rules, fast. One way or another we will find her and the longer it takes, the worse the punishment will beā¦for both of you. Keep that in mind little brother." Erick slowly nodded. "Good Night."
"Night." Erick watched the door close. From there he waited all of five seconds before he stepped over to the closet door. Initially, he used his foot to clear some of the mess out of the way, but his excitement got the best of him. He was like a kid on Christmas morning. Bending over, he easily pulled his mattress out of the way. Finally his moment had come. In his mind he had been forced to wait forever for this, when in actuality it really only been a few hours. The time really didn't matter. His weeks of "hunting" had paid off. For now he had won and she was all his.
He opened the door without any real flourish. Instead he looked down, smiling at the pile of old blankets. They were exactly as he'd left them. He had planned for Bray and Luke to come looking for her. His room was nothing but piles of junk anyway, so if anyone else looked in his closet, they wouldn't find anything out of the ordinary. He ran his hand over his beard, doing his best to smooth it out. It didn't make much of a difference, but he had tried. Once he was satisfied he reached down, pulling the blankets away to reveal an angry Lila. At first she took a deep breath. The fresh air was obviously a welcome change. Then she glared up at him with all the contempt she could muster. It was all she could do since he had shoved two of Luke's bandanna's in her mouth and put tape over her lips just to keep her quiet. Erick easily lowered himself to the floor, sitting next to her. He reached out, his hand visibly shaking as he ran his fingers over her hair. He smiled when he made contact. She wanted to jerk her head away, but she doubted that would do her any good. It hadn't been that long ago that she'd seen the same hand that was petting her head, cleave someone else's head in two with an axe. For now she had to go along with whatever he wanted, at least whatever was in reason. She had a hunch that once he was satisfied he would let her go. That was usually what happened whenever Erick took something. He would keep it until it had served its purpose for him and then he would leave it for the others to find.
"Mine." She blinked. What had he just said? He stopped petting her, quickly getting up. He turned away from her and headed over to what had once been a dresser. He rummaged through the drawer for a minute, grunting when he finally found what he was looking for. She did her best to see, but he tucked it into his pocket before she ever had the chance. He came back over to her, looming over her for a minute. He cocked his head to one side as if he were trying to figure something out. She had no idea what it could possibly be, that was until scooped her up, blankets and all. He carried her the few short steps to the mattress, half setting her and her dumping her onto it. Try as he might, being gentle was simply not Erick's forte. He plopped down beside her, turning her away from him.
At first she no idea what he was up to until she felt him picking at the ropes. She perked up slightly only to groan when he started to pull them away. The cuts on her wrists had reopened several times over since he'd left her up here, drenching the ropes in blood. The obvious result was one big painful mess. Never the less he got them off. He picked and pulled at them for a good ten minutes before he finally succeeded in removing them. Thank God for the tape and the bandannas, otherwise the entire house would've heard her scream at him to stop. He got up from behind her, walking across the medium sized room to a door near the front. He disappeared behind it and a second later she heard the water running. She never knew Erick had his own bathroom. She grimaced at the potential condition of it, especially considering how the rest of his room looked, but she wasn't about to complain. After being hauled around like a sack of potatoes and hidden under a pile of filthy blankets she was in desperate need of a bath. He came back out of the bathroom, slowly walking back over to her. Again she was scooped up and carried, but this time it was into the small bathroom. To her surprise it was actually clean, well cleanish and the water that was running was for the sink and not the tub. He stopped by the sink for a minute, thinking. The last time he had had to stop and think he had dropped her. She prayed he didn't try the same thing here. He grunted, shifting her slightly. Then he lowered her down, her feet happily meeting the cool tile floor. Erick made sure she was steady before he finally let go of her. Even then he kept a hand out in case she needed it. He grabbed a wash cloth off the rim of the sink and dipped it into the warm water. He then began the slow process of trying to get the tape off without hurting her too badly. "Stay still." She just nodded slightly. He worked at the tape, eventually getting it off without too much trouble. She didn't wait for him to get the bandannas out. The second the tape was gone she half spit, half pulled them out of her mouth, thankful that they were finally gone. She wanted to scream at him, to shout for help, but she simply didn't have the energy to. Instead she motioned for a glass of water and he responded by stepping out of the way of the sink. Lila stepped forward, switching the water over to cold. When it was at the appropriate temperature she stuck her head under the faucet, greedily drinking from it.
When she had had her fill she motioned to the bath, indicating that she needed to clean the cuts on her wrists, but he shook his head no. Instead he changed the water back over to hot and pointed at her wrists. She hesitantly held them out to him, almost fearful of what he would do. He grabbed each wrist running a soapy wash cloth over the cuts. She flinched, hissing at the stinging sensation the soap and water caused. Thankfully they weren't deep, but they'd still give her trouble for a week or two. He finished cleaning them, making sure they were dry. When he was satisfied they had both wandered back into his room, Erick dragging her into his lap once they were both back on his mattress. He settled her where he wanted her and began to pet her head again. It wasn't the most comfortable position for her, but for now it worked. "Mine." She blinked. There was that word again. He stopped petting her head and he took her left hand. All she could was watch as he opened his free hand and showed her what he'd probably stuck in his pocket earlier, a ring. She knew that ring. Where had she seen it before? He turned it, slowly sliding it onto her ring finger. When he was through he let go of her hand allowing her to get a better look at it. Her eyes went wide the second she did.
"Erick!" He shushed her, trying to hold her still. "Erick, this is Abigail's ring! How did you get it?"
"Bray." There wasn't any other explanation offered. There was no way Bray had given him anything, which meant one thing; he had taken it. She started squirming, hoping to wrench herself free, but that earned her a one way ticket to landing back first onto the mattress. It wasn't a gentle landing either.
He grabbed her by her shoulders, pinning her as best he could while he also tried to keep her quiet. "Shh they'll hear. Calm down." She didn't listen to him. She wanted them to hear, she needed them too.
"No!" One of the hands came up over her face and before she could blink, she felt him cut off her air supply. It didn't help matters that he'd laid his arm across her chest, pushing the air out of her lungs. From there it was a matter of time. It didn't take her long to pass out. It really only took her a few seconds. But the last thing she saw was all of Erick's sorry attempts at taxidermy and all she could think was that she was probably next.
